You're free to say whatever you want, man! I'm really glad you're playing and I'm glad you treat the critique and theorizing as a second game.
Like many others on the Internet, I honestly just love being sarcastic and argumentative- and I don't think it's particularly harmful for developers to push back on critique if they adamantly disagree with it. There is plenty of stuff in the game that's been improved based on player feedback and I'm even setting aside two months of development time to rework most of the early game in Q1 of 2022 because the quality just...kinda sucks.
I've said and done many things that have caused various people to drop their support in the past. But if that's the cost for expressing myself, so be it. Hell, I lost a $100 patron just last week for calling them out on something they said in the Discord. If someone says something I think is silly, I'm gonna fuckin' let 'em know I think it's silly. I've got no obligation to listen to anyone, and they have no obligation to listen to me when I reply.
I'm proud of what I make and anyone who thinks I should just shut up and agree with all critique can touch my wiener.
I mean, it is good to listen to critique, but the key to that is balance. Too much is just as bad as too little because the developers who listen to every little thing often end up driving their project into the ground. I agree, though, you are free to listen to whatever level of criticism you want, including none of it if you so choose.
You are making a game that is in a genre that not everyone can handle, of course there are going to be people who don't like it, it's just that some of the ones who played this game in particular and can't handle this genre are vocal about it when all they really need to do is find a different game.
Nah, I'm not saying people will lose interest Alex, I'm saying it is possible a mass of people may get concerned over the pacing in a few months in my hypothetical 'pace stagnates' scenario.
You talk alot of the traits of Denpa- what is more Denpa than disorientation?
This requires a certain level of rising action and trauma.
That's why the very first thing I said was that the Halloween update was a good update and "a step in the right direction imo".
I'm just trying to be helpful to avoid a potential situation. For all I know things are about to go off the rails.
They very well could depending on the consequences of what happened with Molly!
But... on the alternative... just imagine things go back to normal.
It would have a certain dampening effect. The reader may ask themselves: 'what are the actual stakes' when another event inevitably happens.
That's all I'm saying.
And look, even if it keeps the current pace or even slows it is still great in the dating sim department and plenty entertaining and more than a 'good' game.
Perhaps I sounded more negative than intended.
I was merely sharing my thoughts on a hypothetical 'best' and most dramatic future.
As I said in another post the pace can also be changed by metering out meaningful information about the world of the story.
It is not necessarily the case that things just have to go off the rails more and more all the time, but things do need to be more or less moving for things to be at their most interesting.
That's my opinion anyways, and it is not a problem yet I am just stating my opinion because... that is what a forum is for.
The pace isn't even close to stagnant, so your hypothetical, while valid, isn't a concern at the moment and shows no signs it will be in the immediate or even moderate future.
Familiar characters acting in unfamiliar ways, for one. While not inherently disorienting, it is the core trait of Denpa games as defined by VNDB.
Both of which are present.
I agree, though more in a game development sense than I do an emotional sense, if I haven't already said it enough, I don't think I am prepared for the true darkness that has yet to come.
I'm not even sure it can be called a potential situation at this point with no signs of it even coming up. So far, the only thing that has happened to impact the game negatively in that regard is some people finding out what the game already has and not liking it.
The consequences are likely going to be bad, the Molly thing was horrible to watch, I mean emotionally speaking.
Normal isn't in the cards, this is a Denpa game, which always get worse before they get better and that's IF they even do get better. Normal would be getting better. Some of the truly dark ones even hit their peak darkness and never go back.
I've been questioning the stakes since day one, there is a ton of uncertainty within the story from details the player doesn't yet know. Making it worse, it also seems like we might be getting closer to a character death at a rapid pace and nobody knows who it will be, who will do it, or when, if at all, it will happen. I am slowly beginning to form a theory about that and the outlook is grim at best, emotionally, as in one of the characters Sensei is active with getting caught and killed by one of the two worst possible girls to catch him in the act, most likely Ami and she will most likely snap on the spot and go for the immediate kill. I think the stakes here are on an extreme level, life and death.
Things are moving every update, very quickly in recent updates, I might add. That's what got me concerned I wouldn't be ready for when shit really hits the fan in true Denpa fashion.
I meant as when it started Sensei was just kind going with the flow without too much worry...now however he has multiple girls vying for his attention all of whom have serious issues of their own. Sensei when this started "Man this life is perfect!" Sensei now "Oh my God what have I done?"
Yeah, I think it is past events with a certain character, not the entire class. I won't say much because spoilers, but the Maya dorm events and the girl's intro event are why I believe this is the case.
Everyone else:
"____ character is this!"
"____ character is that!"
"____ character broke!"
"MC is a ____!"
"This part of the story is weird!"
"This part of the story doesn't make sense!"
"When will we get an answer to what ___ means?"
Me:
"Did someone say space war?"
Yes, I believe someone did say space war.
