Rogue-Like Update 12/21/2019 (The night is dark and full of terrors)
Added 2019-12-22 03:48:04 +0000 UTCSo it's the winter solstice, longest night of the year, so I figured I'd give you guys a spooooooky story. . .
I'm rebuilding the underlying code of the game.
I'm basically rebuilding the variable system to use a more object-oriented design than I started with. Remember that when I started on this game, I didn't really know how to code, I was just using the basic functions of Renpy to do fairly basic things, plugging in some pre-built example elements without really understanding them, and then attempting more and more ambitious elements as they occurred to me and my skill improved. I avoided using object-oriented elements where I could, because I had trouble wrapping my head around how they functioned. Over time though, I got more and more comfortable with the basics, and started to realize how much more flexible the game could be if I shifted the way it handled these variables.
What does this mean to people who just want to play the game? Well the next release won't be all that different from the last as far as how it plays. Most of the changes just duplicate the things the game was already doing, but hopefully in a more efficient way, and with the potential for more flexible use of certain stats. It will be easier to expand in future, and easier to add new elements onto it. I expect the first release will have a decent number of bugs to chase down, because there are a decent number of places where if I missed changing something over it will throw an error, but once detected, fixing those sorts of problems will be pretty quick.
There is one problem though, it will break the existing game saves.
I had initially hoped I could avoid that, because I hate having to replay content in games, and it's always been a pet peeve of mine that I wanted to avoid doing in my own game, but the deeper I got into this process, the more unavoidable it became. If you load up old saves in the next version, there would just be too many errors to patch over, at least under natural conditions. My HOPE is that by the end of this process, I will at least be able to carry over a "save state," that if you have a save in the player's room, with nobody around, that the data from that save can be converted over to work in the new version, basically remembering everything as you had it, but I won't know if I can get that to work until I'm mostly finished.
But, that annoying hiccup aside, the game should run and save smoothly from that point on, is much more compact, and will require a lot less copy and pasting every time I add a girl to the game. :D I'm sorry for the inconvenience involved, but I think it's worth doing at this point. Oh, and this shouldn't set the release of the next version back too far, I'm already most of the way through the tricky bits.
As for other stuff, the girl 5 poll will wrap up at the end of the month, and due to patron feedback, we'll do a quick run-off for the last few candiates. Have a merry Christmas all!
Comments
I'm coming at this completely cold, I know nothing about Ren'Py. Last programming I did was in High School. In BASIC. On Apple ]['s.
Shremedy
2020-01-22 04:11:39 +0000 UTCSorry, no, there is no auto-translate ability, and even if I did have quality translations of the material, keeping it implemented would be a massive haul. I'm afraid it only works in English.
Oni
2020-01-09 14:40:49 +0000 UTCHello I have been following this game for a while and I find it simple. However, is it possible to add an option like automatic text translation (via google translate) This will allow the whole world to benefit from it.
raviel
2020-01-09 08:09:29 +0000 UTCAs far as I remember, there's already a debug mode inside - just gotta tinker a bit with the renpy engine to enable it.
Boris Borisson
2020-01-08 17:11:34 +0000 UTCHmm. . . hmmm. . . Maybe. I mean, the way it's designed right now, is meant to keep the dick as close to the bottom of the screen as manageable, and in some cases, it would look weird if that wasn't the case since the base of it isn't meant to be visible (that's fixable though). The other issue though is that I think some of the animation positions are absolute, so it might be hard to rebuild them to be conditional, if that makes sense. I can move the view around during like fondling poses, but during other alternates, it would be work. I'll keep it in mind though.
Oni
2020-01-08 11:39:06 +0000 UTCSomething I've been thinking, seems like something that would be doable: a function to be able to see more of the girl's bodies during blowjobs/handjobs/titjobs? Basically an option to pan down or just zoom out a bit to see more of them during those scenes.
Jaylien
2020-01-07 14:43:32 +0000 UTCit takes like 15 minutes to max whatever and come direclty to sex, so why bother with saves?
2019-12-31 06:53:47 +0000 UTCFor me, personally, I end up starting a new game basically every update, although now that I mention it, I couldn't explain why. Hope you had a nice holiday yourself.
GhostHeart1993
2019-12-30 18:00:52 +0000 UTCyou know `config.developer` fixes all that lol
Peter Vanusanik
2019-12-28 13:16:04 +0000 UTCHonestly the fuction that i've wanted for a LONG time in the game is the ability to reduce the sexual stamina of the girls. Or in general make it easier to make the ahegao.
Kyuuzo2
2019-12-28 06:04:13 +0000 UTCOkay cool! Thanks, I've been meaning to ask this for a bit since the Girl 5 stuff got in full swing (since I figured you'd have some down time while art was being worked on, and while the girl was being picked), but I kept forgetting. I figured with you rebuilding the game's code now it was a no-hope, but I had to ask anyway. Appreciate the response as always!
IWriteWithATalon
2019-12-28 04:51:50 +0000 UTCHeh, well there are some high inhibition options in there, but unlocking them alone is tricky using the existing options. I don't know if that alone will get her 100% of the way to "absolutely shameless," but it'll get her close. ;) At the moment, overloaded Inhibition will do things like make her more likely to sleep with the other girls, or ignore certain rules you've given her.
Oni
2019-12-27 11:58:39 +0000 UTCI don't want to promise too much for the next build, but I do have a lot of things in the works, some that I've been planning for a while, some that sort of came up as part of the process of restructuring the existing stuff. I want to redo the addiction mechanic's design a little, and expand it to the other girls, and also rebuild Rogue's relationship dialogs because they're a bit more primitive than I'd like at this point. I hope that the more recent ones are better. There will definitely be a version coming out before girl 5 will be ready, so that won't be the hold-up.
Oni
2019-12-27 11:56:12 +0000 UTCProf X: STOP THAT AT ONCE! Girl: Stuff it, Chuck, I've helped save the world a dozen times now, I can do what I damn well want!
Shremedy
2019-12-27 09:30:24 +0000 UTCIt might be fun to do dialog for other possibilities, like High Affection+High InhibitionLoss+Low Obedience, which means the girl makes out with other girls and runs around campus topless, but only when she feels like it, not when MC commands it. Maybe even embarrassing the MC by standing out in the courtyard, waving her shirt over her head and calling the MC's name.
Shremedy
2019-12-27 09:28:51 +0000 UTCThe addiction mechanic isn't everything, and shouldn't be. Try not depending on that crutch so much. Buy them books, that's a solid one-time bump, and not too costly.
Shremedy
2019-12-27 09:22:18 +0000 UTCSince Girl 5 hasn't even been picked yet and so the artwork is a long ways off - is there any chance we get an update for the other girls soon? With all the relationships added I was really looking forward to a possibility of an addiction expansion, maybe girl-by-girl. The ability for the PC to manipulate Rogue with Obedience and Inhibition stats that really isn't there with the other girls. Particularly I've noticed that due to her low starting stats and very few methods of progression, Kitty in particular feels like she takes a long time to progress with if you don't want to boost affection. For most people I don't think this is an issue - but like a few people have mentioned, I often restart the game on new versions just because it's so fast to progress (and it's a generally really fun dating sim). Sometimes I get bored and want to try the equivalent of a "Domination" or "Slave" route, minimizing Affection and maximizing Obedience/Inhibitions. I think adding in something for Kitty, Emma, and X-23/Laura to allow the player some form of manip would be a really cool way of expanding their existing content without requiring new artwork or (I hope) significant gameplay overhauls.
IWriteWithATalon
2019-12-27 06:00:59 +0000 UTCI’m totally cool with losing my saves, I’ve restarted the game about 17 times in the month I’ve been playing it and love every second of it! Thanks for the content!!
2019-12-26 17:56:29 +0000 UTCAll good with me your doing great so far, the games turning out a lot better then I first expected keep it up. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do next.
Goose
2019-12-26 13:44:41 +0000 UTCBut that's cheating. :) As for transferring saves, if the method I have in mind will work, then it won't be that hard to implement, like it won't take a lot of time or planning to work out. I'm just not positive that it will work yet, for various reasons. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. :D
Oni
2019-12-26 07:15:13 +0000 UTCWell, if each clothing item had its own "alternate toggle" variable then that would be adding 4-7 variables per outfit, per character, to both storing it and checking the variables in the sprites. I think that since some outfit choices would make sense, like leaving a button-up shirt or jacket open, while others would be a bit more questionable, like wearing a shirt pulled up or skirt pulled up, it would make more sense to just treat them as separate clothing items, although the wardrobe dialog could pretend they're still the same piece of clothing.
Oni
2019-12-26 07:12:34 +0000 UTCRogue is easy but everyone else takes me a long time because I can't use the addiction mechanic for them.
industriousrevolution
2019-12-26 02:28:32 +0000 UTCWhy bother? It really doesn't take that long to build them back up from a clean start. I typically get inside Rogue's pants in less than a week (usually Day 5), and have a solid start on at least two of the other three girls by Day 14. The people who'd benefit from a save transfer method of any sort are the ones who have been playing the game the longest...meaning they could probably match (or beat) my achievements.
Shremedy
2019-12-26 01:42:40 +0000 UTCIf you're changing how everything works, wouldn't it be easier just to add a "alternative" look variable to the outfits? For most this wouldn't be used, so maybe this would be better, and not increase the length of the outfit selection too much
2019-12-25 14:34:54 +0000 UTCyou could include a cheat mode that would allow us to control their stats instead of trying to build a way to transfer saves - toggle it on and we can then reset their stats to what our saves were.
industriousrevolution
2019-12-25 13:54:42 +0000 UTCI'll give this some thought, figure it out. Currently, both the shirts and the bras are controlled by a single "top be open" variable. Now I guess with a few clothing pieces, what I could do is treat them as a separate clothing item to the default version, like "open red shirt" or something. I'll see what I can do.
Oni
2019-12-24 06:01:03 +0000 UTCI don't want to go, Mr. Stark, please
The Holly King
2019-12-24 04:17:21 +0000 UTCOni, while mucking around with one of Kitty's outfits i thunk something is it possible to get the option of setting parts of clothing to be in the 'just get it out of the way' state in to outfits we build, example Kitty's Red shirt can be unbuttoned during romance but left on her, might be nice to at an appropriate level have it always unbuttoned. That said I'm aware this may come under feature creep.
Thrans
2019-12-24 01:03:11 +0000 UTCI really don’t mind if the saves don’t carry over. I’ve started a new save more than 10 times already.
2019-12-23 23:51:57 +0000 UTCBy the way if no-one else has said so recently, thank you for releasing both Windows and Linux versions; I use both -- my Win10 laptop and my old (Vista-era) all-in-one that's now Linux Mint.
Shremedy
2019-12-23 23:46:12 +0000 UTCHopefully it won't be too hard to catch up, a lot of people report restarting with each version anyway, and I don't plan for this to be a regular thing after this version. I have heard people complaining at a money crunch early on, so I'm considering ways for players to get more money as they go.
Oni
2019-12-23 05:39:50 +0000 UTCPersonally, I prefer you optimize the code properly. If you can salvage old saves, all the better, but I wouldn't take that as a requirement. And I can definitely see how that will save you a lot of effort in adding new characters. Good luck with this!
2019-12-23 04:18:56 +0000 UTCprogress takes sacrifice. No harm done.
Xenos
2019-12-23 03:39:23 +0000 UTCYou might consider putting in some (temporary) cheat codes, so people could catch up to certain places they'd been before. :-)
Didi Solomon
2019-12-22 19:35:01 +0000 UTCYeah, everyone has to set their pace with the game that they're comfortable with. I know that with other games I follow a similar practice, only picking it up every few versions.
Oni
2019-12-22 14:14:05 +0000 UTCI can't make any promises, but it's my hope. Part of that might also involve rebuilding the character sprite mechanics, which is a whole separate project.
Oni
2019-12-22 14:13:13 +0000 UTCPretty chill Community I gotta say, but yeah sounds good to me =).
Criteren
2019-12-22 13:29:20 +0000 UTCTidying code is always a win.
S.P.D.C
2019-12-22 11:18:05 +0000 UTCI would be happy to see this if it means that the game won't be so laggy anymore. Especially in the classroom or in threesomes.
hornguy6
2019-12-22 10:33:08 +0000 UTCi usually start a fresh new game anyway, i usually cheat money, since i want a complete wardrobe for the girls and the ingame income is not enough for that sometimes i skip a version, to not make it too repetitive, but i usually replay the game each time, and i think the game is good enough to be worth it
retchedegg
2019-12-22 10:06:30 +0000 UTCDo it.
RockandGuts
2019-12-22 09:13:46 +0000 UTCAbout time! This will be well worth it.
Dubsington
2019-12-22 05:42:32 +0000 UTCI wouldn't mind replaying if the game gonna run more smoothly. Merry Christmas to ya~
Karion Latanos
2019-12-22 04:36:53 +0000 UTCSounds like a lot of “fun” on your part. D: But far be it for us to stifle your flare. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to slog back through all the nitty gritty. A Very Merry Christmas to you too, Oni. :)
Faeble
2019-12-22 04:34:46 +0000 UTCOh yeah, it's been a lot of fun so far. ;) I think I've worked through most of the fundamental design shifts by now, and most of what's ahead of me is just word-replacing my way back through the code to change things from version A to version B.
Oni
2019-12-22 04:29:46 +0000 UTCDo whatever makes your job and the game run smoother, we will be here paying and playing just the same .
Lord Crusade
2019-12-22 04:29:02 +0000 UTCI'm fine with that. It's like playing a new game+. Besides, doing it all over again means that I can enjoy the new changes you've added and also trying new ways to play the game is addicting to me. So~ yeah, bring the update! Let me at 'em. xD
Zakey Ori
2019-12-22 04:25:24 +0000 UTCI expected something like this to happen as you kept expanding and trying other things. Each release I usually start my game over and see if I can advance faster than intended by trying to trigger shower events and things like that. But that's what happens during beta and alpha testing.
Spadiel
2019-12-22 04:21:58 +0000 UTCGood luck. This is the sort of thing that's inevitably difficult, time consuming, prone to error - and yet so satisfying for the coder when it's complete.
Langy
2019-12-22 04:14:40 +0000 UTCIf it results in a better game overall, starting a new game won't be an issue for me.
ThatAnonGai
2019-12-22 04:01:45 +0000 UTC