VN Ren'Py Abandoned The Heir of Shadows [v0.2.2] [SpaceBird Studios]

[iMucha]

I'll be honest with what scene that applies to ok? DUDE, THE MC IS A MAGE, DO YOU THINK HE WON'T BE ABLE TO CLONE HIMSELF AT SOME POINT? Yeah, that was it... Now, if you have a problem dividing the LI even with a simulacrum of yourself, created temporarily only for that, then yeah, that's a problem I guess.

Will this be avoidable?

 

[-CookieMonster666-]

So I voted in the poll here, SpaceBirdDev, but just FYI my own desire would be that you expand on the phone a little, but don't get overly complicated. What you listed in the poll choice sounds good, but please don't spend inordinate amounts of time on a phone system. I think focusing on the story and characters is far better generally. I honestly don't find more complicated phone systems in games that helpful, and they tend to become more buggy the more involved they get.

 

[John64]

Story is not bad so far. Though since it's in early stages it's still hard to evaluate properly because it is pretty short. Models also look nice.

"BUT" the main con for me are RENDERS. They are awful. In technical meaning of this word. They are low-res, grainy and overshadowed. Sometimes I had to screenshot and use several filters, denoisers/rescalers to see at least something fappable.

A couple of examples (1st - ORIGINAL / 2nd - ALTERED after some filters to see at least smth):

Spoiler: A couple of image examples:

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If the renders were up to date it could be among top tier games on this site, but they look like they were made not even 5 years ago, but about 10 or more. Maybe I somehow got "compressed' version and somewhere exist another one, but I haven't seen it so far.

Still it was interesting to read (but VERY hard to fap, had to use a lot of imagination). I hope the dev could get a better rig. Coz there is no need to change anything - neither models, not frame compositings, just the rendering quality of images.

 

[-CookieMonster666-]

Story is not bad so far. Though since it's in early stages it's still hard to evaluate properly because it is pretty short. Models also look nice.

"BUT" the main con for me are RENDERS. They are awful. In technical meaning of this word. They are low-res, grainy and overshadowed. Sometimes I had to screenshot and use several filters, denoisers/rescalers to see at least something fappable.

A couple of examples (1st - ORIGINAL / 2nd - ALTERED after some filters to see at least smth):

Spoiler: A couple of image examples:

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If the renders were up to date it could be among top tier games on this site, but they look like they were made not even 5 years ago, but about 10 or more. Maybe I somehow got "compressed' version and somewhere exist another one, but I haven't seen it so far.

Still it was interesting to read (but VERY hard to fap, had to use a lot of imagination). I hope the dev could get a better rig. Coz there is no need to change anything - neither models, not frame compositings, just the rendering quality of images.

So let me get this straight: You were trying to fap to a clothed girl in an alleyway or at the very beginning where a spell was being cast? Also, at least 2 of these were intentionally in darker areas; these are things done in secret or where there would be little light if reality. I'm not saying it might not be better to lighten them a little to see better, but other than the final screenshot none of these are intended to be fap material. I'm not even sure about the last one, because the MC just walked in on Diana; there's nothing really sexual about it. Saying they're not fappable is, frankly, laughable. You're not supposed to be fapping to those shots.

What's more, the dev might even agree that these aren't as high quality as more modern art. However, a lot of devs when just starting out have lower quality rigs (as you said) and are working toward enough money for better GPUs, etc. Having content of lower quality initially should, frankly, be expected often. Several developers have higher quality at first, but there are a lot more who don't.

 

[Leelaverse]

I enjoyed the game thus far, I am definitely intrigued by the glimpses of the story we get, the game is short so can't really give a review on it and be fair yet. The renders aren't terrible but are a little low quality which can be expected for early versions of games, the characters all seem likeable to this point, and look forward to seeing how the choices will impact the story moving forward, definitely have my eye on this one, good luck dev

 

[imadumb]

Everything is too dark to see, the story is ok at least when i'm in the story right now, is ok, but, the renders aren't helping, can't see 90% of the things are happening

 

[damnmalic]

Just make that optional.

 

[m0us3r]

I can understand that renders quality can suffer from a poor rig, but still make those dark renders brighter!

And regardless, what's with the head?:

Spoiler: wtf

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The story is interesting, though it's a bit unpleasant that Bell doesn't say much in the hospital, and MC just lets it slide.

The dev should watch branches more carefully to avoid errors, e.g.

label ch1maingroup3:
    ...
    if TraumaG:

But you can't come there with TraumaG, as both `talking` and `fighting` options were unavailable.

Good luck and thanks for an interesting game!

 

[Kargan3033]

Well Spacebird I just finished the latest release and I have to say I like it, will be following this game for the time being.

 

[SpaceBirdDev]

Will this be avoidable?

Just make that optional.

But... that's literally the first thing said in the OP...
Most fetishes will be optional, as will All those that have something to do with netorase etc
I hope that clarifies it!

 

[SpaceBirdDev]

So I voted in the poll here, SpaceBirdDev, but just FYI my own desire would be that you expand on the phone a little, but don't get overly complicated. What you listed in the poll choice sounds good, but please don't spend inordinate amounts of time on a phone system. I think focusing on the story and characters is far better generally. I honestly don't find more complicated phone systems in games that helpful, and they tend to become more buggy the more involved they get.

100%. The idea is to keep things fairly simple, just some extras you can do if you want, a few apps for the player to be able to see their stats, and a couple more scenes that involve the phone, but that's about it.
That said, I do have plans on changing the interface of the phone, as soon as I have the means to do it.

But for now, I'm focusing on the story/paths, rather than secondary mechanics, so all the phone stuff will come probably around 0.5 or so.

 

[-CookieMonster666-]

100%. The idea is to keep things fairly simple, just some extras you can do if you want, a few apps for the player to be able to see their stats, and a couple more scenes that involve the phone, but that's about it.
That said, I do have plans on changing the interface of the phone, as soon as I have the means to do it.

But for now, I'm focusing on the story/paths, rather than secondary mechanics, so all the phone stuff will come probably around 0.5 or so.

BTW, if you haven't already, you should request a Game Developer badge for your profile so you're more recognizable on this thread: https://f95zone.to/tickets/categories/contact-staff.4/create

 

[SpaceBirdDev]

First of all, Thank you very much for the compliments! I'll be focusing on the main issue here (renders), but didn't want to just pass by the kind words of you all !!!!!

Everything is too dark to see, the story is ok at least when i'm in the story right now, is ok, but, the renders aren't helping, can't see 90% of the things are happening

I can understand that renders quality can suffer from a poor rig, but still make those dark renders brighter!

...RENDERS. They are awful. In technical meaning of this word. They are low-res, grainy and overshadowed. Sometimes I had to screenshot and use several filters, denoisers/rescalers to see at least something fappable.

Well, it's pretty obvious that a lot of people have a problem with the render quality, especially the lighting.

About the renders being low-res and grainy, I don't have much to say, as it's mostly the best I can do currently. I do plan to re-do all the renders to full-HD in the future but for now, for me to be able to release an update every 2/3 months, 1280x720 is the limit. One thing that might help is to play the game in windowed mode, so as to not stretch the image.

Now, when it comes to lighting, that's when I really need to say I'm sorry. Even though I mostly agree with -CookieMonster666- about the renders, that is that most of the darker ones shown by John64 are supposed to look dark, and lighting the way he did would make no actual sense (case and point being the alley at night looking like it's 12 pm on the edit), is clear that they are still very dark, and that should definitively change.

Now, the world I'm using is change, and I want to be clear with you on that. I won't be making things brighter just for the sake of it. Hell, in my opinion, most of the edited renders (Strictly when it comes to lighting) are worse. I'm also not a big fan of just turning on a big flashlight behind the camera and calling it a day.

So what I'm going to start doing is simply using the light more carefully, lighting the characters and important parts of darker renders without turning the brightness to 100. It'll take some time to implement this on the old renders (probably only with the FullHD update), but I'll be careful to do it on the new ones! I just ask for patience while I learn how to better the lighting of scenes in general.

And regardless, what's with the head?:

I've been informed on discord about that one... Honestly, I have no idea what happened
But It's already fixed on 0.3, so don't worry. I just didn't think making a 0.2.3 just for that render would be the best option, if that makes any sense.

The story is interesting, though it's a bit unpleasant that Bell doesn't say much in the hospital, and MC just lets it slide.

Also fixed on 0.3 (Not really a bug, but oh well)
Some people were talking about it, and they made some very good points about the whole conversation with bell, so I took the time to completely redesign how it will work, and I think it's definitely more open.

The dev should watch branches more carefully to avoid errors, e.g.

label ch1maingroup3:
    ...
    if TraumaG:

But you can't come there with TraumaG, as both `talking` and `fighting` options were unavailable.

That one is not an error if I remember correctly. It's true that in 0.1 (and maybe 0.2.0, I can't remember) if you had trauma you weren't able to go with bell, but as far as I'm aware both the paths are open now, regardless of having or not having trauma.

I could be wrong on that one though, I'll look more into it when I'm home, and edit the comment accordingly.

 

[battali0n]

Reading the forums can be really interesting but I have found it to be essential if you have any questions about the creators intent. Your tags initially had me very concerned as there are so many different ways they can be implemented but you have put all that to rest with your responses.
My wife is an English as second language speaker and I had to laugh because of where you used "reunion" instead of "meeting" as she often has done the same thing. Even though you are not a native speaker your translation is understandable and mostly enjoyable although every once in while it seems a bit awkward.

I love the Li's and the story but I have 2 things that were bothering me.
1) The transitions between scenes and the story in general seem a bit rushed and I found myself several times saying WTF and trying to sort out what was happening. I was able to use the walkthrough and the discussions here to clarify my confusions but would have been happier if that hadn't been necessary.
2) The quality of the renders. Turns out it was exactly what I thought it would be, hardware limitations. I will do my best to enjoy the story and wait patiently for the improved renders when you are able to upgrade your rig.

That being said I want to encourage you. I like that you respond positively to peoples criticism's and what your solutions are but at the same time stand your ground about what you want in your game. That instills confidence in me that you aren't going to blindside me with something I despise. I've recently quit 2 games I was subbing to and banned their creators because initially they gave me the ability to turn down Bi-sexually content and then all of a sudden turned a bunch of my Li's bi-sexual and forced the content on me. I'm not sure why developers think that is what we want but it has become more prevalent on one hand with many of them assuming that harem=bi-sexual Li's and on the other hand I see developers who are aware and are putting Poly in their tags instead of harem to differentiate or being very clear that it is 100% avoidable as in (never happened). I don't mind if a creator puts some content in that I don't like as long as it is optional, not canon. I understand that other people have fetish's that I don't. I just don't want them forced on me.
Looking forward to your next update.

 

[Allan Trumbull]

No new content came with latest update??

 

[SpaceBirdDev]

No new content came with latest update??

If by "last update" you mean 0.2.2, then no, only bug fixes. Only the main updates (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, etc) are story related.

On that note, 0.3 is on its way! I hope you look forward to it!

 

[goulet1995]

has the dev answerd if lesbian will be avoidable i know its been discused but i didnt see him give an answere

 

[battali0n]

has the dev answerd if lesbian will be avoidable i know its been discused but i didnt see him give an answere

I was wondering the same thing and am still waiting for an answer.

 

[SpaceBirdDev]

has the dev answerd if lesbian will be avoidable i know its been discused but i didnt see him give an answere

I was wondering the same thing and am still waiting for an answer.

Hello Hello. Lesbian, as with every fetish, will be totally optional!

 

[battali0n]

Hello Hello. Lesbian, as with every fetish, will be totally optional!

I love your positive attitude and all your answers. Usually I wait a bit longer to decide but I made an exception and subbed to you today on suscribestar.