Ooh, congrats on the demo release! I’ve actually been
lurking following your project for a while, so I’m quite excited to see this!
1. Who is your favorite character and why?
The cat! His design is super adorable! Haha, more seriously…out of the guys, Joshua is the most interesting to me so far. His jokes and weird stories amuse me and
I appreciate that he seems to be a family guy.
Also, I’m keeping an eye on Alfonse
because I’m waiting for him to go yandere on everyone.
Out of the girls…hmm, maybe Renee? She’s the only one I’ve really talked to so far. Will you be able to spend your break with any of your girl friends in the future?
2. What is your favorite line or scene? How's the humor?
I liked Joshua’s dumb pickup lines and crazy story.
I also giggled when Aaron said Elise should have named her cat Mittens, because I remembered someone else saying it was a stupid name. Nice callback.
Also Elise’s line at the very beginning “And I guess I’m psychic…yeah, I dunno” cracked me up for some reason. It just seemed so random haha, but I guess it was a justification for the Info screen. Hmm, her being “pseudo-psychic” could be an interesting plot point if you’re planning to explore it more.
Being introduced to each person by picking them off a menu felt a bit strange. Personally, I’d prefer to first meet everybody in an actual scene. Like them banding together to save the bakery with Elise, or going about some typical hijinks at the bakery at the very beginning?
The italics parts indicating Elise had learned new recipes seemed a bit out-of-place when written in third person. I preferred it when they were written from Elise’s POV.
I’m a bit confused on how the fatigue system works. So the more things I bake, the more tired I get, which makes me more likely to screw up baking other stuff? Do different desserts have different difficulty levels, or is it just how many things I bake that makes me more tried? Perhaps a Fatigue/HP bar under Elise’s profile in the Info section would be useful?
About the rainbow gradient on the textbox, because it was mentioned above. I don't think it's necessarily bothersome, but maybe it seems strange because it doesn't match with the rest of the theme you've got going on? Perhaps the pink-yellow gradient that appears on the Info page would fit in more? Else you really could turn the rest of the theme rainbow.
One more minor thing. I often turn up the text speed very high I can get it all to display at once. However, there are some parts where one person is talking and it immediately skips to the person who is interrupting them. Such as the scene where Joshua goes “It’s almost on the lever of hipster irony” and Xavier immediately interrupts him by saying “Don’t.” Are you using {w} with some time set?
4. How long do you think you could play the baking sim section before you get bored? What would help you be willing to play that portion longer?
Heh, I kinda ended up just choosing random things during baking sim. ^^; Perhaps if there were more repercussions for doing bad, or rewards for doing well, I’d be more invested in it.
Like if the bakery accumulated a certain threshold of debt, Elise’s parents would take it away or guys would stop coming. Or if I did especially well, the other characters would compliment me? Or perhaps if there were specific monetary goals associated with new recipes, equipment, or skills (e.g. every $1000, you can hire another employee/buy someone a gift)? Just throwing out random ideas now.
5. Do the baking and visual novel portions transition smoothly from one mode to another?
I think the scene changes are okay as is, but if you wanted, a simple little cartoon or animation of Elise baking (perhaps accompanied by a short musical jingle) could make for a cute transition!
Story-wise, I really like the idea of a bakery setting, but it does seem detached from most of the characters at the moment. Only Alfonse actually works at the bakery, so I’m not even sure why the other characters are always hanging out there. Maybe adding a scene at the beginning where they all band together to save the bakery would demonstrate why this place is so important to them? Or is that going to be revealed later on?
6. Was Info/Profile screen helpful (deciding during a choice menu, understanding the characters, etc.)? How often did you check it?
The quotes are quite cute! (I like Santos’s weird thoughts haha) I’ve only just realized the quotes change during the game, so I’ll be paying more attention to them in the future. I think the Info will also be useful for checking relationship stats later on. Do the sprite expressions change depending how good my relationship is?
A minor visual thing – perhaps the label words (“Name,” “Blood Type,” etc.) could be bolded or colored a little differently, just so they stand out from the rest of the text? “Current Thoughts” and “Relationship Status” may even merit their own standout box, since they will be continuously updated during the game.
7. How could the baking sim be more fun/visually attractive?
It would be really cool if the right page (with the scribbled writing) would change depending on which dessert was selected on the left! A picture of the baked good, short description, cost/sell price, and star rating could all be placed there as well, which would free up some extra room for the “To Be Baked” list.
On that note, there’s not much space for the list of things “To Be Baked,” so I keep on having to scroll down. It would be nice to give the list more room, either by extending it further down or splitting it into 2 columns.
Maybe quantities of items (e.g. x3) could be justified to the right so they all line up? I also think it might make more sense to have the +/- buttons next to each item quantity, perhaps only showing up when you hover/click over the number for that item.
A running total cost of my current batch (and the bakery’s current budget) could be a nice feature to add. I can see myself wanting to check that in the future.
Perhaps “Clear List” and “Done” could be given bigger buttons, or placed further apart from each other? Maybe it’s just me, but I have clicked “Clear” when I wanted to hit “Done” and was sad haha.
I appreciate that the recipes I got on previous playthroughs are still there.
Could I save my previous Lists as well? Also, is it possible to alter/overwrite old “Lists”? I’m not quite sure how.
A minor visual thing, but the new recipes, which are spaced more closely together and further to the left, look a bit odd compared to the old recipes.
8. Rate us on a scale of 1 to 10 on how all the elements come together. Does it feel like a cohesive game?
Heh, I never know how to do rating things. ^^; I’ll just say I enjoyed the demo and think it’s shaping up well! Good work so far! Hopefully I don’t seem too nitpicky and you definitely don’t have to listen to any of my random suggestions – I just figure since it’s a demo, you’d want all the feedback you can get. ^^; Best of luck with finishing the game!
