Flying High visual novel test demo
Added 2021-06-09 07:32:32 +0000 UTCWe mentioned a few weeks ago that we were reviewing some options for adding text to the image sets. Today we want to share a test demo we've been working on to see how well the Flying High image sets work as a visual novel. We've built this using the Renpy visual novel engine, which some of you may already be familiar with.
Since this is only a test run, we're only offering a PC and a Mac version today. Android and web versions are supposedly possible, but will require a lot of extra work to setup, so we'll tackle that at a later date. For now, you can download the software using the links below.
Windows/Linux: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1f3xl8kc04s78df/FlyingHigh-1.0-pc.zip?dl=0
Mac: https://www.dropbox.com/s/287ld8xq8zyvilc/FlyingHigh-1.0-mac.zip?dl=0
If you're a Mac user please check out the read me file included with the download. Because this is newly published software, it will not yet be verified as safe by the Apple App Store, and we won't necessarily be able to verify it anyway due to the adult content. The read me contains directions on how to get your system to open the software despite it being unverified.
If you have issues running the software, or feedback on the contents, please let us know in the comments below. This is a very early work in progress, so all the feedback you provide will be useful to us.
Also, please note this is not the final dialogue or story. Marie just threw together some text so we could show off the software.
Comments
Prefer this to image sets even though it's more involved. Also a fair consolation in place of full/short animations. I doubt that's a common opinion, but having a voiced renpy style graphic novel is almost as good as, or sometimes better than an animation
iPhantom!
2021-06-20 19:14:09 +0000 UTCGreat to hear! =) And yes we are. There was a basic story that we wrote originally, before we started making Flying High, we're currently building that story up so we can incorporate full dialogue across the entire set.
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-18 04:51:11 +0000 UTCWorry not, the standalone image sets parts will be released before or alongside the visual novel updates. -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-18 04:48:26 +0000 UTCGood thing the image set is included. Otherwise it'd just be text with some noises.
EmEn
2021-06-17 22:25:35 +0000 UTCIt worked fine after a bit of fiddling good story are you going to do all of fly high like this once it is finish?
Xavier Hall
2021-06-17 19:51:13 +0000 UTCHey Xavier, sorry for the delay. Are you viewing the file in Dropbox? When you click the dropbox link, you need to download the whole folder to your harddrive then open the .exe from your computer. There's a square download button in the top right corner of the dropbox window, next to the Sign Up button. Let me know how you go with that.
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-17 13:00:01 +0000 UTCi personally prefer an image set.
fanof3dartoftheworld
2021-06-17 00:48:07 +0000 UTCIt says .exe files can't be previewed
Xavier Hall
2021-06-12 15:31:09 +0000 UTCDo you see the FlyingHigh.exe file in the file explorer? Do you get an error message when you try to open it, or does just nothing happen? If you get an error, let us know the text on the pop-up. Thanks! -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-12 06:22:10 +0000 UTC@ IBT - Yeah those are just placeholders. Miro is going to organize for a bunch of different character portraits to be made for each character, each one with a different expression, so we can match the portrait to the tone of the dialogue. Pretty common feature in visual novels, just didn't have it finished in time for the test demo. @Rikyla - Thanks for elaborating. I'll discuss this with miro and see how easy it is from an animation standpoint. I'm inclined to think it wouldn't be too hard after we've ported the characters and environments into the animation software (be it maya or blender) but while the scenes only exist in Daz it'll be difficult. Daz has animation tools but they're not as efficient as Blender and Maya, so while animation can be done in it, it's not a great use of time. That doesn't mean we can make them, though, just that they'd be on a different production timeline than the regular updates. If we were able to move everything (image sets and animations) to blender one day, however, could be a lot easier. Regarding the text box, the current iteration is just a skin we made in photoshop, so adjusting the transparency or size a bit is easy. We probably just need to try out a few more things to see what works best. Glad you like it though! We've talked about doing this for some time so we're happy it's been well received. The android build actually isn't too hard to add, we just need to make some additional interface assets for smaller screens. Should be able to have it for the next demo. The web version is the one that will be tough, since it has to be added to our servers and thus our devs have to find time in their busy schedules to work on it. -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-12 06:19:37 +0000 UTCWindows 10
Xavier Hall
2021-06-10 19:25:22 +0000 UTCI like the story board, way better than just an image set
BRZ driver
2021-06-10 19:10:20 +0000 UTC"Cheat" is such a strong word … although quite correct in a monogamous marriage sense. Instead, look at this as being more of a Secret Identity vs Super Identity kind of thing. Then add on top of that the notion that both Cerene and Lanessa are married in their Secret Identities, but they are both keeping their Super Identities somewhat shrouded from their "wives" they return to at home. By somewhat shrouded I mean that they aren't complete open books about their super activities with their wives. That then creates a space in which Cerene and Lanessa, as supers, can be in a sexual relationship with each other (meaning repeat encounters) … but they can't be caught in the act. The scenario then becomes public battles that turn into private fucks … and this has been going on long enough that each of their wives are beginning to suspect that something else is going on beyond what gets publicly reported in the news. So you wind up with a Secret Identity of monogamous fidelity for each of them, but with a Super Identity of being sex rivals who "just can't stop meeting like this" with each other. You then get the dichotomy of Secret Love (at home) and Super Sex (in the sky) for both Cerene and Lanessa, and honestly they each need both. So from an ordinary mortal's perspective, Cerene and Lanessa are married at home (to other people) but having an affair (with each other) "at work" in their Super Identities, suddenly the scope of what you're seeing happen in Flying High expands outwards beyond the boundaries of the contents of the images included in the set. Of course, the massive extra bonus points version would be that we've already SEEN their wives … in Love Thy Neighbor and … Bloodlust. Arielle winds up in a three-way marriage with both Light and Dark Lanessa (after discovering she loves double penetration from the twin sisters just that much). Tristan winds up being Cerene's … "wife" … in their relationship (she's the dom super while he's the mere mortal man trying to keep up with her). So you can kind of see why Cerene just Can't Say No to Lanessa's (much) larger cock. Anyway, just a bit of fun speculation to expand the scope of the set beyond the boundaries of the edges of the images.
IBT
2021-06-10 16:32:31 +0000 UTCThank you for the answer. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I think the animations don't necessarily have to be of the same quality that stand alone animation releases would be in. I think it's a fair trade off to incorporate the image sets along with animations of a lower quality as the overall experience is much much better in the visual format as opposed to the traditional way the sets have previously been released. When I mentioned subtle movements, I wasn't even considering the portraits. If it's something that could work then great :D. I was just mainly referring to brief body movements during dialogue scenes. No need for subtle movements for the sex parts as that can be covered via animations. Just when the characters are talking you can see their chests moving to indicating breathing (boob jiggle a bonus) Yeah, if it's a limitation of the coding that the box can't be changed too much, it's still not the end of the world considering the overall presentation of the sets is still steps above the original sets in this format. Really glad to see something like this being done anyway. It enhances the viewing experience of the sets. Will like to see Android become an option at some point in the future but I understand that is not s a priority considering how new this is. Best focus on getting it the way Miro would like it to be first before worrying about other devices
Rikyla
2021-06-10 16:21:51 +0000 UTCThe addition of sound though definitely brings some Next Level™ dimension to a photoset.
IBT
2021-06-10 15:44:42 +0000 UTCThe text box is "too large" for the quantity of text being put into it. I also found it odd that the portrait used for Cerene was from later in the set because you can see Lanessa's head behind Cerene's from when Cerene is getting her ass pumped.
IBT
2021-06-10 15:43:40 +0000 UTCSolution Run Application Receive message telling you the application is not allowed Go to System Preferences Open Security and Privacy In the Apps Downloaded From section will be an option to Open Anyway Choose to Open Anyway Get a new pop up message asking to verify Open Choose to Open Application should run just fine
IBT
2021-06-10 15:40:47 +0000 UTCSolution Run Application Receive message telling you the application is not allowed Go to System Preferences Open Security and Privacy In the Apps Downloaded From section will be an option to Open Anyway Choose to Open Anyway Get a new pop up message asking to verify Open Choose to Open Application should run just fine
IBT
2021-06-10 15:40:22 +0000 UTCIBT, are you suggesting Cerene would cheat on her wife? D= -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:52:31 +0000 UTCGlad you like it! And yes the software is actually pretty easy to use, at least in terms of what you saw in the demo. We've only just scraped the surface of the engine, so we'll see what else it can do as we dig in. For what you saw though, I'm confident half of our writers could set these up, which means we wouldn't need to give more work to the production team to get these made. =) -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:51:10 +0000 UTCHey Rikyla, thanks for all the feedback. So we've already tested some animations in the sequence, basically like a cutscene, and it works well enough. There's a slight quality downstep when running it through this software, so we want to try a few more things to see if we can maintain the quality, but other than that we shouldn't have any issues incorporating animations as cutscenes. We'll need to play around a bit more for integrating more than that. When you say subtle movements, do you mean in the frames themselves, or in the character portraits? Or both? =) And agree on the text window. We set that up first but as dev went on it did stand out to us as taking up too much space. We'll see about changing the appearance or size of it. In the long term hopefully we can do some custom coding that let's the user set the text box appearance, but a quick glance at the documentation says it's not built in yet so ETA is unknown atm. -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:32:16 +0000 UTCHey Xavier, what version operating system are you running? -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:24:49 +0000 UTCThanks! We definitely will keep working on these =) -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:24:17 +0000 UTCThanks for your feedback! Animations definitely work with the software, so if we go back and work on an older set like CyPunk (which has a lot of finished animations ready to plug in) we'll be sure to incorporate them. We'll definitely play with the interface and text bar a bit more and find one that works better. Thanks! -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:23:40 +0000 UTCThat was one of the items I looked up when I tried to get it to work. It did not work before but I got it working by bypassing the verify prompy (hold control while clicking on it) and click Open Anyway. That worked for me.
Paul Guise
2021-06-10 04:20:53 +0000 UTCWe've discussed doing this for all the sets, though we haven't formalized a plan for it yet. We'll want to ensure all users can use the software somehow (likely we need to move forward with the web player) so no one is left out as we start delivering content in this format. That said, the staff doing the web integration and the dialogues will be different people/teams so the roll outs could happen on very different schedules. We'll discuss it more during this next week and let you know the plan as it's formulated. -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:16:22 +0000 UTCHey Paul, thanks for letting us know your system. I think we may need to make setup guides for each of the Mac OS's because the steps seem to vary dramatically from 10.4, 10.5, and 11. Give this guide a try (if you haven't already) and let us know if it works for you. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/if-you-need-permission-to-open-an-item-on-mac-mchlp1038/mac -Marie
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-10 04:05:52 +0000 UTCI agree with other posters that for a trial run, this is a successful experiment. There are (as always) details that could use a bit more polish and touch up ... such as not having the menu options at the bottom of the screen full time (just use ESC to get back to the menu). From a writing standpoint, my one regret is a missed opportunity that would have fit beautifully in this sequence (in my opinion, of course). 01_23 Cerene: We can't be seen doing this again. My wife is already beginning to suspect- 01_26 Lanessa: Mine too, but I won't tell if you won't... 01_27 Cerene: I won't tell. 02_01 Lanessa: Good girl. We'll keep this our... Not So Little Secret...
IBT
2021-06-10 04:01:08 +0000 UTCReally good way to present your sets. I like it.
Dispeace
2021-06-10 03:55:51 +0000 UTCinfinitely better.
Ryupyroa
2021-06-10 02:36:08 +0000 UTCAdds a lot -- hopefully once the software template is figured out it's not too labor intensive to implement for future sets.
Dustinator
2021-06-10 02:11:49 +0000 UTCPretty cool. I like the idea and it adds a little extra to the standard static picture sets. Hopefully it's easy to work with and flexible enough so you can get creative with it.
The Smith
2021-06-09 23:59:45 +0000 UTCJust finished watching it. This is a great, sound effect choices were spot on and well timed to the visual pace of the images. I can't really judge the dialogue as it's placeholder for now, but the presence of extra context seemed to add regardless of how polished it was. I'm absolutely all for making more of these. Please make this the new standard.
nope
2021-06-09 23:51:01 +0000 UTCYeah really great ideas. I think this really is fantastic to do going forward. Definitely adds an extra edge to the image sets.
EmEn
2021-06-09 22:24:22 +0000 UTCI really think this is a much better way to present these image sets. Obviously some kinks to work out but definitely a much better presentation than the traditional way. Will definitely like to see animations get added. Doesn't necessarily need to be the traditional animations you've been doing for sets that like 30-45 seconds each other. Just subtle movements, breast movement etc. Only negative so far is how much the text window takes up. I feel it could be smaller and more transparent. That aside, really like this and hope it continues.
Rikyla
2021-06-09 21:44:29 +0000 UTCThis is amazing! Stories and Text to go with your amazing sets is what i have wanted since day one. Please keep this up! Do stories for all sets, new and old!
Grayve
2021-06-09 20:58:35 +0000 UTCNone of the files will load for me
Xavier Hall
2021-06-09 20:38:05 +0000 UTCWorks awesome! I hope you progress with this format, I love the other game I play built on this format.
Bob Fink
2021-06-09 19:15:10 +0000 UTCWoW not bad :) but i think for "V1.0" its tooo short :3
KotOr
2021-06-09 18:30:12 +0000 UTCI was expecting you to add speech bubbles on the images, but this is a really good idea. Having some sounds is a big bonus and you could potentially even integrate animations into the VN. I do hope that you choose a better text bar color at least :D.
TheGreatCornholio
2021-06-09 16:57:45 +0000 UTCIm on a mac, OS 11.3 and im getting a permissions error every time I try to open it. I am an admin on my machine.
Paul Guise
2021-06-09 16:09:26 +0000 UTCVery nice, works fine for me and love it
Neptune
2021-06-09 15:07:51 +0000 UTCWill there be dialogue for the whole fan service set? :)
Jack
2021-06-09 13:43:14 +0000 UTCHi there, sorry to hear you're having trouble running this. We weren't able to replicate your issue however it seems this is a permissions issue. Please follow the steps detailed in this article and let us know if that works. -Franaus https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/if-you-need-permission-to-open-an-item-on-mac-mchlp1038/mac
Affect3D - miro
2021-06-09 13:37:51 +0000 UTCThe program cannot be opened on my Mac! I'm an admin on my Mac. Text in the dialog window: You do not have the required access rights to open the "FlyingHigh" program.
emkey
2021-06-09 11:53:28 +0000 UTCVN is a good idea. My idea would be just a comic box to tell us what going on but it seems too simple for you. lol Since it's now VN, it should be more animation when Cerene bounce off or Lanessa jump in.
Dorio
2021-06-09 10:00:09 +0000 UTCWorks fine on my Windows machine. Really cool way to present the image sets.
Mayhem_13
2021-06-09 08:09:10 +0000 UTC
