VN HTML Back to Freedom [v0.27] [Bald Games]

[Dragoci]

Great game. So fresh. The idea is good (even though all this trust towards somebody that just got out of prison is meh, but you know, it is what it is), the VN layout in the html game is something I looked for some time.
But the best thing is the cast. Finally some "new" names! Angela White and Andriana Chechik but also my love Amirah Adara, and others. Freaking good. I truly am sad that I found out about this game yesterday, I'll have to wait for a lot of updates,but I'm looking forward to it. I'll become a patreon right away.
Just a little advice: I know it's probably a lot of work, but i'd increase the scenes. These are the updates necessaryto introduce the story, but I'm sorry I'm really impatient ahahah.

 

[LASOMBRA76]

El autor tendrá que escribir el juego para que los juegos guardados se muevan de una versión a otra. Twine y SugarCube pueden hacer esto.
Espero que se dé cuenta y lo arregle.
Al menos es solo v2, y no es difícil de reproducir desde el principio.
(traducido...)
:>)

NOTE: Best to message in English if you can. Better for everyone. Have great night!

Thank you very much for the reply. Of course you are right in the post data, in fact I copied it directly from the English translator and I don't know why it came out in Spanish.

 

[Bald Games]

Ok. So how do we work with old Save Games?

The .html files have different names, so saves do not show up. Exported Saved games from .1 say 'Wrong game' when you try to load them onto v2.
Curious what the rest of you folks did?

I've already figured out what the problem is. I'll fix it to version 0.3. Unfortunately in version 0.3, it will still not be possible to import files from version 0.2, as the change had to have been made in version 0.2 as well. From 0.4 onwards you can import saves from version 0.3 onwards.
Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't even noticed this error.

 

[Bald Games]

Some guy, I don't remember here or elsewhere, said that the game should have an option to skip dialogues and go straight to page choices.
I know most of you must already know this, but for those who don't know, I'll leave a little tip: You can press the "end" key on the keyboard and the page goes to the bottom, where the choices are. This works for any website.
It's very useful if you want to redo some parts of the game to unlock some alternate scenes without having to scroll through all the common text in the story.
Be aware that you will also skip any image or video that is along with the text on the page.

 

[Gunnie_gugu]

What a great game! Can't wait for the next update. How often are you looking to put them out?

 

[Bald Games]

What a great game! Can't wait for the next update. How often are you looking to put them out?

Hi. Glad you enjoyed the game.
I'm doing monthly updates.

 

[deadmeat888]

question, is stepdaughter as far as you will go with the family members here or is the "incest patch" bugged for me and theyre supposed to be your daughters???

 

[Bald Games]

question, is stepdaughter as far as you will go with the family members here or is the "incest patch" bugged for me and theyre supposed to be your daughters???

Patching is not automatic. It enables the option to turn incest on or off in the options menu.

 

[Dagerdese]

I appreciate the more mundane interactions the MC has with his family that serves to build up the characters and the relationships between them, as opposed to a lot of games where most characters are blank slates and/or all interactions are lewd.


However, after a few in-game days some of the conversations begin to really drone on, where the same feelings and information could be conveyed with more brevity.

That would also make them feel more natural, oftentimes characters deliver exposition (regarding their/other's feelings or situation) in too frank of a manner. They could communicate the same things but more subtly.

There are probably some sources with more concrete tips on "do's and dont's" when writing dialogue that could assist you better than I can.

EDIT: Another tip would be to break up some of the longer conversations with a few interesting pictures, which is something you already do on occasion.

 

[Dagerdese]

Now for something completely different, auto image/video size adjustment for vertical vs horizontal screens.

I like playing html games on my vertical screen because it uses the screen space more efficiently, but oftentimes image/video content get unnecessarily scaled down.
Example picture in spoiler:

Horizontal:

Spoiler

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Vertical:

Spoiler

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(You would need to open the full picture and zoom to 1:1 scale to see that the vertical one has a scaled down image)

This is an issue with a lot of html games and I'm not sure if there's an easy straightforward fix but devs don't think about it, or if it's a troublesome thing to get right.

 

[Bald Games]

I appreciate the more mundane interactions the MC has with his family that serves to build up the characters and the relationships between them, as opposed to a lot of games where most characters are blank slates and/or all interactions are lewd.


However, after a few in-game days some of the conversations begin to really drone on, where the same feelings and information could be conveyed with more brevity.

That would also make them feel more natural, oftentimes characters deliver exposition (regarding their/other's feelings or situation) in too frank of a manner. They could communicate the same things but more subtly.

There are probably some sources with more concrete tips on "do's and dont's" when writing dialogue that could assist you better than I can.

EDIT: Another tip would be to break up some of the longer conversations with a few interesting pictures, which is something you already do on occasion.

Thanks for the feedback.
I know that I may never be able to deliver dialogue as well as a native speaker could.
There are many differences in the way people communicate in different parts of the world. As I'm not a native speaker, I have to formulate the texts in my language and translate them later. And still, make corrections to things the translator does that are completely meaningless (probably a lot of those things go through my review and go into the game). This makes things harder for me.
In the beginning, I thought about making a sandbox game with some grind, due to the fact that this type of game is not so story-focused. But by doing that, I wouldn't make the game the way I wanted it to. So I opted to take the risk of making a visual novel, even knowing the limitation I would have with the dialogues.

 

[Bald Games]

Some people don't like the comic sans font. In the next version, the default font will be arial, but I'm adding a font change option in the options menu. This way the player can choose between arial, times new roman, or comic sans.
I might add other font options in the future, but I think, for now, these three will suit most people.

 

[Dagerdese]

Thanks for the feedback.
I know that I may never be able to deliver dialogue as well as a native speaker could.
There are many differences in the way people communicate in different parts of the world. As I'm not a native speaker, I have to formulate the texts in my language and translate them later. And still, make corrections to things the translator does that are completely meaningless (probably a lot of those things go through my review and go into the game). This makes things harder for me.

I think you're overestimating the value of being a native speaker, I see it more as a head start. Being a good writer is more about how you use the language. It's technique and creativity, something that's not inherent to simply being a native speaker and comprehending the language.

Even if you're using a translation tool, your grasp of the English language is good enough to make it seem as if it's not machine translated. I speak 3 languages and would not be able to do that with the one I'm worst at (even though I can read it without assistance).

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If you want to get better at both the language itself and writing, I recommend reading some books (not educational, but novels) and/or playing older, text-heavy RPG's with good writing.

For fantasy I'd recommend Glen Cook's series "The Black Company".
For sci-fi, Douglas Adams "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is a must-read.
David Wong's "John Dies at the End" and the sequel "This Book is Full of Spiders" are both great contemporary sci-fi/fantasy-ish books.

For games, the two classics "Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura" and "Planescape: Torment" are the first to come to mind.

-

Sorry for the unsolicited advice, I just assume that you enjoy writing and it'd be a shame if you felt that not being a native speaker is a barrier that can't be overcome.

 

[Dagerdese]

In the beginning, I thought about making a sandbox game with some grind, due to the fact that this type of game is not so story-focused. But by doing that, I wouldn't make the game the way I wanted it to. So I opted to take the risk of making a visual novel, even knowing the limitation I would have with the dialogues.

It's refreshing to see something other than a sandbox html game, and a VN style game actually gives you the advantage of being able to fine tune the delivery of (lewd) content.

Having longer conversations isn't a problem, but to make them less of a bore you could spice them up a bit with some suggestive images or videos that don't even need to be very extreme if it doesn't suit the situation.

You can also add in some more small scenes in between the longer, text heavy ones. Like the bathroom and bedroom peeking ones.
It feels as if the lewd content is a bit too focused around the sex scenes and after a few in-game days you get a lot of successive scenes with a lot of text and not much lewd content to keep the player hooked.

 

[Bald Games]

You can also add in some more small scenes in between the longer, text heavy ones. Like the bathroom and bedroom peeking ones.
It feels as if the lewd content is a bit too focused around the sex scenes and after a few in-game days you get a lot of successive scenes with a lot of text and not much lewd content to keep the player hooked.

In the next version, there will be many minor scenes (without giving up the big ones). As relationships progress, it becomes easier to put this type of scene more often.
The problem is that real porn games have a big limitation on the available scenes. So I have to work with what's available. Unless I use generic scenes from different actresses, which I don't want to do because I feel it impacts immersion.

 

[Dagerdese]

The problem is that real porn games have a big limitation on the available scenes. So I have to work with what's available. Unless I use generic scenes from different actresses, which I don't want to do because I feel it impacts immersion.

Yeah you're right, with a more character driven game like this it's much better to have a dedicated actress per character.

Still I hope you're able to spice things up a bit more outside of sex scenes, but I had not considered that it can be hard to find fitting scenes, which depending on the actress can very well be the case.

 

[89898hh]

Really like it so far looking forward to more!

 

[CraysisW]

Very good

 

[Crow Armbrust]

THX

 

[Deleted member 2858499]

So far so good. I loved this game, it's great! Keep it up!