sapiboonggames wrote:
This looks so interesting! Downloading the demo and will answer the questions once I have finished it!
Veniae wrote:
/squee Demo!
I've been looking forward to this! Downloading right now. Will post impressions + critique (if any) once I'm done.
Cheers!
Thank you q-q We're only like... two months late on getting you guys the demo? :'D There's a reason why the group is called "TwinTurtle Games"... Slow and steady y'all! Aha
hahahaha... ;A; And Veniae, I will try out the new demo for Elements, just been busy with... not playing other VN demos >_>
Will you forgive meBTW, important for the demo! Whatever you do, don't try using the save/load functions. We tried our best to stamp it out, but an error occurs when you try to load from a save file. We'll try to diagnose the problem in a future update. This is what happens when you have a hybrid game <_<
gekiganwing wrote:
Thank you for the demo. I remember reading about this game in
an earlier thread, and I wasn't sure if it was still a work in progress.
Hey gekigan, thanks for trying out the demo :3 Ah yeah, I decided to keep low until I could show my face in this board >_> *goes to abandon old thread completely*
gekiganwing wrote:
CheeryMoya wrote:
I'd suggest this game to people only above the age of 16 or who are mature.
From what I read in an earlier thread and in the demo, it looks like nearly your characters have graduated from high school. I'm not entirely sure what their ages are, but they seem to be either employed or looking for work. As such, they have age-appropriate concerns.
Yup, all but two characters are about ready to finish their 4 years in university and preparing to get ready to study for their specific majors. None have full-time jobs (save Elise, she's her own boss now!), so they're working part-time or interning. Age group is from 16 to 25-ish, so make of it what you will.
gekiganwing wrote:
1. I wanted to know more about Terry. Her outfit reminded me of
EGL fashion. Is this style something she likes? Furthermore, she mentioned visiting family in Japan, but did not provide any details.
I hope I didn't leave out Terry too much >_> Compared to Renee, she doesn't get enough screentime. Yes, Terry dresses in Lolita fashion, specifically Sweet Lolita (that was the intent), because she likes it and she can damn it. Luckily summer '12 hasn't been hot as hell (yet) so she's not burning up in that dress.
Sorry if it feels like I left a lot of details out since the demo isn't quite the beginning of the game. Terry's parents moved to America when she was young because of jobs, but they fly back to Japan to see uncles and aunts and the like. I'll put in more details in the update if it'd make things easier to understand,
even if this is a minor thing.gekiganwing wrote:
2. I liked the going-to-sleep scenes. They didn't need to exist, but they seemed very believable.
Haha, those were the scenes Funnyguts wrote >_> Without them, the transition from one day to another seemed rough, so she added them in.
gekiganwing wrote:
3. I'll have to experiment with the demo more, but I wasn't sure why some attempts to bake products resulted in partial failures. Is it random? Or are the game mechanics trying to make baking into a learning process? (In other words, the characters have to successfully bake 12 products before they can handle 15?)
Also, I wanted to know more about finances. There was a report on daily earnings or losses, but I didn't know how much money the bakery started out having.
What do the star ratings for food mean? Do they represent the demand for the food, how difficult it is to make, or something else?
Should a diverse number of products be made each day?
Every now and then, some products do not sell. I'm not sure if there is a reason for this. Is it random?
If you dive into the code and can actually understand what's going on, there's a random number generator driving the system. The difficulty may be a bit off since we need you guys to give us feedback on what happens too much or what doesn't happen enough, so leave your comments on the baking portion in the
Demo thread.
I don't believe Gutsy set a starting amount of funds at the beginning, though it should be an easy thing to add in. The stars in the cookbook represent how popular that item is, and customers are more likely to buy the popular items. We're planning on looking into being able to change the popularity of a good if you try hard enough (keep making it, even if no one buys it at first!).
For the rest of this stuff, I'll let Gutsy talk >_>
Ren'Py is easy they said, anyone can program they said.gekiganwing wrote:
4. The simulation so far seems a little bit easy. And I'm not sure if it has any connection to the characters' relationships. Right now it's decent (and not overly complex), which is acceptable for freeware. If you want your game to be simple and relaxing, then you can keep the gameplay as-is.
The only relationship that will affect the baking portion (aside from unlocking recipes) is Alfonse, though later on we'll add in the fatigue factor to the VN portion. Depending on what you do during your break or on the weekends might tire Elise out more, and that'll affect her performance in the baking sim. You already see this when you bake a lot of goods.
gekiganwing wrote:
5. The transitions seem fine.
6. The character intros were decent, as were the gossip sections. As long as they still optional, they're fine.
Thanks, usually I have trouble with transitions (or think I do), so this is good to know :3 Also, I learned from my NaNo game that people like the option to skip intros after reading it once >_>
gekiganwing wrote:
7. If you want to refine your gameplay... then I'd recommend making sure there are goals to achieve, and perhaps also multiple ways to achieve them. For example, one goal might be "earn $1000 per week." Also, help us understand why food items do and don't sell.
Let us know if the baking simulation gameplay affects relationships. I assume that if the bakery goes bankrupt, that's a Bad Ending. By talking with people and choosing appropriate answers, that presumably improves Elise's relationships. Anything else?
I was thinking about the notion of "create something, intimacy increases." Then I remembered the blacksmith system in Thousand Arms. (It's a lengthy game, so if you're not familiar with it, read
some FAQs about how its gameplay works.) If the characters if your game routinely baked products together, that would be a meaningful way to help them become closer. But that would probably require major gameplay changes...
We'll add in goals in the full game, and I'll leave the rest of that stuff to the actual programmer >_>
And yup, the VN portion plays like a regular VN, with answers affecting relationships and all. I know I didn't code those in the demo yet, but the next update shall have it! We're also trying to figure out a way to give items to the characters as gifts to make them like Elise more, but none of them besides her know how to bake.
gekiganwing wrote:
8. If a "10" is a very cohesive game, and "1" is incoherent gameplay roulette, then I'd give Cookie Crumbles a "7" right now. Since the characters' goal is to keep the bakery open, it makes sense that they're trying to make money by selling their products.
Ah, a 7. I guess that's above average, and we'll try to shoot for at least an 8. Thank you again for your feedback, it helps a lot
leon wrote:
Congrats on the Demo release. The gameplay elements are impressive (it's what I'm most interested in, actually). I just downloaded and only played a little bit. I'll post more once I finish it.
I'm hoping that you could help Gutsy figure out what's up with the errors that are still there if you can @_@ Thanks~
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