VN Ren'Py The Shadow over Willowtown [Ep.2 v2.2 SE] [VNCraft]

[DeVNCraft]

Chapter 2 Episode 1 Subscriber Release is live!

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with some sneak peek renders included.

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[Bob69]

The Shadow over Willowtown [Ep.2 v2.0 SE] [VNCraft] - Compressed

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Mac [200 MB]

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Spoiler: Tools used & Info:

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[Ragnar]

game is inspired by the works of E. A. Poe, H. P. Lovecraft (duh!) and the cult classic adult horror visual novel Divi Dead.

 

[DeVNCraft]

View attachment 5189607

The Star Wars reference was all me if that's what you referring too, the writer is innocent of that crime

 

[Ragnar]

The Star Wars reference was all me if that's what you referring too, the writer is innocent of that crime

Nah, it means to be a compliment about your taste. H.P Lovecraft, Poe, Divi Dead, that's good stuff

 

[DeVNCraft]

Nah, it means to be a compliment about your taste. H.P Lovecraft, Poe, Divi Dead, that's good stuff

The writer is all too guilty of that crime...stick around my friend, your on the right page

 

[DeVNCraft]

LordWanze - I don't have any issue with your review as it stands either way, personally I took it as a fair review...,but I'd like to clear a few things up. First off, we don't do drugs, personally I have tried most in my life, but don't find them to be all that appealing anymore...it was just a scene from a potential reality in an 80's college and has no bearing on the plot or intention of being a main theme in the game--frankly I think LoVNCraft did it to test his ability working with smoke and particles, but only they can really say there since it wasn't any major issue for me even as someone who gave up smoking long ago and people are going to do what they do, even more so when being creative like writing and rendering.

I personally love Alex's character and find him extremely necessary as comedy relief, a story based game requires characters that can build a story...If you only look at it from a sexual perspective he is absolutely pointless...but I can assure you that we are not looking at it that way.

I'm not even getting into a pre-destined NTR conversation except to say that it directly states in the loading screens everyone skips that there will be none...and a side character having a boyfriend now doesn't mean she would then or he even comes into the picture whatsoever, I don't know his plans there--but I can't see an invisible man being a problem you would have even if it did, but as I said we are clear about no NTR for anyone who reads what we have planned for the game in those 'annoying' screens I got bashed over

The horror has just hit the warming plate, and if I know Lov I'm probably going to have issues with some of what he creates at some point...being more of a fantasy magic and swords (Dragonlance, LOTR, GOT) buff than horror buff myself. We have different interests in alot of areas...but our ideas of what are and what make good VNs was pretty much the same, as well as our ideas about fans and/or supporters and the respect they deserve.

I thank you for taking the time to write the review and pointing out the good as well as your opinion of the bad...but many of them are your assumptions or just one time scenes (which you did point put--I'm just clarifying). But I certainly don't have any 'Habits', I find ihat one a bit insulting honestly and I would appreciate if you could at least re-word it...excluding my addiction to code and probably to porn--I'm still partly in denial about the last one - your free to assume all you want about the game, but assuming about our personal lives is well....personal. Your more than welcome to get to know me so you can pick out all my actual flaws--but that's not one of them (and frankly the main reason I felt I needed to write this--I don't take offense per say but I don't like it being the first thing people read about me without debate)

As for the Characters, particularly the best friend, they are a necessary cock block to create a realistic story, your half right about that....but your also assumung like in every other AVN the MC is going to bang everything that walks...one thing I can assure you is that this is the farthest thing from every other VN your going to find in a story sense (or one of few), so just because its common doesn't mean we intend to do it.

We are open to discuss things and listen to our fans...but not about the story itself (hell Lov doesn't even listen to me about it as the dev lol--but they do listen to my ideas), so theres nothing to say there...if it bothers you the MC has someone besides a female in his life, you would be right that its not for you, if its just the concept of potential NTR that bothers you...your concerned over nothing.

EDIT:

I just want to apologize in advance...I'm not going to remove the post, but I tend to forget the shiny little dev label above my avatar constantly and just speak my mind...this is one of my toxic traits

I don't wanna scare people off from writing reviews or even talking to us . Well me at least, I won't speak for Lov in this case, but you can literally ask me almost anything and i'll answer you outright in public or a message, same as I tell people whats on my mind about everything else....so you'll have to forgive me for that. (yet here I go again)

I likely would have thought and possibly even said the same thing being totally honest, since I'm from the U.S. and its harder to find someone who doesn't smoke pot than the other way around these days. Like I said above ...been there done that, i'm not holier than thou by a long shot, but its just not my thing.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again...just a dude hanging out like everyone else. Being the Dev is what I do, not who I am,. So I'm gonna do me like I would anywhere else, I was a user long before I was a dev...it's hard to stop being one to be the other, so don't take it personally eh? I really can't help myself, old habits are hard to break

And in my case....just ignore the label entirely, I wanted that so people would trust my answers about the game, or upload links for it etc. nothing more....but it's a double edge sword.

 

[Ragnar]

My impressions after playing the ep2.

Renders are a bit raw. Ep2 are a bit better so we can expect further improvements down the line. But the girls are not that hot, which is a big problem in a vn. You should think about reworking them because that's the first thing players will see, how hot the main girls are.

Storywise the game can be interesting but there are some jokes that break any inmersion the player had. Like Necronomicon for dummies You say your inspiration is Lovecraft and Divi Dead but that kind of thing stick out like a sore thumb. Horror and comedy rarely mix well.

Another nit pick of mine is about the creatures. There is a scene with a creature in plain day light, that would have worked better with mist or at night. Right now it looks out of place, like look, there is a deep one in the bus stop!

The use of drugs and the such is a common place in College parties so I don't see any reason to remove it. Same goes for people having a life besides the MC, I mean npcs having their own relationships. Whatshername fucking with others is not ntr as long as she is not a love interest.

Also if you're going to write about cults and creatures, sex scenes without the MC can be a thing. Like a creature raping some npc or some sex rites, that would be vouyerism not ntr. If you try to avoid that type of content you can end with a very bland horror story in your hands.

 

[LordWanze]

LordWanze - snip

Hey, nice to see a reaction to a review that is not a false claim and removal.

First up: bumped the rating up a bit. Wasn't in the best mood back then, it is definitely above average.

Just a short answer on the drug subject: It read like I meant you personally, I changed that.
The whole scene gives the picture of glorifying drugs. I know people tend to portray that as typical for young people in this situation. It is not. A quick choice given for the player to state the MCs disapproval and basically skip of the scene would make it more optional. As it stands, I found it disgusting and wanted to make that abundantly clear in my review.
And it ruined an LI for me, the one I liked the most before that. Just personal opinion, as all reviews are.

It was somewhat obvious that Alex was an attempt to create something funny. Personally I think these elements kill a lot of the atmosphere you want to create in a horror game (if we talk actual horror, not shocker). Nevermind that I think he is just badly written, most of the times he is just too awkward. Nothing funny I could find about him.

Lastly the 3-letter part: I am not completely certain that it is the right term here. You introduce Alex' girlfriend Penny in the same way you did with all the LIs (slideshow and all). This is either false and she is wasted as a model (quite good looking), or a potential future LI. Which is at least Netori. Especially if the player thinks that Alex is unlikable and more of a nucanse.

These are points that many players in many threads of this site criticized. It led to changes or clear statements from the dev about their intentions. And often times gave interested people (like me) an idea what to expect.

Of course these are only the negatives I wrote. I will follow the progress of your game and am excited to actually experience the horror aspect of your game.
And I really hope you have all the success you wish for with this project.

 

[DeVNCraft]

It read like I meant you personally, I changed that.

Your wording still kind of sucks, no offense lol. I'm not going to try to suggest how you word your review, I've said my piece here...thats enough for me. It's less direct than it was and I don't want you to remove your opinion entirely either, so I appreciate the edit in any case

. A quick choice given for the player to state the MCs disapproval and basically skip of the scene would make it more optional.

I can run the concept past the writer for a choice there, but I can tell you that the reason for no choice was that MC doesn't smoke during the scene along with Anya...it focuses on the cat mainly which I find hilarious and actually geeked when I played it. I iimagine the MC not smoking might pull interest in the other direction for people who do enjoy it so its really just one of those things...I can't say they're going to do it especially since those scenes took an incredibly long time to render, having someone skip over that is kinda painful on their end I imagine...especially after doing some rendering myself that took days.

nice to see a reaction to a review that is not a false claim and removal.

Not really our thing...it would need to be obvious trolling for that to happen, blah blah hate, blah blah never even played, blah blah ten donation and dev accounts trying to make all other games look bad for my own or one I work on type of deal...and I would always ask them face to face first. I can't say I'll be able to entertain every review with questions or complaints (especially when the game picks up)...better off just tagging me or quoting me so I have a reason to respond, but I don't feel the need to hit the report button most of the time

It was somewhat obvious that Alex was an attempt to create something funny. Personally I think these elements kill a lot of the atmosphere you want to create in a horror game (if we talk actual horror, not shocker). Nevermind that I think he is just badly written, most of the times he is just too awkward. Nothing funny I could find about him.

I disagree here fully, actually I found him to be the only character my writer was able to drop his proper engrish way of speaking for in the early scenes. This is just my opinion as a player of course, I enjoy the story as much as anyone else does when its finished, I just get the miserable job of editing (poorly) while I play as an added bonus heh.

Penny in the same way you did with all the LIs (slideshow and all).

The panning up scenes are entirely all code, no extra effort rendering or during the script than showing the image really, other than saying that...I'm unfortunately ill equipped to answer this question for you as I don't have a play by play of the entire story and actually refuse to let them ruin it on me

Of course these are only the negatives I wrote. I will follow the progress of your game and am excited to actually experience the horror aspect of your game.
And I really hope you have all the success you wish for with this project.

And again I thank you for taking the time to do so, hopefully I cleared up what I could. Maybe my partner LoVNCraft can give you some further insight into plot points.

 

[DeVNCraft]

My impressions after playing the ep2.

Renders are a bit raw. Ep2 are a bit better so we can expect further improvements down the line. But the girls are not that hot, which is a big problem in a vn. You should think about reworking them because that's the first thing players will see, how hot the main girls are.

Storywise the game can be interesting but there are some jokes that break any inmersion the player had. Like Necronomicon for dummies You say your inspiration is Lovecraft and Divi Dead but that kind of thing stick out like a sore thumb. Horror and comedy rarely mix well.

Another nit pick of mine is about the creatures. There is a scene with a creature in plain day light, that would have worked better with mist or at night. Right now it looks out of place, like look, there is a deep one in the bus stop!

The use of drugs and the such is a common place in College parties so I don't see any reason to remove it. Same goes for people having a life besides the MC, I mean npcs having their own relationships. Whatshername fucking with others is not ntr as long as she is not a love interest.

Also if you're going to write about cults and creatures, sex scenes without the MC can be a thing. Like a creature raping some npc or some sex rites, that would be vouyerism not ntr. If you try to avoid that type of content you can end with a very bland horror story in your hands.

This one is all LoVNCraft's territory...I just felt the need to say I found this to be one of the most down to earth comments I've read. I appreciate your candor.

EDIT:

The only thing i'll add in their defense is they ARE learning DAZ from scratch as they go along...on a time frame we gave ourselves. So alot of the factors (like the books) may have been just to try new things like adding text and such.

I know it may seem hard to believe but we both literally picked up ren'py/python and DAZ while planning this entire project out from websites to socials in three months before the first release we considered a demo, no word of a lie...I had a jump start on code from years of C/C++ but had never touched python in my life, and DAZ from go is another beast.

So really its a learning process mixed in with the game itself...and he hasn't really had the time to just stop and fiddle with things inbetween since we just decided to launch the game in excitement and see how it was received by other people.

 

[LoVNCraft]

Renders are a bit raw. Ep2 are a bit better so we can expect further improvements down the line. But the girls are not that hot, which is a big problem in a vn. You should think about reworking them because that's the first thing players will see, how hot the main girls are.

As someone who has never touched DAZ in my life before, yeah, I guess there is progress with every new render. I won't touch girls, though, or any previous render. If I hate something, that would be a constant reworking of the previous chapters. I think that's almost close to scamming your patrons, not to mention that there is not even one game that becomes more popular after the redesign.

Storywise the game can be interesting but there are some jokes that break any inmersion the player had. Like Necronomicon for dummies You say your inspiration is Lovecraft and Divi Dead but that kind of thing stick out like a sore thumb. Horror and comedy rarely mix well.

I'm glad you've noticed the books. While they are practical jokes and a fan tribute to things I love, they are also quite logical. Think of the world where the Necronomicon is a real thing. It's dangerous, rare and hard to get to. You can be sure you'd have hundreds of books by experts and "experts" writing about it, and someone who wants to know more would grab anything they can.

Another nit pick of mine is about the creatures. There is a scene with a creature in plain day light, that would have worked better with mist or at night. Right now it looks out of place, like look, there is a deep one in the bus stop!

Yeah, I know, but they're not there to be a predictable Hollywood monster trope - I hate generic mainstream horrors - and everything that happens, everything that's said has a meaning behind it. Our choices matter - you literally chose between life and death in Episode 1, and you saw consequences in Episode 2. Our choices matter.

The use of drugs and the such is a common place in College parties so I don't see any reason to remove it. Same goes for people having a life besides the MC, I mean npcs having their own relationships. Whatshername fucking with others is not ntr as long as she is not a love interest.

Exactly. Well, I doubt most people would know what netorare really is in Japanese hentai, but even if we simplify that as "cuckolding", you can't be cuckolded if that's not your girl. And nobody will touch LIs except MC.

Also if you're going to write about cults and creatures, sex scenes without the MC can be a thing. Like a creature raping some npc or some sex rites, that would be vouyerism not ntr. If you try to avoid that type of content you can end with a very bland horror story in your hands.

Again, those would be annoying cults from Hollywood horrors or from the 1980s "Satanic Panic" idiocy. Some cults are all about celibacy, some have a rigorous code of who can and who can't procreate and so on, but I get what you say. As with everything else, I know what kind of cult this is, and what and why they are doing what they are doing.

Thank you for the detailed review. I really enjoyed reading it. Also, once again, I'm so glad someone noticed those books.

 

[LoVNCraft]

Just a short answer on the drug subject: It read like I meant you personally, I changed that.
The whole scene gives the picture of glorifying drugs. I know people tend to portray that as typical for young people in this situation. It is not. A quick choice given for the player to state the MCs disapproval and basically skip of the scene would make it more optional. As it stands, I found it disgusting and wanted to make that abundantly clear in my review.
And it ruined an LI for me, the one I liked the most before that. Just personal opinion, as all reviews are.

I don't look at weed as a drug -it's not more dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, but that was one scene, and it's not even the side theme of the game. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I won't change the story or anything. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It was somewhat obvious that Alex was an attempt to create something funny. Personally I think these elements kill a lot of the atmosphere you want to create in a horror game (if we talk actual horror, not shocker). Nevermind that I think he is just badly written, most of the times he is just too awkward. Nothing funny I could find about him.

He's MC's childhood friend, and he has a role in the story - just like anyone else. Is he funny or not, annoying or interesting, that's for every player to decide for themselves.

Lastly the 3-letter part: I am not completely certain that it is the right term here. You introduce Alex' girlfriend Penny in the same way you did with all the LIs (slideshow and all). This is either false and she is wasted as a model (quite good looking), or a potential future LI. Which is at least Netori. Especially if the player thinks that Alex is unlikable and more of a nucanse.

Almost every girl will be introduced or shown at some point in that way. It's just to give players a better look at them.
There are 4+2 main LIs, and they have their separate galleries, but you can have any of the girls - it depends on the path that you'll choose, but not in one playthrough, though.

Of course these are only the negatives I wrote. I will follow the progress of your game and am excited to actually experience the horror aspect of your game.
And I really hope you have all the success you wish for with this project.

I actually liked your review. When I saw it, I said to DeVNCraft that I found it quite positive despite the three-star rating.
I'm glad you'll be following our game in the future.

 

[Ragnar]

As someone who has never touched DAZ in my life before, yeah, I guess there is progress with every new render. I won't touch girls, though, or any previous render. If I hate something, that would be a constant reworking of the previous chapters. I think that's almost close to scamming your patrons, not to mention that there is not even one game that becomes more popular after the redesign.

I'm glad you've noticed the books. While they are practical jokes and a fan tribute to things I love, they are also quite logical. Think of the world where the Necronomicon is a real thing. It's dangerous, rare and hard to get to. You can be sure you'd have hundreds of books by experts and "experts" writing about it, and someone who wants to know more would grab anything they can.

Yeah, I know, but they're not there to be a predictable Hollywood monster trope - I hate generic mainstream horrors - and everything that happens, everything that's said has a meaning behind it. Our choices matter - you literally chose between life and death in Episode 1, and you saw consequences in Episode 2. Our choices matter.

Exactly. Well, I doubt most people would know what netorare really is in Japanese hentai, but even if we simplify that as "cuckolding", you can't be cuckolded if that's not your girl. And nobody will touch LIs except MC.

Again, those would be annoying cults from Hollywood horrors or from the 1980s "Satanic Panic" idiocy. Some cults are all about celibacy, some have a rigorous code of who can and who can't procreate and so on, but I get what you say. As with everything else, I know what kind of cult this is, and what and why they are doing what they are doing.

Thank you for the detailed review. I really enjoyed reading it. Also, once again, I'm so glad someone noticed those books.

I understand and share your concern about reworks, but the game is in its early stages so there is no better time to retouch the models. Still that's your prerogative and you do you. Another way to do it without having to rework everything is like the girl changing her style, "look anon, I changed my hairstyle <3" , women can change big time with a bit of make up and shit.

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As for the sex Cult. It doesn't have to be a about titillating, sex can be an active part in horror.
Something like Bible Black uses the horror to introduce sex scenes (I prefer this approach).
Something like Hellraiser uses the sex to introduce horror.

 

[DeVNCraft]

I understand and share your concern about reworks, but the game is in its early stages so there is no better time to retouch the models. Still that's your prerogative and you do you. Another way to do it without having to rework everything is like the girl changing her style, "look anon, I changed my hairstyle <3" , women can change big time with a bit of make up and shit.

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I hope our girls don't look that bad to you

I actually had this conversation with him myself...good luck, although I don't find them bad (except my normal preferences toward a few), I did think they could have been better....of course at the time I hadn't realized that he strove more for unique than the same old look alike but sexy...and again my bit of DAZ experience has made me realize there's a ton of that so I can't really blame him. I've found games I thought had the hottest girls were using a base model with minor variation or none at all and when that realization hit, I dropped the subject entirely.

My first DAZ model annoys the shit out of me for being almost the same way...but I just can't seem to be rid of her--so I understand both sides of the coin really.

You have to understand something it took me a bit of time to grasp when we started this project, even being good friends--Lov is a true writer and he's doing this to write a story, the smut is just part of his story....an extremely unique trait among VN creators, one that will doom us or set us apart from the crowd...but I gotta say i'm extremely interested to see where it goes and how the crowd reacts....and i'm all in for the ride wherever his creativity takes us, even if we weren't close I'd support this project for that ideal alone. That's all from me.

Anyhow, It seems your up Lov, so don't mind me if I ease back into the shadows a bit until i'm needed

Thanks for all the real feedback fellas. Cheers!

 

[LoVNCraft]

I understand and share your concern about reworks, but the game is in its early stages so there is no better time to retouch the models. Still that's your prerogative and you do you. Another way to do it without having to rework everything is like the girl changing her style, "look anon, I changed my hairstyle <3" , women can change big time with a bit of make up and shit.

We sort of did that with the makeup of one of the girls, but again, they won't be changed. If we asked 100 people what kind of girl they would like, we'd have 100 different answers.

As for the sex Cult. It doesn't have to be a about titillating, sex can be an active part in horror.
Something like Bible Black uses the horror to introduce sex scenes (I prefer this approach).
Something like Hellraiser uses the sex to introduce horror.

Yes, I'm familiar with both Bible Black and Hellraiser, but I also know my story, and while I can consider suggestions if I find them interesting, I don't intend to alter the story for anyone.

 

[Ragnar]

We sort of did that with the makeup of one of the girls, but again, they won't be changed. If we asked 100 people what kind of girl they would like, we'd have 100 different answers.

Yes, I'm familiar with both Bible Black and Hellraiser, but I also know my story, and while I can consider suggestions if I find them interesting, I don't intend to alter the story for anyone.

I'm not asking you to change anything, just giving some feedback about how to retouch models without having to change everything. As for the Cult thing, I can't tell you to change what I don't know because so far we don't know much about them, just giving some ideas.

 

[DeVNCraft]

I'm not asking you to change anything, just giving some feedback about how to retouch models without having to change everything. As for the Cult thing, I can't tell you to change what I don't know because so far we don't know much about them, just giving some ideas.

You know how the entire movie cast hate's when a writer directs or has creative control of a film? Ya

its not to say they didn't hear the cast or realize they had good intentions (he does--well, we do), it's just that they chose to not hear them at the time

Lov can be a stubborn mule...which is good and bad, wouldn't want every opinion to get under his skin either...but sometimes....smack!!!

Its not that the film will necessarily end up bad, but the pain of those people.

Most people don't read the credits (understandably), but the little jokes and skits I put there are actually based on our conversation's, although he's not nearly as meek and i'm not nearly that much of a jerk...or try not to be--most of it actually occured nearly the same way its written while we were busting each others balls heh.

Point being....heard. (and not heard), so don't take it the wrong way. Your candor is appreciated....but there's a reason I handle the social aspect for the most part (just didn't want you to hold your breath while beating your head off a brick wall lmao)

 

[Arikania]

missing tag: protagonist gender

 

[DeVNCraft]

Hortuksia



Lefa Rockhard