While the beginning in the old version can be quite slow and repetitive, I like how it allows me to explore all conversation topics. I haven't played the new version, but I've been wondering if these optional conversation topics are still included?
Also, being a game developer/writer must be really tough. I'm impressed with how patient you are. Well developed and written game especially must take a very long time to complete, so I hope you still take some time for yourself though~
heya
So i may give you a longer answer than you intended here but hopefully it'll answer everything. The original version had that grindy kinda feel to it. back when i started in 2017 that's how most of these games were. they were stat based and you had to keep doing the same event over and over to get points to unlock the next tier. since i'd never written anything before, i figured i'd make my story event based versus heavy writing based but quickly figured out that i liked dialogue and conversations more than i actually liked events (completely didn't see that coming). i got some pretty harsh feedback early on where a guy told me i was a better writer than a coder and i should stick to my strength. So in time, i moved completely away from the repeated grindy portion of the game.
With the revamp, I believe that ever original conversation is still in there somewhere so far. I have taken some of them and smashed them together. So some events were random conversations but they had a lot in common so rather than have 2 similar conversations, you just have one more complete conversation about a certain topic now. the goal on the revamp was to keep the overwhelming majority of what was in the original-- flaws and all. This story was a learning experience for me and i didn't want to lose that when it was finished-- even if that made it inferior to what it could have been. So now you dont have to actually run through multiple things, you can get the majority of things the first time. However, the revamp does have more choices for navigation. So if you wanna go clean the shower in the morning or go to the bathroom, you get those events. if you dont like those events (say you're opposed to conversations at the urinal, you can easily skip those and it doesn't impact the overall story.
In terms of game development being hard: I guess it can be. I will say it's difficult for me. I'm a psych major and when I started this project back in 2017, i can honestly say there is not one skill that I needed to do this that I already had. I literally didn't know how to do anything. I didn't know coding, writing, or 3D art (i used to draw in school but that was it), i've also never recorded or streamed before (which is a new thing that people had asked for). i've never run my own business or marketed anything. i've never made a website or really interacted with the public on a public relations sorta relationship. Legit didn't know shit so learning all of that takes time. i had to google every single thing i've done or watch a video. How do i make a menu? I'd watch videos. How do i make a click sound when you mouse over? Watch more videos or scour forums. I can easily make progress on the writing part only to be slowed down by having to learn an entirely new profession like 3Dart or navigate 5 or 6 different programs that i'd never seen before in my life. i think that's why i'm so adamant that you can't do this thing for someone else. at the end of the day, you're the one spending thousands of hours doing exciting things but also the boring mundane things for the project. I can watch a movie or play another game and see hundreds or thousands of employees on the credits and i'm like holy fuck... what could i make with that many people? I think the reason most games get abandoned is because people see a couple popular game devs raking in 6 figures and they want that easy money but they dont realize how much work that can be-- at least if you've never done it before. it's not an intuitive process for me although i've been getting faster during the revamp. you gotta do it for you. you have to be able to ignore long days or not personalize shitty reviews and just keep doing your thing because you believe in it. and as dumb as it sounds to say, i think you need less breaks when you're working on something you believe in. but yeah, i do take breaks-- more now than i used to. The early game was rough, i was a full-time grad school student and was working 3 jobs plus this. Now i'm just doing this and things are better
