itch.io

Honestly, because I really love game design topics and have a lot of curiosity about how choices are both used by developers and perceived by players, I've spent a lot (far too much) time exploring the idea of "right choices" in VNs. It's not a subject anyone in their right mind should get me talking about. People on the Discord server know....( •̀ ω •́ )✧

(Though I guess this is me *any time* I start trying to explain why I make certain decisions. Rofl)

But honestly I get where you're coming from. Kisses and other relationship milestones are often very, very elevated in romance stories. Sometimes I make a deliberate choice to treat them casually specifically to break away from the moulds that treat them like the holy grail. But I think in both GS and WSC the main issue is that the bigger milestone in the relationship is the love scene so it feels strange to treat the first kiss with the same gravitas. There still has to be room to build up to that bigger romantic moment, which means the first kiss gets treated a little more casually.

The structure of WSC in particular needed a "lock-in" moment. It needed to happen somewhat early but not too early which meant it needed to be somewhat significant but also not too significant but also not too casual. So, more significant than holding hands but less significant than a love confession. So I landed on this somewhat casual kiss and spark of interest.

I'm stopping myself here and deleting the three paragraphs of rambling about point systems because I can tell I'm going into text-wall mode. 🤣

Ah yeah - the tricky thing with the flowchart is that sometimes with the more complicated splits, I need little placeholder modules to make the connecting lines behave properly. The "route division" module is one of these. There's a lot of complicated branching happening in that section that the flowchart can't represent with 100% accuracy due to limitations.

Also the first kiss is really just an acknowledgement of attraction. I don't view it as a big deal. Some people kiss on a first date even when they barely know each other or have only talked online, for instance. For me, the first kiss isn't necessarily a big confession. The characters have known each other a few weeks, have had a few nice chats, and feel an attraction to each other. I'm assuming that there are also off-screen interactions because we aren't seeing every single day and it's been around 3 weeks (not including the time they miss due to the dimensional loop, which puts it around a month).

The reason the kiss is described as very quick and not that heated or intense is because it's kind of a "kiss-after-the-first-date" thing. A signifier that yes, they want to pursue something deeper but aren't exactly deeply in love just yet. 

I know in a lot of romance games, the first kiss is given a lot of significance for the relationship. But in this one, the kiss was just Wil's way of saying "Hey, I think you're kinda cute" - not a way of saying "I think I'm in love." That is yet to come.

In Chapter 3 (I think that's where the Asher-in-the-garden scene is), Yren is just in a different spot. That moment isn't really based on your affinity with anyone. You just encounter different people depending where you go. 

The garden is Yren's spot usually but it's also a comfort spot for Asher, which was why he was there and Yren was somewhere else.

Chapter 5 is a complex chapter and there are multiple ways to both get onto someone's route and be off-ramped from the romance paths. There are several checks and choices through the route that determine how things end up.

If you have the opportunity to touch Yren's cheek, and you do so (IE you end up initiating a 'soft' moment, even if it's brief), you should get the opportunity to speak to someone that evening in the lounge. And speaking to Yren should keep you on his path. You're just not at the highest possible level with him. 

If you are off-ramped before you hit the kiss/cheek touch moment, you actually don't get any options there. It just skips past that moment entirely and in the evening, you won't be able to talk to anyone. It's difficult for me to say for sure what the situation was by the end without seeing screen caps.

If you had the option to talk to someone in the evening in the lounge and you chose to talk to Yren (after being on the planet with him) then you should technically be on his story path and the game should still be tracking your affinity with him though.

Huzzah! I really need to get back to writing up the results. I keep forgetting.

Late screaming is better than no screaming! *gives you honey-lemon tea for your throat*

No problem!

In order to unlock that scene, you must choose this option at the end of chapter two:

Later, I would go to the rec room like I promised.

Be sure to play it all the way through to the end as the unlock statement is placed at the very end of the scene. 

Perhaps in the future when the game is fully released. 

In the mean time you can still add WSC to your steam library using this feature:

There is a discord server! You can find the link below:

https://discord.gg/w42hWwSw9D

I will try to get WSC in better shape for you soon! 💪

Hello! Thanks for the suggestion! I own Arcade Spirits actually! 💖

Unfortunately even if two games are both made in Ren'py, their internal code and UI systems are probably completely different. Ren'py is a super flexible engine and there are usually multiple ways to accomplish the same thing. Even if I see where another game added self voicing, that doesn't tell me how they did it.

And even if I know how they did it, that doesn't mean it will applicable for the way my code is set up.

Here's an example to help you understand. My previous game Gilded Shadows also had some customisation and here is an example of the code I used for choosing hair colour - it's similar to the code you gave in the example in your first post:

imagemap:
        ground Null()
        idle "gui/customisation/hair_button_idle.png"
        hover "gui/customisation/hair_button_hover.png"
        selected_idle "gui/customisation/hair_button_selected.png"
        selected_hover "gui/customisation/hair_button_hover.png"
        alpha False
        hotspot (446, 133, 193, 48) action SetVariable('haircolor', 'hair1') hover_sound "gui/sfx/aj_button_sound.mp3" activate_sound "gui/sfx/click_sound.ogg" alt _("Silver Hair")

For gilded Shadows, there were ten hotspots for the hair - one for every colour, each with its own alt text statement.

But here is how the code to do the same thing works in When Stars Collide:

define HAIR_COLOR_LIST = [ _("Silver"), _("Black")]

use custom_option(_("Hair Color"), CyclePrev("haircolor", HAIR_COLOR, altlist=HAIR_COLOR_LIST),
                CycleNext("haircolor", HAIR_COLOR, altlist=HAIR_COLOR_LIST))

The way the screens are set up behind the scenes is completely different because the customisation works a bit differently.  And so the way I have to set up the alt text is also different. The Gilded Shadows solution would not work at all in When Stars Collide.

I guess the point is that the solutions for these things are sometimes very situational and context dependent. Two games made in the same engine - even by the same person - may not be remotely the same 'under the hood' so to speak. 

I'm ultimately trying to make boxed systems like Windows narrator and Renpy  play nice and be friends with the code and UI in When Stars Collide.

Sometimes they don't want to be friends and I have to find ways to force them to be as close to friends as possible anyway. 🤣  In some cases is easy and in other cases it doesn't work as well as I'd like it to but I'm limited in my ability to fix it.

I will do my best though! 💪

~Esh

No problem!

There are certain limitations to the self-voicing feature that don't play 100% nice with the game GUI but even with the current set up, it's much better than it was.

Right now there's just one annoying thing with the affinity indicators I'm trying to figure out if there's a potential fix for.

~Esh

Hi! Thank you for your post.  

I just wanted to respond to let you know this has been seen.  

First off, I do want to thank you for pointing this out. The advisory screen was something I meant to add alt text to and honestly just forgot repeatedly (unfortunately with ADHD that's what happens if I don't write things down…and sometimes even if I do write them down if I forget I wrote it down).

As a solo dev if I don't remember…no one does.  So having players point it out is very helpful.

As for the rest of it, I didn't realise how badly self-voicing interacted with the customisation screen after its redesign a while back.

This is being worked on at the moment but it will take a little time for the update to be ready. 

Adding alt text or a self-voice compatible version of the advisory screen or quick menu (which I realised I also did not add alt text to) is fairly easy.

But unfortunately with things like the customisation screen which has to retrieve variables for elements like the skin tone slider, hair colours, bodies or hair styles, it's not as simple as adding alt text to a single hot spot.  

I have had a coding friend help me with some of the more complicated things in there (Feniks is always a huge life saver - I love them), but some of the particulars are still being worked out when it comes to the limitations with the self voicing feature and how it engages with dynamic content like customisation variables. The skin slider in particular, I'm still messing with to see if I can't improve it since the delay between hovering over something and the self voicing reading it is making a little tricky if you don't slide it very slowly.

I also realised the affinity indicators and status bars are purely visual as well at the moment. So I'm trying to figure out how to add self-voicing compatibility based on the way those screens are set up that way you can use the affinity metres like everyone else to tell how the choices are affecting the LI relationships.

Hopefully this will be ready for me to push out a patch in a day or two.

 Thanks for reaching out!

~Esh

Thanks for letting me know. You won't be able to get the CG using hair 8 at the moment - but it should work with a different style.

The file was misnamed as hair9 instead of hair8 so Renpy is searching for hair8 and not finding it. That's the issue. Until I push out a patch, playing with hair 8 in silver will unfortunately break at Yren's CG.

I'll push out a patch soon but it'll probably be about 15-20 minutes before it shows up!

~Esh

I'm aware of an issue in Yren's path where MC's skin tone randomly switches. This is a holdover from testing the CG and a patch will be going out very soon!

~Esh

Reviews fall under fair use for copyright and it is permissible to use artwork from the source material with certain caveats. This should apply to all games you want to review

A good rule of thumb would include things things like:

• Watching the amount of copyrighted material being used. (There is no set figure here but realistically speaking you should be using the minimal amount needed to demonstrate the points of your review).
  
• Being careful regarding the significance of what you're showing. You don't want to show off the "heart" of the project (which for a romance game is likely to include CGs of pivotal relationship moments or the romantic CGs and ending CGs.)  Anything that might affect someone's ability to market their work could conceivably considered the 'heart' of the work even if it amounts to a really small amount of content.

Regarding credit, it's just important to show my studio logo and make note that it is a "Steamberry game."

I don't read blog reviews so this is not something I'll check up on - it's more of an honour system. I trust you won't show off anything that'll make people feel there's no need to play the game. LoL

Hopefully it'll be out in a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to being able to release Chapter 5! OwO

Chronic pain sucks - especially when it's related to your work or a beloved hobby or something like that.

Understandable! I struggle with cliffhangers too.

But if everyone holds off supporting serial releases and it appears to be under-performing, creators could decide to discontinue the project due to lack of interest - which is always something to consider.

Projects live and die by how they perform and how many people are actively supporting and playing them. This includes serial releases. <3

Ha ha. 

Yeah, a lot of the frustration with a chronic pain or injury situation isn't fear of being slow or whatever - it's sheer frustration at not being able to do what I want or work as fast as I want. That's why, as much as I appreciate the sentiment of 'take your time'  at some point it's frustrating because I don't want to have to take this much time. Ha ha. It's not fun. LoL

I want to be able to draw and work on stuff. 😭 

But we're getting there slowly. I'm looking forward to being able to release Chapter 5 to everyone soon(ish)! OwO

Me: Wow, what a reaction. I wonder why they posted such a dramatic response? *skims through the article to remember what I said

Also me: ....Oh yeah. LoL. That's why. 🤣🤣

Sorry for the late reply but thank you!

I wouldn’t call the physics in Stars accurate considering Asher sings to the universe to fold space. But I do really like science and know enough physics to be dangerous so I do often take things that really exist in theoretical physics and just make them much more fantastical.

As long as it sounds plausible in the setting that’s what matters. But I think I would make astrophysicists cry with my liberal application of fantasy physics. 🤣🤣 I appreciate the vote of confidence though and I’m glad it does come across as plausible!

And yes! Gotta have those A6 references in there. I love that game and the dev is a sweetheart so I’m really grateful she was okay with me tossing in some references. I’m going to try to work at least one more in down the line if I can - one that’s a little more overt than just cocky, blue-eyed assassins. >=D

NoneType errors associated with the journal generally occur when you are loading save data associated with the demo or old code rather than a fresh save that was created for a brand new playthrough in the full game.

Can you please to try to load a fresh game with the full game and see if this error still occurs when you reach Ewan’s route?

Your art is so adorable!

🥺🥺🥺

Thank you! 

A really annoying thing that started happening to me is that I will be having a nightmare and then realise it's a nightmare during the dream because I suddenly can't speak or form words. And I slowly feel my body start to go numb. And that is definitely a sign I'm about to wake up and be in sleep paralysis. If I can wake myself up in time, I don't experience sleep paralysis but I get the full body tingle thing which is so uncomfortable.

So of course I make my MCs suffer the same thing. LoL. If I have to suffer it, so do they! ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Thank you Grey!

Hehe. I intend to have a more overt one later on but I managed to sneak the Damon ref in early. >=D I love being to do references like that for the games my friends are making. 

And UGH. Sleep paralysis. I hate that even when you know what's happening you brain is still going "PANNNNICCC. SOMETHING IS HEEEERE!"

I hate false awakenings too. I've had days where I "wake up" 3-4 times before I finally wake up. At some point you've gotten out of bed and gotten dressed so many times that when you finally wake up for real you're just like "I'm not moving!" >=( But at least they aren't *usually* terrifying. Sleep paralysis though. I hate it.

The scenario ends with Wil throwing them out the airlock. LoL 🤣🤣

*gets the broom out and sweeps up the glass for safety* ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Aww thank you! I hope you like the new episode. That said, I'm really excited for Episode 3 and onward because that's when things get interesting. >=D

You are allowed to rant about it but I doubt I'll change how I draw ears. It's just kind of a part of my style. I've been drawing for a long time and that's just kind of how the style developed. It is what it is. 💪

Not every player is going to like every aspect of every part of my art style (indeed, not everyone likes how I draw lips, faces, hair, etc etc.)

Sometimes it's just like that. =)

Kav looks like Yren almost without the beard. That's actually how I noticed it - I was looking at a thumbnail of it and thinking that I'd mixed a Yren CG into the Kav section only to realise that no.......It's Kav without his stupid beard! LoL 🤣🤣

(Funnily enough, you do get to see him shaved and cleaned up at some point during the game but not yet!)

I have multiple BG artists including some I've worked with on other projects. Unfortunately I've had a lot of BGs created that I can't use due to style differences but all the artists have done really lovely work even if I ultimately had to replace some of the artwork with more stylistically appropriate art.

The one I showed off here was done by Son Huynh, who also did some BG work for Gilded Shadows.

Thank you for letting me know.

Unfortunately issues with these kinds of hot keys are nearly going to boil down to Renpy itself and your machine. There's nothing in my code that I can change that is going to affect that. 

For instance, I alt+tab in and out windows frequently when testing and never run into issues, but do sometimes hit a bit lag when using alt+enter to go between display modes. This happens not just for this game but all games I play (though it seems more likely to happen when going from full screen to windowed rather than the other way around).

If you're running into issues using hot keys, I recommend toggling the window in settings instead and see if your PC is able to handle that a little better.

~Steamberry

Fair enough. None of the devs who worked on the game really write games where the MC does not have a pre-established personality since that really isn't our style preference. 

Sorry you found that you couldn't relate to Aell. =)

*gives you honey lemon tea because this ritual seems hard on the throat* 👀👀

No problem. Sorry for the trouble. Itch seems to be really picky about how it's downloaded this time around. I'm not sure why. 😭😭

I believe someone else had a similar issue where their machine was telling them it couldn't find the file.

Their advice is to uninstall and remove the demo if that is installed as well as try to download directly from the website and not the itch app.

Beyond that, I am not sure what advice to give. Unfortunately download issues are a little outside my wheelhouse if the game build itself is working because I can't say for sure what is happening between your computer, Itch, and the game build itself.

It's all good! I've mentioned it before but honestly, it's scattered across various devlogs so it's always fine to ask again. LoL!

(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)