itch.io

Even if I personally agree with you, this is a very tricky topic. Especially for Spencer. He is very secretive and keeps his feelings to himself and does not show it to the public, right? So it's hard for us to judge where facial expressions should be and where they shouldn't be. Although many "people" do not share our point of view, I think this is a common problem for all routes. Unfortunately, I do not see an easy and quick solution to this problem. Even feedback will be useless (mean the report of specific scenes), because how many such scenes will there be per route? Hundreds? Thousands? Fixing everything will take months of hard work.  Maybe Dyne will return to this after completing the main routes. The only thing available to us for now is imagination! When we read a book, we don't see facial expressions, right? So why not use this practice here as well? That will give us numerous facial expressions of any kind we want! 

"I am a 100% gay man here, and I, personally, don't see any problem with gay guys being in these kinds of situations." Neither do I.

@Consequencey, don't you notice how ridiculous your arguments sound? Do you need to be a bi to admit the beauty of a woman's body? Or if you're gay, you can't even look at a photo/video with a very hot pornactor in your opinion if he is there with a woman? Can you answer these questions? Is that "yes" for you? The argument about Dozer is totally ridiculous. Like if two men kiss in front of a woman, that makes them bi. Don't you understand how stupid that sounds?

And now about the repetitive dialogues. Thank god you are finally agreed with me (in a strange way, but agreed). At first, in this comment, I wanted to point out that this can happen. It was in point 2 of my questions to the game (if you even could read). However, to my great surprise, I could not find this dialog! I used notepad++ and could not find these lines, even searching for them by individual words. But let's come forward and imagine that it is really present in the game. Even if you are unfamiliar with the code of the game, you can understand that most likely this happens at the intersection of some choices in the dialogue or its consequences. Thus we can come to the conclusion that these are not repetitive dialogues, as you describe, as if the characters have something wrong with their brains. It's just a small inconsistency in logic and a hole in narrative, that you can get into from different initial dialogues. (if anyone can confirm the presence of this dialog in the game after all). In some cases that can sound weird. Anyway, this can be corrected just by adding "Yes, they are my....". In this case, this dialogue begins to sound absolutely normal to me.

Even if this time your criticism is still far away from reality, that was a good try. Not good enough, but still. Progress is noticeable. But just to make the feedback even better, you need to point not only to the bug itself, but also to the specific place where it occurs, so that the developer can find it and fix it.

No problems. Hater came to give his opinion. I have proved that a person can't read. My arguments were and still indisputable. The discussion is closed, the winner has been determined. Chill out:)

Such attention of the author to the details in this game is purely stunning, isn't it?)

When downloading a new version, for some reason, the variable responsible for the end of the route is not saving. On the screenshot, the table is empty (but that's how it should be in this menu). The question is, is the table in the previous menu also empty? If it is empty, then you need to launch the save of the last day of the character's route and skip it to the end. Then the item on the table appears and you get access to the epilogue.

That's what I am talking about! But in fact, there is only one negative comment here, from a dude with a newly created account and completely ridiculous, fictitious and untrue arguments, for what he was roasted. So it's not worth paying attention to him(them), even considering that he(they) generate fake upvotes under his post.

I don't know about English, but in my language, "criticism" has two meanings. One is well-reasoned criticism, which is based on facts, and the second one is not, just to hate and throw shit on the fan. So you need to pay attention to the first one, because both the problem and the method of solving it will be indicated there. And the second one needed to be ignored.

When I write my arguments, unlike that dude, I can confirm them and make sure that everyone agrees with it. Let's look at examples of what good criticism could be:

• I wrote that there is a lack of face animations or they do not correspond to the moment. You do not need to go far for example. Once you started the game, there is a scene with Coach getting into a bickering with Chester on the court. Should they have such faces? I don't think so)



• The  disruption of the game experience does not come only to faces. It's worth skipping a couple of dialogues further and we have a game of tennis. The text describes the sound. And why is there no related sound, although it is present in the game files? It also can be tweaked.



• Then I wrote about logical errors. SPOILER ALERT. In the coach's route, on the second date on the 14th day, he asks to be called by his first name. But if you made the bad choices, this date only happens on day 20. Between day 15 and 19, MC begins to call the coach by his first name, although this event has not yet happened in the second case. This can also easily be fixed. 

THE END OF THE SPOILER.

• As long as I can remember, when you start a new game and choose the appearance of the MC, you need to mouse over the "default" and "accept" letters themselves to click on them (yes, this is a test, i know, and everything will be redone, but still). The solution I found is just to add a background for them and the problem disappears.


• Somewhere before, I had a post also from the coach's route, where the text describes some actions that could be supported by animations on the screen.

That's what is a good criticism. When people can read and think, they can give useful feedback that will help improve the game or change what seems awkward.

P.S. Dyne, you don't need to rush and fix this, it can wait. Do what you are doing and don't listen to anyone. I just gave it all as an example of my point. I mark to myself everything and if I manage to collect all these moments for the entire route, I will write you and attach a working solution where it is possible

You caught a bug. I don't know what caused it, but at the moment there are only 2 epilogues in the game for Harold and Spencer, and a new 3rd epilogue for Chester recently has been released. It is currently available only on patron, but should appear in the itch.io version a little later. Also, the version for patreon supporters, has an exclusive bonus episode for Spencer related to Azaghal. All epilogues and episodes become available only after completion of the character's route with the best ending.

I'll be waiting for Chester's epilogue to come on itch. What you're describing actually can look strange. But I can't judge it yet.

As for the other points. Threesomes. Are you sure they're really implemented awkwardly? It would be awkward if Chester wasn't the third in Dozer's route. That would be awkward, wouldn't it? XD And if in Harold's route, the third one was not Richard, but for example Diana))) Did you get my point?)

And about good and bad ending, as we've already figured out, you don't have to indulge fetishes (how TS mentioned it) and do what you don't like. This applies to many aspects. It's great, isn't it? Everyone can take from the game only what they like. And here we come back to your comment. I personally haven't heard any specifics about what you think is  awkward  and what should be paid attention to. That's what I didn't get.

Or did I somehow misunderstand you and the whole point of your words is that you wanted threesomes, but you didn't like what the game offered you? Anyway, it's pretty subjective, don't you think so? Maybe you didn't like the implementation of these moments because of your personal qualities? Have you thought about it? How should it be to satisfy you? In that case, do you have any suggestions for Dyne, how could he have done it better? I personally did not see any problems in implementation of threesomes (except that there are none of it in the game. kind of. at least if compared to Taigher_28 artworks. that is threesomes!), and I would also be interested to hear another opinion and look at the situation from the outside.

And I'm sorry if my words look too aggressive and arrogant, that's not my goal (at least in discussion with you)

I love proving people they are wrong. You are wrong) First of all, about Chester. I haven't seen his epilogue yet, but as I understand, everyone has a pain in the ass because his father doesn't appear in the epilogue. Does this, in your opinion, spoil his entire route? I don't think so either.

Now for the threesomes. If you read the message above from Dyne, you will find out that it is not necessary for the best ending. The fact that you got such scenes is FULLY the result of your intentional choices. You mentioned Dozer's route. For example, although I went through the best ending of both routes for Chester and Dozer, until recently I did NOT EVEN SUSPECT that there were such scenes in the game (shower, threesome kiss etc). I emphasize that I not only didn't see it, I didn't even have HINTS of its presence in the narrative.
It's the same for Harold. Your choice can only come down to the fact that other characters will admire your partner (in this case, I assume, you mean the whole situation  about Richard).
The situation with Spencer and Darius is different and a little more complicated, there are other initial data. You can see their interest in each other from the beginning. And in some other characters, if we talk about naughty Darius:) And YOUR choices affect how the story will go.

Long story short, what you write is not the games but your complete failure in choosing the most obvious options in dialogs. The game almost asks you head-on if you are interested in a threesome, you say "yes", and then you are complaining:  "how so?! I wanted a monogamous story!". It is a bit weird, don't you think so? 

Yeap. I had no doubt that I would win this discussion, but I didn't think it would be soooo easy. General advice for everyone: learn how to formulate your position on topic if you decide to speak out. And be ready to confirm your point of view with arguments. Otherwise, if you will call black white and white black without arguments, everyone will look at you like you are crazy. <3

As long as I can remember, this BG has not been in the game. This is an error, but not a bug. It just really isn't there. It's okay)

I don't blame you for anything. We will not get an explanation of your words. It was clear from the very beginning. Sorry mr. busy man (if it is appropriate to use to they/them). You only have time to create an account and write a long controversial review. Therefore, I am not asking for an answer from you, but from those who share your point of view. Are there any here?) It's just when someone says that 2+2=5, I want to know if I was blind to the truth all this time and didn't see the obvious reality.

I'm not defending the game or the author. I think I made this crystal clear in my message above. The game can be criticized at the current stage, but not for all what you described. The only valid argument that you have given and with which I agree is the difference in the quality of the narrative of the days written 8 years ago and the recent one. The rest has no point, subjective and does not correspond to the reality. Am I wrong?)

Aaaaand... He's gone((( Since he can't prove his point, maybe someone who upvoted him can? Or is it just trash talking?

Want to say my few words (dude, no one give a fuck). I won't talk about Chester's epilogue, since I don't have access to it and haven't played it.

1) Repetitive dialogues. I do not deny that this can happen from time to time. But the number of such moments, according to my memory, is negligible. Maybe I didn't pay attention to it, but it was the recurring thoughts that I didn't meet. Only unless there is an agreement with some character about something, and when it comes to this event, he asks you about your choice.  However, I agree with the following: I don't speak English, and in my language it is painful to read the same word in each of three lines in a row. Even if it's the core subject of the dialogue. In my case, this problem can be fixed by various synonyms in translation. I do not know how this thing feels for english-speaking users.

2) I will not discuss "bisexual/straight situations". What are you talking about? Some of your topics I don't remember or I missed. But it has no point to me. Is rape of a gay man a straight man's situation? If someone is bi, his partner can't watch bi porn with him? I don't know what you are implying.

3) Threesomes. Many will disagree with me, but that the current structure of the game seems good for me. The routes of the main game are focused on a certain character and all events happening only around him. I think it's good that a threesome (mostly after confirmation of player's interest) is only teased in the main story and never appears (yet). (although I will give respect to how well it was teased. When you play the game for the first time, you hope everyday will be the day when it will happen. the way it bothers you proves once again how well the author does his job). I believe that such content can be introduced as special episodes (and that's probably how it will be). The final of the routes and the choices during it give room for imagination. Especially for polyamory. If you need to see this in the game with your own eyes, then I'm very sorry for you. Use your imagination

4) Indulgence of fetishes. I can't say with 100% certainty, but I've been digging through the game's code and I think I can also confirm that indulging your companion's fetishes is not necessary for a good ending. It just changes some of the dialogue and adds some more scenes. My condolences to all those achiehunters who cannot restrain from watching unpleasant scenes for them, just to see all the sex scenes and make sure they complete the game by 100%. (I can mention the "Daniel situation" here. You also mentioned him, and I see that many people are also so concerned about it, that Dyne almost had to speak in person by Richard's mouth on one of the days. The game indulges your choices. If you don't want Daniel to step into your relationship with Richard, why are you encouraging them on it and then whining about it? Game gave you choices and you made it.)

5) Focus on fetish content. I disagree again. As I wrote above, it is optional. And here I can only applaud Dyne for such a variety of it. Everyone can find something of their taste. I can't even imagine what other fetishes exist and can be added. Unless only the harsh one, but if someone is complaining about the current ones, then it's hard to imagine what will happen if, for example, some kind of gore/vore content appears in the game. In addition, it is worth noting that this is not stuffed randomly into the game without a back thought. It matches the personality of the characters.

6) The introduction of characters. Here I will agree and disagree with the commentator at the same time. The game is in development. From our perspective we can see where and what can be added. But we have this idea only because the core of the route is crystal clear. We think about how we can take a step aside at one time or another. but for this, a straight path is needed, which arose thanks to the author's imagination from absolute nothing.  After you saw 14000625 futures, it is logical that these questions arise. "Where is Chester's dad on his route?" It is what it is. Maybe sometime in the future it will appear after rework. Maybe not. He's not there now. Is it bad? No. Does his absence make the route incomplete? Hell no. Is this thing logical only for me?

7) And finally. I would like to ask, have you forgotten that this is still a WIP, right? It's just that you treat the game as a finished product. I understand you've been here recently, and you don't know how much the game has changed after all the time (hello to everyone who caught the game with CursedMarked arts). Even considering that I disagree with you in many ways, I am sure that your review was very useful for Dyne.

And now what confuses me about the game, but has not yet been mentioned somewhere above:

1) The game feels like a fairy tale. Yes, there is a pattern in the game that some kind of shocking event takes place in each and every route. But I initially know that everything will end well. There are no truly dark endings or events in the game.

2) The dialogues are not always consistent. In order to figure out the code of the game, I had to draw the connections like on detective boards. Such branching sometimes makes itself felt, but it is a solvable problem. It is only necessary for people to give feedback in which places and under what circumstances there are inconsistencies in the dialogues. (And all of it also turns the life of the creators of the fan translations of the game into a living hell)

3) A striking difference in the quality of writing of game days. The first days of classic characters, written 8 years ago, look a little pale compared to the quality of the new ones. You can see how the author is growing above himself and that's fine. But in the end, it will be good to recheck the old content when all routes are complete. And I think that's how Dyne is going to do it. routes - reworks- translations(?).

4) Sometimes the gaming experience is disrupted. For example, at this stage, many routes lack facial animations or they do not correspond to the situation. Or sometimes BGs are missing. Although this can be fixed, I do not think that this is a priority uno for Dyne. Polishing of the game will fix it eventually.

5) And also that Dyne does not read the mail.) Especially when there are written about bugs and include a ready-to-go solution for the problem that can simply ctrl+c ctrl+v into the build. (i know it is painful to go back and fix some not game breaking bugs right now, but still)

tldr. Let's be patient, give our feedback to Dyne, and let him do his work.

Are you sure you have downloaded and running the latest version? Did you launch the game from the right folder or use the right application? No one has faced this kind of issue. Then maybe you are having problems with your save file? Have you tried launch save from previous days and then quickly skip through the day after which the next one does not appear? 

Ger is a cameo of CaptainGerBear. And as other cameo characters he will not be datable.

User Mistpnea has post about it a while ago.

Very pleasant and motivating method to learn a new language, isn't it?) It's not a billion dollar company, so the only way I see the implementation of translations is community help. If we don't do it, then who will, right?

You have the same question as the person in a couple messages below. You have faced the desire to unlock  some special scenes and you followed a reasonable but wrong path to achieve it. Yes, choices through the route are very important, but sometimes that's not enough. Most of the scenes you are looking for can misrepresent the first impression of the side characters of this route. To discover such content, you need to be familiar with this character. It's quite logical, isn't it? In your case, it is Chester. Maybe it's worth going through his route first, get closer with him, and then return to Dozer's route? What if it changes something?

(btw, despite the fact that I went through each route several times to see different endings and now digging into the game code, I didn't even assume that there were such scenes before you mentioned about them) 

User Mistpnea has post about it a while ago.

In some cases, you need to complete another route before you can unlock certain scenes in another one. For example, in your case, the Spencer route.
(Sometimes, these variables get messed up between updates to the game. You can notice that by missing stuff on the table in the extras. If you got it early by yourself in the previous versions, my advice is to try to replay the last day of a specific character route.)

So to say, not all choices for unlocking some scenes are inside the route of the one particular character ;)

Quite an interesting thought. It has the right to exist, but personally I fundamentally disagree with it. Now I'll try to explain why. 

Firstly, there are already some mini-games in the game. Can't remember exactly where you met them, but there are definitely some QTEs in the game (it seems to be somewhere related to cooking and tennis matches). Although I love QTE, imho they look strange in this game, since the player is not ready for them.
Secondly, the implementation of minigames. To make them on the engine for visual novels, you need to spend considerable effort writing code. Besides that, you need a painter to draw it all. Is it reasonable when, for example, not all routes still have backgrounds? Maybe it's better to spend money and time in order to draw more scenes for some special events? Am I wrong?
And thirdly, the game design. It's a visual novel after all. Yes, you can say that you are "playing" it. But it would be more accurate to say that you are "reading" it. This is not some kind of arcade game. It is just text with pictures to improve the perception of the story. It's like a comic, only with choices in storytelling. The addition of mini-games such as tetris does not fit the genre of  the game.

I will continue the last point with a fairly clear example. I am currently digging into the 14th day of the Coach's route. With no spoilers, you can play various games there such as: basketball, throwing the ball at pins, ring toss, etc. Whoever played will understand what I am talking about. It is the most suitable place for minigames, right? But I like the way it's done right now more. What at first glance does not have a story branch actually does have. It is based on the choices in the past days, which are not obvious, but in fact, very logical. There are also more understandable types of mini-games. For example, tennis matches. You have the description of the situation and have choices to make. And they determine the progression and result of this "minigame". That's what I call a good game design.

TLDR In my opinion, this game can be even better (and it will be for sure). A lot of things can be added, but mini-games are not exactly what it needs. At least in the main story.

P.S. While I was writing this text, I came up with the idea of how it might look like in my opinion. A separate tab in the menu, with mini-games such as blackjack, chess, 3-in-a-row, etc. against specific characters. Or even more complex minigames with unique designs(from QTE to point-and-click) to fit characters personality(such as: dansing, painting, cooking, fixing  etc) And for motivation, if you win, the opponent takes off some of his clothes. Hee-hee-hee. Of course, after completing the main story. We don't want to ruin the first impression of seeing them naked, right?

OMFG! That's why I really love this novel! I have found what you're talking about. It's only not on day 16, but on another day. I didn't even expect that there was such a scene! I don't know if it's ok to talk about it, because I have not seen Dyne mentioned anywhere about these features in his game. So next can contain a spoiler!
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So... I find it amazing and mind blowing how the game's story evolves and how the characters' personalities are revealed. I think no one will argue that you can fully get to know the characters only by completing all the routes, because the same characters appear in the routes of other characters and we can learn something new about them. Is it possible to do narrative even better? I thought no, but Dyne fucking managed to do it! In fact, he did not make 7 routes, he did much more. Yes, there is almost no such thing in the old routes, but in the routes of Dwayne and especially Richard, these features are simply enormous! What features am I talking about? When you complete the route of one character, the events in the other routes may change! This is essentially ng+! So, what you are looking for is on the 18th day of Richard's route and is available when you have completed Spencer's route with the best ending and made the right choices in Richard's route previous days.

Can't say for the android version, but for the PC you just download an archive and unpack it. There is no launcher in the game that checks for updates. You just run the game by exe file from the game folder. To update to the new version, you download the new archive and unpack it as well. In theory, you can do it in the same folder with replacement of old files, but it's better to do it in a new folder. The old version can be safely deleted. The saves are stored in another folder (for windows it is in appdata folder)

Don't be silly, @dynewulf. No one can be disappointed by the lack of updates in January. Everyone is aware of the terrible events that you had to go through. And thank you for continuing to update the version for itch.io. Take a rest and let only memories remain of everything that happened to you . 

And for the curious, updates for itch.io will be probably look something like this:
February 16th - Richard Day 20 
March 16th - Dwayne Day 15 + Richard Day 21
April 16th - No Update
May 16th - Chester Epilogue 

Yes, you do. When you were playing, there were no variables in the game that opened access to the Kitchen content. Now they are there and they need to be triggered. But there is a high probability that you will not be able to do this using your old save files. With the implementation of two new routes and massive changes in the beginning of the game (day 3), the old saves have been broken and may not load or will work incorrectly. You should replay the old routes again.

Imho, the Coach's route need some polishing, but it is completed. All 35 days, 3 endings and an epilogue are present in the game.

"If all characters are as deep as Chester". Dude, you can't even IMAGINE how true you are. You will be mindblown.

The music library is not available for the public. I don't want to be toxic, but your problem has a lot of solutions. I will not give you specific recommendations, try to come to it by yourself ;)

PS. btw i was in the same spot a year ago when i wanted to add end credits music to my library on the phone to listen to it when i am in a sad mood. That one and the attempt to get a night view on CrestHaven from Coach route in good resolution to place it like wallpaper on my pc. It's funny what in the end it led me to.

The answer used to be no, I suppose. I think Dyne planned to add 35 days for each route and an epilogue. But now in Twitter and Telegram we see the announcement of a special episode with Spencer and Azaghal. In my opinion, the chance of extra days/special episodes/alternative stories was 0.01% and now its 99.99%. But I suppose it can be an extra extra content and will be only available for the patreon supporters. Like you, I also want more content with Papa Bear. It will always be not enough of him for me.

This option is available for some scenes after the implementation of this feature. It show where you can click in interactive scenes. This feature has not yet been implemented for all old scenes. 

Some characters have problems with this scene. I don't remember which ones exactly, but Harold is definitely not one of them. His item appears on the table correctly when you are completing his route with the best ending. I assume you did not finish his route on the best ending, and just got a neutral/good ending.

Since you have already read this vn, then you are definitely not talking about Darius. Most likely you are talking about demon looking cameo character Archibald from another game See no Evil by CaptainGerBear. And like the rest cameo characters, they are not dateable.

You should hang with the coach on day 2 You will meet Dwayne eventually

It is the 16th for me, so... Happy 42nd birthday, Papa Bear! ʕ •ᴥ• ʔ We will love you to end of time, and we hope you never forget that.

Here is a good example of how I would like to see facial expressions in some dialogues 

I am diving deep into Harold's route and trying to notice these moments. But I just started getting acquainted with RenPy and coding in general. And with a poor knowledge in English and programming and with a lack of free time, it is difficult to browse through someone else's code. But I try my best to collect data at least for Papa Bear from beginning to the end credits. Only with the effort of the entire community this can be fixed. And I believe that someday it will happen. It's just not a high priority for Dyne to pay attention to right now.

It's not a bug. I don't know if it was intended or if it is just WIP, but Spencer really doesn't have many face emotions from that point. Who knows, maybe it will be added in the future with some route polishing and a new ending for this character, or maybe this is how the author conveys the secrecy of Spencer's nature ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

🐻 Harold Grifter - [Days 35/35 + epilogue] 

🐕 Spencer Caldon - [Days 35/35 + epilogue] 

🦖 Dozer Dozer - [Days 35/35] 

🐃 Chester Hayes - [Days 35/35] 

🦁 Darius Maynor - [Days 35/35] 

🦏 Richard Harding - [Days 18/35] 

🦍 Dwayne Lockwood - [Days 12/35]