- Thread starter Atemsiel
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sexypeanut
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- Jun 30, 2020
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No HS2 games can be put on Steam, since they're technically mods
Oh yeah, best girl!
Just played for the first time and got to the most recent update. Excellent writing, renders, animations, music so far. The only problem is now I have to wait for more. I seriously hope the dev keeps working on this.
Bro is feeling a lot of self-imposed pressure to make 3 games at once... instead of just making 1.
MaxRichard
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- Oct 7, 2023
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100%. This game tries to do too much at once.
Tiur
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No, he's not. That's an exaggeration people used when they think (incorrectly) that the three routes for each main girl are entirely separate stories and thus triple the effort to make, because they are apparently unable to notice how much overlap there is, and how much of the game is route-independent.
MagicMan753
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- Nov 19, 2021
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I actually think the 3 branches isn't the main problem, but small extra branching and things added.
The ghost hunt added time, who to sleep with after Akemi/Akari scene a couple of updates ago. Multiple ways to punish Riley if os sub/slave(Shower, room), etc. I just think if he cut down on some of the smaller branches and expanisons like ghost hunt, he could be good and even get things out a bit quicker. Just some thoughts.
The ghost hunt added time, who to sleep with after Akemi/Akari scene a couple of updates ago. Multiple ways to punish Riley if os sub/slave(Shower, room), etc. I just think if he cut down on some of the smaller branches and expanisons like ghost hunt, he could be good and even get things out a bit quicker. Just some thoughts.
I think all the small deviations are one of the quirk of this game that make it stand out from the others. Honestly, considering games much more linear than this get stalled/abandoned even faster, I don't think this is the issue. If I really have to nitpick something, I'd not have revamped the phone UI with the girls data because it was fine as it was (I actually preferred the old one). But ultimately, it all depends on the devs will to keep working, I don't mind waiting as long as there is progress and the dev stays healthy.
lmao if you can't see there's too many different texts and render routes for almost every scene i dont know what to tell u bud
Deneuve
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- Aug 6, 2017
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I think 3 routes is fine, and the overall expanding branch tree can be mitigated by not making most girls interact as much as they would.
Because if Girl A is on Love Route, when you're doing Girl B's story and Girl A shows up, you have to account for whether her personality in this scene is one of three routes.
Even AAA games have a hard time implementing these things that I think they were impressed by Baldur's Gate for having that much freedom branching.
Even Telltale Games whose primary gimmick is your choices matter has to railroad the choices at points because it would make it harder to build a game as it goes on. Example is Nick in Season 2, he dies early in the game, BUT you can save him, but if you do he just becomes a very minor character that almost does nothing and gets killed off without choice later, because they'd have to account for him existing and not existing in each scene.
Heck, Mass Effect got flak for this because the whole trilogy was marketed as "dude,all your choices throughout the games are gonna build up to the third game". Then ME3 happened.
Its very hard to keep track of varied choices because again, like a tree branch, they branch.
Because if Girl A is on Love Route, when you're doing Girl B's story and Girl A shows up, you have to account for whether her personality in this scene is one of three routes.
Even AAA games have a hard time implementing these things that I think they were impressed by Baldur's Gate for having that much freedom branching.
Even Telltale Games whose primary gimmick is your choices matter has to railroad the choices at points because it would make it harder to build a game as it goes on. Example is Nick in Season 2, he dies early in the game, BUT you can save him, but if you do he just becomes a very minor character that almost does nothing and gets killed off without choice later, because they'd have to account for him existing and not existing in each scene.
Heck, Mass Effect got flak for this because the whole trilogy was marketed as "dude,all your choices throughout the games are gonna build up to the third game". Then ME3 happened.
Its very hard to keep track of varied choices because again, like a tree branch, they branch.
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Significant branching takes more time than just writing the unique scenes because there is a fair bit of planning into how and where and what things will change for decisions X, Y and Z, not to mention additional time to implement and test. I don't think that the creator should stop doing the three branches, as that is a core appeal of the game, but it's definitely more complicated than just counting changed lines between scene A and scene B.
NukaCola
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I did not expect have to play Phasmophobia in a porn VN. Good thing there are VN mode.
- Oct 29, 2021
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Here's to a special holiday season and a happy new year!
Hope the season brings you plenty of joy, laughter, and good vibes with the people you care about.
also new update news regarding the state of the game:
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Thanks. So to summarize, RL work and burnout getting in the way of working on the game.
The money quote: "I'm having to make so many versions of the same scene. Such is branching."
I think the next update is going to be awesome and probably worth the wait because Atemsiel has a lot of talent and is a great & funny writer. But we are really seeing the dev problems with all the different paths, which greatly complicates structuring the game. And unfortunately it will just get worse going forward...
Tiur
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I will repeat something Atem has said in the past. No branching would mean no game. He has zero interest in making a game that does not respond to player choices.
Straw man argument. No one is calling for no branching. Three paths for every LI is the problem. That's what massively complicates the script, rendering etc- leading to much longer time between updates.
But another major issue is how do you come up with interesting slave scenes for each girl? Or make them all compelling romantic characters? It's why most harem games only have one submissive LI, because it's not easy to think up creative ways to portray that relationship. Well Atemsiel needs to come up with great slave scenes for seven girls, realistic romance scenes for the same seven girls etc. That's tough for anyone and may not be doable with any real depth. Especially when the scenes may not reflect the dev's RL kinks.
Like a lot of 1st time devs Atemsiel has a big vision for the game he wants to make. That's awesome. However, RL often has a way of making choices for you.
Tiur
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Choices that the game remembers are what increase scene variations, not necessarily the 'three paths per LI' that everyone keeps harping on and blaming for slow updates. But, as I said above, choices are explicitly not something Atem is going to do without, and it's unlikely that he'll ever reduce the number of choices the player (and MC) can make. He explicitly didn't want to make a game where the only meaningful choices are "is this girl in the harem or not".
By being a good writer, which Atem's proven he is, time and time again. I understand that most games are not written by good writers. Just because fans of the game have a harder time coming up with interesting scenes does not mean the dev has a harder time. Having seen WIP content, I will guarantee you that having trouble coming up with scene ideas is not a problem Atem has. (I am fairly certain that Atem has more scene ideas for good, sexy scenes on most paths, than will ever exist in this game.)
Look, I'm just responding to the reality here. Taking roughly 15 months since the last major update- assuming it releases soon- speaks for itself. So does a dev who complains about the number of scenes he has to rerender due to branching.
I don't know how objective you can be given that you seem to be part of the development team in some way. But if people in the thread are "harping on" about the the three paths, it's because we have all seen a multitude of good/great games get abandoned because of overly ambitious goals, especially among 1st-time devs... and unfortunately the warning signs are here. There is a big difference between what a dev wants to make and the reality of finding the time & motivation as a solo dev to make it.