So I got the update on patreon already. Nice work in total. The story feels way more thought out, although the intro is a little dragged out. What I dont really understand though is why the dev made the decision to re design every one of the girls with no real improvement compared to the original version. They look different but not really better imo. On top of that this means, that every single scene has to be re designed and it will take ages until we reach the point in the story that was reached in the base game already. Wouldnt it have been easier to make only minor adjustments to the optics and mostly use what you already have, so you can focus more on the story and other gameplay elements instead of re doing the whole rendering process. At the moment the base game is way more fleshed out and offers a lot more content than the refined version, which kinda feels weird to me.
It's the same reason why the story was completely rewritten so it would be like you said
The story feels way more thought out
I already answered your question, which is
Hey, I understand your frustration, but REFINE is much more polished and requires a greater amount of work. It's basically a new improved game. Most game mechanics and code were redone to add options during further development to add extra oirans seamlessly and allow easy fixes if needed. Also, I do most environments myself, and I port/retexture/correct most objects/assets found in our game myself (it's a lot of manual work. And even if there are only a few animations at the moment, I do them myself too which takes extra time. The story is also completely new. Developing everything new takes time, especially at the very start of setting up a new project. Luckily, we passed the most difficult part for further smooth development. We are intent to release monthly updates. Release 1 consists of two chapters. Our goal is to release every new chapter every month, though we also will need to work on the side events and world stuff, but that should give a good idea about the further development of WR RE. I hope this somewhat helps to explain why it took 5-6 months to release REFINE, although it's a very simple answer to a very complex work that's happening behind the scene.
Thank you for playing!
And how do you imagine doing minor "optics" to the scenes from 720p to 900p? It's not like I can turn on some option and turn this
into this
You're implying these are just minor changes and downplaying the significance of new writing and story direction.
that every single scene has to be re designed and it will take ages until we reach the point in the story that was reached in the base game already. Wouldnt it have been easier to make only minor adjustments to the optics...
REFINE story will never reach the old game story, because
we're not copying old content, we're creating new content. You played, you should know it. Refine is not following the steps of the original, it walks its own path. What are you saying is very misleading.
I liked this game but remaking it 3 times? so basically there's not advancement to the story for what 1 and a half years ?
sad i wish youll finish the first version of the game before thinking of remakes....
Do you count proofread and additional events as rework now? Yes, I did flesh out once to the intro (added 3 new main character classes with different backgrounds, skills and effects, and added new different intros for each) and added a couple of events to characters who lacked character building. Mei was basically an empty shell prior to that with just a couple of garden and hallway events.
And if I remember correctly, I did that because combat overhaul required a new game. It added many changes which would break saves. So, together with that, I improved the starting point so that returning players would have a better time playing, restarting.
The entire project prior to my decision to remake is ~1.5 years old. And I released ~10 content updates, the last one on June 5-6 months ago which was 1hours+ long with new additional mechanics, exploration map, and total combat overhaul.
Some people do not understand that all these extra mechanics in the game needed time to be made and I was doing it mostly alone, also, I wasn't that experienced compared to today. WR is not a pure VN where all I have to do is just add text and show pictures.
Also, I care for the quality, that's why I'm working with an experienced writer so I can make the best game I can now.
