Renfield

[KleptoLizard]

Well I had to lay off my last teammate.  It's just me now.
Making some good progress nevertheless.
The new combat animations look a lot less janky.
Also having some success with the crafting system.

[offnightmare]

 

Now call me crazy but when I first saw this post on what was it hongfire LoK forums? I remember reading that this would be free.

 

I went back and checked the forum posts.

The first time I mentioned price and business model, I said it would sell for "About $10" on DLSite.

But the cost ballooned out of control to the point where I couldn't ever afford to charge so little.

 

There were several people in that thread who got into a long discussion about Free to Play MMOs.

That might be what you're thinking of.

 

Probably By the way is there a demo?

[KleptoLizard]

Probably By the way is there a demo?

 

 

 

I'll release one after the next patch, which should be ready by the end of this week.

 

[offnightmare]

 

Probably By the way is there a demo?

 

 

 

I'll release one after the next patch, which should be ready by the end of this week.

 

 

Cool.

[KleptoLizard]

Adding a distinct orgasm animation to the H-scenes.
Also expanding shop inventories.

[KleptoLizard]

Wrapping up version 1.04.
Hopefully it and the the demo will be uploaded tomorrow.
I didn't really put much of a dent in the filler events unfortunately.
But there are still some significant improvements.

[KleptoLizard]

Tried out the latest version of Violated Heroine to see how the game had changed.
While I still regard VH as one of the all-time classic indie H-games, it's unfortunate that they have such heavy recycling of pixel animations.
In debug mode you can have about a dozen different girls join your party, but only a handful have their own H-sprites.
That's the issue with 2D art, it's simple and straightforward but everything has to be done by hand.



On the 3D side, everything takes a great deal longer to get setup initially.
However once a functional base in is place the actors can be swapped out at will.
Once Hanna's been implemented it will be a bit of a pain to get each monster configured to be a partner for her.
But ultimately once you figure out the custom IK to keep the groins aligned it should proceed smoothly.

[KleptoLizard]

Had to help some people with an unrelated translation project.
Getting back to finishing the now badly delayed 1.04.
I just need to finish the loot tables, translate all the item names into Japanese, and finally clean up the world map.
Some people had complained about how easy it was to misclick on an encounter when trying to enter a town.

[KleptoLizard]

Some good news.  Unity had some promotional deal that let me score a $90 piece of IK middleware for free.
This is convenient timing as I needed an IK solution to convert all the various monsters and enemies into H-partners for Hanna.

So is there anything anyone want to ask?  Any requests?
It's awfully quiet in here and that makes it hard to stay motivated.

[Chadraln]

Well, I kinda feel like until there is a demo it is hard for many of us to comment.  Once more people can experience actual gameplay I am sure more people will be able to give real comments.

[ttlyp]

Some good news.  Unity had some promotional deal that let me score a $90 piece of IK middleware for free.

This is convenient timing as I needed an IK solution to convert all the various monsters and enemies into H-partners for Hanna.

 

So is there anything anyone want to ask?  Any requests?

It's awfully quiet in here and that makes it hard to stay motivated.

 

I have a request, I was wonderin how you would go with exhibition. either ur own character, or making another npc do it. and maybe even use it as blackmail or something. and being able to own a home (or homes) and have like maids take care of the place and be able to put your stuff.

 

ive been following your game for over a year and i remember you at first wanting it to be open world, then changing it to linear; im kinda confused on the route your going, but i think i have some good ideas for either.

 

and also, i just want to say youve been a big inspiration, doing such a big project and actually being able to sell it and all!

[KleptoLizard]

 

 

I have a request, I was wonderin how you would go with exhibition. either ur own character, or making another npc do it. and maybe even use it as blackmail or something. and being able to own a home (or homes) and have like maids take care of the place and be able to put your stuff.

 

 

Well any scenario is possible.

The main (male) character has a powerful hypnosis ability.

With it, he can command a target to do just about anything, even to the point of shaping their perspective and/or altering their memories.

His ability is like a combination of Lelouch's Geass from Code Geass and Kilgrave's virus from Jessica Jones.

 

So Glasser, our MC, can either simply command a target to hold still while they are fully aware,

or he could brainwash them to think that they aren't doing anything inappropriate.  (Like in Prison Battleship / Kangoku Senkan)

 

If you outright rape a girl, she'll hate your guts.

But if you erase her memory each time, you can continue a friendship story arc with her that she thinks is purely platonic.

 

The possibilities are endless.  I just have to find people willing to write scenarios.

If a scenario involves props or animations that we don't have, then we'll use a combination of text and still images.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Alright I'm FINALLY done with version 1.04.
It should be up on DLSite in a few days along with the first demo.
I didn't make nearly as much progress as I'd have liked.
The flavor text for the random encounters will be my primary focus for 1.05.

Speaking of text and scenarios, who out there wants to write scenarios?
I'll let people from the forums choose one of the girls and you can do whatever you want with them.
First come, first serve.
Just pick a girl you like from the 8 that are on the banner.  Hanna is off-limits for the time being.

[ttlyp]

Alright I'm FINALLY done with version 1.04.

It should be up on DLSite in a few days along with the first demo.

I didn't make nearly as much progress as I'd have liked.

The flavor text for the random encounters will be my primary focus for 1.05.

 

Speaking of text and scenarios, who out there wants to write scenarios?

I'll let people from the forums choose one of the girls and you can do whatever you want with them.

First come, first serve.

Just pick a girl you like from the 8 that are on the banner.  Hanna is off-limits for the time being.

 

I don't know if you got my personal message but I'd love to help write a scenario

[KleptoLizard]

While the Elder Scrolls influence on Renfield is quite obvious, the Witcher universe is actually closer to the world / lore I'd like to build.
In the first place I enjoy the more complex politics of multiple nations instead of a single Empire.
Secondly, the creature variety in the Witcher books/games is much greater.
They feature all kinds of goofy humanoid and non-humanoid critters that really spice things up.



Renfield already has about 60 different enemy types and when I get more income I plan to make / buy many, many more.
And that brings us to the subject of Hanna and her story.
Originally I was going to adjust the rigs of all the existing monsters to take Glasser's place in the H-Scene framework.
But it'd be quicker and less buggy to whip up some new creatures that already share the same skeleton and rig.

What this means is that Hanna's H-content will be similar to scenes from Viper RSR or Hellknight Ingrid.
If you get captured by any generic monsters, you get dragged back to a lair where a variety of them will have a turn at you.
Later on we'll make specific procedural animations for each creature using IK.
However for now having creatures of different body size/shape/bone length is a bit tricky.

The good news is that this means Hanna's campaign will come out in a fraction of the time I'd originally estimated.

[KleptoLizard]

The new creatures are coming along nicely.
Though I think I might be making too many.
In addition to the he-monsters that will keeping Hanna company,
I'm also making some she-monsters for Glasser (though it's clear not as many people are interested in his story).



With the male creatures I can go all out and make them as bizarre as possible.
But with the monmusumes perhaps it's best to hold back a bit.
Players will have few qualms about fucking dryads / nymphs or creatures like the Viera from Final Fantasy.
Not sure if they'd be as eager to knock boots with enemies that look like something from an H.R. Geiger Rule 34 artbook.

[ttlyp]

The new creatures are coming along nicely.

Though I think I might be making too many.

In addition to the he-monsters that will keeping Hanna company,

I'm also making some she-monsters for Glasser (though it's clear not as many people are interested in his story).

 

 

With the male creatures I can go all out and make them as bizarre as possible.

But with the monmusumes perhaps it's best to hold back a bit.

Players will have few qualms about fucking dryads / nymphs or creatures like the Viera from Final Fantasy.

Not sure if they'd be as eager to knock boots with enemies that look like something from an H.R. Geiger Rule 34 artbook.

 

I think those are good ideas. And yeah its understandable if all enemies arent fuckable lol! Btw did you get my message?

 

[KleptoLizard]

Eventually I think Renfield will blow most of the existing Visual Novel and RPGMaker games out of the water both mechanically and thematically.
The scenarios won't be on rails the way many other H-games are.
If you read a guide to a typical indie H-game, it'll read something like this:

1) Talk to the knight in the cathedral
2) Interact with the water well outside
3) Talk to the thief twice
4) Talk to the knight again
5) Go to the front gate of the tower
6) Talk to the NPC there to get a short, completely unsatisfying scene featuring text with numerous grammar and spelling errors accompanied by art that is clearly NOT by the artists they used for their Patreon banner or any of the teaser/promo material.



I don't mean to sound cocky, but let's face it: the bar isn't set very high.

[KleptoLizard]

Alright I've slashed the price of the client now that 1.04 is up.
This week the focus will be varying the random events.
Then we'll finally get cracking on more individual scenarios both for Glasser's girls and for Hanna.

[KleptoLizard]

Oh man that was lucky.
There was a brownout in my town's electrical grid that happened JUST after I'd saved my progress.
I only had to retype one line of text.
Save often, kids!

Making good progress with the scenarios.  There are about 800 of them though so this will take a while.

[offnightmare]

Wait the game hanged to being linear?

[KleptoLizard]

Wait the game hanged to being linear?

 

No. It hasn't changed.

Right now when you explore the wilderness you either fight monsters, find an item, or get a generic message.

What I'm doing now is swapping out the generic messages with more meaningful flavor text or various events.

 

So now NPCs will talk about the lore of the world or provide tips.

You'll have mini-quests that give you various choices.  (A caravan is being attacked by bandits.  Do you help? etc etc)

There will be factions that you can gain or lose reputation with.

 

Basically the game will still be a sandbox.

But now it will be upgraded to a sandbox with a swingset and monkey bars.

[KleptoLizard]

Still working on the flavor text / random npcs / radiant events.
Eager to get this done so we can finally implement Hanna as a playable character.

Also I've updated the backer rewards on Patreon.
Essentially now you can add some dialogue, dialogue options, or some other micro-scenario material.
Keep in mind that I have veto power over this.
If you write something that is Mass Effect: Andromeda levels of lame, I'll ask you to try again.

Having said that, you can either shape a scenario involving a major character or adopt a generic NPC to give them a personality of your choice.

[KleptoLizard]

Been listening to iDubbbz's Kickstarter Crap series while I work.
It's pretty funny how people just sit down and describe these amazing games that exist in their imaginations as though they are already completed masterpieces.
If only it were that simple.



The nature scenes are coming along nicely.
I've been reading several books on geology, geography, meteorology etc. in order to improve my nature-vocab.
Just like reading a fantasy novel, the more descriptive the flavor text, the better/more engrossing it is overall.

If you've pledged on Patreon please message me and redeem your backer rewards.
(I put this here because some people likely check these threads more often than their Patreon notifications)

[KleptoLizard]

So while I was working I helped out a streamer with Monster Hunter Double Cross.
If he got stuck I'd translate some of the Japanese UI or other text.
Now I realize that MH has been for mobile devices for much of its history,
but I was surprised at the minimalist design considering how popular it is.
Would people tolerate or even prefer these small, bare-bones levels consisting of connected rooms
as a low-budget temporary alternative to a large single open world?



The nature events are nearly done.
After this come the generic npc events and other more dynamic events with dialogue options and choices with consequences.
It's a lot of work for text that (it seems) most players just click through without reading even once.
Nevertheless a game can feel very incomplete without the illusion of depth that flavor narration / dialogue provides.