Ren'Py Abandoned The Void of Deviance [v0.1.8] [Sylventhia]

[Sylventhia]

Oh, in general I do like your game and feel there's a great potential in it. The game is in very early in development so I don't expect it to be perfect yet, especially since it's your first game and quite ambitious at that. For me personally it just seems slightly impenetrable and tedious; for example I like your descriptions of skills, but at the same time I don't feel they're infomative enough and the game doesn't clearly offer any explanation as to how to level them up. Personally I don't mind them not saying what do I need them for as they're rather self explanatory, but some general hints as to where I can raise them (like pointing at 1-2 places/activities and the leaving it for the player to discover more similar acitivities that give higher bonuses). I think that this QoL improvements are more necessary for porn/adult games than in other types of games, since majority of people playing them don't do it for fancy mechanics (though they are appreciated; for example I really like - even more than the h scenes - puzzles in Code Blue), but "live" through their sexual phantasies and let off some steam. The tediousness imo comes mostly from the facts that there's this constant need to click on the same icons all the time (so limiting the amount of clicks to reach the most often used menus [map, relationships, skills] to minimum would be appreciated [I'm finishing Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One now btw and in order to open map or case files I just need one click, and they still match the tone and language of the game]) and having to go back home every 3-4 activities (that often are limited to just reading placeholder dialogue).

I understand, I wanted the game to be engaging at the same time but I now cannot even understand what I was shooting for. The first thing I'll fix for the next update will be to balance these out and completely remove mechanics that make it harder to access content.

Sylventhia this thread is 22 pages long, did you even read the previous 20? From what I can tell about 90% of the complaints are about the roadblock at the end of the prologue, and the other 10% are about other bizarre obstacles that you chose to insert for who knows what reason. Very few players of this sort of erotic game are in it for the fancy mouse clicking. But no worries, first attempt and all that, lets move on. So when I saw this version was uploading I thought cool, that one should be a lot better let’s grab it. Nope, big mistake. Just more of the same amateurish roadblocks. Live and learn. For some of us.

I do not know what else to say, I think I stated enough by apologising, and assuring you that I will be fixing these. If you read the previous 22 pages in this thread you will see that I meticulously read each comment and respond in detail. I'm trying my best. I hope we can leave this behind as I have many times agreed with all your criticism and promised to fix the game.

 

[HPSchlaad]

Have you read the changelog and comments in the thread? I have mentioned not to progress too much after day 14 as this is the first introduction of the gameplay. You do realize that until a new update the content will become repetitive as this is a sandbox/open-world game right? And of course that's the current content for now as I can only provide so much being a solo dev on the side of working part-time jobs and being a college student at the same time
I do not understand what you mean by "taking", or "reactions"

Who reads changelogs in a porn game, like seriously? xD

Ok so the game just started developement.
It looked so polished and good that I thought there would be more stuff.
Lots of potential.

Taking means taking, like speaing. reactions mean their eyes and if it gives any points towards any directions.

The only thing that was annoying was the save/load menu. And the smartphone map menu.
Everytime I clicked right mouse trying to exit the smartphone but it opens the save menu.
Then I lost countless load files because I accidentally was on "save" and not on "load" when trying to load a game, but it saves over the file. Rip.

If they could be more seperated that would be good. And a different function for right click would also be nice. (like exiting the phone)

 

[Sylventhia]

Who reads changelogs in a porn game, like seriously? xD

Ok so the game just started developement.
It looked so polished that I thought there would be more stuff.
Lots of potential.

Taking means taking, like speaing. reactions mean their eyes and if it gives any points towards any directions.

The only thing that was annoying was the save/load menu. And the smartphone map menu.
Everytime I clicked right mouse trying to exit the smartphone but it opens the save menu.
Then I lost countless load files because I accidentally was on "save" and not on "load" when trying to load a game, but it saves over the file. Rip.

If they could be more seperated that would be good. And a different function for right click would also be nice. (like exiting the phone)

Thanks for the comment Ren'py's default menu gui is a bit confusing in terms of save/load because they transition so similarly. I didn't really have the time to change that :/ Don't worry though, I will not be sacrificing player comfort just to pull tricks for the gameplay. For the next update and onward, I will make sure that player comfort comes first. So what if the mechanics are easily bypassed? and so what if they just look like decorative reading material, as long as the player can reach the content easily and the stats do not hinder gameplay, I'll take it. For the characters however, The path levelling up must remain as if you become enslaved and then go and do other scenes with other characters it would completely break both the narrative and at some point the code. I will just add a flag when you reach a dead end, for example when you reach Astrid's permanent enslavement, she takes away your phone so you can no longer navigate. The only way out is loading or rebirth. I will add a flag there so when the Bondage level is reset by rebirth, you can unlock it like a checkpoint/milestone again by talking to her. I'll also completely lift the player side penalties of rebirth. Both reputation-wise and stat-wise. But as I've said for things not to clash I need to keep female character progress setbacks. I also don't want people to miss out on scenes so I'll render the stat impact on content to minimum, like extra dialogues at best.

Thanks for all the comments

 

[AminKhan]

I would say having a pdf walk through would be helpful also.

Btw, thanks for this, the game is awesome!

 

[Sylventhia]

I would say having a pdf walk through would be helpful also.

Btw, thanks for this, the game is awesome!

You are right! Thank you so much for this kind remark <3 I cannot find the time for a walkthrough but I will try to make it easier so that a walkthrough will feel like an extra, it kind of feels like a must at the moment thank you so much again <3

 

[TheAndOnlyL]

Hello kind sir, can I ask when is v0.1.4 coming free to f95? and thank you

 

[Sylventhia]

Hello kind sir, can I ask when is v0.1.4 coming free to f95? and thank you

Hi, you can find additional info about releases on my Patreon, which is also included in the thread's description Public releases are 1-2 weeks after all-patron release. Currently the newest update is in early access

 

[ace14165]

How do I get to the chastity content?

 

[Sylventhia]

How do I get to the chastity content?

in the current public version (0.1.3) There is one chastity scene with Emily during the prologue (Sampling route, "Taking a walk in the afternoon" option). In the recent update (0.1.4) which is in early access at the moment, there is full chastity content for Astrid's Bondage Path, where there are various scenes that have the MC in chastity.

 

[ace14165]

in the current public version (0.1.3) There is one chastity scene with Emily during the prologue (Sampling route, "Taking a walk in the afternoon" option). In the recent update (0.1.4) which is in early access at the moment, there is full chastity content for Astrid's Bondage Path, where there are various scenes that have the MC in chastity.

Oh I see, well I look forward to more in the future, this is a really fun game

 

[Sylventhia]

Oh I see, well I look forward to more in the future, this is a really fun game

Thank you so much! Overall I plan to create the content so that most of the enslavement routes will deliver femdom with chastity content, whereas other routes will explore femdom in different ways My first focus when I get to work on the next update will be to redo the entire mechanics so that its easier to find and access content and pointless dialogues will be removed, such as ask and talk and listen options. Also I will be buffing the rewards for stat and coins as well Thank you so much! <3

 

[cross933]

when the next update will release just asking

 

[mrlucymaru2112]

is the cuckold content only in the prologue?

 

[Sylventhia]

when the next update will release just asking

Update v0.1.4 will release to public 1-2 weeks after all patron release All patron release will be this wednesday

is the cuckold content only in the prologue?

No, you can also find it during gameplay. Kinks and fetishes won't be restricted to sections of the game (as long as you do not block it of course, if you blocked it you won't ever be mentioned of such content in the game)

 

[mrlucymaru2112]

Update v0.1.4 will release to public 1-2 weeks after all patron release All patron release will be this wednesday


No, you can also find it during gameplay. Kinks and fetishes won't be restricted to sections of the game (as long as you do not block it of course, if you blocked it you won't ever be mentioned of such content in the game)

any guide to help me find it? lol

 

[Sylventhia]

any guide to help me find it? lol

Of course

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[asehpe]

Oh hi Sylventhia, sorry for not commenting earlier -- after my last comment a lot of IRL stuff fell on top of me (including the war in Ukraine; I have relatives in Kyiv). Enough stuff that I won't make an in-depth commentary here, more like a few notes.

First of all (and having played only version 0.1.3), congratulations on the progress! To me, at least, the gameplay mechanics are not too difficult and make sense (especially given the tutorial with 'entity X'). I see many comments complaining about how 'grindy' it is, and I agree to a point -- but not too much. Personally, I'm into games more for a total experience, not really a quick jerk-off session (for those who just want the scene content, perhaps you could tell them where the animations are found within the game folder so they can play them with Windows Media Player or something similar and satisfy themselves to their hearts' content?).

I hope you're not discouraged by some more aggressive commenters (warren comes to mind). Some people just get angry when things don't go their way and express their anger in their criticism. I frankly don't know what purpose other than said anger expression this has -- it certainly doesn't help in making the problems clearer -- but people are people, you gotta take them as they come. Still, let me say that your game is evolving splendidly -- it has all the hallmarks of a work of love --, and it has a lot of potential. I hope you'll see it through to the end, because I'm really enjoying what I see and I expect things to keep growing with similar quality!

So, I've played the first week, more or less, so it seems to me (also from other comments) that the basic game loop is:
- do the tasks / work for each day (gets some of the scenes)
- keep using the ask/talk options on each girl's menu to increase your stats with said girl and unlock other scenes.

(You also said something about a specific stat -- Modificatio, Servitium, Dolor, etc. -- for a given girl increasing after you hit 77. Does that mean that once we get past 77 in our personal stats, that goes back to 0 and the corresponding stat with the girl we got it from increases by one? Is that how the blue/red numbers in the girl's interaction menu change?)

Apparently, after each week the same scenes come back -- you get the same list of tasks/work in your Sylphone. I assume that this is to guarantee that we get another chance at seeing a certain scene in case we missed it for lack of Motivation?

Also, I can't figure out what the point is of Reputation -- does it ever trigger anything? Nothing has been triggered by it so far for me.

All in all, as I say, it is interesting to be free to cruise and see things by myself in Sylventhia; I prefer this free-roaming approach to the usual VN style Renpy tends to force on devs. It makes it possible to appreciate world building elements.

Which brings me to my one over-arching comment. At some point you said you're interested in world-building for this game, which I find delightful -- I LOVE when the femdom fits in with the world. Up until now, it seems the Sylventhian world is very much like ours -- it has banks, hospitals, churches, cafés, BDSM clubs, etc., it's just that the owners and bosses are all women somewhere on the domme spectrum... It would make free-roaming more interesting to be able to find things that are different (say, if it were possible to read the sacred texts at church and it turned out their religion is femdom-oriented and preaches the inherent superiority of women, etc.). It would also make the situation more real to see that the MC is not the only subby man around... he is certainly the MC and the story is about him and told from his perspective, but if he is the only subby man around then it looks a little like a harem game (all those girls just waiting for MC to woo them, or circling around them when he does his initiation and stuff... why is he such hot stuff? isn't that a bit un-fendommy?). Other submales don't have to take center stage or anything, just be shown sometimes (say, a lady is walking around with his subby pet on a leash; or she is sitting somewhere enjoying coffee and biscuits while her sub licks her shoes; or there's a public pillory somewhere with a misbehaving submale being punished; etc.)

IIRC you wanted to go from a more-or-less normal situation to a more femdom-centered society over time; it would still be possible, I think, to make aspects like other males following MC's path of self-discovery could appear here and there in the background, so that MC doesn't look too privileged... Also, I can think of some good femdom scenes that would need more than one submale to work...

Just adding to the background, no need to turn attention away from MC's adventures.

But all in all, ver. 0.1.3 was a great update -- the new gameplay system, which may need a few tweaks but is in itself quite good. Don't let harsh comments demotivate you -- your game is growing organically, and I, for one, have high hopes for it! Sail forth!

 

[Sylventhia]

Oh hi Sylventhia, sorry for not commenting earlier -- after my last comment a lot of IRL stuff fell on top of me (including the war in Ukraine; I have relatives in Kyiv). Enough stuff that I won't make an in-depth commentary here, more like a few notes.

First of all (and having played only version 0.1.3), congratulations on the progress! To me, at least, the gameplay mechanics are not too difficult and make sense (especially given the tutorial with 'entity X'). I see many comments complaining about how 'grindy' it is, and I agree to a point -- but not too much. Personally, I'm into games more for a total experience, not really a quick jerk-off session (for those who just want the scene content, perhaps you could tell them where the animations are found within the game folder so they can play them with Windows Media Player or something similar and satisfy themselves to their hearts' content?).

I hope you're not discouraged by some more aggressive commenters (warren comes to mind). Some people just get angry when things don't go their way and express their anger in their criticism. I frankly don't know what purpose other than said anger expression this has -- it certainly doesn't help in making the problems clearer -- but people are people, you gotta take them as they come. Still, let me say that your game is evolving splendidly -- it has all the hallmarks of a work of love --, and it has a lot of potential. I hope you'll see it through to the end, because I'm really enjoying what I see and I expect things to keep growing with similar quality!

So, I've played the first week, more or less, so it seems to me (also from other comments) that the basic game loop is:
- do the tasks / work for each day (gets some of the scenes)
- keep using the ask/talk options on each girl's menu to increase your stats with said girl and unlock other scenes.

(You also said something about a specific stat -- Modificatio, Servitium, Dolor, etc. -- for a given girl increasing after you hit 77. Does that mean that once we get past 77 in our personal stats, that goes back to 0 and the corresponding stat with the girl we got it from increases by one? Is that how the blue/red numbers in the girl's interaction menu change?)

Apparently, after each week the same scenes come back -- you get the same list of tasks/work in your Sylphone. I assume that this is to guarantee that we get another chance at seeing a certain scene in case we missed it for lack of Motivation?

Also, I can't figure out what the point is of Reputation -- does it ever trigger anything? Nothing has been triggered by it so far for me.

All in all, as I say, it is interesting to be free to cruise and see things by myself in Sylventhia; I prefer this free-roaming approach to the usual VN style Renpy tends to force on devs. It makes it possible to appreciate world building elements.

Which brings me to my one over-arching comment. At some point you said you're interested in world-building for this game, which I find delightful -- I LOVE when the femdom fits in with the world. Up until now, it seems the Sylventhian world is very much like ours -- it has banks, hospitals, churches, cafés, BDSM clubs, etc., it's just that the owners and bosses are all women somewhere on the domme spectrum... It would make free-roaming more interesting to be able to find things that are different (say, if it were possible to read the sacred texts at church and it turned out their religion is femdom-oriented and preaches the inherent superiority of women, etc.). It would also make the situation more real to see that the MC is not the only subby man around... he is certainly the MC and the story is about him and told from his perspective, but if he is the only subby man around then it looks a little like a harem game (all those girls just waiting for MC to woo them, or circling around them when he does his initiation and stuff... why is he such hot stuff? isn't that a bit un-fendommy?). Other submales don't have to take center stage or anything, just be shown sometimes (say, a lady is walking around with his subby pet on a leash; or she is sitting somewhere enjoying coffee and biscuits while her sub licks her shoes; or there's a public pillory somewhere with a misbehaving submale being punished; etc.)

IIRC you wanted to go from a more-or-less normal situation to a more femdom-centered society over time; it would still be possible, I think, to make aspects like other males following MC's path of self-discovery could appear here and there in the background, so that MC doesn't look too privileged... Also, I can think of some good femdom scenes that would need more than one submale to work...

Just adding to the background, no need to turn attention away from MC's adventures.

But all in all, ver. 0.1.3 was a great update -- the new gameplay system, which may need a few tweaks but is in itself quite good. Don't let harsh comments demotivate you -- your game is growing organically, and I, for one, have high hopes for it! Sail forth!

Thank you sooo soo much for this amazing feedback, asehpe! <3 I'm sorry that you were affected by the war I hope you are doing fine and everything turns out for the better for you and all of us, humanity and the world in general does not deserve any wars, conflict in this day and age

I value every criticism I get. With all the academic workload and the time it takes for me to create an update, I can overlook certain key elements such as player comfort and I will of course work on fixing that whenever I get the chance to work on a new update. I do not want this game to be a sole jerk session game either, I want it to have depth. But also the mechanics and overall gameplay should be player friendly, so that the player is teased by the characters, not the game itself .

Clarity is a point I messed up with the gameplay. Mutatio, Dolor etc. stats are found in your psyche state, which you can access by clicking the button near your health, and then hovering over the "head" which looks like its exploding when you hover over it you will see your stats, can talk to the entity X and use the rebirth mechanic. Those stats are solely about the player, and currently determines how much health he loses during torture(as of v0.1.4) and the player's access to more content/dialogue options. The female improvable stats are advanced through interactions with them and they unlock more paths. With the new update, there are bars near the symbols to indicate your progression. both MC's stats and the females' stats level up by 1 when you get 77 exp. The maximum level you can get for both MC and all the other stats is 7. The new update introduces Astrid's bondage path, advancing her Bondage, will let you view different key scenes . so on and so forth
Reputation is similar to the player stats but it works in a way for you to access events, for example without 50 reputation you cannot view the event at Luscious Fall that becomes available after day 14. I made this really frustrating because the player does not even realise there are scenes they missed. I will fix that in the update v0.1.5. So that the gameplay is still present but is more rewarding and player comfort is taken care of.

Task and work scenes repeat because those scenes are meant to evolve and make the "grind" a bit more interactive Sarah's task scene can offer more with different stats improved, and so is the case for various other scenes. Still, I do not want player's to miss content, therefore I will be focusing gameplay aspect on other things and make it so that erotic scenes are easily accessible.

In the case of world building, There is a lore for the Island I already have planned, it revolves around the dark misty eye icon on the map, it is a bit towards the top and says not implemented yet when you click on it

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What I have in plan is, with enough updates, there will be a lot of experimentation for the player, and with certain progression, the world can evolve into either a complete Femdom society where all the men are treated as inferiors, or a Femdom society where there is also love and respect, but still the women are dominant, and Bdsm rules apply so I guess I can say the worlds approach, the Island's approach towards the player and men in general will be treated the same way Female characters have INTIMACY, BONDAGE, DEVOTION, CONDEMNATION affinity types but this requires a lot. and I mean a lot of work. so it is not on the table at the moment. but it is one of my utmost important intentions . Why there are still no other males (there is in the new update) is solely due to the reason that I have an old computer, and there aren't much customisation options for male characters in Honey Select. I devote all the customisation time to the MC therefore. (for example in gore or sissification scenes.) I am saving up money for a better set up, and with that I will be able to have more options for setting scenes For now my focus is restricted, but I am patient about this since as you have mentioned this is a project of passion for me <3 I hope you all can bear along with me basically, if two character scenes take 4 hours for me to finish, with all the background set up etc. 3 character scenes make it at least 6 because of low system performance, the ending scene of prologue with 6 characters took the longest xD I move a character one inch and wait for 10 mins for the pc to process that

I guess that is all I can say, remind me if I missed something, and I thank you once again for this feedback <3 I'm happy that you enjoyed it <3 <3 <3

 

[lonaburner]

I haven't played in a while, can I get a reminder, if you can turn content on and off from the settings menu or can you only enable or disable content at the start of the game?

 

[asehpe]

I'm glad you're not letting harsh comments de-motivate you -- there are so many devs who stop working after a while, and one of the reasons is angry feedback... As for the war, I have my hopes for the best.

Clarity is a point I messed up with the gameplay. Mutatio, Dolor etc. stats are found in your psyche state, which you can access by clicking the button near your health, and then hovering over the "head" which looks like its exploding when you hover over it you will see your stats, can talk to the entity X and use the rebirth mechanic. Those stats are solely about the player, and currently determines how much health he loses during torture(as of v0.1.4) and the player's access to more content/dialogue options. The female improvable stats are advanced through interactions with them and they unlock more paths. With the new update, there are bars near the symbols to indicate your progression. both MC's stats and the females' stats level up by 1 when you get 77 exp. The maximum level you can get for both MC and all the other stats is 7. The new update introduces Astrid's bondage path, advancing her Bondage, will let you view different key scenes . so on and so forth

I'm not sure I understand the stats mechanic -- when a personal stat (e.g., Servitium) gets 77 exp it levels up (so I'll see it in my menu with 'entity X'). But how do you get 77 exp with the girls? There is no bar in the interaction menus in ver. 0.1.3--does that mean you just have to keep asking questions or talking to them until suddenly a stat changes?

In the case of world building, There is a lore for the Island I already have planned, [snip]

Glad to hear that! I'll be waiting for further developments then.

I guess that is all I can say, remind me if I missed something, and I thank you once again for this feedback <3 I'm happy that you enjoyed it <3 <3 <3

If you like little details... I noticed, in Emily's scene, that 'guns' is once misspelled as 'gunz'. Also, I was a bit puzzled -- why is it that after working for Claire at the Gym, I get points in... Mutatio? Feels like it should be Servitium...

I'll be waiting for further updates. And thank you for developing this game and sharing it with us all!