VN Ren'Py Where the Heart Is [S1 v2024-07-10 BETA] [CheekyGimp]

[Joshy92]

Not even I know at the moment. Trying to find the right balance between steam/upgrading the earlier episodes (so I can take more time off my real-life job to work on the game), while also continuing the current episodes (episode 24). At this stage, it's probably gonna look like...Episode 24 will drop this summer with the redux/re-do of episode 1-10 dropping on steam a little later in the summer. Both are progressing well at the moment. For this month I'll be spending more time on Ep24 (and a little on the re-do) while Cell is spending all of his time on the re-do.

Cool thank's for letting me know i really like your game btw
Although no girl comes close to being as awesome as Katie lol
Is the re-do gonna give us the option to not be as mean to the other milf (I think her name is Zarah?) besides the mom
i feel like the mc is very rude to her at the beginning of the game
Either way tho like i said it's a really good game

 

[hakarlman]

Sorry for making a new post. Does anyone know if there's a mod that removes Jenna, Zenna, and Katie's two annoying friends? Or a mod that just makes it so when you tell them no, the game just doesn't bring them around as much.

Quality of Content is better than Quantity. So if a player makes choices that result in him only enjoying 40% of the game's content, that's fine, because he really likes that 40% of content. Forcing him to go through the 60% of content he doesn't like will result in a turn off, and a turn off means no patreon support. The solution is so simple, just add more dialogue choices that allow the player to skip content with girls he doesn't like.

 

[HornyyPussy]

Sorry for making a new post. Does anyone know if there's a mod that removes Jenna, Zenna, and Katie's two annoying friends? Or a mod that just makes it so when you tell them no, the game just doesn't bring them around as much.

Quality of Content is better than Quantity. So if a player makes choices that result in him only enjoying 40% of the game's content, that's fine, because he really likes that 40% of content. Forcing him to go through the 60% of content he doesn't like will result in a turn off, and a turn off means no patreon support. The solution is so simple, just add more dialogue choices that allow the player to skip content with girls he doesn't like.

Seriously doubt it since they are all paramount to the story, would probably be a huge undertaking to remove them or even lessen their presence........

 

[hakarlman]

Seriously doubt it since they are all paramount to the story, would probably be a huge undertaking to remove them or even lessen their presence........

It's not a huge undertaking. It's extremely easy. I kid you not man. Cheekygimp is already good with dialogue choice and plot flag management, a few more plot flags wouldn't hurt.

Also the game errors out a lot when you first start it. He needs to either declare persistent variables VERY early, giving them a default value or just check for nonetype. It's so easy.

On a side note, these are my stats. I"m the kind of player that is very choosy and picky about the women in game. This is just critical feedback for the dev. He doesn't even need to respond.

 

[WaltS]

I wonder if it would ever be possible to make Jenna & Zarah go away or just ignore them entirely. Hmm, maybe someone made a mod.

Everytime I see Jenna or Zarah, it kills the erotic mood.

God I hate myself for having such ridiculously high standards, why can't I be normal. lol

I went upstairs to see monica, and low and behold, Zarah is there, so it's now a complete turn off.

EDIT: Still, the pros majorly outweigh the cons so far, still making it patreon worthy.

uggh this is not good. The MC should be the dominant one. Zarah is trying to act like a man, and it's a major turn off. Hopefully we can tell her to go away soon.
View attachment 2519722

Still the above scene feels like too much too soon. If anyone wants to discuss this, please do. Is it okay if we talk about stuff like this? If not, let me know and I won't make a lot of posts. I just really like this game so far, but Jenna & Zarah kill the mood, except when zarah encourages Monica to drink.

See, it would be great if our MC was the corrupter. If zarah is the corrupter, then she's the alpha, that makes us the beta, we're doing her bidding. I don't seem female domination tag. I like femdom, but .... this is confusing.
EDIT: Yea, the tags for this game say MALE DOMINATION, but we're being told what to do by Zarah. Should we request the female domination tag from the moderator?
View attachment 2519729

The only reason I'm being critical is because I really like this game. It's so rare to play such a good game. If you want me to shut up, I'll delete all my posts and just go away.

Yea, this is FEMALE DOMINATION. Zarah is the mistress, and the MC and Monica are the submissives. In the screenshot, we're submitting to Zarah's will. We're showing submission. I LOVE FEMDOM, but I don't think that's what this game is all about.
View attachment 2519742


Okay. The mood just died........ Great game, but forcing Zarah and Jenna on us is a deal breaker. STILL, this game does so many things right. AWESOME work.

This game is not for me because I think it forces us to be with all the women, when I just want to get rid of Jenna & Zarah, and I just want to focus on Monica, Jolene, and monica's daughter; the girl who cusses all the time.

She's right. I agree with her, the situation is so weird, that I can't continue anymore. DAMN. this game was going so well too. FUCK. I finally find a good game to play after two years, and I ONLY GET TO ENJOY IT FOR 30 MINUTES. FML
View attachment 2519754

NONE OF THEM ARE MY TYPE. I MODIFIED THIS IN PHOTOSHOP. (NOTE THE IMAGE BELOW WAS MODIFIED IN PHOTOSHOP).
View attachment 2519773

Yea, the game continues to force the women you do't like on you, which results in a turn off. That's probably why he isn't making $10,000.00 instead of $5000.00

The most basic rule of porn game dev in 2023, is NEVER force a sexual scenario. Cheekygimp is a good coder, he could easily add dialogue options to fix this problem, then he'd probably double his revenue. If this was 2016, it would be okay to make these mistakes.

Don't worry about showing ALL the renders, it's okay if the player misses out on content if they don't like that content.

EDIT: Yea the game forces Jenna on you, no matter what you do, so it results in players not interested in her being completely turned off.

EDIT: A MOD could save this game, it looks like there are a lot of other people like me who see the obvious problems which could've been easily fixed in less than 60 seconds.

Sweeeeeet Jesus, man!
Feel entitled much, aren't you?

 

[dolfe67]

It's not a huge undertaking. It's extremely easy. I kid you not man. Cheekygimp is already good with dialogue choice and plot flag management, a few more plot flags wouldn't hurt.

Also the game errors out a lot when you first start it. He needs to either declare persistent variables VERY early, giving them a default value or just check for nonetype. It's so easy.

On a side note, these are my stats. I"m the kind of player that is very choosy and picky about the women in game. This is just critical feedback for the dev. He doesn't even need to respond.
View attachment 2519837

If it's so easy what are you waiting for to do it yourself?

Some character interactions are part of the story, if you don't like it you don't like the game. You're not forced to have sex IIRC, even though some characters may throw themselves at you.

This is the wrong thinking my friend. Treat it like a business.

Here's what you should say IMO.

"Thank you for your critical feedback. After reading your experience with my game, I've compared it to other reviews. It seems a lot of people have complained about the forced sexual scenarios. I will think about adjusting it since so many players are complaining about it. You want the option to reject girls you don't like, this makes logical sense."

Or

"Thank you for your critical feedback. Unfortunately for now, we're going to force the player to have sex with the women they don't find attractive, so the player is turned off and doesn't sub to our patreon. I don't know why I'm doing this, but it is what it is."

For you to respond with me thinking I'm entitled? I'm a consumer interested in supporting your project, in regards to the girls I like. If you're interested in doing a little coding to fix the problems, then you will generate more revenue.

For example, did you know the game errors out in the start with the persistent variables? You say I'm entitled, just because I expect you to fix critical errors? Bro, come on.

When people make passionate posts, that may have frustration in them, they do it because THEY LIKE YOUR GAME AND WANT IT TO BE BETTER. They have good intentions.

First he's not the dev, and then who are you? the dev manager? You might have good intentions but you already made your point. Now it's up to the dev to take it into account or not.

 

[hakarlman]

If it's so easy what are you waiting for to do it yourself?

I knew the game was on hold, but I didn't know it's been six months since last update. Maybe, just maybe I will, if the dev promises to add my changes to the core game. Any changes I make would match his existing style and theme to the letter. I could also fix all the errors too.

I'm such a sucker for the DAZ Lilith 7 model, lol.

Some character interactions are part of the story, if you don't like it you don't like the game.

Character Interaction = Sexual Scenario. You never force a sexual scenario on a player unless there is only one or two woman in the entire game.

You're not forced to have sex IIRC, even though some characters may throw themselves at you.

I was forced to do stuff i didn't like with the nerdy girl and it was terrible, even though I rejected her 192832983 times. Zarah forces femdom on you by forcing you to do sexual stuff with Monica on ZARAH's terms, not the MC, and in that regard the MC is submissive which I don't want in a game like this. I was instantly turned off. We should just have the option to avoid her completely, just say hi and bye or something. It wouldn't be hard to program that, because the dev is a good programmer, he could easily do it.

First he's not the dev, and then who are you? the dev manager? You might have good intentions but you already made your point. Now it's up to the dev to take it into account or not.

I wanted to sub to his patreon. I wanted to inform him of what I feel is needed so I could give him $$$.

I'm not a dev manager, I'm a consumer who wants to support the project.

But dude those bugs in the start of the game need to be fixed.

SO yea I deleted my post, you're right it was not the dev. See? How easy was that to admit a mistake and just fix the problem?

I'm not alone in my complaints, I read through the reviews. No one likes the forced sexual scenarios that could've easily been rectified. Listen, some devs aren't good programmers, but cheekygimp is a good programmer, he can fix this stuff, he knows his stuff.

 

[Snugglepuff]

Sweeeeeet Jesus, man!
Feel entitled much, aren't you?

You've no idea

 

[hakarlman]

Haven't started playing yet. Want to, but can't.
Downloaded it and got the issue where the game intro shows an error page, then you get to the main menu and it's fine. But when you just start the game, it gives another error.

The traceback:
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/script.rpy", line 520, in script
if persistent.ph_advstart_ep >= 2:
File "game/script.rpy", line 520, in <module>
if persistent.ph_advstart_ep >= 2:
TypeError: '>=' not supported between instances of 'NoneType' and 'int'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/script.rpy", line 520, in script
if persistent.ph_advstart_ep >= 2:
File "C:\Users\bay_y\Desktop\WhereTheHeartIs-Ep23-pc\WhereTheHeartIs-Ep23-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 2115, in execute
if renpy.python.py_eval(condition):
File "C:\Users\bay_y\Desktop\WhereTheHeartIs-Ep23-pc\WhereTheHeartIs-Ep23-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1092, in py_eval
return py_eval_bytecode(code, globals, locals)
File "C:\Users\bay_y\Desktop\WhereTheHeartIs-Ep23-pc\WhereTheHeartIs-Ep23-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1085, in py_eval_bytecode
return eval(bytecode, globals, locals)
File "game/script.rpy", line 520, in <module>
if persistent.ph_advstart_ep >= 2:
TypeError: '>=' not supported between instances of 'NoneType' and 'int'

Windows-10-10.0.19045 AMD64
Ren'Py 8.0.3.22090809
Where The Heart Is Ep23
Tue Feb 21 23:13:16 2023

The dev just needs to add one line of code to fix the problem. I just tested it.

The problem occurs with people who've never played the game, so the persistent variable is not in the C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\RenPy\WhereTheHeartIs-1519902503 folder, from previous playthroughs, even from different versions? (pretty sure this is the case but i'm exhausted right now).

So you edit script.rpy, add that one line of code of below, then run the game, and the error won't happen.

script.rpy

########ADDED CODE
# set a default value. i'm not too familiar with his code, but this
# should work. we want to make sure the variable is not of type None.
# 0 seems to work fine for now. defaulting variables is a good practice.#
# there are some rare cases where people don't wnat to default the
# variable, but I truly believe you want to default your persistent variables.
# so tired, but I'll look into this more tomorrow.
default persistent.ph_advstart_ep = 0
########ADDED CODE

### BEGIN START ANY EPISODE CODE  #Quickstart menu
label startanyepisodegal:
    play music WTHI_Intro volume .5 fadein 2 #ace quickstart wthi intro start
    $MC = player_name

Additional info on the topic:

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The persistent object is special in that an access to an undefined field will have a None value, rather than causing an exception. If something other than None is to be the default of a persistent value, the

You must be registered to see the links

statement should be used:

default persistent.main_background = "princess_not_saved"

Or in the case of his game: default persistent.ph_advstart_ep = 0

 

[hakarlman]

You've no idea

It's not about being entitled. It's about fixing critical problems to earn patreon support.

Imagine you really like something, but it makes a catastrophic mistake that could've been easily rectified, and STILL appease 100% of the userbase, wouldn't you do it and get free $$$, with no one getting upset? lol Think about it. You add a fix that please potential new customers, while not upsetting your existing patreons in anyway. IT'S A NO BRAINER.

 

[Night Hacker]

It's not about being entitled. It's about fixing critical problems to earn patreon support.

Imagine you really like something, but it makes a catastrophic mistake that could've been easily rectified, and STILL appease 100% of the userbase, wouldn't you do it and get free $$$, with no one getting upset? lol Think about it. You add a fix that please potential new customers, while not upsetting your existing patreons in anyway. IT'S A NO BRAINER.

Yeah, YOU REALLY LIKE SOMETHING, while other people (other people do exist besides you, hence the "entitled" comment). I prefer Jenna, and others prefer other characters. I think your meds need renewing.

If you want a different game where you force players to like only certain characters (good luck with that) than MAKE IT YOURSELF! Coming out and telling a writer how to write THEIR STORY is considered rude! Minor tweaks where there might be a flaw they didn't see, but what you want is unreasonable. Make your own story with your own characters. See how "easy" it really is (hint: it's NOT, that's why updates take so long).

 

[hakarlman]

Yeah, YOU REALLY LIKE SOMETHING, while other people (other people do exist besides you, hence the "entitled" comment). I prefer Jenna, and others prefer other characters. I think your meds need renewing.

I'm glad you like Jenna, but adding a dialogue option that lets us avoid her would appease me, and it wouldn't affect you from pursuing Jenna in anyway. Do you understand this logic? You'll be happy, I'll be happy, with a simple addition of a dialogue choice that lets us bypass content with her.

Imagine if you could make two separate groups happy, with a few lines of code, and no one gets upset, and you gain more patreon revenue, wouldn't you do it?

Put your emotions aside. Put your need to want to be right aside. Think logically.

The game already lets us kind of reject Jenna. All I'm asking is that choice should matter, it should stick, and we should be able to just kind of ignore Jenna, tell her we're not interested. We can still be friendly to her. But once we say we're not interested, that's it, we're not interested, unless perhaps she changes in a dramatic way later or something?

When making a porn romance game, you never want the end user to be turned off, do you understand this?

Here's another thing. If someone introduces you to 5 women, do you think you're going to like ALL 5 women? There's a chance, but there's also a chance if you introduce the same 5 girls to other guys, they won't be interested in all 5 of them, get it? A simple way to reject the ones you don't like would APPEASE EVERYONE. EVERYONE WINS.

 

[Night Hacker]

I'm glad you like Jenna, but adding a dialogue option that lets us avoid her would appease me, and it wouldn't affect you from pursuing Jenna in anyway. Do you understand this logic? You'll be happy, I'll be happy, with a simple addition of a dialogue choice that lets us bypass content with her.

Imagine if you could make two separate groups happy, with a few lines of code, and no one gets upset, and you gain more patreon revenue, wouldn't you do it?

Put your emotions aside. Put your need to want to be right aside. Think logically.

Adding a dialog option to avoid her isn't just a matter of adding in a new menu option. Go ahead, TRY CODING IT YOURSELF!!! If you wish to avoid her, than all future updates need to be written with multiple scenarios, including the totally NEW scenario where you have nothing at all to do with her, which not only requires a newer, complete story REWRITE, it requires many new renders for new scenes without her and it adds to the already large, complex paths that need to be accounted for.

Just adding in ONE more option like this exponentially adds to the complexity and work involved! Removing something doesn't make things easier. Whether you're removing the option to choose a character or adding in an option to choose a new character, the work is THE SAME! No matter how you roll it, you're adding in a NEW PATH the character can take that NEEDS to be fully accounted for now, and in the future = A LOT MORE WORK.

Go ahead, DO IT YOURSELF! You're not experienced with this AT ALL I see. Experiment, create your own game, maybe a short story with multiple paths for now. You'll see it's not so easy. Heck, just writing a story that makes sense is difficult, let alone setting up each scene in Daz and rendering them.

Edit: As for me "thinking logically", I have created video games since the 1990s (I have one that was downloaded millions of times worldwide) and I have started a visual novel that will probably never see the light of day and done tons of renders. It's a lot of work... and a lot of LOGIC involved ironically.

 

[hakarlman]

Adding a dialog option to avoid her isn't just a matter of adding in a new menu option. Go ahead, TRY CODING IT YOURSELF!!!

Bro, it's easy. Here you go:

label story83:
  menu:
    "let's fuck":
        jump JennaSexScene
    "go away":
        jump NoSexWithJenna_GoToNextPartofStory

How long did that take? Like 30 seconds?

I can't respond to you anymore until you make rational sense.

want more code?

default playerHatesJenna = False
label story3:
  menu:
    "i like jenna":
         "your great"
    "i hate jenna":
       $ playerHatesJenna  = True

 

[Night Hacker]

Bro, it's easy. Here? How long did that take? Like 30 seconds?

label story83:
  menu:
    "let's fuck":
        jump JennaSexScene
    "go away":
        jump NoSexWithJenna_GoToNextPartofStory

I can't respond to you anymore until you make rational sense.

As I said (and you didn't read it obviously) it's more than just one menu option. How will the game know in the future that you didn't want to have sex with Jenna? You didn't add any variables in to account for that. And what about scenes where Jenna would be a part of any sex, the dev has to check the variables and render new scenes without her. he also has to rewrite the story to account for her NOT being an interest for you.

As I said, go ahead, DO IT YOURSELF, you have ZERO experience with making games obviously. ALL choices like this create new paths and alter the story and need to be accounted for in the future in game = A LOT more work.

 

[hakarlman]

As I said (and you didn't read it obviously) it's more than just one menu option. How will the game know in the future that you didn't want to have sex with Jenna?

plot flag, it took 30 seconds to write this.

default playerHatesJenna = False
label story3:
  menu:
    "i like jenna":
         "your great"
    "i hate jenna":
       $ playerHatesJenna  = True

Cheekygimp is an expert at doing the above. It's trivial for him, because he's already done it throughout the whole game.

 

[hakarlman]

the dev has to check the variables and render new scenes without her.

OH NO. HE HAS TO CHECK A VARIABLE. THE HORROR.

label story_bla:
    if playerHateJenna:
        mc "please go away"

he also has to rewrite the story to account for her NOT being an interest for you.

Nah, just skip any sexual scenario. I'd be fine with that.

As I said, go ahead, DO IT YOURSELF, you have ZERO experience with making games obviously. ALL choices like this create new paths and alter the story and need to be accounted for in the future in game = A LOT more work.

I could probably do all this in a day or less. If the dev wants help I'll help. This stuff is literally the easiest to do in ren'py. If you did ren'py tutorials, you could learn how to do all this in like a few hours.

 

[ghostrider4570]

Just my 5 cents here. As one who reads a lot of these discussions and plays a lot of these games there is something that has become quite obvious. There are a lot of folks that want these games tailored to their whims and wishes. I want this but i don't want that, I want to see this but don't show me that, oh my god NTR, the world is coming to an end. There are things I care for and some not so much, things I would like to see or have occur in the story line and some that I don't care if they do or not. In the end, just as in real life you don't always get what you want and somethings, no matter how much you don't care for, it isn't avoidable. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into these games and my hats off to ALL the devs as I wouldn't know where to even begin such an endeavor. One needs to keep in mind that all of these games are created and revolve around the visions of the developer and suggestions are welcome I'm sure, but don't ever think a dev is going to change their vision to suit the personal likes or dislikes of any player.

 

[Night Hacker]

This is pointless. "in one ear and out the other". Got to love the IGNORE feature!

 

[Night Hacker]

Just to explain the exponential increase in work for a dev a little better for those who do know how to read and understand...

Lets say you have a scene with a threesome that has say, 20 renders (a conservative number, usually there's lots more). That's one path, 20 renders. BUT, the players want the option to exclude any one or all of the girls. You have Girl 1, 2 and 3. You need a path for all three, a path for girl 1 + 2, a path for girl 1 + 3, a path for girl 2 + 3 if any one of them is excluded. You also need paths if two are excluded, so 1, 2 or 3 (three paths). You also need variables to control all of this so you can write the dialog, checking the variables so the character doesn't mention someone they shouldn't, that's three variables there plus all the dialog rewrites.

So that's 7 separate paths at 20 separate renders per path means your small 20 render scene just ballooned to 140 renders, three extra variables and a whole lot of dialog to account for each path and have fun trying to work out a good story taking into account just these minor changes.

Just so people know... there's a whole lot more you need to think about when making changes.