I hate to say it, as much as I appreciate developers working on AVNs, but I personally am not looking forward to future Wicked Choices titles. And that's with all due respect to the effort you've put in. If you want to know why, I posted a review on Book One with a fairly detailed list of positives and negatives. There was one in particular that literally dropped the review score multiple points.
Hopefully you can take something away from it and improve the title(s). The universe and story are deserving of a better AVN in my opinion, and I think if you take the time and reflect on what Book One missed you can get them there. Book One however, for me, is an utter loss.
You know Jaga, I honestly didn't have a problem with your review... I wasn't exactly happy about it, but I understood it and you reviewed it honestly from your position and, unlike some other individual, didn't decide to make fun of those who actually have put up with the whole 'hell and back' thing that I've been going through.
And, yes, your review was very concise and detailed to express your thoughts regarding it and, though I am not happy that you didn't enjoy it more, I can see some areas that I need to focus (or am currently focusing on) with our new release.
THANK YOU for taking your time out to share your thoughts on it (and for not mocking our fans while doing so) and will go though your points in a little bit if you are interested and maybe address why some things happened the way that they did.
Part of the problem (some) people may be having, is that when you shift to a side-story (i.e. we don't get to play the same MC), it comes off as not a direct sequel. More of a spin-off in that regard. I know when I shift MCs I totally disassociate one game from another. To me at least, keeping the same MC is a requirement for a sequel, unless the MC isn't *really* a MC, but rather just a prominent character in the story being told.
Having said that, it's nice to see more content in the same universe and with the same backstory. But as far as playing the same MC from Book One, I see it as being very far off. Not sure if that's exactly the plan, but that's what it sounds like, and might be causing the turmoil you're seeing.
I will be totally honest... I was a comic book writer and novelist when I came to the decision to create a game... my concept and storyline for the "Wicked Choices" series was created using that prior experience and formula... and, at least for the remainder of the series, will continue to do so as it is written.
But that is why the entire series of "Wicked Choices" didn't (Princess Lynara) and won't (Brent & Carley Chambers, Claire & Willian Crawford Davies and Emiko Fuwa) just follow the MC (the Antichrist) till it's conclusion.
When crafting the "Wicked Choices" series and storyline, I did it with the intention that the entire Universe itself needed to come alive for the player... it is the building blocks of a much larger and more involved universe that the original MC (the Antichrist) lives in...
And, like such Universes of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, while you may have a Main Character of the story (Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins), the story doesn't just follow those MC's around while they do their thing... there a many characters, events and situations that have to occur that make that Main Character stand out more to the viewers (and in my case the Players) and helps to pull the viewers (and players) into that universe and explains why things are happening as they happen.
Because of this, our series won't just follow the MAIN MC (the Antichrist), but will also have SECONDARY MC's in that universe that will help you (as the Antichrist) make it possible to complete your (the Antichrist's) goals and tell the WHOLE story... while also, by playing those SECONDARY MC's, shape that world into the image you want and the story of the MAIN MC (the Antichrist) through the choices you make... plucking and changing the strings of Fate, to craft a narrative of your own choosing.
Let's take the Star Wars universe (the Original Trilogy) as an example of our game:
In our game you get to play Luke Skywalker, who is the MAIN MC... but like the movies, that didn't just follow Luke Skywalker (particularly in "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi"), you get to ALSO play the roles of the SECONDARY MC's of Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewie and Lando... and while playing those SECONDARY MC's you get to make decisions for those characters.
Does Princess Leia kiss and fall in love with Han? Or does she decide to pursue a relationship with Luke Skywalker (like from "Splinter of the Mind's Eye")?
How would the universe and story turned out if that simple choice was made that she choose Luke over Han? Would it have helped Luke? Would it have made his life easier, better... what kind of world would that story have been if that had happened?
In our game, through the SECONDARY MC's choices that you make as them, you can craft a story of your own and for the MAIN MC (the Antichrist), your choices will either make the MAIN MC's (the Antichrist's) life easier or more difficult... but it is a Universe that you are helping to build and make your own... not just some linear, thought provoking but unchanging universe of Cause & Effect that I conjured... but one that you help to steer through your choices and make that universe more immersive to you.
A true, Choose Your Own Adventure novel.
At least that is my intention in all of this... and has been from the start.
As for how the MC (the Antichrist) doesn't get laid except once in the first story (actually twice), once with his niece and once with his other pseudo-niece (plus mother-in-law and the niece's mother if you chose that route in a further chapter that you didn't get to), you have to keep in mind... he is a MARRIED man, in a shitty marriage, but NOT a shitty man to just throw away his vows and fuck every pair of tits that swings his way... despite the shittiness of his marriage, he is still trying to remain faithful to his bitch of a wife and, depending on his first choice, made a mistake (or was basically raped by his niece) and is trying not to make his marriage worse...
Additionally, like all stories about a MC coming into his own, changing themselves and becoming stronger (and hopefully better for it), our MC's (the Antichrist and Princess Lynara) start out as a bit of a wimp (to most people) and naive (Lynara) about the ways of the real world and sexually.
If I had made them instant HERO or instant SLUT... what is the point in bothering to tell a story? There is no build up of letting you, the player, into shaping them into YOUR own image... instead, you'd just be following around playing a character that I created and just rolling through whatever I decided to put them (or you) through... not very fucking fun, in my opinion.
This way, as they both change, you can shape them into the IMAGE YOU WANT not what I have predetermined... and, honestly, though this game will feature harem style elements, I didn't want the MC (the Antichrist) be the cause of what is wrong with his marriage because he can't keep it in his pants... I wanted him dedicated, faithful, reliable and dependable as much as possible to his wife and children and start out on the path of being a GOOD MAN, so that when he (and you the Players) find out that he is the ANTICHRIST it is hard for him (and all of you) to envision that this guy is the one that they speak about in the Bible as being the one to end the fucking world!!
How can this GOOD MAN, this wimp (as you put it) be the Evil Scourge of Life... and to prove a simple point to the players while allowing them to play the game... that people can prophesize or call you anything that they want, that DOESN'T MAKE IT SO! Only by the choices that you make can you either PROVE THEM RIGHT or PROVE THEM WRONG.
And that point can't be made to the players if they start out being a womanizing, douche-bag... if you want to make him into that, it is fine... but he can't start out that way.
He needs to be a real person, with real worries, regrets, trouble and inner turmoil that he can either continue to sink into or rise above... you need to have a measure of the man that you will be playing, before you start tweaking his life into being something better or worse... so, that is why he is the way he is when the game starts out.
Rather than being some horny, teenaged, chick magnet, douche' bag who has no regard for the feelings of those whose lives he is destroying by fucking around and hiding his conquests with no remorse like in other games out there... just saying.
As for animations, I am a firm believer... if you are going to do something, do it RIGHT or don't do it at all... and certainly don't do something that might cheapen the experience.
I've seen and played a few games, before starting my own, that had some GOD AWFUL animation in them, or image flipping animations, that pulled me out of immersion and couldn't cycle through them fast enough to get back into the story... so, didn't want to do the same with ours... it was bad enough that I was doing a game using 17 year old meshes and software, didn't need to make the experience even worse by adding shitty animation.
As for the story being "short" and only 7 chapters long... sure as hell didn't feel short to me. LOL!!!
The first game has almost 700,000 words and while you may not think it, it is more than the entire Lord of the Rings series (including The Hobbit) which clocks in at 576,459 words) and has over, if memory serves me, 4,000 renders in it (not counting character background images, dialogue images, etc.)
AND was done entirely in
ONE YEAR'S TIME with me doing
ALL of the writing and artwork myself.
By Chapter Four, I was informed that I would need to undergo surgery for both my neck and lower back (I have degenerative spine disease where the bones and discs breakdown and rupture and spinal stenosis... in short, there is a future for me spending my life in diapers and a wheelchair and currently, I walk around like "Harold Finch" from "Person of Interest" because of all of the fusions I've had to endure)... anyway, I put the surgery off till I got to Chapter Seven and by then, I couldn't physically go on any longer and ended the first game after a full year's worth of work on it.
But, to me, that game is anything but short.
Anyhow, there is a method to my madness in the creation of my game and I am dedicated, even to the detriment of my own health, to be sure that our fans get the game and universe that I promised them... hopefully, after having read this, you may reconsider you thoughts about the game and try to continue with it... if not, that is OK and I DO appreciate you taking the time to play it, to offer your thoughts constructively as you had and appreciate you taking the time to come back here and share your thoughts further!
Thank you,
~Jack