hachigames

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Apr 22, 2020
1,065
3,655
Thanks for the answer.

In fact, this it´s my second run of the game. In the first one I get the event with no problems at all.

Can a save of the game helps you to find the bug, if any?. I have one just at the start of a day in wich she is in the lobby. But I can find where the saves are stored. Wich directory must I check?
That would be very helpful. I made tools to specifically debug triggers.
The save files are located in
Code:
C:\Users\user\AppData\LocalLow\HachiGames\HailDicktator\save
with the newest having the highest number
 

T51bwinterized

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Oct 17, 2017
1,456
3,480
New Feedback Pieces:

1. Yeah, the level of stereotyping going on with Yuki is really destroying the character. The fact that you gave her the last name "Ninja" was bad enough. But, the weird school girl tropes were just bad. Honestly the whole event chain and the character are kind of a dud for me. It's kind of hard to be aroused by such a caricature. You really gotta do something about it, because it's just not great and the charachter and her scenes are just wasted on the weird racism elements.

2. I think the core gameplay loop is better, but I still ended up feeling like it wasn't well intigrated with the rest of the game. You really should be building the events for Anna and Yuki into the system so it's more naturalistic.

3. This update really really badly exposed a problem in the writing specifically concerning how you write "stuck up" or "entitled" women. It was a little bit apparent with Leah in the last release.

Specifically, the new girl seems to have one mode and that's just "Stuck Up". There is never a scene where she's not angrily yelling at someone or insulting someone. There isn't even a Single Line of Dialogue where she isn't doing it.

The problem here is threefold.

A. Even stuck up people have different emotions. They react to different situations and people in different ways. They experience curiosity, or excitement, or interest, or boredom. They can display their emotions in more subtle or passive aggressive ways. They can be disinterested as opposed to merely antagonistic. They can respond positively to people who treat them the way they wish to be treated.

Her scene with Anna in particularly stood out to me in this respect. Such a character would not authentically be angry at Anna the way she is. She'd be above Anna. She might scold her, but the level of emotional intensity is not warranted.

B. There is a problem of emotional escalation. With Leah it's a bit better, because what you're doing is "softening" her behavior over time. But, even there her anger ramps up way too quickly.

In the case of the new girl, there is really just no relationship between events around her and her level of anger about it. She just goes 0 to 100 with no context. The end result is a feeling like she isn't reactive to her environment. There's a dangerous dance between making a character to quick to jump around emotionally, while still wanting to make them seem unstable. The goal is to create "Plausible Instability".

There needs to be more reactivity to circumstance and action, especially if you want to improve the *dire* state of player choice.

C. Something you're going to think in response is "I was trying to make her unlikable/a bitch". The problem is THAT'S NOT HOW AN ACTUAL BITCH ACTS.

Think about it? Do most bitchy or shitty people you know just get super mad all the time and shout a lot? Oh, they do it sometimes, but that's not really the prime attribute of such people.

The actual attribute I associate with people like Leah or the new girl is "Conceitedness". That is they just assume they're superior to the people around them. This is why shitty people often have multiple modes. It's because if people don't transgress against their mental self-image then they can respond normally to scenarios.

But, when people transgress, it's not right to shouting and insulting. It's normally passive aggression, snide remarks, or perhaps even ignorant negative assumptions about the other people. But, that's a layer too. It's only when the individual hasn't responded to those remarks by backing down or giving her what she wants that it normally progresses to shouting and outright insults.

This is also the importance of SOMETIMES including scenes where they aren't just being mean/shitty. If someone has one mode all the time, it gets tiring very fast. You need to construct the psychology of such a character and modulate their behavior to the psychology.

4. I liked the ability to see who is where. Improved the game immensely already.

5. I don't like that the "Ask About..." questions don't change. It feels like the answers, or perhaps the questions, should change a bit with time. The fact that Leah is still responding so harshly even after knowing that you're from the island is an example of it being jarring.

Furthermore, if you have it so that the fixed dialogue changes slightly in response to stats/game progress, then it allows players to use these things as a "barromaters" of progress. It also makes the player feel more like what they are doing is changing the gameworld/relationships.
 

poil

Newbie
May 18, 2017
37
35
Hi hachigames ,
A quick update, in the end of what I guess is the end of current gameplay (after the arrival of Scarlet and Sarah) some of the renders are very noisy and exposure seems off (mainly in the sauna and overall leisure part).

I must say that I really like your investment here and that I love the game so far ! Grinding seems balanced, I got a few temporal inconsistencies with dialogues triggering too early but they're all already reported. I'm in a hurry to get the next versions with the fixes !

On a quick note, seeing how often you post here, you may add a link to your patreon in your signature. Your are doing yourself a good publicity and should help us find your page easily when we are in a good/ paying mood :)
 
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hachigames

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Apr 22, 2020
1,065
3,655
New Feedback Pieces:

1. Yeah, the level of stereotyping going on with Yuki is really destroying the character. The fact that you gave her the last name "Ninja" was bad enough. But, the weird school girl tropes were just bad. Honestly the whole event chain and the character are kind of a dud for me. It's kind of hard to be aroused by such a caricature. You really gotta do something about it, because it's just not great and the charachter and her scenes are just wasted on the weird racism elements.

2. I think the core gameplay loop is better, but I still ended up feeling like it wasn't well intigrated with the rest of the game. You really should be building the events for Anna and Yuki into the system so it's more naturalistic.

3. This update really really badly exposed a problem in the writing specifically concerning how you write "stuck up" or "entitled" women. It was a little bit apparent with Leah in the last release.

Specifically, the new girl seems to have one mode and that's just "Stuck Up". There is never a scene where she's not angrily yelling at someone or insulting someone. There isn't even a Single Line of Dialogue where she isn't doing it.

The problem here is threefold.

A. Even stuck up people have different emotions. They react to different situations and people in different ways. They experience curiosity, or excitement, or interest, or boredom. They can display their emotions in more subtle or passive aggressive ways. They can be disinterested as opposed to merely antagonistic. They can respond positively to people who treat them the way they wish to be treated.

Her scene with Anna in particularly stood out to me in this respect. Such a character would not authentically be angry at Anna the way she is. She'd be above Anna. She might scold her, but the level of emotional intensity is not warranted.

B. There is a problem of emotional escalation. With Leah it's a bit better, because what you're doing is "softening" her behavior over time. But, even there her anger ramps up way too quickly.

In the case of the new girl, there is really just no relationship between events around her and her level of anger about it. She just goes 0 to 100 with no context. The end result is a feeling like she isn't reactive to her environment. There's a dangerous dance between making a character to quick to jump around emotionally, while still wanting to make them seem unstable. The goal is to create "Plausible Instability".

There needs to be more reactivity to circumstance and action, especially if you want to improve the *dire* state of player choice.

C. Something you're going to think in response is "I was trying to make her unlikable/a bitch". The problem is THAT'S NOT HOW AN ACTUAL BITCH ACTS.

Think about it? Do most bitchy or shitty people you know just get super mad all the time and shout a lot? Oh, they do it sometimes, but that's not really the prime attribute of such people.

The actual attribute I associate with people like Leah or the new girl is "Conceitedness". That is they just assume they're superior to the people around them. This is why shitty people often have multiple modes. It's because if people don't transgress against their mental self-image then they can respond normally to scenarios.

But, when people transgress, it's not right to shouting and insulting. It's normally passive aggression, snide remarks, or perhaps even ignorant negative assumptions about the other people. But, that's a layer too. It's only when the individual hasn't responded to those remarks by backing down or giving her what she wants that it normally progresses to shouting and outright insults.

This is also the importance of SOMETIMES including scenes where they aren't just being mean/shitty. If someone has one mode all the time, it gets tiring very fast. You need to construct the psychology of such a character and modulate their behavior to the psychology.

4. I liked the ability to see who is where. Improved the game immensely already.

5. I don't like that the "Ask About..." questions don't change. It feels like the answers, or perhaps the questions, should change a bit with time. The fact that Leah is still responding so harshly even after knowing that you're from the island is an example of it being jarring.

Furthermore, if you have it so that the fixed dialogue changes slightly in response to stats/game progress, then it allows players to use these things as a "barromaters" of progress. It also makes the player feel more like what they are doing is changing the gameworld/relationships.
Yeah, I understand why she seems that way. Although I think that is very much due the small amount of scenes she currently has. She is a more complex character of course, though it will take some more scenes to establish that.
There is already a scene done for the next update that will not have her scream and insult, as it really was never my plan to have her keep doing in every scene.
 
Last edited:

T51bwinterized

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Oct 17, 2017
1,456
3,480
Yeah, speaking writer to writer, I think you're letting yourself off the hook by claiming "oh it's just because I haven't put in enough of her stuff". You've already fucked up her characterization badly. She has like eight diffrent dialogues already. All of them, just her insulting people and being angry.

The fact that she has no emotional/tonal variance and doesn't have a coherent emotional response to context internal to scenes is the problem. And you messed that up right there in the introduction. There should be tonal/emotional variance if there's more then 3-4 lines of dialogue.
 
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bolondro2

Active Member
Oct 12, 2018
500
566
That would be very helpful. I made tools to specifically debug triggers.
The save files are located in
Code:
C:\Users\user\AppData\LocalLow\HachiGames\HailDicktator\save
with the newest having the highest number

Sorry, but I don´t find any C:\Users\user\AppData in my PC.

Win10, if it´s of any help
 

hachigames

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Apr 22, 2020
1,065
3,655
Sorry, but I don´t find any C:\Users\user\AppData in my PC.

Win10, if it´s of any help
Appdata is usually hidden by default in windows. In the file explorer, click on view on top, then on options on the top right. In the Folder Options go to the 'view' tab and select "Show hidden files, folders and drivers"
 

Davewatch

Active Member
Jan 7, 2020
591
624
Hi
Well I love the update and like the diverse characters No Problem But how long do we have to wait for Sonya progress after the failed date/flash and shouldn't Alice enjoy his peeking by now as she is a great exhibitionist, will he get to sex or is that not going to happen as he has had a lot to tempt him?
 
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hachigames

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Apr 22, 2020
1,065
3,655
Hi
Well I love the update and like the diverse characters No Problem But how long do we have to wait for Sonya progress after the failed date/flash and shouldn't Alice enjoy his peeking by now as she is a great exhibitionist, will he get to sex or is that not going to happen as he has had a lot to tempt him?
oh, sex is definitely going to happen. Very likely already in the next update.
 
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Wolfyna

Newbie
Jan 24, 2018
15
21
Appdata is usually hidden by default in windows. In the file explorer, click on view on top, then on options on the top right. In the Folder Options go to the 'view' tab and select "Show hidden files, folders and drivers"
I always had problems finding save files so thanks
 
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1zaza1

Member
Oct 22, 2017
116
124
This is a really awesome amount of content for such a new release and it has all my kinks. I'm definitely going to follow this game.
 
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knowlang

Newbie
May 2, 2020
22
17
I can't launch game on MacOS Catalina :(
Yea, that's because Apple requires all apps on MacOS to be notarized, starting from Catalina. This requires the dev to have a mac that's capable of running Catalina, going through the signing process and then uploading it to Apple's notarization service.

Ren'Py most likely doesn't have this issue because it's launched from the command line, however a quick google search seems to indicate it was an issue last year.

You might be able to do this to run it:
 

knowlang

Newbie
May 2, 2020
22
17
Sorry, but I don´t find any C:\Users\user\AppData in my PC.

Win10, if it´s of any help
I always had problems finding save files so thanks
To get to Hail Dicktator saves without enabling hidden files and folers open the windows search bar, type "run" and then press enter. Type the following into the box, then press "OK".

%appdata%/../LocalLow/HachiGames/HailDicktator/save

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

To get to RenPy saves, do the same thing except type the following into the box.

%appdata%/RenPy
 
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Aarghvark

Newbie
Feb 25, 2019
54
93
I'd like to join the complaints about writing, specifically when it comes to Yuki. Seems like she has this whole tsundere thing going on, but someone turned the dial to 11 and then ripped it off. And what's worse, there's no buildup here, she got captured and then she's just there calling the MC an idiot and secretly lusting after him while also being an overly enthusiastic schoolgirl who falls asleep at the drop of a hat. I'm not sure what's this about, the other characters got introduced quite well imo. It feels to me she needs a proper introduction and some events of getting to know her first, as well as toning her down a bit.
 

Harem_Master

Active Member
Oct 8, 2019
586
1,023
I'd like to join the complaints about writing, specifically when it comes to Yuki. Seems like she has this whole tsundere thing going on, but someone turned the dial to 11 and then ripped it off. And what's worse, there's no buildup here, she got captured and then she's just there calling the MC an idiot and secretly lusting after him while also being an overly enthusiastic schoolgirl who falls asleep at the drop of a hat. I'm not sure what's this about, the other characters got introduced quite well imo. It feels to me she needs a proper introduction and some events of getting to know her first, as well as toning her down a bit.
Think of her as a "Wild Child" who grew up in the wilderness without adult (let alone human) supervision. There are precedents for her type of character in "Lord of the Flies", an episode of the original Star Trek, and "Logan's Run" to name a few. Maybe like the Feral Kid in The Road Warrior; Max..umm..M/C just has to give her a music box or something shiny to keep her distracted. ;)
 
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tsunku

Engaged Member
Nov 6, 2017
2,897
1,541
I don't think you can complete the Alice side missions until basically the end of the current game. Her stats don't get high enough until after the rescue mission.

One comment I'd like to make is that the navigation feels kind clunky. Like if I wanted to check on multiple floors of the hotel it would be click on the floor, click back on the lobby, click on the other floor. Or if I wanted to go to the office I have to go all the way out to the docks. When you click on the map it seems like it should show more locations so it doesn't take two or three clicks to get everywhere.

how do you do the rescue mission when no one is ever in the damned electronics store?!? also who is yuki, scarlet, and sarah?!? all i see is alice, sonya, leah and hazel...
 

hachigames

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Apr 22, 2020
1,065
3,655
how do you do the rescue mission when no one is ever in the damned electronics store?!? also who is yuki, scarlet, and sarah?!? all i see is alice, sonya, leah and hazel...
Sonya works at the store on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 6-9pm
 

Davewatch

Active Member
Jan 7, 2020
591
624
Hi
Well I love the update and like the diverse characters No Problem But how long do we have to wait for Sonya progress after the failed date/flash and shouldn't Alice enjoy his peeking by now as she is a great exhibitionist, will he get to sex or is that not going to happen as he has had a lot to tempt him?
Hi
Don't forget for some of us poor stat grinders he has been there for 4 months so must be well backed up
 
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