3.70 star(s) 72 Votes

save8lot

Member
Apr 7, 2021
317
583
Screenshots are not a new feature per se, but the bug was a regression that was addressed on the latest build. Unfortunately I think 0.4.2 still suffers from it. As a workaround you could put the game in fullscreen mode and screenshot as usual using your keyboard.
Thank You for your help and advise. That will have to do for now. Although its good to know that the problem is resolved in the New Version 0.4.3. It might be good to add that info to your change log, just in case other users experience the same problem.

Build v0.4.3 of Shale Hill Secrets has been released for Windows, Mac and Android.

- A few typos.
- A rare hang that could occur after finishing an episode and starting other right after.
- A regression with a blur shader not performing well on some old Android devices.
 
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Machete

Engaged Member
Apr 7, 2020
2,114
3,609
I'd like to post a little constructive feedback. I find the right-click menu rather counterintuitive. I keep pressing return to main menu instead of resume game for it being bigger and in the position where i would expect the "back" button and i keep loading over and over the last selected save because i tend to click on "load" before i select which save i want to load. I hope this is helpfull to further developments.

EDIT: Also, at the begin of chapter 4, three options: fight, fight or freeze instead of fight, flee or freeze.
 
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HunterSeeker

Engaged Member
May 13, 2017
2,286
1,351
The customization option is so bugged. Sometimes it doesn't even change any of the text it is supposed to and then sometimes it puts "sisters" instead of "sister" all the time. It's a bit annoying.
 
Jan 28, 2019
277
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Genuine question.
Am I the only one who, in certain games, feel compelled to push away every LI rather than pursue them?

It is only specific games, but some games I download to play, something in the story, situation, or mannerism of the MC, urges me to play a "forever alone" route, where I take the LEAST asshole way possible to shoot down my chances with the girls.
And then I keep playing, or wait for updates to play more, in games where I am actively sabotaging myself.

WTF is up with that?
 

Crimsonfiend76

Herald - Super Naked Ginger Cuddle Time
Donor
Sep 8, 2020
2,265
3,192
Genuine question.
Am I the only one who, in certain games, feel compelled to push away every LI rather than pursue them?

It is only specific games, but some games I download to play, something in the story, situation, or mannerism of the MC, urges me to play a "forever alone" route, where I take the LEAST asshole way possible to shoot down my chances with the girls.
And then I keep playing, or wait for updates to play more, in games where I am actively sabotaging myself.

WTF is up with that?
Kind of... I sometimes do that with L.I.s who are currently the MC's girlfriend or if the MC is pursuing a girl I can't stand and have no say in pursuing her, I desperately pick options to upset her to get her to break up with the MC and skip the lewd scenes as a form of protest.
 
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Machete

Engaged Member
Apr 7, 2020
2,114
3,609
Genuine question.
Am I the only one who, in certain games, feel compelled to push away every LI rather than pursue them?

It is only specific games, but some games I download to play, something in the story, situation, or mannerism of the MC, urges me to play a "forever alone" route, where I take the LEAST asshole way possible to shoot down my chances with the girls.
And then I keep playing, or wait for updates to play more, in games where I am actively sabotaging myself.

WTF is up with that?
Yes, occasionally i kinda hate all available LIs while i would rather pursuite some secondary character who is, instead, unavailable. I certainly don't react well when a game push you very hard to a girl in particular.
 

Bloodguard

Engaged Member
Feb 20, 2021
2,307
3,714
Yes, occasionally i kinda hate all available LIs while i would rather pursuite some secondary character who is, instead, unavailable. I certainly don't react well when a game push you very hard to a girl in particular.
I can usually go with the flow in AVNs, but the forced girlfriend is a hard pill to swallow. Especially if she's bitchy, or dominant or controlling. Makes the game unfun. Worst offenders for this I have seen are Alexandra,(Whiney spoiled entitled princess, who even comes with her own pet cunt MC has to deal with), and Haley's Story. At least Haley lets you get rid of the bitch, but pretty sure with Alexandra, you are stuck with her until you blow your brains out, cause destiny or some shit. :mad: Not sure cause I quit when I found pretty much every secondary girl much more appealing than forced GF. I like it when AVNs at least give some level of choice with main LI.
 

Machete

Engaged Member
Apr 7, 2020
2,114
3,609
At least Haley lets you get rid of the bitch.
Really?? I thought it wasn't possible to avoid her. What game is Alexandra from? One of my most hated one, and i posted a gozzillion times about it, is Melody. Well, not that she is so terrible per se. The story of the game is not bad. She's spoiled and entitled and everyone seem compelled to live for her but she's only mildly insufferable. Cute but in a game of good renders she seems a plastic doll. My big problem in that case is that the game is very long and MC really devote his own full existance to this Melody even when you pursuite a totally different route, and you barely see the lady at all through the gameplay.
 

Ricky | Love-Joint

Member
Game Developer
Jul 15, 2017
283
422
The customization option is so bugged. Sometimes it doesn't even change any of the text it is supposed to and then sometimes it puts "sisters" instead of "sister" all the time. It's a bit annoying.
I don't have complains about this. If you think there's something wrong, please take a screenshot of you customization screen and fill a bug at support@love-joint.com
 
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Crimsonfiend76

Herald - Super Naked Ginger Cuddle Time
Donor
Sep 8, 2020
2,265
3,192
I can usually go with the flow in AVNs, but the forced girlfriend is a hard pill to swallow. Especially if she's bitchy, or dominant or controlling. Makes the game unfun. Worst offenders for this I have seen are Alexandra,(Whiney spoiled entitled princess, who even comes with her own pet cunt MC has to deal with), and Haley's Story. At least Haley lets you get rid of the bitch, but pretty sure with Alexandra, you are stuck with her until you blow your brains out, cause destiny or some shit. :mad: Not sure cause I quit when I found pretty much every secondary girl much more appealing than forced GF. I like it when AVNs at least give some level of choice with main LI.
For me, the biggest problem I have is with Fetish Locator, and the MC supposedly madly in love with a frigid virgin (Lydia) who isn't remotely attractive at all to me, while other girls are pursuing him simultaneously. If she wasn't such a cuckquean, I probably would have quit the game long ago since apparently last time I played there was no option to ditch her for someone else. Weirdly enough, I'm usually ok when an MC has a wife as long as she isn't a bitch (Deliverance for example), but eventually shit happens in game and you are free to pursue other L.I., its just the forced girlfriends that typically are a pet peeve of mine.
 

spacekun

Member
Mar 19, 2020
142
111
Just wondering? where the heck is the game stored, its a near 1gb zip then i unzip it it turns into a 80 mb folder.. i checked local and roaming appdata but couldnt see anything obvious tho its def taken my disk space somewhere.
 
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Garen

Member
May 6, 2017
281
853
Genuine question.
Am I the only one who, in certain games, feel compelled to push away every LI rather than pursue them?

It is only specific games, but some games I download to play, something in the story, situation, or mannerism of the MC, urges me to play a "forever alone" route, where I take the LEAST asshole way possible to shoot down my chances with the girls.
And then I keep playing, or wait for updates to play more, in games where I am actively sabotaging myself.

WTF is up with that?
ngl kinda based
 

cxx

Message Maestro
Nov 14, 2017
59,290
29,533
Just wondering? where the heck is the game stored, its a near 1gb zip then i unzip it it turns into a 80 mb folder.. i checked local and roaming appdata but couldnt see anything obvious tho its def taken my disk space somewhere.
where and with what did you unzip it? i used 7zip and got ~1 gig folder. 1 culprit could be antivirus throwing it in quarantine.
 

spacekun

Member
Mar 19, 2020
142
111
7 zip game works fine. think its just a win 10 issue lol, assets folder is hidden as says empty even tho its not.
 

Geffe

Newbie
Jul 14, 2019
45
130
Just wondering? where the heck is the game stored, its a near 1gb zip then i unzip it it turns into a 80 mb folder.. i checked local and roaming appdata but couldnt see anything obvious tho its def taken my disk space somewhere.
I just checked and found the same thing. There is a hidden folder called 'assets' that I think is probably the culprit. If you mouse over it, it says it's empty, but if you go through it, it has a bunch of image and audio files, etc.
 
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aexiel

Member
Sep 5, 2018
174
214
For some reason this game completely went under my radar. I guess because it didn't have the Ren'py tag? I mostly play these on my phone and most non-ren'py games don't have an android port.

I played the game 2x just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

So a few things, I don't mind that the game is not on Ren'py. Honestly, if you complain about that, then you should complain about all the JP VNs. Sure, Ren'py is easier to use and compile but isn't that up to the dev? You can get as much a crappy game from Ren'py as much as any other system. Still, this is much better than the HTML based games they did before.

I have a really great appreciation for Palmer/Love-Joint. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't be here at this forum if it wasn't for them. D4D was the first non-JP VN I played and it really helped me get through a dark time. If I recall correctly, it wasn't even finished when I started, just about episode 4 I guess? My anticipation for the next chapter drove me to look for more games like it and eventually led me here at F95. And I might say, I'm pretty glad I did. Still, I'm pretty sad that Palmer is no longer with us and I wasn't able to support at the time. Regardless I am looking forward to the completion of this game and I will support when I can.

Now on to the review:

First, the renders. For me the characters are definitely attractive and well rendered. The body proportions are relatively as normal as you can get for the aesthetic. Since the LIs are all university/college students, it is pretty reasonable none of them have excessively large breasts or butts. In regards to diversity in proportions for the LIs, I'm afraid it won't make sense lore/story-wise. Shale Hill has a history of suicide and bullying, any girl who isn't conventionally attractive would definitely be subjected to abuse, enough to make her quit. It would make a good plot if this was during their 1st year but the story takes place sophomore year so the MC wouldn't be able to meet someone like that and last the full year. There might be a bit of bias on my side since I really like the aesthetic. Large eyes, the anime-ish designs of the characters, and even the anime-esque body styles are quite appealing to me as someone who mainly played JP VNs and watch anime. The animations are great but I agree is not the best. The motions are fluid enough and the frames are smooth but lacks force. I mean, the faster option in the scenes are like just 1.25x the normal speed. I'd like this to be faster to show more force or at least emulate what normally happens when coming close. Right now, it's barely any different from the normal speed.

Second, the plot. I found the plot quite intriguing and despite downloading it because it's an adult game, I stayed for the story. I didn't even mind that episode 1 didn't have any H-scenes. A mute MC sure is novel, yes doesn't really matter much so far, but brings a lot to the character's background. For me though, it needs to be emphasized that the fact he can't talk has certain implications (like a scene where he loses his phone or runs out of power and needs to communicate with someone who can't understand ASL during a critical event) because right now, he is treated like any other person which is progressive but becomes less significant in the story if nothing happens because of it. The mystery however is what keeps me coming back. I want to learn more, to see what will happen. I'm just a teeny bit disappointed that currently, your actions in the previous episode doesn't impact the next episode much (don't know if this will have impact down the line but certainly no immediate repercussions)You can say that you don't like Emily or have no feelings for her anymore in EP1 but still have sex in EP2. I like that there's music and they usually match whatever is happening on screen, but I cannot comment on this well since I play at really low volume. The pacing is great. Not too slow, and not too fast, and it brings enough bait to keep you hooked for the next episode.

Third, the characters. Okay, some characters are not the best but they definitely have quality and they seem more "normal" and real people, except Leah, that kind of person is really rare. I like how each has a different, clear personality and knows who they are and not just cookie-cutter stereotypes. I don't find any particular character annoying except that bitch ass manager of the comic book shop. She's like an unholy implosion of a karen who got promoted to a manager. God help us anyone asks for her manager. Each character also has their own way of speaking. From the cold, sharp, business-like tone from the current Emily, the ditzy and random l33t-speak from Sam, the shy and awkward Maggie, the friendly and concerned conversations with Leah, the wise yet sultry innuendos from Valerie, and Haley... well... she mostly listens...

Final thoughts: Great game. I love it. Can't wait for more. Keep up the good work. Keeping it at 4/5 for now at least until about EP 9 when there's more to the plot. Don't care about H-scenes right now, need more of the story.

PS. I find it a bit odd that each episode is progressively longer than the previous one.
 
3.70 star(s) 72 Votes