Tried the new update, arguably a step sideways... glad the dev finally dropped the brewing mini-game part. Well, the graphical/UI part, at least, that was not well-implemented; the underlying managing drink capacity mini-game probably could have been salvaged. Hard to tell if the replacement is better, since implementation is only partial.
Got to admit I kept thinking about suggesting the rename the game to, pub simulator or something like that, because you spent more time playing the bar mini games, and micro managing the bar than you did anything else, one of the reason I have not bothered playing any of the updates for ages, though when I noticed the changes in 4.1 I was finally, stopping with the pointless daily grind of mini games, not played it yet though.
I agree with the art part, the new art is imo a downgrade from the previous art. And I don't really know why, is it because it's too clean now? less slutty? Something was lost in the new update, the new art makes the MC way less attractive for me.
Here are some screens of V4.0 vs V4.1 art for those interested.
I know what you mean, but I also understand, that the Dev wants to have a consistent design for his characters throughout the game, so if you replay it, you have the same quality.
I always prefer more new stuff over a redesign, but some graphic & gamplay updates are also always welcome.
As long as this game is not getting dragged into the redesign circle of doom like 'Defenestration', I am happy with everything.
I think the new pictures could use a little bit more contrast (more and darker shades, stronger outlines).
I agree with the art part, the new art is imo a downgrade from the previous art. And I don't really know why, is it because it's too clean now? less slutty? Something was lost in the new update, the new art makes the MC way less attractive for me.
Here are some screens of V4.0 vs V4.1 art for those interested.
I agree with the art part, the new art is imo a downgrade from the previous art. And I don't really know why, is it because it's too clean now? less slutty? Something was lost in the new update, the new art makes the MC way less attractive for me.
Here are some screens of V4.0 vs V4.1 art for those interested.
Going side-by-side, seems the new art is flatter and cleaner. The breasts are a massive give-away and look very uncanny now, like as if their art regressed. Wow that is pretty bad.
I think the main reason why the new art may seem less appealing is because the contrast aren't that strong anymore, not just with the grey dress, but also the shadows and the more subtle inking of the line-art, as well as the more light-pastel colour for her skin tone.
Most of it can be quickly changed with the hue/saturation sliders on photoshop.
Going side-by-side, seems the new art is flatter and cleaner. The breasts are a massive give-away and look very uncanny now, like as if their art regressed.
I think the main reason why the new art may seem less appealing is because the contrast aren't that strong anymore, not just with the grey dress, but also the shadows and the more subtle inking of the line-art, as well as the more light-pastel colour for her skin tone.
Not a single person has pointed out that her hair is suddenly two-tone... hence why I was assuming it might be AI art, that's the sort to weirdness you get by generating new stuff from source materials and the convolutional AI picks up on the wrong stuff... like how lighting can affect hair color. Also, some of the arms are weirdly skinny, super odd body proportions. But hey, at least I haven't noticed any extra fingers!
Not a single person has pointed out that her hair is suddenly two-tone... hence why I was assuming it might be AI art, that's the sort to weirdness you get by generating new stuff from source materials and the convolutional AI picks up on the wrong stuff... like how lighting can affect hair color. Also, some of the arms are weirdly skinny, super odd body proportions. But hey, at least I haven't noticed any extra fingers!
why does this artist have such a hard time with nipples? there's a surprising amount of variation in them... sometimes they're lavender, sometimes dark pink, sometimes they stick out, sometimes they are flat, sometimes they are in middle of the boob, sometimes they're on the bottom... i doubt it'd bother me so much if it wasn't so all-over-the-place
In all probability it's not AI art, hence my cracking wise about the lack of extra fingers (I would have also accepted too few fingers). But hard to tell these days...
I agree with the art part, the new art is imo a downgrade from the previous art. And I don't really know why, is it because it's too clean now? less slutty? Something was lost in the new update, the new art makes the MC way less attractive for me.
Here are some screens of V4.0 vs V4.1 art for those interested.
This comparison is quite a good way to show why the new feel "flatter".
Here are my 5 cents about the new images:
(good) Consistent coloring and body proportions
(neutral) The silhouettes in the new poses are more consistent, but a bit more ambiguous on what is happening. I liked how you could see the nipple poking out in the old "Drink Cum" and "Pour Drink" poses, but in the new poses it does not stick out.
(bad) lineart has grown slimer, less bold. Which does not help with the drawn style that was previously used. I haven't seen the rest of the game to see if this line sliming was applied evenly to not have a clash of styles within the game.
(bad) the shading looks more like grey shading, instead of color shading. This makes the contrast between the background lights and Cats dress less outstanding.
Question to Lime: If Genno still has the original files for the new poses, could you please ask them to increase the contrast on the shading layers? That would help with the perceived "flatness".
I say this, because I have seen the spoiler image of Annica on the Discord and there the shading contrast is more in depth.
Hrrm on that new artwork, (which is well made!) to get it closer to the style folks are used to I would suggest lowering the overall brightness/value of everything except the highlights and rim lighting, and increasing the colour content/saturation levels of the shadows, probably up the saturation of the base skin toon too.
The side by sides make it clear the newer artwork is brighter overall, the highlights are closer in valve to the base tone and the base tone is closer in value to the shadows which is making it hard for my brain to trick itself into thinking it's a 3d object.
Also thematically she works in a nightclub so she shouldn't be so well light that the shadows start to disappear
I have to agree with the others that the new art has lost some of the magic sauce that the old art had. It feels a bit flat and sterile.
A few more layers in post processing could probably bridge the gap.
As far as the consistency issue, from what I gather by playing the game. The artist doesn't have a library of references and tools drawn up that they can copy/paste as a starting point (poses, facial expressions etc), every single scene seems to be drawn from scratch.
I don't want it to seem like I'm shitting on the artist, I think the artist has been doing a great job so far. There are just some workflow issues there if consistency is a high priority.
Yeah, I think the biggest issues with the new art could be solved by just increasing the contrast a bit. It's less that the art is structurally bad and just that it feels less cartoony.
you can import save files by the dev when starting a new game and no others are present.
be advised, save slots 1-10 are now reserved as 'Autosave' slots. copied save files in these slots will be overwritten when the autosave feature is enabled (the default state).
if you want to import PC save files manually, never ever use an index file (global.rpgsave) created by the PC release.
instead, save your game to the desired slot and overwrite the created save file (e.g. file66.rpgsave) with your PC save file.
have fun and please report problems (you can reach me