i haven't touched 0.3 yet
I think I would say they will be equal but different. The MC's relationship with Victoria will always involve more teasing and maledom master/slave stuff for example, but that doesn't mean he cares about her any less.
thanks for your answer
Oddly I read both situations as they're described dude's got a douchey smirk and she looks sad. Maybe not quite on the verge of tears, but definitely sad.My biggest complaint is that there just wasn't more of it. All things considered, it's a good problem to have.
On a more serious note, I did just do a re-play of Crimson High earlier this week, and I've subsequently been seeing everything through that lens of comparison. While I still really like this game's writing style, the dialogue, and the inclusion of all the 'fluff' descriptors; it did highlight just how comparatively static the faces here are. Now Crimson High is built in Koihatsu Party and leans heavily into the anime ascetic, and the big cartoony eyes and exaggerated features does make it comparatively easier to convey a lot of different emotions through facial expressions.
Now there were two instances that really stood out to me this update, where the visuals just weren't living up to the same high standard as the writing. Again, the writing is pretty fantastic and does the heavy lifting of getting the important points across, but in doing so it does put a spotlight on some of the visual's shortcomings. Following two examples are spoilers for the latest update...
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So again, absolutely not a deal breaker by any means. Just that this particular aspect of the visual storytelling is a bit weak, and has a lot of room for improvement. As I mentioned earlier, if you want an excellent example of visual storytelling through non-verbal character expression, check out Crimson High. The exaggerated anime visuals really help with expressing a wide range of emotions and reactions for the entire cast, to the point that you can easily pickup on how characters who are in a conversation but not talking feel about where and how the conversation is going just by paying attention to their reactions to said conversation. It is a great example of how to smartly take that aspect of visual storytelling to the next level.
Still, thanks for the update! The dynamic with Victoria remains flirty, fun, and occasionally laugh out loud funny. Loved getting to see Lucy show some backbone, and her 'walk of shame' scene was a fucking brilliant piece of both erotica and character development. I like getting more background on Akatsuki, and seeing her learn ever further into her nekomimi persona. Sarah remains an enigma, and I'm curious to see what lies behind her otherwise archetypical tsundere persona.
Like I said earlier, I am on board and I can't wait for more, and those are good problems to have.
Also, kudos on including a working scene gallery! Two minor bugs through. When accessing the gallery and you click on a character name, the text for the entire list shrinks. Weird, and I don't imagine that's an intended behavior. When you do watch a replay, the MC's name is displayed as 'None'. So probably need to do something so that the MC's name variable is saved independent of the most recent one used in gameplay. Or maybe just have a field in the gallery where you can enter in a name that can be saved/updated for the gallery independently.
I agree with you regarding the facial expressions, my issues are not for a lack of trying, I actually spend a good amount of time playing with them trying to get the most out of the limited tools available. Perhaps I'm missing some HS2 mods, I'll have to look into it further, but as it is I only have a very narrow range of facial expressions at my disposal.My biggest complaint is that there just wasn't more of it. All things considered, it's a good problem to have.
On a more serious note, I did just do a re-play of Crimson High earlier this week, and I've subsequently been seeing everything through that lens of comparison. While I still really like this game's writing style, the dialogue, and the inclusion of all the 'fluff' descriptors; it did highlight just how comparatively static the faces here are. Now Crimson High is built in Koihatsu Party and leans heavily into the anime ascetic, and the big cartoony eyes and exaggerated features does make it comparatively easier to convey a lot of different emotions through facial expressions.
Now there were two instances that really stood out to me this update, where the visuals just weren't living up to the same high standard as the writing. Again, the writing is pretty fantastic and does the heavy lifting of getting the important points across, but in doing so it does put a spotlight on some of the visual's shortcomings. Following two examples are spoilers for the latest update...
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So again, absolutely not a deal breaker by any means. Just that this particular aspect of the visual storytelling is a bit weak, and has a lot of room for improvement. As I mentioned earlier, if you want an excellent example of visual storytelling through non-verbal character expression, check out Crimson High. The exaggerated anime visuals really help with expressing a wide range of emotions and reactions for the entire cast, to the point that you can easily pickup on how characters who are in a conversation but not talking feel about where and how the conversation is going just by paying attention to their reactions to said conversation. It is a great example of how to smartly take that aspect of visual storytelling to the next level.
Still, thanks for the update! The dynamic with Victoria remains flirty, fun, and occasionally laugh out loud funny. Loved getting to see Lucy show some backbone, and her 'walk of shame' scene was a fucking brilliant piece of both erotica and character development. I like getting more background on Akatsuki, and seeing her learn ever further into her nekomimi persona. Sarah remains an enigma, and I'm curious to see what lies behind her otherwise archetypical tsundere persona.
Like I said earlier, I am on board and I can't wait for more, and those are good problems to have.
Also, kudos on including a working scene gallery! Two minor bugs through. When accessing the gallery and you click on a character name, the text for the entire list shrinks. Weird, and I don't imagine that's an intended behavior. When you do watch a replay, the MC's name is displayed as 'None'. So probably need to do something so that the MC's name variable is saved independent of the most recent one used in gameplay. Or maybe just have a field in the gallery where you can enter in a name that can be saved/updated for the gallery independently.
It might be worthwhile for you to reach out to Atemsiel of Stormside. He's an HS2 dev who is regularly praised for the expressions in Stormside, so he can probably point you to some good resources. He's also very helpful in my experience (and just generally a cool guy). Your games have some similar themes, too.
I understand. It also makes sense why I've heard other creators are sticking with HS1, because the community mod support for HS2 just isn't at the same level yet. Kinda like when the Special Edition of Skyrim came out on PC, and your options were slightly better shadows and a less memory constrained 64-bit executable, or literally years worth of mods, unofficial updates, and fixes.
I personally think the size jump is more off-putting, and makes it feel like it is unintended. Because after it has been resized with the first click, it all otherwise operates identically after that. Entering the menu initially with the larger font and clicking on Lucy takes you to Lucy's gallery, and clicking other names gets you to other galleries. Now if you click on Victoria first, then Lucy, you still get to her gallery. Any name will take you to that character's gallery, but the size only changes after the initial click. So the function is the same, but the form has changed for seemingly no reason; making it feel like the initial shrinking was a bug and not a feature.
No problemo!
but i highly recommend it. Hopefully the Dev can keep it up. 
