Thank you for telling me despite your condition! Truly!
Please get completely well soon!
I know issues like this aren’t exactly uncommon. Nowadays, they are probably quite common, actually. But they still frustrate me a lot.
I tested the game multiple times, thought everything should be fine, and then it turns out that literally the beginning is bugged for those who load an older save…
Shame on me!
But I suppose this is the big disadvantage of being a novice. You have no idea how long it took me just to figure out how to move the textbox with Chibi Myrddin and add a small dissolve effect to it, haha.
And yes, please never hesitate to share suggestions or thoughts on how the game could be improved!
…
Unless the improvement is getting rid of Myrddin. That one would be a bit difficult.
Naming save files
Yes, I will look into that and see if I can get it done. I may have even disabled that myself all the way back when I was creating the UI, though I am not completely sure. Hopefully, it should be easy enough to restore or add.
Skipping
I had already been thinking about this before releasing the new update, and now I am thinking about it even more, especially considering how much I underestimated the whole save and load system.
Admittedly, I completely pushed aside the thought that changing existing code could obviously cause major issues. I was so focused on everything else that I only realized it a full day after release.
Because of that, I may add an option to unlock skipping once a playthrough has been completed. The main reason I don’t have skipping enabled by default is that certain things became a bit buggy when skipping was enabled. At the time, I was not confident enough to deal with that.
I am not exactly confident now either, lol, but I will look into it.
Text adjustment
This is something I have actually been thinking about since yesterday as well.
Not text size directly, but things like text color. I have not played many visual novels, so I am quite ignorant about what is considered standard, necessary, or expected, and what I should be paying attention to.
So adding a text size option is a great idea, though I would first have to look into how to implement it.
The only compromise would be that players should know it might not fit every scene perfectly, since the default option will likely remain the most optimized one.
Save problems
I will look into it!
Typo
Please. A typo? Me?
That would be an understandable mistake.
I missed two whole words, lol. It should be: “I may be able to advise you…”
Conclusion
Genuinely… seeing all of my mistakes, in a funny way, only strengthens my desire to do a complete overhaul of the game at some point.
With that approach, I wouldn’t have to worry as much about carrying everything forward step by step. There is also the benefit of already having a complete foundation to build upon, allowing me to refine and adjust it into a more exceptional and personal experience.
Spoilers for the Version 0.3!
I’m… always worried, haha.
This is the first time I have heard this song. I am not familiar with the artist or the context around it, so I am probably way off with my answer, but here is my impression.
I think it is obviously about isolation, but more specifically about being forced into it, not only by outside influences, but by oneself too? It feels like a place someone wants to escape from, yet keeps returning to because it has become the place they are most comfortable with. A sort of “I hate it, but I don’t want to be seperated from it” situation.
Though the lyrics themselves seem to mock that way of living a little. As if you are telling yourself you want to escape, but then take the very first excuse to return.
Perhaps there is also an implication of social anxiety, depression, or something along those lines.
That is my impression after listening to it.
And to compare it to Myrddin… hmm. Based on my impression, which could be completely wrong, meaning the comparison that follows might make no sense, I don’t think it mirrors Myrddin. There is no comfort in that room for him.
He does tell you that he likes staring at the wall, or that the clouds are relaxing, and things in that direction, but that is simply because there is nothing else to hold onto.
We also now know that the time he spent there was not only unpleasant because of the isolation, but also because of literal physical torture.
I have read some mentioning that they thought this chapter would introduce a scene or mention of Myrddin harming himself.
I would argue that, despite his comments about being alone, he has never actually shown signs of that kind of mental health struggle. Quite the opposite, really. He is rather optimistic, especially now that you are there.
Now I will place this part into its own window, since I’m not sure whether you would want to hear my perspective on it.
These thoughts go a little deeper into the matter. They are not spoilers, but I will leave it up to you to decide whether you want to read them or not, even if you have finished everything currently available in the game.
Thoughts
What do you even think his character is after your experience? (I am sure this will be tackled in your theory post, so these are rhetorical questions.)
What is actually real?
I remember you mentioning something along the lines of, and I am paraphrasing here, “Would he really let us read his diary? He seemed really angry about that.”
Now, given the latest information, there might be the actual possibility, not saying yes or no, that… hold on. Perhaps yes. Perhaps the book was placed there intentionally. You had all the time to read it, no? And conveniently, he was fine again once you finished reading it.
And despite being angry, the situation moved rather quickly into, “Well, you did something bad, right? Then now you have to do something for me.”
That could be one summary of the whole scene.
We know Myrddin can control those choice buttons. And in complete theory, wouldn’t it have much more impact on the mind to have the player directly, choice button after choice button, arrive at the final option of helping him by their own will?
But first, we have to be hesitant about that.
So, of course, we cannot put that burden onto you… unless you were the one who initiated it.
Did Myrddin ask you for help the very first time, or were you technically the one who offered it?
Anyway…
Oh… this is rather the tame version. Perhaps there is some good in not being completely free when it comes to resources, haha.
Not going beyond what is shown, the book does not justify the torture.
In fact, it is more like, “Hey, look. See this thing. I don’t care what you think about it, but this should convince you that there is a problem here.” And later, “I am the evil…”
There was never an act of presenting oneself as the hero, the good side, or anything similar. It is just a fact being stated, with the claim that no lies are being told. And then a final threat.
I don’t know what you are talking about. That is clearly written in a book by a stranger.
Wait, you didn’t get to the snow globe section? After the very first craft, the apple, Myrddin should not let you proceed with talking, for example, because he is too excited to craft something else too.
How… how did you manage to skip that?
Oh, you mean the little silly story Myrddin tells you about, where he also says he couldn’t decipher all of it?
Hm. Idk.