Author: Chaotic

Now, that The Academy : Part 2 has been released, It’s time for a quick summary of what I’ve been doing over the past month.

First though, since the last blog post had a lot people dicussing hints and tips for Academy Part 2, it seems prudent to mention the new lagoon for those who aren’t aware. It’s a forum that specializes in erotic games, and it has a thread discussing dsp3000s game already : http://the-new-lagoon.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3862

EDIT : Walkthroughs for The Academy Part 1 & 2 now added to the members area, under the ‘help’ section.

Feel free to continue discussing the game on this blog if you wish, but I find reading a forum thread much easier that wading through blog comments. It should be fairly easy to find hints and door codes there if you need them.

So, what have I been up to?

Well, first of all, I’ve been experimenting with some new base models. Most of my characters use something called the “Victoria 4” base, but there has been newer base models released over the last few years, most notably the “Genesis”. These new bases produce characters with more realistic body shapes and higher resolution skins. The new versions of Daz studio also come with something called a IRAY render, which can also produce much more details images.

I’ve also been trying to decide what my next game should be. Here’s the options I’ve been considering…

Option 1 : Crystal

I’m still considering Crystal Part 3. I have a story and premise I’m very happy with, but I’m kinda feeling like I want to work with something new. I love Crystal, but it’s not like I haven’t done anything with her before.

Option 2 : Mia

A character I created a while ago, but have yet to use is Mia. I seem to be really into her right now, so I have more enthusiasm toward the idea of a game with her. It would also balance out the ethnicities of the characters in my games a bit more.

Option 3 : A set of new characters all with Genesis and iRAY.

A third option I like is something a bit more story driven and with a selection of characters all made with Genesis and rendered in Daz Studio for maximum quality. This could be another pool party game or something similar. So, not really a date game, but four or five characters in one situation, all of which have naughty scenarios to unlock.

Here’s a poll to have your say (also feel free to comment below as well, of course). I’m not guaranteeing that whichever option is most popular will be what happens, but I’m hoping for something to help me make up my mind.

Before you vote, I encourage everyone to look through the images below first so you can see what all of the characters will potentially look like.

It is also worth noting that, I will probably end up doing Crystal Part 3 no matter what, so you would just be voting on whether or not I do another game first.

There’s also one more brief thing I wanted to discuss.

For a few years now, I’ve always had the option of choosing your gender and ethnicity. Are people really bothered about having this choice though? I was looking through the site statistics and a majority of players just play as a white male.

If I didn’t have to render four sets of animations for all of the gender and ethnicity combinations (plus anything else I have to do for them), I could probably produce even bigger games, or at the very least more games per year.

So, keeping that in mind, do you think I should just have the player character being a white male, or do you think it’s important to have the other options?

Here are the preview images for each possible game for your consideration…

Crystal

I’ve subtly upgraded Crystal for her part 3 appearance, giving her a bit more muscle tone. This makes more sense with the plot I’ve developed as she is now competing professionally as a swimmer.

Mia

Genesis

Random characters I put together using Genesis 2 and iRAY. I probably won’t be using these exact characters for a ‘pool part 2’, or whatever I make, but you can see examples of the body shapes and skin details from these images.

The academy : Part 2 has now been released. You can find it in the members section.

Some last words from dsp3000 on the game…

I am very happy to announce that ‘The Academy: Part Two’ is finally completed and is now available in the members area.

This has been my most intensive production so far with the whole game taking about 14 weeks from start to finish. It’s larger than Part One and much larger than originally planned. It’s also technically more complex too. While I have tested the game thoroughly, I would be very surprised if there aren’t a couple of minor bugs that have been missed. Please report any issues and I’ll get them resolved as soon as possible.

In total there are exactly 1500 images in this game, with around another 100 images used for end cards and achievements.

The Academy will become a five part series and while Part One was more of an introduction, this part really starts to develop the plot and the relationships between the characters. I also wanted to pay special attention to building in good replay value.

Just as in Part One you can still get fired, but there are many more paths to choose this time which can reveal much more positive outcomes too. While there are seven ‘bad endings’ there are also 20 ‘achievements’ to collect during the multiple ways to get to a good ending. To help you keep track of what’s in the game, I’ve introduced a new feature which records and shows your achievements at the end of each play through. It’s not possible to get all 20 achievements in one game play because some outcomes conflict with others, but they should all be achievable by playing through in different ways and (crucially) with different entry codes from part one.

Four of the female characters have very erotic scenes to discover in this episode, along with a few other tastes of nudity and teasing from some of the others. And for the first time ever in a VDategame there is an MMF threesome scene to participate in.

To play this game you will need one of the six codes gained at the end of Part One. Rather than just finding the codes online, I would recommend playing Part One to find the codes before you play Part Two so that everything makes more sense.

Enjoy playing the game and no spoilers please!

dsp3000

From dsp3000 on his upcoming game, The Academy : Part 2.

This should be the last update before the next episode of The Academy is released next Friday. I have a few bits to finish off still, and some more testing to run through, but overall I’m very happy with the way this game is looking. From the perspective of image quality, storyline development and variety of playthrough options, it’s definitely my best work so far.

I’ve included a few images which will give you some more clues as to where the action takes place in this episode. You will be able to have erotic encounters with five of the characters in this game plus a few other nice little extras with a couple of others.n The last image this week also hints at the appearance of another new character.

Next week will be all about the game release, but I might throw in a bit more nudity for the final blog update images too.

dsp3000

From dsp3000 on The Academy : Part 2…

Progress has been pretty good this week and I’m now working on the files and images for last major scene. After that it will be a full check through, a few minor image updates perhaps, and a full checkover of the scoring system and the checkfiles which make the game work as it should. As such I’m still on target for release at the end of July.

With the aforementioned scene still to complete, the image count is now just below 1400. Only time will tell just how many images the final game will comprise. It will be pretty big though.

The preview images this week are all taken from one key scene. If you remember, in part one Bridgette asks you to take part in a studio session with the students. This session takes place early on in the second installment of the series. The choices you make in the studio will effect what can happen for the rest of the day. There are around 300 images in this scene alone and there are several ways to play through it. It should be lots of fun.

I’ve thought plenty about replay value in this episode. This scene is a pretty important one if you want to discover all the potential outcomes.

More next week.

This week, news from dsp3000 on his new game, Academy : Part 2…

While Chaotic has been busy completing and releasing the excellent ‘Betsy’, I have spent the last 10 weeks or so working on the second part of ‘The Academy’ series.

Just to recap this is intended to be a five part series. Each part represents a day working at the ‘Goodhead Academy’ and meeting all the characters who reside there. Each part will further expand upon an increasingly complex story, and your actions in each part influence your options in the next.

Originally I had planned that each part would have around 700 – 800 images and would be produced in a 6 to 8 week timeframe. Part one took about nine weeks and had just under 1000 images and part two has currently exceeded 1200 images with two major scenes still to complete. Clearly I am terrible at sticking to self imposed work limits… 

Fortunately, for you the player, it means that the games are being given the increased time and attention I think they require and deserve. Unfortunately, it also means that each part is taking longer than originally planned. I think it’s worth the wait though. The five part series was supposed to be a year long project, I can however see it taking somewhat longer…

So back to The Academy Part Two. The images reveal most but not all of the characters who appear this time. Notable is the return of Holly.  This installment has more options to explore than in Part One and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed by what those options entail.

As previously mentioned, the current image count is well over 1200, and I’ve completed 17 out of the 20 scenes on my production schedule.

Two of those remaining are larger sex scenes, so I reckon the final count will be about 1400.

This also means that the game is close to completion. All being well it should be released on or before 29th July 2016.

More info next week.

dsp3000

Hello everyone.

There is new version of Betsy (version 1.1) now available for download or to play online. There are no major changes, though there were a few responses that connected to the wrong pages. I also reduced the confidence requirement by two for Betsy to get the part in the play, so anyone having trouble with that part may find it a little easier. Big thank you you Serge for putting together a very concise list of things for me to tweak.

Betsy – a review

So, let’s try and sum up my own feelings towards the finished game.

Overall, I’m extremely proud. Betsy was actually the culmination of about two years worth of work and I think it shows. Not that I was constantly working on it for two years of course, but I had a very basic idea of what I wanted the game to be in my head, and for around 18-20 months I kept adding ideas to it. When I finally got around to creating the game, I had about 1000 words worth of ideas or scenarios or lines of dialog hastily written into a notepad file.

Best parts?

I love Violet’s entrance. I thought it was a great idea just to have a main character be introduced by her running into camera shot and whacking someone of the back of the head. In fact, practically anything involving her. I started this game lusting after Betsy, but I think think I ended it in love with Violet.

Apart from that, I think my favorite parts are mostly the smaller ones. I love the way Betsy chickens out for her first fully nude photo at the school (at least for a few moments). I love the way Betsy and the player laugh at themselves running home for sex after the dance.

I also really like the animations. Playing and image sequence rather than using an animated GIF definitely looks better.

What didn’t I like?

Though I’m of course very happy with it, I think there are a few fundamental things about the game that bug me.

For instance, how on earth did Betsy end up with the shy personality that she does? She has Cass as a mother, Rachel as a sister, and Violet as her best friend! I guess the explanation is that she inherited it from her estranged father before he left, but maybe I should have made a point of it somewhere.

I also think that the confidence building doesn’t go on for quite as long as it should. There’s only one date between Betsy reading the newspaper and posing for nude photos at school.  I feel like there should be one more date in the middle there. One possibility I’ve been considering is changing the dates so that there’s four date nights instead of three. So, for the first date, you can pick meeting Violet or bowling, second date you can pick Clothes shopping or staying home, and on the third night you can pick the pool or the nightclub. I’ll have to think about it though.

What’s next?

The next thing for the site will be dsp3000’s next game, The Academy : Part 2. Expect weekly blog posts concerning it soon.

For me, there are two games I have to choose between doing.

The first is Mia. I really wanted to do a game which is set in one place, but with lots of possibilities to it. In this case, you would both be staying in a hotel, meet at the bar, and get to know each other throughout the evening. The unique part of it though is that I want it to be a mystery. Mia frequently teases you regarding what she does for work, and what her true personality is, but isn’t very forthcoming. The ultimate aim of the game would be to finish it know who she truly is.

Mia would also give me the chance to introduce a new black woman to the cast of characters. If you’re wondering why my characters are usually white, it’s simply because they’re easier to get looking good or realistic. If you look at Josie for instance, her skin looks a bit plastic and not very detailed. I know a lot more about using Poser these days though, so maybe it’s time to try again.

The other possibility is Crystal : Part 3. People who check my blog regularly will know that I started work on Crystal earlier in the year, but stopped when my interest waned. It was mainly the setup that I had no enthusiasm for (it played very similarly to Jennifer), and I wanted to do something a little different.

I think I might have finally found something that I like though. Any American Dad fans reading? I was watching one of the older episodes a while ago, “Roger ‘n’ Me”. In it two of the main characters compete in a game show where player are awarded points for getting answers right about their partner. So, you might get asked, “What is Crystal’s favorite move?”, and you would have give the correct answer to get the points and her approval. I feel like that would be a good aspiration in the game ; to win the quiz show. It can be very character orientated and to finish the game, you have to really get to know Crystal, otherwise you won’t win.

I have some others ideas in place for it too, such as Crystal being a big Sci-fi geek and meeting the cast of my sci-fi games at a convention. I’ll have to think about it.

Another possibility is Photographer Part 3, but I don’t really want to go there until I have a good story driven reason for it happening this time.

As always, I’m happy to hear thoughts on my rambling ideas.

Thank you to everyone who reported issues and bugs over the last two days.

I’m am now happy enough to declare Betsy out of Beta, so the I’m labeling the newly uploaded version 1.0. You can find it here http://www.vdategames.com/betsy.html. Remember to refresh the page if you’ve visited it recently or the new version may not show. The downloaded version should say ‘betsy_1.0.zip’, and the online version should say ‘betsy3’ if you look at the URL.

All reported bugs have been corrected and lots of types fixed. This version also has the easy difficulty re-added for those who need it.

A quick summary guide for playing :

• As with most of my games, All browsers should be able to play the online version. Chrome cannot play the offline version though. I recommend using Firefox if you can.
• If you see a 404 page when playing online, this means that too many people are playing the game online at the moment. Either download a version if you can, or a wait until a little later.

EDIT : If the game is still not working for you, please specify your problem below, other wise I can’t help you!

UPDATE : A walkthrough for Betsy has now been added to the walkthroughs section.

SATURDAY UPDATE : I am on vacation until Thursday. This means, while I will try to answer email and comments, I won’t be able to do anything significant with the site until I return.

While most players had no trouble with the beta of Betsy I uploaded yesterday, about 10%couldn’t get it to work properly. The issues seem to be a combination of the new functions I started using for this game and the browsers people were using to play.

Since I’m a fan of the ‘simplest solution is normally the best one’ ideal, I’ve just decided to replace all of the new functions with the ones I regularly use for my games. If you were able to play games such as Miranda, Jennifer or Maddison, this version should work fine for you now.

I’ve updated the Betsy game page with new links, and I’ve replaced the online version. If you are playing online, the new version will have ‘betsy2’ in the the URL. If are downloading it, the zip should be named ‘betsy_0.91’.

http://www.vdategames.com/betsy.html

Normal rules for my games apply. The online version should work with every browser, but you can’t use Chrome for the offline version.

Note : If you’ve visited the Betsy page recently, remember to press refresh on your browser, otherwise the old version may still appear.

Hopefully, this version should work for everyone. I’ve also corrected all the bugs that people have reported to me.

Betsy is now live and for free on the site.

If you can’t see her yet, make sure you refresh the site’s front page, or the games page (whichever one you’re looking at).

The final image count for the game is a crazy 1652 images, making it easily the largest I’ve ever made.

Due to the size of the game, I’m only releasing it as a Beta for the first 24-48 hours. I will be very surprised if there aren’t at least some bugs left in it. If there are, I will be fixing them as soon as I can.

In case you missed the relevant blog post, I have also upgraded the engine for this game. You should be able to download and play it with any browser, including Chrome.

Finally, I just want to draw attention to the fact that this is a free game. Part of my intention of releasing it as such is to see if people will be willing to join the members section as a sort of ‘donation’ instead of being forced to join it to play the latest games. If you enjoy Betsy, have the money, and want to show your gratitude, feel free to sign up.

Happy gaming!

UPDATE : Since a decent amount of people seen to be having trouble with the new engine, I’m putting together a version of the game that uses the old one. The simplest solution is normally the best one, and if you can play any of my other games, you should be able to use this version. If you’re having trouble, just wait one more day and I should have the new version online when you wake up tomorrow morning.

This should be the final post before Betsy is released.

I’m finishing everything now. It is very likely that I will have the very last image rendered before the end of the day. That means I probably won’t have have enough time to check everything before tomorrow, but it does give me Friday and the weekend to check for bugs etc.

That means that today I am officially announcing that Betsy will be available for online play and download on Monday, June 20th.

A quick summary for those who don’t regularly follow the blog : Betsy is a brand new game to the site. She will be release for free so that everyone can play the game. It is a large one too. The final game will have over 1400 images.

Here are the final set of preview images.

Two of the possible last images you can see while playing the game. Each will come with a little summary of how things will continue in the relationship after you stop playing.

One of the two epilogues takes place on the beach where the player and Betsy have a final conversation about their future. Depending on how ‘wild’ Betsy has gotten throughout the game, the conversation can go a couple of different ways.

No doubt, the epilogue everyone will be aiming for however is the one that includes the three main characters and the player having fun in the empty nightclub (Betsy’s mom owns it, and has given them the keys so that they can have a private party). You can probably guess where the scenario goes.

That’s all for now. The next blog post you see should be on Monday when I release the game.