VN Ren'Py To Hell & Back I: Mr. Brooks [deadbeatstudios][Development Thread]

[deadbeatval]

Hi. I pretty often go by Val in real life. Hence my username here.

After years of playing VNs, I finally decided to start making my own (after some urging and plenty of advice from another dev). But instead of doing a long, continuous story like many VNs, I figured it'd make better use of my frankly too-little time doing short, episodic stories. Which leads to this dev thread. So, a little about me is that I'm a photographer/videographer by trade. I've worked with several studio since I was a teenager before starting a decently successful production studio with a longtime friend of mine. I'm quite familiar with motion graphics, and sometime in 2019, I started venturing into 3D to see what could be done with motion graphics on the recommendation of another friend. Which led me down a rabbit hole, from Blender to Daz, and then Daz ultimately led to this niche little space (or maybe not so little?) via renders I saw of Summer's Gone. The raw cinematic appeal of Summer's Gone was something else. It was like seeing a snippet from a movie in the format of a comic, which was something I didn't know existed.

I have a decent grasp of 3D via professional workspaces, but I'd say my real strength lies in my understanding of lighting. I can pick out how a lot of things are done, and how they might be transferrable to a software like Daz or Blender. Perhaps that gives me a leg up coming into this vs other newer developers, or maybe it doesn't. I don't really know. But anyways, that's enough about me.

So, what am I bringing to the table? Well, I'm a big horror fan, and I'm also very much into darker fetishes. Many of these stories will be featuring very dark acts both physically and sexually. And as such, I don't expect this to last long on Patreon. I'll likely be setting it up alongside a SubscribeStar and Itch.io. Potentially Steam, as well, if the game does well enough. That all said, treat Patreon/SS like a tip jar/buy me a coffee type thing. My release schedule is going to be too wonky for any kind of consistent support. Supporter versions will most likely see an exclusive ending, but the free version will largely be the same beyond that.

Each new story will be released completed, most likely as-is. Short of bugs and/or typo fixes.



To Hell & Back I is a harrowing story of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. A broken Mr. Brooks, crushed under the pressure of an impossible work-life balance, a wife he suspects is no longer faithful, and caring for a daughter who he bends over backwards for to give her the life he never had. Enter Cody Singer, a student at the local college who has been babysitting for the Brooks family since middle school.

This is where we find Cody on a Saturday night. Mr. Brooks and his wife have been called away on a last-minute meeting that requires them to fly out of state for the next two days. More than happy to babysit while she studies for the upcoming exams and away from her noisy dorms. That is until she hears the front door open the following night. . .



Firstly, Cody Singer:



Mr. and Mrs. Brooks:



And finally, Cody's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Alex:





Tags, current and planned. Everything will be optional:

Creampie, vaginal sex, anal sex, oral sex, pregnancy/impregnation, graphic violence, rape, necrophilia, slave/captivity.

Genres:

Horror/Psychological Horror.



TH&B I: Mr. Brooks will have two distinct paths. Something of a good path, and something of a bad path.

I'll likely be adding to this as I make more. An optimistic goal is the end of the year, but I won't give anything firm at the moment.

 

[deadbeatval]

Reserved for future post, probably.

 

[deadbeatval]

So, I've started rendering the first path of the first big choice for TH&B I.



Acting as the world builder for the events to come, you'll make Cody's choice. To Study, to do something slightly more entertaining. Each choice may or may not have their own repercussions.

Not much to add beyond this. Figured it was worthy of a post nonetheless.

 

[deadbeatval]

A question question for anyone actively reading these:

With the letterboxing, do you guys prefer a closer, more compact/intimate view of the character in a more traditional 16:9? Or do you prefer the wider field of view of a more anamorphic scope (2:35:1)? Imagine both with letterboxing.

Traditional 4K/16:9



2:35

 

[Guvell]

Really promising project you have here. Bookmarked it already.

Now talking about the aspect ratio, the 2:35:1 looks slightly better imo.

 

[zerofreak]

A question question for anyone actively reading these:

With the letterboxing, do you guys prefer a closer, more compact/intimate view of the character in a more traditional 16:9? Or do you prefer the wider field of view of a more anamorphic scope (2:35:1)? Imagine both with letterboxing.

Traditional 4K/16:9

View attachment 3408366

2:35

View attachment 3408367

As a android player, I prefer 16:9

 

[deadbeatval]

Nothing much to add, just a little something of what's to come.

Mostly just rendering away while I have free time. Feels like I've made solid progress, though I know I won't have the time to put the detail I want into animations. Thinking of just leaving them out for now and potentially adding them at some other point either for Steam or just when I have the time to do them.

 

[Moundir]

Looks pretty good so far, renders look amazing.
Though I do wonder if its a 1 Female character VN or if Mrs. Brooks might get involved at some point.

 

[osanaiko]

One thing to keep in mind is that it can be hard to frame a scene well in 2:35:1, and the need to use more set decoration due to the wider field of view which means more geometry and textures in your render, making it slower.