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

4.20 star(s) 37 Votes
Nov 24, 2017
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So, he decided to remake this game and work on Defending Lydia Collier at the game time? If he does not make the same mistakes he originally made, this could be amazing.
 

Banish

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Mar 29, 2019
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I remember dropping this game back them (while i clearly enjoyed it). Because there was too many path and it was a game you couldn't play without a walkthrough and that's clearly not what you want in a game (aka passing half your time playing and half the time reading what to do).

Glad to see it back with a simplified version, it can only get better.
 
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playb0y44

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playb0y44 Avaron1974

It has less pictures and options because it's only up to day 3 so far there is still more days to be added.
I know, I have tested both old and new before updating the thread.
The thing is all the images are already rendered/ready/made. if he only wanted to Rewrite the script why not do it all the way for all the images.
So far, what he has done is reduce the 1700+ images to 500 something and removed half the script. And doing this took him 6 months.
 
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SAMASH112

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Nov 19, 2018
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I've been waiting along time for an update to find out what happened next, and I find a clipped game with less content than had. Worse than a bad taste in my mouth, would say. And my savegames to trush.

Fewer options, fewer scenes ... I hope he haven't done it to make haters happy, who were protesting with the sharing path.
 

-CookieMonster666-

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Nov 20, 2018
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I know, I have tested both old and new before updating the thread.
The thing is all the images are already rendered/ready/made. if he only wanted to Rewrite the script why not do it all the way for all the images.
So far, what he has done is reduce the 1700+ images to 500 something and removed half the script. And doing this took him 6 months.
Did it actually take 6 months, though? I feel like he didn't start the reworking until more recently. He probably solely worked on DLC for the summer, started figuring out what changes he was going to make in the "Retold" version of SoM a couple of months ago, and then started on it after that was determined.
 

playb0y44

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Did it actually take 6 months, though? I feel like he didn't start the reworking until more recently. He probably solely worked on DLC for the summer, started figuring out what changes he was going to make in the "Retold" version of SoM a couple of months ago, and then started on it after that was determined.
That was me being me. hehe. but we have been waiting for it for over 6 months and finally when you hear something about it. It so little and nothing new so I just felt sad but still happy that at least it started.
 

SAMASH112

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Nov 19, 2018
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It needed a re-write the story was becoming a bit incoherent and at least we get to see the girls from the game make a come back it felt a lot harder to cheat on the wife after she had her re-work done..
The path of the cheating is as necessary as the shared one, without that, it's no longer the same game, it's other. Now, if he cut the number of girls to have sex with, that is already different. If he are only going to rewrite or fix it, then will be welcome.
 
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Nov 3, 2019
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I will wait with the previous update until I see what will happen. Sorry, but this last update has left me empty ...At least I had more things and could do naughty stuff with the wife
 

consumptionist

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is it just me or does a story have to be actually told, like you know, in FULL before it can be retold?
this story got a little way and then stopped. to see it taken right back to the start after getting a little way in, speaks volumes about developers. firstly it shows that they failed to pre-plan, secondly don't have the gumption to complete their project and learn from their own mistakes and thirdly look more and more like they are running out of patience and ideas with their own art and are looking to suck the patreon tit for all its dregs. this applies to all developers for me.

whether you agree or not, you have to admit that either way, restarting a project that is still itself incomplete is perceptively a negative. if they had stuck it out and completed this project and THEN chose to rework it, perception would be that of diligence and the respect that they are developing as a developer and wish to perfect their art. this way just shows that they didn't plan ahead and their creation ran away from them. stupid, as indie developers have only perception as any real currency for possible funders.
 
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-CookieMonster666-

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is it just me or does a story have to be actually told, like you know, in FULL before it can be retold?
this story got a little way and then stopped. to see it taken right back to the start after getting a little way in, speaks volumes about developers. firstly it shows that they failed to pre-plan, secondly don't have the gumption to complete their project and learn from their own mistakes and thirdly look more and more like they are running out of patience and ideas with their own art and are looking to suck the patreon tit for all its dregs. this applies to all developers for me.

whether you agree or not, you have to admit that either way, restarting a project that is still itself incomplete is perceptively a negative. if they had stuck it out and completed this project and THEN chose to rework it, perception would be that of diligence and the respect that they are developing as a developer and wish to perfect their art. this way just shows that they didn't plan ahead and their creation ran away from them. stupid, as indie developers have only perception as any real currency for possible funders.
Agree to disagree about the perception. To me, this comes across as a developer taking criticism, improving his craft, and refusing to throw in the towel. This game was placed on hold for a while because it grew too complex to continue to work on. Completing what was already out from before without changing / reworking anything would have been a big mistake, like trying to continue to walk through a stretch of quicksand.

This "retelling" is trimming things down a lot so it's more focused and more manageable (for the developer). And it's not like White Phantom has been sitting around doing nothing; there have been several releases of another game, Defending Lydia Collier, in the mean time.

If you played this previously and then you play DLC (obviously, you don't have to), you can see clearly WP has greatly improved his ability to focus his storytelling and limit choices so branching in the game doesn't get out of hand. This is the first set of steps to continue the game: first put in place improvements so the first part of the game is no longer a big mess; second, continue telling this story after the rest is cleaned up.
 

Mormont

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Nov 30, 2018
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The path of the cheating is as necessary as the shared one, without that, it's no longer the same game, it's other. Now, if he cut the number of girls to have sex with, that is already different. If he are only going to rewrite or fix it, then will be welcome.
I believe the dev will get it right this time if you played Defending Lydia Collier then you can see the improvement so hopefully, this turns out the same because what I don't doubt is that dev has a very good game here I liked it before and it can only get better from here.
 

Draakaap23

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Jul 5, 2017
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What a waste of space has this game become: less content, stuck in 'rework' for what? More then over a year??? and still using the same old and crappy renders. At least redo those early game renders, since those are truly bad!
I will leave my original review standing, even if it was for the old version. Just saying: I called it back then even. Dev should have had a more realistic approach. He or she might have now, but frankly I find it too little too late.
 

Inmortaliity

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Feb 27, 2019
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Unsure if the blonde girl on the couch is floating or laying in a very weird posture..

But I'm a simple man. I see very cute redhead:love:.
The game will instantly have my vote!
 

Alfius

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is it just me or does a story have to be actually told, like you know, in FULL before it can be retold?
this story got a little way and then stopped. to see it taken right back to the start after getting a little way in, speaks volumes about developers. firstly it shows that they failed to pre-plan, secondly don't have the gumption to complete their project and learn from their own mistakes and thirdly look more and more like they are running out of patience and ideas with their own art and are looking to suck the patreon tit for all its dregs. this applies to all developers for me.

whether you agree or not, you have to admit that either way, restarting a project that is still itself incomplete is perceptively a negative. if they had stuck it out and completed this project and THEN chose to rework it, perception would be that of diligence and the respect that they are developing as a developer and wish to perfect their art. this way just shows that they didn't plan ahead and their creation ran away from them. stupid, as indie developers have only perception as any real currency for possible funders.
It's just you.

I disagree with every single point you are trying to make. Obviously we all wanted to original story to be completed, but the dev was overambitious when he started the project and hence the storylines became too complex too complete for him as a single dev.

So your solution for him "failing" to pre-plan, is for him to continue with the failed pre-plan. Sounds kind of like a non solution. He did what every rational person should do. Re-evaluate your plan that is doomed for failure, make the adjustments needed and continue with the new adjusted plan.

Continuing with the "failed" plan as you suggest is not a very smart move if you actually want to complete the game.
He is not restarting the project. He already made the renders, he already have the story line, he is implementing his adjusted plan, like any sane person would do.
 

jish55

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Nov 23, 2017
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Oye, this feels the same as when My New Life got remade. I mean, I understand devs may not be happy with how some games are going, but at the same time, if they're at a point in the game where it's far enough along, and they want to change things, they shouldn't redo the game, they should instead try and bring the current game to a close and continue the story in a sequel game where they can actually do things differently and create the new game the way they want without hurting the previous game (like what MrDots did with DMD).
 

Alfius

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Oye, this feels the same as when My New Life got remade. I mean, I understand devs may not be happy with how some games are going, but at the same time, if they're at a point in the game where it's far enough along, and they want to change things, they shouldn't redo the game, they should instead try and bring the current game to a close and continue the story in a sequel game where they can actually do things differently and create the new game the way they want without hurting the previous game (like what MrDots did with DMD).
That is definitely an option, but I think in this instance, there were just too many game paths. He would have moved forward at a snail's pace developing 1 path, everyone else gets mad, since they get no content, then he develops another path and release, another group of people get mad since no movement on the path they are on etc. etc. etc.

The problem with the Patreon model is that people want to see frequent releases with a lot of content. A game with multiple paths lends itself to little content for each path when trying to do frequent releases. So the dev actually had the option of pissing of his Patreon or re-working his game to be able to do more roll outs more frequently.

Closing of the game and starting a sequal with so many paths is also not easy..What is the canon path to start your sequel on?
With the number of paths out there, everyone will want to see their decisions impacting what happens in the sequel.
 
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4.20 star(s) 37 Votes