VN Ren'Py Where the Heart Is [S1 Rev1] [CheekyGimp]

[_Fran-K]

There were very few Katie scenes in the last episode or did I just not see it? sad

 

[felicemastronzo]

Read ACEWINZ comment about relationships


I don't see possibility of any pairing other than Jenna/Katie/Lily/Debbie with 3 or more girls.

I had read it, and the reference to those who don't accept sharing seemed to me, however, to be referring also to Katie, who quite surprisingly doesn't kill anyone after seeing MC and Jenna kissing

Jolina and Jenna also have a history behind them, so it cannot be ruled out

Jolina and Bella depends on what the revelations will be in the next chapter, but again both what obstacles would there be? they were a couple and already showed willingness to share

Debbie and Lily are almost a fact

Debbie, Lily and Katie a faint hope

Katie and Jenna an unexpected surprise

Wanda and Angel seems unlikely, on Angel's part, but not impossible

 

[Zerorox]

Katie is quite strict 'bout sharing MC, but still forgive a lot MC's fun moments so far, maybe it sounds strange but I don't really want her to accept trouple relationships

I like her like she is, perfect classical (vanilla) wife, totally intetested only in one man, without any bi-curious tendencions, always ready to kick ass to anyone Who tried to harm MC (even if MC don't want that and it's really stupid LOL)
Great Character overall, bright and loyal, worth called main LI

Still I presume Katie + Jenna is possible somewhat, but if Katie Will ask to choose one... I'll choose Katie without any doubts

 

[LionHeart 95]

In my opinion, it is a dead lead

once Debbie and Lily find out that MC is in a relationship with Katie they get out of it, only a first/last date is granted.

but the important point for me is that none of the subjects ever talk about the possibility of a polyamorous relationship, even as a dream, which is what happens with the other microgroups.

Lilly is open if Katie is open its in the script during the cooking class, also we know Debbie and Jenna are good so it is all in how we help Jenna and Katie get together, certain choices will add towards Katie accepting Jenna. A Katie MC Jenna scene doesn't mean it will be sister on sister more like sister watching or tag teaming mc sorta like thee gym scene.

 

[felicemastronzo]

Lilly is open if Katie is open its in the script during the cooking class, also we know Debbie and Jenna are good so it is all in how we help Jenna and Katie get together, certain choices will add towards Katie accepting Jenna. A Katie MC Jenna scene doesn't mean it will be sister on sister more like sister watching or tag teaming mc sorta like thee gym scene.

I still don't see this willingness of Katie to have an open relationship with even Debbie and Lily

so Debbie and Lily's openness for now falls on deaf ears; they would not object, but Katie would.

and that getting caught with Jenna could have such widespread positive repercussions seems to me too optimistic a dream even for an AVN

 

[Zerorox]

At least Jenna clearly stated that she don't like sharing MC but she's ready for anything Just not to lose him
So she's not a Cuck Queen and I think there is some possibility that she'll reconsider her position if MC'll bring the whole harem...

Lily last date shows this relationship become only platonic before You'll get Katie's approval

Debbie... yeah, MC did some great work getting into her panties, but if it'll be relieved, this relationship Will meet it's end, and even if not, one word from Katie...

So as I said, Katie is main wife in this harem, the core, and If developer Will not change his mind... In the end all MC's work in this way May be futile (they all love Katie, and MC'll probably be dumped by 5 girls in one moment if including Monica cause she thought they're already real couple and Will not forgive cheating, bruh this Will be even more epic then that KJM family break up)

 

[LionHeart 95]

I still don't see this willingness of Katie to have an open relationship with even Debbie and Lily

so Debbie and Lily's openness for now falls on deaf ears; they would not object, but Katie would.

and that getting caught with Jenna could have such widespread positive repercussions seems to me too optimistic a dream even for an AVN

I just thought of a possible bad outcome for Mc. this point system where Katie accepts Jenna or even the points where Katie accepts lesbian tendencies could backfire and Katie dumps Mc for Lily and Debbie. and Jenna gets Jo and possible Bella, maybe that's what will happen! see two harem's in one VN. is that better?

 

[felicemastronzo]

I just thought of a possible bad outcome for Mc. this point system where Katie accepts Jenna or even the points where Katie accepts lesbian tendencies could backfire and Katie dumps Mc for Lily and Debbie. and Jenna gets Jo and possible Bella, maybe that's what will happen! see two harem's in one VN. is that better?

It is impossible

 

[allanl9020142]

So is this worth playing? The renders don't look that great and it looks like music isn't a thing until chapter 23. That's a long trudge to get to all the way from ch 1.

 

[ename144]

Now, Dev might change mind, but thi way you are supposed to hit a bad ending.

Eh, I think like Katie, the devs' bark is a bit worse than their bite. There won't be a full harem, but there are going to be a lot of smaller combos. The last few episodes have made it pretty clear Katie can come around on the idea of sharing the MC (as long as he lies about it properly). The only thing that's still unclear to me is if Jenna can join in on the Katie sub-harem or if she would need a separate time-share arrangement with Katie alone.

My money is on it being separate, but we'll have to see what happens.

EDIT:

So is this worth playing? The renders don't look that great and it looks like music isn't a thing until chapter 23. That's a long trudge to get to all the way from ch 1.

If you like character interactions and story, yes it's definitely worth playing. The renders improve throughout the course of the game, too.

 

[Jacowboy]

Read ACEWINZ comment about relationships


I don't see possibility of any pairing other than Jenna/Katie/Lily/Debbie with 3 or more girls.

Exactly... A harem is basically when you can "catch them all" and marry them and all that... a poly relation is not the same... The only "larger than 3" poly relation I see viable right now is with those 4... mind you, I haven't played all routes (it's a looong game) but not all groupings make sense. What other viable larger than 3 poly options are there?



Regarding Katie: Katie is part of the "main girls" group and as such there is a character arc for her, much like for Jenna... Jenna's character development arc is getting out of her shell and dealing with her physical insecurities, which she has mostly completed at this point... Katie's arc is also about dealing with her insecurities (which are more emotional/psychological in nature) and she's been extremely stubborn up to this point.

While it's possible that she won't ever change, it'd be kinda lame if she never did because that would mean an incomplete character arc, and I just don't see that happening, since the writing is actually quite good.

 

[Jacowboy]

Eh, I think like Katie, the devs' bark is a bit worse than their bite. There won't be a full harem, but there are going to be a lot of smaller combos. The last few episodes have made it pretty clear Katie can come around on the idea of sharing the MC (as long as he lies about it properly). The only thing that's still unclear to me is if Jenna can join in on the Katie sub-harem or if she would need a separate time-share arrangement with Katie alone.

My money is on it being separate, but we'll have to see what happens.

EDIT:

If you like character interactions and story, yes it's definitely worth playing. The renders improve throughout the course of the game, too.

Yeah, that's basically my question... but I'm hoping it'll be possible.

It's true that Jenna basically has no story beats with Lily/Debbie but they do know each other... Lily and Debbie are always at Monica's from what we've seen, and Jenna knows them quite well even if they don't hang together... so it's not as much of a stretch as say, I dunno, Angel or Wanda or the carnie chick joining that group out of nowhere. But I have to concede that it's more likely that Jenna ends up either in a throuple with Katie or with Jo.

However I don't see Katie accepting anyone else outside of the people she knows and loves, so that's Lily, Debbie, Jenna and Monica at most. She'd obviously never agree with Bella, Angel, Wanda, Natasha, etc... even with Jolene since she just doesn't even know her.

Speaking of Monica, I haven't romanced her, I've ignored the milfs so far, so I don't even know if you can romance her and the 2 daughters at the same time... something tells me that doesn't work, buuut who knows, it might be possible, has anyone tried?

 

[Jacowboy]

So is this worth playing? The renders don't look that great and it looks like music isn't a thing until chapter 23. That's a long trudge to get to all the way from ch 1.

Not gonna sugar coat it, the first 10 chapters or so are quite rough in terms of renders and animations, but it progressively gets better. I don't really understand the point of adding music as late as ch23, so consider this as an AVN without music I guess. Maybe they'll go back and add music for the earlier chapters before steam release...

That said, yes, it's worth playing it... it might be one of the more complex AVNs I've played in terms of relationship paths and options, and the story is quite solid too.

 

[DaimonFey]

What other viable larger than 3 poly options are there?

There are none(my opinion) at least at the moment. I can see few relationships with 2 girls at once but that's all.

 

[acewinz]

Not gonna sugar coat it, the first 10 chapters or so are quite rough in terms of renders and animations, but it progressively gets better. I don't really understand the point of adding music as late as ch23, so consider this as an AVN without music I guess. Maybe they'll go back and add music for the earlier chapters before steam release...

That said, yes, it's worth playing it... it might be one of the more complex AVNs I've played in terms of relationship paths and options, and the story is quite solid too.

When we finish the game, we are going to update the earlier parts to the same quality of the final episodes. This includes music, sfx, later generation models, more animations etc. We just want to finish the game first rather than make the patreons pay for us to redo things they have already seen/paid for.

This also shouldn't take us as long as some games seem to take when they "revamp". Cheeky was smart enough to save the .duf files aka scene setups for nearly everything done in the game (only exception being some outside contracted work). So loading up the older work, updating the models or in some cases houses, and tweaking the render and re-rendering it shouldn't take that long, even for our game (plus not everything needs updating, some models and most scenes will stay the same).

In fact... When we were just testing how this would go, it was pretty smooth and as something of an easter egg and teaser... there are 5 images in the intro montage that are from that test, and include updated versions of earlier scenes that may make it to the final version, but are otherwise nowhere else in the actual game yet. I was actually kinda sad nobody seemed to notice or mention it to be honest.

 

[Jacowboy]

When we finish the game, we are going to update the earlier parts to the same quality of the final episodes. This includes music, sfx, later generation models, more animations etc. We just want to finish the game first rather than make the patreons pay for us to redo things they have already seen/paid for.

This also shouldn't take us as long as some games seem to take when they "revamp". Cheeky was smart enough to save the .duf files aka scene setups for nearly everything done in the game (only exception being some outside contracted work). So loading up the older work, updating the models or in some cases houses, and tweaking the render and re-rendering it shouldn't take that long, even for our game (plus not everything needs updating, some models and most scenes will stay the same).

In fact... When we were just testing how this would go, it was pretty smooth and as something of an easter egg and teaser... there are 5 images in the intro montage that are from that test, and include updated versions of earlier scenes that may make it to the final version, but are otherwise nowhere else in the actual game yet. I was actually kinda sad nobody seemed to notice or mention it to be honest.

Oh nice!!! All of that is great news! You guys might want to consider also redesigning the UI and maybe adding a gallery and that kind of thing, but it's really cool that some retroactive work is planned, the game deserves it.

Also, regarding the intro montage: sadly it crashed for me, so I didn't even see it (probably happened for a lot of people, hence the lack of feedback?) but I'll try to find a fix for it and give it a go! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[LionHeart 95]

When we finish the game, we are going to update the earlier parts to the same quality of the final episodes. This includes music, sfx, later generation models, more animations etc. We just want to finish the game first rather than make the patreons pay for us to redo things they have already seen/paid for.

This also shouldn't take us as long as some games seem to take when they "revamp". Cheeky was smart enough to save the .duf files aka scene setups for nearly everything done in the game (only exception being some outside contracted work). So loading up the older work, updating the models or in some cases houses, and tweaking the render and re-rendering it shouldn't take that long, even for our game (plus not everything needs updating, some models and most scenes will stay the same).

In fact... When we were just testing how this would go, it was pretty smooth and as something of an easter egg and teaser... there are 5 images in the intro montage that are from that test, and include updated versions of earlier scenes that may make it to the final version, but are otherwise nowhere else in the actual game yet. I was actually kinda sad nobody seemed to notice or mention it to be honest.

To be honest Acewinz ,I thought they were out of place images the only one that seemed liked it fit to the game was the last one with the Mc. was not sure it was beach house or a better first visit to Monica's home. the others seemed more like a green screen images that were like after the game Location shots. Especially Katie, not to be too critical but her face even seems pasted over an image of a old rendered model that was pasted on a greenscreen background. it might be because the olive oil bottle's are fake plastic images compared to your normal images how they all fit as if one scene not as overlays. so yea I noticed them but the easter egg for me failed. it would have been better of things to come, not redoes that change the visual so much from the past.

 

[acewinz]

To be honest Acewinz ,I thought they were out of place images the only one that seemed liked it fit to the game was the last one with the Mc. was not sure it was beach house or a better first visit to Monica's home. the others seemed more like a green screen images that were like after the game Location shots. Especially Katie, not to be too critical but her face even seems pasted over an image of a old rendered model that was pasted on a greenscreen background. it might be because the olive oil bottle's are fake plastic images compared to your normal images how they all fit as if one scene not as overlays. so yea I noticed them but the easter egg for me failed. it would have been better of things to come, not redoes that change the visual so much from the past.

I wouldn't be too quick to judge. I've seen a model of the new Monica house and it is a lot better than the old one.

 

[kino2]

so Bella is evil huh?

 

[babaex]

Was a bug in an old version. Been fixed awhile though. (although if you played after getting it without fixing, your a bit borked).


Yeah, the new renpy version broke some strange things we had to track down. Hot-fixed in our patreon version.

Sorry to bother but it seems that the new renpy version "misplaced" and broke old saves. What I mean is that the early episodes saves are loaded from different place not the saved moment and the middle episodes saves are completely broken for episode 23 (they cannot be loaded and traceback point at renpy/common/00action_file.rpy). Fortunately late episopodes saves are OK I mean around the foursome. I keep a lot of saves as some sort of gallery and at big decisions. If I may I have 2 questions:
If I "repair" the saves, will they be OK in the next episode if they are made without the patreon hotfix?
Any idea if the saves will be loadable in this episode if the hotfix is applied?