Blackout [GxB] [Mystery, Romance] UPDATE 9-3-15

[SilverAngel]

***I would like more feedback on this if anyone cares, about using the guy the MC dates as a protector during one blackout (say, if she's in the house and not out by herself somewhere dangerous) as an element of gameplay. I'm not sure how I would make different difficulty levels to disable it, to be honest, so I think I want to keep that feature. Let me know what you think!***

Are you going to release character bios soon? That would help generate interest in your game, if you plan on selling it. It sounds kinda different, but I would need to see characters and artwork to know how much I would pay for it. Music honestly can get annoying and repetitive, but people who use sounds in their games sometimes accidentally have very different sound levels (the crashing waves may be peaceful but very quiet, so you turn the volume up, and then a car horn shatters your eardrums because its 100 decibels too loud....!) I guess just use sounds carefully if you choose them.
I think the idea of a protector is cool, but not sure if I would use it, personally. It depends on the personality and ability of the protagonist. How essential is it to making it through the game? Like, how often would it come into play to change the outcome?

Oh yeah, and I'm old school in some ways. I have a binder that I'm organizing and writing down all my flags and dialogues so I don't forget anything when I get it into the program. Downside is when I run into problems, may have to change (yet again) the way I organize things/my code/my papers.
-Has anyone figured out an easy way to organize separate conversations on paper? For now I'm doing one page per conversation chunk with each character. A waste of trees, maybe, but I'm not sure how else to do it without making a ton of work for myself... Just hate losing ideas and extra work arranging things.
*Explanation for why I use paper: I have a history of killing computers, and although my Mac has valiantly been strong, I would not trust technology to hold the only copy of all my ideas. Therefore, paper.

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^I don't trust my computer either! They break at the worst possible times!!! I hate technology as much as I love it.
I just try to back up my stuff using a flash drive or external hard drive. That has worked well for me!

[LaziRice]

Does this game seem interesting?

Yes!! I love the idea! I would absolutely play this over and over again!

How many hours would you spend on a route, especially because these routes are ideally going to be very interactive, very changeable?

Uhh that depends on how long each route takes? I would spend as much time as needed to play every route and go through every choice. I can't even come up with a number ^^;

Would you replay it to try the other routes?

Duh. (sorry but yes I would replay it over and over again to try out the different routes)

How much would you spend on a game like this? (and does having only sound effects instead of music influence this?)
- Any other suggestions Thanks!
That depends on how long the game is, I personally would not buy otome games but pricing I can see 10-20$ and yes sound effects and music influence these prices. Though personally it doesn't change the story for me, honestly if some of the sound effects are poor the game is more fun with the sounds off.

[Kate]

Hey guys, checking in. So- I'm back at that summer job I hate, but there wasn't really an alternative this year. So I'm taking a break from the game until the last week of camp when it's a light, easy last week and my brain will hopefully be up for some writing and programming.

I am going to return to work on this game when the school year starts for sure. It's going to take a while to get the funds for good art since my friend artists were a little swamped with school. But eventually this game will really take shape beyond just the dialogue and plot that is completed so far.

[Kate]

UPDATE- Good news

This is going to look bad on my part (for making me look like I can't make up my mind)... I've changed my mind. After that long ordeal with the 6+ month bed bugs trouble and house renovation combination, I'm getting back to work soon on the game. Both of my gaming computers are not running games properly (one isn't meant for heavy gaming; the other is just old and really REALLY sluggish and I'm fed up) so I have nothing other than perhaps my book I am working on to distract me. I might as well jump back in because I have nothing else to do with my time and way fewer distractions. (Despite my job demands. Now I have more time whether I like it or not.)

If you can code well enough to add in animations or can draw art at a decent level, message me. I'll be starting to put aside money from each paycheck now to start funding this again. At least this seems to be worth the time and money *grumble* dumb old Millennium Edition computers *grumble*... don't laugh at how old my cherished computer is...

[Kate]

Another update- I'm currently taking a programming class that teaches Java, so it's a switch from Ren'Py but it's really helping me figure out how to code certain kinds of functions. It's also nice to have a bit of a deeper understanding for how computers and games/programs run. (I also now really appreciate the work of those who made Ren'Py's language so easy for beginners to code simple games instead of tons of prior knowledge required to program anything large with other coding languages!!!