itch.io

Hm. Just picked up and started the game and it looks good so far. One thing of specific note however is repetition of lines at various points. 

I'm not that far in yet (heading to the tech institute) but I've hit three points where lines are functionally repeated. It looks like you rewrote them a few times and forgot to pick one and remove the others. 

I can only go loosely, but the first was a choice talking to Olivia about what you were most excited for coming up i believe... and you have to pick all of them to progress with MC referring to multiple as explicitly "most excited about".

The second was talking to uncle and i think a line about new beginnings and finding yourself cropped up at least three times in short order.

Last one so far is MC exclaiming how advanced auri is, and auri saying she's designed to be a really human-like smart program, if not a true AI, three times back to back right before the car stops to help someone. 

Your getting around the limit of an apk file staying functional, so I'm making my usual suggestion on the topic. 

You can effectively shrink the apk by storing older parts of the game in a RPA/archive. Then you only have to make the apk out of the other files, allowing people to still update via apk and only have to download archives every once in a while. 

Thanks for the update

 Advertise, interact and donate are all methods of support, only one requires money. And getting the game by other means (especially in a format not otherwise available) does not preclude, limit or harm any of those forms of support.

One of my favorite authors releases a bunch of his books DRM free in digital format as "reader crack" to get people into his books. He just asks that if you can afford them, consider buying them. If you can't, pass em along to more people.  Not saying that mindset should be standard, but it kind of underscores my point

I would heavily not recommend getting secondhand GPUs for at least a few years, as in pretty sure the market is still flooded with crypto miner refuse. Basically they get a new gpu, overclock it and run it into the ground then sell it secondhand. Getting a crappier gpu is better than taking that risk, and you can still get refurbs and the like through main retailers. Because if those are broken you can at least get a refund or replacement.

Leave it connected to the tv to see if it dies there too. If it does when it's no signal, try and make sure the computer is still running (by sound, or by switching displays without turning it off) 

It could in theory be a cable failing or the power supply not being strong enough to run the new processor, rather than the gpu itself failing

ahh requires scrolling down,  couldn't tell there was more to the list, thanks! 

Finally got the game working acceptably on android so started messing around. Doing a hunter background, and I'm accumulating a fair bit of pelts, but i don't see a way to process them or sell them. Haven't gotten terribly far into the game but i would assume what's locked out is mostly high tech gear via emerald city. 

Hence my question. Can pelts be used for anything right now? Can they be sold? Thanks

I might be missing the obvious, but what am i supposed to do with pelts? Skins refine to leather which i have options for, but what can i do with pelts? Went with a hunter character so I'm getting plenty of them. Still figuring out the game since i just got it working reasonably on android.

Towards which note to the dev specifically - the fix i applied is to alter the meta viewport portion of the code to

content="width=device width, initial-scale=.9, maximum-scale=1" which gets it to stop cropping buttons on my tablet. I don't know if it will work for smaller screens but i don't think you would want to play this anyway on a phone screen lol i don't know if it's a combination of both or just one that fixed it, but it works and i don't want to tinker more (for now) and potentially break it again

If possible could you add those to the official code? If it does actually fix it for more Android users than just me, it could expand the player base at least some. 

So far good game, haven't messed with one that's actually interesting to me since strive for power (conquest just annoyed me) 

Anyway some relatively offhand traits -

an analog for the "daddy issues" trait, specifically a "cougar" type aimed at young characters

sadist(dealing damage or potentially seeing other people in pain increases arousal)

masochist (taking damage or increasing pain increases arousal),

 an npc version of sex addict (nerfs npcs while aroused, Increases happiness etc more per orgasm, becomes useful to quickly break and train a characterwhile also requiring more upkeep. Maybe using sex toys to do it passively to a degree? )

The launcher portion is very interesting and looks like it will be great but as to the base version (as the alternative i suppose) you probably want to split the files. Specifically i would suggest leaving in a bit of the game at the front (as a demo)  and then cut off roughly 1.5gb chunks from the game. By cut off i mean pack the files into RPA (archive)  files for independent download. This would let people use the standard apk to keep up on the newest content, the game to stay in one piece and everyone easy access to the old content with minimum fuss. 

I don't know exactly how to create the rpa files, but most of the porters on f95 do at this point so that's a possible direct source for how. 

Sweet and thanks

Not working for me either, you uploaded a crdownloader extension which is chrome specific download data file instead of the actual apk. I would assume that's why it's not working for some but it works for you

Wonderful counterpoint from "all the chicks look ugly" to "where's the android version? "

With that stated (and being 4 months out) there are a number of people who regularly port games on f95. If you like the game support the developer,  but the porters i know of specifically are... darkassassin, the66, wills747, blackeye, ghost, 0011, estrada777.... likely a few more on my personal track list but that's an offhand. So i also can't guarantee the accuracy of the usernames, but it gets it close enough that you can find them with a little work.

Hopefully this helps anyone who is looking for such (or gives the dev options for outsourcing an "official" android version of he wants) 

not really, the only catch on my end has been getting access to the folder sometimes, but most of the droid versions have a secondary folder to get around the permission problem. 

With that admitted, doing it that way would require the user to put another archive in every blue moon and thats about it. Well that and the initial install. The rest of the time it would just be apks as normal

Note on the part ² content, a better method than splitting it is to archive the old content into an rpa file that has to be downloaded separately and added to the game folder. This keeps the game to a single program, no real divergence on your end between the versions, and the apk system can remain the method of updating for users. 

Patreon is arbitrary with their rules, so getting alternatives is a good idea.  That arbitrary nature is why they just linked you to the f95 page, which is in itself stupid. 

"You violated our tos somewhere that isn't us" is up there with "you trespassed on us by entering a competitors property. "

With that stated, the potential violations are patreon are puritans (except maybe very specific things), and as such they will count it as a violation if they think (they do not have to be correct)  incest or loli. The rules are internally and externally incredibly vague, meaning totally subjective interpretation and enforcement.  Any such infraction is non reviewable, you cannot change their mind even if you can get them to admit that's what it is. Keep in mind the definitions they go by for loli include such things as overall height of the character in relation to others,  head/eye ratio,  general build, character aesthetic,  whether they are in school etc etc.

In your particular game, incest... well.  And as to loli, i guarantee you some of the mods would consider a full half of your game consisting of lolis. Not just Alice and Sun, but Lucy, maddie, celeste, or hell yvonne. Seen people in this position refer to Uzaki as a loli.

Seriously get some backups and alternates. Even if you manage to fight past it this time i have not heard of it stopping with basically anyone once it starts. 

Android install isn't working, says package is invalid. I tried doing a straight update first and it said there was a conflict.

Same recommendation i give usually though is kind of amusing in this context

Have a patreon edition to the game and patch the kids in.  Or else have the patreon disassociate officially from the game; is to support you or your studio but not the game. 

It might work, though patreon has a history of punishing people for off site behavior  sadly so who knows. Might be worth a try, but still need to get people away from patreon

I'm not familiar with godot but if it's possible to create an archive, you can bypass apk limits by.... when you get around the 2gb apk limit, pull old content out into an archive that has to be installed seperate. That way the apk is still used as a simple update mechanic and you don't have to mess with the archives constantly. 

Good luck with the legal end

in context of merging versions,  in theory you could do it for the android version as well. Convert the first half into an rpa archive that needs to be manually installed into the folder. Makes things slightly more complicated on the user end but everything becomes accessible from a single program

Any chance for the android version that you could package the completed prologue (and other chapters when relevant)  as an rpa to drop into the up to date game?  Then people in theory have access to both instead of the old content just getting overwritten

On the android front you can cheat the downloads by making each chapter its own archive (rpa). I don't know explicitly how it works since i haven't made a ren'py game, but i know it can be done. Then they just have to download the core android launcher, and the RPA file for each section you do.  If it's going to be around ⁷ gb total without compression that would be up to 3 rpa and a one gig core file. Or since there's no reason to limit the rpa to 2gb (as it's not an apk) then a 6 gig rpa for the full game and a 1 gig "demo" launcher/core.

Most of the Android porters on f95 use RPA for really big games now, so it should be easier to find out how than before. 

But for consistent update purposes I would suggest keeping the currently coded content as the core apk file and finished chapters as rpa. Makes it simple (and small)  to update on android still, and both you and us would only have to deal with a RPA after each chapter so should be simpler too.

I don't know how to do it so i can't be specific, there are a few porters on f95 that are starting to do this regularly ("wills747" and "blackeye." Offhand)

It's possible to use an rpa file to archive and dump content into the Android version post install. With it being a single file it's fairly easy to do as well. 

Towards which end, you should be able to create an rpa of the entire prologue (not the shell or new chapter) and have it as a once off download for people if they need to start from scratch. That way the part that's updated by the apk file is always the newest content and it should remain simple on your end too, so you only have to make another archive after each chapter. 

Just a suggestion, game looks good so far, enjoying it. Good luck

Another alternative is breaking it into multiple components, bundle so much content in and have people manually put them back together afterwards

account integration is not drm, the most common drm used tend to include stuff like keyloggers, root access or constantly sending your data to a server (hence the internet connection) also I was being general not specific to this circumstance or to any single DRM, just the common ones. 

It's cancerous to almost every game that includes it, not "those that try to bypass" because the common bypass methods are either to spoof it so it is sending the data nowhere, collecting false data or just straight remove it. And most drm gets cracked within the first week. much difficulty "only for those who try to bypass it" when the only one that actually end up dealing with it are those that paid for it. 

As to your comment on cd keys either that or an algorithmic verification system which can be cracked easy too.  Didn't say it was "good" I said it's about as useful as the rest and far less invasive. Right now we don't have a solution to idiots doing bad things,  the best we can hope for is balancing "make it harder to do bad things" and "don't punish people doing right things"

DRM by and large is a cancerous technology. There's other forms of protection that work as well with less penalties for the consumer. The primary and oldest one being cd keys, or some other version of encrypted verification. Having people dedicated to hunting down locations where the piracy occurs and trying to stop it there is also effective. 

For reference the penalties on drm are...

 increased game size 

increased resource use during operation

Potential conflicts with game code

Requires an internet connection or it literally does not work

And depending on which you go for,  some are literal Spyware, the only distinction being how invasive is it?

sorry, wills747 not will747, I keep forgetting the s

A hopefully useful comment

 you don't have to split the project, someone figured out how to get archives to work on apk files. I believe it was user "will747" on f95.

 Was going to ask a question but outlining the information I had to frame the question gave me at least one answer that fit all the criteria. So I'll keep my theory to myself, wait and see. I'm hoping though that there is an actual arc closure to act 1, there was one or two spots where it would have been possible already but where it sits right now isn't one in my opinion...

Anyway fun game, enjoying it so far so can't wait to see the progress. Really glad the project didn't die out as too many do

Tracking on itch now since i can curate the feed to stuff i actually like.

Always glad to see updates cause it's at least one project that hasn't poofed like smoke in the wind. Doubly glad when it's something I really like,  like your two. 

thanks for sticking with it and good luck with the irl stuff. Life is a kick in the teeth sometimes. 

Considering how much it has expanded, it might also be a worthwhile point to enlist minions to handle some of the nitty gritty detailing. A coder to implement/ expand some of the systems you've been working on,  or an artist for example to take the load off scene work or asset creation. Assuming you are getting enough money to expand the team in that way anyhow. 

Anyway long term fan, glad to see it still going and always enjoy the updates. Hopefully I'll be contributing again soon (ish).

The vocal frankly will always be a minority of any discrete group. Adding my two cents (value as you will) .

I don't actually see a problem provided it's not taking resources away from something core to the game. With big studios it's more about allocation of resources. But these projects? 

I doubt you have multiple coders building parallel systems that have to be carefully interlocked to cause minimal issues (which costs even more as programmers run they crap down, usually through somebody else's code) 

I doubt you have teams of artists and musicians constantly adding content to the game. 

In which case what's the harm of throwing a artist who has free time some extra money for bonus content from those supplying it?

It's the internet. Retards are everywhere. My personal philosophy is to only consider what they say if it's potentially useful, positive or negative. "I like your work" is great and feels good but not really useful.  "It's crap" "your a shill" "git gud scrub" are not only useless but also annoying. In the former case the correct response is 'great I'm glad you like it's, but in the latter it's 'okay bye then.' 

Some people will always cry about stupid stuff.  Screw em. Don't chase the "wider audience", that's a myth that has killed many many projects.  just make it good.