Youre doing Gods work. Its still disheartening that Bob just vanished without a trace, I still think fillmeup is in the top 5 of these type of visual novel renpy games despite its rough edges. He never even got around to AI-ifying version 4.0 like he did 3.0. I look forward to your version of this game, it deserves to be continued.
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On that front i want to mention (as i have mentioned in the original thread where i originally announced this game) that i will not be using ai generated images. I still remember bobo doing a poll about using ai generated images back in the day, and i was firmly in the “no ai” camp. I hated how it looks - and i am not gonna do it here. I am kinda sorry to say if you liked them, but the homogenisation of the characters, blurs and inconsistencies brought by ai image generation i find to be thoroughly unappealing. Ai makes it so that the character look very samey. Not just the individual character in this game compared to each other; Rather it makes them look basically the same as a lot of other renpy charcter made with ai in other VN’s in general. Which is a lot in this genre, it is kinda oversaturated.
I don’t want to give the impression that i am singling you out at all, or even implying that you directly asked for ai to be implemented. I truly do mean no ill will. I am just using your mention of ai as an excuse to make it clear once more. If anyone comes into this, and expects some degree of ai generation like in some versions of fillmeup, you will be disappointed.
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Thank you the ai shifts in bobo’s game were jaring to say the least
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No thats fine I didnt think you would. I know AI images, especially the early ones at the time, are not for everyone. I only brought it up as a remembrance of the progress of the game at the time. I only liked them because it covered up some of the character models that were rough polygons in some scenes, even if it was inconsistent generic anime girls. AI is divisive and have delusions that you would use it in this project.
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I’ll be very curious to see this one start to take form.
Fill Me Up remains a pretty good weight game in my eyes despite having a lot of issues and general crustiness. The models aren’t the prettiest but they are effective at conveying what they need to and there is a good range of character expressions and body contrasts that come across well enough. The writing as well is very to the point and the plot is as flimsy as it gets. By all accounts this game should be playable but unmemorable.
And yet there’s just something about it that ends up being compelling. A lot of this is I think due to the sheer number or routes and choices you make, and I’m not sure there’s another game that has you continuously swapping back and forth between feeder and feedee like this one. While the plot is just there to serve as a basic premise for the fetish content, the game is much more open about what it’s about (feeding women and making them fat) and just doesn’t ever relent on it. While I do like games with more plotting and character work, Fill Me Up sort of showcases that that isn’t always necessary; I think this game succeeds largely because it only really focuses on fetish, weight gain content and generates A LOT of it.
Anyway, as I said, I’ll be very interested to watch this one as develops, and I’ll be happy to provide feedback along the way as we see more! Best of luck on this project!
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I think Fill Me Up gets away with the its lack of non-fetish related characterization and lack of a non-fetish plotline because it uses weight gain tropes and the visual novel format to very good effect.
We have Erika secretly fattening up Akane, slowly sabotaging Akane’s habits while concurrently getting in shape. She just got out of being the feedee in her relationship and has an urge to be on the other side of things.
We have Akane who is wrestling with the fact that she enjoys getting fatter even though she really shouldn’t be enjoying it. She slowly leans into it, in a bit of denial about how out of hand her weight is getting, believing she can always lose the weight whenever she wants.
There is the shifting power dynamic as Akane gets fatter and Erika gets fitter. Akane goes from being Erika’s trainer, to being teased by her, to being moderately humiliated by her.
This setup provides enough character motivation and tension to be engaging. It raises natural questions about the plot. Does Akane want to lose weight? Does she even have enough willpower to lose weight? Is she happy with Erika’s teasing? Does she want to get back at Erika?
If the game had Akane accept that she wants to get fatter immediately and had the character dynamics stay static as she puts on weight, the game would be a lot less interesting.
Luckily, with a visual novel, there’s no need to pick a path. It can all be explored. As a byproduct, we get to see the characters respond to contrasting circumstances. We get to see the character arc of Akane slowly getting fatter and lazier, accepting Erika’s teasing, slowly becoming more dependent on Erika. We get to see Akane sabotaging Erika, dragging her down like crabs in a bucket so they can be fat together. We get to see Akane getting back in shape and reversing the role reversal.
Even though we’re not saving the world, or getting childhood flashbacks, or getting Hemingway level dialogue, the structure provided by the setup provides enough relationship tension and dramatic irony to be compelling.
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Imo this right here is Fill Me Up’s biggest appeal. Not just in the Erika/Akane power dynamic too. The game has a much heavier (pun not intended) focus on character dynamics than every other game on this website (including other golden standard games like Big Aspiration, Indulgences and Fattening Career), in no small part due to the sheer number of alternate ways things can happen, and the fact the player character can choose to lose back the weight if they wish so.
I’ve always wished we could’ve seen the slimming down route get continued, as I was really looking forward to a version of the story’s endgame where Akane ends up being the slimmer sister of the two. I also enjoy making Rin slim so she can aid Erika in teasing Akane in the feedee route.
All in all, if there’s one thing I really hope this project keeps from FMU, it’s the massive focus on power dynamics depending on who’s fat or not. Including if possible, as I’ve said in FMU’s original thread, a Chika revamp maybe? (Or cutting her altogether ngl) As her being the only character to always gain weight no matter what you do makes her stick out like a sore thumb lol
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Well i am happy that i liked the game for the same reasons everyone else did! I am focused on the feedee route right now (The heat and exam stress is making it hard to do much, but i always get at least an hour of work in). I am actually planning to include a choice that decides wether the main character is embracing their transformation, or remains apprehensive on it - it would mostly change dialogue with few extra pictures. And i would make it so that the “slim down route” is only accessable if the main Character is apprehensive toward the gaining. The apprehensive feedee route (if you fail to lose weight) could also include some darker or sadder themes and dialogue. I am still not fully done with weight stage 0 at present due to all the stuff slowing me down irl, but i will be done with uni stuff at the start of july, at around the 5th or so.
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I also have another reworked picture of the park. As i have said before it looks a lot more consistent, at least to me. In this case i did look how bobo handled the park background, and i did a similar thing by just having a sky hdri with hills, since it creates a simple background and does not cause intense artstyle clashing because i can just make the hills and trees myself. Here is a picture. I am kind of paranoid that people might think i’m not doing anything, so please let me know if you are fine with a little bit of silence on my end (until i either have a demo or someone asks a question)
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I don’t need the proof of progress. Feel free to post it if you find it motivating, or want help!
I like low-poly, but I’m not sold on the tree balls. The regular grid of defined edges seems… un-plant-like. What about a smooth sphere, or else a more irregular, spiky shape? Also consider multiple layers of foliage, 2D with transparency.
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I’ll see what i can do!
Yeah, you don’t need to feel pressured to give constant progress updates. We understand that game development takes time and that sometimes life gets in the way and you might not make as much progress as you would expect. Just post whenever you want some feedback/help or whenever there is something cool and you want to build some hype.
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So if I’m understanding this right – The Akane Feedee route would split depending on her attitude? Do you think that’d be easy to work into the other alternate routes as dialogue, or would this include special events entirely?
Also one of the things I loved about the original FMU was how subtle and slow the gains were at the beginning before the ball started rolling. Can we expect something similar in this version? (I also get that’s a lot of smaller weigh-in images to make too though)
Edit:
Silence is okay and to be expected I think. Take your time and have fun with it more than anything else.
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a) I believe that would simply be a change of dialogue based on a background check. I am not that far into it yet, so i will still focus on one route, but yes technically it will be a route split. Even though i am not there yet, it is not a bad idea for me to plan ahead were certain routesplits can happen.Of course, that would mean that one choice can lead to 3 different routes which sounds bad - but i would probably lock that route at that point.
b) “Also one of the things I loved about the original FMU was how subtle and slow the gains were at the beginning before the ball started rolling.” That is one of the main reasons why i enjoyed FMU as well, and i am planning to do this in a similar way. Of course, wether i can achieve this depends on my writing. The slow shift as habits change, and the view of ones self corrupts, changes and becomes unrecognizable is imo the best part of the weight swap fetish niche.
Edit: Another thing i would actually want is give the option of a male protagonist - though i will not even consider starting that until i am done with the main game with the female protag. Really, i am just full of ideas which i have to carefully align as to not put too much on my plate.
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Maintaining in character choices is an easy way to limit pathing, while allowing for player agency.
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if you do a male protag option I will love you forever (bonus if its a very feminine male)
If i do implement it he would be feminine, as in no bodyhair (sounds annoying for me to do in blender lol) or they would start as somewhat masculine and get feminized. The latter option seems more in the spirit of the game, but we’ll have plenty of time to think about it while i finish the female routes
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Hey there! I don’t talk on the forums much, but I wanted to mention this is a very cool project idea, I absolutely adore Fill Me Up. Recently I had completely deconstructed the game, and cleaned it up to be instead of a simulator of sorts, an event-based game where you can play all the interactions in the game. (I was always annoyed that if you gained weight too fast you would skip content). If you have any Ren’Py questions I’m always around on Discord to answer (@gyunsven) feel free to reach out, and good luck!
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Thank you very much! I’ll see if i need help. I do get kind of annoyed with renpy (mostly the py part) because of the indentations and stuff. that being said, i have already implemented images in the game and have played through some of it. If i have any further questions i’ll let you know!
