Ren'Py World's Crossing Academy [v1.3.5.1] [TeamEmberWings]

[VN..reader]

i really enjoyed the first 2 chapters/releases. but the 'status of and update timing' have been all over the place. and i know that Life Happens. i just wnat to know how much it has changed and advanced since. i had written it off with great sorrow and would like to start again if it looks like winner to the end kinda thing.???

 

[VictorSeven]

i really enjoyed the first 2 chapters/releases. but the 'status of and update timing' have been all over the place. and i know that Life Happens. i just wnat to know how much it has changed and advanced since. i had written it off with great sorrow and would like to start again if it looks like winner to the end kinda thing.???

Things have calmed down a ton. We're approaching the 1.0 release of WCA Season 1. There have been some bumps in the road, but I've been able to put out content a few times a year. Week 1 is Chapters 1 through 4. Week 2 is Chapter 5. Week 3 is Chapter 6. I have one more scene to add because I've hit the size limit for Android apks, and then 1.0 is done. From there I'll be gathering feedback about new mechanics to put in Season 2 and provide a bit more of a "game" experience once we start that up.

But yeah. It was rough for a while there. Still a little. But the show must go on. The community pulled through and here we are. Looking forward to at least 2 more full story arcs, finishing out character side stories, and even adding DLC characters to play around with while the main story is being worked on.

So stick around. We're not going anywhere

 

[Deleted member 2744443]

Goblins were traditionally stupid, they could work together into a sort of hive mind but are not much different from Kobolds. If you want to credit a race why not call it gnome technology instead. At best leadership intelligence of a goblin should be clever. Of the evolved tradition of expanding the abilities of a monster race the most interesting were those of Trolls in ultra cold conditions by Terry Pratchett in his Discworld series. In usual conditions trolls were stupid, and turned to stone if out in sunlight. But this famous story teller added vivid content and is give the artists pen literary license. Goblins imo are short can be warty, smelly and undesirable. You can make them in your stories a fetish partner, but allow me to balk, when claiming them as intelligent system or ecosystems masters.

 

[S1nsational]

Goblins were traditionally stupid, they could work together into a sort of hive mind but are not much different from Kobolds. If you want to credit a race why not call it gnome technology instead. At best leadership intelligence of a goblin should be clever. Of the evolved tradition of expanding the abilities of a monster race the most interesting were those of Trolls in ultra cold conditions by Terry Pratchett in his Discworld series. In usual conditions trolls were stupid, and turned to stone if out in sunlight. But this famous story teller added vivid content and is give the artists pen literary license. Goblins imo are short can be warty, smelly and undesirable. You can make them in your stories a fetish partner, but allow me to balk, when claiming them as intelligent system or ecosystems masters.

Fantasy "traditions" are meant to be broken. TRADITIONALLY every species in this game would all share the same planet or plane, not all having individual dimensions of their own.

"evolved tradition" is still broken tradition. Terry Pratchett great man that he was, is not and was not the new owner of the fantasy genre.

Fantasy will never progress is new authors are constantly forced to conform to how others wrote various races and species.

 

[YogSothoth1982]

Goblins were traditionally stupid, they could work together into a sort of hive mind but are not much different from Kobolds. If you want to credit a race why not call it gnome technology instead. At best leadership intelligence of a goblin should be clever. Of the evolved tradition of expanding the abilities of a monster race the most interesting were those of Trolls in ultra cold conditions by Terry Pratchett in his Discworld series. In usual conditions trolls were stupid, and turned to stone if out in sunlight. But this famous story teller added vivid content and is give the artists pen literary license. Goblins imo are short can be warty, smelly and undesirable. You can make them in your stories a fetish partner, but allow me to balk, when claiming them as intelligent system or ecosystems masters.

Well, I've never personally talked to a goblin to see if they're smart.

I'm going to tell you a secret, but don't tell anyone... Many of the races in the game (possibly all but humans) aren't real, they don't exist, so the developer can give them whatever characteristics he likes.

 

[VictorSeven]

Goblins were traditionally stupid, they could work together into a sort of hive mind but are not much different from Kobolds. If you want to credit a race why not call it gnome technology instead. At best leadership intelligence of a goblin should be clever. Of the evolved tradition of expanding the abilities of a monster race the most interesting were those of Trolls in ultra cold conditions by Terry Pratchett in his Discworld series. In usual conditions trolls were stupid, and turned to stone if out in sunlight. But this famous story teller added vivid content and is give the artists pen literary license. Goblins imo are short can be warty, smelly and undesirable. You can make them in your stories a fetish partner, but allow me to balk, when claiming them as intelligent system or ecosystems masters.

This is a great teachable moment.

Anytime you think of what is "typical" for a race (haughty, but refined Elves, brusque, Scottish-accent Dwarves, dumb Cockney-accent orcs, smelly, stupid Goblins), you're thinking of writing With-Type, which is to say following the common stereotypes, many of these having been thought up by the great writers of our past (Tolkien being the example for Elves and Dwarves).

I tend to write Against-Type. I will write a race or species with SOME of the typical characteristics you would expect, but I also throw in a few curveballs that make my version of said race or species unique. Remember that World's Crossing Academy is also about the monster girls trying to acclimate to human culture. There are many Goblins on their native world that can be exactly as you say; ugly, warty, smelly, and stupid. They DO exist. But most of the Goblins you've met thus far have learned things like hygiene and manners while pursuing their desire to live on or at least be able to visit the human world and keep to our customs and standards.

Galka is another great example. She's huge and strong, but she's not dumb and aggressive, like a Goliath probably should be if written With-Type. She's actually quite deep and emotionally intelligent, and acts rather motherly, hoping to solve problems from the inside out rather than just smashing anything that disagrees with her.

The other thing is, my mission in creating the Goblins was to try to take a race that was typically considered disgusting and unattractive and figure out a way to make them cute. I didn't make them look human on purpose; I kept the hooked nose, the smushed chin, the broad, pointed ears, and the inhumanly colored, slit irises. The rest, I tried to soften out a bit. So we have enough traditional Goblin features to be believable, and enough of my own invention to make them feel fresh.

Also, you must not be a fan of Harry Potter. You should also balk at the Goblins at Gringotts being intelligent enough to run a fairly substantial business.

Anyways, you'll find With-Type and Against-Type examples of a lot of races and species in lots of popular media. I happen to be a very Against-Type writer, and I always try to throw in surprises with each character, something that subverts a reader or player's expectations. Enough With-Type to feel familiar, enough Against-Type for it to feel new and fresh.

And if I may say, this game has been out over a year and a half, and through thousands of entries on my feedback forms, 51 pages in this forum, hundreds of rating on Itch, and an entire Discord community around the game... you are the ONLY complaint I've ever heard about the Goblins. I will not be dumbing them down or changing them anytime soon

 

[jadih96207]

Here I thought goblins were

You must be registered to see the links

but then I might have been thinking about gremlins.

 

[Bob Jared]

This is a great teachable moment.

Anytime you think of what is "typical" for a race (haughty, but refined Elves, brusque, Scottish-accent Dwarves, dumb Cockney-accent orcs, smelly, stupid Goblins), you're thinking of writing With-Type, which is to say following the common stereotypes, many of these having been thought up by the great writers of our past (Tolkien being the example for Elves and Dwarves).

I tend to write Against-Type. I will write a race or species with SOME of the typical characteristics you would expect, but I also throw in a few curveballs that make my version of said race or species unique. Remember that World's Crossing Academy is also about the monster girls trying to acclimate to human culture. There are many Goblins on their native world that can be exactly as you say; ugly, warty, smelly, and stupid. They DO exist. But most of the Goblins you've met thus far have learned things like hygiene and manners while pursuing their desire to live on or at least be able to visit the human world and keep to our customs and standards.

Galka is another great example. She's huge and strong, but she's not dumb and aggressive, like a Goliath probably should be if written With-Type. She's actually quite deep and emotionally intelligent, and acts rather motherly, hoping to solve problems from the inside out rather than just smashing anything that disagrees with her.

The other thing is, my mission in creating the Goblins was to try to take a race that was typically considered disgusting and unattractive and figure out a way to make them cute. I didn't make them look human on purpose; I kept the hooked nose, the smushed chin, the broad, pointed ears, and the inhumanly colored, slit irises. The rest, I tried to soften out a bit. So we have enough traditional Goblin features to be believable, and enough of my own invention to make them feel fresh.

Also, you must not be a fan of Harry Potter. You should also balk at the Goblins at Gringotts being intelligent enough to run a fairly substantial business.

Anyways, you'll find With-Type and Against-Type examples of a lot of races and species in lots of popular media. I happen to be a very Against-Type writer, and I always try to throw in surprises with each character, something that subverts a reader or player's expectations. Enough With-Type to feel familiar, enough Against-Type for it to feel new and fresh.

And if I may say, this game has been out over a year and a half, and through thousands of entries on my feedback forms, 51 pages in this forum, hundreds of rating on Itch, and an entire Discord community around the game... you are the ONLY complaint I've ever heard about the Goblins. I will not be dumbing them down or changing them anytime soon

Plus goblin and imp girls are vastly superior to gnome girls anyway.

 

[VictorSeven]

Plus goblin and imp girls are vastly superior to gnome girls anyway.

I have a Hellfire Imp on the way, but I haven't made a gnome yet. I wonder how I might make a gnome girl unique and interesting. Definitely a unique challenge...

 

[Moonis]

As to fight withdrawal effects of Nook's presence, one of the first things I tested when I was playing with AI created graphics, was to make some goblin girls. Pictures were cropped randomly, based on whatever it chose as base picture, so you won't be seeing whole girls, sorry about that.

Spoiler: Images

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Many of the images were somewhat faulty, having three legs or something, but overall, I was very positively surprised by the quality of the images.

 

[JJDrakken]

I have a Hellfire Imp on the way, but I haven't made a gnome yet. I wonder how I might make a gnome girl unique and interesting. Definitely a unique challenge...

Have her be socially inept and thinking when you try use sly words to hit on her, she doesn't get it. But when you are just talking about mundane things like Math, Cooking, Car Mechanics, etc.. She all sudden thinks your hitting on her and it gets her all horny, but your like what's going on and the confusion continues until you both realize what's going on

 

[VictorSeven]

As to fight withdrawal effects of Nook's presence, one of the first things I tested when I was playing with AI created graphics, was to make some goblin girls. Pictures were cropped randomly, based on whatever it chose as base picture, so you won't be seeing whole girls, sorry about that.

Spoiler: Images

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Many of the images were somewhat faulty, having three legs or something, but overall, I was very positively surprised by the quality of the images.

These are really good! Kind of suggests what a half-Goblin, half-Dryad might look like in a few of 'em. Thank you for sharing!

 

[VictorSeven]

Have her be socially inept and thinking when you try use sly words to hit on her, she doesn't get it. But when you are just talking about mundane things like Math, Cooking, Car Mechanics, etc.. She all sudden thinks your hitting on her and it gets her all horny, but your like what's going on and the confusion continues until you both realize what's going on

That is hilarious and amazing lol

I guess my comments were totally above your ability to cognate. One earns the right to use other traditionally evolved renowned writers definitions. Just going in and doing as you please is near plagiarism, I am also aware you could care less but not much less. It is an unfortunate consequence of people not knowing their history or the history of their cultures.

Were you that kid on the playground who would interrupt people's games with "No, you're supposed to play it THIS way!"

Nobody likes the "Well, Actually" guy. Don't be that guy. A race's "established history" is only established in that particular world. But you don't seem to know what plagiarism means. Allow me:

pla·gia·rism
/ˈplājəˌrizəm/

noun

1. the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

Using an archetype is not plagiarism. Giving a Dwarf a mining proficiency and a Scottish accent isn't plagiarism. Else the Tolkien Estate would be INFAMOUS for the number of lawsuits it would have levied against indie authors. I'm a published author myself. You can find two of the three books in The Riftkey Chronicles series on Amazon, and they were apparently good enough for me to be offered the Hardcover beta when it became a thing (a very pleasant surprise). If people go on to accept the version of Dryads that I created as the typical archetype for those creatures, and indie authors wrote Dryads in the fashion that I penned, I would be overjoyed. If what you say is true (and it's not), Wizards of the Coast in particular would be on both sides of the lawsuit line in hundreds of cases for the races they use in Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

Also, there is a such thing as Derivative Work, which you see in many fanfictions, something that is totally and completely legal. Anyone can write a story in Middle-Earth, or Narnia, or Hyrule, or whatever pre-established world they want. Copyright law protects both the owner of the underlying, or "original" work and the author of the derivative work. Any one of you could write a WCA fanfiction and post it on fanfiction.net using my characters and my setting and it would be legit.

Fair warning, my dude. You come in here and insult the one thing most people love about this game, and then begin attacking users and pretending you're so far above them in "ability to cognate" and the amount of a race's history you know that they don't... you're not some superior being. You're just making enemies. Hopping into a forum and immediately flexing your superiority complex is not the smartest move. "Hey guys, what up, I'm better than all of you and I need to correct this thing you're having fun with."

If all you care about is being Right, you'll eventually have nothing Left.

I think Michel de Montagne said it best: “He who establishes his argument by noise and command, shows that his reason is weak.”

And again by Albert J. Berstein: "Life offers a cruel choice: you can be right or happy. Not both."

And once more by Nitya Prakash: “There are people who are always insecure, dissatisfied and looking for a conflict. Unfortunately, the only way to deal with them is to walk away cuz the battle they are fighting, is not with you or everyone else around them, it is within themselves. Choose peace over being right.”

If you don't like the game, that's fine. I can't make everyone happy, nor do I pretend to be able to. But we've chosen to be happy with what we have. We don't need you to "correct" it and tell us it's wrong. Going through the recent history of your activity on F95, it seems like the main thing you like to do is jump into forums and start telling people what to do/insulting them. I had to go back to October 30th to find something that you posted that was objectively POSITIVE. That's nearly a month without saying anything nice.

Bottom line is this. You're intelligent; I will not begrudge you that. And there's nothing wrong with that. Arrogance, on the other hand, is what makes people insufferable. I normally love meeting fellow fantasy writers (if you've published something professionally, correct me; a writer and an author are two VERY different things and I know I would hate to be reduced to being referred to as a "writer" given my accomplishments), as there is usually so much potential to collab and brainstorm and maybe even add someone to Team EmberWings to share the profits if we end up being a good match and our writing styles jive in a way that lets us churn out content to the waiting fans. But the way you're going about things... you're abrasive, condescending, and honestly just unfun to speak with. I would caution you to temper your approach, or you're gonna be alone on that little hill you've built yourself.

Now, you can do one of two things. You can engage in conversation and discussion and share in the passion of a project that is still being woven together with the input of the community. Or you can continue to make everything an argument and get booted from the forum. We really don't need that kind of holier-than-thou bullshit here. I'm not angry at you; I'm unhappy with your behavior. You have a chance to change this. Will you let your Pride get in the way? Or will you become a part of this community and interact amiably with your peers?

 

[Bob Jared]

I guess my comments were totally above your ability to cognate. One earns the right to use other traditionally evolved renowned writers definitions. Just going in and doing as you please is near plagiarism, I am also aware you could care less but not much less. It is an unfortunate consequence of people not knowing their history or the history of their cultures.

Plagiarism of what? Centuries old folklore? That is not how any of this works.

 

[VictorSeven]

SURVEY with Exclusive Pinup Pack - The Future of WCA


Hey all! If you're not in the Discord, I'd love to have you fill out this feedback form, because your feedback will dictate how much the gameplay loop changes from Season 1 to Season 2. Specifically, it contains questions about mechanics that are present in other AVNs, how I would and would and would not implement them, and most importantly, whether or not you would still like the game if these mechanics became a part of Season 2. It'll only take you a couple of minutes, and it's not a tall ask, since you're getting a free, exclusive Pinup Pack at the end that showcases a bunch of the T5 Newcomer characters that you see above!

Season 1 was largely meant to function as a sort of "pilot episode." It was very light on choices, mostly linear, and read kind of like a cross between a kinetic novel and a visual novel. A prologue. The BIGGEST request I've had for Season 2 is to put more GAME in the game. To let players play and choose a bit more than just... read. The current plan is for each girl to gain a Quest file, and for you to be able to choose which Quest line you make progress on during your "Free Time" segments, with a button that allows you to return to the main story. The flow of the stories won't change and will still have that WCA narrative-heavy flavor. But you'll be in control of what order you experience these things in. However, there are some other things I want to ask you about, and mainly see if the inclusion of more "game" mechanics would ruin WCA for you. This is super important to me, as I want to make a continuation to the game that stays faithful to the flavor of WCA while also satisfying the need for more options and player agency. I plan for main story development to be fairly slow, but side story (girls' progression) to be the main focus for a bit. I want there to be a lot of content for you to chew through when Season 2 is made available to the public.

The form is here, and thank you all so much for your time and feedback:

You must be registered to see the links

Thank you so much! I look forward to seeing the results! Enjoy the pinups of the upcoming girls!

- Vic​

 

[Mommysbuttslut]

I know I said it on the survey but I really hope we don't do any sandbox nonsense

 

[VictorSeven]

I know I said it on the survey but I really hope we don't do any sandbox nonsense

Honestly it's less "sandbox" and more "Here's a break from the main story, choose which girl you want to progress your quest with." But that's a mouthfull and I don't know what else to call it, so I called it sandbox. I have no interest in grindy mechanics and pointless Time of Day systems, forcing the player to sleep every action or two, or any of that. What I'm trying to do is satisfy the overwhelming request for the ability to customize one's experience.

 

[Mommysbuttslut]

Honestly it's less "sandbox" and more "Here's a break from the main story, choose which girl you want to progress your quest with." But that's a mouthfull and I don't know what else to call it, so I called it sandbox. I have no interest in grindy mechanics and pointless Time of Day systems, forcing the player to sleep every action or two, or any of that. What I'm trying to do is satisfy the overwhelming request for the ability to customize one's experience.

That's good and all, but tbh I find sandbox midgame sections are usually worse than actual native sandboxes. If you can avoid time gating, navigating and any and all point and click mechanics then I'm fine, but at that point you're left with a menu looking like this.

Spoiler

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Which would be my vote actually. Maintaining the status quo for free time, maybe just add a skip button for the weirdos who don't wanna hang out with some of these perfect cuties.

 

[GraveXMachina]

SURVEY with Exclusive Pinup Pack - The Future of WCA
View attachment 2192183

Hey all! If you're not in the Discord, I'd love to have you fill out this feedback form, because your feedback will dictate how much the gameplay loop changes from Season 1 to Season 2. Specifically, it contains questions about mechanics that are present in other AVNs, how I would and would and would not implement them, and most importantly, whether or not you would still like the game if these mechanics became a part of Season 2. It'll only take you a couple of minutes, and it's not a tall ask, since you're getting a free, exclusive Pinup Pack at the end that showcases a bunch of the T5 Newcomer characters that you see above!

Season 1 was largely meant to function as a sort of "pilot episode." It was very light on choices, mostly linear, and read kind of like a cross between a kinetic novel and a visual novel. A prologue. The BIGGEST request I've had for Season 2 is to put more GAME in the game. To let players play and choose a bit more than just... read. The current plan is for each girl to gain a Quest file, and for you to be able to choose which Quest line you make progress on during your "Free Time" segments, with a button that allows you to return to the main story. The flow of the stories won't change and will still have that WCA narrative-heavy flavor. But you'll be in control of what order you experience these things in. However, there are some other things I want to ask you about, and mainly see if the inclusion of more "game" mechanics would ruin WCA for you. This is super important to me, as I want to make a continuation to the game that stays faithful to the flavor of WCA while also satisfying the need for more options and player agency. I plan for main story development to be fairly slow, but side story (girls' progression) to be the main focus for a bit. I want there to be a lot of content for you to chew through when Season 2 is made available to the public.

The form is here, and thank you all so much for your time and feedback:

You must be registered to see the links

Thank you so much! I look forward to seeing the results! Enjoy the pinups of the upcoming girls!

- Vic​

Hoooolllyyyy sheeeiiiittt....them abs of that fox girl (wolf girl?) on the left.

They're awakening things in me. *-*)

 

[VictorSeven]

That's good and all, but tbh I find sandbox midgame sections are usually worse than actual native sandboxes. If you can avoid time gating, navigating and any and all point and click mechanics then I'm fine, but at that point you're left with a menu looking like this.

Spoiler

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Which would be my vote actually. Maintaining the status quo for free time, maybe just add a skip button for the weirdos who don't wanna hang out with some of these perfect cuties.

Well, it would basically be that, but prettier. My vision would be that we would go to a map screen or some other interim Free Time screen and there would be two buttons. One opens the character book, where you get to pick who you're gonna progress your relationship with. The other would jump right back into the main story. No stats, no tasks, no to-do list, no day and night cycle, no BS. Simple and Clean (good song by the way). Here's a prototype for one of those screens:

Spoiler: Character Book

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The way I envision it, you open the book and click a girl's portrait. Boom. Starts her scene in normal WCA fashion. When the scene is over, you're returned to the map/Free Time screen. You could open the book again and choose the same girl to view her next scene, choose someone else, or forgo the book and just hit Continue Main Story.

That being said, as this is a very character-driven game. There will be a TON of story bits in these characters' scene files. So pursue the girls you're interested in, ignore the ones you're not, and keep on with the main story if that's your deal. Just understand that main story updates will be further between because the majority want the chance to romance their chosen love interests and work through the characters' personal stories.

Hoooolllyyyy sheeeiiiittt....them abs of that fox girl (wolf girl?) on the left.

They're awakening things in me. *-*)

She was created by one of our T5 supporters on Patreon. Her name is Venrae, and she's a Felis. She's got a very interesting story coming up in Season 2.