The Idea Around Events in Ren'py (standalones) (Patreon)

Hey Everyone,

We’ve been getting a ton of questions lately about standalones—what they are, how they fit into Something Unlimited, and what exactly we’re trying to do with them. Every time we drop one, like Gotham, we get a wide spectrum of feedback. Some people absolutely love the new direction, others call us morons, and a whole bunch fall somewhere in between. Often confused and frustrated, with comments like, “You haven’t released anything in six months!” even though we just dropped new content.

So, let’s clear things up.

SU has always had its share of issues (trust me, I could rant for hours), but one of the biggest problems by 2023 was the lack of a coherent plot and all the unfinished events. To be fair, SR7 always had a plan. The ideas behind Gotham, Themyscira, and the rest go all the way back to 2016 or 2017. Even the overarching plot was sketched out back then. The issue was never a lack of vision. It was a matter of priorities.

Most of the development time ended up going to massive sections of the game that didn’t push the story forward, like the cells or the bordello. That left the plot sidelined.

That’s where Ren’Py and standalones come in.

If you break SU down, you’ve got the hub, the cells, the bordello, and the events. Standalone events in Ren’Py are SR7’s way of cutting through the chaos of the hub and finally giving the plot the spotlight. Technically, we were already doing “standalones” before. Those old Unity events were just bundled into the main game. Now, by using Ren’Py, we can present them as their own focused experiences with a clear story arc that moves things forward.

Each standalone is a piece of Lex’s larger plan. They’re like visual novels or comic issues. You experience each one and, together, they build toward a conclusion. That conclusion comes during the Apokolips event, which we haven’t released yet.

As of now, only two major events remain before we reach that final story payoff: Medieval and Apokolips.

Hope this clears up the confusion. Whether you love them, hate them, or don’t quite know what to make of them, the standalones are where the plot lives now. Thanks for sticking with us. We’re still building toward something big.

-Team Gunsmoke Games