VN Ren'Py The Martin Experiment - Dev Thread

[number500]

He's back! Our talented artist is back!

Greetings, dear supporters and followers! As you may know, the Artist, one of the creative minds behind the narrative of The Martin Experiment, had to step back many months ago to take care of his health. Since then, I've diligently worked to fulfill all the needed duties and make this dream come true. I've met some incredible people who helped me handsomely in many areas of this project. Still, no one had the muscles to handle the drawing process as well as our original artist, so I had to learn how to draw to embrace this task.

But these times are over! Our artist is coming back! I wanted to celebrate his return by interviewing him, so I came up with some questions and posted them to our patrons-only discord channel to see if anyone wanted to ask something more specific. Then I sent the questions to him to answer, and here are the results! Enjoy!





1. How did you discover your love of art, and what inspired you to become a 2D artist?

Well, I have always enjoyed doodling, from drawings in kindergarten to notebooks, books, and even the desks in high school. The love for art comes from the need to make something beautiful and try to achieve perfection.

2. What are your artistic influences, and how are they reflected in your work?

Anime and manga have influenced me since childhood; I loved drawing dragon ball characters, mechas, super sentai, etc. I appreciate the art of the super detailed anime from the '80s/'90s and try to draw inspiration from them occasionally.

3. What attracted you to the genre of erotic visual novels, and how do you think your art can enrich this type of project?

In 2019, I came across a post at ████ ██████████ looking for people who could draw to create their first visual novel and raise a buck, and I became interested. I had never worked more seriously before and would like to have money to set up my pc and start adult life.

4. Tell us a little about your artistic style. How would you describe it, and how does it fit the atmosphere of our visual novel?

As said before, I look for references in anime and manga. Still, I had to improvise a little this time because the artistic style I decided on was cartoony.

5. What are the main challenges you face when creating illustrations for an erotic visual novel? How do you overcome them?

I force myself to have a professional attitude, so the challenges are more about routine and discipline. Also, because the game is erotic, we see too many naked women, which can negatively influence me regarding pornography addiction.

6. Is there any particular aspect of the narrative of our visual novel that caught your attention? How do you intend to express it visually?

I was one of the creators of the story. It would be cool to delve into the characters' psychological issues and themes like conspiracy theory, suspense, and horror.

7. What are your methods for capturing the characters' essence and emotions in your illustrations?

Planning the character well before starting a story is necessary. After defining the character's personality, we use our imagination and photographic records of our performances to capture the feelings and expressions needed for each scene.

8. How do you collaborate with the rest of the team, such as writers and designers, to ensure the artwork aligns with the story and overall project vision?

It is essential that the illustrator accompanies the creative process because he can think of better ways to represent each scene. Whenever I can, I participate in writing the script and drawing storyboards to help visualize the texts.

9. What are your artistic goals for The Martin Experiment project? Any specific visual techniques or effects you intend to explore?

My artistic goals are to generate an immersive and beautiful experience with beautiful and compelling graphics and, for the erotic part, to create something that makes the player get turned on.

10. How do you deal with feedback and criticism about your work? How does this help you evolve as an artist?

I am always willing to listen to all opinions as long as they are constructive and contribute to my growth.

11. What are your expectations for the impact of your art on the public, and how do you expect The Martin Experiment's players will receive it?

It will cause a bit of a surprise as we create the environments and gameplay more immersively than commonly seen in visual novels.

12. Besides the erotic visual novel, what are your other projects or areas of artistic interest?

About the artistic part, at the moment, I am focused only on this project.

13. Have you worked on other projects in the genre of games or visual novels? If yes, what were your previous experiences, and how do they contribute to the work you are doing now?

I have never worked on this kind of project before.

14. How do you keep up to date with trends and innovations in art and visual novel games?

Youtube, instagram, twitter. The usual.

15. What challenges do you expect to face when working on our visual novel? And how do you plan to overcome them?

As we explore a slightly more immersive way, one of the challenges is keeping up with the players and how they respond to our gameplay style and how they behave during the game.

16. What are your tips for aspiring artists who want to enter the field of visual games or create art for erotic projects?

Don't be afraid to do tracing. It may be frowned upon by many, but it helps speed up processes and generate more accurate anatomy.

17. What is your favorite part of being a visual game designer, and why?

Freedom to explore better and better ways to present the project.

18. Finally, we would like to know if there is any message you would like to convey to the fans and supporters of our erotic visual novel.

Keep giving us feedback! We enjoy it when we do something and get your responses and interactions.

And that's it! This post is my first attempt to interview someone, and I hope you like it. You can also reply this post with any questions for the artist, and we will try to answer right away!

Cheers!

 

[number500]

The Martin Experiment Survey Results Part 2!

Welcome to the second part of the survey results, where I will comment on all the free text answers we have gotten until now. The responses were enlightening and will help shape the development of The Martin Experiment and its community.

I will post a screenshot of a question at a time, containing all the gathered answers until now. I received many responses in Portuguese, my native language, and translated them into English to show you the whole picture.

Now, without further ado, let's see the first free-text question:



Here's a summary of what I learned from you guys' answers:

• Animations: you guys want the inclusion of animated sprites within the game. I still have to learn how they make those Ren'Py animated sex scenes. I'll implement it as soon as I get the hang of it (but it may take a while).
  
  
• Choice Tree, Text Logs, Gallery, and Character Progression: I understood that you want an interface to make it easier to visualize the choices and paths taken during gameplay and a text log to prevent missing important information during dialogues. Is that correct? You also mentioned a gallery for reviewing content and character progression throughout the game. I will put these items on my to-do list.
  
  
• Interactive Elements, Gameplay Options, and Variations: You enjoy activities involving performing interactive actions on characters and environments that provide a sense of freedom but without being overly grindy or difficult. It will be a challenging task. I want this game to play the same on cellphones and PCs, but many of my Ren'Py tricks and sorcery work better with a mouse. I need to think of some strategies to attend to these interactivity needs in touch screens. I want my point-and-click mechanics to look and feel the same on every platform.
  
  
• Personal Preferences: Some participants specifically mentioned their kinks, such as anal play and the representation of plus-sized women. Well, I have good news on that. The Artist is back, and he likes chubby women very much! He reviewed and enhanced my recent drawings to make Melissa look juicier and chubbier. I will post some before and after pictures in my next post. I prefer fit and slim women more, so we will have some of that, too! Also, anal action is a must! We will include that in this episode for sure! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
  
  
• Non-linear Story and Thoughtful Storytelling: A linear storyline is less desirable. A well-planned story with hints for observant players, replayability, and developed characters with varying levels of complexity are appreciated. Immersive elements that evoke emotions beyond the screen are valued. Participants desire the ability to share heroines for threesomes or gangbang scenarios. Except for sharing heroines (Martin doesn't know many girls yet), I already have everything else in the works for this episode.

Special mentions:

"fishing fish is good give me rod pls"

Hahaha! I found this answer very funny! Now I want to make a fishing minigame or something like that for Martin.

"Hot/Sensual scenes, dont need to be sex scenes."

Oh, I like your thinking. I want to make lots of them! This kind of scene enriches the storytelling and the overall experience. I got you covered.



Second free-text question:



Here, I have identified four key themes that will help me improve our communication with you guys:

1. Frequency and Content of Updates:

• You guys wanted to hear more often about how the game is going and suggested a preference for updates twice a month. I'll keep this pace from now on. It looks reasonable to me.
  
  
• Most of you suggested focusing on minor monthly-or-so updates instead of a big update a year. This approach would allow me to receive external feedback and ensure that the game aligns with the community's expectations and doesn't waste any effort. I'm already doing that, but these updates are only for patrons! What should I do? I'm afraid of you guys getting too tired of the story before launching the final release because the bulk of the updates consists of bug fixes and replacing placeholders with original artwork. At the same time, everything else remains untouched (because I finished the story already). I'm also afraid of losing support here on Patreon because the only significant exclusive content I have to offer is these monthly releases for patrons. I'm very insecure on this topic right now. Please help me out by commenting on what you think.

2. Community Engagement:

• A few participants mentioned the importance of community involvement. They suggested conducting occasional polls to gather input from the community regarding desired features or changes in the game. I liked very much the interaction I got through this survey. It is a good idea to make more of these!
  
  
• One participant highlighted the need to cultivate a larger community and gain more visibility for the game. A more prominent presence would attract people interested in supporting the project. It is true. My efforts in marketing and promotion could be better. They are far behind. I am directing all my time and energy to draw sprites to release this game as soon as possible. I have tried to research and learn about marketing campaigns and strategies sometimes, but only briefly, because I quickly feel wrong about pausing the development cycle and promptly return to working in the game.

3. Satisfaction with Communication but slow pacing:

• While some of you expressed well-putted concerns about slow progress since the release of the first demo, overall, there were positive sentiments regarding the developer's efforts in communication. I appreciate it very much! I'm trying to do everything right to make this game happen.
  
  
• One participant mentioned being satisfied with the communication but expressed doubts about the game's continuity, indicating a desire for reassurance regarding the project's long-term development. I get you. Most projects die before being released, but this is not true with The Martin Experiment. I've been working on it for years without wavering for a second. I will develop it into a full-fledged game and launch it no matter what.

4. Technical and Localization Improvements:

• Two participants mentioned specific areas for improvement. One suggested optimizing the artwork and response time, indicating a desire for better performance and visual quality. Another participant expressed the need for the game to be available in more languages. I'm always looking for ways of drawing better and faster and made some breakthroughs over these months. It could be premature to order translation services right now. Still, I'm very interested in translating this game into French, Italian, Spanish, and other languages as soon as I put all the pieces together.

Let's see the third question:

• You guys expressed personal spending habits, cultural factors, and financial constraints as a barrier to your support but also acknowledged my work deserves some recognition. I appreciate that very much. Thank you!
  
  
• The idea of offering rewards on Patreon is well-received. Yet, I need suggestions on what I should provide as a reward for patrons besides the monthly test builds.
  
  
• You guys see it as appealing to release Public game versions. But again, it would be unfair to patrons if I released what they were paying to see every month for free. I need to know your thoughts and how to address this.
  
  
• Additional suggestions included wallpapers, mentioning supporters' names in the game, and Creating a Discord channel to discuss visual novels to gather ideas. Inserting supporters' names in the game is easy! I'll put it on my to-do list for the final release. I liked this wallpaper idea. I will talk with the Artist about this to see what we can manage. As an introvert, I don't have the energy to create another Discord server to discuss visual novels. Still, I can start participating in existing ones and interact with them. I appreciate these suggestions!

Finally, last question:

• You guys suggested maintaining a balance between the plot, sensual content, and sex scenes in the game. You have also asked for more options and variations when interacting with the unconscious woman in the game. One participant emphasized that the idea of having control over such a situation is what interests them the most. These responses suggest a desire for a well-rounded experience catering to different gameplay aspects. I'm glad we are covering all these items already. You can count on that!
  
  
• One participant praised the game, qualifying it as good and impressive. Another one appreciated that we seek feedback and suggestions from the community, highlighting the importance of collaboration between developers and players. Another emphasized the importance of conducting more polls to gather insights into what players want or don't want to see in the game. Thank you all for your kind words! Conducting polls is a good idea. I'm enjoying the results of this interaction with you guys through this survey, and I want to do more of this!
  
  
• Some participants provided suggestions related to the game's visibility and development process. Dcee suggested releasing an updated teaser version to attract more subscribers and support. Another idea was to release the game in multiple stages, gradually increasing its length or considering selling it on platforms like Steam. Well. I will talk with the Artist about releasing a Beta version soon, with more gameplay on Itch, to see how much time we need to pull this off. Publishing on Steam will have to wait a little longer because they would charge me to release a game there. I also want to launch an iOS version, but first, I must learn how to rent and use virtual machines to compile the code on an Apple.
  
  
• Another participant mentioned that while they understand the game is in its early stages, they would appreciate a faster pace with more visually erotic content interspersed within the story. Feedback regarding the artwork and adherence to release schedules was given, emphasizing the importance of more rapid development and meeting deadlines. I agree with that. It isn't easy to nail a schedule and deadlines when I wonder if my current skills are enough to finish every task in an estimated time. Whenever I have to stop and learn a new and unexpected skill to complete a task, my entire schedule falls apart in a domino effect. Then I have to regroup and review my plan for the subsequent weeks from scratch. It's been happening a lot during this development, but things will run smoother now that our Artist hopped back to the project. Wish me luck!

We concluded the review of our survey results! Thank you very much to everyone who participated! I learned a lot by conducting this survey and reading your responses. This interaction and feedback pumped my energy back to the max to work even harder and release this game!

On June 26, I will release this month's development build, containing the first sprite revisions made by the Artist, which just came back! We can finally start taking more significant steps on sprite production in July since two people are drawing now!

 

[number500]

June build uploaded!



Hey! I just sent to all Level Three: Contributors this month's build! It contains the first sprite revisions from the Artist and two bug fixes pointed out by the testers.

Here are some before and after comparisons:




Note how Martin's hands and feet got more dynamically posed, and his face became more expressive. Melissa got chubbier and juicier now, as originally intended.





I also put her flip-flops back in the scene. They will have a role in the story. I can't forget it!


And that's it for today!

Patreon is asking me to rewrite my page to adapt to their new layout, so I will take the next two days to review everything and rethink my strategies. Your contributions to the survey inspired me to make some changes! Thank you very much!

 

[number500]

Exciting Updates: Enhanced Patron Benefits and Dev. Build for All Patrons on June 31!



Great news! Starting in June, I've upgraded all tiers to give you more opportunities to participate in the game's development. What do you think of it? Let me know!

Here are the changes:

• Level One patrons will now receive a link to test the game every four months, allowing you to experience the progress at regular intervals.
• I've also upgraded the benefits for Level Two patrons (advanced and enthusiast)! You'll receive a new link every two months, ensuring you're more involved in shaping the game's direction than ever!
• Level Three Contributors will continue to receive monthly links, granting you the most substantial influence of all tiers on the game's development through your feedback before every other tier.

To streamline the distribution of links, I've implemented a fixed schedule that begins in July. This schedule is to help me track rewards and to make it more attractive for new patrons to get involved: New pledgers in July will receive a download link along with all the long-time patrons. This is the best moment to join and get involved! Newcomers will only have another opportunity like this to join and receive a copy right away in September, but only for Level Two memberships!

Here's the revised schedule:

• July 31: Links available for all tiers, including new patrons from any tier.
• August 28: Exclusive link access for Level 3 patrons only.
• September 25: Links available for Levels 2 and 3 and for all Level 2 newcomers.
• October 30: Exclusive link access for Level 3 patrons only.
• November 27: Links available for all tiers.
• December 25: Exclusive link access for Level 3 patrons only.

I hope you liked this timeline along with the improved benefits. Your support and involvement mean the world to me, and I can't wait to share the game's progress with all of you!


-----


In other news, I had some engaging exchanges with the testers last month, inspiring me to try new things on the interface. The one I'm showing below is the most promising until now: I've made a button that flips and unlocks more options when the game changes its state from Cutscene mode to Exploration mode. It's the Discover Button.



This button shows a menu with different ways to interact with the game's environment, like so:





It only has one option now, showing every interactable object in the background. It will assist you very well in navigating Martin's house. This other button, temporarily named 'use your five senses' will make Martin smell, hear, see, touch, and taste his environment to enhance the player's immersion in the game and unlock more cutscenes and places to explore (I left this button disabled right now because I haven't fully figured it's interface yet, but I'm thinking about it already).

In the future, this Discover menu will also include a screen that will show Martin's thoughts based on the game's current state to help the player figure out better what to do next and what Martin already experienced during that specific playthrough.

You might wonder why I didn't opt for the traditional shine on clickable objects by hovering the mouse on the screen. The reason is simple: I want this game to look and feel the same on smartphones and PCs. Unfortunately, smartphones lack the mouse hover feature, and simulating it by dragging the screen can be cumbersome within the Ren'Py engine, so I'm embracing this design limitation to try new things.

That's all I have for this week!

Remember: all patrons will receive a link to test this feature on July 31!
Your feedback and thoughts will help shape the design and feel of The Martin Experiment. If you want to get involved, this is the best moment to join and test the game! The next best time to enter will be September but only for Level Two memberships!​

 

[number500]

July Dev Build is here!

• 30 new frames since the June build
• This build is the first ever for all tiers!

I'm sending a download link to everyone right now via DM! Enjoy!
Also, don't forget our schedule for the following months:

• August 28: Exclusive link access for Level 3 patrons only.
• September 25: Links available for Levels 2 and 3 and for all Level 2 newcomers.
• October 30: Exclusive link access for Level 3 patrons only.
• November 27: Links available for all tiers.
• December 25: Exclusive link access for Level 3 patrons only.

 

[NoHopeInSelfFap]

no more update??

 

[NoHopeInSelfFap]

dang bro the game actully good, just dont stip it

 

[ItzSyther]

dang bro the game actully good, just dont stip it

The last update (via patreon) was back in January of this year so I suppose they are still doing it.