RPGM Abandoned Bones' Tales: Survivor Guilt [v0.03.3] [Dr Bones]

[madmit]

Wow, rude...

I actually read what you said, That's why I made the poll. And, at this point is seems that people having issues with framerates are a low (low!) minimum. Regardless, as I said on the poll post, I will continue and try to optimize the game even further, so the people on the low end of computer power can enjoy the game a little more.

Thanks for the passive-agressive feedback though. I will take into account the map image size.

Tried on my laptop's integrated video card and Nvidia, and results on first are pretty bad, but other one is smooth (~60 fps). So, it should be VERY old PC to game to freeze
And game would be great, btw!

 

[fffffffffffk]

Wow, rude...

I've been giving it some thought and you probably thought that the "ugly game" part was an insult and not advice. I usually (try to) write witty shitposts, but that probably doesn't go very well with this type of post.



I was looking for evidence that you were resizing part of the images in an image editor (paint.net is my educated guess) and found this seam artifact confirming it. The problem with resizing pixel images can be seen in the image below (open it in ms paint, because your browser renderer will probably make it very hard to spot differences). Only the multiples of the original images are sharp, the rest are blurry because of how it interpolates the missing pixels. For example, if you have double the size (four times the area), it suddenly becomes sharp again because it simply makes one pixel into four. You can test it yourself as well by resizing an image layer in paint.net and you'll see the blurry/not blurry resizing issues yourself.



You have to be really careful when rescaling stuff outside of the engine in pixel games, because it really makes your game look ugly.

 

[Oseo Bones]

I've been giving it some thought and you probably thought that the "ugly game" part was an insult and not advice. I usually (try to) write witty shitposts, but that probably doesn't go very well with this type of post.

View attachment 433295

I was looking for evidence that you were resizing part of the images in an image editor (paint.net is my educated guess) and found this seam artifact confirming it. The problem with resizing pixel images can be seen in the image below (open it in ms paint, because your browser renderer will probably make it very hard to spot differences). Only the multiples of the original images are sharp, the rest are blurry because of how it interpolates the missing pixels. For example, if you have double the size (four times the area), it suddenly becomes sharp again because it simply makes one pixel into four. You can test it yourself as well by resizing an image layer in paint.net and you'll see the blurry/not blurry resizing issues yourself.

View attachment 433297

You have to be really careful when rescaling stuff outside of the engine in pixel games, because it really makes your game look ugly.

I get it...

The blurriness on some of the assets are in fact due to resizing. However, I will, during the whole development process, upgrade them (redrawing them by hand). As an example of an already redrawn asset, the main house living room table (and chairs). I wanted to upgrade everything, but that takes time, and I was already on borrowed time with this release. So i decided to do it down the road.

The reason behind resizing assets was that I didn't want everything to look tiny, and went for a x1.5 size increment, which fitted the characters sprites (x2 was too big). I also don't like when house exteriors are extreamly smaller than the interiors. it really puts me off. I mean, there's is a different of sizes right now, but not that much as if I would have use the origiinal assets.

PS: I don't use paint.net i don't even kow what that is, I use Photoshop (same software which I sue to draw). In fact I made all the maps using Photoshop. By parallax mapping, one does not use actual tiles within the game engine, you use image layers one upon the other.

And again, I appreciate the feedback. And what I meant by "passive-aggresive" is that in your first to coments you first called my game "the worst optimazed game you ever saw" and then an "ugly game" (that's the aggresive part) but you were actually giving good feedback (that's the passive part).

 

[Tirael]

The game are really good, for the demo. I agree with fffffffffffk notes of resizing. Also there is some rude roof cutting. Some buildings have roof tile like the real one with notches, and some cutted.

 

[Tirael]

And one more thing, there was no pubic hair in octopus ivent image.

 

[Ennoch]

(All the incests, beasties, shotas and legal lolis you may want, and probably a lot o other stuff... the sky is the limit now).

There is hope for you, Buttits! There is hope!

 

[AmazonessKing]

Eh, here I was excited about a new Bones' games and it's a female MC game. What a way to kill the old game, regardless of patreon.

 

[Emperor_Arcturus]

Seriously, what the hell is people's problems with a female MC? Is it really THAT big of a fucking deal that he decided to have a female MC? Why does everyone care so much?

 

[Ignazzio]

Not everyone. Just a small portion of players which happen to be loud. Female Protag games are quite popular and when it comes to japanese games they're even more popular than male protag. It's just a matter of taste. This game will do fine I'm sure of it

 

[Oseo Bones]

Eh, here I was excited about a new Bones' games and it's a female MC game. What a way to kill the old game, regardless of patreon.

The funny thing is that this game is planned to actually save the old one. But clearly you are in the dark on that regard.
Even if I moved The Manor to SubscribeStar, I haven't be able to touch a penny out of it, SS's payouts methods are not compatible with my bank, that's why in the meantime I paused subcribers pledges even after resuming the game development, and probably will have to delete the SS profile all together if i don't find a solution to the bank stuff. But The Manor is not dead, nor this game killed it.

It is fine to have your own tastes and dislikes, but try to be informed before shouting "murder!".

 

[Emperor_Arcturus]

The funny thing is that this game is planned to actually save the old one. But clearly you are in the dark on that regard.
Even if I moved The Manor to SubscribeStar, I haven't be able to touch a penny out of it, SS's payouts methods are not compatible with my bank, that's why in the meantime I paused subcribers pledges even after resuming the game development, and probably will have to delete the SS profile all together if i don't find a solution to the bank stuff. But The Manor is not dead, nor this game killed it.

It is fine to have your own tastes and dislikes, but try to be informed before shouting "murder!".

Any way to get it to work through like Paypal or something? Or have you already tried that?

 

[Oseo Bones]

Any way to get it to work through like Paypal or something? Or have you already tried that?

They don't use paypal, that's why they allow fringe content. I tried the other method without results... but I'm still trying. So we'll see. In the meantime the development for The Manor will still keep on going.

 

[Emperor_Arcturus]

They don't use paypal, that's why they allow fringe content. I tried the other method without results... but I'm still trying. So we'll see. In the meantime the development for The Manor will still keep on going.

Ah okay, makes sense given Paypal's the reason why Patreon is so... well, we all know. Hopefully you can figure out a solution, maybe opening an account with a different bank? Ah, either way, good luck on both games! I'll definitely be around to watch them both

 

[Ironfistjecht]

Played through this Demo and... frankly I don't know why it's already reviewed at 4-5 stars. It lacks content still (which is understandable because it's V0.01) so I'm holding off on reviewing it at all. So far it's not my cup of tea for personal reasons outside of the developer's control. I don't really like the lack of control that I have over my character, I feel like in some scenes I should've had control over whether I want something to happen or not. I dislike the blacksmith boy and only begrudgingly let him have a peek at the main character since I couldn't deny him that opportunity in the cutscene.

Now for the less personal part: this might just be me, but I thought skipping the intro would get me straight into the action rather than... well, half-way through the intro. There's a really long starting cutscene that I feel like should've been a part of the Intro rather than an unskippable cutscene. I think the skip Intro option should really skip all the way forward to the Game's logo popping up and allowing you to move around freely.

Obligatory Edit:
Outside of the problems I addressed I really had no problems whatsoever with the game. The artwork is decent and the story itself was compelling enough to make me download and try the game out so that's something good it has going on for itself. Too many RPGMaker games these days use the same formula in one way or another so it's good when there's an Overview for a game that actually doesn't make me close the tab.

Personally though, I'd recommend maybe adding some indicators of places you can go to or places you can't go to. Navigating through the village was a little awkward with so many houses around but so many "To be implemented" windows popping up, I actually struggled a little bit to find whatever content there was to explore. Also as a victim of the village exit to "long road" it might be for the best to close off access to the long road sign in general until it's implemented. Walking there by accident takes a good few seconds away just to be greeted by a "Nothing to do here yet" which can be troublesome, but that point is me nitpicking more or less.

 

[Ironfistjecht]

Seriously, what the hell is people's problems with a female MC? Is it really THAT big of a fucking deal that he decided to have a female MC? Why does everyone care so much?

This is an F95 thing, honestly. I dislike this very much about the community myself, people kinkshame openly a lot and leave really bashful comments about genres and kinks on many games. I check out the RPGMaker tags regularly and usually when the game has NTR, Guro, Ryona or Female MC people get sassy on Page 1 already, causing a ruckus and an argument between fans of that type of content and haters.

 

[TomberryDude]

I feel like in some scenes I should've had control over whether I want something to happen or not.

I agree totally with this. I feel it's too early to judge if that's a problem with the game (well it's a personal preference more than a problem) going forward or not.

As for reviews, maybe some people are getting "too hyped" but Bones has already a great game under his belt so I think that's why.

 

[Oseo Bones]

Played through this Demo and... frankly I don't know why it's already reviewed at 4-5 stars. It lacks content still (which is understandable because it's V0.01) so I'm holding off on reviewing it at all. So far it's not my cup of tea for personal reasons outside of the developer's control. I don't really like the lack of control that I have over my character, I feel like in some scenes I should've had control over whether I want something to happen or not. I dislike the blacksmith boy and only begrudgingly let him have a peek at the main character since I couldn't deny him that opportunity in the cutscene.

Now for the less personal part: this might just be me, but I thought skipping the intro would get me straight into the action rather than... well, half-way through the intro. There's a really long starting cutscene that I feel like should've been a part of the Intro rather than an unskippable cutscene. I think the skip Intro option should really skip all the way forward to the Game's logo popping up and allowing you to move around freely.

Obligatory Edit:
Outside of the problems I addressed I really had no problems whatsoever with the game. The artwork is decent and the story itself was compelling enough to make me download and try the game out so that's something good it has going on for itself. Too many RPGMaker games these days use the same formula in one way or another so it's good when there's an Overview for a game that actually doesn't make me close the tab.

Personally though, I'd recommend maybe adding some indicators of places you can go to or places you can't go to. Navigating through the village was a little awkward with so many houses around but so many "To be implemented" windows popping up, I actually struggled a little bit to find whatever content there was to explore. Also as a victim of the village exit to "long road" it might be for the best to close off access to the long road sign in general until it's implemented. Walking there by accident takes a good few seconds away just to be greeted by a "Nothing to do here yet" which can be troublesome, but that point is me nitpicking more or less.

-Some people alredy rated 5 stars becuase they liked the game, which is fine, same as not liking it.
-Player shouldn't have control over things that a real person wouldn't have control in real life... you can't prevent to be "peeped" on if someone want to do it and you are not aware. But when the character is in a position to deny stuff, be sure the option will be there. Some events will take the "approach" to an NPC as aggrement to play the first stage of an recurrent event (like with the Farmer event, first time was automatic, seconda time you can chose "yes" or "no". And some time will have more than two options, to give more freedom of choice and repercussion).
-The option for "skiping the intro" is actually for Skipping the Cinematic Intro, as the message said (This is the mini "movie" it plays narrating the world's backstory). The Intro scenes will be skipable in the next update. I didn't give the option to do it in this first build because the game would feel reaaaally empty without it, being a demo and all.
-And well... I will actually mark some things the player can do... like the pond scene and oogly's. But I don't want to hold the player hands all the way to the ending, this is an exploration game, set in a fairly small map (compared with others rpgs) So I made a compromise.

Regardles, I appreciate the feedback a lot and I will take all of it into consideration. Thank you!

 

[AmazonessKing]

Seriously, what the hell is people's problems with a female MC? Is it really THAT big of a fucking deal that he decided to have a female MC? Why does everyone care so much?

It's a terrible design choice. Consider the big majority of the playerbase for these games are males, and they are aware of it or not, having a charact you can identify as makes you want to play further, specially since most of these games are visual novels with very little gameplay elements.

Couple that with the previous game made by the same dev, which is a male MC, and that's why people is loud. Not the first time it will happen and not the last time, happened to Glamour after Dating my Daughter and look how that is going, specially compared to DMD. It's not even a matter of taste, but content. Sure, you are not going to make the same game over and over ICSTOR but there are things people expect from you when you have to drop a game and make another to save it, and instead of making something similar, you basically do a whole 180.

It is fine to have your own tastes and dislikes, but try to be informed before shouting "murder!".

Don't get me wrong, mate, I'm well aware of this, and saying the manor is dead is too harsh, I've been following the news after the whole thing went down. But this is simply not what I and I bet a lot others were expecting, and I doubt the people that supported you for the manor would support you for, well... This. And you are not the first one to do this. As previously mentioned, it happened to Mr. Dots, and even though he is doing relatively fine still, it is nowhere as close to DMD, same with smaller developers like Sex Curse.

I wish you luck with both your games, mate, and it's a shame what happened to you, but even though my opinion is irrelevant, as shown before, the amount of people following you will drop, not because this new game is bad, I don't know, I won't play it, but because it's way too different from the previous in premise, so you basically have to make a brand new following instead of retaining the previous one. And I don't mean to be mean or anything, just stating this, since considering some other reactions, I bet I'm not even the first one to make this remark. It's up to you to consider it if it's a "loud minority" or something else, and what you do with it.

Again, sorry if it sounds rude, and again good luck.

 

[Oseo Bones]

It's a terrible design choice. Consider the big majority of the playerbase for these games are males, and they are aware of it or not, having a charact you can identify as makes you want to play further, specially since most of these games are visual novels with very little gameplay elements.

Couple that with the previous game made by the same dev, which is a male MC, and that's why people is loud. Not the first time it will happen and not the last time, happened to Glamour after Dating my Daughter and look how that is going, specially compared to DMD. It's not even a matter of taste, but content. Sure, you are not going to make the same game over and over ICSTOR but there are things people expect from you when you have to drop a game and make another to save it, and instead of making something similar, you basically do a whole 180.

Don't get me wrong, mate, I'm well aware of this, and saying the manor is dead is too harsh, I've been following the news after the whole thing went down. But this is simply not what I and I bet a lot others were expecting, and I doubt the people that supported you for the manor would support you for, well... This. And you are not the first one to do this. As previously mentioned, it happened to Mr. Dots, and even though he is doing relatively fine still, it is nowhere as close to DMD, same with smaller developers like Sex Curse.

I wish you luck with both your games, mate, and it's a shame what happened to you, but even though my opinion is irrelevant, as shown before, the amount of people following you will drop, not because this new game is bad, I don't know, I won't play it, but because it's way too different from the previous in premise, so you basically have to make a brand new following instead of retaining the previous one. And I don't mean to be mean or anything, just stating this, since considering some other reactions, I bet I'm not even the first one to make this remark. It's up to you to consider it if it's a "loud minority" or something else, and what you do with it.

Again, sorry if it sounds rude, and again good luck.

Well, Thankfully I'm able to say that this game already had more positive reactions than I ever anticipated, So I think I will be alright... money-wise (I don't have plans to make a fortune out of this, I'm happy with living relatively comfortable and just doing what I want.).
Regardless, one thing I am actually adamant (and probably always will) is that I don't like to box myself in a genre, simply because I don't like only one... most people that follow me know that my tastes are wide. So, people will be wise to expect different things from me, and I won't expect for ALL players to like ALL my projects, hell!, I find it even more thrilling having different fanbases for different proyects!.

And yes, I would say, in this case, your comment comes for a "taste" bias from your end, you clearly dislikes Female MC, and that's ok. But a lot of people love Female MC, and other likes both Female and Male MC, like myself and a lot of people here... You just wanted to state your dislikes, and that's fine, you should stick with it, but maybe consider a little softer touch next time, and not drop into a server and say "Female Protagonist is cancer" like you did on mine a few hours ago. I mean, you are a dev too, and if you are so business driven as you seem, being a little more cordial on your speach won't hurt.

I appreciate you wishes. And hope your proyects do well.

 

[osheila]

Cool démo.