Cafe Memoria Deux Demo v0.1 [BxG][Slice of Life][Waitress]

[thebackup]

It might've taken a while, but the demo for the sequel of Café Memoria, Café Memoria Deux, is now playable!

Demo version 0.1 contains:

• A focus on the characters Anna and Mikaela
• All characters make a return from prequel + two new characters
• A return of the food selections + rating system from the first Café Memoria
• Note there’s no sprite art of the protagonist, Ryne, just yet, as he’s still being worked on as of this post.
• No voice acting for now, but there might be in future versions

Links
Café Memoria Deux site - learn more about the project + read character profiles
Corresponding blog post
Corresponding Twitter post

Screenshots



Café Memoria Deux 0.1 can be downloaded here:
Windows, Linux (84 MB) / Mac (67 MB)

What I'm looking for:

• Constructive criticism
• While I've tested this as much as I can, please let me know of any bugs, especially in the food / drink and waitress rating, and/or the routes.
• Anything else?

Thanks for your interest, and hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think

[rainarium]

Hiya!

So to start off, I'm really enjoying the GUI. The tones of blue, the ribbon header backgrounds, the half-tone fade of the menu-- super clean and appealing. The button SFX gives it a "video game like" feel(? sounds like a tetris block landing). Text is crisp and everything is perfectly readable. I also really prefer menus being on the right so you have my appreciation.


In the "...When will you two become boyfriend and girlfriend?" convo, the way Anna protests sounds a bit unnatural for me. "That's SO not true..." is in response to Elena saying you and Anna get along so well, then follows up with the bf-gf question and a pause from Ryne. Perhaps "We don't get along THAT well. Mom!! Stop making stuff up!" would flow a bit better in that structure. It highlights what Elena first said and maintains what you already have down. On my first read, I assumed her retort was to the question, not the "getting along" part.

Overall, I think there could be more natural pauses and shorter ways to write some of the sentences. Something like sentence rhythm(?) is what I'm getting at.


The music is really good! Lots of energy and pairs well with the scenario. My only complaint is on some tracks, the synth piano(?) is way too powerful at times. Like vibrating in my eardrums too loud (not using head/earphones). I don't think this will be too much of a problem, but it could be a bit bothersome for longer scenes.


Now for the routes! I found that Anna and Mikaela are similar in some ways. Both are predictable in how they carry themselves in regards to their personality. I'm interested in how they'll change personalities as you become more familiar. Anna's self-esteem issues and relationship with mom/Cafe Memroia vs Mikaela's anger issues and deal with Julia (other than jealousy/envy?). I prefer Anna, but I'm interested in what direction Mikaela's story will lead to.


I haven't played the first game so I apologize if there's something off about my feedback. As a standalone, it works well even though I wasn't properly acquainted with the characters. I would like to know if the first game has romance routes or all the routes simply converge and transition to this sequel. The obvious answer would be to play the game and find out for myself, but I can only make time for demos/short games at the moment


Anyways, you did a good job! Keep it up and I look forward to more releases. (P.S. no bugs found!)

[thebackup]

Hiya!

So to start off, I'm really enjoying the GUI. The tones of blue, the ribbon header backgrounds, the half-tone fade of the menu-- super clean and appealing. The button SFX gives it a "video game like" feel(? sounds like a tetris block landing). Text is crisp and everything is perfectly readable. I also really prefer menus being on the right so you have my appreciation.

Thanks for playing the demo! Glad you like the GUI. Yeah, to be quite honest I'm not exactly a fan of the default placement of menus on the left, hence moved to the right.

In the "...When will you two become boyfriend and girlfriend?" convo, the way Anna protests sounds a bit unnatural for me. "That's SO not true..." is in response to Elena saying you and Anna get along so well, then follows up with the bf-gf question and a pause from Ryne. Perhaps "We don't get along THAT well. Mom!! Stop making stuff up!" would flow a bit better in that structure. It highlights what Elena first said and maintains what you already have down. On my first read, I assumed her retort was to the question, not the "getting along" part.

Overall, I think there could be more natural pauses and shorter ways to write some of the sentences. Something like sentence rhythm(?) is what I'm getting at.

After reading it a bit, Anna's retort does sound a bit funny. I meant for it to be a reaction to her mother's question, that they're not bf/gf (I guess she's assuming her mother thinks she has a bf). But yeah it can also be interpreted that she's saying that they don't get along that well, which is not intended - I think it'll make her sound more like Mikaela.

The music is really good! Lots of energy and pairs well with the scenario. My only complaint is on some tracks, the synth piano(?) is way too powerful at times. Like vibrating in my eardrums too loud (not using head/earphones). I don't think this will be too much of a problem, but it could be a bit bothersome for longer scenes.

Thanks, glad you found it so! I do have to admit the audio mastering needs a bit of work. I listened through the tracks, and I'm assuming the title screen + morning music's synth piano sounds a bit shrill?

Now for the routes! I found that Anna and Mikaela are similar in some ways. Both are predictable in how they carry themselves in regards to their personality. I'm interested in how they'll change personalities as you become more familiar. Anna's self-esteem issues and relationship with mom/Cafe Memroia vs Mikaela's anger issues and deal with Julia (other than jealousy/envy?). I prefer Anna, but I'm interested in what direction Mikaela's story will lead to.

They get interesting further on in their stories.

I haven't played the first game so I apologize if there's something off about my feedback. As a standalone, it works well even though I wasn't properly acquainted with the characters. I would like to know if the first game has romance routes or all the routes simply converge and transition to this sequel. The obvious answer would be to play the game and find out for myself, but I can only make time for demos/short games at the moment

Unfortunately, the prequel doesn't have romance routes, but there are hints of romance. It is a fairly short game that once you finish the last unlocked girl's route (not revealing her name), it transitions to the sequel. Do play the prequel at your convenience (link in sig), no rush.

Anyways, you did a good job! Keep it up and I look forward to more releases. (P.S. no bugs found!)

Glad you like, and thanks for your feedback, it means lots to me! (and yay no bugs ^.^)

[rainarium]

Thanks, glad you found it so! I do have to admit the audio mastering needs a bit of work. I listened through the tracks, and I'm assuming the title screen + morning music's synth piano sounds a bit shrill?

I think the opening notes to the morning track mainly. No problems with the title screen music.

Unfortunately, the prequel doesn't have romance routes, but there are hints of romance. It is a fairly short game that once you finish the last unlocked girl's route (not revealing her name), it transitions to the sequel. Do play the prequel at your convenience (link in sig), no rush.

Just played the first game. Enjoyed the character introductions, but I think the sequel does them more justice with the writing. Same with the art style update. They're all cuter imo~ Good stuff so far! Jakob and Elena are also great supporting characters which I think help balance the main girls' personalities (as of the current demo version, Anna and Mikaela) and they add some spice to the interactions. My fave routes in the prequel were Anna's and Aurelia's so I look forward to their routes with CMD.

I'm excited for the next update~ Btw, about how long are you looking to make this game (in hours)? I'm assuming within the game's summer? Or will this be a much bigger project?

[thebackup]

Just played the first game. Enjoyed the character introductions, but I think the sequel does them more justice with the writing. Same with the art style update. They're all cuter imo~ Good stuff so far!

Glad you enjoyed the prequel!
And glad you like CMD's art style =)

Initially, I rehired the prequel's artist, but... something happened (won't go into detail here). Thus the different artist and newer style.

Jakob and Elena are also great supporting characters which I think help balance the main girls' personalities (as of the current demo version, Anna and Mikaela) and they add some spice to the interactions. My fave routes in the prequel were Anna's and Aurelia's so I look forward to their routes with CMD.

Glad you found those characters as such! I'm hoping to release another demo sometime, focusing on Aurelia as well as the other girls.

I'm excited for the next update~ Btw, about how long are you looking to make this game (in hours)? I'm assuming within the game's summer? Or will this be a much bigger project?

I'm hoping one playthrough will take about 2-3 or so hours (depending on the route, may be shorter or longer). Yes, it's within the game's summer season (in July), spanning a few in-game weeks. To give an idea of how big of a project CMD is, the script's around 55k-60k words. There's a chance I might be revising the script a bit, though.

But yeah, thanks again for checking out the Café Memoria Deux demo, and your feedback!