VN Ren'Py Abandoned The Intoxicating Flavor [v0.10.6] [PixelsLab]

4.00 star(s) 151 Votes

PixelsLab

Active Member
Game Developer
Mar 17, 2018
556
5,651
Hey, PixelsLab.

I am sorry to hear about this whole situation. Your game was one of the 1st 3D CG VNs that I enjoyed. I remember looking at the screenshots of such VNs thinking "those silicon looking characters are weird and story cant be good, no way". Then out of boredom I tried some of those games including TIF and I am so glad I did. It got me into this whole new world of fantastic stories and your story is one of my favorites. I honestly don't know why your game is not near the top of this site ratings, it has engaging story, good pacing and the renders are beatifull. The characters are well written and each one of them has unique and believable personality. It has good humor, enough romance and mystery. I don't know what went wrong or how to properly describe my feelings toward TIF in English, да и на родном не смогу выразить те чувства, которые я испытывал при прочтении... It is sad to know, that I will never see the closure, but I understand your reasoning.

Желаю тебе успехов на работе, а так же надеюсь, что ты поправишься. Береги себя и спасибо за это прекрасное приключение.
Thanks for the warm words! And thank you for your understanding.
 

PixelsLab

Active Member
Game Developer
Mar 17, 2018
556
5,651
A separate story about Eve's origin, the people of the Island, and maybe Innana's history.

Besides your health and financial challenges (both beyond your control), I think perhaps TIF's growth was held back by a lack of marketing. It's a great story, the characters are strong, and the models are beautiful.

Don't give up on this "world" you have created. It is excellent for telling so many stories within. And certainly, some of those side stories might be enough to launch a game on Steam. As we say in English, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater". Just because Steam didn't like TIF, doesn't mean it won't love several of your other stories in this world and with those characters.
I'm still thinking about what to do with TIF and the characters in the game.
Right now, the main thing is to regain my health. Maybe after that I'll have some sensible thoughts.
 

PixelsLab

Active Member
Game Developer
Mar 17, 2018
556
5,651
klykcton Maviarab Josie5213 xCalon EricGrey Joshy92
Thank you so much for the kind words and for your thoughts that you shared. Although after them I want to go back and finish the game again as soon as possible, I still have to stop now. I can't promise that I'll definitely finish it, but after your words the motivation to do so is getting bigger and bigger! Really, thank you!
 

boulimanus

Active Member
Jun 10, 2018
848
1,097
The idea of doing a new 'easy' game while you put TIF on hold isn't a bad one. Can help you resting & resetting and bring in people to your work.
I reckon a Katie story would be great. Could be a sequel or standalone parallel story.
I might be biased but at the same time, she is great and could easily hold a game on her own.
 

Glooskabe

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2020
1,693
2,316
The idea of doing a new 'easy' game while you put TIF on hold isn't a bad one. Can help you resting & resetting and bring in people to your work.
I reckon a Katie story would be great. Could be a sequel or standalone parallel story.
I might be biased but at the same time, she is great and could easily hold a game on her own.
Katie is awesome, and as a character, I think you're right about her ability to carry a game. However, WHEN would such a game take place? It can't be in the "past" or it wouldn't be very interesting for pervs like us since she's canonically "under-experienced" going into this game. It could only be about Katie's fantasies. (She's a bit of a freak so they'd probably be pretty hot, but most people don't like dream scenes with-in a game. I can't see how folks would engage with a game consisting solely of dream-scenes.) It couldn't be in the "future" without spoiling the ending of this game. (We don't even know if she survives or not, heaven forbid!)

On the other hand, a prequel about Maria might be fun... :unsure::whistle::coffee:
 

zielony2

Active Member
Dec 16, 2017
548
276
PixelsLab i know some man, with big problems of breathing (he cant live without inhalator 1 day). He was mobilised, and sent as a member of meat assault, fortunatly he is the only 1 of his platoon alive, but lost his leg. I understand you have health problems, is this a risk you be mobilised?
(keep warm)
 

Master of Puppets

Conversation Conqueror
Oct 5, 2017
7,366
9,736
Katie is awesome, and as a character, I think you're right about her ability to carry a game. However, WHEN would such a game take place? It can't be in the "past" or it wouldn't be very interesting for pervs like us since she's canonically "under-experienced" going into this game. It could only be about Katie's fantasies. (She's a bit of a freak so they'd probably be pretty hot, but most people don't like dream scenes with-in a game. I can't see how folks would engage with a game consisting solely of dream-scenes.) It couldn't be in the "future" without spoiling the ending of this game. (We don't even know if she survives or not, heaven forbid!)

On the other hand, a prequel about Maria might be fun... :unsure::whistle::coffee:
I wouldn't mind seeing her with her past girlfriend, though some people don't like girl/girl.
 

holymoly35cb

Member
Mar 31, 2019
460
156
I'm still thinking about what to do with TIF and the characters in the game.
Right now, the main thing is to regain my health. Maybe after that I'll have some sensible thoughts.
First off, I'm sorry that you're going through your situations. I hope everything works out and you get healthier. WHEN not if, you get stronger, if you decide to keep working on TIF, what about trying Itch.IO or creating your own website to sell the updates.
 

nasty.pickle

Newbie
Mar 4, 2023
20
36
PixelsLab Really sad to hear this one is put on ice. What you've been going through financially and health-wise is a real kick in the nuts. Knowing one of the most intriguing AVNs won't be finished is just some gentle ball-fondling in comparison, though it still hurts. Clearly lot of thought and effort went into it, wish you had the satisfaction of finishing it (and me the satisfaction of finding out how it ends, obviously). But health comes first, get your life back on track, heal (physically and mentally), pay your debts and consider what's next for you.

If you ever decide to come back to this sort of work, I think it would be a real shame to let TIF die - it has come a long way, seems like you know where the story would go next and got the technicalities of producing it figured out. The characters are well-fleshed out and I really liked all of them, the story is mysterious and hard to predict, just enjoyable writing in general.
So couple of thoughts/random ideas on apparent lack of TIF's success. The game is really good, the characters excellent. I remember when I played it for the first time, the beginning seemed weird and a bit confusing and I was thinking if I should keep playing or not (I'm very glad I did). I really disliked MC at the start - I do like him now when I understand him a bit more, always a testament to good writing in my book. Once you get to know the characters, you get intrigued by the mystery behind everything, you're hooked, and the game gets better and better the further you get. So maybe people are discouraged at the beginning without giving it a proper chance? When I replayed it, it didn't feel like such a bad start at all though - but I already knew the background at that point and I know the beginning has been remade a bit, so it's hard to identify it exactly now.

In general, this is an adult visual novel with the ephasis on the novel, and a really good one imho. I actually prefer it this way, there is tons of free porn if that's what I feel like. But for whatever reason, I don't think many people playing these games care about that too much. If the ratio of scenes to required reading is not good enough, they just go elsewhere. That, sadly, would be my guess behind the lack of TIFs success. And it takes a while to get into the TIFs story/characters as well. On steam I've bought in the past several interactive novels, and the quality is pretty trash tbh, this is WAY better quality than those and I would be a customer - sad and puzzled to hear steam has rejected the game, that could have really made a difference. With some of the stupid and even disgusting cr*p I've played there, makes little sense to me. I feel like if you presented this as interactive novel rather than Adult VN, you might have had a much more interest in it, though without a platform like steam it would still be hard I'm sure. Or, though it seems like too much pandering in my mind, how about putting some more nice scenes at the beginning (flashbacks that won't change the current story for example, or partial scenes from what is coming in the game) - so those who play for the scenes rather than story keep playing until they are hooked. If you do come back to it, feels like marketing (in one form or another) will be the key, because the game is definitely good enough on its own, real shame it doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
It's hard to find AVNs where the writing isn't childish or laughable (far too many feel like a neanderthal's fevered masturbation dream), yours has been really enjoyable and your insights into human characters pretty astute. I'm guessing you've been through some sh*t and have had interesting life experiences... so thanks for sharing those via the game! I don't do patreon or any kind of subscription, always wait for steam release.. here I can't and your situation makes me rethink my approach. What's the easiest way I can make a one time purchase for the game outside steam? Yeah, I know you are dropping it right now, but it's one of the few worth my time even unfinished, and I should appreciate it (and try going to a quality hottub if you got back problems, it fixed me. Though it seems your issues are way more serious than mine, still give it shot if you haven't already).

If you ever do return to this, I'd be delighted and will gladly do some polish on the english translation for free if you need (can't help with much else I'm afraid).
If you decide for sure you will never finish this one, could you maybe let me know where it goes next? (rough textual outline/summary would be just fine). Damn, I already miss the shenanigans of the Madness Princess...
Either way, thanks for the game, don't let the haters get to you and good luck in your future endeavours, whatever they may be..
 

Lynn23

New Member
Sep 27, 2017
5
14
As an on-and-off Patreon supporter, it may not be my place to post here.

Sometimes I've been frustrated when updates have taken a long time or when they have come, the updates have been rather small.

Nevertheless, I have always followed the PixelLab story here very closely and am grateful that the developer has given us an insight into his anything but simple private life.

In my opinion, "The Intoxicating Flavor" is without a doubt one of the best games in this genre. The story, like few others, is really intelligent and full of suspense. With most other games, you can actually forget about the dialog and the plot without hesitation. Here, it seems, the plot gets tighter and better with every update.

And then there are the characters: Katie is the most interesting (and admittedly most attractive) female character in any game for me. But the supporting characters are also given a background story here that gives them depth and makes them interesting as acting subjects, not just as fuckmates.

I wish PixelLab all the best for the future. Of course, I would like to see "The Intoxicating Flavor" continue at some point. But a spin-off with Katie would certainly be interesting.

On that note, take care!
 

Dracconic Evolution

Active Member
Feb 28, 2020
724
369
People if you are going to do upgrade versions of the game make sure it works with previous saves as well as testing it start to finish before uploading the link to the version upgrade.
 

cxx

Message Maestro
Nov 14, 2017
59,254
29,523
People if you are going to do upgrade versions of the game make sure it works with previous saves as well as testing it start to finish before uploading the link to the version upgrade.
this was sorta remake and with skip and wt-mod it doesn't take long to reach new content.
 

Yopi Tsuki

Member
Mar 30, 2020
442
859
Hi, made a Unofficial Android Port with MurrayMods MultiMod :

The Intoxicating Flavor 0.10.5 :
(405 Mo)

If it say "Warning Unknown Developer" you must allow "download from unknown source" in your settings or just install it anyway.

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

This unofficial port/version is not released by developer, download at your own risk.

I'm new into this so if you are experiencing some problem please pm me and i will look into it or if you have any idea on how to made my ports better i'm all hears.
 

Firaxius

Active Member
Aug 13, 2020
703
812
Hey PixelsLab, sorry to hear your health not going well, but I'm least going to say this.

I really loved your VN, at first it was a bit confusing, but the more I indulged in the story the more I loved it, the characters and renders are very well done, the story is amazing and I loved every single bit of it, there were here and there still grammar faults but nothing too serious. I wish you much luck in getting better and I hope you can when feel better finish this VN. I really want to see how it will end, but first take care of your health and get better.
 

jbad

New Member
Dec 15, 2019
3
7
PixelsLab First, I hope your back is doing better. I can't relate personally, but I have seen first hand what living with that pain on a daily basis is like. Second, I read your post on Patreon because this is the first game I was going to risk my anonymity in order to give my support. What's worse is I finally found this game last week after having initially played it I think 4 years ago. You'll know how long better since it was when the MC kills the uncle. The visuals and storyline still impressed me all this time later. And even having prior knowledge of what was going to happen, I still wanted to play through from the beginning and enjoy the story all over. That is not something I typically do. Sharing my thoughts on this forum is also not something I do. However I needed to show you my appreciation and support in some way since financially is not an option. I hope you leave the patreon page up and leave the door open to completing this work at some point in time. I understand needing to make money for your time, but I can tell the care you have given this project. I selfishly want to see its completion, but truly would want to see a continuing of your work, even if that means a new story and characters. Regardless of your decision, thank you for sharing with us your imagination and talent.
 

*POP!*

Newbie
Nov 22, 2019
96
148
I feel bad for your financial situation. This game is great, and you deserve more than that. Lives not fair. Weak people will always complain about it, while strong people will acknowledge this fact and do their thing anyway. Even though you haven't passed the finish line just yet, I think you have done just that and proved to the world and to yourself what you are made of.

As for your back problems. Usually those happen because the back muscles are too weak and need more training. In your case it also sounds like a squeezed nerve. But it doesn't sound like this issue was resolved yet. I think you need anti-inflammatory
medicine. You need to figure out what and where the nerve is squeezes. Most likely where the pain is. Avoid positions that put pressure on the nerve (Sitting, as it sounds like, puts you in pain. Avoid it). It is also important that you keep moving. Even if it hurts. You can do a lot of exercises. Slow and constant movements. Holding still doesn't help. Anti-Inflamatory and pain relieving medicine will help to reduce swelling. Cold showers also help.

Back pain can be very bad. But I don't think you will have to live with it your entire live. Do the exercise. (Ask your Doc before that, just to make sure i am not telling BS. Only got what you wrote here ^^)

Once you recover eventually, you should start training your back muscles. Sitting straight without a backrest is a good exercise. From time to time, in a sitting and upright position, slowly wiggle side to side and hold your upper body in these positions. You can try the wiggle already. Keep the sitting straight without backrest for when your nerve issue is resolved.

(My Sister had a soccer accident where another player jumped into her back. They had to put a rod into it to fixate it. To recover from that, she had to do a lot of exercises. That’s why I know some stuff).

I hope you recover soon. I wish you the best.
 
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ProtoJoto

Newbie
Aug 25, 2021
28
216
I played this VN a couple years back, and rated it four stars. After playing the latest version I was going to up that to five (there are only two other games I rate that high), but when I went to sign-up as a patron I saw the sad news.

I think the dev is a first-class story-teller, and the part of this work that he completed can serve as a good example of what this medium is capable of. He probably aimed too high with TIF; it really needs a production team—with an ample budget—to do the story justice. I hope that someday it can find them, and I pray that the developer’s talent as a writer does not go to waste.
 

RewindWorld

Newbie
Jan 27, 2020
66
106
View attachment 3130665


Hey, everyone.

I won't take too long. I got a rejection from Steam.



I knew from the very beginning that it would be like this. It was pretty obvious that Steam wouldn't like Alice, and they decided to reinsure themselves. It's still very frustrating though.

The reply from Steam came over a week ago, and all this time I've been trying to finally decide what to do next.

I've already mentioned my situation in the last post, now I'll try to explain it in more detail, telling you what happened to me for the last year and a half. But before I do that, I'll make it clear that I'm not writing this to make you feel sorry for me, but to explain why I have to close the game.

About the finances.

After I took a break last February and froze the page for 3 months to regain some health and nerves, I lost about 45% of my support. That's when I decided not to complain about life, and just keep doing what I can to keep the game alive. That's why I hardly wrote any personal posts like I used to do. And every month after that, the support on Patreon dropped harder and harder. I had small savings, and I could live on them. But gradually they started to run out too.

Then, in November 2022, Payoneer, the payment system I used to withdraw funds from Patreon, announced that it was closing all accounts for Russians. And I then asked those of you who had the opportunity to subscribe for a year, so that I could have at least some reserves. And a lot of people responded. Thank you very much again! I then raised $2,489, which I stretched over the course of 6 months. Obviously, I wasn't doing so well, so I started borrowing from people I knew and doing part-time work to keep afloat somehow.

In June, I traveled to another country to open an account there and withdraw my Patreon savings. I had to travel three times before I could receive them. As you can imagine, traveling to another country is not cheap, and to save money, I decided to take the bus. And that turned out to be a big problem because of my back. 17 hours straight one way on a bus with a sore spine is hell. It's been five months and I still haven't recovered from those trips. I withdrew $3,287 dollars from Patreon back then - that's what I had accumulated in a little over 6 months. Which would have been a good amount, but I was already in quite a bit of debt at the time, and I gave away most of that money almost immediately. And don't forget that to get that money, I had to travel to another country 3 times, pay for the trips themselves and the hotel. Now I have 2900 dollars saved up on Patreon again, which will barely cover my current debts accumulated over the last 5 months.

I realize a lot of you math doesn't add up, but this weird stuff from Patreon. Right now it says on the home page that I have $739 in support, but I'm very lucky if I raise that amount. More often than not, I raise $100 less. I never figured out how this counter works in so many years.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say about finances. Once again, I'll make it clear that this is not an attempt to make you feel sorry for me, I'm just trying to tell you about my situation in life. If you felt sorry for me and decided to support me after this, you should be very wrong. I'm just a guy on the internet, and my situation is far from the worst. There are millions of people in the world with much worse problems, help them better. Also, don't forget that the holidays are coming up and you'll need to buy gifts for your loved ones. And I'll pay off my debts myself, since I've already found a job. But I am still very grateful to you for helping me for so long!

About health.

In fact, that's the main reason I gave up. Because I feel worse and worse.

As I've shared before, I took a break for three months in February 2022. And it really helped me! I felt normal for over a year, hardly ever thinking about my back. But after the 3 trips mentioned, it got worse than ever. Especially after the last one, when the bus got stuck at the border and instead of 17 hours, I sat on the bus for 28. That totally messed me up, and I still haven't recovered even though it's been over 5 months.

In September I had a very severe attack and for 2 weeks I basically couldn't work, couldn't sit, lie down or stand normally. I was in a lot of pain and no painkillers helped. That being said, I went to doctors, got massages, had a bunch of shots and lay under IVs with painkillers. It was because of this that I was not able to get the October update out in time. And now every day I'm afraid that I can break down again and go down for a couple more weeks, or possibly forever.

It was after the October update that I decided to close the game. I realized that with my health, I wouldn't be able to release even short updates every month. And if I don't release updates every month, support goes down a lot.

About motivation.

As you realize, it's hard to develop a game with these inputs. It's hard to come up with dialogs, jokes and other things when you're struggling with your own health and financial problems. And the motivation is getting weaker and weaker every day.

Also, of course, it's frustrating when you look at some new game that in the first 2 months gathers as much support as I've been gathering for 3-4 years. That's a lot of pressure. And I can't even understand why it's not like that for me. I mean, I really tried. I tried on every word, render, animation and everything, everything, everything. Is it just luck? Or is my game that much worse? I know it sounds pathetic, but it still hurts.

About Steam.

I'd like to add a few words about Steam. I've already said I was sure about the rejection, but some developers I knew and just friends urged me to try releasing the game there, as it could bring in enough for me to finish the game without worrying about money. That was one of the reasons why I started reworking the first chapters. But unfortunately, what happened is what happened. It's hard to blame Steam, since the fact that it releases adult games at all is already surprising. But it's so fucking frustrating!

Actually, the most annoying thing about this whole situation, in my opinion, is that the game has enough content for a fully finished game. About 200,000 words! That's more than in two full-fledged novels. Over 6 thousand images! Most of which are well done. Cool animations. Yes there aren't many, but they're good. So good, in fact, that several developers have offered to let me do animations for their games for money.

Now that I think about it, I'm really surprised at what a gigantic job I did. And how frustrated I am that I never got around to finishing it....

Oh, okay. Stop feeling sorry for myself, I already look like a whiner after this post. Let's summarize.

Bottom line.

I have neither the health nor the financial ability to continue The Intoxicating Flavor. Therefore, I am permanently closing the game.

I am very sorry. I apologize to you for not being able to bring the story to the promised end.

I have already taken an official job. I contacted a former boss of mine who we worked well with for many years, and he offered me a position with him. It seems to pay a good salary. Now I need to work at least six months to get back on my feet, pay off my debts and make at least some savings. But what will I do after that?

I really want to keep making games. I think I have pretty good skills for that right now. At least I have a good renderer, and the animations are getting better and better every time. I'm not so sure about my skills as a screenwriter anymore though. TIF was too unpopular... But, I still have hope to make an interesting game.

I originally wanted to remove the pages on Patreon, Boosty, Subscribestar and all social media related to the game, as well as the Discord server. To completely disappear as PixelsLab. After all, even if I decide to create a new game, I'll still have the shadow of an unfinished project on me. But on the other hand, I've heard so many words of support in the last two weeks that I just don't want to part with you. Besides, many of you have become, if not friends, then at least good acquaintances whose opinions are interesting to listen to.

So there's no way I can decide how I should proceed. I'm still leaning towards closing the page, since even if I start a new project, it will be very different from TIF. But for now, I've decided to freeze the page until the new year so Patreon doesn't charge you, and closer to the end of December I'll either extend the freeze or delete the page for good.

Unfortunately, there is no way to freeze the page on Boosty and Subscribestar. So you'll have to unsubscribe on your own. Anyway, at the end of December I will remove the support levels on these sites so that those who forget to unsubscribe will not be charged.

Also on Patreon you can request a refund for the last month. If that doesn't work, write me and I'll try to do it on my end.
And I want to apologize to you again. I'm very sorry for letting you down like that. And thank you more for being with me these years! You gave me a chance to do something new and unusual for myself! I wish I could have taken that chance to the fullest.

P.S. Would you like to discuss the reason why TIF never became popular? I'd really like to hear your opinion. I wanted to write a separate post about it myself, but more than anything I want to hear an outside opinion. I'm very interested.
I just wanted to say that writing in this game IS THE reason I like it. Story and characters are interesting. Renders are nice as well of course, but if that's all there is, it would be boring.

I noticed some good games don't get the support they deserve while others, good or not, just shoot up to thousands of supporters in a few months. It seems, at least partly, random. Maybe there is some marketing trick to it.

It sounds like you tried to do what you love and you suffered for it...
For now try to rest and recover, but if you do decide to get back to game development, maybe you should finish this one rather than start a new one. After all there is no guarantee new one would fare any better.

Also I would not delete your game pages etc. You explained everything, so even if you never post again that should be enough. Deleting would just make it easier for someone to steal your work etc.
 
4.00 star(s) 151 Votes