HTML A Mirror's Curse [0.14 Patched] [amaty]

[ffive]

Okay.... why in the world would he confide in the very same person who cursed him if you choose to outright reject the curse? He should want revenge against her or at least want NOTHING to do with her.

I could MAYBE understand if he was embracing it or at least unsure about things. But still, he should have some strong resentment towards her, but he just comes off as mostly "annoyed and inconvenienced".

What do you mean? MC doesn't so much confide in Madame Serena (particularly if you're against the changes) but visits her in attempt to find out what is going on and how he can get rid of the curse.

 

[amaty]

I'd suggest keeping the notes where they are, but add a toggle in the game settings for "Author Notes", similar how movies can come with optional commentary track from the director. This would allow people who are interested in these things to have them displayed, and those who aren't, to have them hidden leaving them none the wiser.

I will certainly consider that. I may also split up the author's notes into personal thoughts and game design yapping author's notes and game tutorial author's notes.

As an aside to the developer, thank you for adding options to express a middle ground between "NO MY MASCULINITY" and "TIME FOR GROUP BATHROOM TRIPS AND TRAINING BRAS." The "Welp, life throws you curveballs sometimes, guess I'm rolling with it" is an underserved and refreshing perspective in these stories.

I do my best to not just make it straight up fluff that progresses too quickly. Although most people who enjoy the game dive right into femininity, I get that this shit is complicated and sometimes a more subdued and slow feminization can hit harder.

Not the person you replied to, but I appreciate your honesty and your understanding of the criticisms. I don't think it's about not wanting to see your opinion in general, but rather not want it to show up in the player's face in the middle of playing the game, as it can detract from the overall immersion and experience as you said.

With that said, having played a bit of the game, so far I'm really enjoying it. I think you've done a great job on story building and interactions between the MC and others. I apologize if my earlier comment sounded a bit harsh, and wish the best for you and your game!

I'll be honest, I fucking love actual criticism. Sure, it can sting, but ultimately it helps me as a writer and game developer improve. I like to hear genuine thoughts on this game and what people found engaging and not so engaging about the experience.

Don't worry about sounding harsh, I've been on the internet for a while. Not to mention this game has been played by a bunch of people. If I couldn't handle some mean comments, I would not have uploaded this game to f95 zone. I amf ully aware of the reputation this place has.

 

[LowLevelLesser]

What do you mean? MC doesn't so much confide in Madame Serena (particularly if you're against the changes) but visits her in attempt to find out what is going on and how he can get rid of the curse.

That still doesn't make much sense if you really think about it. He must be the most calm and level-headed guy in the world then. Most people would be far less diplomatic in such a situation. I'm not a "tough guy" or a violent person in general but I'd be tempted to test the durability of her skull with a crowbar (she could curse me all she wanted at that point).

 

[ffive]

That still doesn't make much sense if you really think about it. He must be the most calm and level-headed guy in the world then. Most people would be far less diplomatic in such a situation.

I don't know, asking potentially the only person who knows what the curse was and how to undo it, about how it works and how to actually undo it, sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Perhaps i'm the most calm and level-headed person in the world since i'd rather focus on that instead of pointless histrionics..?

(and if you want to get info, then screaming in people's faces is usually counter-productive. Revenge being dish best served cold etc, it's quite sensible to act civil and save such things for after you find out what you wanted)

 

[LowLevelLesser]

I don't know, asking potentially the only person who knows what the curse was and how to undo it, about how it works and how to actually undo it, sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Perhaps i'm the most calm and level-headed person in the world since i'd rather focus on that instead of pointless histrionics..?

Because no other people in the world could help with that right? Nobody else could have relevent occult knowledge I'm sure. No, I wouldn't be screaming in the person's face, that'd be pointless histrionics. I would never speak to them again to begin with if it were me, but I'd certainly make my feelings clear if were to do so for whatever reason.

Like I said, it does at least make a little more sense if the character is embracing the curse or at least unsure about it.

 

[ffive]

Because no other people in the world could help with that right? Nobody else could have relevent occult knowledge I'm sure.

Other people can at best guess what was done to MC, since they weren't the person who actually did it. MC doesn't gain anything practical from acting all offended instead of doing his research.

 

[LowLevelLesser]

Other people can at best guess what was done to MC, since they weren't the person who actually did it. MC doesn't gain anything practical from acting all offended instead of doing his research.

Being "offended' at being cursed...

Like being "offended" that somebody hit you with their car on purpose.
Like being "offended" that somebody pickpocketed you.
Et cetera...

Anyway, we're done here as we've both made our points.

 

[defnotalt]

Gender identity stuff is complicated. There are a lot of people who have very strong feelings about it, for a whole host of excellent reasons. A lot of trans folks first explore their gender identity in RPGs or other roleplay scenarios, for example, to the point where the "uncracked egg RPG player" is something of a meme due to how common a story it is.

Because of that, there are going to be a lot of people exploring their feelings on gender identity and roles in games, including the ones that get posted here. This may be primarily a porn game piracy board, but that doesn't make the games here completely devoid of meaning beyond titillation - and, for many people, the "with plot" part of "porn with plot" is why people enjoy these things.

So for games that take a serious (if fantastic) approach to issues, like this one, I think being a little considerate is a good approach.

Now, that said, I don't disagree that the mid-game warnings are a bit of an interruption that throws off the pacing. Personally, I'd stick the note as a disclaimer at the start: "This is a modern fantasy game about a magical gender swap that addresses very real social and psychological issues, and it includes both an eager and heartfelt investigation of that subject alongside a mixture of wish fulfillment and respectful fetishization of it. If either of those bother you or are not what you're looking for, perhaps consider a different title."

Don't get me wrong, most of my favourite R-18 games are story heavy and often the R-18 scenes are mostly just considered an added bonus to the experience and not the main driver. So, I'm aware that some adult games actually have meaning behind it haha. With that said, I strongly believe that if you want to add any kind of complex topic into your game, you have to do it in an organic way by integrating it inside the story and allow some nuance for the player to decide what they want to think.

Granted, this game is doing it right for the most part, it was just that particular comment that felt a bit too inside the story's text. I probably wouldn't have reacted like this a few years back, but we've all seen our fair share of politics shoved into modern games in ways that would make an actual story writer cry in their sleep, so I get easily skeptical nowadays

 

[ffive]

I would never speak to them again to begin with if it were me, but I'd certainly make my feelings clear if were to do so for whatever reason.

I think the MC who doesn't embrace the changes makes it pretty clear in his text variant:

"Look, I didn't ask for this, okay?" you say firmly, your voice tinged with frustration. "None of it. It's not me. It's just this curse messing with me."

Serena furrows her eyebrows, the jingle of her bracelets soft as she tilts her head. "Is it really?" she asked, her voice almost teasing. "Look at yourself, Ethan. Look at the way the world has started to see you. Do you truly believe this is all the magic is doing? Or could it be that it's revealing something that was always there, just hidden away?"

"I know who I am, lady," you snap, your jaw tightening. "This isn't it."

Madame Serena sighs, shaking her head from side to side.

"I didn't choose this," you say, your stomach churning. "I just want to feel normal again. Like myself."

Madame Serena's eyes sweep over you, her all-knowing smile flickering for a second. There was something about you that didn't align with her expectations. "This is... unusual," she murmurs, almost to herself. "The magic should resonate, should align with something deep within you. It shouldn't feel so foreign."

"Guess your magic is wrong," you say, your tone cutting.

Did you get a different one in your play through?

 

[LowLevelLesser]

I think the MC who doesn't embrace the changes makes it pretty clear in his text variant:

Did you get a different one in your play through?

I got quite a different one yeah because I avoided all the changes except the initial one and the forced one. She was really surprised and confused that I was completely rejecting the effects of the curse.

Of course, I eventually plan to try all routes in the future as the game and story develops.

 

[LowLevelLesser]

I would suggest anybody who likes this game to check out "You Throw Like A Girl" too.

 

[JennaJJ]

... Thx 4 the share ...

 

[LowLevelLesser]

I would suspect because "hard rejection" is a pretty niche path in these games, and often gets neglected by authors and developers since it's not typically why most people pick up the titles.

You are 100% correct, I've tested a few games that would literally start throwing out errors because they didn't account for a fully non-sexual/non-romantic run when checking relationship stats for scenes.

Both the earlier game I suggested along with "The Sissy Girlfriend Experiment" have options to resist and reject things and even go for revenge (and becoming more dominant instead of submissive in TSGE). It's deliberately hard to do so in TSGE though by design.

 

[Cajun Fox]

Thanks

Good luck with your game.

 

[Mariela]

I like it, I look forward to the development

 

[deltahalo241]

How much is in the game at the moment? And I don't mean entirely from a lewd perspective, more so just how fleshed out the story, characters and systems are at this stage. It's only at v0.14 so I'm assuming there's not a huge amount but it is a project I'm interested in following.

 

[PeanutGallery]

How much is in the game at the moment? And I don't mean entirely from a lewd perspective, more so just how fleshed out the story, characters and systems are at this stage. It's only at v0.14 so I'm assuming there's not a huge amount but it is a project I'm interested in following.

It's fairly early on, but it's more than a tech demo. The MC has enough time to develop something of a personality, and the MC's immediate family and friends have a bit of development. Other characters are introduced but not significantly fleshed out. MC can make several high-impact choices and have reactions to them, but it's all very much "opening act" content so far.

 

[dea667a]

Because no other people in the world could help with that right? Nobody else could have relevent occult knowledge I'm sure. No, I wouldn't be screaming in the person's face, that'd be pointless histrionics. I would never speak to them again to begin with if it were me, but I'd certainly make my feelings clear if were to do so for whatever reason.

Like I said, it does at least make a little more sense if the character is embracing the curse or at least unsure about it.

Oh, I do get what you mean. But at the same time - we play as a teenager who is more shy than not. Also from my experience teenagers are people who are not exactly into sharing with everybody about their body changes. Also also the only other person (currently) in the game is a girl connected to the seer.

So I get that there is not some harsher reaction of the MC. At least yet. As is my understanding the gaming system has a scale between shy and assertive so maybe in time the MC can go with - screw it, there is nothing I can lose.

But at the release time I dont believe MC is at the point where this option should be available.

 

[StapleComm]

I amf ully aware of the reputation this place has.

Honestly, people here are friendlier than people leaving comments on sites like mangadex...

 

[MavisFeatherlight]

AI CG?