What's new
By:
Filters

RPG Patreon Active Renfield


Re: Renfield

I've been lazily and lurkily keeping an eye on this project for quite a while. At first it seemed way too ambitious and I expected it would fall victim to feature creep, creator fatigue or whathaveyou. It didn't. You're still at it, and for that you are to be commended.

Both the elderscrollsy gameplay and pervy content appeal to me in theory, but I'd like to know where this is going in the short and long term. I look at the screenshots and I see a guy fighting monsters and banging women. So, I'm guessing this is a maleprotag game. Or is it just the current stage of development? Will this be a "dude goes around doing stuff and stuffing people" sort of game, or will there be an option to play a female character later on?
 
Re: Renfield

Krh said:
I've been lazily and lurkily keeping an eye on this project for quite a while. At first it seemed way too ambitious and I expected it would fall victim to feature creep, creator fatigue or whathaveyou. It didn't. You're still at it, and for that you are to be commended.

Both the elderscrollsy gameplay and pervy content appeal to me in theory, but I'd like to know where this is going in the short and long term. I look at the screenshots and I see a guy fighting monsters and banging women. So, I'm guessing this is a maleprotag game. Or is it just the current stage of development? Will this be a "dude goes around doing stuff and stuffing people" sort of game, or will there be an option to play a female character later on?
Click to expand...

First of all I appreciate the comment.
Hour after hour, day after day of slogging away at something gets harder if it seems like nobody even notices.

Originally I wanted to proceed straight to the full Elder Scrollsy experience, but doing it all at once was just too much.
Too much time, too much money, too many migraines getting enemy AI and pathing working.
So I stitched together a "classic" system using various pieces of middleware.
Now I can focus on adding content without nearly as much technical overhead.

My goal is to pour new items, abilities, spells, monsters, stats, skills etc. into the game until it has all the "stuff" that an Elder Scrolls game would have.
Then we can make the jump to a fully 3D follow-up.
We don't have any of the hard technical limitations that RPGMaker has.
But we have numerous practical limitations in terms of how much time and money is required.

I started with a male only protag "alpha impregnator conquers the world" theme.
But eventually I want everything: Male, female, futa/herm, gender bender, straight, gay, bi, human, elf, orc, anthro, etc etc etc.
The question is - how soon and in what order do we add these things?
With an original engine we can do anything. Anything at all.

Thanks again for speaking up.
It really helps me maintain morale.
 
Re: Renfield

The game is out on the English DLSite
A very special thanks to a user who made the following write up about the game.
I'll be using this as a checklist of things to focus on in the coming days.
Addressing these problems should enhance the game significantly.

==========================================================

----------
Gameplay
----------

//General//
-What is the point in random encounters if you can only fight when you're actively looking for battles?
-Similarly, text such as "You wander through the wilderness" is not only useless, but it's also unexciting. It tells you nothing about the world you're supposed to be "exploring".
-The difference is you either press confirm once or some arbitrary number of times before some encounter.
-The point of random encounters is to put obstacles in your way from point A to point B. They do nothing when you can travel anywhere at any time.

-Nothing to serve as a goal or reason to be running around the world exploring when the only things to find are enemies.

-No item descriptions.
-Makes it apparent what things are for, what they do and whether or not it's better than currently equipped gear at a glance.

//Controls//
-Screen for viewing controls in-game looks terrible. Would rather have it all inside a menu, with some means to choose a single scheme.

-No way to change controls on the fly; requires restarting the application. Could put said options in the afforementioned menu.

-Clicking on [Enter] or [Explore] should allow you to do those things. The controls are simple enough to allow complete mouse control instead of partial.

//Combat//
-Animations are very slow
-There's a reason so many RPGs of this style have characters jumping all around and doing very fast attacks. You want turns to be a quick, instant payoff.
-Slow animations are better suited to bigger, flashier effects. Think summons in something like Final Fantasy.

-Some means to adjust time speed would be extraordinarily helpful.
-Lets slower players take more time to think, and faster players to not sit around doing nothing.

-Battle menu takes long enough to load that it feels almost laggy.
-Should be able to menu *very* quickly.
-Combat is mindless enough in the beginning to be able to just mash the confirm button. You would want to reduce the time it takes to do so.

-No gauge of how strong enemies are before encountering them.
-As there is no kind of path to take, you can encounter enemies that kill you in two or three hits from the start. These deaths feel completely arbitrary and frustrating, as the player has, quite honetly, done nothing wrong.

-Damage seems completely random.
-Attacked a Loriden Spider multiple times. First few attacks did 2-4 damage, final did 37. If it was a crit, there was no indication thereof.
-Similarly, enemies seem to either do very little damage, or a lot ("a lot" being enough to 2 or 3-shot).

-Damage shown continues to tick up after hit instead of displaying full value instantly

-Minor gripe, but I think the time gauge should fill smoothly.

//Leveling & Exp//
-The amount of Exp needed to level up, even from Level 1, is HUGELY disproportionate to the amount given by enemies; even stronger ones. This means you're grinding from the very start.
-Level grinding does nothing but arbitrarily extend play time. With combat as simple as this, it's a complete waste.
-First level up was after over an hour of game time, including only about 4 h-scenes.

-Why do you need to go back to a town to level up when there's absolutely no danger in doing so?
-Seems like a complete waste of time.
-Even if time wasted is only a few seconds, it also hurts pacing.

-The amount of gains from leveling a stat should be open information to the player, to make the choice more meaningful.
-It's more of a quality-of-life thing, but it lets the player know what they're actually doing.

------
NPCs
------

//General//
-It seems that the only way to progress with any NPCs is to kill some amount of enemies in the area. There's no indication that this does anything, nor for letting you know you can continue with any given NPC.
-Makes no sense
-No indication of how to progess with this character
-I still am not entirely sure if this was the reason, since it seems so arbitrary

-What the hell is "The Voice" and why am I using it to seduce women?

----------
H-Scenes
----------
-The "Cinematic Camera" loves to clip through objects and move through/behind walls.

-Would like some way to manage position and control the pacing.
-Some means to skip some or all of the scene or allow it to run indefinitely also seems in order.
-Static positions are boring as shit.

-Mouse sensitivity is SUPER LOW
-takes several swipes to move the camera any meaningful amount
-might be good to consider adding in an option to adjust mouse sensitivity up or down

-Faces are completely lifeless.
-No change in expression
-They just stare into space
-They could stare at each other or literally any part of one another

-Option to disable x-ray?

-Body parts sometimes clip through environment and even a character's own model
Ex. Girl's arm clipping through her breast in one of the sideways positions (pardon my not knowing names for these things)

==========================================================
 
Re: Renfield

Yesterday was one of the most aggravating coding sessions I've had in a while.
But I finally pinned down a serious problem with the passive regeneration effects.
As frustrating as it was, it forced me to learn the API of this framework much better.
Today I'm adding more battleground levels and putting some more polish into the H-scenes.
 
Re: Renfield

Alright, fine, posting here instead of PMing. Lurker was gonna lurk, but fuck it.
I started with a male only protag "alpha impregnator conquers the world" theme.
But eventually I want everything: Male, female, futa/herm, gender bender, straight, gay, bi, human, elf, orc, anthro, etc etc etc.
The question is - how soon and in what order do we add these things?
Click to expand...

What I would like to see is the opposite of "alpha impregnator conquers the world." Alluring heroine ventures out and gets conquered by the world.

To which KleptoLizard replied that he might make it so that romancing/corrupting a girl to a point would enable the player to start a new game playing as that girl. I gotta ask, why add that hurdle? What value is there in making players muddle through content that doesn't interest them?

Games with a tight narrative typically have one pre-set protagonist: you take it or leave it and what you get is what you get. From there it's a sliding scale to freeform character creation and lack of any central plot (or at least detachment of plot from the protag's specifics). This one seems to be eventually aiming toward freedom of choice. Which is good. There are plenty of plot-driven, character-focused games out there and in the works already.

My answer to "how soon and in what order" is: yesterday, femprotag first. Nobody gives a damn about some hairy dude fighting goblins. Put some T&A, DiD in there and the tumbleweed will be on fire. On fire, I say!
 
Re: Renfield

Well let's see what the breakdown is.
If it's overwhelmingly female, we'll push that up the priority list.

You must be registered to see the links
 
Re: Renfield

134e933b002fc1d62f8b24667ed9cbff.png


Well it seems we have a clear winner.
Now we have a lot of issues to settle regarding how a female protagonist will be handled.
Should we let the player choose from the existing lineup of fuckable girls?
Or an original, new character?

One thing I've already decided is that the Level 1 version of the heroine needs to be much stronger than Glasser.
It's one thing to let the guy struggle a bit at the beginning. It's the price he pays to build his harem.
But once we introduce GOR for the female, we need to give her more of a fighting chance. Just seems fair.
Other than that, I'd really appreciate people coming out of lurk mode to decide what kind of character(s) and scenarios they want.

This is going to be a fair amount of work so let's try to get it right.
 
Re: Renfield

How do you plan to handle character creation/selection in the long term? Will the male protagonist always be Glasser, or could there be options or even the possibility of creating one's own character? Nothing is to say you'd have to use the same setup for both femprotag and brotagonist; I'm just wondering if this is meant to be planned around a specific character who can be anything within limits of what's available, or a blank slate that gets filled along the way.

An original character as the heroine might be cleaner than picking from the harem lineup. No unnecessary plot tangles, personality inconsistencies or other baggage. The more customization, the better, but the bare minimum I'd be happy with is being able to make some decisions rather than the character going on autopilot in conversations and having a pre-set attitude on everything.

My ideal CRPG start would be an adventurer arriving in a settlement. Not a farmboy taken up his father's sword to avenge his parents and defeat the evil king, not a kitchen maid trying to climb the ladder of society, not the foretold chosen one destined to save the world. Just an outsider competent enough to do quests but clueless enough to need expositions. Where it goes from there depends on what rocks the player turns over. Something like this would mesh perfectly with the femprotag being stronger than her male counterpart at level one. Of course she took a level in badass - if she didn't, she'd already be some goblin tribe's fucktoy. And the humiliation of defeat will be all the sweeter for it.

Is there a central quest hub or a planned starting point? Knowing a little more about the world or at least initial surroundings would help whip up scenarios that fit the setting.
 
Last edited:
Re: Renfield

Krh said:
How do you plan to handle character creation/selection in the long term? Will the male protagonist always be Glasser, or could there be options or even the possibility of creating one's own character? Nothing is to say you'd have to use the same setup for both femprotag and brotagonist; I'm just wondering if this is meant to be planned around a specific character who can be anything within limits of what's available, or a blank slate that gets filled along the way.
Click to expand...

I'm going to start with a fixed character in the short term just because it's quicker than making a character creation system.
Eventually (there's that word again) I want people to have as much freedom in crafting their character's appearance and stats as in an Elder Scrolls title.

However I've whipped up 10 starting classes for the femprotag.
She'll start with some gear and a degree of specialization unlike Glasser.

As far as story is concerned, I don't like "Main Quests".
Hate them in fact.
This will be as non-linear as possible.
 
Re: Renfield

Early version of the upcoming heroine character.
I've always thought blue eyes with brown hair looked really nice.
How is Hanna for a name?

0169ccff838d22cdbbdf85facb19be6b.png
 
Re: Renfield

Art style is controversial in and of itself.

(I've already been told by one person that my art direction is "wrong" and that I should've gone with an Anime aesthetic.)

But body aesthetic is also highly divisive.
Sometimes an artist draws cute faces but draws breasts in a weird shape.
Everyone has different tastes which is part of the success of the Artificial series and other 3D games with high degrees of customization.

afb1fa99e067a871325f1a937fa34e59.png


In the short term, the pictured body will suffice as the default.
Ultimately not only would I like to build a full character creator, but I want in-game customization of the body the way transformation games handle it.
Spells, potions, enemy attacks and other things could cause your character to change shape or color.
As a longtime player of Fenoxo's games, I was disappointed when the character viewer stopped being updated.
Now with Renfield you'll be able to see these slight changes over time vividly and in full 3D.
 
Re: Renfield

Looks good. I like that you went with a "normal" hair color for the initial/test heroine. Brown hair and blue eyes should be safe choices in the sense that they won't likely be a turn-off for anyone. Eventual character creator means the more anime-inclined can craft sugoi kawaii to their hearts' content at some point.

Also pleased that she's curvy, rather than a walking two-by-four or a stick girl with beach balls strapped to her chest. That's not far off from my Skyrim BodySlide preset. Yeah, looking good. Now just give her some non-ridiculous clothes and armor (as in, not the asymmetric horrors Korean MMO designers like to crank out with one stocking thigh-high and a sandal on the other foot, one spiky pauldron with an elbow glove and a razor gauntlet in the other hand etc.) to wear.

Full customization with transformations and all seems very ambitious. If you can pull it off, that'll be something to see. Transformations aren't really my thing (aside from special cases like BE and bimbofication), but that should tick a lot of boxes for a lot of people.

When I asked about quest hub and starting point, I meant the physical location where the game is planned to start. Is it a village? Town? City?
 
Re: Renfield

Krh said:
Looks good. I like that you went with a "normal" hair color for the initial/test heroine. Brown hair and blue eyes should be safe choices in the sense that they won't likely be a turn-off for anyone. Eventual character creator means the more anime-inclined can craft sugoi kawaii to their hearts' content at some point.

Also pleased that she's curvy, rather than a walking two-by-four or a stick girl with beach balls strapped to her chest. That's not far off from my Skyrim BodySlide preset. Yeah, looking good. Now just give her some non-ridiculous clothes and armor (as in, not the asymmetric horrors Korean MMO designers like to crank out with one stocking thigh-high and a sandal on the other foot, one spiky pauldron with an elbow glove and a razor gauntlet in the other hand etc.) to wear.
Click to expand...

Yeah I tried to make her somewhat generic and subdued.
What's funny is that I posted her face in a stream and one person made these really weird comments.

"looks okay"
"dunno, she kinda looks like a default fallout character"
"maybe [if you gave her] some kind of unique feature"
"maybe a More unique hair style or different eyebrows"
"but i dunno, she looks almost exactly like Angelina Jolee"
"she looks like a lot of fictional characters"

You get the strangest feedback from random normies.
But with the character herself and her clothes it's important not to over-design like you said.
Her outfit is a very plain "adventurer's starter outfit" as well.
 
Re: Renfield

Krh said:
Full customization with transformations and all seems very ambitious. If you can pull it off, that'll be something to see. Transformations aren't really my thing (aside from special cases like BE and bimbofication), but that should tick a lot of boxes for a lot of people.
Click to expand...

Putting in full customization isn't as hard as it might seem from a technical perspective.
It's just a lot of work.
But we've already had success in importing every kind of animation and morph.

If people want customization that badly, we can have it sooner rather than later.
But I'd prefer if we fleshed out the combat and exploration a bit more in the short term.

Now that Hanna's mostly done I'm going to try and implement some ambient head, neck and eye motion into the H-scenes along with shifting dynamic facial expressions.
 
Re: Renfield

If I must say something, that I would say the hair were looking too thin and sharp (like all those generic 3D model people use in those cheaply made AAA game in lowest visual setting).

You might want to invest into thicker, more anime style hair and a bloom render sharder to coop with the game style.

Also the neck is abit too long, maybe 10% shorter would be more balance.

Other then that it was okay.

Also the game world itself would be abit too dark, maybe a bit brighter in the game world could be better?
 
Re: Renfield

Ignore anyone that includes the word "anime" in their suggestions.

Krh said:
Also pleased that she's curvy, rather than a walking two-by-four or a stick girl with beach balls strapped to her chest.
Click to expand...

"Curvy"? She looks conventionally attractive to me, and typical of virtual female character anatomy.
 
Re: Renfield

Mistah F. said:
Ignore anyone that includes the word "anime" in their suggestions.
Click to expand...

lel

Yeah I don't mind the anime aesthetic at all, but not EVERYTHING has to look like anime.
The funny thing about his comment was that he presumed to speak for everyone.
That's how most players are when they talk about game design; they want something very specific and can't see beyond it.
For example, the attached image is from a Japanese modder. Even they get tired of the gigantic eyes and glossy shaders.

My target for the art style (character and environment) is modded Skyrim.
Please note that I mean modded, not vanilla.
In fact that describes my long term goal for Renfield as a whole.
We need to start out small by necessity, but what I want is a game that has the feel of an Elder Scrolls game but with the content and look you get after adding your favorite 200 mods.

e2159f79f05ffc1a96aeb0451d754c17.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top