VN Ren'Py Wet Sand [v0.7.6f] [Likho Games]

[Likho Games]

I have to praise the amount of content. There's a lot of game here and it's clear a lot of work went into it.

One thing I don't like about it is that the game doesn't really give you the opportunity to signal your displeasure with how people are treating you. I just finished the Lauren/Cathal sidequest and it was AWFUL. The minigame is hard and it's unskippable so that's one thing. Cathal is a giant asshole that extorts you into helping her, putting you and Lauren at risk. Lauren suddenly doesn't give two shits about you and goes along with it. Then at the end they just want to throw a 3-way at you and that's your only chance to have a say in what's going on, but turning it down provides no satisfaction either. It just doesn't happen but you don't get to express how you didn't appreciate what went down.

That's just one example but this frustration gets repeated constantly. You have to go along with CHOSEN ONE bullshit, including having the other chosen one that doesn't do shit ruin your relationship with your crew. Anna fucking complaining and starting fights all the time. Your crew never giving you the benefit of the doubt and always second guessing you. You have to advance the plot somehow and create conflicts to overcome so I get it and I could get behind all of that if I was being given a release valve to express my displeasure. It's always the other party that gets to have a reaction to your actions and you have to manage their feelings but I would love to be able to react to theirs. The MC is so accepting that it just feels like he doesn't really have feelings of his own. He just plays his part.

Hi! Very interesting thoughts. Some of them can be answered - “Well, they're people, they're pirates and they all have their own shit in their heads”, and some of them are constructive criticism. Can I clarify, what exactly would you like to see as a release valve? More expressions of dissatisfaction by MC (just text) or something more? It's just, it's worth realizing that alternative solutions lead to alternative consequences (otherwise the player won't believe the outcome). It's sometimes hard for us to keep the main line, and if we need to make two different threads for every controversial situation, we'll hang ourselves

Some of the answers and reasons why the MC does this and not the other will be further down the storyline. In general, managing a team (crew) is a thankless task and yes, Fabian certainly plays his part, as he is not adapted to such a life. He is a random passenger who doesn't know or understand anything. So far he is a wingman, but in time he will learn to overcome difficulties, to say “no” and so on.

It would be interesting to hear specific suggestions from you, if you don't mind that. We want to make a good and interesting game, and if your ideas help - we will definitely realize them in the project.

 

[LinkBox88]

Hi! Very interesting thoughts. Some of them can be answered - “Well, they're people, they're pirates and they all have their own shit in their heads”, and some of them are constructive criticism. Can I clarify, what exactly would you like to see as a release valve? More expressions of dissatisfaction by MC (just text) or something more? It's just, it's worth realizing that alternative solutions lead to alternative consequences (otherwise the player won't believe the outcome). It's sometimes hard for us to keep the main line, and if we need to make two different threads for every controversial situation, we'll hang ourselves

Some of the answers and reasons why the MC does this and not the other will be further down the storyline. In general, managing a team (crew) is a thankless task and yes, Fabian certainly plays his part, as he is not adapted to such a life. He is a random passenger who doesn't know or understand anything. So far he is a wingman, but in time he will learn to overcome difficulties, to say “no” and so on.

It would be interesting to hear specific suggestions from you, if you don't mind that. We want to make a good and interesting game, and if your ideas help - we will definitely realize them in the project.

It's not enough for me that he expresses his feelings to himself. It's important to me that he expresses it explicitly to the other person themselves. In real life, that's the part that makes me feel better. When I've gotten it off my chest and let the other person know how they're making me feel, it almost doesn't matter how they react to me expressing it. Just the fact that I know that they know that I'm not happy is enough for me to get over it. But just swallowing it, and running around people-pleasing is just kind of soul crushing.

I have no problems with the pirates acting like pirates. But if they get to act as they please, I as the player of the game should be able to do the same!

I don't understand the MC's motivation at all. Does he want to be a pirate? Does he just want to make money and live the easy life? Does he want women? Does he want the artifacts or is he simply being compelled to get them? I can sense he has a sense of responsibility to his people but that's more of a character trait than a motivation. If I don't know what he stands for, even as I play him, his crew can't feel any differently. Maybe if he told people how he felt, we could know too.

 

[Likho Games]

It's not enough for me that he expresses his feelings to himself. It's important to me that he expresses it explicitly to the other person themselves. In real life, that's the part that makes me feel better. When I've gotten it off my chest and let the other person know how they're making me feel, it almost doesn't matter how they react to me expressing it. Just the fact that I know that they know that I'm not happy is enough for me to get over it. But just swallowing it, and running around people-pleasing is just kind of soul crushing.

I have no problems with the pirates acting like pirates. But if they get to act as they please, I as the player of the game should be able to do the same!

I don't understand the MC's motivation at all. Does he want to be a pirate? Does he just want to make money and live the easy life? Does he want women? Does he want the artifacts or is he simply being compelled to get them? I can sense he has a sense of responsibility to his people but that's more of a character trait than a motivation. If I don't know what he stands for, even as I play him, his crew can't feel any differently. Maybe if he told people how he felt, we could know too.

Yes, communication and conveying your feelings and thoughts to the other person is the most important thing, I agree.

You can accept the fact that Fabian was a wingman (and will be) up to a certain point in his life. For example, if a situation happens afterwards, after which he realizes how to behave and starts to show his discontent, if it is possible? Or do you want him to be able to fight back from the very beginning?

And as for the motivation, I'm a little upset that after 3 chapters you can't figure it out (so I did a bad job as a writer). Fabian has said and thought many times that his main goal is to become rich and powerful. He lives with that thought for years, but after getting to know the team, he is imbued with them and feels responsible + romance and stuff. Slowly his motivation changes and now he doesn't want wealth and power only for himself, now as the head of a big family he wants to make the people close to him happy too.

He doesn't want to be a pirate, but life dictates its own rules - he needs to become a pirate to survive the situation (or go back to the life of a beggar blacksmith. Well, or surrender to the authorities and rot in prison). He wants to use artifacts (they seem to be a symbol of strength and power) to get money/power and live an easy life. He loves women, he wants their attention. At this point, he aims to collect all the artifacts, as it will allow him to no longer pirate, run from the law, and be above it all. He may, of course, be disappointed in this endeavor, or he may achieve all that he desires.

We will try to reveal more of his motivation and thoughts in the dialogs with the characters. By the way, right now, in the underwater part, there's already a thing planned.

 

[dark0s]

The game was a lot of fun, the story is actually interesting, but... Amount of scenes was kind of disappointing. Also disappointing that you can't have repeat scenes with the girls if you approach them again. All in all I had a lot of fun playing, but I wish there was more content in the game. Bought the game on steam to support the dev. Repeat scenes! Plz. Also a harem ending, ideally.

 

[LinkBox88]

Yes, communication and conveying your feelings and thoughts to the other person is the most important thing, I agree.

You can accept the fact that Fabian was a wingman (and will be) up to a certain point in his life. For example, if a situation happens afterwards, after which he realizes how to behave and starts to show his discontent, if it is possible? Or do you want him to be able to fight back from the very beginning?

And as for the motivation, I'm a little upset that after 3 chapters you can't figure it out (so I did a bad job as a writer). Fabian has said and thought many times that his main goal is to become rich and powerful. He lives with that thought for years, but after getting to know the team, he is imbued with them and feels responsible + romance and stuff. Slowly his motivation changes and now he doesn't want wealth and power only for himself, now as the head of a big family he wants to make the people close to him happy too.

He doesn't want to be a pirate, but life dictates its own rules - he needs to become a pirate to survive the situation (or go back to the life of a beggar blacksmith. Well, or surrender to the authorities and rot in prison). He wants to use artifacts (they seem to be a symbol of strength and power) to get money/power and live an easy life. He loves women, he wants their attention. At this point, he aims to collect all the artifacts, as it will allow him to no longer pirate, run from the law, and be above it all. He may, of course, be disappointed in this endeavor, or he may achieve all that he desires.

We will try to reveal more of his motivation and thoughts in the dialogs with the characters. By the way, right now, in the underwater part, there's already a thing planned.

Fabian has stated many times that he's looking to be rich and powerful but it doesn't really align with his personality and choices. Maybe you need to flesh out what that dream looks like beyond the material power. Does he want to rule over people? Does he want to drink fine foods and indulge in women? Does he want to be rich like a merchant or powerful like a lord? What exactly is his dream scenario for when he attains his goals?

For a guy who says a lot that he wants riches and power, he doesn't seem inclined to exercise the power he does have as a pirate captain or hold court over his followers. He doesn't seem inclined to try to trick anyone or make a quick buck. How badly does he even wants what he says he wants?

 

[nweiss]

stuck in anna's room trying to find the damn weasel, can't cilick anything other than the exit, but can't leave.......

EDIT: NVM, now I can click the pillow, but won't let me do it before I post this. samething happend in the captan's room, option to search the bookshelf doesn't appear...

 

[SlayerWitcher]

Hope Sarifa's quest will have some kind of plot twist because at the moment her behavior looks a bit strange.
At the beginning, she tells Fabian that her ex and his wife were extremely anticipating the joyous moment of getting a child. Then she adds that they blame her for not having the baby to the point that they claim she cursed them.
Afterwards, when we return from the spy (eavesdropping) mission, Fabian tells her that they just want the baby more than anything else in the world, and Sarify treats this as an incredibly groundbreaking new piece of news that could change everything, even though it's the same information we got from her at the very beginning of this quest.

 

[Jaydon2000]

Guys for the Money cheat code it's
"GIMMI MONEY" instead of "GIMMIE MONEY".. Remove the E and you get 999+ money.

 

[f95sunrise]

36 - After returning to the cabin from the elfess in an agitated state (when Tovenaar insistently wants to show some erotic pictures) and Lauren suddenly walks in, you need to stand silently (refuse to engage her) and she will leave. That's when you'll hear the knock on wood. That's when the scene happens.

As for 48 - it's a mystery to us why you don't have it, because it's a mandatory plot scene.
What version are you playing?

48 still doesn't show up in most recent version btw



i have every other scene unlocked that is available yet

 

[VirtualMuppet]

Was fun at the start, but as others have said, the plot really starts to get tedius and unenjoyable towards the middle/end of current content. The Lauren side quest was just a nonsensicle waste of time. This stupid undersea city is also dumb.

This seems to be the plight of most patreon funded content, when you do polls on what should happen next, your plot goes to shit and you end up with a pile of furry nonsense.

This time it seems what started as a pirate adventure is going to turn into some fish themed furry fest.

 

[razzy87]

I am really liking what I'm seeing so far. Pirate-themed fantasy is a rather unusual setting, especially for an adult novel.
Dumb question: so far, I was able to sleep with all girls without much consequence, so is this going to be a harem game, or can I just pick one girl and stick with her? Are the devs planning any multiple endings? I guess I hoping for a happy ending with either Olivia or Vetra.

 

[superior62111213]

Is there any way to add cheat code in android version?

 

[Srimanta]

Hello Dev's( Likho Games )

This is probably the first time I stumble upon Wet Sand, finished reading it today and man I am surprised, it's a hidden gem and definitely worth a read. I'll buy it when the full release comes out on steam.
Quick question,It's releasing on steam next year right?

Anyways here's my review of game:

I will start with the things I love about Wet Sand.

1. The genre: It's hard to find a Visual Novel in Mideval/Adventure settings, Japanese VN's rarely work with this genre and the ones available in AVN community usually lacks in writing and world building( will farther elaborate about this in the next point) so for obvious reasons Wet Sand scores a point in this area.
2. Storytelling: I'll segment this part into two different sub points..
a) World building: The world of Wet Sand seems to be detailed and vast, the map itself is very large and it being a game with piretes, ships and ocean the potential is endless, now it's depends on the Dev's if they want to deep dive into the world and explore it further or wraps it into a small but rather detailed way( I would prefer quality over quantity, a detailed but small world is better than a large but massey one with inconsistent writing)

b) Writing: The writing of Wet Sand is simple but effective, it's capable of engaging the reader with the characters immediately without giving too much inside of them, that's a sign of good writing and engaging story, though there are few problems with dialogues and characters which is not major but if they are to be improved in the future then the experience of reading them would increase 10x times.

*I'm pointing some of them here,
° Fabian(MC) is very vague and gullible at times, he lacks personality and motivation ( I glad atleast the Dev's given us some options to shape him as a character, for example how he gets annoyed by the arrogant behaviour of the princess and how he in times shuts Anna down but it's not enough to make him as Main protagonist stand out among others)

° Lauren : One of my favourite character, I really like her free spirited and caring nature which makes her very likeable, her personality shines among others but then again in her side quest to her her sister, she just comes out as empty and emotionless. The way her manipulative sister behave with Fabian is very irritating and it hurts the most when Lauren dosen't even acknowledge it which breaks her character.

° Anna: You typical annoying LI who loves to be dominated, again it's adds a flavour to the game but please give more options to put her in her place.

3. Visuals: The hand drawn 2d arts are just beautiful to watch, everything from the character design to the attantion to details, colour grading are just chef's kiss and the quality of art improved in current updates.
I wished it had more visuals , there some scenes that falls flat because of the lack of visual but again it's nothing major.

 

[Likho Games]

The game was a lot of fun, the story is actually interesting, but... Amount of scenes was kind of disappointing. Also disappointing that you can't have repeat scenes with the girls if you approach them again. All in all I had a lot of fun playing, but I wish there was more content in the game. Bought the game on steam to support the dev. Repeat scenes! Plz. Also a harem ending, ideally.

And can I clarify, do you mean repeating the scenes in the gallery (a whole piece instead of just a picture) or, literally, at any point in the story, walking up to the girl and offering to exactly-exactly-repeat the scene?

As for the harem - there will definitely be one, don't worry

 

[Likho Games]

Was fun at the start, but as others have said, the plot really starts to get tedius and unenjoyable towards the middle/end of current content. The Lauren side quest was just a nonsensicle waste of time. This stupid undersea city is also dumb.

This seems to be the plight of most patreon funded content, when you do polls on what should happen next, your plot goes to shit and you end up with a pile of furry nonsense.

This time it seems what started as a pirate adventure is going to turn into some fish themed furry fest.

Well, it's worth realizing that you can't please everyone. If you don't like a character or a place where the story takes place, that's fine. The game is an adventure and while traveling the heroes can be thrown to different places. Can you seriously say that Pirates of the Caribbean is a bad movie just because it has some magic and sea monsters that you probably don't like?

What about Patreon - of course, the project has no possibility to develop without support (indie project disease). If players want to support, they should be able to influence the project and at least express their opinions and wishes. About the furries - we don't quite agree. Yes, during the polls appear certain directions that players want to see. It just means that there will be such content in the game (but the truth is, they're monster girls, not furries), but it is usually temporary. Or did you expect to see people underwater?

At some point Fabian will get out from underwater and continue on his journey, so I wouldn't discount the adventure pirate part.

 

[Likho Games]

I am really liking what I'm seeing so far. Pirate-themed fantasy is a rather unusual setting, especially for an adult novel.
Dumb question: so far, I was able to sleep with all girls without much consequence, so is this going to be a harem game, or can I just pick one girl and stick with her? Are the devs planning any multiple endings? I guess I hoping for a happy ending with either Olivia or Vetra.

We're planning a lot of endings. There will definitely be one with each of the main girls and there will definitely be a harem ending.

 

[Likho Games]

Is there any way to add cheat code in android version?

In the latest version 0.6.4 we have added the ability to enter cheats on android as well as on pc

 

[dark0s]

And can I clarify, do you mean repeating the scenes in the gallery (a whole piece instead of just a picture) or, literally, at any point in the story, walking up to the girl and offering to exactly-exactly-repeat the scene?

As for the harem - there will definitely be one, don't worry

Just to come up to a girl and have the dialogue be as simple as "hey, remember we did that fun thing, wanna do it again?" and have the scene repeat I guess. It's up to you as how to implement it, but it feels sort of hollow on the ship if there is no casual fun to be had.
P.S. - just an idea, but... If lover's kiss that's genuine can give eternal breathing underwater, will it work another way around? it's a good way to bring some or maybe at least 1 sea chick on the ship for further adventures. (will be missed opportunity otherwise!)

 

[Likho Games]

Hello Dev's( Likho Games )

This is probably the first time I stumble upon Wet Sand, finished reading it today and man I am surprised, it's a hidden gem and definitely worth a read. I'll buy it when the full release comes out on steam.
Quick question,It's releasing on steam next year right?

Anyways here's my review of game:

I will start with the things I love about Wet Sand.

1. The genre: It's hard to find a Visual Novel in Mideval/Adventure settings, Japanese VN's rarely work with this genre and the ones available in AVN community usually lacks in writing and world building( will farther elaborate about this in the next point) so for obvious reasons Wet Sand scores a point in this area.
2. Storytelling: I'll segment this part into two different sub points..
a) World building: The world of Wet Sand seems to be detailed and vast, the map itself is very large and it being a game with piretes, ships and ocean the potential is endless, now it's depends on the Dev's if they want to deep dive into the world and explore it further or wraps it into a small but rather detailed way( I would prefer quality over quantity, a detailed but small world is better than a large but massey one with inconsistent writing)

b) Writing: The writing of Wet Sand is simple but effective, it's capable of engaging the reader with the characters immediately without giving too much inside of them, that's a sign of good writing and engaging story, though there are few problems with dialogues and characters which is not major but if they are to be improved in the future then the experience of reading them would increase 10x times.

*I'm pointing some of them here,
° Fabian(MC) is very vague and gullible at times, he lacks personality and motivation ( I glad atleast the Dev's given us some options to shape him as a character, for example how he gets annoyed by the arrogant behaviour of the princess and how he in times shuts Anna down but it's not enough to make him as Main protagonist stand out among others)

° Lauren : One of my favourite character, I really like her free spirited and caring nature which makes her very likeable, her personality shines among others but then again in her side quest to her her sister, she just comes out as empty and emotionless. The way her manipulative sister behave with Fabian is very irritating and it hurts the most when Lauren dosen't even acknowledge it which breaks her character.

° Anna: You typical annoying LI who loves to be dominated, again it's adds a flavour to the game but please give more options to put her in her place.

3. Visuals: The hand drawn 2d arts are just beautiful to watch, everything from the character design to the attantion to details, colour grading are just chef's kiss and the quality of art improved in current updates.
I wished it had more visuals , there some scenes that falls flat because of the lack of visual but again it's nothing major.

Hi!
If you want, you can follow the development on itch or patreon. There we wrote that we increased the size of the game a bit. In total 5 chapters are planned, now we have started 4 and we don't know exactly how fast the work will go. We will try to make it faster.

Thank you very much for the nice words! It's very motivating (no less than criticism, but with a pleasant aftertaste!).

As for the size of the world - we will not create a lot of content “just to fill” and promise that you will visit everywhere, but a little bit

“though there are a few problems with dialogues and characters which is not major” - can you specify what you didn't like?

About Fabian - yes, he is a fool, and that's ok, because we planned to develop him and show him the way to become confident, strong, responsible. As for more opportunities to show character - the difficulty is in the small team, timing and funding. We would like to give 3-5 different options in any dialog, but we simply can't handle so many different routes and can't tie into a logical story (because every decision should have consequences).

Lauren - we wanted to show that she changes in the presence of her sister. This archetype is based on a real life personality and we found it very interesting how this person's psyche works. Her sister is a great authority to her, but whether this happened because she is a good person or an abuser is the question.

Anna, yes, aggressive and combative. We wanted to show a smooth development of the relationship and so we didn't add a bunch of opportunities to overwhelm her. As the plot and their relationship develops, there will be more opportunities.

As for additional visual effects, we are learning. If you saw what the first chapter looked like on release, you'd realize that we've learned how to do animations and other things. Hopefully, closer to the finale, we'll add a lot of things to the past content so that the story doesn't feel like a patchwork.

 

[Likho Games]

Just to come up to a girl and have the dialogue be as simple as "hey, remember we did that fun thing, wanna do it again?" and have the scene repeat I guess. It's up to you as how to implement it, but it feels sort of hollow on the ship if there is no casual fun to be had.
P.S. - just an idea, but... If lover's kiss that's genuine can give eternal breathing underwater, will it work another way around? it's a good way to bring some or maybe at least 1 sea chick on the ship for further adventures. (will be missed opportunity otherwise!)

Hmm, interesting thought, but don't you think that would break the logic a bit? For example, you walk up to Anna at any moment and hint at a repeat, but:
1 - It was a rush of emotion in a certain situation and just repeating it would be weird.
2 - Will the text of the scene stay the same? Then the logic would definitely be lost. And if not the old text, then we need to write an alternate version for each scene. It's not impossible, but it will noticeably slow down the release of updates.

As for the underwater breath kiss - further on in the story its effect will be revealed a bit more, but now we can say that it is an ultimatum feature of sea creatures to give the opportunity to breathe, but not vice versa.