Ren'Py The Higher Society, Text Based [v0.59] [xxerikxx]

[Sir Anal]

The game, the ideas, the writing, it's quite interesting, there's even much worse here .
But the images are really missing!
Yes, you can use your imagination. But there are times when you don't feel like it. And, I think, there are many people on this site who never feel like it
As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to keep following this game. And I hope with all my heart that there will eventually be pictures.
Keep up the good work, dev and good luck with your search for an artist.

 

[snarkster1558]

What level of Patreon/Subscribe support are expected to sign on for in order to continue with updates.

 

[Belnick]

why not just upload a txt file instead

 

[xxerikxx]

What level of Patreon/Subscribe support are expected to sign on for in order to continue with updates.

Thanks for pointing that out. I need to go in and update my Patreon sites. I think I will put it at 5$/month. But of course the more support the more likely it will be that I can afford paying someone to make renders for this game and for The 2nd Chance.

 

[nn2017]

Good luck

 

[speedup]

at least the girl dont look like ultra bimbo

 

[pablo25]

hope that you can do all of them... cant wait

 

[Yandere Lover]

I'll keep an eye on this one, I don't wanna download it till there is more Content instead of just text. I hope this game succeeds though, because the concept is interesting. I also hope there will be an Incest Patch for it. Step-Father doesn't really qualify as Incest to me.

 

[Moisan4]

Spoiler: Texed Based Games

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The very first CRPGs were all texted based games.

"The earliest role-playing video games were created in the mid-to-late 1970s, as offshoots of early university mainframe text-based RPGs that were played on PDP-10, PLATO and Unix-based systems. These included M199h, created in 1974, Dungeon, written in 1975 or 1976, Pedit5, created in 1975, and DnD, also from 1975. These early games were inspired by pen-and-paper role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons, which was first published in 1974, and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy." -Wikipedia.

Personally, my adult and porn themed games require visuals (and preferably audio too), but texted based games are certainly games.

 

[T51bwinterized]

The password is Fidelio

 

[animalrapist]

It's not an accurate representation of hollywood until they start drinking blood and sacrificing infants to Moloch, but I suppose incestuous orgies are a start

 

[oyn1992]

good luck

 

[theCircle57]

xxerikxx Have you considered using Twine to make your games? It seems to be a lot more in line with how you've been making them script first and art (maybe, hopefully) later.

Personally, it kind of make more sense to scroll through text and click through choices rather than having to click through every line of text. Also, people kind of expect Ren'Py games to be visual and, although it's not necessarily so with Twine, the option to add renders is still there.

I vaguely remember that, at one point, 2nd Chance was supposed to eventually have actual scene renders in it. Since they stayed text-based anyway, Twine seems like a fitting option as it's kind of understood if there'd be minimal visual aids and it's a lot more expected to just have basic descriptions in place of an image.

Since you're proven to be able to write a complete story with an actual ending, your stuff would already have a leg up on a lot of the others out there as too many of even the most basic of CYOA stories either get abandoned or have been in progress for too long.

EDIT: I kinda find it funny that some Twine games tend to focus development on visual flair with minimal progress to the writing, yet here you are on Ren'Py developing on pretty much ALL the writing with minimal visual flair.

 

[xxerikxx]

I'll keep an eye on this one, I don't wanna download it till there is more Content instead of just text. I hope this game succeeds though, because the concept is interesting. I also hope there will be an Incest Patch for it. Step-Father doesn't really qualify as Incest to me.

Her biological father left before she was born so she thinks of MC as her real dad. He has been a part of the family her entire life.

 

[Acardia02]

I love your stories, I hope you can someone with the Summer's Gone graphic level.

 

[11h11]

Ah ok, skipping it for now then. Hopefully the NTR in this game is light.

NTR? There isn´t "NTR tag", that´s why I came to read the comments and see if the game could be interesting enought to give it a try. If there will be NTR of any kind, or just the smell of it, I´m 100% out.

 

[xxerikxx]

xxerikxx Have you considered using Twine to make your games? It seems to be a lot more in line with how you've been making them script first and art (maybe, hopefully) later.

Personally, it kind of make more sense to scroll through text and click through choices rather than having to click through every line of text. Also, people kind of expect Ren'Py games to be visual and, although it's not necessarily so with Twine, the option to add renders is still there.

I vaguely remember that, at one point, 2nd Chance was supposed to eventually have actual scene renders in it. Since they stayed text-based anyway, Twine seems like a fitting option as it's kind of understood if there'd be minimal visual aids and it's a lot more expected to just have basic descriptions in place of an image.

Since you're proven to be able to write a complete story with an actual ending, your stuff would already have a leg up on a lot of the others out there as too many of even the most basic of CYOA stories either get abandoned or have been in progress for too long.

EDIT: I kinda find it funny that some Twine games tend to focus development on visual flair with minimal progress to the writing, yet here you are on Ren'Py developing on pretty much ALL the writing with minimal visual flair.

Thanks for the feedback!
No, I haven't really tried to learn Twine or looked at it as an alternative. When I write, I like to imagine what the different scenes might look like in Ren'Py. I think it would be negative for my writing if I failed to convince myself that one day, I will be able to find someone who will make the illustrations.

Another thing is that I want the players to take their time with the story. I don’t want the players to just scroll through the text. I think the stories are pretty good and that people will enjoy them more if they just slow down a little bit. It also gives me an easy way to switch between the preview pictures to show which characters are included in the scenes.

We have started on making 2nd Chance with actual scene renders in it. It’s published under the name The 2nd chance. I was working with artists from December to June creating the pilot, and I think that the result was pretty good. Unfortunately, I don’t have any money to put into this project so after the pilot the artists left the project.

I hope to be able to afford to hire someone who can make the drawings for both The 2nd Chance and this game, but at the moment it looks difficult. I have a few Patrons and this new story is my way of giving something back to them. Future updates to the game “The Higher Society” will be exclusively for my subscribers on Patron or Subscriberstar.

 

[11h11]

I hope that an artist at some point will create pictures for the game and replace the scene-descriptions. So, the descriptions are less detailed than many other text-based games. I still believe that many will find the story enjoyable.

Images aren´t a substitute of good text, but a complement for text. Think for example about a famous and successful porn game: "Good Girl Gone Bad". It has a plenty of drawings (carbon-copy of real life porn photos, I think). But the dev don´t say "the images already show the scene, so I only need to write some generic descriptions and dialogues for it". The dev describes extensively de scene expanding the things that the images show, like the things that the characters are feeling and thinking, and adding kinky dialogues. That's one of the things that make that game great.

Even if this game is text-based only until you find someone that add renders or drawings to it, the best possible scene-descriptions and dialogues would be and added value for this game (and any other).

 

[Jeroen]

Character design progress: Oh, I like this one. Copy, paste, paste, paste, paste, paste.

This is a storyboard, not a game. Not my cup of tea. I don't want to imagine shit, I want to see it. That's one of the primary reasons why I don't like to read books, and this 'game' feels like reading a book.

 

[theCircle57]

When I write, I like to imagine what the different scenes might look like in Ren'Py. I think it would be negative for my writing if I failed to convince myself that one day, I will be able to find someone who will make the illustrations.

Good to know that you have some concrete plans for the eventual in-game art. Didn't know that you had Ren'Py in mind from the start.

Another thing is that I want the players to take their time with the story. I don’t want the players to just scroll through the text.

The "scroll through" part was more of how it's easier on my eyes to read a lot of text and not necessarily that it's faster. Since you said that it was planned from the start to be an actual visual novel instead of just a basic text CYOA, then my point's moot.

I hope to be able to afford to hire someone who can make the drawings for both The 2nd Chance and this game, but at the moment it looks difficult.

If getting renders is somewhat of a problem, maybe you can lessen the amount of necessary CGs for the game as it might help temper expectations a bit.

Something worth trying out might be like how most Japanese VNs and other Ren'Py games like GGGB/Our Red String, Sanguine Rose, Ravager or Seeds of Chaos do it and keep your renders to just:

1. Static setting backgrounds
2. Static character sprites of everyone in the scene
3. Event / Sex scene renders

There's no need to go all the way with animations, paperdolls, variants, expressions, transitions, alt angles, etc. because all that's really needed is to visually establish the immediate setting (1) and who're in the scene (2). After that, you can then go with full scene renders when something's worth seeing (3).

Since "The 2nd Chance" (and presumably also The Higher Society) is more of a "digital comic w/ choices" style, every single moment gets a frame for visual representation which is pretty much like doing #3 but for everything, even all the mundane scenes. Players are no strangers to using their imagination to make up for things but something as simple as just doing #3 for significant scenes and then #1 and #2 for everything else helps a lot and will cost a lot less in renders.

Of course, it's all just a suggestion. If you got a plan you want to stick to, then go for it and I wish you luck on your endeavors.