HTML Blue Swallow [v0.7.3,1] [Blue Swallow]

[CassieBare]

Wonder when 0.8 public release

We aim for public releases with the conclusion of the dev cycle. So when 0.8 development is complete (likely 0.8.4 or 0.8.5) then we'll release a public version.

 

[T7792]

Wonder when 0.8 public release

Given that the first patreon tier do not get game access, tier 2 wait 3 weeks, tier 3, 2 weeks etc, I would guess it becomes available about a month (possibly 2) after the game drops for the high tier backers.

On that note, I like this game, but the tiers for access for day 1 are WAAAAY more expensive than any other game I have backed for this sort of content (even non-porn game content for that matter), and seems a bit self-defeating to me. The fact that you have to pay so much for day 1 access made me decide not to back at all, and I doubt that I am alone.

 

[FauxCount]

Given that the first patreon tier do not get game access, tier 2 wait 3 weeks, tier 3, 2 weeks etc, I would guess it becomes available about a month (possibly 2) after the game drops for the high tier backers.

On that note, I like this game, but the tiers for access for day 1 are WAAAAY more expensive than any other game I have backed for this sort of content (even non-porn game content for that matter), and seems a bit self-defeating to me. The fact that you have to pay so much for day 1 access made me decide not to back at all, and I doubt that I am alone.

It's also a little frustrating that game-breaking glitches don't get hotfixes and instead require you to wait for the next full dev cycle.

 

[Fictionary]

It's also a little frustrating that game-breaking glitches don't get hotfixes and instead require you to wait for the next full dev cycle.

Hey Faux, I try to stay on top of game breaking glitches and get them into the hotfix when they happen.
We usually only wait for next cycle for bugs that you can bypass.
Sorry its felt frustrating though.

 

[CassieBare]

Given that the first patreon tier do not get game access, tier 2 wait 3 weeks, tier 3, 2 weeks etc, I would guess it becomes available about a month (possibly 2) after the game drops for the high tier backers.

On that note, I like this game, but the tiers for access for day 1 are WAAAAY more expensive than any other game I have backed for this sort of content (even non-porn game content for that matter), and seems a bit self-defeating to me. The fact that you have to pay so much for day 1 access made me decide not to back at all, and I doubt that I am alone.

Appreciate the criticism and more than happy to re-evaluate.

Looking at two other games in the space, FA and ORS. Why did I pick those? They aren't strong 'engine' games (like those that use Unity and the like), they are high-quality, story and character-focused. FA because, well...obvious. ORS because its a CYOA. Hope those reasons make sense.

FA ($5, $10, $20) - 2,260 paid members
ORS ($6, $11.50, $23) - 2,549 paid members. [We'll ignore the higher tiers because they're not related to content, really]

Blue Swallow ($3, $5, $10, $25) - 312 paid members.

I figure those are fair comparisons and not too far off from where Blue Swallow is. In fact, we have a content-access tier lower than both and significantly lower than ORS.

So, I'm all about pricing appropriately and I sincerely want to have people supporting in realistic (and consistent) ways, but especially with the stark difference between the paid member count, it's very hard to keep producing content every 1-3 weeks with the income flow we currently have.

Thoughts?

 

[FauxCount]

Hey Faux, I try to stay on top of game breaking glitches and get them into the hotfix when they happen.
We usually only wait for next cycle for bugs that you can bypass.
Sorry its felt frustrating though.

I mean, the one that I posted happens every time in the prologue and has no bypass apart from not playing the prologue at all. Even if it slips through an initial release, I can tell that I wasn't the first to report it and that it also wasn't deemed enough to recommend a hotfix.

EDIT:
CassieBare: FWIW, my gripe about a gamebreaking glitch that's hung around with no patch shouldn't be taken as a criticism of the pay scheme. I might advocate for a little more frequent filtering down to public releases than only on full integer advancements, but even setting that aside I respect the need to make sure your work is financially sustainable. Mostly I want to clarify that this frustration above isn't negative feedback on how you choose to monetize. (Especially since I'm a non-paying player for the moment)

 

[TerumiNin]

Put it on Steam in Early Access for $10? Of course that's a flat $10 and not $10 a month. Steam should probably be the way at this point anyway since they allow non-con...which according to the tags is planned for this...and that's been an issue with Patreon.

Could also compare it to Course of Temptation whose newest version is free after a week (or 2 weeks?).

 

[MagLev]

CassieBare I'm curious about something, are there hard technical limitations that prevent the game from having more than 10 save slots? It's really limiting, I know you can export saves and I do but 10 is really too few. Course of Temptation is the gold standard in Twine games with basically unlimited saves, but even failing that you'd want more than 10.

 

[Fictionary]

CassieBare I'm curious about something, are there hard technical limitations that prevent the game from having more than 10 save slots? It's really limiting, I know you can export saves and I do but 10 is really too few. Course of Temptation is the gold standard in Twine games with basically unlimited saves, but even failing that you'd want more than 10.

We will be re-implementing more saves.
We had to remove it because of poor implementation causing bugs in other places.

I hope to get this in when we launch v9 at the latest ( fingers crossed ).
Sorry for the delay here.

 

[T7792]

Appreciate the criticism and more than happy to re-evaluate.

Looking at two other games in the space, FA and ORS. Why did I pick those? They aren't strong 'engine' games (like those that use Unity and the like), they are high-quality, story and character-focused. FA because, well...obvious. ORS because its a CYOA. Hope those reasons make sense.

FA ($5, $10, $20) - 2,260 paid members
ORS ($6, $11.50, $23) - 2,549 paid members. [We'll ignore the higher tiers because they're not related to content, really]

Blue Swallow ($3, $5, $10, $25) - 312 paid members.

I figure those are fair comparisons and not too far off from where Blue Swallow is. In fact, we have a content-access tier lower than both and significantly lower than ORS.

So, I'm all about pricing appropriately and I sincerely want to have people supporting in realistic (and consistent) ways, but especially with the stark difference between the paid member count, it's very hard to keep producing content every 1-3 weeks with the income flow we currently have.

Thoughts?

I am unsure what game OSR is (Our Red String?), but I am familiar with FA (have backed in the past and will again, but as it's been over a year since the last version got released it's just too long for me remain backing.)

For me, the problem is, your lowest tier (A tier with no real incentive for players) is 3 times the price of FA's 'Analyst' tier at $1. Neither your lvl1 nor FA's lvl1 give any early access to the build, though FA does give some in-game content bonuses.

Your next tier says that you will wait 3 weeks. For me, when I read that I think "well, if I'm going to wait 3 weeks for the game to be playable, I may as well just wait until it's free."

In comparison, FA's lvl2 at $5 gives the backer access to the bug fixed version as soon as it's ready. When I look at that, I think, "err, why not." Over the past 3 years, I have been a backer at this tier for about 2 years (in total time spent backing).

FA's more expensive tiers are there, and people do go for them, but most people just want to get a playable release asap, and that is what FA's tier 2 does. By grading when people get access, you are encouraging people to wait.

You get people onto your higher tiers by encouraging them to try the lower ones to get them invested in the development of the game, but even then most people will never consider the higher tiers. I may buy a porn game for the price of your higher tiers, but I would not pay that much per month for one.

Also, when it comes to the amount of backers, other than what I have said above. I suspect there are a few reasons.

1, Time. FA has been around for a longer time and has had time to build momentum.
2, Discord. You have Discord access as a perk of backing (according to your tier descriptions). FA's Discord is open to all.
3, Style. I like the way your game looks, but FA's is more eye catching. It uses bright colors in its pictures, and while they are less stylized, I find then bolder in look. I also like the way it uses both photos (more A.I. photos now) and the paper doll images. I think FA's look helps get people to try the game and from there back it.

I don't want this to come off as overly negative, as I like your game. I did consider backing it and would have except for the reasons above. I hope this game continues to grow both in terms of content and supporters. I also hope that what I have written is seen by you as me wanting you and your game to succeed. I am dyslexic and find writing/typing unpleasant, and I would not have spent as long as I have writing this if I did not want you to do well.

 

[CassieBare]

I am unsure what game OSR is (Our Red String?), but I am familiar with FA (have backed in the past and will again, but as it's been over a year since the last version got released it's just too long for me remain backing.)

For me, the problem is, your lowest tier (A tier with no real incentive for players) is 3 times the price of FA's 'Analyst' tier at $1. Neither your lvl1 nor FA's lvl1 give any early access to the build, though FA does give some in-game content bonuses.

Your next tier says that you will wait 3 weeks. For me, when I read that I think "well, if I'm going to wait 3 weeks for the game to be playable, I may as well just wait until it's free."

In comparison, FA's lvl2 at $5 gives the backer access to the bug fixed version as soon as it's ready. When I look at that, I think, "err, why not." Over the past 3 years, I have been a backer at this tier for about 2 years (in total time spent backing).

FA's more expensive tiers are there, and people do go for them, but most people just want to get a playable release asap, and that is what FA's tier 2 does. By grading when people get access, you are encouraging people to wait.

You get people onto your higher tiers by encouraging them to try the lower ones to get them invested in the development of the game, but even then most people will never consider the higher tiers. I may buy a porn game for the price of your higher tiers, but I would not pay that much per month for one.

Also, when it comes to the amount of backers, other than what I have said above. I suspect there are a few reasons.

1, Time. FA has been around for a longer time and has had time to build momentum.
2, Discord. You have Discord access as a perk of backing (according to your tier descriptions). FA's Discord is open to all.
3, Style. I like the way your game looks, but FA's is more eye catching. It uses bright colors in its pictures, and while they are less stylized, I find then bolder in look. I also like the way it uses both photos (more A.I. photos now) and the paper doll images. I think FA's look helps get people to try the game and from there back it.

I don't want this to come off as overly negative, as I like your game. I did consider backing it and would have except for the reasons above. I hope this game continues to grow both in terms of content and supporters. I also hope that what I have written is seen by you as me wanting you and your game to succeed. I am dyslexic and find writing/typing unpleasant, and I would not have spent as long as I have writing this if I did not want you to do well.

You aren't coming off negative at all, thank you and appreciate your support!

I'll definitely take all of your comments into consideration, but wanted to make one comment in response:

If you are willing to pay $5/mo for FA on releases that may or may not occur, I find it interesting that you aren't interested in supporting Blue Swallow at $3/mo to receive releases about every 2-3 weeks. Granted, they aren't the 'newest and shiniest' but they are new content for everyone at that tier.

The desire to 'wait til it's free' is interesting as well because the public releases do not have HD art and only contain Prologue content, as well as other things that will be relegated to the supporter tiers going forward as we continue development. Beyond that, you could wait 3 weeks for the supporter release or you could wait something like 2 months for our next public release. Which, as I mentioned, is truncated.

Thanks again!

 

[JEGEK]

Have I somehow bricked my save or is the Philippiness part not written yet and I'll have to wait for more updates?

 

[CassieBare]

View attachment 4223062 View attachment 4223066

Have I somehow bricked my save or is the Philippiness part not written yet and I'll have to wait for more updates?

Was fixed with the 0.8.0 release, will be fixed in the 0.8 public release, likely in a month

 

[ffive]

CassieBare I'm curious about something, are there hard technical limitations that prevent the game from having more than 10 save slots? It's really limiting, I know you can export saves and I do but 10 is really too few.

Honestly, you should really only ever save you game to the folder on the local drive, instead of relying on the browser slots -- not only you risk getting these accidentally deleted if you choose to clear the cache, but also due to all browser applications sharing the same, quite limited space, every save you make increases the likeliness another save, be it from this game or any other, won't have enough space left to fit, and you'll just get an error.

 

[T7792]

You aren't coming off negative at all, thank you and appreciate your support!

I'll definitely take all of your comments into consideration, but wanted to make one comment in response:

If you are willing to pay $5/mo for FA on releases that may or may not occur, I find it interesting that you aren't interested in supporting Blue Swallow at $3/mo to receive releases about every 2-3 weeks. Granted, they aren't the 'newest and shiniest' but they are new content for everyone at that tier.

The desire to 'wait til it's free' is interesting as well because the public releases do not have HD art and only contain Prologue content, as well as other things that will be relegated to the supporter tiers going forward as we continue development. Beyond that, you could wait 3 weeks for the supporter release or you could wait something like 2 months for our next public release. Which, as I mentioned, is truncated.

Thanks again!

I think it comes down to the optics of the tier's. It would be worth making the differences between the free, teir1, teir2 etc more visible. As it stands I had no clue that the public release had any downgrade in art or content, I would suggest showing a comparison between the 2 somewhere people will be able to see them (if you already have, I have not seen it). My suggestion would be to add a few of the pics to a special comparison page at the end of the free version, so people can see what they are missing.

Also, if the official free (all games get pirated sooner or later) release is only ever going to have the prologue, you need to make that very clear. If you are releasing more to the free one, then make the time gap between the paid and free one visible to all as well. Likewise, if you have cut content from the free version, you should have an example of what will be missed on the free version. Again, I would have a scene run side by side at the end of the free version to show what will be missed.

Maybe I've missed something, but either way, I am hoping you do well, and I will continue to consider backing, though I would prefer to know what sort of content has been cut from the free one and what the pic quality differences were first.

 

[CassieBare]

I think it comes down to the optics of the tier's. It would be worth making the differences between the free, teir1, teir2 etc more visible. As it stands I had no clue that the public release had any downgrade in art or content, I would suggest showing a comparison between the 2 somewhere people will be able to see them (if you already have, I have not seen it). My suggestion would be to add a few of the pics to a special comparison page at the end of the free version, so people can see what they are missing.

Also, if the official free (all games get pirated sooner or later) release is only ever going to have the prologue, you need to make that very clear. If you are releasing more to the free one, then make the time gap between the paid and free one visible to all as well. Likewise, if you have cut content from the free version, you should have an example of what will be missed on the free version. Again, I would have a scene run side by side at the end of the free version to show what will be missed.

Maybe I've missed something, but either way, I am hoping you do well, and I will continue to consider backing, though I would prefer to know what sort of content has been cut from the free one and what the pic quality differences were first.

Thank you for this. We'll look into designing some infographics.

More will be added to the public versions, but it's focused on lifepath and UI/UX improvements.

 

[mc18762020]

Release Day + Progress!
0.8.2.1 has been released to Sudden Agent tiers and up. 0.8.1.1 has been released to Origin tiers.

For 0.8.3, in the past week we've:

• Finished off the remaining skill and trait GIFs which will be added to pop-ups in 0.8.3
• Begun sketching out the plans for the first Act I (Main Game) event for you spies.
• Added in four new sets of clothing for our models (and of course, the Loser outfit).
• Offered different accessories for purchase in the Mall during the Main game for those who want to switch/swap/make a lewk.
• Begun sketching out the Loser arc for HS.
• Speaking of which, what kind of goals would you like to see in the Loser arc? The Nerds have their Cosplay and TwitchCon competitions, the Jocks have their Varsity championships, the Alphas have their popularity contest and Prom...but what might define a successful/unsuccessful time as a Loser in HS? Put your comments, ideas and thoughts in the comments!

We're also in the first stages of planning the restructuring of character creation. No longer will you choose Claire's parental traits and have those decide Claire. Now there will be a character creation sheet at the beginning of the game where you will customize much of Claire and then dive into the prologue to define her history, skills and traits. That will be coming in 0.8.4! We're also working on a couple infographics to help visualize release timelines and what's included/offered in supporter tiers as well as what is not included with the public releases. Thank you again and enjoy!

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[gregers]

No longer will you choose Claire's parental traits and have those decide Claire. Now there will be a character creation sheet at the beginning of the game where you will customize much of Claire and then dive into the prologue to define her history, skills and traits.

Huh. I thought that was one of the more interesting design decisions in the game. Ah well, not like there's anything wrong with a more traditional character creation.

 

[CassieBare]

Huh. I thought that was one of the more interesting design decisions in the game. Ah well, not like there's anything wrong with a more traditional character creation.

Gregers, I sincerely appreciate this. Unfortunately, the design decision has been one of the biggest reasons behind people not supporting the game and review bombing us. =/

 

[WalkTheEdge]

Gregers, I sincerely appreciate this. Unfortunately, the design decision has been one of the biggest reasons behind people not supporting the game and review bombing us. =/

I agree with it being an interesting design, but it does make the character creation process very opaque, especially if you want to design your character in a certain way. Don't know how feasible it would be, but possibly you could do both, and let players choose which one to use?