Ren'Py Trapped with Ivy & Piper [v0.56] [AceX Game Studio]

[Digteren]

Stuck at there is a sound coming from couch next to the cabinet

I think you need to go around to the door and look under the cabinet, but I could be mistaken.

 

[omega_rugal]

women in heels?

 

[Ace_X]

I agree with gmat. The Navigation is an atrocity. Please rework that part.

I know the navigation is not the best, I plan to improve it!

 

[gmant]

When the sound plays, find the key in the highlighted location, it is highlighted green in the game. Take the key and the sound stops.

I know how this works, but you can't click stuff when the "dialogue" about the sound plays. For some reason it keeps endlessly repeating itself and keeps the mouse cursor captive.

 

[Swizzstick]

I know how this works, but you can't click stuff when the "dialogue" about the sound plays. For some reason it keeps endlessly repeating itself and keeps the mouse cursor captive.

when you face the cabinet there is a green patch next to the dialogue box that's clickable

 

[Ace_X]

I know how this works, but you can't click stuff when the "dialogue" about the sound plays. For some reason it keeps endlessly repeating itself and keeps the mouse cursor captive.

I will look into this. But I will say, you are the first person to bring up this issue. Are you on a mac perhaps? (I don't have any mac testers)

 

[Ace_X]

To the developer:

Let me begin by saying I think you're extremely talented. This game's world, plot, and characters are interesting; the renders are beautiful; and, perhaps most important, you grasp and implement a certain type of psychology that adds the right kind of tension to these games. With all that being said, I'm interested in subscribing--but won't be, at least for the near future. I'll explain why.

Regarding Ivy, the previous intimate scene from the last update was exceptional and why I remembered this game after so long an interlude between updates, but in this one, you pull off something of what I'd call a "bait and switch." Other developers do this all the time: throughout several updates, they'll add and develop tension with a particular woman, but then won't develop any actual sex scenes. Then I believe they think something like, "Oh, I need to add an actual sex scene after all this time!" but their story's plot, floundering in limbo, won't sensibly allow for said sex scene with the main female character. So what do these developers do? They throw in a random girl off the streets, who immediately engages in unbridled intercourse with the MC, after he's been getting from the main female character nothing but grinding and perhaps a few blowjobs that never escalate.

This sort of thing is irritating, because tension has been invested in main female lead. While what you do with Ivy is understandable and not as eye-rolling as what I described about the other developers, it comes off as a bait and switch and underwhelming. Meaningful, impactful tension has been built with Ivy . . . but then she does what she does in this update's scene with her. True, it's technically her, but the model Quinn isn't nearly as hot, nor are the others. I get what you're doing: you're using the shapeshifting as a means to wear down Ivy's resistance/reluctance toward the MC, and she'll likely become enamored with the MC after all the playacting . . . but at the end of the day, I just navigated all these tedious, annoying dialogue choices to unlock this scene with Ivy. I want Ivy, not these other models--at least for the time being. If it were my game, I'd add the whole shapeshifting thing later, as something like a gift from Ivy to the MC, as something once Ivy's character arc has been played out.

Regarding the basic structure of the game, I generally find this type--that is, navigating a series of dialogue choices to gain points with characters--very tedious, unnecessary, and distracting. Yours gets to the point where I'm no longer paying attention to the actual story because I'm constantly flashing back and forth between the game and some fan walkthrough. As a way to add something of a grind and interactivity for the player, it is a poor choice. It doesn't add to the tension; it distracts. What's more, you likely have to spend much time developing and keeping track of all these choices. It's likely a waste of time for you; it's certainly a waste of time for the player.

And what often happens when the player does finally navigate the tangled web of dialogue choices?--ahh, blue-balling! In this update, you do it for Val, Piper, and Mia. Goodbye, and have a nice day! For Val, you have a bazillion different angles of some blowjob (which was already done in a previous update) with the explicit implication that it's going to escalate . . . then it doesn't. Don't waste your time programming a copious number of animations for one sexual act. Other develops do this all the time too: they mention something like "Oh, fifty new animations this game!" but then like 3/4 of them are for like a single scene of grinding. This scene definitely piqued my interest for something more but then it felt like the rug was pulled from under my feet.

Granted, the scene with Val was especially hot, like an appetizer you might binge on before a coming feast, thereby ruining your appetite. But then again, escalating into more would have been stupid, crazy hot--and actual intercourse would not have broken the story's plot. My point is, I think you spent too much time adding animations for the blowjob when you should have added some for actual intercourse.

As for Piper, I did not have her points developed in the first playthrough to unlock her scenes, so I went back through the whole game and the tedious dialogue choices . . . only for more blue-balling. I get it, you can't just give the player full-on intercourse for all the characters right away, and there is something to be said for long-term tension building, but in this update, you neuter two scenes that could have been way more powerful, and a bait and switch with another.

So now, as a potential backer, I'm left wondering, "Well, if I subscribe to this guy, maybe he'll escalate things in the next update . . . in say, six months? Eight months? Or maybe it'll all just stagnate . . ." What exactly would I have to look forward to? Do I have faith in the product? So often many of these games start out unbelievably strong and get straight to the point . . . only to flicker out within a few updates.

I did see your previous post about your being very busy, so I get that. I also applaud all that and respect it--it must take a lot of energy to juggle family, work, and developing these sorts of games, not to mention breaking into this industry must be atrociously competitive. If it were me and I was genuinely into this type of game development and I could only manage a couple updates a year, I would not dawdle. Attention spans are short; people are busy; I'm trying to get people to give me money for a porn game that I have no time to develop--in a world deluded in free porn. I'd keep my game's story short and sweet to showcase my work. Then, if I managed to get enough backers to develop full time, I'd consider producing a longer story with more of a slow burn.

This is a long-winded review, so I apologize for that. I hope it helps, because as I said, I think you're extremely talented, a diamond among the rough, but this update missed the mark. Too often I see talented individuals in this space go unrewarded and other well-known developers burn out but still rake in amazing sums of money. Or, as in this case, I see a great game starting to drift . . .

All of this, of course, is being said by a man shaking his fist at the forbidden fruit he thought would be his . . .

But anyway, best of luck with your game.

I really appreciate your feedback. I find it very constructive and I will say, I have already had a lot of similar concerns. I am doing the best I can to improve the story and overall gameplay, and working really hard to find more time to spend on the game. I hope you continue to follow the game. I have a LOT planned out. The whole games stiory is written, but I do need to do a better job with the dialogue, gameplay, and puzzles to make it not so grindy, challenging, but not too hard, have a build up, but not be bluedballed by every update. I think overall, the story is solid, but I REALLY need help when it comes to the UI/UX and navigating. And probably need some writing help to spruce up the dialogue a bit..

Rest assured, I am taking steps to address most of the issues you brought up. and again I thank you for your feedback

 

[twisti46]

Still awesome!

 

[Ace_X]

DOWNLOAD

Changelog: v0.31

3 more days added

First floor roaming added

Hint System Added

12 more hidden images

5 more sexy scenes:

-3 Main Scenes with 1 each for Val, Ivy, and Piper

-2 Small scenes with Mia and Willow

Added over 50 animations

Added over 500 images

3 new outfits for the Main 4 girls

GALLERY ADDED! Replay Scenes! View Renders, Outfits, and Hidden images!

Leaked earlier than I planned... but that's how it goes...

 

[rdmsvg]

I know how this works, but you can't click stuff when the "dialogue" about the sound plays. For some reason it keeps endlessly repeating itself and keeps the mouse cursor captive.

Just checked on version 0.31. Everything works as it should. Here's the proof.

 

[Maromator]

Where is the screwdriver?

 

[insanguinator63]

Where is willow? after I talk to Valerie day 7 night I searched everywhere and can't find her

 

[Ace_X]

Where is the screwdriver?

In a cabinet, under a painting

 

[Ace_X]

Where is willow? after I talk to Valerie day 7 night I searched everywhere and can't find her

Behind the painitng, you need to find all 4 numbers to talk to her

 

[micojive]

Girls are hot, but thats about all this game has imo.

The movement in the sandbox stuff has been talked about, but it is really horrid.

The actual gameplay loop is just...not fun. The first half of the game is just a sandbox for no reason, its just turn camera left. Yell at door talk to person 1, then 2, go through all dialog options then sleep.

When you do get to roam its the same thing, its just go to first person, exhaust all dialog options skip time, find next person to talk to and exhaust all options repeat.

Imo there are good ways to do sandbox games, but this isnt one of them. Sandbox brings nothing to the table. You need to follow a linear story for the game to progress so the sandbox element doesnt do anything except frustrate players. There is no freedom of picking and choosing story bits you want to focus on which is where sandbox excels.

If the entire reason to make a sandbox game is so you can hide secrets for players to accidentally click on that is a poor use of the sandbox.

 

[Ace_X]

Girls are hot, but thats about all this game has imo.

The movement in the sandbox stuff has been talked about, but it is really horrid.

The actual gameplay loop is just...not fun. The first half of the game is just a sandbox for no reason, its just turn camera left. Yell at door talk to person 1, then 2, go through all dialog options then sleep.

When you do get to roam its the same thing, its just go to first person, exhaust all dialog options skip time, find next person to talk to and exhaust all options repeat.

Imo there are good ways to do sandbox games, but this isnt one of them. Sandbox brings nothing to the table. You need to follow a linear story for the game to progress so the sandbox element doesnt do anything except frustrate players. There is no freedom of picking and choosing story bits you want to focus on which is where sandbox excels.

If the entire reason to make a sandbox game is so you can hide secrets for players to accidentally click on that is a poor use of the sandbox.

Fair points, my intention is to utilize the sandbox part as an Escape room game. (I'm just not doing a very good job at it...) But I will improve it!! I already have a ton of ideas, and hopefully they make the game to what I hope it can be.
I will keep the Dialogue choice/points aspect, but I will tone it down a bit... and focus more on puzzles and riddles to futher the story... I HOPE this will improve gameplay and make the rewards more rewarding.

 

[Larsung]

some hidden images are with chars from Sexbot right?

 

[Ace_X]

some hidden images are with chars from Sexbot right?

I made a lot of the characters in sexbot for Llamamann! He's great and sexbot is an awesome game!

 

[Ruff Ryder]

Is there a Gallery unlocker here? Please?

 

[Dude137]

I really appreciate your feedback. I find it very constructive and I will say, I have already had a lot of similar concerns. I am doing the best I can to improve the story and overall gameplay, and working really hard to find more time to spend on the game. I hope you continue to follow the game. I have a LOT planned out. The whole games stiory is written, but I do need to do a better job with the dialogue, gameplay, and puzzles to make it not so grindy, challenging, but not too hard, have a build up, but not be bluedballed by every update. I think overall, the story is solid, but I REALLY need help when it comes to the UI/UX and navigating. And probably need some writing help to spruce up the dialogue a bit..

Rest assured, I am taking steps to address most of the issues you brought up. and again I thank you for your feedback

And I appreciate your response--and that you even responded--which shows me that you actually care about your game. And I totally understand your time constraints. As a potential backer, I can easily overlook long delays in updates, but those updates would have to be phenomenal, or at least solid.

But I want to be very specific about what I mean by phenomenal--I would NOT expect all-around perfection. One of your earlier updates, I think it was v 0.20, I found phenomenal just because of the scene with Ivy. Hot as heck, and it surprised me with how far it went. It escalated beyond what I expected, especially for such an early update. And I was left wanting more, not less, of her character. In general, I think developers postpone full-on intercourse way too late; it's as if they follow some unspoken rule that first you have to start with kissing, then move on to grinding, then blowjobs, etc. Boring. Cool, maybe I'll come back in a few years. With that scene with Ivy so early on, you basically told me anything could happen--wicked fresh!

For this update, the scene with Val allllmost crossed into being phenomenal, as did the scene with Piper. But I want to be specific here: it's not that each and every scene HAS to escalate beyond the first sexual act. Blowjobs or whatever can stand on their own. The frustration, to me, is that within Val's and Piper's scenes, you create the promise of something more--and then don't deliver; this just stripped away all the momentum of the scenes. In other words, if you know a scene is going to be only a blowjob, commit to it fully and leave it there. Starting with one thing and promising more is like dangling some ultimate forbidden fruit after an already awesome meal and then pulling it away last second. All inertia stops. Goddamn it, you had me expecting dessert! Lulz....

I know I'm splitting hairs here, and I hope it all makes sense, but I think it's important. Why? Because the scenes themselves are the backbone of any adult game like this, and if they are solid, much else becomes forgivable in the game. In other words, the UI/navigation doesn't need to be perfect; dialogue doesn't need to be perfect; the story doesn't need to be worthy of the Pulitzer Prize (though, imo, a solid story greatly adds to a game's power). I'll navigate a whole host of dialogue choices till my head is about to explode as long as the payoff is worth it, and then leave happy.

So, my ultimate recommendation, I guess, is to play to your strengths, and I'd argue those are beautiful renders, a compelling story, and a talent for creating hot scenes. You don't need overly complicated gameplay or dialogue choices to propel the story forward. I also think your dialogue is totally fine--all the characters come off as unique.

But if you don't want to turn your game into a straight novel that can be simply clicked through, I'd opt for maybe a task-orientated game or more mini-game elements, where the MC gains favor with the other characters after doing the tasks or winning the mini-games. I actually like some grind--as long as the way forward is clear. On the other hand, having a dialogue-choice game always leaves me confused and backtracking. They often force secondary playthroughs, as the dialogue choices often hurt your favor with one character while you gain with the other. I'd rather see everything on the first playthrough.

Aren't Ivy's points about gaining trust? Piper's, stamina? Val's, love? Maybe you could come up with little mini-games that reflect those themes and give those points to the MC when he wins each game or round. Then, when the MC gains enough points for a specific character, he gains access to the next part or section of that character's story. He could even gain access to specific dialogue choices that lead to him getting what he wants from the other characters, whether leverage, affinity, or further scenes.

Anyways, I'll stop talking now, but I hope it helps. I think this game has tremendous potential, and as I said, I think you're extremely talented in all the rendering stuff.