DirkB wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:50 am
I played the demo for a while and this looks like it works very well. It's amazing to see what you can do with Ren'Py. The town map with selectable locations is nice and adding activities to your schedule looks good and practical.
I noticed one possible problem. After you meet the women who gives you a Lucky coin, the music doesn't restart right away when you go back doing things at different locations.
Thank you very much!
I'll work on the issue with the music. I was worried that for short scenes the music might change too quickly but it might be more jarring for it to stay even when executing different activities. Thanks for pointing it out!
DirkB wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:50 am
For this to really keep my interest, it should be more focused on story also. While the concept of raising stats through various activities looks polished and seems to work well, I would like there to be some form of regular (weekly?) special events which tell a story in which you can participate.
You're right, this is a problem that I've been mulling over as well. There are some "special events" that are triggered regularly but they're not really much of a story per se.
The idea is that your 'journey' in the game changes depending on which activities you're doing and stuff like that, so I kept the 'definite' story events to a minimum. I had hoped that the different story quest lines in the later part of the game would amend this, but all in all it does lack more 'story'.
Thank you so much for your feedback! ^_^
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Macros wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 7:15 am
Well, that sounds promising! Of course, the demo kicked my ass - trying to befriend Kardia only to have her ending up arrested off-screen, the orphanage shutting down and finally ending up being labelled a failure (not sure what's the trigger for that?), so yeah, a pretty rough start for the MC. Not giving up though!
LOL I'm sorry to hear that your first playthrough ended in failure. Yeah, Kardia is a bit of a tough nut to crack.
Thank you for playing! <3 Feel free to keep me updated on your progress
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RoseGardenGames wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:04 pm
So as you already know and comment on, but one of the first things you'll want to hit up going forward is having... some kind of title screen. Like, even a placeholder one will do you more favors than the default Ren'Py one, I think. Your art is too nice not to!
That aside, some wording choices I wanted to comment on in your opening: "But that was all it had been at that point." This feels a bit awkward to read in the context of where we are. Maybe something more like "But that was all it was back then." instead? Similarly, instead of "But that day had come," I think "But that day came" or "But that day did come" gives the effect you're going for more effectively, if that makes sense.
On that tangent, I wonder if adding some narration of some kind, even just sprinkled in, might be a possibility during the next scene with the protagonist?
Thank your pointing those out! I'm not a native speaker, so I'm never really sure whether something sounds weird.
Do you mean add narration in general or for that scene in particular? I wanted to preserve a bit of the RPG-esque feel of dialogue-only instead of the more heavily narrated VNs.
RoseGardenGames wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:04 pm
Anyway, after that, I got to playing a bit. All in all, the game is pretty straightforward, which is not at all a bad thing (though I was a bit confused as to why there was a need for a year skip in time?). I do feel like the protagonist could use a bit more... something to them, but if the game's focus is to be on the stat raising elements, then what's there is more than enough.
Thank you! You bring up a great issue with the protagonist. They're probably lacking more of 'conflict' to make them more interesting. I was afraid of adding that and more backstory since my 'conflicts' always end up as angstfests and I wanted to keep this game lighthearted lol. But I'll definitely look into that!
RoseGardenGames wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:04 pm
Also, one touch I liked that I wanted to comment on was how when you're going around town, you don't have to commit to any area right when you select them, you can go back to the map. That was nice. I also really liked all the different drawings and animations for the different jobs and events.
In general, the "game" part of everything seems pretty solid. You could consider adding more of a direction earlier on, since it sort of feels... wishy washy right now, but on the other hand, leaving it as is could give players more freedom if you allow them to grow and branch out more and more as they develop their stats!
Anyhoo, that's all for now! Good luck!
The lack of direction is something someone else also commented on, so you definitely have a point there! I'll have to see what kind of events I could add to amend that.
Thank you so much for playing and for your valuable feedback! <3 Thank you!
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Gabmag wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:42 pm
I love the sprites. The style is really great! I'll be checking out your demo
Thank you! >w< I hope you'll have fun!