VN Ren'Py Completed Blooming Love [v1.0] [Bright Sun Studios]

4.10 star(s) 25 Votes

Ignatz

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Feb 17, 2018
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Your patience is impressive. Kudos on that, as much as the game (which is delightful).
 

Gomly1980

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Jul 4, 2017
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is there any sex scene(s) in the update 14 ?
The one i've been waiting for since I first sent Evelyn to work .... a threesome with Lisa.

Take the sisters away and Lisa is probably my favourite character .... I want her to have a happy ending.
 

Gomly1980

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Jul 4, 2017
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Different kind of happy ending.

Although that one would probably have better visuals.

But I was thinking less sex and more love and romance ... all that soppy stuff ... purely for my wife of course, she's the one into that not me, I like manly things like beer ... soppy stuff doesn't make me shed tears, nope.
 

Ignatz

What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow
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Heh. Well, this is a "sweet" game. I support it for that reason, so I hope there is more tender and less woe. There's plenty of story-less porn to play out there and there are also some story-driven porn that are fun. This feels different and I hope it keeps that feeling all the way through.
 

Gomly1980

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I think that's why i've enjoyed this one as much, it has the "feel good" vibe.

I've played those games where a relationship is doomed from the start and it gets overly dramatic and while this has it's moments of drama it does it in a good way.

I did worry a bit at the start how it would go because it reminded me a little bit of Love Ribbon and that got way too sad near the end, especially if you made the wrong choices, and there are some couples in games I just don't want to see happy.
 
Jun 26, 2017
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First of all... Yes, this game is porn. It might also focus on character development and story, but it's still porn. Now the sex just means something in a narrative context.
Awww. Well OK, that's why I asked a question - so that I can be disabused of my incorrect personal notions. Sadface here, because I love story/romance focus with porn as spice, rather than the reverse... but hey, it's your story. You stick you how you design it.

As far as 'you earn a lot' hmmm...

You also seem to be under the impression that I earn a lot of money with this through Patreon. A simple check of my actual Patron page will show you this isn't the case (in fact, I lost money because of it because I needed to upgrade my PC to render properly). I have asked patrons (people here on this forum) about their opinons, but I (almost) never changed storylines because of my Patrons. They don't vote on story content, if that's what you were thinking.
That is what I was thinking, and I'm again happy to be disabused of those notions.

This only time I dropped a storyline... is the actual storyline you mentioned. I had a bit more planned for the old apartment, but that storyline was very unpopular (here on F95zone, not on my Patreon page), so I decided to drop my plans for it.
I didn't form my wrong impressions from nothing. I was merely pointing this out as something that contributed to the impression that the story was being written on the fly. More below.

Also, I think my previous post on here will show you that I most certainly do have a storyboard for the game. What happend in this update for example has been building since version 0.9, so I don't see why you would think I don't plan ahead. I've in fact known how I wanted to end it this story before version 0.1 was released.
Good to hear - Then let me amend my comment based on facts instead of my original conjecture - the story doesn't seem cohesive to me, maybe to others as well. The way it appears to me right now is you have five major sub-plots with no cohesive tie to each other:
1. The titular romance between the MC and sister.
2. The mystery of the original apartment (now discontinued)
3. The MC's father and his research.
4. Lisa's boutique, and its future.
5. College life.
... (any I missed?)
As an audience, at least what I am missing here, is what over-arching plot ties these four mostly unrelated stories together. Which story is this? The only theme that ties them all together is the romance, but the problem there is the other four stories to me serve as distractions rather help the main narrative be stronger.

Also, why the disrespect for Patrons? Yes, I get that in some games they patrons make sure the game is pushed in a direction you might not like. But you have to understand that these games simply wouldn't exist without Patron support.
Disrespect for patrons? Oh, sorry if I came across that way. I think we're having a definitions problem. A patron is someone who supports the artist's work and vision, and provides them with financial assistance so that they can concentrate on bringing that vision into life.

A client is someone who pays commissions to an artist so that the artist brings the client's wishes/desires/ideas to life with their talents.

Both can make a story happen. Neither is wrong, and I have no disrespect for either.

I just hoped that the latter wasn't happening because this very clearly started out as your story, and I was hoping it wouldn't get muddied with client requests. You said it wasn't, so I'm taking that at face value.

In closing, I was observing that the narrative seemed to me to lack a cohesive overarching plot, and in my previous post I indulged in a bit of incorrect speculation about why that was. Thanks for clearing up my misconceptions, and listing to my concerns for your story. :)

EDIT: Okay, that post was all criticism (well meaning but criticism nonetheless.)
As an artist you should also hear - your story is awesome. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have been inspired to take the time to write all that.
 
Jun 26, 2017
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Rather than continually edit the post above, I'm making this a post-script:
Because you are interactively telling this story in serial form, it's kind of this weird thing... kind of like if the complete Matrix Trillogy was being told in serial form an I had a chance to interrupt the Wachowski brothers in the gap between The Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded and say 'NO! Don't do it!' (Apologies for the comparison.) I was just knee-jerk responding out of fear that you might be about to jump the shark.

Of course you will probably prove me completely wrong because you can see the whole story and I can't, and you're a good writer... but I can only review and give feedback on the story as written thus far - I can't see what's really about to happen.
 

Bright Sun Studios

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Awww. Well OK, that's why I asked a question - so that I can be disabused of my incorrect personal notions. Sadface here, because I love story/romance focus with porn as spice, rather than the reverse... but hey, it's your story. You stick you how you design it.

As far as 'you earn a lot' hmmm...



That is what I was thinking, and I'm again happy to be disabused of those notions.



I didn't form my wrong impressions from nothing. I was merely pointing this out as something that contributed to the impression that the story was being written on the fly. More below.



Good to hear - Then let me amend my comment based on facts instead of my original conjecture - the story doesn't seem cohesive to me, maybe to others as well. The way it appears to me right now is you have five major sub-plots with no cohesive tie to each other:
1. The titular romance between the MC and sister.
2. The mystery of the original apartment (now discontinued)
3. The MC's father and his research.
4. Lisa's boutique, and its future.
5. College life.
... (any I missed?)
As an audience, at least what I am missing here, is what over-arching plot ties these four mostly unrelated stories together. Which story is this? The only theme that ties them all together is the romance, but the problem there is the other four stories to me serve as distractions rather help the main narrative be stronger.



Disrespect for patrons? Oh, sorry if I came across that way. I think we're having a definitions problem. A patron is someone who supports the artist's work and vision, and provides them with financial assistance so that they can concentrate on bringing that vision into life.

A client is someone who pays commissions to an artist so that the artist brings the client's wishes/desires/ideas to life with their talents.

Both can make a story happen. Neither is wrong, and I have no disrespect for either.

I just hoped that the latter wasn't happening because this very clearly started out as your story, and I was hoping it wouldn't get muddied with client requests. You said it wasn't, so I'm taking that at face value.

In closing, I was observing that the narrative seemed to me to lack a cohesive overarching plot, and in my previous post I indulged in a bit of incorrect speculation about why that was. Thanks for clearing up my misconceptions, and listing to my concerns for your story. :)
No problem. You did it in a very respectful way (and this response is also very respectful), which I can't say about everyone. I understand your problems though and there are definitely things I would have done differently if I started working on it now. It's a learning process I suppose.

It's always good to hear feedback, even negative feedback (although your feedback wasn't all that negative, I still got the idea that you enjoyed the game at least, which I hope you did). It's a learning process I suppose. I learn something new with every game I make (and sometimes from the games that I play that also use Ren'py as an engine).

But you might be right that the start of the game feels a bit different from what it is now. The game is in that weird place where the romance starts slower than in most games, but not as slow as in Dating My Daughter for example. Some people like that, so don't. I wanted the main focus of the game to be the romance between the sisters though and I didn't want it to be one of those games that was all build up and then ends with the two getting together. I wanted the reader to see what it was like after they got together, because that was and still is the more interesting thing to me. But I also didn't want to ignore the build up, so that's why I chose a sort of middle path. Whether that was a good choice is up to the reader I think.
 

Bright Sun Studios

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Rather than continually edit the post above, I'm making this a post-script:
Because you are interactively telling this story in serial form, it's kind of this weird thing... kind of like if the complete Matrix Trillogy was being told in serial form an I had a chance to interrupt the Wachowski brothers in the gap between The Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded and say 'NO! Don't do it!' (Apologies for the comparison.) I was just knee-jerk responding out of fear that you might be about to jump the shark.
Ah, I see. I don't think that will happen, so don't worry. I already have the next two updates planned out in detail. And update 0.16 is going to be the end of the story (so it will be v0.15 -> v1.0). But I understand how you feel and it's unfortunately true that simply how these games have to developed. I always try to do my own thing though. Even when I asked my patrons for advice, they responded with 'keep doing what you do and tell your own story', so that's what I'm doing.

Also... I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the game. It always makes my day when somebody tells me that.
 
Jun 26, 2017
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Then as a final reply, I'd say that you have a future in this, should you wish it - because I'd love to read your next project, and I doubt I'm alone in that regard.

You might benefit from listening to a podcast called . It includes some very strong and famous authors such as Brandon Sanderson, and offers whole panels of successful authors discussing all sorts of writing topics and advice to other writers.

Having said that, serial novels have their own challenging storytelling problems, as you've found out - you usually can't go back and axe content that you now realize doesn't mesh with the story you want to tell. Every successful author I've ever heard advice from has told tales of how they had to axe stories and sub-plots that they really personally loved - and that's just hard if not impossible in serial format. I won't tell you how to compensate for that, because I don't have the right answer either. My own go-to would just be to plan out more detail in every step of the story before writing 'episode 1' but I'm a planner and 'moar planning' is always my go-to. YMMV and you do you.
 

Bright Sun Studios

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Then as a final reply, I'd say that you have a future in this, should you wish it - because I'd love to read your next project, and I doubt I'm alone in that regard.

You might benefit from listening to a podcast called . It includes some very strong and famous authors such as Brandon Sanderson, and offers whole panels of successful authors discussing all sorts of writing topics and advice to other writers.

Having said that, serial novels have their own challenging storytelling problems, as you've found out - you usually can't go back and axe content that you now realize doesn't mesh with the story you want to tell. Every successful author I've ever heard advice from has told tales of how they had to axe stories and sub-plots that they really personally loved - and that's just hard if not impossible in serial format. I won't tell you how to compensate for that, because I don't have the right answer either. My own go-to would just be to plan out more detail in every step of the story before writing 'episode 1' but I'm a planner and 'moar planning' is always my go-to. YMMV and you do you.
Ah, yes... My next game (High School Crush Simulator) is going to have mystery element to its main story so it definitely needs a lot of planning before version 0.1 is released. The game is actually already in a playable state right now, but I'm not going to release yet for the simple reason that I need to ensure that I know where the main story is going, as you've said.

I will give Writing Excuses a listen. Simply mentioning the name Brandon Sanderson persuades me to do it. I love his work and he has had a huge influence on how I think about world building and set up for fantasy games (my own fantasy game Their Beautiful World for example, which is still in very early stages of development). I adore his magic systems (which is one of the reasons I'm one of the few Sanderson readers who thinks Mistborn is better than Stormlight Archive. I just love the three magic systems in Mistborn). In fact, on the forum for that game I think I mentioned that a combination of Soothing and Lightweaving was an inspiration for the main character's magical ability.
 
Jun 26, 2017
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So you're saying you like the way Preservation and Ruin use Investiture better than you like the way Honor and Odium do.

I'm sort of backing into the fact that as far as Brandon is concerned, it's the same magic system and people like Hoid may very well actually have and combine both facets? Brandon's just awesome like that.

Ugh, nevermind. This is a forum about your game, and discussion thereof, not drooling like a fanboy about other authors. :D

Ignore this post.

*wipes drool off keyboard*
 

the66

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here is my unofficial android port for Blooming Love v0.14.1
if you have installed v0.13.1, backup your saves and deinstall the app before installing v0.14.1
have fun and please report problems
 

Bright Sun Studios

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Nov 17, 2017
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here is my unofficial android port for Blooming Love v0.14.1
if you have installed v0.13.1, backup your saves and deinstall the app before installing v0.14.1
have fun and please report problems
Thanks for updating the Android port. That was much quicker than expected
 
Apr 15, 2018
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Quick question about deleting these games, as I'm new to the game here. If I delete a game after playing is it all removed or is there still lingering app data? Because I've noticed deleting a game, then downloading a later version my saves are still there. Is there a way to delete everything including all the app data, etc. I've searched for specific games & their data & don't see anything... but like I said, the game saves are still there if I re-install, so I feel it's still hiding somewhere. Thanks!
 

Bright Sun Studios

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Nov 17, 2017
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Quick question about deleting these games, as I'm new to the game here. If I delete a game after playing is it all removed or is there still lingering app data? Because I've noticed deleting a game, then downloading a later version my saves are still there. Is there a way to delete everything including all the app data, etc. I've searched for specific games & their data & don't see anything... but like I said, the game saves are still there if I re-install, so I feel it's still hiding somewhere. Thanks!
Yes, save files will remain if you delete the game files. They are stored in %AppData%. Just go there and search for 'RenPy'. Two folders which show up. You can delete those and then you save files will be removed.

If you want to delete a save for this game specifically, you can also search for 'BloomingLove' and delete the folder that shows up. At least... this is how it works in Windows. Not sure how to do it on a Mac.
 
Apr 15, 2018
74
38
Yes, save files will remain if you delete the game files. They are stored in %AppData%. Just go there and search for 'RenPy'. Two folders which show up. You can delete those and then you save files will be removed.

If you want to delete a save for this game specifically, you can also search for 'BloomingLove' and delete the folder that shows up. At least... this is how it works in Windows. Not sure how to do it on a Mac.
Thanks! I don't want to delete this game, I downloaded but have yet to start actually. I tried some other games that were just terrible & deleted them & wanted to get rid of that data specifically. Thanks for your work, definitely appreciated.
 

Gomly1980

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Jul 4, 2017
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I am starting to feel a bit sorry for Lexi.

Seems she has 2 crazy women chasing her.
 
4.10 star(s) 25 Votes