VN Ren'Py The Nature of Magic [Ch.2 Part 1] [Slate Interactive]

[Meiri]

I agree, reworks this early are bad for everyone. If it bugs you, as a dev, there will come a time to redo it, but halfway through chapter 2 is not that time. You need to get deeper into the story and get the audience (players) hooked before you go back and spend a lot of time reworking things. Plus if you start second guessing yourself this early you're going to end up re-working things constantly. I know that personally, I can't go back and re-read things I wrote even a year ago because I'll find a thousand things I want to change, fix, re-word etc. At some point you have to let it go so you can focus on creating new things.

Hard disagree, if you absolutely have to rework your game then better to do it early in development than not halfway into development and have to wait a year or more until rework catches up so the story can continue and if a rework can wait until the game is completed, then you probably don't even need to rework anyway.

In this case I think he is just reworking some old renders while still continuing development so I don't think it will be bad for the game.

 

[Estius]

I was a bit dismayed to see this report.

It's only been live for 8 months. I don't like to second guess other devs, but reworking renders and animations after such a short period is not a great use of time unless you're trying to launch on Steam and need to attract non-enthusiasts of the genre. That's not happening with an HS2-based game.

I don't even recall any renders that looked bad compared to other images.

Yup. Game is great so far. It would just be a waste of time.

 

[Merlin-Magic]

The story is great, the game mechanics are great, the music is great... but the renders and animations are just... okay. This has too much potential not to make it much better. In the end, it will most likely be up to the supporters as to what will happen. That does not mean the developer cannot rework the game on the fly. Many other developers are doing that right now. The best dev's only increase the time between updates by 5%. I do not know this dev that well, so it remains to be seen what will happen. I am sure the dev does not want to cut off an arm because he has a hang nail and he does not want to kill this game from what I can tell. He wants to make it even better. I cannot fault him for that. I am sure no one here will die, if the game takes a little longer.

 

[ModernDegenerate]

This isn't a new development, the most recent update included a lot of upgraded renders in chapter 1 as well. And they look noticeably better, with much better lighting and shadows. And even then there was still a ton of new content in chapter 2.

They even mention in the above post that they won't be reworking as many renders from chapter 1 in this update as they did in this recent one. So there'll be even less time spent on that than with the chapter 2 update.

You probably don't recall any renders that looked bad compared to chapter 2 because the dev already reworked a lot of them. They said that they prioritized updating the rougher ones in chapter 1 first.

Just want to add this reply because the above post provided important context.

Chapter 2 coming quick off the heels despite redone renders, does mean there's less of a worry. If Slate can do both in a reasonable time, it is much less objectionable.

I did play chapter 1 on Christmas Day, so I'm not so sure I wouldn't have noticed renders that were an eyesore - but it was played on a Steam Deck, so a small screen, and that might be a reason I missed some.

 

[QuickGuy]

Why does the developer need to make all the girls lesbians?

 

[Pixillin']

Why does the developer need to make all the girls lesbians?

Are they? I'm only with Cerys at this point. She doesn't seem lesbian, or at least she hasn't mentioned it. If the rest are all lesbians that would be convenient for them.

 

[cubba]

Are they? I'm only with Cerys at this point. She doesn't seem lesbian, or at least she hasn't mentioned it. If the rest are all lesbians that would be convenient for them.

They are not. The game would be pretty useless then, the male MC wouldn't get any action
I guess the previous poster was mostly looking at pretty pictures instead of reading
Most of them are probably bisexual or at least bicurious though (also not mentioned anywhere but would make sense from the context).

 

[prpa]

They are not. The game would be pretty useless then, the male MC wouldn't get any action
I guess the previous poster was mostly looking at pretty pictures instead of reading
Most of them are probably bisexual or at least bicurious though (also not mentioned anywhere but would make sense from the context).

Yeah, he probably didn’t even play it, and if he did, it was probably just holding Ctrl the whole time. Did you see his review?


"I give one star instead of three only because of the poly-trash."

But, as of now, there’s no poly or lesbian content, and according to the developer, even if any is added later, it will be completely avoidable. So he’s giving a one-star review because of possible future content that can be entirely avoided.

 

[QuickGuy]

possible future content

Without "possible". Check future tags or developer posts.

 

[prpa]

Without possible. Check future tags or developer posts.

I enjoy that kind of content, so it’s a big plus for me, but it’s still optional and can be completely avoided by those who don’t share my preference.

 

[Meiri]

Without "possible". Check future tags or developer posts.

What is the reasoning here? that future tag only means that there could be a female x female scene or even a threesome where the 2 girls interact with each other, doesn't mean every girl is automatically lesbian.

 

[Daermon420]

What is the reasoning here? that future tag only means that there could be a female x female scene or even a threesome where the 2 girls interact with each other, doesn't mean every girl is automatically lesbian.

No, didn't you know? Lesbian tag on a game means every woman is a lesbian, always. Since the MC of this game has a penis he's by default out, and maybe if he's lucky Cerys will let him sit in the corner and watch

 

[HiHaHo]

Yeah, he probably didn’t even play it, and if he did, it was probably just holding Ctrl the whole time. Did you see his review?


"I give one star instead of three only because of the poly-trash."

But, as of now, there’s no poly or lesbian content, and according to the developer, even if any is added later, it will be completely avoidable. So he’s giving a one-star review because of possible future content that can be entirely avoided.

just a common thing and always remind me off this.

 

[ChubbyFatBoy]

They are not. The game would be pretty useless then, the male MC wouldn't get any action
I guess the previous poster was mostly looking at pretty pictures instead of reading
Most of them are probably bisexual or at least bicurious though (also not mentioned anywhere but would make sense from the context).

I've noticed from time to time. That people just kinda ignore the whole both ways thing. Like an LI can fuck the MC the whole game up to a point. Where she can kiss or take interest another girl. Suddenly she's lesbian. The miles of dick she's taken from the MC? It's null and void. It's revoked and she's forever locked into clam slamming,

 

[Raziel_8]

I've noticed from time to time. That people just kinda ignore the whole both ways thing. Like an LI can fuck the MC the whole game up to a point. Where she can kiss or take interest another girl. Suddenly she's lesbian. The miles of dick she's taken from the MC? It's null and void. It's revoked and she's forever locked into clam slamming,

You're not wrong there
I kinda find it more annoying if there is point where all the LI's suddenly become bi after a single interaction/talk/kiss etc...happens way too often, especially in harem games. But as long it's avoidable i really don't care.

On the other hand, i find it just as funny when on the rare occasion a MC bangs a lesbian, she likes it/him and all cry about the MC's magic dick and how unrealistic that is...

 

[Dred75]

I have tried this twice, but it is too pedantic and the Celtic stuff is very tryhard and wrecks immersion.

Long diatribes about politics between families that I cannot distinguish.

I might give it a 3rd shot, but VNs shouldn't be so much work, IMO.

 

[Meiri]

I have tried this twice, but it is too pedantic and the Celtic stuff is very tryhard and wrecks immersion.

Long diatribes about politics between families that I cannot distinguish.

I might give it a 3rd shot, but VNs shouldn't be so much work, IMO.

It's a bit too soon in the story so If you are going to give it another chance I would probably wait till the third or four chapter.

I disagree with your last line, sometimes you want a chill and easy to follow story but you already have plenty of games like that, and sometimes you want a more complex and elaborate story, so I appreciate when devs put effort in their world.

I will say CH1 drops a lot of information on you but CH2 imo improves a lot in that regard and I imagine as the story progresses he will keep explaining the family dynamics since they seem to be core to the story being told.

 

[prpa]

I have tried this twice, but it is too pedantic and the Celtic stuff is very tryhard and wrecks immersion.

Long diatribes about politics between families that I cannot distinguish.

I might give it a 3rd shot, but VNs shouldn't be so much work, IMO.

The first half of Chapter 1 had a lot of exposition, but I didn’t mind it, in fact, I actually enjoyed it. After that, the game becomes great. I loved the character interactions, I’d play it for those alone. Thankfully, though, everything about the game is excellent IMO.

So I definitely recommend continuing, even if you're having trouble staying engaged early on. If the first part feels slow, feel free to skim a bit, the rest of the game is absolutely worth it.

Edit: I forgot to ask, why would using Celtic terms break your immersion? That’s one of the staples of fantasy: using Celtic, Germanic, or similarly old world names and influences. I’m genuinely curious.

 

[e6mill]

if you're having trouble staying engaged

We won't tell Cerys.

 

[ciberma7865]

July Progress Update



Quick and dirty: Fixed that rare bug with Scrying, updated the script for Part Two, and got the renders, anims, and sound done for about 16% of the script.

Still not sure what exactly was the underlying cause to that Scrying bug, but I had a fix for another minor issue with Scrying that I was hoping would address it. It did, thankfully. That'll go out with the Part Two release. I've got a fixed version uploaded in case anyone else ran into the issue and would like a link, although its basically a test version so I compressed the images a bit more to make it a faster upload.

Made the major updates to the Chapter Two, Part Two script. The .rpy file clocks in at ~8000 lines, which would make it the longest line-wise to date. Haven't exported the script to check the word count yet, and probably won't until further along. About a third of the update will be the ball.

Got the preliminary work done for the "quality-time" scenes and sent the first group off for commission. Got one back already and adjusted/rendered that in. Did a basic one myself. Better than the chapter one anims I did, but it'll still be apparent which ones were the commissions.

Working under the new dev process I mentioned in a previous post, and have about 16% of the script rendered, animated, and scored so far. Note that 100% of the script won't be 100% of the work for the update, as there'll still be polish, testing, and the additional tasking from the poll to do.

The Itch sitch was a bit of a distraction towards the end of the month, unfortunately. I don't expect TNoM to run afoul of the review process, but I wouldn't say Itch has done a particularly good job about being transparent about much. I mocked up a quick design for creating a mainline SFW version of the game with a separate-able chunk for the NSFW stuff if worse comes to worst. I'll be working on adding that framework to the game during this update, but won't do any separating until there's actually a need. Or a desire from folks for a SFW version.

Since Itch is still doing its thing, I'll take the opportunity to point out

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as an alternative for browsing/discovering AVNs. I put an announcement about it on the Discord, but I know not everyone is on there or pays attention to it. If you have a chance, consider dropping a review for

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there: the game's doing pretty well so far ratings-wise and I'm hoping the longer it stays that way, the more folks will take a look.

As always, thanks for the support and stay safe!