VN Ren'Py Summer's Gone [S1 Steam + DLC] [Oceanlab]

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

HAVE YOU SEEN AYUA'S NEW HAIR?!?!?! WHAT IS A MIDDLE AGED HOUSEWIFE DOING IN COLLEGE???

Looks like old Leia.

 

[hu lover]

good game with great story characters.

 

[Raynare69]

I've been refreshing SG on Steam every single day for a couple of weeks or so now, leaving its tab there...
Eventually one of these refreshes that buy button is gonna pop up...

 

[Niuul]

I get the play, it makes sense. But has he mentioned how he plans to distribute Season 2? Because GOG, Epic, Steam etc won't be an option. Patreon keeps cracking down on adult content and I have a feeling SS will soon follow. I reckon in a couple of years, only the most sanitized adult content will be allowed on those platforms. Sooner or later devs will need to find an alternative that isn't pushed around by payment processors like PayPal.

Wind up having to make a vanilla soy latte version of every VN and then have some kinda patch you can only get through their discord or something.

Sucks though, thought we were going to get another AVN from Ocean after seeing WiAB pre-rework but instead we're getting a super neutered VN to appease steam sales. Don't mind slowburn stories, but after reading the steam nonsense it's feeling more and more like it'll never actually ya know...burn.

 

[Kakasan]

I hope it will be released next week

 

[Insomnia_z]

You're right, but at least, Ayua looks younger when she wears her usual hairstyle

Ch 2 original
View attachment 3513266
View attachment 3513268

Ch 2 rework in Ch 5 beta
View attachment 3513269
View attachment 3513331

Ch 2 reworked in Ch 5 Full
View attachment 3513284

Damn, the hairstyle really have some effects on the face

 

[Hahn1900]

I've been refreshing SG on Steam every single day for a couple of weeks or so now, leaving its tab there...
Eventually one of these refreshes that buy button is gonna pop up...

Dont know... i dont care for the steam release... oh well not entirely true, the reason for me to care is that the Patreon release will be AFTER Steam Release is done. But other than that... The Steam Version is not the exact same as the Patreon Version, that much is clear already... even if Ocean said the changes are nothing major, i dont care... even if it would only be one single render, the Steam version is out for me. I dont think we have to wait long for the Patreon release, MAYBE a week tops after Steam. Oh and the steam version will cost more as the patreon version too... If Ocean isnt adjusting the cost at Patreon, 5 bucks will be enough. Cant believe that you will get it on Steam for 5...

Oh and of course... future updates will not be on steam until the season is complete... yeah iam not waiting for that

 

[Hahn1900]

I wonder if it's some steam policy cause I think some other devs have also not put a game on patreon until after the steam release.

Come on... its obvious why?

I mean... sue him, but Ocean wants some money out of this to work on that game. At least to get by...

So... what will happen if Patreon Version is out before Steam Version? Right... its immediately leaked here, and besides, its cheaper on Patreon too as it will be on Steam. As for now... 5 bucks is enough for the chapter 5 Release on patreon, that will NOT be the price for the whole Season 1 on Steam. (dont know how much, but my guess, around 15-19$ like many other AVNs in that category too)

It would be kinda self-sabotage to release the full Chapter 5 now on Patreon if he wants the Steam Release to be a success.

Well it might be a shock to some... but Ocean isnt creating the game just to amuse everybody for nothing, he wants to make a living out of it. And he is in a position were this MIGHT work out. So he will try his best to make the best out of it, and that is... Steam Release first. Btw... thats a common thing, most DEVs did that of course when a Steam release was in the pipeline... Its just common sense. Even if we dont like it cause we COULD play already.

 

[Massagecook01]

I am also like that. At first I didn't really like the new Ayua model (too mature), but after seeing her many times, I started to like her.

View attachment 3513467

she looks like a 40 year old not a 20 year old is her new look suppose to make her look younger or older because if it's suppose to make her look better and younger it's a failure in my opinion and many others.

 

[Dessolos]

Come on... its obvious why?

I mean... sue him, but Ocean wants some money out of this to work on that game. At least to get by...

So... what will happen if Patreon Version is out before Steam Version? Right... its immediately leaked here, and besides, its cheaper on Patreon too as it will be on Steam. As for now... 5 bucks is enough for the chapter 5 Release on patreon, that will NOT be the price for the whole Season 1 on Steam. (dont know how much, but my guess, around 15-19$ like many other AVNs in that category too)

It would be kinda self-sabotage to release the full Chapter 5 now on Patreon if he wants the Steam Release to be a success.

Well it might be a shock to some... but Ocean isnt creating the game just to amuse everybody for nothing, he wants to make a living out of it. And he is in a position were this MIGHT work out. So he will try his best to make the best out of it, and that is... Steam Release first. Btw... thats a common thing, most DEVs did that of course when a Steam release was in the pipeline... Its just common sense. Even if we dont like it cause we COULD play already.

well yeah when it comes to Ocean but I was speaking in general terms cause ive seen games that have their updates on steam after pateron but those werent a full release of a season of a game or whatever. That's why it has me curious cause if there is some policy cause I can think of game updates being on pateron before steam but not a single game that did a full season release. Tho I guess you can say those devs that release full seasons care about money more and yeah then it makes more sense. I just would think the same would apply to those devs that update their games on steam update to update instead of season , which is why I wonder if there is a policy or not.

 

[Hahn1900]

well yeah when it comes to Ocean but I was speaking in general terms cause ive seen games that have their updates on steam after pateron but those werent a full release of a season of a game or whatever. That's why it has me curious cause if there is some policy cause I can think of game updates being on pateron before steam but not a single game that did a full season release. Tho I guess you can say those devs that release full seasons care about money more and yeah then it makes more sense. I just would think the same would apply to those devs that update their games on steam update to update instead of season , which is why I wonder if there is a policy or not.

Its not really common to release a game in "seasons" though... those games are REALLY rare around here (i play alot around here and played only... hm 4 games with different seasons if iam right). Most games go from update to update until its finished (or abandoned), for those there is not really a reason why they should release an update on steam before patreon, cause they are only updates anyway (and mostly kinda short ones too with less than 1 hour playtime), those who baught it on steam will update it on steam, thats it.

Releasing something in seasons is more like... a new game each season. So its a different thing and it makes way more sense to wait with a patreon release until some days passed after steam/epic/gog release to make the most of it.

Ah and Summers Gone will be a special case too... Season 1 has no sex in it, so... getting a pegi 16 rating is possible... that will be a little different for season 2, and same goes for music license and such, the license is only for Season 1. So yeah... Season 2 will be kind of a "new game" and will get a seprate release on steam.

But its not policy... its DEVs decision.

The policy that steam maybe want an exclusive deal and such... well... thats only for "bigger" fish, and they will make a better deal for the DEV for that... Like if you release it only on steam, your cut of the profit will be bigger. But yeah... thats nothing for small DEVs like Ocean... and he cant afford to lose the patreon and subscribestar support...

 

[John972]

Its not really common to release a game in "seasons" though...

I would disagree with that statement when it comes to dual Steam/Patreon-SS AVNs.

The common trend now is that a bunch of sequential Chapters get released first on Patreon-SS and then bundled into a Season for Steam release. I expect that the Chapters of SG Season 2 will be published on Patreon-SS first. Once five or so Chapters are complete, they'll be bundled into Season 2 and that will be released on Steam first.

What Ocean is doing is no different to many other AVN devs, and I can name several Steam AVNs (also originally popular here as Patreon/SS releases) that work exactly the same way.

 

[Ottoeight]

Season 1 - Update

Hello,

First, I apologize for not making a Dev Log in a while. Those on my Discord are a little more up-to-date.

There are reasons for it, none of which I will get into today because... Well, let me deal with it emotionally first.

I will address it after the release of Season 1. But right now, I can't deal with it. I need my head in the right space. A lot happened behind the scenes.

Season 1 has been in the Steam Review queue for a few days, and I'm still awaiting their reply. Maybe I have to fix something, etc.

In the meantime, I'm working on S2 & WiAB's next update. I've also contacted new music artists for Season 2 and it looks like I'm about to sign 16 new songs for S2.

Oh right! SG is now also available for wishlisting on Epic:

You must be registered to see the links

I've also contacted GOG for a developer account, and I'm waiting for a reply.

SG Season 1 is rated as a Pegi 16+ game on Steam and Epic. This could change after the review.

In one of the last Logs, I mentioned that I was under a lot of stress from the rework, etc., and if you followed Discord, you know it got even worse for multiple external reasons.

An hour before I wanted to upload to Steam, my PC bluescreened, and the boot SSD died. The timing couldn't have been any worse. It took me a few hours to figure out what went wrong.

After I checked my backups and saw that Backblaze forgot about 30% of the files, I can tell you... I almost pulled an SG MC after he had too much contact with some girls.

Then I checked sync and saw that sync doesn't update by date, but by name. Thanks for nothing, sync.

I managed to fix it and get the PC running again in less than two days, but my PC is feeling slower now. Daz especially feels like it got hit on the head. But it still worked, and it was enough to finish the bar scene.

After Steam, I will get the new Workstation I've talked about for a while. I saw that some people thought I already had it. No. I got two A6000 Ada and replaced the cards in my current workstation.

Now that this PC feels like it had a stroke, I will indeed upgrade to a new workstation and make this one another slave PC for animation rendering.

Thankfully, I do already have the Adas. This means that the workstation will be cheaper now. ~ 15k€

Steam testing took longer than expected for one reason. The Steam Deck.

I don't have one, but I asked the Valve Dev Distribution team for one. But it will take months until I get one, and the only testing we could do was through a member of my testing team, who had a Deck.

It works... But the damn trackpad isn't recognized, and I tried everything to fix it. Sadly, googling for specific Renpy-Steam-related issues is hopeless.

I still need to finish the German version/translation.

The Light
As stressful as the past weeks have been, something gave me so much energy—something I've been waiting to say for a very long time.

The rework is done.

While I "suffered" under the rework, I know you guys did too.

I seriously want to thank you guys for going through this with me. It was brutal. You guys had to muster up a lot of patience, and I know exactly how it feels when a game you like spends a significant amount of time on a rework. (Some even get stuck in limbo.)

But it's finally done, and while it asked a lot from us, I say it was absolutely worth it. The render quality is night and day. The adjustments to the dialogue also make everything flow better, especially in Chapters 1 and 2.

A big thanks for going through this with me. Seriously guys.

Lightroom says I did postwork on 2309 renders for the Full.

Around 1900 are new renders, and the rest are renders I adjusted.

Examples of what I adjusted:

I changed Amber's blouse transparency in Chapter 3. It was cringe that you could see her nipples and everything, and it undermined the storylines I have for her. It was too early, and SG still followed lewd logic back then.

I added bubbles to the Jacuzzi scene in Chapter 4. The scene now looks much better. Less tiddies tho. Still some flashes here and there, but it adds some mystery to it and hides the shitty flat water texture.

I adjusted the Nami Lake scene only for the Steam/Epic/GoG version. She's not topless in that version.

A lot of little things were adjusted to prevent license issues in the future.

Here are some previews of some other scenes I redid too: (4K attached at the bottom.)

Old Parking space scene (I changed Ayua's car.)
View attachment 3511685
New
View attachment 3511681
Old Chapter 3 - Pre-class meetup
View attachment 3511687 View attachment 3511686
New
View attachment 3511680 View attachment 3511683

I also reworked the shower scenes for Mila, Nami/Nia & Bella.

This one was posted on Discord before.
View attachment 3511676

Old Bar scene
View attachment 3511682 View attachment 3511684

New
View attachment 3511678 View attachment 3511677
I have built a new bar environment in preparation for Season 2. The bar opening was a significant event, and I didn't have another bar asset back then.
For some reason, the bar also doubled in render count. Previously, it had around 65 renders, and now it's close to 130.

I added something new to the bar scene and adjusted the dialogue. In addition to the group previously at the bar, there's a second group now.
View attachment 3511679

I will make another post after the game is through Steam's review process and I have a release date.

For bibi info, follow Discord. There's a channel called Bibi-News where I sometimes post news that is not big enough for an entire Dev log.

The rework is finally done, and I still can't believe it. I was so busy that I didn't notice it for a few days until someone mentioned it.

It's done, man... Dobby is free.

After the S1 release, I will showcase the new UI for Season 2... And boy, does it look amazing.

I will also talk about the next focus in terms of quality improvements.

In Season 2, 'Sounddesign' will play a significant role.

Dev Logs will return to their usual Bi-weekly cycle after the release, and yeah... Let's hope Steam/Epic/GoG takes away some of the uncertainty and dread I felt in the past weeks.

Ocean

Once again, the older pics were better. Once again, just another pointless rework.

 

[BobTheDuck]

thats it, if the steam release is suppose to attact a new fan base, then the people that play it will play a so called adult visual novel with zero nudes and zero adult content, so are they suppose to be looking forward to season 2 with the thought of oh joy let me support this developer on pateron with a monthy amount that puts out zero lewds in his game, how are they suppose to take away the summers gone steam version with any hope to see any of the females naked and in sex scenes for the future. i know i would not, i would not want to support a developer if i played there so called adult visual novel with no adult content what so ever. you have to think about a fresh new player and their mindset buying summers gone and what they will take away from playing it .are they suppose to be excited for the story full of beautiful women that are fully dressed, i would imagine not. especially when it is marked as a adult visual novel and it is played like a visual novel. a person will buy an adult visual novel to see naked women and sex scenes if they buy this adult visual novel and it has zero naked women and sex scene they will not be encouraged to support this developer anymore i imagine. if they wanted just story they would buy a visual novel. is the point to hook them with story by buying summers gone on steam and then have them support on patreon with a monthy pledge to still see very little lewd content and have to wait for a long time to see maybe a handjob in a year or so and maybe a blowjob maybe 2 and 1/2 years , let alone any real sex with any of the females and you will probaly have to choose who you have sex with ,you will not be given the choice to have sex with them all i imagine, summers gone is not a harem game.

Patrons invest in development hoping for lewds or whatever, while steam purchasers are buying what is offered in the store. You're conflating the two groups, and they're not the same. Steam purchasers aren't inherently AVN connoisseurs who need all their fetishes tickled. Some will buy it just because they're curious. There is nothing on the store page that promises sex scenes of any kind, the most it promises is partial nudity. It doesn't have an adult tag on steam. They ARE buying a VN, and there is no attempt by Ocean to sell them an AVN the way you describe it.

You're judging everyone by your own tastes. People buying it on steam aren't necessarily here, and this might be their first VN of any kind. The idea that adult only refers to sexual content is ridiculous, as is the idea that no one wants an adult game without lewds. Clearly there are plenty that do, otherwise SG wouldn't have a larger following than "XYZ Mommy HAREM sim 2024" There are quite a lot of explicit games with less support than Ocean has. Most AVN's that deliver lewd content every update because someone's favourite didn't get porked become so boring and predictable, the faces are interchangeable, it's the same basic positions on loop. People subcribe to a patreon because they want to support what the creator is doing already, not because they want to hire someone to make a VN. Anyone who wants a custom VN could actually go hire someone to do it easily enough.

People will play and follow this without lewd content, I don't see why this is surprising. This whole thread really shows that it has happened. The little bit of lewd that was removed - 1 single scene, all the rest was nudity. The game hasn't dies since the jacuzzi scene changed. Most of life doesn't have lewd content. The income of the non adult games industry is far far higher than that of AVNs. This website is a bubble, and Ocean doesn't want to be limited by the bubble.

 

[Massagecook01]

Patrons invest in development hoping for lewds or whatever, while steam purchasers are buying what is offered in the store. You're conflating the two groups, and they're not the same. Steam purchasers aren't inherently AVN connoisseurs who need all their fetishes tickled. Some will buy it just because they're curious. There is nothing on the store page that promises sex scenes of any kind, the most it promises is partial nudity. It doesn't have an adult tag on steam. They ARE buying a VN, and there is no attempt by Ocean to sell them an AVN the way you describe it.

You're judging everyone by your own tastes. People buying it on steam aren't necessarily here, and this might be their first VN of any kind. The idea that adult only refers to sexual content is ridiculous, as is the idea that no one wants an adult game without lewds. Clearly there are plenty that do, otherwise SG wouldn't have a larger following than "XYZ Mommy HAREM sim 2024" There are quite a lot of explicit games with less support than Ocean has. Most AVN's that deliver lewd content every update because someone's favourite didn't get porked become so boring and predictable, the faces are interchangeable, it's the same basic positions on loop. People subcribe to a patreon because they want to support what the creator is doing already, not because they want to hire someone to make a VN. Anyone who wants a custom VN could actually go hire someone to do it easily enough.

People will play and follow this without lewd content, I don't see why this is surprising. This whole thread really shows that it has happened. The little bit of lewd that was removed - 1 single scene, all the rest was nudity. The game hasn't dies since the jacuzzi scene changed. Most of life doesn't have lewd content. The income of the non adult games industry is far far higher than that of AVNs. This website is a bubble, and Ocean doesn't want to be limited by the bubble.

good point, do you think summers gone would be as popular with F95zone wasn't around at all ? i think this website has given ocean a fan base that patreon alone could not give him which is why so many AVN game developers are here to promote their games. and this website is mostly if not all AVNs that has porn in it. to take away porn from your game is biting the hand that feeds you, i would like to know if every fan of summers gone will still play it if there would never at any time going be any sex scenes with any of the women. it's the hope to see those scenes in the coming future that they still support but they have to realize thats a far away thing judging by what we have already seen these 5 years we might see a handjob or blowjob in a year maybe. but as you say they are not here for any kind of porn but here only for story.

 

[John972]

Patrons invest in development hoping for lewds or whatever, while steam purchasers are buying what is offered in the store. You're conflating the two groups, and they're not the same. Steam purchasers aren't inherently AVN connoisseurs who need all their fetishes tickled. Some will buy it just because they're curious. There is nothing on the store page that promises sex scenes of any kind, the most it promises is partial nudity. It doesn't have an adult tag on steam. They ARE buying a VN, and there is no attempt by Ocean to sell them an AVN the way you describe it.

You're judging everyone by your own tastes. People buying it on steam aren't necessarily here, and this might be their first VN of any kind. The idea that adult only refers to sexual content is ridiculous, as is the idea that no one wants an adult game without lewds. Clearly there are plenty that do, otherwise SG wouldn't have a larger following than "XYZ Mommy HAREM sim 2024" There are quite a lot of explicit games with less support than Ocean has. Most AVN's that deliver lewd content every update because someone's favourite didn't get porked become so boring and predictable, the faces are interchangeable, it's the same basic positions on loop. People subcribe to a patreon because they want to support what the creator is doing already, not because they want to hire someone to make a VN. Anyone who wants a custom VN could actually go hire someone to do it easily enough.

People will play and follow this without lewd content, I don't see why this is surprising. This whole thread really shows that it has happened. The little bit of lewd that was removed - 1 single scene, all the rest was nudity. The game hasn't dies since the jacuzzi scene changed. Most of life doesn't have lewd content. The income of the non adult games industry is far far higher than that of AVNs. This website is a bubble, and Ocean doesn't want to be limited by the bubble.

People also miss the point that some of the removed lewds relate specifically to interactions between two main characters who share an implied though "unofficial" blood relationship. Better safe than sorry with a first Steam release.

 

[Mortarion]

good point, do you think summers gone would be as popular with F95zone wasn't around at all ? i think this website has given ocean a fan base that patreon alone could not give him which is why so many AVN game developers are here to promote their games.

Many devs has told that after the release on steam the zone has become insignificant as source for new customers/patrons.

The devs of Chasing Sunsets have burned all bridges to the zone way more early than Ocean, and had a great success.

 

[Massagecook01]

Many devs has told that after the release on steam the zone has become insignificant as source for new customers/patrons.

The devs of Chasing Sunsets have burned all bridges to the zone way more early than Ocean, and had a great success.

hey if using f95zone gets you success on steam and you no longer need f95zone to make an income then more power to the dev, i for one have used f95zone to find games then look for them on steam to buy it has worked out for me. i say use whatever source you can to help yourself i think f95zone can be a great tool for devs to gain a fan base as well as steam.

 

[hu lover]

hey if using f95zone gets you success on steam and you no longer need f95zone to make an income then more power to the dev, i for one have used f95zone to find games then look for them on steam to buy it has worked out for me. i say use whatever source you can to help yourself i think f95zone can be a great tool for devs to gain a fan base as well as steam.

Fzone and Steam are great places for developers to start a fan base of their own, i agree with you on that.

 

[BobTheDuck]

good point, do you think summers gone would be as popular with F95zone wasn't around at all ? i think this website has given ocean a fan base that patreon alone could not give him which is why so many AVN game developers are here to promote their games. and this website is mostly if not all AVNs that has porn in it. to take away porn from your game is biting the hand that feeds you, i would like to know if every fan of summers gone will still play it if there would never at any time going be any sex scenes with any of the women. it's the hope to see those scenes in the coming future that they still support but they have to realize thats a far away thing judging by what we have already seen these 5 years we might see a handjob or blowjob in a year maybe. but as you say they are not here for any kind of porn but here only for story.

I think Ocean started here like a lot of devs. It's certainly a bit of a cauldron, and you can see the wide range of what people like. But Ocean deleted his account here, because people kept demanding he do things their way. His patreons haven't been as demanding as the pirates in this sense. SG hasn't had lewds in any meaningful way at all the whole development. This means, yes, people have been playing it this whole time and enjoying it even with the blueball warning. It hasn't been taken away, it's almost never been in the game. Based on how popular this game is despite the naysayers, the majority of people are comfortable with seeing how it develops, and getting on with other lewd games in the mean time if they feel too blueballed. It's not like we're lacking choices here, we could even get easy WiaB fixes of Miru.

Kickstarters etc have the same problem with people hoping for what a game will be like etc vs the reality once it's shipped. Supporting development is no guarantee of preferred content. Not supporting development means no guarantees of anything.

I play the game because I like the characters and the story as it is. If there are no lewds, I'll still play to find out what happens. Lewds can happen, I won't be upset if they do, that'd be silly, but I'm playing this one for the game as my main interest.

hey if using f95zone gets you success on steam and you no longer need f95zone to make an income then more power to the dev, i for one have used f95zone to find games then look for them on steam to buy it has worked out for me. i say use whatever source you can to help yourself i think f95zone can be a great tool for devs to gain a fan base as well as steam.

This is the thing 100%

I'm not dogmatic about what Ocean decides, he can do what he likes. I'll applaud any choices he makes that enable SG to reach completion. Consider what happened to WiaB recently, and consider what would've happened if Ocean hadn't have dumbed down SG. Future content is something Ocean has plans for, but how that happens, we'll get to find out. WiaB having lewds straight out of the gate was Ocean basically saying he is happy to have lewds whenever, but it has to be meaningful to the story he's telling. It makes sense in WiaB, not yet in SG. and he's slowed it down to release the first season without more reworks to replace music he licensed.

How he develops and releases Season 2 is a good question - Ocean's actually new to this steam process - SG will be his first game on there, this whole thing is new to him, as experienced as he is with rendering and cinematics. This release side, he's amking it up as he goes, like we all would. There's no one way to get your product to market safely.

Season 2 he'll have time and feedback to work out what he needs to do to reach his goals without leaving customers behind.

Ocean being focused on how he can continue the story is a win for me in any way he chooses to succeed