Fading Hearts Released!

[Mirage]

As someone who looks forward of Fading Hearts, I am severely disappointed.

I am a huge fan of Kaze-hime arts, the background is nice, so do the OP, the added system looks promising. And yet none of those is going to make me touch the game much further. The story makes little sense. I was very confused right from the start. There isn't seem like any plot point that the story want to emphasize, it just go in random directions. It's like it doesn't know what it wants to be. It also doesn't help that the texts are extremely hard to read and put a huge strain on my eyes. Half way reading my eyes hurt and I ended up fast forwarding the entire thing.

And to think I actually spent 2 hours downloading the demo.

I am sorry for saying this because I really want to like it and it looks like a lot of time was spent making it. I can tell from the beautiful OP.

[MaiMai]

I'll just put in my two cents since everyone's pointed out what I already spotted before. If there's one thing I would like to comment about, it's the story flow. There's something about it that makes me think of Da Capo... Possibly because of the factor of magic in Da Capo that never really made sense to me and the fact that there's this random magical girl in the story.

[Counter Arts]

I know that in the beginning it seems like the story has no direction. But that's assuming the player doesn't have choice over where to take the story. You see, I'm giving the power to change the direction of the story to the reader. I just need to tell them their first leads to start.

There are a series of cause-and-effect relations between all of the major events in the story in a dating-sim like framework. You can choose to go in all directions if you wish and have the game time to do so. You can also choose to go in one direction or just rest in bed all day everyday and see what happens.

It was my mistake to not include the actual "main" gameplay in the demo. I didn't cut the demo at the right place. I'll make a patch for all of those who have already downloaded the demo and I'll update the demo on the site as well. I just need to check 15+ game logic statements to make sure it works properly.

I've sent full versions to several people and they seem to enjoy it. I've also heard from my testers that when they tried to use standard dating-sim strategies they were surprised at the ending they got.

[Strum]

Very nice character art work. Assuming the game's graphics is as good as the artwork I've seen on your site, I believe this to be a game of professional quality in terms of graphics. Too bad not everyone can churn up games of this quality. I for one would like to see more nice looking games like this. Well done on your first release, keep up the good work.

[Counter Arts]

After talking with the people that have played the game, we have decided to remove the demo.
All the big reveals are at the climax of the runs and the plot-twists in the game are what make it unique. More info coming up soon.

[Samu-kun]

So uh, anyone wanna take the plunge and go $25 under to tell us whether the full game is any better or not...?

[Enerccio]

since it's over 30$ for me, sadly, no

[Enerccio]

Also I might add few more personal thoughts.
Apart from what other had said, I found use of transitions not very good. Specially the dissolve for characters. I might be affected by the umineko and like, but I think the transition should be a little longer.
Bleeping sounds with buttons were annoying... a lot.
And a bug, that there was no music for one part.... for a long part. You might wanna fix that.

But, I have to say the OP is mostly awesome. Song is just beautiful. How did you manage to make it? Also, who is the singer? I can get a name from OP, but that didn't help me much...

[Counter Arts]

Check out the new price.

[Shadow Wolfwind]

I had downloaded the demo and I've been messing around with it. I found a bug I thought you should know about. On Sunday, March 10, 2006 day time the first time you get the dating sim sort of option: Use bookshelf > Put Books in Bag, shuts down the game. I don't even get the usual error message. It just shuts it down. When you do the same action in the afternoon it works fine.

[Counter Arts]

Thanks for letting me know about the bug. I made a fix for it.

[Guest]

Several suggestion on story improvement:
- Remove all flashbacks. A little hints will do. It would be much better if Ryou commented on why he's having those flashbacks. They are extremely disjointed from the main story. They did nothing but distraction.
- Remove majority of Otaku related terms. I thought this game should be beginner friendly. But at this rate, everyone will be asking "What is Ren'Ai game? Tsundere? Meganekko?"
- Only use otaku terms when it supposed to be a parody. Using it during important scenario ruins the mood. Better yet, just remove all the otaku related stuff.

[Counter Arts]

Is it from the demo that you are making these comments or the full game? There's a lot of conflicting feedback I'm receiving. The only pattern I'm seeing is that people who got an ending really enjoyed it and people who don't enjoy it didn't get into the main gameplay.

Also the two sides are mostly telling me the opposite things so it's hard to figure out what to do. Someone who is completely new to visual novels already told me that they enjoyed it. In fact, several testers haven't played visual novels before say they enjoyed it. Most of them are gamers.

The otaku terms are being used as a parody and also to conceal a few secrets of the game.

Pacing is an issue that can be fixed but will take some time.

[Guest]

I've played the full game but I didn't get all the endings. I guess there might be more explanations on those flashbacks, but at the moment they do nothing but distracting the flow of the story. I understand that you are trying to foreshadow future events. But sometimes subtle hints can do wonder. I think foreshadowing shouldn't be at the cost of the story's flow.

As for Otaku terms, they are actually the worst offender in term of ruining the mood. It didn't bother me as much when it was in Cosplay Cafe, but it bothers me a lot when characters are discussing situation of life and death and they compared it to manga. Again, I suggest more subtle otaku referencing. There are way too many of those in the game. It is very difficult for me to take the game seriously.

This maybe my blind assumption, may I ask if those who tested your game are either your friends or people who contributed to your game? It's better to get people who are willing to give honest critiques to test the game. Because if the only feedback you get is "great, awesome, I love it!" it would not do much in term of improving your game.

If your testers didn't mention obvious problems such as Claire's size, then I doubt they would mention anything else.

[Counter Arts]

Can you tell me which achievements you got in a pm or send an email to general at sakurariver.ca? Ryou does comment on the "flashbacks" in the game. I can make him give more comments about it or get him to say something that will definitely give away the revelation of how it all fits together. I'm getting someone to help with pacing of the story though.

I think I know what you are talking about in terms of the otaku references outside the cafe. Some of those can change but others are really important plot points. The otaku references are plot points though.