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

4.30 star(s) 335 Votes
Discussion Reviews (335)
acewinz

acewinz

Developer of "The Call of Darkness"
Game Developer
Oct 15, 2018
2,638
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Wicket said:
I know this might be a strange question; but what is your writing process like? Do you layout each girl (lolz) and then decide what your interactivity is going to be like with them in that episode? Like I said before, that Excel spreadsheet must give you anxiety.
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Haha. Nah, no anxiety really, the spreadsheet mainly keeps track of the variables for us. We have discussed the plot and "pathing" for the girls so much that Cheeky and I know where everything is going and usually only have to discuss the nuances as they happen. Though sometimes we will have ideas that pop up as we go that we try to incorporate.

We usually get together at the start of an EP's writing to discuss what parts of the story/girls are going to be in the Ep and those nuances. Then I take the first swing at the initial rough draft (as he is usually finalizing stuff for the previous EP) for as much as I can and Cheeky chases my scenes and tweaks/adds or if a particular scene caught his eye I haven't done yet he may pick it up first. In the end we both end up double checking each other and seeing if we both are on track with the way things should feel/go. He has final say of course, it is his baby, but we don't step on each others toes really since we think a lot alike.
 
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The Wicked One

The Wicked One

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Jul 8, 2017
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acewinz said:
Haha. Nah, no anxiety really, the spreadsheet mainly keeps track of the variables for us. We have discussed the plot and "pathing" for the girls so much that Cheeky and I know where everything is going and usually only have to discuss the nuances as they happen. Though sometimes we will have ideas that pop up as we go that we try to incorporate.

We usually get together at the start of an EP's writing to discuss what parts of the story/girls are going to be in the Ep and those nuances. Then I take the first swing at the initial rough draft (as he is usually finalizing stuff for the previous EP) for as much as I can and Cheeky chases my scenes and tweaks/adds or if a particular scene caught his eye I haven't done yet he may pick it up first. In the end we both end up double checking each other and seeing if we both are on track with the way things should feel/go. He has final say of course, it is his baby, but we don't step on each others toes really since we think a lot alike.
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That's really interesting! And her is another dumb question, if you have time; have character's evolved beyond what you initially thought they would be? Like, did they evolve almost naturally as you wrote them?
I only ask because I am writing up something now, and I find myself (as I write up a draft) changing a character as I go.
 
Boracle

Boracle

Member
Jun 3, 2017
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469
Usually i don't have anything against harem endings in games, but here's why it's just absurd in WTHI. This game builds the characters in very very deep details and unfolds the story based on their temper. As i said earlier, this is the first game where i didn't skip a single line of dialogue simply because the story is really interesting and involving. It is also kinda realistic (yes i said it). You have to keep in mind that MC is supposed to be 19 yo, with hot body, good looks and charm. At that age pheromones are really kicking in hard and making it much easier to get women of any age, so it's not that absurd for the women to get horny, just by looking at him. So considering that level of realism and the characters it would be silly to be able to get Monica in bed with her daughters, when we see how much she tries to protect them. Same with Elaine. We heard the father already saying that if she found out about the other woman, she would've killed him herself. So for her to end up in an orgy with her sister is simply suicide for the MC. Oh and btw, we still don't know the real motives behind Elaine's actions. She could be completely evil and just serving her own agenda.
That said that doesn't mean there can't be some group endings. Any combination between Katie, Debbie and Lily are completely ok and in the current level of realism. Same with Jolina, Bella and Jenna. Monica and Zarah at this point is almost a must. And Wanda and Angel is surely nice possibility.
 
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Jacob VK

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Mar 29, 2019
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Is there any new update for the devs?

And my opinion to harem route... I dont mind it as long as i dont have to choose all the girls... Like in this story... I love Monice and her daughters, so i dont mind a harem route with them.... or Elaine (if she is good) and Bella (if she also good?) route, or they all together... and Lily and friends... rest i dont like much... But I loved the story... its just a sad... that updates taking so much time...
 
acewinz

acewinz

Developer of "The Call of Darkness"
Game Developer
Oct 15, 2018
2,638
7,821
Wicket said:
That's really interesting! And her is another dumb question, if you have time; have character's evolved beyond what you initially thought they would be? Like, did they evolve almost naturally as you wrote them?
I only ask because I am writing up something now, and I find myself (as I write up a draft) changing a character as I go.
Click to expand...
Definitely. Sometimes when writing for me and others I've talked to (Cheeky included), the characters you created or are working with take on their own life. Often you end up just putting them into a situation and you end up just writing the reactions they would take based on their established character/motivations and the evolutions happen very naturally. The hard part is coming up with the right conditions in which they would act according to how you would want them to sometimes lol. Without giving too much away there are several chars who have evolved as more then they were intended to be in WTHI. Partly due to how their personality evolved and also partly due to player feelings that coincided with ours. :)

You might wanna hunt down our Dev of the Week in Lewd Gamers Discord. We had a lot of questions of this nature that were answered you might enjoy.
You must be registered to see the links
 
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Snugglepuff

Devoted Member
Apr 27, 2017
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Davetiger said:
Well I love it, it was 1 of my 4 favorite ones and really loved how you artfully dodged incest as I'm not a fan of the incest crap. And I love big tits, my girl has H cups and I love them!
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He's not one of the devs, and that post was from (nearly) two years ago...
 
sandstorm1872

sandstorm1872

Member
Sep 6, 2018
234
425
acewinz said:
Haha. Nah, no anxiety really, the spreadsheet mainly keeps track of the variables for us. We have discussed the plot and "pathing" for the girls so much that Cheeky and I know where everything is going and usually only have to discuss the nuances as they happen. Though sometimes we will have ideas that pop up as we go that we try to incorporate.

We usually get together at the start of an EP's writing to discuss what parts of the story/girls are going to be in the Ep and those nuances. Then I take the first swing at the initial rough draft (as he is usually finalizing stuff for the previous EP) for as much as I can and Cheeky chases my scenes and tweaks/adds or if a particular scene caught his eye I haven't done yet he may pick it up first. In the end we both end up double checking each other and seeing if we both are on track with the way things should feel/go. He has final say of course, it is his baby, but we don't step on each others toes really since we think a lot alike.
Click to expand...
The episode development style is quite expected but good to know this is really the case.

I was wondering if:

  1. Character exit -- Are there any characters that would cease to appear due to player choices/ storylines, going fwd?
  2. Ending(s) -- Are there multiple endings planned? I think it's a stupid question given so many characters and their arcs. Additionally, which episode would be the finale? Somehow I'm getting the inkling given the content size of E17, the next one might be the final. I remember CheekyGimp promised an epilogue as well.
Keep up the good work, quality storylines have been a hallmark of your team.
 
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P4cc3r5

Active Member
Feb 4, 2019
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sandstorm1872 said:
The episode development style is quite expected but good to know this is really the case.

I was wondering if:

  1. Character exit -- Are there any characters that would cease to appear due to player choices/ storylines, going fwd?
  2. Ending(s) -- Are there multiple endings planned? I think it's a stupid question given so many characters and their arcs. Additionally, which episode would be the finale? Somehow I'm getting the inkling given the content size of E17, the next one might be the final. I remember CheekyGimp promised an epilogue as well.
Keep up the good work, quality storylines have been a hallmark of your team.
Click to expand...
I thought I read here in the past that it would be 20+ episodes. Ep. 17 will be substantial - but most are. Just seems more than normal due to development complication.
 
botc76

botc76

The Crawling Chaos, Bringer of Strange Joy
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Oct 23, 2016
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acewinz

I was wondering, is there a particular scene you wrote, that you are especially proud of? As in you personally, not the team or Cheeky.


Edited to add: And I'm sorry, if this is actually answered in all these answers on the discord-channel, but loading that channel alone took some time and reading through it will take a long time, so I did want to ask the question here.
 
Last edited:
acewinz

acewinz

Developer of "The Call of Darkness"
Game Developer
Oct 15, 2018
2,638
7,821
botc76 said:
acewinz

I was wondering, is there a particular scene you wrote, that you are especially proud of? As in you personally, not the time or Cheeky.


Edited to add: And I'm sorry, if this is actually answered in all these answers on the discord-channel, but loading that channel alone took some time and reading through it will take a long time, so I did want to ask the question here.
Click to expand...
I can't claim the credit for any one scene given how closely Cheeky and I work together (not to mention Cell and Red handling most of the art). But the offset is I had a hand in almost everything since the Katie restaurant/beachhouse date which is the first scene I wrote with Cheeky. It is also one I am pretty proud of. A lot of the jokes there are Ace originals that Cheeky liked enough to bring me on full time to expand his perverted humor base. :)

While not really my kink, Theresa's attitude and character are based on a twisted version of my experiences with her sort while attending Catholic school in my youth. I'm agnostic now, as a result of those experiences lol.

Coming up though I think my work with the EP17 Jenna/Katie scene (which kind of escalated after some Cheeky encouragement) and the Monica date I poured a lot into will hopefully be well received. But again, we work as a team and everyone contributes.
 
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acewinz

acewinz

Developer of "The Call of Darkness"
Game Developer
Oct 15, 2018
2,638
7,821
sandstorm1872 said:
The episode development style is quite expected but good to know this is really the case.

I was wondering if:

  1. Character exit -- Are there any characters that would cease to appear due to player choices/ storylines, going fwd?
  2. Ending(s) -- Are there multiple endings planned? I think it's a stupid question given so many characters and their arcs. Additionally, which episode would be the finale? Somehow I'm getting the inkling given the content size of E17, the next one might be the final. I remember CheekyGimp promised an epilogue as well.
Keep up the good work, quality storylines have been a hallmark of your team.
Click to expand...
Well, I imagine it is apparent that if you don't go after a girl romantically you will miss content that was exclusive to them like dates/sex, but almost all the chars have some part to play in the main story progression so will appear there even if you miss their romantic content. Also thus far you never miss any girls side/romance content even if you are seeing all of them, but there are some things you may miss by only seeing certain ones (especially with the upcoming arcs potentially involving more than one female).

As for endings there will definitely be more than one, both in regard to the main story and the girls (and epilogues with variations dependent on all those things). I took the liberty of mapping out a small quick sheet of the potential ending romance possibilities alone for us and came up with 13 of those or so not including the main story variations.

As for the finale episode, we don't know for sure. Cheeky guessed 25 a long time ago, but that was tentative and likely underestimated given we keep coming up with more to do. So long as people are enjoying what we have to tell, we won't be rushing things.
 
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4.30 star(s) 335 Votes