Man, i really like this game, but Pants has incredibly thin skin which is not something you want when interacting with people here. Probably for the best he left, can only hope he stops reading the criticisms of a bunch of a free loaders from a piracy website... not really the crowd you should get stressed over. The idea the game updates won't get posted here is kind of bizarre though, i can't imagine what he thinks will prevent them.
Damn it got quiet here, and then i see dev deleted himself...
I doubt that the dev will see this now, but maybe he does. If i had known that he would delete himself, i would have written my thoughts
/opinion
/critique sooner. I leave it here as a letter now... and for discussion. Can't hurt, i think.
I definitely agree on the thin skin part.
I have to say, i don't know if in the meantime any really bad comments were deleted or not, but as i see it right now, on those 14 pages there is not that much hate to give the dev this much reason for such an absurd overreaction. I think we have seen way worse threads here on f95. The worst comment may be the one from molitar (
page 13), Which was way over the top, to say it mildly.
And i mean, yes a lot of people have said they don't like futa content (
or the rape scene and other fetishes) and yes it can be annoying to read that again and again, but if the Dev doesn't like those he doesn't need to answer them, so just scroll down (
maybe take a note of the this feedback if you want) and hope the rest from the community doesn't put oil into the fire like it happened here too.
I don't see the reason to "
get out of the car and shoot the red traffic light with a shotgun" like he did though.
Just my opinion, but i see both sides kinda at fault and where i come from we say "The same way you shout into the woods it might come back the same." So yeah, dev didn't show his best side here, if you ask me.
A game needs critique, even those from free loaders from a piracy websites can be of value, may i make an example?
A lot of them said "futa meh that's not my thing", then take the value out of it! Some people (
me included) said it on the 1st page that the genderbend genre requires more games and if dev plans to make more games in the future, then why not make the next game without futas (
or "plot important" rape) maybe? But it seems like it's to much to ask of someone to even ponder this idea in the first place. He doesn't have to change
this game if he doesn't want to, even though it's a shame because, speacking at least for me, i had a lot of hope that
we get the choice how the sex in Rileys life happens. I think many know
Toffisama, he made one game with futa, then when he made a poll and a good proportion of his fans said they want a yuri game, and after he finished the futa game he announced princess of the ring (yuri). both sides were happy with the only setbeack was that one side had to wait a little bit more. And it was way less kindergarten than this.
If you're developing something, you can't expect to just get roses and praise. Negative things will always be part to some extent, but to give up a screw off after barking back in that manner... uff, difficult. That's all i say.
And some of Patterns decisions were...questionable to say the least, in my eyes. To me they seemed like an attempt to snip a matchstick into an dry forest and still hope it wouldn't start to burn.
I'd say it began with version 0.2 when the futa and rape scene got implemented.
It was not clear to that day that futa would be even part of it, the only "critical" question cleared to that day was if dicks are avoidable, which in fairness for the dev hold up to what he promised since it is/was really avoidable. Still, with that update he dropped the hammer, cause nobody, who was expecting a nice genderbend story, did know this was what they would get.
He either:
- improvised the story in some parts along the way and just decided to add futa in,
- or didn't have a finished storyline in his mind and didn't know for himself what his story would bring on the table,
- or he held this information just unnecessarily back.
That's why
it's better to be clear from the start what a game may contain and if these tags are avoidable, skipable or even forced.
To put it in another way as example:
You can't promise someone a pet
(genderbend game with avoidable dicks), they expect something normal and sweet like a puppy or cat
("normal" genderbend game), But then you give them a big fat spider
(a suprise tag that may be critical for some people) as pet and then you scold them for not liking your gift and them being upset about it.
I mean, normally you have a story in mind and know what you want in the game and what not, or at least most of it i'd say. Most games already tell in the genre's spoiler the planned but not yet implemented tags to prevent such things to an extent. It was to expect that many would state their opinion about this surprise tag reveal.
The next was the
rape scene, the same surprise problem as with the futa. With the added bonus that it is even
unavoidable because "
plot" happens and "needs" it to function. It's not that i'm a fan of unavoidable rape, since it was yuri based i could have maybe endured it,
BUT the big problem i had with it was that Riley did just simply submit to it and just enjoyed being raped by some strangers like turning into an insta slut without the player input. Let's be real here, i don't expect traumatised rape victims and i know it's "just a game" but plot or not, for the plot this behavior
didn't make any sense especially for someone whos life recently changed like a 360 (
because of the sexchange)...and there i have to say, even if it sounds rather harsh, that i can understand that molitar called MC a
bimbo...
Plotwise the kidnapping was absolutely fine and maybe with "a bit more common sense from the MC" even the rape. But Riley was so damn relaxed the whole time as a victim of a kidnap and even rape scenario that it was just
absurd.
After the 2 girls were finished with her, her happy and derpy look and the sudden acceptance that the "mother" was "
not so bad". I really would like to know what the dev thought when he wrote that scene. The scene itself could have been great... but what i would have wished for would have been a bit of willpower, a fighting spirit to resist the lust and then maybe at the end when it got to much unwillingly succumb to it that would be a bit more fitting and would not have interfered with anything of the "
oh so important plot rape" i guess. I don't know why Riley had to be like a insta slut plotwise without reason. To be clear, i don't say riley should have gotten a panic attack or something, just show "
a feel for the potential danger she is in" or some sort of "
common sense" from MC or from the other characters.
Now, what did i mean with "common sense from the other characters" in regard to the rape scene? It's simple:
Pattern said it's
"plot needed " that she is
kidnapped and
raped, Otherwise he could have made it avoidable if that wasn't the case. The kidnap i can understand cause the "mother" has some (
unknown to the player) interest in Riley, but what was the rape needed for
plotwise? She didn't take any samples of her fluids
nor did she do anything worthwhile for her science at all. Yet it was still unavoidable. Up to this day i've seen a lot of "
plot" forced Sex
/Rape scenes in games, which i found quite stupid, but this one really takes the cake.
The last salt in the wound and probably most ridiculus decision from the dev, in my opinion, was to make the rape scene "
skipable"... Not only speaking about this dev here, but that's something in general that i will probably never understand, this "
pretending to not see, so it's okay for everyone" thing.
If a dev decides to make a scene and states that it will happen if you want or not, but you can skip it...that's the biggest fire you can lay down for yourself in my opinion. It's like someone says to you:
"Hey you, pretend to not see that i rape this woman
/man...yeah move on, you didn't see shit so it should be okay for you to ignore this. But it happens anyway."
Well, in Riley's case it can't even be called rape... she enjoyed it from start to finish. She even licked Lia's nipple
out of her own accord and even
praised her kidnappers with "
that was amazing". It was like she was invited to free session in a brothel just for women with some kinky rape roleplay. Was that really the intention to make the player feel that way. Again i really would like to know the thought process of the dev here. Yes, this might be "just a porngame" and yes i can enjoy a healty amount of stupidity in characters but this scene went overboard with this. Just because i play a porngame doesn't mean i throw every bit of my commonsense overboard just to see a virtual penis and a vagina collide with each other.
If you're going to make a scene ingame for which you
deny the player a wiggle option to get out of this mess have at least some decency and don't play the "pretend to not see (
skipable)" card just to say "
Hey guys, i made it skipable, now all have to enjoy the scene which happens against their will anyway". I think that makes matters just worse than they were to begin with.
Which brings me back to critics and feedback:
You don't have to change your game, if it has rape
/futa, well...then sadly it has it now. But then be clear upfront about it and most importantly don't just make them "skipable". Remember when i told you (on page 1) with double melons game as example that
for critical choices it might be important to maybe give the player a wiggle option or at least a choice? With these 2 situations it might have helped you to some extend.
Speaking for myself, i don't see any problem in the critique given to the dev in this thread. Anyway, i still wish you good luck, maybe try to work on your ways to handle feedback
/critique may they be positive or negative. Maybe consider for future projects to make critical situations/tags avoidable or if you decide to make them mandatory then stand up for it and be clear about it from the get go.
Well enough rambling from me. just my thoughts which i wanted to leave here for a while now...
