Ren'Py Covenant of Morn [v0.5] [395games]

[nightboy_]

Can you please add a setting so we can chose font size ? Dialogs are quite large on a computer screen.

Edit: nvm I must be blind and didn't saw the already existing setting...

 

[Pitrik]

2023 is over and it feels like I should talk about it. Children of Morn was released in 2023 after all. So let's take a look back and after that, let's gaze at the horizon and see what will await us in 2024.

But a little disclaimer first. I was deliberating whether I should write this post or not for a long time. The reason being, that I'm going to get a little personal and talk about my struggles in 2023. Struggles that some people might get the wrong way. But ultimately I've always talked about these topics in the past and made many posts about my own shortcomings while I developed MIST too. Although this one will be a bit different. It will get a bit ranty for a while, but I promise I'm going somewhere with this.


The launch of Children of Morn:
On April the 13th, I released version 0.1 of Children of Morn. Over a year of planning and months of intense work all came together to create a new game that I thought would be a huge hit. I had never before put so much care and attention into an update before. New and improved environments, new and improved character models, a custom soundtrack, handcrafted ambiances and sound effects to go with everything, a sleek new UI and just the start of a grand mistery plot. I was sure people would love the game and praise me for this new level of quality that is so very rare in the adult game scene.

The reality was different. Some people liked it, sure. But the overall feedback was terrible. Long term supporters of my game where messaging me how disappointed they felt and how terrible it was how I was letting them down and they wouldn't play my games ever again. I was flabbergasted. I didn't realize what had happened. One-star review after one-star review rained upon the creation that was the peak of my creative ability and even more angry comments followed.

What a massive downgrade after MIST... disappointing...
Read a comment by an enjoyer of MIST on F95. Many more comments echoing the same sentiment. A review made, reads like this:

this game goes in the wrong direction compared to "Mist" the story itself is already a pretty bad idea. you play as an orc looking pathetic zombie and have to be fine with forced sex scenes and female domination which is horrible executed. render quality is on the same level as Mist if not even a bit better, everything else remains rather below my expectations. sadly
It's easy to tell, people didn't enjoy it very much. I even got my very first personal attacks, which I reported and they got removed. Somehow, people didn't like my best work yet? I couldn't believe it. I knew how much time I spent on it, I could clearly tell the differences in quality of all the aspects of the game. How can they say it's worse than MIST when it is clearly an upgrade? Sure, you can argue that you don't like the characters as much, but even then it should be a 4/5 in this ocean of low-effort adult games. Or so my thoughts went.

Stuck in the Feedback-Limbo:
In the past, feedback was everything to me. I started making games with zero skills. A tale of Eden was literally the first piece of software I'd ever made, the first 3D environments and characters I'd ever put together. So I was ready to learn. Ready to improve. I was accepting of any and all criticism and it worked fine. I had made a game that wasn't very good, but it fit. People wanted it to improve and it was reflected in their feedback. The same for MIST. Those who remember the early versions of that game might remember that it had nothing in common with what I released as version 1.0. I kept listening to feedback and I kept improving. And it worked, the feedback made sense to me. Now, with Children of Morn. I was suddenly lost.

I knew this was my best work yet. Yet so much feedback told me how it was actually worse, even much worse. Disappointing and wrong. The MC is disgusting, Enna should be deleted, the story is dumb and boring, the atmosphere is lacking and I'm just forcing my own stupid kinks on everyone and ruining what could be great. The negativity felt all encompassing to me. Not only attacking things I knew needed to be tweaked but also things I thought were incredibly well done. I could only find one answer. I can't use the feedback anymore. It felt too hard to extract the truth from blatant and unnecessary hate, so I couldn't use it anymore. On that day I logged out from my F95 account and didn't come back for months. I couldn't deal with it anymore. I reached a conclusion. It's hate, they are telling me things are bad that I know are good, it's just hate and I can only ignore it.

That's how I carried on. During this time my engagement on Discord, Patreon and Itch fell off. I was annoyed by everyone and everything. It might be hard to understand for some. But the cruel thing with creative work is that every attack of the work feels personal. And I haven't yet met a single person that was truly able to ignore it. Angry and negative comments sting and sometimes you're able to stomach it and sometimes you aren't. For months on end I couldn't stomach the negative feedback and pushed it away. In doing so, I also pushed away the real, benevolent feedback that was actually aiming to improve the game. I was stuck in my head, hurting like a child and unable to do anything but face forward and keep developing. I was truly stuck and I even knew it, but I didn't know how to escape.

Struck by Lightning:
This went on for months. From spring all the way to autumn. That's when I did something. I went to the theater. A play by Florentina Holzinger and her crew, It's the second time I was going to see them and I already knew it was gonna be good, but I didn't realize yet how good. The play started, was great and ended. Meanwhile I watched, my eyes glued to the stage, feeling... angry. I was really fucking angry. Going back home afterwards I even lashed out at my mother who went with me to the play. I was fuming and I didn't know why. A really fucking angry night and the morning after was the time I needed to sort it all out and then it struck me. I suddenly realized why I was so angry.

What they were doing that night on stage was art. Abstract, strange and impossible to understand, but I could feel it. They had mixed a wild concoction of emotions and I could feel them all. I experienced their art. And compared to what they were doing, my silly little porngame is a joke. It doesn't even compare, I'm years and years of intense failures and learnings away from reaching that level, but here I was, not allowing myself those failures and learnings because I decided everyone that didn't like my game was a hater. But they weren't, at least not all of them. I was just too hurt to be able to admit it.

I had deluded myself to think that I was some grand game-developer with skills for days that could do it all and never missed, while I was in fact, still at the very beginning as prone to mistakes as everyone else. Which, finally, brings us to 2024.

Going Forward with Children of Morn:
I looked at the comments and reviews again. Sure, some of them are just angry and dumb, but most of them aren't. The same for the reviews. They are overwhelmingly more on the positive side of things on Patreon, Itch and F95 and a few of them are unsure but provide valuable feedback. I couldn't see it before, I really couldn't. For almost a year I had developed Children of Morn blind. Without looking at myself or those around me, but I feel like that has ended. Normally I don't like writing about making changes in the future. I like making the changes and then writing about them so I don't make empty promises.

But this time I don't care. I know, that I'm commited to this game and just like I did with MIST, I won't stop improving it until version 1.0 releases. There will be changes coming to Children of Morn, to make it into the best game possible. With my best efforts and all the feedback I got, I will make sure it becomes the best work I've done to date but at the same time, I won't shy away from trying out new things. Children of Morn isn't my magnum opus, my grand, final work. It's just one game of many that I plan to make in my lifetime.

So in 2024 you can expect to see an all new Children of Morn. One that is still the same idea, the same plot, the same game, but tweaked, improved and adjusted to be an engaging, rewarding and fucking hot experience. Which will take time of course. But as I said, I'm not afraid of making these claims, because I know with time and feedback and the skills I've developed and honed I can make an incredible game. I have grown an incredible amount as a developer and have gained so many soft and hard skills over the years, now I just need to put them to practice without an inflated ego.

In the cringey words of a fansub of the anime "diamond no ace" I quote:

You've learned how to fly, now you need to remember how to set one foot in front of the other and walk.
That's what I plan to do in 2024. Nothing but good old dev-work, making enjoyable, dark adult games, with lots of sex and girls to fall in love with. Also, towards the very end of the year, you can expect a little update coming to MIST, but I don't want to say too much yet.

Happy new year everyone!

 

[Helion666]

Keep on the great work 395games_Rathieu

 

[Aerrae]

You learned a lesson that some adults never learn, and those adults are adults in name only.

Learning and growing only stops when you think you're done, but someone who's truly matured knows you only stop when you're dead.

 

[KillerBee487]

Man, I didn't know the reviews were being so destructive.
I understand people: Mist was a great game, but it still wasn't built in just one day.
I think Morn's characters still have a lot to offer (even if they are blue), but I think they are well designed and there are a lot of mysteries to solve.
The detective and dating gameplay is much more polished than the simple battle mode in MIST. The store sales before the last update was frustrating, but it has improved a lot since the last one. Fishing has also been a great addition, and is definitely the way forward.
I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I think Morn is a great game and will end up being one of the biggest games on F95.
Happy New Year to all!

 

[395games_Rathieu]

The thing is, most of them weren't actually destructive, but as I wrote, I wasn't able to see it. I had backed myself into a corner, the majority of feedback was constructive. The more negative feedback too, was mostly constructive. I just couldn't see it because of the few that weren't. And now I feel like I can see that more clearly. It doesn't bother me as much anymore and I'm looking forward to building this game up on all the great constructive criticism.

 

[slothen29]

For what its worth I know of a TON of people that enjoyed MIST and still haven't tried Children of Morn yet (myself included). Not because of any negative feedback they see here, but simply because we're holding off for development to progress a little further. I haven't looked deeply at the negative feedback you've received but from the messages here I'll just encourage you to ignore the people crying about femdom (or putting the MC on screen). If people are going to lose their shit over the premise of your game then there's not going to be any pleasing them. Based on the quality of MIST, the compelling characters and tone, and the artwork you've posted for Morn, there's a lot of people still excited for this game.

 

[beh123234]

For what its worth I know of a TON of people that enjoyed MIST and still haven't tried Children of Morn yet (myself included). Not because of any negative feedback they see here, but simply because we're holding off for development to progress a little further. I haven't looked deeply at the negative feedback you've received but from the messages here I'll just encourage you to ignore the people crying about femdom (or putting the MC on screen). If people are going to lose their shit over the premise of your game then there's not going to be any pleasing them. Based on the quality of MIST, the compelling characters and tone, and the artwork you've posted for Morn, there's a lot of people still excited for this game.

Can confirm, I only just recently got around to playing the current release of Children of Morn and have been distancing myself from any and all discussions about it, and I thoroughly enjoyed what we have now, and I'm very excited to see what comes next in this story in the same way I was totally engrossed in the mystery of MIST. Imagine my shock when I decide to stop by here to find so much apathy to this incredible start to this story alongside actual disdain for it. The whole point of creating a brand new game is to create a brand new game. MIST ended unambiguously; there is no room for a MIST 2. If they want another MIST, they'll just have to settle for replaying it as the rest of us move on to uncharted waters and enjoy the journey.

 

[Potichard]

Name of this game is pretty unfortunate tbh. I tried searching 'Children of Morn' on PH (to see if the scenes were any good) but got redirected to a page warning me that I was about to do something illegal. Then it hit me that this search query was getting flagged for the word 'Children'. I'm willing to bet the other major video platforms will have this same built-in protection (not trying to test it for obvious reasons). So yeah, searching the name of this game might get you flagged as a potential Sex Offender . Maybe change the name of the game to something that doesn't have 'Children', i.e. 'Spawn of Morn' or 'Seed of Morn'?

 

[Mortarion]

Name of this game is pretty unfortunate tbh. I tried searching 'Children of Morn' on PH (to see if the scenes were any good) but got redirected to a page warning me that I was about to do something illegal. Then it hit me that this search query was getting flagged for the word 'Children'. I'm willing to bet the other major video platforms will have this same built-in protection (not trying to test it for obvious reasons). So yeah, searching the name of this game might get you flagged as a potential Sex Offender . Maybe change the name of the game to something that doesn't have 'Children', i.e. 'Spawn of Morn' or 'Seed of Morn'?

 

[Potichard]

View attachment 3230426

Idk, I had no issues searching MIST up on xvideos or PH in the past. I wonder how content creators are gonna get around this issue because if it's programmed like this their videos are gonna get flagged and any people wanting to watch to see if they should install will get that 'Illegal Content' jump scare on PH. Hell, you could even call the game 'Blood of Morn' and it would fix this issue and let people post/search videos on it.

 

[Yuluoscar]

Let yourself cook, you believed in yourself in the beginning and the game is shaping up to be great. Sometimes there is merit in others criticisms and its good to recognize that and improve what you think you can without compromising your vision, but other times it just doesnt appeal to everyone which is impossible to make a story that does. CoM is only just started and ive absolutely loved it and cant wait to see more, I hope others opinions on it doesnt impact how you end up viewing the story and where you want to take it.

 

[395games_Rathieu]

Name of this game is pretty unfortunate tbh. I tried searching 'Children of Morn' on PH (to see if the scenes were any good) but got redirected to a page warning me that I was about to do something illegal. Then it hit me that this search query was getting flagged for the word 'Children'. I'm willing to bet the other major video platforms will have this same built-in protection (not trying to test it for obvious reasons). So yeah, searching the name of this game might get you flagged as a potential Sex Offender . Maybe change the name of the game to something that doesn't have 'Children', i.e. 'Spawn of Morn' or 'Seed of Morn'?

It is unfortunate, I didn't notice it while I did all the planning but my editor brought the problem to my attention. I was just so used to the name that I didn't even make the association. I'm already implementing the necessary changes and they'll roll out in the near future.

 

[coruptio]

hi mr dev ,just pasing by the thread looking how the game looking for the first time today, i really enjoyed both ur previous works !
im not playing any games before they're considered completed but im sure u will rock it good luck !

 

[a3on]

so... i've noticed this title for a while and have been avoiding it cause "Children of MORON" sure doesn't make any sense.
not that "children of morn" make sense to me either, but boy, talk about perspective

i'm sorry, dev(s). i'll read carefully from now on.
dyslexics are tepole poo

 

[zeph19]

Been a while since I've played this game, but the lasting impressions I had were (some of them are mentioned in the dev's post, but I'm just going to list them all in random order):

- I found the intro pretty engaging - the execution with the sister was intense and really fucking cool
- The Visuals are better
- The MC is a letdown. I don't want to play a monster (zombie), it makes the game much less immersive
- Female domination is meh. In the previous game, the girls were submissive and horny, sensual, sexy and now you have Enna who seems uninterested and the monster girl (not my thing) who talks a lot about fish and not sexy in general.
- Was the fishing difficult? I think I had some problem with that. If I have to sit upright and try hard at a mechanic that I have to grind 20 times to advance a character, my motivation is going to drop
- Same goes for the shop. I think that mechanic wasn't difficult, but.. why would I do it more than 5 times? Think I couldn't even press CTRL to speed it up.

But all in all, here I am, still interested in experiencing the next update. I know that the story interested me, and the Dev showed with Mist that he is able to make a good fucking game, so I'm hopeful that whatever change to this game will improve it.

I absolutely hate how fans and players of fucking porn games can become so mentally ill that they send actual threats to game devs whose games they often times play for fucking free, like wtf is going on in these people's heads?

 

[QQP_Purple]

Well, if we are leaving comments I might as well too.

The way I see it the premises is good. I like the idea of a necromantic zombie raised from the dead that feeds on sex. Especially since it's quite obvious that there is more going on with him and the girl which is why she chose him. And I am looking forward to discovering all that. And even if not, I get the feeling a romance is going to bloom here and that for some reason it's forbidden and that tickles my fancy. On a related note the art is good, the writing is nice and really overall I've no complaints about the story.

But the gameplay is a letdown. The game is basically a VN that really, really does not want to be a VN and so throws in minigames and decision tree in there just to be different. But like all VNs that do that it too falls flat because those aspects are clearly a filler mechanism rather than actual content. Their only purpose is to give you something to do in order to spread the limited amount of story you have out as much as possible. Which unfortunately leaves it feeling like too little butter spread over too much bread.

Skill based minigames are fine if that is the focus of the game. Like say in one of those solve the puzzle to see a nude games. But in a game with an actual story they only serve to get in the way and drag things on needlessly.

And choices only matter if they actually do something. Even if that something is as paper thin as seeing one event and missing out on another or seeing a character react differently. A decision tree where you "choose" which order to watch events in when you'll see them all anyway is the opposite of that. And putting it behind a point system you have to grind is just screaming filler and plainly not fun.

So yea, there is some great art and writing here but it's hiding behind a game that just need not be there.

So my advice to the dev would be simple. Either ditch the minigames and grinding or go all out and actually flesh them out into an actual gameplay system as opposed to just repeating the same minigame over and over again just to grind up to the next check mark on a linear path.

 

[cubepoised]

Can we get a link for the latest update please?

 

[Neeckin]

I feel like a lot of folks complaints regarding the MC would vanish if he simply looked different, not even regarding his skin colour. Right now he reminds me of a young protagonist from a harem anime, clean shaven and all that, when his background and experience bring to mind more a deep in the trenches reporter, older, a beard maybe, features that speak of a bit more maturity or ruggedness. We never got to see the MCs face for Mist but from the body he always seemed like some six foot six bear of a man which was fun.

 

[Crevanille]

I feel like a lot of folks complaints regarding the MC would vanish if he simply looked different, not even regarding his skin colour. Right now he reminds me of a young protagonist from a harem anime, clean shaven and all that, when his background and experience bring to mind more a deep in the trenches reporter, older, a beard maybe, features that speak of a bit more maturity or ruggedness. We never got to see the MCs face for Mist but from the body he always seemed like some six foot six bear of a man which was fun.

I actually don't have much to complain about the MC's looks honestly myself.

...No beards though, ugh.
I'll tolerate a stubble, but I don't like facial hair on my MCs....

That's just me tho.
I do agree a m9re 'rugged' vibe would fine, but I just don't mind the current look either.