YYYgamesYYY

Newbie
Aug 26, 2020
76
232
105
and you know what they say about someone who is a Jack of All Trades, they are a master of none. In other words, it takes a lot longer to mater many skills than only one.
"Jack of all trades, master of none, but often times better than a master of one."
Jack of all trades usually is faster than a master of one.

Even if everything you say about noticing things previously overlooked was true, that's bad strategy. I stopped supporting this game because of how much development slowed down. With maybe one hour of content per year, you'd be paying $60/hour for a renpy game. That's insane.

Also do a diff on between versions, very little dev is actually happening, so please don't pretend like development has slowed down because more thorough work is being done.

I don't even fault a dev for trying to milk their game's patreon for as many years as possible, just don't act like that isn't what is happening.
 

TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
15,921
37,692
1,031
"Jack of all trades, master of none, but often times better than a master of one."
Jack of all trades usually is faster than a master of one.

Even if everything you say about noticing things previously overlooked was true, that's bad strategy. I stopped supporting this game because of how much development slowed down. With maybe one hour of content per year, you'd be paying $60/hour for a renpy game. That's insane.

Also do a diff on between versions, very little dev is actually happening, so please don't pretend like development has slowed down because more thorough work is being done.

I don't even fault a dev for trying to milk their game's patreon for as many years as possible, just don't act like that isn't what is happening.
It is a bad strategy to you. But to anyone who cares about quality over speed, probably disagrees with you. Considering that they have almost 3000 paid supporters, I would have to say that there are a lot of people who disagree with you.

By 'more work being done', I mean that it takes more work, to get the same number of renders because this might be a hard thing for people who have never done any thing before to understand, but doing a better job takes longer than a half-assed one.

Yeah, because the person who has never worked on a game before, knows better than someone who has worked on many. Right.
 

Living In A Lewd World

Active Member
Jan 15, 2021
732
742
237
The need for completion is a strange modern thing. I don’t get it at all, personally; life goes on forever, it doesn’t *end*, it simply moves on to new characters; so why should our stories have these weird, imposed notions of endings? The happily-ever-afters are stomach turning, but so are unsatisfactories, unanswered questions, etc.

In another world, Game of Thrones is still running, without the sabotage of an imposed ending, and virtually 100% of fans are far happier.

Some psychologists argue that happiness is having things to look forward to. A visit from your girlfriend, the birth of a grandchild, a Parisian vacation, that magazine subscription that delights you, the latest installment in the long-lasting series of novels.

In short, this is a story that *shouldn’t* end. There shouldn’t be an endpoint to it; there is no one story question that, once resolved, would leave the rest of the characters in some completed state. I hope to be delighted by new installments for the rest of my life.
I must say, that I actually strongly believe that a story should work towards an ending so that in the end it is remembered as a really great story.

The problem I see with stories that go on ad infinitum is that it often happens that at a certain point the story becomes unfocussed and so somehow arbitrary or starts to go round in circles and becomes irrelevant. I really like this game and I think and hope that this development will bring many more wonderful updates to this VN, but I also hope that at some point it will find a good and worthy end so that people will remember the great game and not the developer who didn't know when to stop. But at the moment I don't see that coming at all as the game has a very clear main story-focus which is supported by lots of wonderful 'sub stories', that don't drift away from it.
 

Xantoser

Member
Apr 28, 2020
267
467
208
The need for completion is a strange modern thing. I don’t get it at all, personally; life goes on forever, it doesn’t *end*, it simply moves on to new characters; so why should our stories have these weird, imposed notions of endings? The happily-ever-afters are stomach turning, but so are unsatisfactories, unanswered questions, etc.

In another world, Game of Thrones is still running, without the sabotage of an imposed ending, and virtually 100% of fans are far happier.

Some psychologists argue that happiness is having things to look forward to. A visit from your girlfriend, the birth of a grandchild, a Parisian vacation, that magazine subscription that delights you, the latest installment in the long-lasting series of novels.

In short, this is a story that *shouldn’t* end. There shouldn’t be an endpoint to it; there is no one story question that, once resolved, would leave the rest of the characters in some completed state. I hope to be delighted by new installments for the rest of my life.
I get what you’re saying, but I think you’re mixing up life with storytelling. Life’s all over the place, random, and doesn’t really have a clear ending until it does. But good stories are about SOMETHING and they have structure. They need a beginning, a middle, a climax, and an end (even the ancient Greeks knew that, so it's not a modern thing) Without an ending, it's just... things happening, and that’s not really a story. It’s like random events. In case of adults games: events pulled out of developer ass in the fly.

About that thing you said regarding GoT still going: I see what you mean, but honestly, if that show kept going, it would’ve just fallen apart even more than the last season did. People would’ve stopped watching, and it wouldn’t have had any direction. There had to be an end.

If you look at any classic story, it’s about resolving something, tying things up. Without an end, it’s not really satisfying. Stuff just falls apart, characters don't progress, there is no meaning and nothing matters anymore. And if a story just drags on without an end, it’s not a story anymore, it’s a soap opera.

Now, I’m not saying a story is worthless just because it doesn’t have an ending. Sometimes authors don’t finish or something happens. But that leaves you with this feeling of unfinished business. You know there’s something missing, and it’s frustrating. It’s still good, but without closure, it’s hard to feel fully satisfied. Long-running shows or books can be fun, but they tend to lose momentum. There’s a reason for that: they forget where they were going.

Sure, happy endings can be cheesy, but a good ending doesn’t have to be happy. It can be sad, bittersweet, or even open-ended. But it has to feel like it fits with what the characters have been through. If a story has no end, it loses its meaning. And there's no pay-off.
The best stories are the ones that end. Even if it's sad or unexpected, the closure makes it powerful.

So no, I don’t think it’s weird to want a story to end. I think it’s just a matter of respecting good storytelling.
 

Dweedle

Newbie
May 20, 2017
39
96
202
I never really tried the Mycocks Manor until now, is it basically just a patreon poll? That seems kinda wild to me to spend all that time writing, rendering, developing. It feels not as substantive as like a holiday side story even, but still would require the same amount of work.
 

torpedogoat

Member
May 24, 2024
258
573
179
I never really tried the Mycocks Manor until now, is it basically just a patreon poll? That seems kinda wild to me to spend all that time writing, rendering, developing. It feels not as substantive as like a holiday side story even, but still would require the same amount of work.
Mykock's Manor is similar to a holiday side story. It's a Patreon side story. Here is the idea:

When you play the main game, it is clear that some rich and powerful people with a lot of political influence are behind the school. They created this boarding school for adult girls in a remote part of the country, and they are making sure that the girls are isolated from their loved ones. They even filter the Internet. And they hired the Headmaster not despite, but precisely because of his, let's say, unorthodox method.

These powerful people (I would have to replay Mykock's Manor to check if they are ever referred to as an organization) stay very much in the background, and it is rare that we learn anything at all about them. Occasionally they want a particular girl to be sent to the school, or ask for photo or video documentation of interesting views and events at the school.

In a way, the game's Patreons are the real-life equivalent of these powerful people. Mykock's Manor is a kinetic VN that plays with this analogy by addressing the Patreons as if they were in-game characters and asking them for their wishes on the direction of the school. Things such as which type of more revealing school uniform to go for. This side story currently consists of three parts, each of which ends with a poll questionnaire that we can just skip to get to the next part. In Part 1, a person representing a Patreon visits Mykock at his manor. Here we get an idea of the kind of employment that these powerful men ultimately have in mind for the students. But the students serving at the manor are not quite there yet. The story currently ends with Part 3 in a private spa that is part of the manor.

I don't think that the developers spend too much time on this. They are trying out various kinds of clothing and other things in renders to see what works and what doesn't. And then they quickly build a superficial story around this to let Patreons decide between the reasonable alternatives. The alternative would be that they do most of the renders anyway, perhaps a bit more quickly because they needn't be so perfect and needn't fit together. But we wouldn't have this rather nice side story that helps bridge the time between updates of the main game.
 

CruelOcean

Member
Sep 17, 2018
349
264
251
how do i complete objective that says maxine hanging aroung rachels room or smthing of pride and president
 

Dweedle

Newbie
May 20, 2017
39
96
202
...

I don't think that the developers spend too much time on this. They are trying out various kinds of clothing and other things in renders to see what works and what doesn't. And then they quickly build a superficial story around this to let Patreons decide between the reasonable alternatives. The alternative would be that they do most of the renders anyway, perhaps a bit more quickly because they needn't be so perfect and needn't fit together. But we wouldn't have this rather nice side story that helps bridge the time between updates of the main game.
I do appreciate the meta aspect to patreons now that you lay it out.

I think you're oversimplifying the work that goes into this though. These aren't like simple t poses from a few angles to show off choices, its almost the same amount of work that goes into an actual game. Different poses, expressions, written dialogue, etc. The programming would be simpler because they don't need to fit it into the systems of the main game (like scene gallery, remembering quest progress, etc.) but it's still alot.

Which is honestly fine if the end result feels worth it, and this part is subjective. Like I said I don't think it doesn't feel as substantive as a holiday side story. There was no cute seasonal outfit per character you wouldn't normally see, just like 4-5 sizes of different maid outfits and lingerie. There won't be actual sexual content because then the NTR haters will complain because its not the headmaster. I don't feel like I really learned anything new about Mycock and his secretary that couldn't have been shown in a short scene in the main game.

And yeah that's it in the end really, I would have preferred they spend even half of the time on this side game on the main one. If they want a simple diversion from the main game then they should make a kinetic novel prequel for the headmaster, where there are no choices. That would be a similar amount of work but they could actually cut loose with story, characters, outfits, etc.
 
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ubblesnop

Active Member
Sep 1, 2018
684
1,242
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I get what you’re saying, but I think you’re mixing up life with storytelling. Life’s all over the place, random, and doesn’t really have a clear ending until it does. But good stories are about SOMETHING and they have structure. They need a beginning, a middle, a climax, and an end (even the ancient Greeks knew that, so it's not a modern thing)
I think that’s a misreading of Greek drama.

It’s early April. Let’s go to the theatre at the Akropolis. Let’s see a tragedy.

In this tragedy, lost to history, Zeus kidnaps Europa for some sexy times. Europa’s brother Cadmus goes searching for her. The Oracle of Delphi tells him to stop searching for his sister and instead to follow a cow, and found a city where it sets down. Thus he founds the city of Thebes.

That’s a story, with an ending, right?

Let’s take in another play.

After the founding of Thebes, Cadmus’ men go to get water at a spring, but a dragon sacred to Ares guards the spring. The dragon slays Cadmus’ men, so he slays the dragon. Ares is furious. For killing the serpent, Cadmus spends eight years serving Ares. Afterwards, as a reward, Ares gives his daughter Harmonia (mothered by Aphrodite) to be Cadmus’ bride.

That’s a story, with an ending, right?

And that’s it for this year’s festival.

We return the next year. Let’s catch another play.

In this play, Cadmus’ daughter Semele gives birth to Dionysus, and later sees Zeus in his true form and dies.

It’s a great play, and it has an ending, right?

And another play is about Cadmus’ grandson Pentheus (this is The Bacchae by Euripides). King Penthus tries to ban the spreading cult of Dionysus. Cadmus’ daughter Agave, drunk and in the throes of Dionysus, rips the head off Pentheus, Cadmus’ grandson.

A complete story with an ending, right?

We catch another play, set elsewhere, in Pisa. King Tantalus invites the gods to a feast. He murders his son Pelops and feeds him to the gods. The gods eat Pelops’ shoulder, but, realizing what they’ve done, they resurrect Pelops and condemn Tantalus to Hades, where he is punished forever, surrounded by delicious food while he starves.

Good play! That’s a story, with an ending, right?

But then we watch another play. Pelops — the same whose shoulder was eaten by gods — is king of Pisa now. He holds court, where he receives a refugee named Laius. Laius is the son of Cadmus (seen before). Laius rapes Pelops’ son Chrysippus, and is cursed for it: he will be murdered by his own son.

Complete story?

We go see another play. Laius reclaims the throne of Thebes, marries Jocasta, has a son named Oedipus…

I’m sure you know THAT play.

And maybe you get the point I’m trying to make?

Because OEDIPUS is AN EPISODE of Greek drama.

It is A PLAY.

It is AN UPDATE, like an update of The Headmaster.

OEDIPUS THE KING is part of an endlessly proliferating series of stories that build a thorough, all-encompassing world of mythologies.

In the Theban cycle, Oedipus’s story is followed by Seven Against Thebes, and then Antigone, and then Oedipus at Colonus.

But the Pisan cycle continues too. Pelops has a son, Agamemnon, you’ve probably heard of him too.

And then there are Orestes and Elektra, the son and daughter of Agamemnon.

*****

Everyone who attended the Greek theatre would return each year expecting UPDATES.

The stories CONTINUED.

*****

Edited to try to keep the transliteration of Cadmus consistently romanized, not Kadmus.
 
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TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
15,921
37,692
1,031
I think that’s a misreading of Greek drama.

It’s early April. Let’s go to the theatre at the Akropolis. Let’s see a tragedy.

In this tragedy, lost to history, Zeus kidnaps Europa for some sexy times. Europa’s brother Cadmus goes searching for her. The Oracle of Delphi tells him to stop searching for his sister and instead to follow a cow, and found a city where it sets down. Thus he founds the city of Thebes.

That’s a story, with an ending, right?

Let’s take in another play.

After the founding of Thebes, Cadmus’ men go to get water at a spring, but a dragon sacred to Ares guards the spring. The dragon slays Cadmus’ men, so he slays the dragon. Ares is furious. For killing the serpent, Cadmus spends eight years serving Ares. Afterwards, as a reward, Ares gives his daughter Harmonia (mothered by Aphrodite) to be Cadmus’ bride.

That’s a story, with an ending, right?

And that’s it for this year’s festival.

We return the next year. Let’s catch another play.

In this play, Cadmus’ daughter Semele gives birth to Dionysus, and later sees Zeus in his true form and dies.

It’s a great play, and it has an ending, right?

And another play is about Cadmus’ grandson Pentheus (this is The Bacchae by Euripides). King Penthus tries to ban the spreading cult of Dionysus. Cadmus’ daughter Agave, drunk and in the throes of Dionysus, rips the head off Pentheus, Cadmus’ grandson.

A complete story with an ending, right?

We catch another play, set elsewhere, in Pisa. King Tantalus invites the gods to a feast. He murders his son Pelops and feeds him to the gods. The gods eat Pelops’ shoulder, but, realizing what they’ve done, they resurrect Pelops and condemn Tantalus to Hades, where he is punished forever, surrounded by delicious food while he starves.

Good play! That’s a story, with an ending, right?

But then we watch another play. Pelops — the same whose shoulder was eaten by gods — is king of Pisa now. He holds court, where he receives a refugee named Laius. Laius is the son of Kadmus (seen before). Laius rapes Pelops’ son Chrysippus, and is cursed for it: he will be murdered by his own son.

Complete story?

We go see another play. Laius reclaims the throne of Thebes, marries Jocasta, has a son named Oedipus…

I’m sure you know THAT play.

And maybe you get the point I’m trying to make?

Because OEDIPUS is AN EPISODE of Greek drama.

It is A PLAY.

It is AN UPDATE, like an update of The Headmaster.

OEDIPUS THE KING is part of an endlessly proliferating series of stories that build a thorough, all-encompassing world of mythologies.

In the Theban cycle, Oedipus’s story is followed by Seven Against Thebes, and then Antigone, and then Oedipus at Colonus.

But the Pisan cycle continues too. Pelops has a son, Agamemnon, you’ve probably heard of him too.

And then there are Orestes and Elektra, the son and daughter of Agamemnon.

*****

Everyone who attended the Greek theatre would return each year expecting UPDATES.

The stories CONTINUED.
Hey, as long as Pandora is naked and has her box, what more do you need?
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