VN Ren'Py World's Crossing Academy [v1.2.2.2] [TeamEmberWings]

[VictorSeven]

very glad that Light of My Life made the top ten

Light of my Life was amazing and I am starving for an update. THAT is the kind of experience I set out to deliver. Light of my Life is the only one that's come close to the emotional depth and connection that I want to inspire in a player, the attachment to the characters. Only, I set out to do that on a variety scale. Games like Light of my Life and Ecchi Sensei were my inspirations, and I wanted kind of a middle ground between the two. In the case of Ecchi Sensei, I saw the quality of the models (they're Playhome models, so not the best) and thought, "I could do this, but make it look so much better with Ai Shoujo." I felt that combining emotional attachment via well-written story with plenty of variety so there's something for everyone was a solid game plan.

That, and I had an excuse to try making Goblin girls cute. 'cause I like to do atypical, against-type things like that. I hate playing into clichés.

top one hundred (by weighted rating) again, but a year ago only a fifth of the games in it contained nonlinear gameplay elements. So staying clear of it should be the better or rather safer choice.

This is fantastic, actionable and data-driven feedback. If anything, this cements it in my mind. Thank you.

 

[juan palote]

Ah, very true. Apologies. Though the rest of my point still stands.

This is just anecdotal evidence and sadly unsuitable to base a decision on. It may be true that developers harm their popularity by switching modes, but this surely also depends on the point in time of game development. Sorting the list of games by weighted rating shows four of the top ten titles to be tagged either sandox and/or point&click, so it's not like either tag is a surefire way to abandonment. Maybe quite the opposite, seeing as two of said titles actually lead the list… (On a sidenote: very glad that Light of My Life made the top ten – well deserved.)

I really do prefer choice-based VNs over sandboxes, but I also enjoy games with nonlinear gameplay elements. Though if those elements are obnoxious and a real hindrance to experiencing the game, then I'd quickly drop said game. In case of The Inn, I felt this didn't apply. So in the end we may be liking the same, just with a different view on when and how certain gameplay elements get in the way of fun.


I'm a little starved for time at the moment so won't go through the top one hundred (by weighted rating) again, but a year ago only a fifth of the games in it contained nonlinear gameplay elements. So staying clear of it should be the better or rather safer choice.

Best of luck and keep it up!

Thing is, most of the sandbox/P&C games that are on the top arent new games. And the sandbox/P&C "aversion" has been growing. I personally played several of those games before deciding to stop playing sandbox games. Hell, i might have rated high some of those games. I used to play a lot of sandbox games (Corruption, The Tyrant, Mysthic Manor, Harem Hotel, etc) and i abandoned them all. Dark Magic was the last one i was playing but since the Dev asked us to start over after years of the game being developed i abandoned that too.

Just as gaming in general has been steering away from grinding and spending hours trying to find your way through a maze or something, that translates into our genre in less people liking sandbox/P&C.

Also, those sandbox/P&C that get to the top often have awesome stories and/or frequent updates, which leads me to think they would surely be there if they were pure VNs too, although that is just my subjective opinion on it and absolutely
counterfactual.

Anyway, i think we are discussing this too lot unnecessarily. I am personally Ok with the game so far and with the decision the Dev seems to have made about it.

 

[Deleted member 1808184]

See, that was one of my ideas, because the Harpy is actually a secret character that, I thought, could change later depending on how many times you've "fed" her. Feed her enough, and you get to see the rest of her story. Once the variable reaches a certain number, the next time you go to feed her, you'll find that something is different that I don't want to spoil.

I'd really love to do that type of thing for some of the characters, 'cause I even had a character that you could only meet if you died, and she would bring you back. But I can't really do that in any meaningful way with a strictly linear game. If I had a little Sidequest segment here and there, I could give you options like "Go visit Cecilia." Then she'd stab your ass and you'd meet the secret character lol. But the mere mention of anything "sandbox" is enough to make people recoil in horror, so... should I even attempt it? Last thing I wanna do is start losing traction because of a creative experiment.

Please don't start mistaking Visual Novels with Kinetic Novels.
And kindly do not mistake Visual Novels with Sandbox either.

Kinetic Novels are linear; Visual Novels usually do have some degree of linearity but they offer (non-cosmetic) choices. Sandbox is a simulator game, not a novel; Typically has less dialog, fancy stats, meaningless choices, grinding, planning, minigames, and everything a porn version of The Sims could need.

Displeasing someone is unavoidable, so follow your heart rather than the community. Unless of course you plan in doing lots of money, then you must either pick a niche and follow closely what they say or aim for the broadest audience possibly at the cost of minorities. But both may eventually kill the game if you don't like them.

Just be careful: The line between a Kinectic Novel and a VN are choices (usually, "which matter"). The line between a VN and a sandbox is usually the grind ("repetitive tasks", regardless of the goal and usually used to hold you for a while longer while waiting for enjoyment).

Find where your heart is and follow it; And be sure to don't jump from Kinectic to Visual or from Visual to Sandbox as the goal audience of the three groups differ. Specially, do NOT go from novel to simulation or from simulation to novel. Ever. If you want to (because you can), creating a side project will have better results; While abandoning the original and creating a new project with the new genre is just slightly better than changing it (specially if you change your mind later).

 

[VictorSeven]

The line between a Kinectic Novel and a VN are choices (usually, "which matter").

Ah. I suppose this is mostly a Kinetic Novel, then, since I originally designed it for the user to not miss any content. It has choices, but the choices mostly allow you to skip scenes and they don't change the outcomes.

 

[juan palote]

Changing from KN to VN isnt a big deal and will have very little consequences. The problem comes when changing from any of the Novel types to Sandbox/P&C. There have been some games that avoided a big part of the problem by making the game able to be played in both systems (you can choose to not use the sandbox elements and play as a Novel, without missing any content). Family Affair is the last one that did this if i am not mistaken

 

[VictorSeven]

That makes a lot of sense, as you're changing the core gameplay experience at that point.

 

[I am Gone]

(Preview) One of the Most Requested Things

Hi, all! Just wanted to thank you for your patience while I'm learning my workflow. I've gotten to the point where I almost have 2 of the 6 days for Build 2 done, and one of the things that has been most requested in my Google Forms feedback is Cecilia's backstory.


Many people have commented that they want to see why Cecilia became the obsessive, murderous psychopath I've shown her to be in the game so far. Seeing the opportunity to dive into another flashback, I took it. Chapter 5 will feature a full dive into Cecilia's past and what made her into what she is today.


I also have a total of 4 lewd scenes planned. The one I've finished so far has a total of 14 animated videos. I'm going all-out for these scenes. No more instant entry, 3 position scenes. That's lazy game design. I'm gonna do what the main character would do in real life. How he would treat each girl according to their personalities. And let me tell you, the first lewd scene you get in Chapter 5 is head and shoulders above anything I've done so far. I just hope I can keep meeting that standard of quality, because that scene took me 6 hours to pose, shoot, and record, and another 2 hours to script and score.


Currently, Tuesday and Wednesday both have some pretty long scenes, and I'm sure Thursday through Sunday's scenes are gonna be a bit shorter. I'm trying to balance the heavy, emotional stuff with the fun, flirty stuff.


I will have a Patreon poll out soon about releases. Stay tuned!​

 

[I am Gone]

Patreon Release: CH.5 days 1 and 2 + Quality of Life Changes

Hi again!


Exciting news! A Patreon release means a public release is right around the corner! I did a Patreon poll asking which type of release my Patrons would prefer.


Split Release: Release the first 2 days and all of the Quality of Life improvements I've made so that new players don't have to deal with issues that have been fixed for nearly a month. Have a second release near the end of August for Patrons and September for the public with the remaining 4 days of Chapter 5.


Full Release: Release all 6 days at once at the end of the month for Patrons. This will give more content to play at once and will have all of the extra features introduced at once rather than in two separate updates, but will take much longer before delivering.

As you can see, they voted mostly for the Split Release. I just spent all my time finalizing Tuesday and Wednesday of Chapter 5 in order to roll them out alongside the Quality of Life updates to Patrons today. I didn't want to put out an "empty update," that is to say, a Quality of Life update with no new content. Sure, it's only two days, but you'll start to see the direction this story is heading. And in two weeks, this build will be released to the public!


The two days of Chapter 5 that you'll be able to play at this point include:

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• Over 360 images​
• Nearly 2000 lines of code​
• 1 Lewd Scene with 21 video clips​
• Character Story Progression for 2 girls​
• Small Relationship progression with 3 girls​
• Visible teases for 3 new characters​
• In-dialogue hints for 3 more new characters​

This build should go live here on Itch on 8/19/21!


One Patron is getting early access immediately, at the Creator tier.


A couple of Patrons are getting early access starting 8/12/21, at the Tester tier.


A bunch of Patrons are getting early access starting 8/16/21, at the Supporter tier.


If for some reason this amateur game is important enough to you that you wanna play it before everyone else, I suppose I'll leave a link in case any of y'all decide to hop on the Patreon train. Lots more coming!

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[I am Gone]

T5 - Creator Character #1: Krin, the Hellfire Imp

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» Devlog

Introducing our first completed Patreon Tier 5 - Creator Character, Krin!

Krin is a Hellfire Imp with a devious, mischievous streak. She loves pranks and messing with people for reactions, and is a huge tease.

But when caught, she'll also play the pitiful and innocent card... anything to get out of trouble.

Also yes. She smol.

All of our Tier 5 Patrons get to create a girl of their own for the game, with their own questline! Also, all Patrons of Tier 2 and higher get to play new builds of the game before public release! Build 2 is already available for Tier 3 and above, and will release to Tier 2 on Monday, August 16th!

Feel free to join the Patreon and the project Discord, whether you're a Patron or not!

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[Yukemoto]

T5 - Creator Character #1: Krin, the Hellfire Imp

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» Devlog

Introducing our first completed Patreon Tier 5 - Creator Character, Krin!

Krin is a Hellfire Imp with a devious, mischievous streak. She loves pranks and messing with people for reactions, and is a huge tease.

But when caught, she'll also play the pitiful and innocent card... anything to get out of trouble.

Also yes. She smol.

All of our Tier 5 Patrons get to create a girl of their own for the game, with their own questline! Also, all Patrons of Tier 2 and higher get to play new builds of the game before public release! Build 2 is already available for Tier 3 and above, and will release to Tier 2 on Monday, August 16th!

Feel free to join the Patreon and the project Discord, whether you're a Patron or not!

You must be registered to see the links

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The Imp fits this games aesthetic, good job patreon subscriber dude.
Oh! And..Giant Girl is coming!

 

[juan palote]

T5 - Creator Character #1: Krin, the Hellfire Imp

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» Devlog

Introducing our first completed Patreon Tier 5 - Creator Character, Krin!

Krin is a Hellfire Imp with a devious, mischievous streak. She loves pranks and messing with people for reactions, and is a huge tease.

But when caught, she'll also play the pitiful and innocent card... anything to get out of trouble.

Also yes. She smol.

All of our Tier 5 Patrons get to create a girl of their own for the game, with their own questline! Also, all Patrons of Tier 2 and higher get to play new builds of the game before public release! Build 2 is already available for Tier 3 and above, and will release to Tier 2 on Monday, August 16th!

Feel free to join the Patreon and the project Discord, whether you're a Patron or not!

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

I like that character, it might become my favourite after the Goblins depending on the story

 

[I am Gone]

Release Schedule Change!

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» Devlog

Hello again!

Thanks to a vote in the Patreon, Early Access rewards have become more generous, meaning more people just gained access to the new WCA update today!

OLD BENEFITS:


T5 - Creator gets to create an in-game character AND gets access to the game 2 weeks early.


T4 - Tester gets access to the game 1 week early.


T3 - Supporter gets access to the game a few days early.


And T2 - Player... gets to participate in polls. But doesn't get early access.


NEW BENEFITS:


$75 T5 - Creator gets to create an in-game character


$25 T4 - Tester gets the game 2 weeks early (up from 1 week)


$10 T3 - Supporter gets the game 1 week early (up from a few days)


$5 T2 - Player gets the game a few days early (up from no early access)


$2 T1 - Giver gets to participate in polls

As of now, everyone of Tier 2 and above now has access to the new build of World's Crossing Academy. You can view the post here:

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The build will be available to Tier 1 and the Public on 8/19/21! Only a few more days!​

 

[I am Gone]

0.1.4.5 Public Release (Days 1 and 2 of Chapter 5 + QoL Changes)

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» Devlog

THE TIME IS HERE!


It's taken a while to get my workflow down while also nailing down all of the features I want this game to have. But at last, here we have the next public build of World's Crossing Academy!


This build was meant to be more of a Quality of Life build. I took a lot of the feedback y'all gave me and applied it to make the game experience smoother. So, thanks to you, we now have:

​

• Auto-Forward on Black Screens (no more clicking through black screens)​
• Chapter Begin, Chapter End, and Sleep jingles​
• Vastly reduced file size due to image and audio compression and unnecessary file removal​
• Skippable H-Scenes​
• A working H-Scene Gallery that includes all but the most recent H-Scene​

But I felt people wouldn't be real happy with a new release that was ONLY Quality of Life changes. With a new release, players want more content. So I set about making more for y'all and delaying the push of the build so there would at least be another half an hour of gameplay included. This new build has:

​

• 1730 new lines of code​
• Approx. 350 new images​
• Visual hints at 3 new girls​
• Story hints at 3 more new girls​
• A much-requested dive into Cecilia's past and backstory​

And let's not forget the most important thing for most of y'all:

​

• 1 new H-Scene with 21 video loops​

Thank you all so much for your love and passion for this game! I strive to make it everything you've dreamed of having in a linear visual/kinetic novel, and hearing how much people love the game and its concept really fuels my fire and makes me want to work on it more.


Obligatory plugs:


Pop into the Discord to chat with me and other WCA fans directly:

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Become a Patron and get new builds up to 2 weeks early, plus special sneak previews and pinup images of the girls:

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Thread Updated​

 

[S0k4]

does this latest update contain chapters 1-4?

 

[I am Gone]

does this latest update contain chapters 1-4?

Yes, if it didn't we would have separate downloads for earlier chapters.

 

[FriendlyDave]

World's Crossing Academy [v0.1.4.5] [TeamEmberWings] Compressed

Download Win/Linux (953MB --> 380MB):

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Download Mac (918MB --> 345MB):

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Leave a like if you enjoyed this crunched version

*This version of the game is untested and unofficial, user beware
Compression reduces the quality and can break the game

Spoiler: Crunched FAQ

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Tools Used: UnRen v0.7 (Sam@f95zone), Cruncher v0.4.1 (BAS@f95zone), RPG Maker MV Decrypter (petschko@f95zone), Yet Another Cruncher (hngg@f95zone),

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[VictorSeven]

does this latest update contain chapters 1-4?

It absolutely does! I made sure it says so in the filenames. I also updated the title of the post to save confusion.

Future posts will say Chapters 1-5, Chapters 1-6, etc. so players know they can overwrite the old game files with the new, and don't need to keep a bunch of WCA folders on their drive.

 

[Zontany]

Other than the lighting problem (which you talked about early), I like the game so far. I didn't know why the headmaster hated men so much, but I think it's kinda obvious when you play a little longer. Don't get why the other girls seem to be annoyed with the MC, other than Nook, Gillie, and Tilai. Kinda curious why we started practicing taekwondo in a blue room. I thought that was our house for a minute.

 

[VictorSeven]

Other than the lighting problem (which you talked about early), I like the game so far. I didn't know why the headmaster hated men so much, but I think it's kinda obvious when you play a little longer. Don't get why the other girls seem to be annoyed with the MC, other than Nook, Gillie, and Tilai. Kinda curious why we started practicing taekwondo in a blue room. I thought that was our house for a minute.

Thank you for the kind words! If I may, I'll answer some of your questions.

As far as why men are looked down on, I figured I needed a canonical, story reason to not have to make a whole ton of male characters that I wasn't interested in making. So, because of some inter-world incidents, the Academy system, with a few exceptions, doesn't permit travel to other worlds for males. The Dwarven world incident is the most recent, and is still fresh.

As for WJC, the junior college you work at, this is mostly due to Ms. Clements' attitude and influence over the school and its staff. Most people there have kind of absorbed her opinion just from being in a place that is saturated with it. Not to mention the very recent Willy incident, which further cemented this in most students' minds.

The Taekwondo scene seems to be a pretty big sore point for most of the community. It exists for a few reasons. First, custom posing practice. I figured if I could pose out the entire 2nd degree black belt form (Form Keumgang), then I could pose anything. Second, there was a lot of exposition to give, and I didn't wanna just have a bunch of shots of the MC's face while he's thinking or talking to himself out loud. I felt it might be kind of cool to deliver the exposition while there was some sort of action going on. Third, it establishes what he's doing when he says he's going to "do some training" later on in the VN, though thankfully, the scenes are skipped. You get the gist of what he's doing because he's already shown you.

And yes, the "blue" room is actually the concrete walls of the attached basement in the home the MC rents. I didn't really do a good job of showing the whole structure, and I may be able to go back and do so later, but that will take development time away from future releases. So... kind of weighing whether or not it's worth it, since it will slow down progress on future releases.

Any more questions or requests, don't be shy! I'm here to answer anything ya have to say!

 

[Zontany]

Thank you for the kind words! If I may, I'll answer some of your questions.

As far as why men are looked down on, I figured I needed a canonical, story reason to not have to make a whole ton of male characters that I wasn't interested in making. So, because of some inter-world incidents, the Academy system, with a few exceptions, doesn't permit travel to other worlds for males. The Dwarven world incident is the most recent, and is still fresh.

As for WJC, the junior college you work at, this is mostly due to Ms. Clements' attitude and influence over the school and its staff. Most people there have kind of absorbed her opinion just from being in a place that is saturated with it. Not to mention the very recent Willy incident, which further cemented this in most students' minds.

The Taekwondo scene seems to be a pretty big sore point for most of the community. It exists for a few reasons. First, custom posing practice. I figured if I could pose out the entire 2nd degree black belt form (Form Keumgang), then I could pose anything. Second, there was a lot of exposition to give, and I didn't wanna just have a bunch of shots of the MC's face while he's thinking or talking to himself out loud. I felt it might be kind of cool to deliver the exposition while there was some sort of action going on. Third, it establishes what he's doing when he says he's going to "do some training" later on in the VN, though thankfully, the scenes are skipped. You get the gist of what he's doing because he's already shown you.

And yes, the "blue" room is actually the concrete walls of the attached basement in the home the MC rents. I didn't really do a good job of showing the whole structure, and I may be able to go back and do so later, but that will take development time away from future releases. So... kind of weighing whether or not it's worth it, since it will slow down progress on future releases.

Any more questions or requests, don't be shy! I'm here to answer anything ya have to say!

No problem and thank you for explaining the world. I just finished the 1st chapter and started the 2nd, but will we see the other janitors (Jack and Alphonse) in the future? I know you don’t want to make too many male characters, but I’m just wondering. As for the Taekwondo scene with the flashback, is the blue walls and floor supposed to be padding? When I did Taekwondo, we had a lot of those. If you’re planning on updating the room, why not have it be based on certain story events. Since you're worried about it slowing down future updates. I mean, the MC said he was struggling with money and wasn’t happy with his life in the town, but that will change in the future. Maybe he’ll buy other equipment and a plant or something to make the room livelier and inviting. Also, why did you decide to name the junior college that?