Hey! You can totally steal my intro anytime, heheh.
And please, don’t ever hesitate to send messages like this. I genuinely love reading them. Feedback like yours helps me see both what’s working well and what still needs improvement.
Ahh, Diego and Matt, huh? Hehehe. In the version that’s coming out for free soon (around three weeks from now), you’ll actually get the chance to deepen the night with Diego even more.
Matt, on the other hand, gets a conversation with Mafalda that shows a new side of him. That upcoming free patch mainly expands on existing content while the one I’m working on right now pushes the story forward in a big way.
About unlocking visuals, I totally get what you mean. A lot of people have mentioned that too. There’s a lot of variation, and the fact that I use so many Echoes definitely makes it tricky to unlock everything.
To help with that, we’re currently working on a Memory Log system. Our GUI artist is first finishing some of the more standard elements — like improving dialogue boxes and building a new in-game menu (based on an idea we came up with). The log will be part of that menu.
And yeah, I know what you mean by “branching scenario trees.” Trueclash actually tracks your decisions in two main ways.
One is through branching paths. For example, at the end of the night you can choose to go home with Harry, Diego, or Matt (and in version 0.4, Joel joins that list too 👀).
But the other is scene transformation and adaptation. You can already see that during the beer-pong section but in the current version I’m writing (0.5), I’ve taken it even further. Scenes dynamically change depending on your past choices: characters say different things or react differently.
It’s not exactly a new branch; it’s more like the main storyline reshaping itself based on what you’ve done. Get it?
That’s what makes a “branch map” quite difficult to create, but I might still ask Alex to try something like that. He’s the one who made some of the guides on Patreon.
I’ve also been reducing the number of Echoes overall. Things that used to trigger an Echo (like a small dialogue change) no longer do. Now, only the truly meaningful or game-changing decisions create one. Hopefully this helps make the game easier to follow without feeling like you’re chasing every minor variation. But this is something to revisit when the log is ready to be worked upon.
About being “mean,” haha — there are actually two ways to be mean, after that you don’t have to be cruel to unlock more visuals. And yep, that one specific fight? It’s almost impossible to win. You don’t really miss out on anything major, just a slightly different line. I considered adding an achievement or image in case someone managed to win but decided it would feel unfair, given how hard it is, haha.
And yeah, I get what you mean about those looks from Matt and Diego… it’s definitely a wild ride.
You’ll mostly feel happy while playing Trueclash — but there will be moments that hurt, a lot. Especially in version 0.5 (currently in development). Let’s just say Alex needed a few days to emotionally recover from that one after he beta tested it due to happens with one of the characters there 😅.
But those imperfect, sometimes painful moments are what I think make a story truly good.
So, thank you again and we’ll be waiting for you on the next chapter of your Trueclash journey! 💙