Ren'Py The Null Hypothesis [v0.8c] [Ron Chon]

[ShinyBoots1993]

Thanks Shiny. Actually after I responded I had an idea and went back and checked something.

Opening the ZIP file containing the app by double-clicking it in macOS (i.e., using the default archive utility included in Ventura) results in a decompressed app that (at least on my Mac) can't be run. The error message is just, "The application 'TheNullHypothesis' can't be opened."

Opening the ZIP file containing the app by right-clicking and selecting Open With > The Unarchiver results in a decompressed app that actually runs. There's the usual warning about apps from unrecognized developers that can be bypassed in the usual ways, and then the app launches as expected.

Why the behavior is different between the standard Archive Utility and a third-party tool, I have no clue. But Mac folks stuck on the error might try opening the ZIP file with a third-party tool like The Unarchiver. Seems to resolve the issue here at least.

This is really, really weird.

Shit like this is the reason I dropped computer programming lol

 

[badlulu]

You wouldn't have to have been in the discord server to know that the dev's have never planned to include the addiction mechanic and have always intended the physical interactions with the LIs to be purely consensual. It has actually been discussed in this thread far more than it has in the discord server. It has been mentioned in response to a lot of questions about the game in general, but also in relation to how it effects a lot of the gameplay and relationship aspects of the game. Like, it's fine if you like those things about RLE, but this game has diverged from it significantly, which has also been talked to death in this thread. It isn't drawing from the same source material for its artistic direction and it's a different genre of game altogether from RLE, despite being inspired by it. RLE and it's dev have been criticised for a long time for never developing the story that was promised.

This game is less "What if RLE with consent?" and more "What if X-Men AVN with story?" If you don't like that it's fine, but the entire impetus for spinning this off into it's own project from what was originally going to be an RLE mod was that RLE promises a story but never delivers. Even the focus on consent is less a reaction to RLE's gameplay loop and more a reaction to those kinds of stories in the comics being very cringy and generally poorly handled by writers trying to romanticise nonconsensual physical relationships. Not enjoying the gameplay loop of this game vs RLE is also fine, but it's a weird move to be so adamant that this game should include RLE's gameplay loop when RLE already exists and you seem to enjoy it.

I mean, in my initial post here, I expressed that I enjoyed the content that was in the game at this point, and appreciated the project overall. I was just curious about the approach because it limits the player interaction to "make numbers go up to progress" instead of allowing for a more diverse set of engagements. It does seem like "what if consent" is a clear focus though, because the moment I mentioned the addiction mechanic I got a lot of very defensive responses. I appreciate that there's an attempt to improve on RLE because it's a solid idea that is pretty poorly (and SLOWLY) executed. The current implementation doesn't allow for very much variation though because it limits the player to "say nice things to improve love score"

 

[badlulu]

I mean the contents of the signature make it ironic.

If you read my generally complimentary posts as whining, then I guess we have massively divergent definitions of the word.

 

[Engelstein]

Finally got it on-screen.



Basically all the text does that, I can't read anything and that includes save menu.

 

[Riptide]

Really enjoying this. The grind level is well mitigated by a clear journal and the option to play with outfits, so even while grinding there are things to keep you occupied. My one gripe so far is that in the sex menu, it's not always clear when a new option will cancel out an old one - e.g. why is rub pussy (clothed) only available when standing? It's a minor gripe though.

 

[sheepinpanic]

yes, totally agree with you. Didn't play Rogue like evolution, but I love games with well build characters and more depth than shown to begin. The girls are cute in each their ways and even if it is kinda simple made (if it is too much to compare it with Chasing Sunsets) the graphic and drawings are good and you can clearly see there is a lot of work behind the game

 

[King_In_Yellow]

yes, totally agree with you. Didn't play Rogue like evolution, but I love games with well build characters and more depth than shown to begin. The girls are cute in each their ways and even if it is kinda simple made (if it is too much to compare it with Chasing Sunsets) the graphic and drawings are good and you can clearly see there is a lot of work behind the game

 

[VasylHabsburger]

You know, even with all these superpowers and stuff, the most unrealistic bit of this is the girl offering to pay for your dinner.

 

[ShinyBoots1993]

If you read my generally complimentary posts as whining, then I guess we have massively divergent definitions of the word.

It's because your posts came off as backhanded. If it's not your intent I apologize but we've had more than one occasion of people being snide.

the moment I mentioned the addiction mechanic I got a lot of very defensive responses.

We've had people get weird about it to a point where when someone brings up the absence of the mechanic it's assumed they're going to be weird about it.

I appreciate that there's an attempt to improve on RLE

This is another thing that annoys people following the project because there is no attempt to improve on RLE. Null Hypothesis has never had RLE's gameplay loop and as someone who can see into the dev rooms, it's going to be diverging even further away from it.

They're two separate games.

The current implementation doesn't allow for very much variation though because it limits the player to "say nice things to improve love score"

This is by design.

The game is about developing romantic and platonic relationships with X-Men characters. Corruption, addiction, and obedience stats would be antithetical to what we want to do with the game.

If you want a pure sandbox experience, go play RLE.

If you want a narrative-focused game centered around forming relationships, play this game.

If you want a narrative-focused game centered around dominating x-gals... Wait for someone to make that game.

On the other hand, the game was intentionally made to be as moddable as possible.

Right now I know of three projects in progress. One that turns all the characters into yanderes, one that makes Null inherently more assertive and the girls less so, and one focused on smaller life sim stuff like random events and mini games.

While I'm here I'll say this for everyone reading that if someone wants to mod in addiction and obedience that's entirely possible. We have no interest in incorporating it into the main game but we support those who want to use the tools that we have provided.

The discord has an official modding channel to discuss stuff.

 

[Green83rry]

You know, even with all these superpowers and stuff, the most unrealistic bit of this is the girl offering to pay for your dinner.

Well, Magneto always said mutants are the next stage of human evolution. Maybe that's our sign these ladies really are more evolved.

 

[ShinyBoots1993]

You know, even with all these superpowers and stuff, the most unrealistic bit of this is the girl offering to pay for your dinner.

Well, Magneto always said mutants are the next stage of human evolution. Maybe that's our sign these ladies really are more evolved.

You two clearly haven't dated enough Cougars or doms lol

 

[LobbingCabbage]

Anybody know anything about this very particular issue I'm having (and hopefully how to fix it)? I've been trying to load certain saves including my most recent one for my current playthrough (I usually make a lot of saves), but the game nearly immediately crashes upon loading those saves. Luckily it seems this only occurs with specific saves and I can also start up a new game without issues, but I'd like to know if there's a way to load up any of those corrupted(?) saves again or at least prevent repetitions of this problem.

If it matters the only things of note that have happened since in between first starting the game and me finding this out is that I played the game continuously for one session, closed it, moved the game folder around a little (as in the one with the main .exe file in it) while cleaning and organizing my computer files, finally leaving it in a different directory as to where I originally installed it, and then started the game normally only for it the crash upon hitting the "continue" button on the main menu so I would then gradually discover the nature of my problem. I'm oblivious to if I had caused a more technical error in some other instance.

Here's one of the tracebacks the game threw at me when loading up my saves if it's of any use. It's specifically from an instance when I tried loading my most recent save via the main menu:

Spoiler: Changed some directories for privacy reasons

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

I don't mean to come off as dramatic or something of the sort if I do. If all I can do is just live with the issue and will likely have to start up a new game if I want to have purely functional saves I'm fine with that, just let me know. Otherwise, any substantial insight is appreciated.

 

[VasylHabsburger]

What's the phone's search bar for? I kinda suspect it's for cheating, but can't seem to get it working. Guess, you need some patron-exclusive codes, not just console commands. Or am I overthinking it and it's just for show?

 

[RedPandaExpress]

What's the phone's search bar for? I kinda suspect it's for cheating, but can't seem to get it working. Guess, you need some patron-exclusive codes, not just console commands. Or am I overthinking it and it's just for show?

Code diving spoiler.

Its not a pateon exclusive anything, it was a legacy carry over from earlier testing. It had only a few features, none of which seem to work properly even if you were to re-enable it. In fact, by the time you go through the trouble of doing so you could just enable console and do it far easier.

Given that the Devs have made a point about not wanting to patreon lock content of the game, I don't see them reviving it for that purpose. Purely guessing here, but I suspect they are leaving it in for now because 1) Its easier than recoding everything and 2) It could be useful later down the road for easter eggs, plot ideas, etc.

 

[SolSpell]

Are there any plans to expand the sex? Outside the obvious, like more positions, threesomes, backgrounds.

I mean like autonomy for the girls, or having them comment on things you've done in conversation outside of it, or whatever else you can think of.

 

[FinalKingdomHearts]

To load a save I have to first a new game.

 

[ShadowWarrior]

Played it. Loved it. It was packed full of content and I favored every part of this. I'm just waiting to be able to do Storm.

 

[Jeck30]

Thanks, but again, as I and others have already said, this is unrelated to running apps from unrecognized developers.

If anyone who's actually got it running on macOS can weigh in one way or another that'd be helpful.

Luckily I have access to a PC as well and I've played through and enjoyed it, looking forward to more content. But at least some Mac-only folks are being left behind here.

Sorry if I misinterpreted your question. I'm running on a Mac without issues.

 

[Mutation8888]

To load a save I have to first a new game.

Once you get past the first week or so of game time your saves should work normally. Often it occurs just once and then resolves itself.

 

[maladroit]

Sorry if I misinterpreted your question. I'm running on a Mac without issues.

No worries, sorry if my response was overly aggressive. Searching through the thread for the issue just gave me several replies of the usual "this is how to open apps from unrecognized developers on a Mac" advice, which... yeah I imagine there are probably posters here who are running stuff on Macs for the first time, but most of us have learned that dance by now.

(though I would be curious to know whether you opened the linked archive in the default macOS archive utility or with a third-party tool, since that's what made the difference for me. I'm guessing there's a subtle difference in the way permissions for some files in the app container are handled between archive utilities and that's what is leading to the un-openable app for some Mac users. Though I tried the usual chmod fix and that didn't seem to help either.)