flinpaltwell
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The Past, Present, and Future of LLRR
🕑 Added 2023-10-04 08:36:53 +0000 UTCAlright! Now that the camping update is out, I think I need to step back and take stock. In this post, I'm gonna talk about my current thoughts on the state of Love, Lust, and Rock 'n Roll, and how I would like to finish this project.
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The Beginning
I started this project like 6 years ago. I'll skip most the origin story for now, though I'd love to share it when all is said and done because it's pretty amusing.
When I started this project, my goals were fairly simple. I wanted to make an erotic visual novel I could enjoy over and over that catered to my very niche preferences, since I literally couldn't find what I wanted online. I made this privately and told no one. I was going to enjoy it privately and take it to my grave. That was the plan.
In terms of story, the game was originally just about Flin cheating on Stella with Kelly. Aside from Eric, no one else was in the game at all. The game was just gonna be about the build-up to the rock band tour, where Flin and Kelly are forced to room together (in much the same fashion as happens currently), and there they give in to their base desires.
And after that, I was gonna call it good, and make something else.
So really, I've long since reached the point I originally was aiming for. It doesn't make for a super satisfying ending, but for me, the most impactful scenes are the "first time doing this" scenes. That's why the game is structured the way it is with the RNG: Each early sex scene is a potential "I can't believe we're about to do this for the first time" moment, and if you fail to see that scene, that's not a bad thing because you haven't spoiled the first time yet. The longer you fail, the better the build-up, until the final "canon" sex scene with the 3-day hotel stuff at the end. I figured a structure like this would be fun to replay (and it has been!).
That was my rationale, and part of why the game's structure is what it is. But after I added Amy and Julie to the story, that opened up for way more of an actual game, and greatly improved the replayability. If I got tired of Kelly, I could switch to Amy. If I got tired of both, I could switch to Julie. Once I got tired of Julie, I could switch back to Kelly cause it had been a while. And honestly, that's pretty much worked perfectly this entire time. Still works.
Furthermore, I realized ending the game at the "true first-time sex scene" wasn't gonna be enough for me. I wanted to explore the space of the ongoing affair some more.
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The Middle
And that's where we're at now! We're exploring what sneaky ongoing sex is like with these characters, and that definitely has its own kind of fun charm to it.
In terms of game mechanics, the plan so far has been this: After the rock band tour ends, I wanted to replace the conversation mini-game with a sex mini-game, where choosing finesse, sympathy, and passion simply influences the next image you see in a brief little sex scene. I had a lot of ideas, like needing to gauge how likely you are to be caught and whether or not you can afford being louder for a passionate action, etc. etc.
Or, I thought about replacing the mini-game with just a randomly generated sex sequence, and at the end it uses your stats to determine how much that girl's love stat increases. Simpler, could still be fun.
In either case, the tone and scale of the game begins to "zoom out" a bit and be more of an experience of the general ongoing affair, rather than being hyper-focused on every intense second of sex that happens. There'd still be those types of scenes too, but there's also a sense of you generally just fucking around all the time.
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The End
So to that end, I was going to have a camping scene, a beach scene, and 4 personalized scenes (1 for Stella, Amy, Kelly, Julie). Interspersed randomly amongst these would be the mini sex scenes, and finally we end with the Valentine's day scene, before you choose your ending.
That's the basic structure, that's what I was hoping for.
But then I took like 7 months on the sound update, 10 months on the Samantha update, and 5 months on this update, and it's become clear that at this rate, I'll be working on this for like 3 more years before it's all finished.
And as much as I love this project, I don't want to take that long. I wanted to be done 2 years ago. Not to mention, as much as I love missionary, I feel like eventually things will start to feel a little stale (if not for me, then at least for you). If they don't already for you.
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So! How can we speed it up? What's high priority?
I definitely wanna do the "mini sex scene" thing. In fact, I'm gonna work on that next. I'm also definitely gonna do the beach scene, because you have to, and because Julie in a bikini was one of my earliest commissions ever and I've had that piece forever (I later was asked to do Kelly in a bikini, and it is my favorite Kelly shot I've ever made to date).
But! I don't need to make the beach update be all crazy long like the camping update was. I think instead of forcing you to choose one girl, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to bang all four ladies (or maybe just all three?) in the same day, but each scene will be more brief and fun.
I can try to keep it simple. Just a few shots per scene, but make them as hot as I can.
I'd like to incorporate two Amy scenes I made for commissions. The one where she's wearing Stella's shirt, and the one where she and Flin are doing it in Stella's closet (I think one will just lead into the other).
I have fun thinking up new scenarios and things. I had this whole idea of Flin and Amy going on a LARP trip together, and we see Amy in some pretty medieval garb, and the two of them are alone in a hotel room at night...
I also was gonna have Flin and Julie go on their own camping trip alone. I was gonna recycle a lot of the current imagery I made for this update, using daytime variants and such, but instead of being as quiet as possible, it's fun to think Julie can be as LOUD as possible, with no one around for miles.
For Kelly, I was thinking maybe she and Flin could go to a rock concert, or maybe they get asked to do some underwear modeling for the band đ
. I dunno if that would totally make sense but I've always thought Kelly rocks the lingerie thing pretty well for some reason. After their modeling session they go back to a hotel room and do it.
But, instead...I think I'm gonna pass on all three of these ideas. Instead, priorities. Beach scene, mini sex scenes, Valentine's scene, and very short little special scenes, like the Amy-wearing-Stella's-shirt thing.
So maybe instead of doing a whole Julie camping scene, I just do a mini version of it or something. I'm not entirely sure, but I think interspersed amongst the random mini sex scenes, I'll do some more specific mini sex scenes, and that'll kinda keep it all alive.
Then Valentine's, which will be your last big chance to increase a character's Love stat.
Then the end of the game. Whoever's love stat is above 100 (or some number that makes sense after testing), that person will be available as an option for you to choose as your happily ever after. I am considering a harem ending, mainly because from a game mechanics point of view that makes the final phase of the game a lot more interesting (Amy loves me enough, I need to do it with Kelly more now!), and I know people love their harem endings. But no orgies, sorry. At best you'll get like, a shot of all of them naked lying against Flin or something.
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The Rock Band's Saga
In terms of the game's larger plot of a rock band rising to fame, well...I'm sorry if you were super invested in that, hoping we'd ride that wave to its completion. It's a fun enough plot, but we're not gonna see it through beyond some sort of quick epilogue in an ending where you're somehow still with Stella (because let's be real, any ending that doesn't end with Stella means the band breaks up. If you're with Kelly, then Eric would leave, and if you're not with Kelly, then Kelly herself would probably leave because you cheated on her friend). Though Kelly's ending will probably involve Flin and Kelly continuing a music career as a duo.
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Samantha
Still undecided, amidst all this. It's easier if I just ignore her for the rest of the story, but...I don't think I want to do that. I really like Samantha, and I think it'd be fun for her to have an ending. Especially a harem ending, could you imagine? A harem of 5 waifus, like a true visual novel (assuming Stella is part of the harem. On that note, Stella's love stat is gonna need to be a LOT higher than the others if you're gonna include her in the harem đ¤Ł).
But what do I do? Haha, should she be part of the beach update? I did that commission a while back...and I talked about how it'd be fun for Flin to perform at their wedding...
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Pregnancy
Pregnancy is not a fetish of mine, but I've always gotten good vibes from the pregnancy crowd. I like to think of them as "my allies in the fetish wars," haha, and I know a lot of you are here (salutes). Anyway, I'm not gonna depict sex with someone who's super pregnant, but I do think the act of getting someone pregnant is pretty hot, so that's gonna happen. I also think a good "happily ever after" shot should show the happy couple with kids, so that's gonna happen.
But, I feel like Kelly's the type who wouldn't necessarily wanna have kids. At the same time, I'd hate to screw over the pregnancy folk who like Kelly the most.
So I think I might just...ask the player, after they've chosen their ending with whomever, if they want an ending with kids or without. It's a little blunt and it's a little more work for me but whatever. And I'd do that for everyone.
The epilogue of the game is just gonna be very quick. I'm not gonna do a whole sequence of Flin 'n Julie on their super messed up honeymoon, as fun as that sounds đ. But I am gonna try to have one final, really romantic sex scene per ending (not sure what I'll do for the harem ending if I do that, lol)
Of course, we'll see how I'm feeling in a year or whatever, when I'm actually working on the things I'm talking about.
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Conclusion
Going back to what I said at the beginning...I've been working on this project for 6 years, I've brought the story as far as I originally envisioned, and I'm excited to make something new. I'm excited to start over, to revamp my art style, and to share with you all a new softcore, voluptuous, slow burn, hesitant cheating, netori extravaganza. I have a lot of story ideas that I think many of you will really enjoy. I also have a number of ideas and things I'd like to research for speeding up my workflow A BUNCH (none of these ideas involve using AI, though we'll revisit that topic at a later date I'm sure).
But I'm also not about to just abandon this project after all I've done. I'm gonna see it through. I just, you know, gotta consider how long these updates are taking me, and what's realistic.
Oh yeah, also, when I do finally finish the game, I plan to release a few choice Blender files for free so that you all can make your own content with these characters if you want. I'll even make a little tutorial on how to navigate things and manipulate stuff so it's easier.
But NOT YET.
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As always, I'm really so fuckin' grateful, you guys. Some of you have been here since I first dared to upload LLRR 3 years ago, and that blows me away. Thank you, veterans and newcomers alike.
Alright, time to start work on a beach scene. ~đśđ
Comments
George Wengo
Absolutely agree on the things you outlined for the future. I want to see all the girls getting dirty on the beach in their bikinks đ And also LOVE the idea of Amy (or even Julia/Kelly) wearing Stella's shirt. Little details like that can elevate scenes so well. Thanks for your unrelenting passion with this game, as well as your realistic vision regarding it. 9 years can be very long to dedicate to a project, so your desire to curb that time is totally understandable.
GamingSavant
I definitely agree and think focusing on the finish line is the best way to tackle a game that you want to see as "complete", if you're willing to push out side content whenever you feel like. The concept you got going for the endings is perfect too, though the Harem route is 100% the "greedy" option lol. And pregnancy is also definitely a big drama starter, I'm sure at least Kelly of all people is the type to take contraceptives to avoid anything before her career is kicked off. Either way that's just my two cents and wanna see the direction you take. This game for sure is a sleeper hit I wish more people would try.
