Alright, I relaxed a bit, and now back with more stuff to respond. It is a surprisingly heart-racing thing to get so many responses on your game, hard to describe.
This message will only address the Reviews.
More stuff later - but I'm reading what y'all are writing. And no, I don't disagree with any reviews, judging v0.1 builds is a pain, cause you kinda have to guess where the dev is going. I'll only address the issues, but thanks for the good words too. I'm using my inexperience as a shield.
Responses:
wpeale71341 - people in the comments highlighted the issues with navigation too, that's my bad. The issue kind of self solves when there are a lot of routes and content, which is not the case now. For action items:
- Create an end-screen after all interactions / special events are completed within the current version (something I didn't think about before)
- Add a pointer if there are any interactions available within the map location - I'll be real, that one is a little complicated (to make it dynamic with my database system)
Badjourasmix - a couple of people pointed out to me how to improve animations, I hope that they will get better moving forward (idk if you used Daz, but whenever I try making something bounce, it looks pretty bad, for now)... And about Sandbox, I always cheat in any game that has stats/economy. Here - it's about being non-linear, rather than introducing grind. Though, it doesn't look like it yet due to the obvious lack of content. The story is character-driven, so yeah, don't expect anything ultra innovative, maybe in the future when I'm more experienced.
JackassJeff - some things are addressed above. For MC's face - when in production, I legitimately don't know what's happening with his face (now that I looked at it with fresh eyes). I think it might be the jaw and teeth that make him look a little weird (like when he laughs). But also, I don't want to make him look like too much of a beefcake ("BEEFCAKE"), somewhere in the Beta territory. For introduction - I'm not 100% clear what makes an opening good, even after replaying good ones lots of times, so we'll see.
Graff koo2 - 1/2 addressed in the previous response. For locations I'll just add that there will be a lot more, and I need to think how to gradually introduce them... Not fully sure what makes a normal intro. Off the top of my head MC and Father driving around the city breaking legs and collecting money (to introduce locations) / then hanging out Yuna, talking about their lifes to this point -> simple sandbox tutorial -> throw into the fast-paced stuff where the game starts. It's mostly a brainstorm.
something123321 - regarding the cycles, it wasn't obvious in the v0.1 cause I didn't finish special events, but it's basically interactive map during the day // click an icon during the night to initiate special events. For the "drug backstory", yeah, it will be part of the updated introduction. They are not part of the initial release cause it takes ages to 3D model 1000 pounds of "Bliss" (you can guess what it's a nickname for lol). The overarching story is where those drugs came from, your success or failure to sell them - and the consequences of it. I took a shortcut for this version cause I wanted to get people's feedback and it was taking me ages
And thanks for the nice words.
That's it for review responses. I will be turning those responses into a roadmap, that's why they are pretty detailed. I also figured it might be interesting to read all of this vomit of text, for some, who knows. I'm not planning on responding to all reviews, cause who has the time, but figured since I'm starting out it might be useful to be a bit more detailed with that stuff.
By the way, I received some
very negative reactions to the trap character, and since it's likely a mainstream reaction, I will add an option at the start of the game to turn him/her into a girl or keep the original storyline (which is the priority). It will obviously have impacts on the story if you go for the non-cannon option, but I want ppl to be comfortable while keeping the content I want.
Thanks all! I'll be occasionally popping in here, but most of the time on socials will be spent on public and private Patreon stuff.