christof rauch
If you had been a Patron at any point in the last year you'd know that the bully arc is still definitely on the cards since it appears in priority polls frequently, and
loses them. So I'm confident you're not a Patron and trying to speak for Patron's when you don't appear to be one makes you look like an entitled gatekeeping douchebag.
It's a small team, so of course, updates are gonna be small - and of course, the scale of the game/number of girls in the story is too great to include updates for all of them in every update.
And you realise that the so-called better story progression in the prologue that you seem to so strongly prefer didn't happen overnight, right? Updates also weren't as frequent back then since SLim was still very much a beginner and still learning a lot of what he needed to know to make the game. Which he was doing completely alone at that time might I add.
The progression of the prologue was a straight VN, and large chunks didn't even give much in the way of branching. It was, for the most part, A to B. Yet early into that prologue you can see the seeds of what we have now. SLim very clearly wanted to make a free-roaming game with more sandbox elements as indicated by the house exploration section. I get the impression that he just didn't know how to lay the foundation at that time and when he did figure it out it straight up required a rebuild.
Fair enough, as far as it goes. You are correct, I am not a patreon of THIS game, and I can accept your "rebuke" for my attitude.
And yes, I understand that the prologue probably took a while, which is WHY I said it was better than the current version
We all have preferences for what we want out of games, and that's fine, but the way you're wearing your entitlement like some kind of badge of honour is making you look bad. Be patient for the content you want to see out of a project or move onto completed ones because I really can't see any dev taking the kind of feedback you're providing here seriously at all.
I will not even dignify this with a response
But let's address your gripes though.
1) The assets used in the apartment are of higher quality and the switch from a detached house to an adjoined apartment serves the narrative - the MC would not have heard Margaret through the wall if she wasn't right on the other side of it.
2) False. It's still planned but Patrons don't care enough about it to vote it as a priority for the content they want to see.
3) That happened in the last Juliet update we got, there hasn't been a Juliet update since so we don't get a follow-up yet. Why not? Because Patrons haven't voted for it in the priority polls.
4) While many changes have been made since the prologue it is still loosely canon and will be updated and brought forward into the "real game" as you put it. The newer incarnation of the game is a remake after SLim developed his skills to match what he envisioned the game to be. The reason the prologue content hasn't been brought forward yet? You guessed it, the Patrons don't care enough about it to vote for it.
1) That is a surprise, since I have lived in houses where the neighbor gets into arguements with his/her spouse and it is heard not just by me, but the neighbors on the other side, neighbors across the street, and anyone outside. So, while I understand your comment regarding "serving the narrative", it is at best a limp arguement
2)Which means it has been abandoned, from my perspective. My point exactly.
3) Hmmm, that was in the first part of the switch to the current rebuild, and should have been addressed by now. So, from my point of view, abandoned again. Sure, for this and the numnber 2 point, I understand the developer is catering to his patreons, but Christ have mercy, there are plenty of players who are also getting freaking bored because he either abandons previously referenced points, or cares more for money than making a consistent and continuous game with reasonable game and story continuity..
4) Really? sorry, I just do not see it. As I said in my previous post, he should have kept the prologue as the main story and improved on it rather than just "rebuilding" it. Sorry, but I have seen too many developers using the excuse to "rebuild" a game to scam people out of money (not saying THIS developer is doing that). A good case in point is "Thinking about You". That game has had so many reboots and rebuilds that it has NEVER gotten past v 0.4.0. Regardless, while I understand he was - and maybe still is - new to game development, he could have learned without having to reboot/rebuild the game. As for your last comment on this point, once again... he is more concerned with making money than making a decent, playable game. I mean Christ, the hints are good, but I finished his current build in about an hour... with no problems and even with reading every line of dialogue.
So, this "hook" you're concerned about actually appears to be
delivering exactly what Patrons are asking for.
And yes you are, of course, entitled to your personal opinion. But you've built the one you currently hold on a severe lack of knowledge of how this game is developing (especially in regards to prioritisation of content) and apparently some fantasy about how much work such small teams of game developers can get done.
Sure, the developer SHOULD be concerned about what his paying patreons want, but he should also be concerned about what his NON-paying players want/would like to see/ prefer; at least to SOME extent.And no, I have no "fantasy" as you call it about how much work games like this entail. I have been reviewing games for the past 8 years, both private games like these (meaning small teams to single developers), and the more commercial games from developers such as JAST and ILLUSION. So, I am QUITE aware of how much time it takes, how difficult it is and can be, and unfortunately, with developers similar to Slonique I have seen plenty that really only care about soaking the consumer - paying or non-paying - rather than providing a decent game. And no, I am NOT saying this developer is identified as this. I really do like the game over all, and I think the renders, both in the prologue as well as this main game, are spot on in good work. I also enjoy (though I think it is over used) the X-Ray vision, the ability to change positional perspective, The girls content - for the most part - where they progress and show character development (Linda specifically comes to mind, the sister less so). I don't even mind if there are a couple of months between updates (or 3 or 4 months) if the updates have some significant content rather than mostly - from what I see of his changelog - bug fixes and changes in the mechanics of the game.
Sorry for my lengthy response, but since you appeared to feel the need to - from my perspective - put down my original post, I felt it needful to explain what I was actually taking about and correct some misconceptions.
This game IS good, as far as it goes, it is just boring as a sandbox game, and sandbox games are NOT easy to make, I know.
