Ren'Py What a Legend! [v0.7.03] [MagicNuts]

[Cartman-Brah]

Is this game completely abandoned or did it get the abandoned tag because there were no updates for a while according to the site rules?

 

[Kirel]

Is this game completely abandoned or did it get the abandoned tag because there were no updates for a while according to the site rules?

The latter. The game is still being worked on.

 

[Alaric1066]

Is this game completely abandoned or did it get the abandoned tag because there were no updates for a while according to the site rules?

I'm thinking the latter, their patreon still gets updated. Most recent one was like a couple of days ago. It's just been like...I dunno, 2ish years since the last time the game updated and as far as I know the next update is still nowhere in sight. Technically they're still working on it but progress is seemingly very slow.

 

[walker188]

It reminds me of a guy I knew who was working remotely way back before working remotely was common. At first he still basically did work just like in the office. But then he had situations come up like he had a day where he slept in and initially was panicking and freaking out but nothing happened, no one even noticed that he started work almost 2 hours late.

Over the following months, he just became increasingly emboldened until it got to the point where it was rare for him to do more than an hour or two of work in a typical day.

As of this moment, WAL is still pulling in just shy of $7400/mo, to do basically jack shit. There is no motivation or pressure for them to do any better so they will not. It's in our nature to not waste energy when it is not necessary to do so, it's a survival instinct.

Now, if they suddenly lost half their subs, you would suddenly see them crank out a fucking update so fast it would make your head spin.

People bag on Dr. Pink Cake (from Being a Dik and Acting Lessons) for being an obsessive, narcissistic auteur, but in these types of well funded games, thats the only personality type that actually keeps working. You have to be a perfectionist who is utterly (and only) concerned with your art, otherwise as you said, laziness will kick in and you get what we have here (and a dozen other games on the website, along with shit like GRRM and others).

 

[hoshimota]

People bag on Dr. Pink Cake (from Being a Dik and Acting Lessons) for being an obsessive, narcissistic auteur, but in these types of well funded games, thats the only personality type that actually keeps working. You have to be a perfectionist who is utterly (and only) concerned with your art, otherwise as you said, laziness will kick in and you get what we have here (and a dozen other games on the website, along with shit like GRRM and others).

I agree. Also, DPK started aeons ago before this Patreon nonsense was so widespread and cancerous. Nowadays everyone is just trying to jump on the money train - that dude, I legitimately believe he just did it because he's a super deviant poon hound (and we love him for it.)

 

[fusibile87]

Here's the last public video posted on Patreon around 10 days ago. This is what 'polishing phase' actually means.

You must be registered to see the links

Why are they working only now? What they did in the past 2 years? Answer: nothing.
Also, they claimed the art part was already done months ago? Instead they are still working on it? What a scam.
They started really working on this update in march/april and that's why it won't be ready until october/november. Mark my words.

 

[Mr_Sandmanx]

clip studio>photoshop

 

[wd1111]

clip studio>photoshop

that is the least of the problems here

 

[ラMr Shadow悪]

 

[ProfN42]

Actually that would be correct thing to do and it's the devs who can't do math. When you move up 2 points in debug and then raise the cap by 5 the % is not going up. But hey whatever helps them milk pay pigs I guess.

Not quite. If you start at 45/50 tasks complete, you're at 90% complete. Complete 50 and add 50 tasks, you're now at 95/100 or 95%. complete another 100 tasks but add another 100 you're at 195/200 or 97.5%... So you see the % completion can slowly rise without getting any closer to actually being done. Not saying this is what the devs are doing, but it IS a possible strategy for concealing a lack of progress with false stats.

Just to play devils advocate, back then updates were around 6 months and most people probably figured since it was a side character it wouldn't require much time.

Given the amount of outrage over the delay and the loss of patrons I definitely agree. I don't know what the vote tally was but I'd imagine the people who got outvoted and then waited for two years on a girl they didn't even want are steamed. (btw I personally am super pumped for Gomira but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority both in this thread, and among remaining patrons)

Having the public vote on art is generally a terrible idea and artists should quit doing it.

I mean, WAL has like 5 girls ready out of 15. Not even half of the game is finished.

By the way, i posted something about the devs possibly taking new jobs while still keeping this scam up and it got deleted. Maybe i was onto something...

What annoys me more is the huge worldmap is so exciting and promises the idea of a sprawling adventure with many places to go and we wind up spending almost all of it in a few locations in one town and its adjoining village and woods. With the exception of Rose's storyline we never get to see any of the rest of the world. So that big worldmap feels like a tease.

So does all the stuff with King Sev and the statues of magical women in his study. Will we ever actually learn another magical ability from a lady post-Lana? Devs are being *very* tight lipped about this and my guess is they're realizing they bit off more than they can chew from a programming perspective (possibly more than Ren'Py is even capable of? idk I'm not a coder). After all, if you have multiple magical abilities that unlock from completing different girls' routes, but you still make it possible to skip girls or do their routes in different orders, then you now have to account for different mixes of abilities being "active" on different screens of the game. Ie., let's imagine Lana lets you see ghosts, Madelyn lets you hear people's thoughts, Maple lets you shrink down to fairy size, and Gomira makes you indestructible. The solution to a puzzle is to overhear a guard thinking about how he lost the key to a cell down a furnace grate, then you shrink down to get inside, have to be invulnerable to get past the fires, then navigate a maze using only clues that a ghost of a dead prisoner helpfully gives you. To do this sequence though the game needs to account for what to do if you arrive at the puzzle with ANY possible mixture of these abilities "on" or "off". Ie., you can get as far as shrinking down and getting through the grate but you never fucked Gomira so you're not indestructible and can't pass the flames; the game needs to be able to handle this outcome. So if there are seven girls with abilities to learn that's 7^2 or 49 possible combinations of abilities Lassie might have on any screen of the game. Their response has basically been to drop the "magical abilities from fucking" idea like a rock and not mention it once ever since. (note: there is a way to reduce the complexity here by using a "hub" level design with some girls's routes only "unlocking" after moving the main story along a notch, but devs have so far stuck to their guns that any girl's route can be pursued as soon as you meet her & without completing the main quest.)

Finally when they were asked on their discord about the clothes trunk in the mansion and whether it's a hint we'll ever be able to dress the girls up in different outfits they flatly denied it and said it would be too hard to implement. Meanwhile Akabur was putting 20 different outfits each on every girl in his games 10 years ago. I don't doubt it would be hard given all the varying scenarios and poses each girl can be in. But impossible? Excuses. The pattern here seems to be one of over-promising and under-delivering. While it is true that "man's reach should exceed his grasp", when you are making a commercial artistic product it's not unfair for people to be upset if you consistently grasp so much less than you're teasing at.

People bag on Dr. Pink Cake (from Being a Dik and Acting Lessons) for being an obsessive, narcissistic auteur, but in these types of well funded games, thats the only personality type that actually keeps working. You have to be a perfectionist who is utterly (and only) concerned with your art, otherwise as you said, laziness will kick in and you get what we have here (and a dozen other games on the website, along with shit like GRRM and others).

I would say overall the issue is passion; those who have it will work without reward, those without will always need some kind of pressure (such as needing the pay) to work. The notion that "no one will work without fear of punishment or desire for payment" is a canard; just look at Wikipedia, which at any given moment is about as good as a print encyclopedia and was created almost solely by leveraging the desire of nerds to show off their knowledge, lol. I don't doubt that WAL, like most porn games on here, started out with a spark of passion and desire to tell a fun and sexy story. It really shows in the first updates in particular. But I worry that that spark is dying and the game is just turning into a day job for the Nuts.

Hearing about this DPC person it sounds like they're a great one to follow if you want consistent output. I've tried to look into Being a DIK etc but I just can't get into 3dCG art games no matter how hard I try so I have to pass. Wish them all the best though!

Why are they working only now? What they did in the past 2 years? Answer: nothing.

Also, they claimed the art part was already done months ago? Instead they are still working on it? What a scam.

They started really working on this update in march/april and that's why it won't be ready until october/november. Mark my words.

Yeah... posting an update video of what looks like a scene being drawn from scratch isn't reassuring at this stage. It makes me think of when an undergrad student desperately asks for more time to finish their term paper and sends a rough draft that looks like it was a blank word document 5 minutes ago. (in case you're wondering... I was the undergrad lol) I would expect actual progress at this stage to look more like touching up nearly-completed scenes, fixing posing glitches, hunting for bad music triggers, proofreading dialogue, and playtesting the hell out of the product - not "look I'm coloring in a drawing of the character". The video linked above lends credence to the theory that they got a late start and are trying to cover for it. Just coming out at this stage and admitting that they put everything on hold for a year would amount to admitting they lied to patrons, though.

 

[Evangelion-01]

So does all the stuff with King Sev and the statues of magical women in his study. Will we ever actually learn another magical ability from a lady post-Lana? Devs are being *very* tight lipped about this and my guess is they're realizing they bit off more than they can chew from a programming perspective (possibly more than Ren'Py is even capable of? idk I'm not a coder). After all, if you have multiple magical abilities that unlock from completing different girls' routes, but you still make it possible to skip girls or do their routes in different orders, then you now have to account for different mixes of abilities being "active" on different screens of the game. Ie., let's imagine Lana lets you see ghosts, Madelyn lets you hear people's thoughts, Maple lets you shrink down to fairy size, and Gomira makes you indestructible. The solution to a puzzle is to overhear a guard thinking about how he lost the key to a cell down a furnace grate, then you shrink down to get inside, have to be invulnerable to get past the fires, then navigate a maze using only clues that a ghost of a dead prisoner helpfully gives you. To do this sequence though the game needs to account for what to do if you arrive at the puzzle with ANY possible mixture of these abilities "on" or "off". Ie., you can get as far as shrinking down and getting through the grate but you never fucked Gomira so you're not indestructible and can't pass the flames; the game needs to be able to handle this outcome. So if there are seven girls with abilities to learn that's 7^2 or 49 possible combinations of abilities Lassie might have on any screen of the game. Their response has basically been to drop the "magical abilities from fucking" idea like a rock and not mention it once ever since.

Given that ONLY Elfes have magical powers in this universe the thought is pretty much naught.
We might be able to get another ability from the Elven princess... that has gone missing and saves that bargainship until after you made her queen.
Madeline already said her ability is not magical, maybe more alike to being attuned to an oracle in that mace.
But I agree, more variations means more trouble, unless it's comeing together in a final Quest where you already had to charm all the Power bearers.

Finally when they were asked on their discord about the clothes trunk in the mansion and whether it's a hint we'll ever be able to dress the girls up in different outfits they flatly denied it and said it would be too hard to implement. Meanwhile Akabur was putting 20 different outfits each on every girl in his games 10 years ago. I don't doubt it would be hard given all the varying scenarios and poses each girl can be in. But impossible? Excuses. The pattern here seems to be one of over-promising and under-delivering. While it is true that "man's reach should exceed his grasp", when you are making a commercial artistic product it's not unfair for people to be upset if you consistently grasp so much less than you're teasing at.

I mean they could just limit it to kinky outfits leading to a special sex scene instead of wear it all day outfits

 

[ProfN42]

Given that ONLY Elfes have magical powers in this universe the thought is pretty much naught.

Wait, where was that stated? I must have missed it!

I mean they could just limit it to kinky outfits leading to a special sex scene instead of wear it all day outfits

That would be fine too. Ie a swimsuit leads to a "beach date" event, a santa suit for a "holiday nookie" event. Things like that. You could have costumes be rewarded by plot events, crafted based on patterns, or hidden in game screens like the sheep's photos.

 

[Evangelion-01]

Wait, where was that stated? I must have missed it!

That would be fine too. Ie a swimsuit leads to a "beach date" event, a santa suit for a "holiday nookie" event. Things like that. You could have costumes be rewarded by plot events, crafted based on patterns, or hidden in game screens like the sheep's photos.

For starters none of the none Elves have magical abilities... OK except Demons maybe
plus I am pretty sure this explanation was given by the old King... which is also the reason MC will die young

 

[moskyx]

What annoys me more is the huge worldmap is so exciting and promises the idea of a sprawling adventure with many places to go and we wind up spending almost all of it in a few locations in one town and its adjoining village and woods. With the exception of Rose's storyline we never get to see any of the rest of the world. So that big worldmap feels like a tease.

So does all the stuff with King Sev and the statues of magical women in his study. Will we ever actually learn another magical ability from a lady post-Lana? Devs are being *very* tight lipped about this and my guess is they're realizing they bit off more than they can chew from a programming perspective (possibly more than Ren'Py is even capable of? idk I'm not a coder). After all, if you have multiple magical abilities that unlock from completing different girls' routes, but you still make it possible to skip girls or do their routes in different orders, then you now have to account for different mixes of abilities being "active" on different screens of the game. Ie., let's imagine Lana lets you see ghosts, Madelyn lets you hear people's thoughts, Maple lets you shrink down to fairy size, and Gomira makes you indestructible. The solution to a puzzle is to overhear a guard thinking about how he lost the key to a cell down a furnace grate, then you shrink down to get inside, have to be invulnerable to get past the fires, then navigate a maze using only clues that a ghost of a dead prisoner helpfully gives you. To do this sequence though the game needs to account for what to do if you arrive at the puzzle with ANY possible mixture of these abilities "on" or "off". Ie., you can get as far as shrinking down and getting through the grate but you never fucked Gomira so you're not indestructible and can't pass the flames; the game needs to be able to handle this outcome. So if there are seven girls with abilities to learn that's 7^2 or 49 possible combinations of abilities Lassie might have on any screen of the game. Their response has basically been to drop the "magical abilities from fucking" idea like a rock and not mention it once ever since. (note: there is a way to reduce the complexity here by using a "hub" level design with some girls's routes only "unlocking" after moving the main story along a notch, but devs have so far stuck to their guns that any girl's route can be pursued as soon as you meet her & without completing the main quest.)

The worldmap is huge, sure. But devs said several times (like here, back in 2020 when the project started) that only the New Capital would be as detailed as the Old Capital is; the rest of the locations will only include a few visitable areas as we saw in Cin Town (we only visited Raventrove there, but there are only 3 more locations we'll visit briefly for other quests). Some of the Old Capital's minor sub-locations (and probably some others out of the city too) will be unlocked in Gomira's quest and won't be visited again for story-related reasons (players will still be able to go there and admire the landscapes or whatever, but that's it). Festives Islands were meant to be visited at some point and then used to host some special-themed content like Christmas or Halloween extra updates, although this initial plan surely seems a bit unrealistic at this point. The statues at Sev's basement do show all the races existing in the world, and it seems fair to assume the MC will be able to fuck them all, but all that it's actually left is some mermaids and angels (we've been intimate with humans, elves, pixies, demons, and orcresses -well, not yet, but still).

Only certain magical powers (aka Gifts) can be acquired by fucking very specific girls: those who are Gift-carriers, like Lana, Madeline, and Serena (this is actually explained in-game during convos with Serena and Sev). Maple is just a regular pixie with ordinary pixie magic which works like a curse, not a Gift, so the MC won't be able to shrink himself at will; and Gomira has no magic at all, she's just an average orc. Devs are not that tight-lipped about these powers the MC will eventually get: they have stated several times that there are some more Gifted girls but none of them have been introduced yet, and that those Gifted girls will only be fucked sequentially during the main story segments - so the MC won't be learning Gifts from side-quest chicks, if only to make the main story somewhat coherent.

Of course, having or not those Gifts will change some side quests. We've already seen how having the ghost-eye can alter Myrtle's quest a bit (when Rose contacts her dead husband, a couple of pics and dialog lines change if the MC has already 'learned' that gift from Lana). But it's basically the same with any other colliding side quests. For instance, you can't steal Myrtle's clothes you need for the main quest if she's staying home because she's been attacked by the wolf in her quest, and her reaction when you finally steal it is very different if you've already completed her quest. Or, if you're looking for some advice on how to heal a pixie but Serena's gone missing, you can ask Sev instead. Some random convos also change depending on whether the MC has already met Lord Hammerdick or not, and things like that. There are many more examples of this, and it sure takes time to adjust every little detail. Which is what this polishing (and debugging) phase is for.

The 'hub' you mention is already in place: you can't actually start Rose's quest unless the MC has gone to the dungeon and came back, met Celestina, and paid at least one glue to Rose; and we won't be able to start Gomira's quest unless we've learned her name (at least) during Lana's main story arc. So this statement - 'devs have so far stuck to their guns that any girl's route can be pursued as soon as you meet her' it's not accurate at all.

 

[wd1111]

so, if an average orc sidepussy development is 2 years, it probably is a safe bet that the code and art for this game will be put into a will and next generation of nuts will continue this neverending story

 

[DemiMaximoff]

Remember when people were taking bullet for the devs, all because they put out these progress reports? No other dev is so transparent about their progress, they said. Look where that got us, they are now doing whole ass new drawings, while claiming that they are only polishing and debugging in the progress tracker.

 

[wd1111]

Remember when people were taking bullet for the devs, all because they put out these progress reports? No other dev is so transparent about their progress, they said. Look where that got us, they are now doing whole ass new drawings, while claiming that they are only polishing and debugging in the progress tracker.

you no understand maan, they perfectionists, this is a debugged version of the previos art that is going to be polished to a state it starts to emit light, not just merely reflect stray photons....

 

[Monroe88]

is this game actually abandoned?

 

[moskyx]

Remember when people were taking bullet for the devs, all because they put out these progress reports? No other dev is so transparent about their progress, they said. Look where that got us, they are now doing whole ass new drawings, while claiming that they are only polishing and debugging in the progress tracker.

Erm... Doing new drawings has always been a part of the polishing work. And yes, it's still hard to be any more transparent than these devs. They show how much they are earning, they show how much work they've done every day, and they say what they'll be focusing next on a weekly basis. As always, not believing them doesn't mean they are lying.

For those claiming that they are taking these months of 'polishing' to do all the work they didn't do in the past, what would be the point of including this work under the 'edit' tag? It's actually counterproductive. They could just keep adding art or writing tasks as they go (as they are doing now adding new edit tasks), keeping the progress on the tracker's 'content' bars below 100%, and they'd be happier. Because once those bars reached 100%, people just assumed the update was around the corner (even though devs warned it would take more time than in previous updates), so every time the editing bar doesn't advance toward completion people feel even more frustrated because they now have higher expectations than before. Which can't be positive in any way for devs. No one in their sane mind is going to subscribe after 2 years since the last update, no matter how close the new update is claimed to be, and those still subscribed who were considering dropping their support won't feel exactly reassured by this extra long polishing phase. You can say that those in doubt may have unsubscribed for sure if the content bars weren't at 100% already, but if they were in doubt in April, trusted devs once more because they said they were polishing it, and now they see that 3 months later they are still polishing it, not only they'd unsubscribe anyway: chances are they wouldn't be coming back ever again because they'd do feel cheated even if they aren't. Because it's obvious that this long phase raises this kind of suspicion about devs doing their homework late and lying about it, which only makes them look worse in the eyes of potential subscribers even if it isn't actually true.

So why allow that when they could just admit they are still in the content creation phase, where people could only accuse them of being slow or lazy? Devs apparently never lied before, so why start now, and like this? Seriously, this theory is not very consistent when you actually think about it. Considering how their work on previous updates went, it seems more likely that devs have actually completed an alpha version they are not very happy with and they are now vastly improving it, and that's exactly what they are communicating. As always, feel free to not believe them, but this won't mean you are right.

 

[Kisama33]

is this game actually abandoned?

It could be that (not confirmed by the devs) or it could be that the game had no new update for an "abnooooooooooormaaaaaaaasllyyyyyyyyyyy" long time period apparently.