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VN Ren'Py Abandoned The Manifest: Shadows Over Manston [v2.2] [White Phantom Games]

4.20 star(s) 37 Votes

Machete

Engaged Member
Apr 7, 2020
2,016
3,466
I barely started playing DLC and so far so good it seems a very good story! No wonder it won the poll. By comparison TM:SoM feels a bit disconnected as a plot.
 

BigDaddyDom

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2020
1,406
1,727
I barely started playing DLC and so far so good it seems a very good story! No wonder it won the poll. By comparison TM:SoM feels a bit disconnected as a plot.
It's all about the character designs and taboo element though. I'll wait for this game, but 6 updates plus finishing patch sounds like a long time :(
 
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GrammarApe

Member
Aug 19, 2019
195
43
This has not been "Abandoned" btw.

It has always been on hold until Defending Lydia Collier was completed, with polls taking place to decide if there is a break on Defending Lydia Collier to make a new update to this, prior to it being resumed after completion.

Late last year, the poll was in favour of a break for Shadows over Manston, which caused the most recent update, the poll earlier this year narrowly swung in favour of Defending Lydia Collier continuing without a SoM Update, and the current poll is at the time of writing a 65-35 swing in favour of completing Defending Lydia Collier without a SoM Update.

I have no recent references to this game on Patreon & SubscribeStar because I don't want people looking at my Patreon, seeing this game, and pledging because of it and expecting updates they aren't going to get and effectively wasting their money. I want them pledging for Defending Lydia Collier only, because that is the game in active development.

However the game is still on my website, still being mentioned when relevant (such as here: ) and will still be finished once Defending Lydia Collier is complete.
Who put that "abandoned" tag anyways? That shit could make people assume the worst.
 

Thermophob

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2018
1,895
2,292
Who put that "abandoned" tag anyways? That shit could make people assume the worst.
Well, it's not a tag. It's a prefix (added before the title). Tags are added above the title, they indicate content, for most the part. Anyway, like at every forum, prefixes and tags are added by amoderation team. For what's worth this game need another prefix (on-hold), but either way it doesn't mean a lot. It's just an informative mark. :)
 
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jospaghettio

Member
Donor
Feb 13, 2019
419
1,402
The two games have different kinks. I would have preferred a 2-1 update rhythm like Mr. Dots. That way no one is left out.
 

fishbrain

Engaged Member
Apr 9, 2018
2,417
2,527
6 more updates planned before DLC is "finished" in terms of content. Then I'll be doing a big finishing patch adding music etc to make it v.1. This is the time when I'll start rendering for SoM again though if it isn't voted for.
Ha!! I just started DLC again today and started thinking about this one. I remember being really immersed in the story with Dusk and some of the other characters and was wondering the latest. Not often it's this easy to find answers, so thank you and I look forward to restarting this one when updates are back underway!
 

-CookieMonster666-

Devoted Member
Nov 20, 2018
10,990
15,887
Can't there be a incest patch like other games have.
Sure, but someone has to create that to make it so. There are a couple of things preventing that from happening right now. Firstly, WhitePhantom isn't focused on this game at the moment; his Patreon polls have pushed for him to finish Defending Lydia Collier first, which he is doing really well on. Not a lot of updates left on that game before he'll switch back over to this one. (Don't interpret "not a lot" to mean just one or two, however.)

Secondly, if the developer doesn't create the patch themselves, you have to wait for some user here on F95 with knowledge of whatever engine is used in different games (Ren'Py here) to create the patch that would work for the game. Basically, patches find and replace text. An original line of code might be something like "Why is [s1] walking around in only her underwear?" Then, elsewhere, the variable [s1] is assigned a value of "my roommate" in the original game code, but the patch changes that value to "my sister". So, the sentence ends up changing from "Why is my roommate walking around in only her underwear?" to "Why is my sister walking around in only her underwear?" But someone has to specifically make such a patch, which apparently hasn't been done yet.

Additionally, I have heard — I cannot confirm this, mind you — that sometimes someone working for Patreon will visit this site, specifically looking for someone who is trying to circumvent their policies. They try to see if someone's game doesn't technically have incest, but actually does have it (when they release an incest patch or incest version of the game here). I honestly think this is BS, because I've seen plenty of developers have a Patreon version of their game (no incest technically) that differs from a Subscribestar version (with incest). Among others, I can think of Sunshine Love that does this specifically. But it's possibly this is true, which would be another hurdle.
 
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Machete

Engaged Member
Apr 7, 2020
2,016
3,466
I would add that, for this title, storywise, it wouldn't make much sense. Who's going to be the relative? Sure not the fiancee or her daugther since the main character meets them in a scene when the daughter is already at least 12 old. You know? Show, don't tell. The comatose fellow agent? Can't work. Any of the school girl or teachers? Unlikely. Somehow Fiancee sister's? No, really. I wouldn't know whom could be related to MC at all. I think this game is already way on the good side without incest.
 

Deleted member 770309

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2018
1,406
2,216
Sure, but someone has to create that to make it so. There are a couple of things preventing that from happening right now. Firstly, WhitePhantom isn't focused on this game at the moment; his Patreon polls have pushed for him to finish Defending Lydia Collier first, which he is doing really well on. Not a lot of updates left on that game before he'll switch back over to this one. (Don't interpret "not a lot" to mean just one or two, however.)

Secondly, if the developer doesn't create the patch themselves, you have to wait for some user here on F95 with knowledge of whatever engine is used in different games (Ren'Py here) to create the patch that would work for the game. Basically, patches find and replace text. An original line of code might be something like "Why is [s1] walking around in only her underwear?" Then, elsewhere, the variable [s1] is assigned a value of "my roommate" in the original game code, but the patch changes that value to "my sister". So, the sentence ends up changing from "Why is my roommate walking around in only her underwear?" to "Why is my sister walking around in only her underwear?" But someone has to specifically make such a patch, which apparently hasn't been done yet.

Additionally, I have heard — I cannot confirm this, mind you — that sometimes someone working for Patreon will visit this site, specifically looking for someone who is trying to circumvent their policies. They try to see if someone's game doesn't technically have incest, but actually does have it (when they release an incest patch or incest version of the game here). I honestly think this is BS, because I've seen plenty of developers have a Patreon version of their game (no incest technically) that differs from a Subscribestar version (with incest). Among others, I can think of Sunshine Love that does this specifically. But it's possibly this is true, which would be another hurdle.
I never knew all that thanks for the info on that i hope there is a patch for it one day.
 

-CookieMonster666-

Devoted Member
Nov 20, 2018
10,990
15,887
I would add that, for this title, storywise, it wouldn't make much sense. Who's going to be the relative? Sure not the fiancee or her daugther since the main character meets them in a scene when the daughter is already at least 12 old. You know? Show, don't tell. The comatose fellow agent? Can't work. Any of the school girl or teachers? Unlikely. Somehow Fiancee sister's? No, really. I wouldn't know whom could be related to MC at all. I think this game is already way on the good side without incest.
I never knew all that thanks for the info on that i hope there is a patch for it one day.
No problem. I wouldn't expect that a lot of folks understand how stuff like this works. I'm an old-school programmer myself (as in really ancient programming languages), so I haven't learned things like Ren'Py (or Python, on which it's based), Unity, Unreal, etc. But generally programming languages are similar enough that concepts like this translate across them pretty easily.

I am confident I could learn many of these types of programming languages, but I really don't have time these days for that. Most of my spare time gets used for things like assisting with translations or editing of scripts or play-testing games and catching up on my favorite adult games. I barely have time — very occasionally — to create something like a walkthrough or signature, both of which simply require someone else's software and a bit of typing or mouse-clicking. I definitely don't have time to learn a new computer language.

But as Machete has said, for this particular game, I don't believe an incest patch would make sense. All of the characters are set up in such a way that the MC wouldn't have any relatives in the game's characters. The fiancée already had a daughter, so no relation to the MC; and as he mentioned, the flashbacks in the game specifically tell us that Penelope could never be the MC's blood relation; he wasn't anywhere even close to being with Jane when she had her daughter. The MC would not be related to Jessica nor any of the police; there's not even a hint of a relation. He also couldn't be related to the teachers or students. They all were completely new to him, other than Jane and Penelope. And although he cheated on Jane with Tanya, that just means he's a cheater; Tanya wouldn't be related, either. I don't see how you could ever manage it with this game and have it make any sense, unless you completely rewrote the script. I doubt anyone would put that much effort into it.
 
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Deleted member 770309

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2018
1,406
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No problem. I wouldn't expect that a lot of folks understand how stuff like this works. I'm an old-school programmer myself (as in really ancient programming languages), so I haven't learned things like Ren'Py (or Python, on which it's based), Unity, Unreal, etc. But generally programming languages are similar enough that concepts like this translate across them pretty easily.

I am confident I could learn many of these types of programming languages, but I really don't have time these days for that. Most of my spare time gets used for things like assisting with translations or editing of scripts or play-testing games and catching up on my favorite adult games. I barely have time — very occasionally — to create something like a walkthrough or signature, both of which simply require someone else's software and a bit of typing or mouse-clicking. I definitely don't have time to learn a new computer language.

But as Machete has said, for this particular game, I don't believe an incest patch would make sense. All of the characters are set up in such a way that the MC wouldn't have any relatives in the game's characters. The fiancée already had a daughter, so no relation to the MC; and as he mentioned, the flashbacks in the game specifically tell us that Penelope could never be the MC's blood relation; he wasn't anywhere even close to being with Jane when she had her daughter. The MC would not be related to Jessica nor any of the police; there's not even a hint of a relation. He also couldn't be related to the teachers or students. They all were completely new to him, other than Jane and Penelope. And although he cheated on Jane with Tanya, that just means he's a cheater; Tanya wouldn't be related, either. I don't see how you could ever manage it with this game and have it make any sense, unless you completely rewrote the script. I doubt anyone would put that much effort into it.
Damn i did not know that shame damn shame i love me some good incest. lol
 
4.20 star(s) 37 Votes