Freshman Year - A new Renpy Game

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21

I’ve decided to stick up a little road-map so you all know what the plan is and what’s going on:

Demo Release V0.1:

  • Basic Intro Completed
  • 5 NPC’s implemented including Kia, each of the 4 additionals will be meetable depending on your choices in the intro. The other 3 can be met independently at a later date.
  • Basic gameplay loop implemented such as practicing skills such as cooking and crafting as well as studying and reading. Implement basic singular class you can attend for an rng boost to stats. Will later be replaced with an academic timetable depending on the course you choose.
  • Basic UI’s to do all this from

Update V0.2:

  • Enhanced UI
  • Continue Kia’s story and most likely 1 of the other 4 currently available girls. Reminder each of these 4 girls corresponds to a different activity such as going to the bar, library, movies, etc.
  • Add 1 additional girl. Most likely be between Gym Bunnie, occult shop girl (implementing magic mechanic), Ice cream parlor, or bank
  • Implement 1st mini-game. Will most likely be crafting or cooking. Both will almost certainly operate around the drag and drop mechanics experimented with in SOG

Note: When I refer to crafting I mean like model making, hobbyist electronics, RC Planes and Cars, etc. I don’t necessarily mean building a house although as your crafting skill improves you will unlock options to improve your QOL and make gifts and stuff for those around you. Think making macaroni art for your parents at like 5 years old versus building them a coffee table at 22. Big difference.

Update V0.3:

  • Invent the concept of time and it’s many complexities
  • Add jobs and distinctive classes.
  • Add communal workshop and kitchen as unlockables via the skill tree. This will allow you to do more complex stuff and further improve your skills.
  • Probably deepen the existing locations such as bar, library, restaraunt, theater, gym, etc
  • Add money and shopping, wooooooo, hoarding go brrr with the requisite inventory system

For now that’s my 3 step plan. timeline thus far predicts update 0.3 should come out right before the heat death of the universe but I’ll try to expedite things somewhat!

9 Likes
22

is there a way i could download the game i would love to play it but cant seem to find a link to download the game

23

If you read the first post it lists planned features and gives information for the future roadmap of the game. There has been no playable version released yet. So there is nothing to download.

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24

ok thanks mustve just over looked that

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25

There are community managers, media supervisers and pr consultants on 6 figures a year that dont do half the work with a third of the accuracy of this guy.
#krodforpresident2024

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26

Freshman officially has more content than SOG. And I’m only about 3/4 or 3/5 5 or maybe even 4/6 of the way there… idk, numbers hurt…

At this rate, v0.1 should be out by sunday night with some bells and whistles and a very ugly UI but thats a v0.2 issue

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27

These planned features look awesome! Let alone the last one, this is gonna be jam packed with stuff. I wish you luck with your endeavors. I know how difficult making something like this can be.

28

How do you guys feel about representing touchy subjects like trans, alcoholism, abuse, etc (obviously not as a fetish thing just as character development) I feel it would help make a more diverse cast but obviously, each of these examples and a few more unmentioned are a minefield so it’s the sort of thing I’d rather put to the audience so to say.

Elaboration:

  • For
  • Against

0 voters

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i’m going not beat about the bush on this and say yes But! you tread carefully when approaching this since it might do more harm than good

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30

Agreed, with the whole risk/reward thing I have put it to a poll to weigh if it’s even worth taking the chance. I’d like to add my aim would not be to romanticize or demonize any of these attributes. I know I joke around a lot and am generally known as the goofy funny man but I have experience with all 3 of the above examples (although I myself am not trans) and know very well they are topics that need to be treated with caution and respect.

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31

So that’s a more complex question than a for and against in my opinion. Since also that phrasing is kind weird but with limited options I would likely vote for, as I am okay with those type of subjects in content.

I personally would want to see a list of more controversial things that might be included and have them listed individually. Lumping them together might not give you a very accurate understanding of what is okay or not. Also knowing that if that was included how likely someone would be to still play or not.

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32

If I had to take a wild stab in the dark I’d say the abuse factor is likely what’s driving most of the “against” responses, there’s very few games on this site that deal with that in any significant capacity. Like Krod says, separating them all out would give a better indication as to what people would like to see.

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33

Incredibly valid point. It is a far more complex question than for or against.
For now, I have a scenario for trans and alcoholism planned. As for the abusive one and any other potentially more controversial topics I cannot comment on how they would be implemented just yet but I can rule out explicit depiction of SA and anything surrounding that topic for a start.

In terms of the trans element:
A friend of mine thought they were trans (male to female), and they were planning on having top surgery but as time went on and their own self-image as well as their perspective on themselves both mentally and physically changed she eventually decided that she would not have top or indeed bottom surgery. She continues to take hormones, prefers she/her pronouns, and generally prefers to dress more effeminately (I understand to some that is a superficial element, ultimately it’s how you feel inside but that’s part of how she expresses herself in this space and as such is a massive part of her mental health in relation to her transition) she may never fully transition. She may eventually detransition but that is not up to me or anyone else to speculate because whilst I may not fully understand this in its entirety I do understand what these choices represent for her mental health and as such I support her. In terms of this game I would like to explore this process but from a female to male perspective. The underlying essence of this storyline would be that as they gain weight (as this is a weight gain game) and as they try to force their body into the image they feel it should be (chest binders, Spanx, etc) they eventually come to terms with the fact that while mentally they may not feel like the woman they were biologically born, they actually like how they look on this more feminine spectrum (fertility type femininity) and it ultimately leads to them accepting their duality of a biological female whilst in the core of their being feeling they should and could be male.

This may seem like a gross oversimplification but I feel this could work well if handled correctly. I may or may not be the person to pull this off but I do think it would be a good way of shedding light on this side of the topic without making it feel forced, coerced, tokenized, or any some such “tacked on” character development never to be referenced again.

In terms of the alcoholism:
As a college student myself I understand that not all alcoholism is smashing beer bottles and passing out in your own vomit. While this is another gross oversimplification it is also how many people perceive it. A reliance on alcohol can range from an intrinsic need to go out and party, a habitual practice of having a few beers when you get home that then becomes more than a few or not knowing your limit and constantly drinking more and more to reach that drunken numbness to deal with stress or anxiety. My future father-in-law falls into the last category, my best friend the 1st, and myself to some extent the 2nd.

In terms of this game, I would likely utilize the 1st example as it fits with the college theme but may explore it to a lesser extent with the player character in the 2nd example as this would play into a fetishized role of intoxication but to a much lesser extent as I, again, do not intent to romanticize these topics. With the “party animal by night” becoming “party animal at all times” identity I would like to explore the effects of constantly going out partying with one specific NPC that unbeknownst to the player character is developing a dependency and broach how the player character in this instance would deal with this. Unlike the trans scenario, this one would be far less passive and require player interaction to ultimately observe the effects your actions have on the characters around you.

As far as other touchy subjects, as I’ve said SA is out, I almost certainly will not be touching narcotics, no underage, no necro, no bestiality, and quite a few more things in that vein but until the inspiration strikes I don’t know which topics would ultimately end up as “touchy subjects”

Hopefully, this clarifies where I’m coming from and where I intend to go with it.

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34

abuse in action is a no-no, it would likely be a reference to past trauma, just posted an elaboration there, let me know if I missed anything

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35

Agreed. I’m not offended by these subjects and if used to write a good story can be effective but i suppose i’d ask how they’d fit into the game and in what way etc?

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36

Elaboration above should help explain the use cases (I saw you both typing when I was writing it and had to take it up a gear but I was too late :sweat_smile: )

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37

Sure I would still be okay with any of the listed subjects.

I know it could be a big ask but if you have certain elements more central to a particular character as well you can always make it optional to engage, interact, romance them, etc. It seems like this might be kind of the case as is. A far more work intensive option is to have a toggle for that type of content which will just hide it.

I like the idea or more complex storytelling and issues but I know some subjects are not for everyone.

38

As you’ve correctly assumed, all characters with the exception of Kia are optional to even interact with aside from the most surface level interactions. I could add a toggle to avoid the scenes involving these topics, I’m currently trying to run before I can even crawl thinking of the most efficient ways to add flags to enable expansions, disable dev tools etc so that would be rolled into this category but I’m also planning on adding a difficulty type thing for players that just want the smut and WG vs players that are interested in a wg sim

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39

It sounds like you are going to handle the topics well for character development and not just add them for shock value. I can personally relate to all three topics you mentioned from my own college experience, and the way you explained integrating them will add to the overall relatability and depth of the story. There have been games on here (Skirjasaga comes to mind) with dark tones or touchy subjects so it isn’t unprecedented. Just be ready for comments here as the story develops and take it one step at a time.

40

I just closed the poll there. In theory, a 50 - 50 split is what it says it is, it’s not a positive or negative outcome for the topic but in practice that says half the people do not want something and half the people do so either way you break the tie half of the voters will not get what they wanted. So based on Krod’s suggestions and on the fact of how the game will work in this regard I will go forward with both outcomes in the following manner:

Based on the nature of the game every character with the exception of Kia is essentially avoidable aside from most surface-level interactions. When you go to the library to study and run into a character, you don’t have to talk to them or interact with them, this is true for most NPC interactions with the exception of vendors and such.

There will be a setting added to remove the “touchy” parts of any affected character’s storyline for those who wish not to see it.

Essentially if you don’t want to see it you wont.

4 Likes