VN Ren'Py Onhold The Foreign Teacher [Development Thread]

[The Rogue Trader]

New version is out.
I toyed a bit with the GUI, nothing major, just a few fonts changed and a splashscreen added, plus I closed several locations that I'm not using at the moment, so the player won't get lost around.
I also added a long-winded quest to repair the statuette.

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[The Rogue Trader]

Hello to both my two readers (and I'm probably being too optimistic saying two...).
This week there will be no new release: a series of unpleasantnesses and problems left me with little humour to write, so I worked on the art, instead.
As suggested, I started working on replacing some sprite-fests with rendered scenes, in particular, I was redoing the dialogue before the lesbian threesome in the library



I was fighting uphill with the composition and lighting of this dialogue (6-7 pics) when I took a break and started toying with G8.1 instead: I've lots to learn on this model, but after some invaluable input by Boogie I think I'm starting to get the knack about the basics.
Martha has dramatically improved her appearance (so much that the whole concept of "it's difficult to see her inner beauty" seems a bit forced by now):



Stephanie is proving a tougher nut to crack, mostly because she has lots of poses and expressions. Poses aren't difficult, but I wasted the whole morning just to make her smile convincingly (first pic). After that, I swallowed my pride and downloaded a fuckload of premade expressions: at least studying them I'm slowly starting to understand what the morphs actually do and make her act appropriately. At least her character concept allows her to look as hot as they come:



Since I've grown quite pessimistic about finding an artist any time soon, I think I'll switch all the V4 characters to G8 myself: the results are too good, even if on average render time is doubled (blame falls mostly on clothing).
Since originally it took me a couple of years to build them, I'm afraid that there won't be many progresses with the story for at least one month, shifting the release of the demo to the end of February or maybe well into March.

 

[The Rogue Trader]

Apparently in the uplift, Helen got the short stick:



I was aware that I couldn't go beyond perfection, but I hoped to at least stay there, at the top of human beauty.
She had some of my favourite poses, but the new anatomy made them impossible:


Well, once I got used to the new look I've to say that at least now she looks more real, less cartoonish.

I still have much finetuning to do on her, especially for the expressions, but I think I'll make a set in the next week and move on with the project: I've no intention of staying bogged down there. I'll perfect the results with time and calm.

Secondary and tertiary characters will stay V4 for the moment. Maybe next month I'll upgrade another couple.

 

[rgnar62]

Apparently in the uplift, Helen got the short stick:

View attachment 1608737

I was aware that I couldn't go beyond perfection, but I hoped to at least stay there, at the top of human beauty.
She had some of my favourite poses, but the new anatomy made them impossible:

View attachment 1608738
Well, once I got used to the new look I've to say that at least now she looks more real, less cartoonish.

I still have much finetuning to do on her, especially for the expressions, but I think I'll make a set in the next week and move on with the project: I've no intention of staying bogged down there. I'll perfect the results with time and calm.

Secondary and tertiary characters will stay V4 for the moment. Maybe next month I'll upgrade another couple.

Hi dev!
Just discovered your game (and so your thread) yesterday.
No time atm to try it but will definitely do! I fucking love sharing and group scenes.
Count me in

 

[The Rogue Trader]

Whew... I can't believe it... I wasted an entire Sunday. I'm so wasted I can't even type in English.
As expected, Val inherited her mother's problems with face and expressions not satisfying me, so this morning I started researching the various ways to transfer V4 characters to G8.
I spent hour after hour reading and watching countless tutorials, downloading and trying countless programs... I didn't even go out for a walk. And yet nothing worked (well, one method almost worked, although it required downgrading to G8 from G8.1... just for me to discover I didn't include a hidden custom head morph that is about 90% of Helen and Val's appearance... I thought they were base V4).
In the end, I got frustrated and hammered Val's face for three full hours until she got cooperative and looked about right (maybe her face is still too long, or the eyes are too high, but it's still a great improvement from Helen).



Had I opted for brute force this morning, I would have got several poses done and still had a Sunday to enjoy.
My eyes hurt, it's half past midnight and I want to sleep, to read and to write. Not necessarily in this order.

I promise this is the last week without updates.


Hello rgnar62 well met!
I hope I won't disappoint you, when you'll have the time to check what I'm doing. But in case, please tell me: I'm just learning, so I appreciate criticism.
I've still 3 sex scenes to add to the demo, and two are going to be group sex (not involving the MC, that will come later, for now, he's limited to FM), so if quality could be better I'll still try to make up with quantity!

 

[DanLong]

Looks interesting. I like the drinking scene in the grass at the wall.

 

[The Rogue Trader]

Looks interesting. I like the drinking scene in the grass at the wall.

Thanks, since my schedule went completely haywire, I'll end up adding that scene, after all

Two little teasers:


Ah, and nice taste in games I loved Chloe and her friends, I should find the time to play some other games in the same series.

 

[DanLong]

Nice teaser.

Yeah, GDS is a very good creator. I love Chloe and all of his creations. Another inspiration of mine is "Midlife Crisis". Nef is also one of those crazy geniuses. He creates a great story but he disappears as much as GDS does

 

[DanLong]

Does someone check your english? It could use some brushing up in your game

 

[The Rogue Trader]

Does someone check your english? It could use some brushing up in your game

I wish: I'm very conscious about not being a native speaker and finding a couple of proofreaders is definitely not optional in my list.
Unfortunately, I can't find even proofreaders or playtesters.
It's true that I'm not looking particularly hard, since I think it would make more sense first to finish writing the demo and then have it proofed, but the few that reply to my messages and agree to have a look at the game then disappear and cut all communications.
I guess it's either worse than I thought or there's a terrible curse laid on it by an ancient Pharaoh that Roberto inadvertently disturbed during his studies...

 

[Boogie]

Well, I'm still waiting for your next update.

 

[osanaiko]

I wish: I'm very conscious about not being a native speaker and finding a couple of proofreaders is definitely not optional in my list.
Unfortunately, I can't find even proofreaders or playtesters.
It's true that I'm not looking particularly hard, since I think it would make more sense first to finish writing the demo and then have it proofed, but the few that reply to my messages and agree to have a look at the game then disappear and cut all communications.
I guess it's either worse than I thought or there's a terrible curse laid on it by an ancient Pharaoh that Roberto inadvertently disturbed during his studies...

Why, hello there. (adjusts proofreader's fedora )

Check my sig. And drop me a DM if you want to talk further...

 

[DanLong]

There! You got some responses

I often do Proofreading as well.

I would like to give you some constructive criticism. I hope it helps in your development of the game!


I was playing your game and noticed that you have Probabilities set for events. Maybe you can have the probabilities go up with time? I was able to get the statue but never work on it ... Some other events also never fired. The game has potential, but it could use some work. One thing that bothers me is the lack much motion with characters. In many games when a character speaks there is a little face to represent them, easy to do in renpy. Also, I appreciate you wanting to set a particular style with your backgrounds but they do not change much. It helps to have some changes as the dialog progresses. Check out "Midlife Crisis" for some very good progressions. For renders, I can only dream of having the (for me) perfection of the "Chloe 18" series. They are not life like but they just hit all the right points for me.

I am sure that I had more but for the moment, not much.

Val is Hot AF! Need more possibilities with her

Renpy has so much potential! I have played some very complex games and really want to write/Program something that is even half as cool as some of the games that I have played

I will write again when I have more input.

 

[The Rogue Trader]

Well, I'm still waiting for your next update.

Yes, unfortunately, my schedule was already shattered before this day's events: I was slowly trying to recreate the characters, the poses and the scenes and so I put the writing on hold. Since I'm upgrading the resolution to 1920x1080, it means that I can't release partial upgrades: I have to finish all the art to the point that I already reached before progressing. It was already clear that it would've taken months, but now I'm even less sure about how much work I'll be able to put into this game for quite a while.

 

[The Rogue Trader]

I would like to give you some constructive criticism. I hope it helps in your development of the game!

Thanks, I really need honest criticism in order to understand better in which direction I've to develop.
Unfortunately today I finally had a much built up breakup with one of my business partners, and I'm going to withdraw from my own firm and look for a different job: something that for someone my age and with my qualifications is borderline impossible, so in the following months I really doubt I will have the serenity needed for fully dedicating myself to this project or to PinkMarmalade one.

I was playing your game and noticed that you have Probabilities set for events. Maybe you can have the probabilities go up with time? I was able to get the statue but never work on it ... Some other events also never fired.

Yes, I also noticed that random events seem to be rarer than the set probability would suggest. I'm no longer sure I'll keep the random factor in favour of more predictable triggers. It's something I'll have to think about.

One thing that bothers me is the lack much motion with characters. In many games when a character speaks there is a little face to represent them, easy to do in renpy.

I quite dislike the faces thing. I'm also surprised by hearing about the lack of motion, since I try to have many and very different sprites for every mood, and have characters change them every 2-3 lines.
There are a couple of characters, like Martha, that have no or very little motion: in their case it is intentional.
The issue is going to worsen since I'm working on having fixed scenes instead of sprites, a more modern approach. In that case I could have to bend to use the faces.

Also, I appreciate you wanting to set a particular style with your backgrounds but they do not change much. It helps to have some changes as the dialog progresses. Check out "Midlife Crisis" for some very good progressions.

I'm slowly working to make full renders of the backgrounds (characters have precedence), but a background changing while dialogue progresses is something quite new to me.
I never played "midlife crisis" (unfortunately I lately had little time to play games and also the title sounds too close to my general current situation XD), but my dialogues usually don't include characters interacting with the background: it's just something I don't think about when I'm writing a dialogue.
At the moment all I have is two versions of the cloister: with and without rain (still in the old resolution).

Val is Hot AF! Need more possibilities with her

Val is one of the love interests, and she will have a pivotal role in every route, aside from having a route of her own. So, yes most definitely going to have *ahem* more possibilities with her
But which version of Val are you speaking about: V4 or G8? They aren't as similar as they were supposed to be, and frankly, I'm still not satisfied with her G8 incarnation.

Renpy has so much potential! I have played some very complex games and really want to write/Program something that is even half as cool as some of the games that I have played

You are so right: I'm no coder and with a bit of help/tutorials many years ago I wrote some stupidly complex stuff like a random generator of characters (with modular pictures in Daz) for a prostitution management game I abandoned pretty immediately.
The force of RenPy, that's that you can use python to do pretty much anything that python can do, is, unfortunately also its limitation, since from what I can understand Python is a pretty inefficient language.

I will write again when I have more input.

Yes please!

 

[Boogie]

Yes, unfortunately, my schedule was already shattered before this day's events: I was slowly trying to recreate the characters, the poses and the scenes and so I put the writing on hold. Since I'm upgrading the resolution to 1920x1080, it means that I can't release partial upgrades: I have to finish all the art to the point that I already reached before progressing. It was already clear that it would've taken months, but now I'm even less sure about how much work I'll be able to put into this game for quite a while.

Recreating the characters and upgrading to HD resolution are worthy endeavours so go for it. Just know that there is someone out their who is still interested whenever you have time to make another release.

Reading DanLong's post I see that probability can affect what we see, so I wonder if there is still things I haven't seen? It's not a bad choice for making a game, but I would suggest adding a plus modifier for each probability check so that each time there is a check there is a greater chance of seeing the event.

 

[The Rogue Trader]

Reading DanLong's post I see that probability can affect what we see, so I wonder if there is still things I haven't seen?

I... uhm... I don't know? Cody? Brian? Meeting Martha after her shower? (not really random but it depends on a very difficult combination) Cindy's lab accident?

It's not a bad choice for making a game, but I would suggest adding a plus modifier for each probability check so that each time there is a check there is a greater chance of seeing the event.

That's a wonderful idea, I wish I had it myself. As I was writing, I'm not sure I'll keep the random chance and I'm considering switching to fixed, predictable triggers, but probably your
What I'm generally worried about is that random events will kick in too late, when they have been already overtaken by the events, something that I saw quite often in games. Your "incremental chance" suggestion would take care of that.

 

[PxGames]

I got an error when playing test with newest version. If you are confident in your story, you should post it in game release forum, there will be more audience.

 

[hiya02]

Give the random events a "window" (time, reference to some variable/stat/whatever...) during which they can occur, and when the window is getting closer to ending, just increase the chance of them triggering. A proper amount of RNG is good and makes the story to feel less static.

 

[The Rogue Trader]

I got an error when playing test with newest version. If you are confident in your story, you should post it in game release forum, there will be more audience.

Thanks Jpace! I had a vague report of a bug, but I didn't know what and where. I'll fix it as soon as I'll be back home this evening. Damn my habit of capitalizing variables.

I plan to put the demo in the game release forum when I'll reach the end of the fifth day with the story (Martha Route only), but before that, I'll have to redo completely the art, change a couple of things and address the inputs of all of you. In all honesty, posing and rendering are taking forever, so I don't see it happening before a few months.