I just finished the game on steam, I just wanted to know that will it have more expansion about this game. Because I like this game very much and I want more, but it has come to an end. So, Will, you make more visual novels in the future? And will there be more stories about bad faith? I love this game very much!!! And I still want this story to resume!
Thank you so much for enjoying my game! I’m not planning a continuation of Bad Faith itself, but I do intend to make more visual novels after Bad Faith. ^^
The story and buildup is exceptional! the art is so beautiful and as it is intended you are in a constant state of paranoia unless you are in a dream, such a fantastic work! the ending it leaves you a sour taste but is actually the best way to end the game...
I still would love like a novel, or maybe comics or spin off of how the characters are doing in the future, good or bad
I-I've just finished the demo and... what a frightening but attractive story. The words and phrases you picked are beautiful and metaphysical and the artworks are vivid but also feel dark.
I can't stop buying a full version today, to seehow Magda's life goes on.
I've just finished the game and... it was so dreadful but also impressive.
It's amazed the plot keeps a rhythm of peace and violence from the beginning to the end;
An Alarming assembly follows the heart-warming time with Maria, Seeing the beautiful white wing on Lilia, and then watching their torture.
Lady Amaris's personality was not revealed as much as I expected, but I suppose you did it purposely.
I didn't expect the plot to turn out so--violent like this, so It was a quite shocking experience to read some parts for me, but it was enjoyable, as I have nothing against this kind of expression,
I like the style of your drawing as well as the plot. The CG in the scene where four people looking down Magda is the most bloodcurdling one.
Strangely, even gory pics seem to be attractive to me, especially the one of Cerise.
I just finished the demo and I wanted to thank you for including the audio titles! It meant a lot to me and it makes Bad Faith much more immersive than most VNs out there. Off to play the rest of the VN!
I really enjoyed it, the UI was especially impressive, I look forward to your future projects! On a separate note, I would recommend to change audio titles to audio captions. It is much more intuitive. Otherwise, great job with Bad Faith!
The design and composition of the scenes was amazing. Even though the story felt a little 'two note' at times, the game is easily worth the price for such amazing writing and interface. Using dialogue bubbles and motion during the cutscenes gives it such an immersive first person feel unlike any other visual novel I've played. You really get into Magda's head. Loved the ending a lot, it was exactly what I wanted.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did.
Bad Faith was conceptualized as a self-contained short story - so I can definitely understand why it may come across as a little “two note” at times - but I’m very happy Magda’s writing and the game’s ending resonated with you. ^^
Totally! If there was any ever a chance of expanding the story, I'd want more of Magda's and [REDACTED]'s meetings and conversations to deepen their connection before the finale.
Oh my god so I just got this visual novel out of sheer curiosity and this was SOOOOO good. Also I never had a visual novel make me so mad in my life before this one, not even in a "I hate it" way but in a "Magda i need to get you the hell out of there" kind of way. Honestly the first two arcs were unbearable but seeing as this is a psychological horror story, you did such a good job!!! The pain and the fear that Magda felt for having to repress herself, her own thoughts which hold their own merit, and then having her trust constantly violated over and over to the breaking point, made me want to hop in that game and fight everyone on her behalf. However I really can't talk about how i feel without putting the spoiler warning.
SPOILER ZONE
The fact that Magda was so so strong for simply just being able to handle living in what is easily can be compared to hell after her first assembly only to be ratted out by her best friend and put on blast for doing nothing more than simply trying to use a positive coping mechanism that no one was Supposed to know about was such a raw scene, I had to click really fast to get through that scene because it was so painful to watch. Then the hell that Magda had to endure in that prison was torture but it was also so good. So the catharsis I felt when Cerise and Eve died made everything more satisfying and I'm not gonna lie, I'm completely on Nils's side here when they said that Grace and Maria deserved hell for what they did. Maria, knowing the truth about her, made me not even the slightest bit mad or sad about her death. While she didn't deserve to die like That or die in general, she did deserve punishment for what she did.
Now, in Grace's predicament? I felt more satisfied with her end than anyone else. Grace finally being able to understand how it felt to have everything ripped out from under you and no one will ever be able to feel the same way as you do and having to live with the deaths of everyone; all while not knowing that it was her hand that caused the death of Everyone she cared about (save Magda)? It didn't even help that she kept referring to her "best friend" as "that girl" and didn't even bother to even check up on her. Now she's going to have to deal with an isolation that Magda had to deal with, but on a worse scale and I would even say that was the best revenge served out of everyone.
Nils was by far such a powerhouse, the way you could tell they was up to no good the minute they noticed Magda in the lab. Honestly the whole time, I could feel their presence no matter what and I felt a little disappointed Magda never came to visit them, I wanted to save them no matter what pain he was going to cause. Honestly, I'm surprised they still ultimately wants to save humanity despite Everything, even despite the fact they're so mentally unstable now. Tbh, I can't even judge them for their actions, the angel was being harvested for Years; being unable to save anyone or do anything by the people they wanted to protect. I would have the done the same thing if it meant not dying. If anything I bet Magda's own memories gave them the push they needed to really just go ham on everyone.
And finally, Magda/ Lilia; I would die for you. I felt for her so hard; I wanted to tell her so much when their invasive thoughts and anxiety got so intense that it's ok to feel that! That it's ok to be so angry and hurt and be in love, as a society we need to abolish the belief that your thoughts make you when really it's your actions that speak for you. So seeing Lilia break down upon realizing she killed people and kill Maria was heart wrenching, because she's not a rage fueled monster, she was a sweet girl in so much pain and basically being forced to either die or become more violent than everyone who harmed her hurt. Homegirl needs some real friends and perhaps a new outfit. Also I just noticed how Magda is short for magdalene and BOY is that reference accurate to the biblical character.
TDLR; This was such a good visual novel I cannot recommend it enough! You had me going through the five stages of grief through out and the art is lovely!!!
Thank you so much for playing through Bad Faith! I'm very glad you enjoyed the story as much as you did.
I'm very glad Magda's arc resonated with you, especially with regards to her conflict about dying vs becoming more violent than her abusers by force. I also appreciate your commentary on how the arcs of other characters (namely Grace and Maria) finished too.
As a little extra note - Nils uses they/them pronouns! They aren't a man or a woman - they have their own gender. ^^
Omg, I'm so sorry I didn't eve notice I used he pronouns sometimes in the post for Nils, thank you for letting me know! I'll edit it as soon as possible! And so much of this story resonated with me, are you considering making an artbook pdf of the work you did for this game? I would love to buy it if you do, your artwork is amazing!
No worries! ^^ And I appreciate the gesture, thank you so much.
I am considering making an “Art/Development of Bad Faith” book in the future - I think it would be a nice way to cap off the game’s development! It would probably be after I finished working on the game’s Steam release, though…
I'm having trouble starting the game on Linux; it just hangs with a black screen until it's force quit. Same issue with the demo (I should have checked before I bought it but I haven't had problems running Ren'Py games before...) Tried the Windows version on my Win7 laptop and it seems to be running with no problems. Not sure what the issue is.
It's definitely not the second issue; I've had permissions problems before and the game just won't launch, but it's an easy fix. I'm not sure about the missing dependencies. Sorry I forgot to copy the error text before. Here's what I get running the game in a terminal:
X Error of failed request: BadLength (poly request too large or internal Xlib length error)
Major opcode of failed request: 18 (X_ChangeProperty)
Serial number of failed request: 371
Current serial number in output stream: 371
And here's the log.txt after force quitting:
Mon Jan 10 18:29:54 2022
Linux-5.4.0-92-generic-x86_64-with-debian-buster-sid
Ren'Py 7.5.0.95n
Bootstrap to the start of init.init took 0.09s
Early init took 0.00s
Loader init took 0.02s
Loading error handling took 0.02s
Loading script took 0.35s
Loading save slot metadata. took 0.00s
Loading persistent took 0.00s
Importing _renpysteam: ImportError('No module named _renpysteam',)
Set script version to: (7, 5, 0)
Running init code took 0.08s
Loading analysis data took 0.04s
Analyze and compile ATL took 0.01s
Index archives took 0.00s
Dump and make backups. took 0.00s
Cleaning cache took 0.00s
Making clean stores took 0.00s
Initial gc. took 0.05s
DPI scale factor: 1.000000
Creating interface object took 0.00s
Cleaning stores took 0.00s
Init translation took 0.08s
Build styles took 0.01s
Load screen analysis took 0.00s
Analyze screens took 0.02s
Save screen analysis took 0.05s
Prepare screens took 0.11s
Save pyanalysis. took 0.00s
Save bytecode. took 0.00s
Running _start took 0.00s
Performance test:
Interface start took 0.43s
Initializing gl2 renderer:
primary display bounds: (0, 0, 1920, 1080)
swap interval: 1 frames
Windowed mode.
I scoured the web for other people who encountered this issue with Ren'Py games too - and apparently, this is an issue that sometimes pops up with images within the game that are high-res (usually game icons).
Yes, thank you so much! Apparently the solution is just to resize gui/window_icon.png to 1000x1000 and now it runs fine! (credit to mttk here.) I have no idea why that's a problem on Linux and not Windows (or why there couldn't be a more descriptive error message) but there you go.
I don't know how to begin, organize my ideas or express myself, but I really loved this, the whole way.
Most importantly, I FELT everything, the public shame, the different perspectives, the nervousness, the intrusive thoughts, the fear, the ignorance, the unrequited love, the loneliness, that feeling in your stomach when you know eveything will go wrong but you fool yourself to believe otherwise, only to be right, and so much more.
Can't not mention how good the art direction was, and the soundtrack was just perfect. I could keep rambling but overall thanks for making this.
I just finished up my own playthrough an hour or so ago, and I had a lot to ruminate on I think. I think as you've said, the feelings and situations Magda goes through resonate really deeply with a lot of people, particularly the already marginalised. Ironically despite being agnostic, the place I escaped from that isolation and judgement was a Catholic school, haha. I really lucked out with mine. Before I get real personal I just want to take a moment to say that the layout of Bad Faith being reminiscent of Fate/Stay Night and other older VNs in terms of its narration (intentionally?) really drew me into the sort of massive VN phase I had during my high school years, and it was welcomely nostalgic. The amount of effort that went into producing this story is incredible; I enjoyed every aspect of the prose, the art, and the atmosphere you created in the Haven. I don't get genuinely unsettled by VNs much, but the world you wove was frighteningly real. Thank you for all your hard work!
Potential spoilers ahead
I have to be honest, playing Bad Faith is not something I could call an 'enjoyable' experience, but I absolutely do not mean that in a bad way. The story was gripping and delivered in a manner that was just like... The slow march to the unavoidable finale. I feel like I knew what was going to happen to Magda from the very moment I met her, and all I could do was watch her slow descent, because it's a path I've been down on. I think many of us have been down on. Everyone was a product of the community here, even the characters I feel absolutely no sympathy for whatsoever, but naturally Magda feels like the pinnacle of that community. "I must be good" felt like being stabbed every time she tried to remind herself. There was no happy outcome from the beginning, because the community was designed to isolate everyone. Even the Heads who thought they were special and immune were isolated from one another, no matter what they might have thought. There was no hope for anyone on that island no matter how deserving or not, because there was no support. Though Magda was the most isolated (and really, what easier way to drum up a false sense of community than picking the easiest target to hate, only to turn on whoever comes after them?) not a single true friend existed on that island. Even Grace, for all she thought she was doing good, knew she had done wrong. And seeing her on the end in that boat, alone, almost bargaining with Haven itself for the hope of just one person left to be part of anything she ever knew broke my heart. No matter if they're alive or not, Grace has no one anyway.
The third act was a difficult thing to go through, and not just because of my very delicate stomach! But the hardest thing was watching Lilia, because it was like watching what I could have been. Not with the, you know, cannibalism and torture, but I dealt with anger in my isolation with violence. I was hurt physically, I did do a lot of hurt back, but it had never felt like enough at the time. There were many times that I wished I could have done what Lilia did, to mirror every bit of pain and hatred and despair they put me through. Watching Lilia to what she did to Cerise and Eve was cathartic and sobering at the same time. Watching her gradually grapple with her waning anger, to watch the consequences slowly dawn on her, and then to watch her be forced to be complicit in revenge she never asked for hurt. But this is a story about consequences for everyone, and Magda is not exempt from that. None of them, or us, are.
On a side note, I loved Nils. They were perfectly monstrous from start to finish, and even their kindness was tinged with their sinister intent. Reaching out to Magda in the cell was gut-wrenching, because I just knew it couldn't end well. As Magda said, Nils could never understand humans - perhaps they never even wanted to. And though they were deeply wronged, didn't they just plan to impose their will and ideas on humans the same way Lady Amaris cultivated the Haven? I'm not sure if that's what you were going for with them, but I loved that there was no brushing over the creature they had become. Fantastic character, would love to date and be killed by them/10.
This has been really rambling and disjointed but I really did love my experience with Bad Faith. Was it enjoyable? It was like watching someone get ready pull out my teeth individually. But like, I liked watching them get ready to do it! Let's not unpack that. Sorry for dropping this absolute novel of a comment here. Thank you for creating and sharing Bad Faith with us all, I'm really looking forward to whatever work you put out next!
Thank you for the incredible comment! I'm really glad Bad Faith could impact you in this way.
Yes, the layout and narration of Bad Faith was intentionally reminiscent of older VNs. In fact, Fate/Stay Night was a massive influence on the for this game; it's one of my favorite stories ever, and legitimately made me want to write serious, long visual novels (though I love Kinoko Nasu's/TYPE MOON's works in general, haha). I'm really floored that you've compared Bad Faith to FSN in that regard, thank you.
SPOILER ZONE
I really do love your analysis on Bad Faith's overall plot - with its themes of isolation, and the inevitable tragic conclusion. I especially loved your comments regarding the third act. I'm sorry I can't say more right now - but you've really analyzed the game well! You're right on the money with what I intended to talk about with the third act: wanting to enact revenge on/hurt people because you've been hurt, in turn - and then facing the very real consequences for doing so afterwards. As you said, Bad Faith's world is one where actions never come without consequences - even for the protagonist of its story.
Also I'm glad Nils came across as intended - they were definitely one of my favorite characters to make too! I was worried that they didn't come across as inhuman enough while writing them, so seeing that they did exactly that for you makes me really happy... Funnily enough, I actually didn't realize that their decision to control humanity was similar to Lady Amaris's cultivation of the Haven - but looking back on it, it does make sense, doesn't it? Writing is funny like that.
Anyhoo - I'm really happy that you liked Bad Faith as much as you did! I love receiving big comments like this - so I was really pleased to see yours today. ^^
I'm tempted to use your pulling teeth analogy for future promotional stuff too LOL - I thought it was a pretty apt description of what playing this game was like - but only if you want me to! Is that okay?
Bad Faith is definitely in my top ten visual novels! I was so intrigued and fascinated by the demo when it first came out. I don't normally read a lot of novels due to my short attention span, but this story held my attention throughout the whole story.
The build-up to the climax had me on the edge of my seat, and I was internally screaming for Magda to run away the whole time. I love the way you wrote Magda's intrusive thoughts, as I find them to be very accurate to when I had them. Although I know a lot of people may disagree, it makes me happy that you didn't shy away from the details. It was raw and genuine. I never read content warnings for my media because nothing really shocks or bothers me, so I was surprised that the story went that far into the details of Magda's thoughts.
Every character was written so realistically. I feel like I truly understood the motivation and reasons behind every character. No one felt comically evil, so my immersion never broke. I just love morally corrupt characters that don't make me cringe haha.
I will say though, after the big climax, my enjoyment of the story did decrease. I wasn't really sure where the story was going to go after that whole ordeal, but there was a part of me worried it was going to change into a revenge story. And then it turned into a revenge story. And then it ended after Magda got her revenge. I feel... unsatisfied. Perhaps I'm just not good at analyzing stories, but I'm not sure what the moral of the story is. What message is the story pushing? Reading your thoughts at the end makes me think that this was created mainly as a personal piece to vent. I've never experienced something like being shamed in front of my whole community, so maybe this game wasn't for me. Idk, I just feel like nothing was resolved in the end.
Of course, I don't regret playing this. I will be coming back to play this over and over because of how good the execution was. The mysteries were still intriguing, and the art slapped. I hope you plan to make more visual novels!
Thanks so much for the incredible comment! I’m glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did - and I’m glad it held your attention throughout the entire story. I’m happy that you felt that way about the entire cast too - I wanted every character to have understandable motivations behind their actions - not just the more sympathetic ones like Magda and Nils.
SPOILER ZONE
I’ll probably talk about the ending more when I write my postmortem of Bad Faith - but the unsatisfying nature of it was definitely a choice on my part. I did want it to be a revenge story - but one that gradually became less and less cathartic the more Magda (as Lilia) sat and stewed with what she was doing to the people who hurt her in the past (specifically, people who weren’t as involved in her bullying within the Haven - such as Grace and Maria). In essence, the lack of closure and ends being tied up was intentional.
I’m happy you still came away liking the VN though, and I hope to make many more in future! Thank you for playing it. :>
I never play visual novels, never go into a game so blind, and I’ve also never written a review in my life!
This game kind of consumed my day yesterday after I started playing for a while. The art is really wonderful, it’s a combination of the drawn art style and hazy backgrounds to make it feel something dreamlike. I love the character designs, especially funny secret character. It’s cool how sometimes images appear as comic panels in action moments, and turn to panning around a full drawn image in an intimate/intense moment. I also just think the way the interface is laid out is good. Love the use of the background music and sound effects in this (especially when scary stuff happens), the atmosphere it provides in combination of the art and writing just paints scenes in my mind so well. It felt like a movie, like I ate while playing, when I typically watch stuff when doing so wahaha
It’s really well written, the inner thoughts are very real to me, like Magda’s way of slowly reassuring herself or going down paths of overthinking different things is so realistic. I also didn’t expect to be changing perspectives to different characters but it works well. The sadness of each situation and the difficult relationships these characters have really hit me. Totally on board with the plummet into horror, like I love the feeling of dread it gave me when the situation felt inescapable. This is just a tragic story that I couldn’t do anything about but witness. I was like.. “omg girl no way what happened next!!” in the beginning to being like “girl what the fuck” in the end.
I’ve thought a lot about my feelings on the story, I stayed up to finish it yesterday and couldn’t sleep because I was thinking too much about it. I’m actually very very conflicted about some things near the ending. So, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS BELOW.
Not getting into my problems yet but I wanna say here in spoiler zone that I absolutely love the way that Magda and Nils are mirrors of each other, sharing similar circumstances and feelings. I’m a sucker for human/non-human fusion I Gasped when that happened, AWESOME design. Though I have a feeling Nils might’ve waited for Magda’s darkest moment to truly get her to understand how they felt this whole time, maybe they were actually about to die themselves, preserving their energy for that moment, maybe that is my game theory lol
I love horror and gore, and as I said I was totally on board, though it lost me when it started to get excessive past the the filmed torture and cannibalism. “Is this being genuine?” I thought “is this necessary? I get it.” at some point. That when it all ended I was like Aight… I totally understand that it makes sense thematically, this is what happens if you were to actually act on your intrusive thoughts and violent impulses. The cannibalism too, I don’t have a problem with depictions of it in fiction it very much makes sense as well as direct revenge for feeding off an angel. I just think there should’ve been a content warning for it in the document, also for eye trauma too.
Maybe the ending just wasn’t for me I don’t know, I didn’t feel a catharsis at all from Lilia’s revenge. In my perfect world they escaped and left the others to live with the fear that would bring. Or exposed the Haven’s secrets to the rest. This isn’t that story though that’s a fanfiction idea hehe. I do understand its ending, it’s a tragedy thru and thru. It’s very sad that Magda would’ve had to die if she didn’t give into otherworldly violence. It’s sad that she became more condescending and violent than her abusers. It must be scary to become someone else entirely, to hurt someone and enjoy it. When they fly off after all that I was like oh she is going never escape her abuse or trauma, it’s become half of her. I hope they go have a nice ice cream cone and watch Movie…
I can’t articulate my thoughts good but I think the way it presents itself as so real and earnest for most of it, that when it starts to linger too much on the over the top torture it completely fizzled out my immersion and had me questioning it. All this might say more about me than the story but it’s hard to view objectively or as someone else. And despite my feelings on it, it does very well as a horror story. It’s the best at making you feel hopeless and full of dread, and especially feel for the characters. Also I’m just glad my fav chars survived waha. It’s something that’s going to stick with me, and is the only thing to make me have to share my thoughts in review form. It’s worth a lot for making you think so much about it. You’re an amazing writer and artist Mado for real.
Moral of the story….DONT fuck around with the bad thoughts or else you WILL find out!!!!!
Thank you for the incredible comment, Slither! I read through it all last night and I was thinking about how best to reply to such an intricate, well-thought out analysis of my game. I really appreciate comments like these. ;w;
SPOILER ZONE FROM HERE ON OUT
I'm really glad you caught the parallels between Magda and Nils! I did intentionally make them foils to each other. And you're generally right on why Nils decided to visit Magda again. There definitely is an element of "Now you know what I went through." to it.
With the gore and stuff, I definitely agree I should've added content warnings for those specific moments of eye trauma and cannibalism. Initially, I thought that warning for general blood and gore would've been a good catch-all for those moments in the game, but I guess they're too specific to just be described as that. Regardless, I've now added them to the spoiler-filled version of the content warning list - so people know exactly what they're getting into.
As for the ending... I'll probably talk about the intricacies of it in my eventual post-mortem of Bad Faith - but to make a long statement short, yeah - it definitely wasn't intended to be cathartic. Your statement on Magda being forced to give into violence, and becoming worse than her abusers was very powerful. I got teary reading it.
Overall, I'm really glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did - and I appreciate your critiques as well. Really, really good stuff here. Again, thank you so much!!
I’m happy for you for making and finishing a story so emotional and thought provoking as this. It’s a unique thing and whatever you create I look forward to. But also, have a break!!!!
I finished this last night, the story completely gripped me so I had to play it until the very end!
First of all, congratulations on making this. It's hard to make a game by yourself, but it clearly is a labor of love. Everything is so polished and unique. It's a joy to see how cohesive the whole game is. I loved the speechbubbles! I've never seen them before, and they added so much.
The story is fantastic. I was with Magda 100%, I even yelled at the screen a few times so she'd run away or not trust someone. The tension was superb, I was on my edge of my seat at the second assembly. Adored Nils, what a brilliant character! I hope the two end up happy together despite it all.
I didn't expect to go relive my school days - I had a similar time at school (though not as badly as poor Magda, poor pet). So the ending was cathartic in a way I wasn't expecting, the messiness and thrill of revenge Magda goes through is something my teen self would've loved.
Bad Faith is something I'll come back to again, the emotions and story are so tight. Here's to your continued success! can't wait to see what's next : )
I have... so many feelings about this. I don't think it's even possible for me to say them all. This is such a raw, sincere and striking story. The third act shook me to my core. It felt so quick and messy and cathartic and tragic and emotional while still being part of the cohesive whole that is this visual novel. It felt so honest in its depiction of what close to complete ostracization can bring people to do.
This is in no way comprehensive, but I'll perhaps come back to explain my thoughts in more detail once they're clearer in my head.
Thank you so much for reading Bad Faith. I really appreciate that it resonated with you so much, particularly the third act. While writing, that act was definitely the big story peak for me too...
I'd love to hear your fuller thoughts on the game - I'll be waiting patiently! ˆˆ
I wanna give you a big, hearty congratulations on your release!! I don’t have the funds right now but when I do I’m gonna play to my heart’s content and probably give a more proper review, maybe? Anyway congrats!!
This is absolutely amazing so far, and I really enjoyed it! All the little details in the art and story and the stuff like accessibility options were so nice!
the demo for this game was absolutely amazing!! from the artstyle to the backgrounds to the sound effects, all of it really blew me away! i really love how there are different accessibility options to make it more inclusive as well.
the story so far is very intriguing and im curious to find out more about magda's and the others backstories. also glad to see the palms on grace's hands. a lot of artists overlook that little detail in darker skin tones and im glad it was added in!
im not sure if this was intentional or not, but when i did finish the demo and was brought back to the menu, there were black rectangles over the 'start' and 'help' buttons although hovering over them quickly fixed it. kinda spooky but it definitely added to the atmosphere of the game!
i can also proudly say after playing that i am officially a magda kin. shes so amazing and girlboss and so relatable and im not saying i kin her only because she gives off wlw vibes and i may or may not also be in love with maria.
in any case, this a a beautifully designed demo and im very much looking forward to the full release of this game!
Thanks so much for enjoying the DEMO! I hope you enjoy the full release as well when it comes out. :>
I’m really happy you got a lot out of Bad Faith so far (and thank you for noticing Grace’s little detail too *u*). You’ll definitely be seeing a lot of development from Magda in the full release.
Also this is the first I’ve heard of the black rectangles issue - is it alright if you could show me a screenshot?
Hello ! I just want to say that I actually really enjoyed playing the demo, I really wanted it to continue when I reached the end, haha. I really like the art, I think it looks really nice, the expressions of the characters are one of my favourite part ! I can't wait to play the full release and to finally learn what the heck is happening (and see more cool art, of course >:-)) I hope the full release will go well for you and that the beta testing phase will go smoothly !
P.S : It also cool to have such accessibility options ! I also really like the fact that it's an interesting story with LGBT romance, it's everything I wanted !
Hello author! If possible, on your next update, could you please update Renpy to the most recent version? 7.4.10 works on my machine but the 7.4.5 version you're using doesn't, unfortunately. :(
That said, this looks really cute and I'm excited to see the finished work!
I’m currently working very hard on the full version as we speak! I can’t give any exact dates for release yet, but I’m trying to work towards the end of this year as my release goal. We’ll see, though…
Very glad you like the game’s presentation otherwise!
Oh, wow. This demo was... so damn good. It had me on the edge of my seat by the end of it. I can't wait to see where the story goes from here! Amazing work!!
I wasn't sure exactly what I expected at first, or where this would go, but I was rather surprised (in a good way)! The demo was amazing and your writing style and restraint/expression with your art is really good. I cannot wait to see the full product, and I'll be purchasing it when it's done!
this demo was so fun to play! I loved that it had the option to go back a step in the text since i sometimes click too fast and miss what theyre saying. also the way that the characters spoke was cool too! i havent seen dialouge presented in speachbbbles before.
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I just finished the game on steam, I just wanted to know that will it have more expansion about this game. Because I like this game very much and I want more, but it has come to an end. So, Will, you make more visual novels in the future? And will there be more stories about bad faith? I love this game very much!!! And I still want this story to resume!
Thank you so much for enjoying my game! I’m not planning a continuation of Bad Faith itself, but I do intend to make more visual novels after Bad Faith. ^^
Just finished the demo, despite not what I expected I'm very invested into the story and I look forward to getting the full version.
Thank you! I look forward to your thoughts on the full version. :>
The story and buildup is exceptional! the art is so beautiful and as it is intended you are in a constant state of paranoia unless you are in a dream, such a fantastic work! the ending it leaves you a sour taste but is actually the best way to end the game...
I still would love like a novel, or maybe comics or spin off of how the characters are doing in the future, good or bad
Thank you so much! I'm very glad you enjoyed reading Bad Faith!
I am planning on eventually making an artbook for the game, so maybe I'll briefly discuss the potential future of everyone at the end there... ^^;
I-I've just finished the demo and... what a frightening but attractive story. The words and phrases you picked are beautiful and metaphysical and the artworks are vivid but also feel dark.
I can't stop buying a full version today, to see how Magda's life goes on.
Thank you - I’m really glad you enjoyed the DEMO!
I hope you enjoy the full version too!
【CONTAINS SPOILER】
I've just finished the game and... it was so dreadful but also impressive.
It's amazed the plot keeps a rhythm of peace and violence from the beginning to the end;
An Alarming assembly follows the heart-warming time with Maria, Seeing the beautiful white wing on Lilia, and then watching their torture.
Lady Amaris's personality was not revealed as much as I expected, but I suppose you did it purposely.
I didn't expect the plot to turn out so--violent like this, so It was a quite shocking experience to read some parts for me, but it was enjoyable, as I have nothing against this kind of expression,
I like the style of your drawing as well as the plot. The CG in the scene where four people looking down Magda is the most bloodcurdling one.
Strangely, even gory pics seem to be attractive to me, especially the one of Cerise.
Thank you for creating the great game!
Thank you for playing my game! I'm very happy you got so much out of it! ;w;
Thank you!! ^^ I'm glad you like the game as much as you did.
I just finished the demo and I wanted to thank you for including the audio titles! It meant a lot to me and it makes Bad Faith much more immersive than most VNs out there. Off to play the rest of the VN!
I'm very happy the audio captions worked out! ^^
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the rest of the VN too. Thank you for playing it!
I really enjoyed it, the UI was especially impressive, I look forward to your future projects! On a separate note, I would recommend to change audio titles to audio captions. It is much more intuitive. Otherwise, great job with Bad Faith!
Thank you! I'm very glad you enjoyed the full game! ^^
And thanks for pointing that out - I'll probably add that change in a future update.
The design and composition of the scenes was amazing. Even though the story felt a little 'two note' at times, the game is easily worth the price for such amazing writing and interface. Using dialogue bubbles and motion during the cutscenes gives it such an immersive first person feel unlike any other visual novel I've played. You really get into Magda's head. Loved the ending a lot, it was exactly what I wanted.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did.
Bad Faith was conceptualized as a self-contained short story - so I can definitely understand why it may come across as a little “two note” at times - but I’m very happy Magda’s writing and the game’s ending resonated with you. ^^
Totally! If there was any ever a chance of expanding the story, I'd want more of Magda's and [REDACTED]'s meetings and conversations to deepen their connection before the finale.
do you know when the steam release is coming? because im afraid to buy it here and lose the game if i delete it only from my pc..
I can't give an exact date yet - but it should be soon - I'm making a lot of progress with the Steam build!
I'll make a big announcement about it when the time comes. ^^
Oh my god so I just got this visual novel out of sheer curiosity and this was SOOOOO good. Also I never had a visual novel make me so mad in my life before this one, not even in a "I hate it" way but in a "Magda i need to get you the hell out of there" kind of way. Honestly the first two arcs were unbearable but seeing as this is a psychological horror story, you did such a good job!!! The pain and the fear that Magda felt for having to repress herself, her own thoughts which hold their own merit, and then having her trust constantly violated over and over to the breaking point, made me want to hop in that game and fight everyone on her behalf. However I really can't talk about how i feel without putting the spoiler warning.
SPOILER ZONE
The fact that Magda was so so strong for simply just being able to handle living in what is easily can be compared to hell after her first assembly only to be ratted out by her best friend and put on blast for doing nothing more than simply trying to use a positive coping mechanism that no one was Supposed to know about was such a raw scene, I had to click really fast to get through that scene because it was so painful to watch. Then the hell that Magda had to endure in that prison was torture but it was also so good. So the catharsis I felt when Cerise and Eve died made everything more satisfying and I'm not gonna lie, I'm completely on Nils's side here when they said that Grace and Maria deserved hell for what they did. Maria, knowing the truth about her, made me not even the slightest bit mad or sad about her death. While she didn't deserve to die like That or die in general, she did deserve punishment for what she did.
Now, in Grace's predicament? I felt more satisfied with her end than anyone else. Grace finally being able to understand how it felt to have everything ripped out from under you and no one will ever be able to feel the same way as you do and having to live with the deaths of everyone; all while not knowing that it was her hand that caused the death of Everyone she cared about (save Magda)? It didn't even help that she kept referring to her "best friend" as "that girl" and didn't even bother to even check up on her. Now she's going to have to deal with an isolation that Magda had to deal with, but on a worse scale and I would even say that was the best revenge served out of everyone.
Nils was by far such a powerhouse, the way you could tell they was up to no good the minute they noticed Magda in the lab. Honestly the whole time, I could feel their presence no matter what and I felt a little disappointed Magda never came to visit them, I wanted to save them no matter what pain he was going to cause. Honestly, I'm surprised they still ultimately wants to save humanity despite Everything, even despite the fact they're so mentally unstable now. Tbh, I can't even judge them for their actions, the angel was being harvested for Years; being unable to save anyone or do anything by the people they wanted to protect. I would have the done the same thing if it meant not dying. If anything I bet Magda's own memories gave them the push they needed to really just go ham on everyone.
And finally, Magda/ Lilia; I would die for you. I felt for her so hard; I wanted to tell her so much when their invasive thoughts and anxiety got so intense that it's ok to feel that! That it's ok to be so angry and hurt and be in love, as a society we need to abolish the belief that your thoughts make you when really it's your actions that speak for you. So seeing Lilia break down upon realizing she killed people and kill Maria was heart wrenching, because she's not a rage fueled monster, she was a sweet girl in so much pain and basically being forced to either die or become more violent than everyone who harmed her hurt. Homegirl needs some real friends and perhaps a new outfit. Also I just noticed how Magda is short for magdalene and BOY is that reference accurate to the biblical character.
TDLR; This was such a good visual novel I cannot recommend it enough! You had me going through the five stages of grief through out and the art is lovely!!!
Thank you so much for playing through Bad Faith! I'm very glad you enjoyed the story as much as you did.
I'm very glad Magda's arc resonated with you, especially with regards to her conflict about dying vs becoming more violent than her abusers by force. I also appreciate your commentary on how the arcs of other characters (namely Grace and Maria) finished too.
As a little extra note - Nils uses they/them pronouns! They aren't a man or a woman - they have their own gender. ^^
Omg, I'm so sorry I didn't eve notice I used he pronouns sometimes in the post for Nils, thank you for letting me know! I'll edit it as soon as possible! And so much of this story resonated with me, are you considering making an artbook pdf of the work you did for this game? I would love to buy it if you do, your artwork is amazing!
No worries! ^^ And I appreciate the gesture, thank you so much.
I am considering making an “Art/Development of Bad Faith” book in the future - I think it would be a nice way to cap off the game’s development! It would probably be after I finished working on the game’s Steam release, though…
I'm having trouble starting the game on Linux; it just hangs with a black screen until it's force quit. Same issue with the demo (I should have checked before I bought it but I haven't had problems running Ren'Py games before...) Tried the Windows version on my Win7 laptop and it seems to be running with no problems. Not sure what the issue is.
Here's my system specs in case it's helpful:
OS: Ubuntu 18.04.6
LTS KERNEL: 5.4.0-92-generic
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Eight-Core
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
GPU DRIVER: NVIDIA 460.91.03
RAM: 16 GB
I can also mess around in the script files and test some things out if you let me know what to look for.
Hello!
I’m no expert on running things in Linux, but I found this post on the LemmaSoft Forums that seems to describe a similar issue.
https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104303&sid=2c8f0482ad849d047da749e6535b887c#p104303
If this works (or doesn’t), please let me know! I’m so sorry you encountered this problem…
Oh god, I just realized my earlier answer contained info from over ten years ago...
Here's a more relevant solution that may help:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RenPy/comments/o4n3xh/renpy_games_crash_on_bootup/
Again, if this works (or doesn’t), please let me know!
It's definitely not the second issue; I've had permissions problems before and the game just won't launch, but it's an easy fix. I'm not sure about the missing dependencies. Sorry I forgot to copy the error text before. Here's what I get running the game in a terminal:
And here's the log.txt after force quitting:
Mon Jan 10 18:29:54 2022 Linux-5.4.0-92-generic-x86_64-with-debian-buster-sid Ren'Py 7.5.0.95n Bootstrap to the start of init.init took 0.09s Early init took 0.00s Loader init took 0.02s Loading error handling took 0.02s Loading script took 0.35s Loading save slot metadata. took 0.00s Loading persistent took 0.00s Importing _renpysteam: ImportError('No module named _renpysteam',) Set script version to: (7, 5, 0) Running init code took 0.08s Loading analysis data took 0.04s Analyze and compile ATL took 0.01s Index archives took 0.00s Dump and make backups. took 0.00s Cleaning cache took 0.00s Making clean stores took 0.00s Initial gc. took 0.05s DPI scale factor: 1.000000 Creating interface object took 0.00s Cleaning stores took 0.00s Init translation took 0.08s Build styles took 0.01s Load screen analysis took 0.00s Analyze screens took 0.02s Save screen analysis took 0.05s Prepare screens took 0.11s Save pyanalysis. took 0.00s Save bytecode. took 0.00s Running _start took 0.00s Performance test: Interface start took 0.43s Initializing gl2 renderer: primary display bounds: (0, 0, 1920, 1080) swap interval: 1 frames Windowed mode.Thanks for posting the error log!
I scoured the web for other people who encountered this issue with Ren'Py games too - and apparently, this is an issue that sometimes pops up with images within the game that are high-res (usually game icons).
Does this info help at all...?
Yes, thank you so much! Apparently the solution is just to resize gui/window_icon.png to 1000x1000 and now it runs fine! (credit to mttk here.) I have no idea why that's a problem on Linux and not Windows (or why there couldn't be a more descriptive error message) but there you go.
Excellent! I’m glad I could help. ^^
I’ll probably make a devlog post about this issue for Linux users - so that other people who encounter this issue can solve it quickly.
I don't know how to begin, organize my ideas or express myself, but I really loved this, the whole way.
Most importantly, I FELT everything, the public shame, the different perspectives, the nervousness, the intrusive thoughts, the fear, the ignorance, the unrequited love, the loneliness, that feeling in your stomach when you know eveything will go wrong but you fool yourself to believe otherwise, only to be right, and so much more.
Can't not mention how good the art direction was, and the soundtrack was just perfect. I could keep rambling but overall thanks for making this.
Thank you so much for playing Bad Faith!
I'm really glad my visual novel resonated with you in such a close, personal way. I'm happy you got a lot out of it. ^^
I just finished up my own playthrough an hour or so ago, and I had a lot to ruminate on I think. I think as you've said, the feelings and situations Magda goes through resonate really deeply with a lot of people, particularly the already marginalised. Ironically despite being agnostic, the place I escaped from that isolation and judgement was a Catholic school, haha. I really lucked out with mine. Before I get real personal I just want to take a moment to say that the layout of Bad Faith being reminiscent of Fate/Stay Night and other older VNs in terms of its narration (intentionally?) really drew me into the sort of massive VN phase I had during my high school years, and it was welcomely nostalgic. The amount of effort that went into producing this story is incredible; I enjoyed every aspect of the prose, the art, and the atmosphere you created in the Haven. I don't get genuinely unsettled by VNs much, but the world you wove was frighteningly real. Thank you for all your hard work!
Potential spoilers ahead
I have to be honest, playing Bad Faith is not something I could call an 'enjoyable' experience, but I absolutely do not mean that in a bad way. The story was gripping and delivered in a manner that was just like... The slow march to the unavoidable finale. I feel like I knew what was going to happen to Magda from the very moment I met her, and all I could do was watch her slow descent, because it's a path I've been down on. I think many of us have been down on. Everyone was a product of the community here, even the characters I feel absolutely no sympathy for whatsoever, but naturally Magda feels like the pinnacle of that community. "I must be good" felt like being stabbed every time she tried to remind herself. There was no happy outcome from the beginning, because the community was designed to isolate everyone. Even the Heads who thought they were special and immune were isolated from one another, no matter what they might have thought. There was no hope for anyone on that island no matter how deserving or not, because there was no support. Though Magda was the most isolated (and really, what easier way to drum up a false sense of community than picking the easiest target to hate, only to turn on whoever comes after them?) not a single true friend existed on that island. Even Grace, for all she thought she was doing good, knew she had done wrong. And seeing her on the end in that boat, alone, almost bargaining with Haven itself for the hope of just one person left to be part of anything she ever knew broke my heart. No matter if they're alive or not, Grace has no one anyway.
The third act was a difficult thing to go through, and not just because of my very delicate stomach! But the hardest thing was watching Lilia, because it was like watching what I could have been. Not with the, you know, cannibalism and torture, but I dealt with anger in my isolation with violence. I was hurt physically, I did do a lot of hurt back, but it had never felt like enough at the time. There were many times that I wished I could have done what Lilia did, to mirror every bit of pain and hatred and despair they put me through. Watching Lilia to what she did to Cerise and Eve was cathartic and sobering at the same time. Watching her gradually grapple with her waning anger, to watch the consequences slowly dawn on her, and then to watch her be forced to be complicit in revenge she never asked for hurt. But this is a story about consequences for everyone, and Magda is not exempt from that. None of them, or us, are.
On a side note, I loved Nils. They were perfectly monstrous from start to finish, and even their kindness was tinged with their sinister intent. Reaching out to Magda in the cell was gut-wrenching, because I just knew it couldn't end well. As Magda said, Nils could never understand humans - perhaps they never even wanted to. And though they were deeply wronged, didn't they just plan to impose their will and ideas on humans the same way Lady Amaris cultivated the Haven? I'm not sure if that's what you were going for with them, but I loved that there was no brushing over the creature they had become. Fantastic character, would love to date and be killed by them/10.
This has been really rambling and disjointed but I really did love my experience with Bad Faith. Was it enjoyable? It was like watching someone get ready pull out my teeth individually. But like, I liked watching them get ready to do it! Let's not unpack that. Sorry for dropping this absolute novel of a comment here. Thank you for creating and sharing Bad Faith with us all, I'm really looking forward to whatever work you put out next!
Thank you for the incredible comment! I'm really glad Bad Faith could impact you in this way.
Yes, the layout and narration of Bad Faith was intentionally reminiscent of older VNs. In fact, Fate/Stay Night was a massive influence on the for this game; it's one of my favorite stories ever, and legitimately made me want to write serious, long visual novels (though I love Kinoko Nasu's/TYPE MOON's works in general, haha). I'm really floored that you've compared Bad Faith to FSN in that regard, thank you.
SPOILER ZONE
I really do love your analysis on Bad Faith's overall plot - with its themes of isolation, and the inevitable tragic conclusion. I especially loved your comments regarding the third act. I'm sorry I can't say more right now - but you've really analyzed the game well! You're right on the money with what I intended to talk about with the third act: wanting to enact revenge on/hurt people because you've been hurt, in turn - and then facing the very real consequences for doing so afterwards. As you said, Bad Faith's world is one where actions never come without consequences - even for the protagonist of its story.
Also I'm glad Nils came across as intended - they were definitely one of my favorite characters to make too! I was worried that they didn't come across as inhuman enough while writing them, so seeing that they did exactly that for you makes me really happy... Funnily enough, I actually didn't realize that their decision to control humanity was similar to Lady Amaris's cultivation of the Haven - but looking back on it, it does make sense, doesn't it? Writing is funny like that.
Anyhoo - I'm really happy that you liked Bad Faith as much as you did! I love receiving big comments like this - so I was really pleased to see yours today. ^^
I'm tempted to use your pulling teeth analogy for future promotional stuff too LOL - I thought it was a pretty apt description of what playing this game was like - but only if you want me to! Is that okay?
Gosh, I'm pretty honoured that you'd want to use something I've said for promo materials! Please go ahead and use it any time. c:
Thank you for the awesome comment, Dave! I’m really glad Bad Faith could resonate with you in this way. It makes me really happy to hear.
Do take the time to rest afterwards, though - it’s not an easy story to digest. 😭
Bad Faith is definitely in my top ten visual novels! I was so intrigued and fascinated by the demo when it first came out. I don't normally read a lot of novels due to my short attention span, but this story held my attention throughout the whole story.
The build-up to the climax had me on the edge of my seat, and I was internally screaming for Magda to run away the whole time. I love the way you wrote Magda's intrusive thoughts, as I find them to be very accurate to when I had them. Although I know a lot of people may disagree, it makes me happy that you didn't shy away from the details. It was raw and genuine. I never read content warnings for my media because nothing really shocks or bothers me, so I was surprised that the story went that far into the details of Magda's thoughts.
Every character was written so realistically. I feel like I truly understood the motivation and reasons behind every character. No one felt comically evil, so my immersion never broke. I just love morally corrupt characters that don't make me cringe haha.
I will say though, after the big climax, my enjoyment of the story did decrease. I wasn't really sure where the story was going to go after that whole ordeal, but there was a part of me worried it was going to change into a revenge story. And then it turned into a revenge story. And then it ended after Magda got her revenge. I feel... unsatisfied. Perhaps I'm just not good at analyzing stories, but I'm not sure what the moral of the story is. What message is the story pushing? Reading your thoughts at the end makes me think that this was created mainly as a personal piece to vent. I've never experienced something like being shamed in front of my whole community, so maybe this game wasn't for me. Idk, I just feel like nothing was resolved in the end.
Of course, I don't regret playing this. I will be coming back to play this over and over because of how good the execution was. The mysteries were still intriguing, and the art slapped. I hope you plan to make more visual novels!
Thanks so much for the incredible comment! I’m glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did - and I’m glad it held your attention throughout the entire story. I’m happy that you felt that way about the entire cast too - I wanted every character to have understandable motivations behind their actions - not just the more sympathetic ones like Magda and Nils.
SPOILER ZONE
I’ll probably talk about the ending more when I write my postmortem of Bad Faith - but the unsatisfying nature of it was definitely a choice on my part. I did want it to be a revenge story - but one that gradually became less and less cathartic the more Magda (as Lilia) sat and stewed with what she was doing to the people who hurt her in the past (specifically, people who weren’t as involved in her bullying within the Haven - such as Grace and Maria). In essence, the lack of closure and ends being tied up was intentional.
I’m happy you still came away liking the VN though, and I hope to make many more in future! Thank you for playing it. :>
Quick question - is it alright if I use part of your review for future promotional materials? :>
Yes, go ahead!
I never play visual novels, never go into a game so blind, and I’ve also never written a review in my life!
This game kind of consumed my day yesterday after I started playing for a while. The art is really wonderful, it’s a combination of the drawn art style and hazy backgrounds to make it feel something dreamlike. I love the character designs, especially funny secret character. It’s cool how sometimes images appear as comic panels in action moments, and turn to panning around a full drawn image in an intimate/intense moment. I also just think the way the interface is laid out is good. Love the use of the background music and sound effects in this (especially when scary stuff happens), the atmosphere it provides in combination of the art and writing just paints scenes in my mind so well. It felt like a movie, like I ate while playing, when I typically watch stuff when doing so wahaha
It’s really well written, the inner thoughts are very real to me, like Magda’s way of slowly reassuring herself or going down paths of overthinking different things is so realistic. I also didn’t expect to be changing perspectives to different characters but it works well. The sadness of each situation and the difficult relationships these characters have really hit me. Totally on board with the plummet into horror, like I love the feeling of dread it gave me when the situation felt inescapable. This is just a tragic story that I couldn’t do anything about but witness. I was like.. “omg girl no way what happened next!!” in the beginning to being like “girl what the fuck” in the end.
I’ve thought a lot about my feelings on the story, I stayed up to finish it yesterday and couldn’t sleep because I was thinking too much about it. I’m actually very very conflicted about some things near the ending. So, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS BELOW.
Not getting into my problems yet but I wanna say here in spoiler zone that I absolutely love the way that Magda and Nils are mirrors of each other, sharing similar circumstances and feelings. I’m a sucker for human/non-human fusion I Gasped when that happened, AWESOME design. Though I have a feeling Nils might’ve waited for Magda’s darkest moment to truly get her to understand how they felt this whole time, maybe they were actually about to die themselves, preserving their energy for that moment, maybe that is my game theory lol
I love horror and gore, and as I said I was totally on board, though it lost me when it started to get excessive past the the filmed torture and cannibalism. “Is this being genuine?” I thought “is this necessary? I get it.” at some point. That when it all ended I was like Aight… I totally understand that it makes sense thematically, this is what happens if you were to actually act on your intrusive thoughts and violent impulses. The cannibalism too, I don’t have a problem with depictions of it in fiction it very much makes sense as well as direct revenge for feeding off an angel. I just think there should’ve been a content warning for it in the document, also for eye trauma too.
Maybe the ending just wasn’t for me I don’t know, I didn’t feel a catharsis at all from Lilia’s revenge. In my perfect world they escaped and left the others to live with the fear that would bring. Or exposed the Haven’s secrets to the rest. This isn’t that story though that’s a fanfiction idea hehe. I do understand its ending, it’s a tragedy thru and thru. It’s very sad that Magda would’ve had to die if she didn’t give into otherworldly violence. It’s sad that she became more condescending and violent than her abusers. It must be scary to become someone else entirely, to hurt someone and enjoy it. When they fly off after all that I was like oh she is going never escape her abuse or trauma, it’s become half of her. I hope they go have a nice ice cream cone and watch Movie…
I can’t articulate my thoughts good but I think the way it presents itself as so real and earnest for most of it, that when it starts to linger too much on the over the top torture it completely fizzled out my immersion and had me questioning it. All this might say more about me than the story but it’s hard to view objectively or as someone else. And despite my feelings on it, it does very well as a horror story. It’s the best at making you feel hopeless and full of dread, and especially feel for the characters. Also I’m just glad my fav chars survived waha. It’s something that’s going to stick with me, and is the only thing to make me have to share my thoughts in review form. It’s worth a lot for making you think so much about it. You’re an amazing writer and artist Mado for real.
Moral of the story….DONT fuck around with the bad thoughts or else you WILL find out!!!!!
Thank you for the incredible comment, Slither! I read through it all last night and I was thinking about how best to reply to such an intricate, well-thought out analysis of my game. I really appreciate comments like these. ;w;
SPOILER ZONE FROM HERE ON OUT
I'm really glad you caught the parallels between Magda and Nils! I did intentionally make them foils to each other. And you're generally right on why Nils decided to visit Magda again. There definitely is an element of "Now you know what I went through." to it.
With the gore and stuff, I definitely agree I should've added content warnings for those specific moments of eye trauma and cannibalism. Initially, I thought that warning for general blood and gore would've been a good catch-all for those moments in the game, but I guess they're too specific to just be described as that. Regardless, I've now added them to the spoiler-filled version of the content warning list - so people know exactly what they're getting into.
As for the ending... I'll probably talk about the intricacies of it in my eventual post-mortem of Bad Faith - but to make a long statement short, yeah - it definitely wasn't intended to be cathartic. Your statement on Magda being forced to give into violence, and becoming worse than her abusers was very powerful. I got teary reading it.
Overall, I'm really glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did - and I appreciate your critiques as well. Really, really good stuff here. Again, thank you so much!!
I’m happy for you for making and finishing a story so emotional and thought provoking as this. It’s a unique thing and whatever you create I look forward to. But also, have a break!!!!
I finished this last night, the story completely gripped me so I had to play it until the very end!
First of all, congratulations on making this. It's hard to make a game by yourself, but it clearly is a labor of love. Everything is so polished and unique. It's a joy to see how cohesive the whole game is. I loved the speechbubbles! I've never seen them before, and they added so much.
The story is fantastic. I was with Magda 100%, I even yelled at the screen a few times so she'd run away or not trust someone. The tension was superb, I was on my edge of my seat at the second assembly. Adored Nils, what a brilliant character! I hope the two end up happy together despite it all.
I didn't expect to go relive my school days - I had a similar time at school (though not as badly as poor Magda, poor pet). So the ending was cathartic in a way I wasn't expecting, the messiness and thrill of revenge Magda goes through is something my teen self would've loved.
Bad Faith is something I'll come back to again, the emotions and story are so tight. Here's to your continued success! can't wait to see what's next : )
Thank you so much! I'm really happy you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did. ;w;
I'm glad you liked Magda as a protag. Nils was one of my favorite characters to write too: I love them so much...
I hope to write more visual novels after this one - so this makes me really optimistic about the future! Again, thank you so much!
I have... so many feelings about this. I don't think it's even possible for me to say them all. This is such a raw, sincere and striking story. The third act shook me to my core. It felt so quick and messy and cathartic and tragic and emotional while still being part of the cohesive whole that is this visual novel. It felt so honest in its depiction of what close to complete ostracization can bring people to do.
This is in no way comprehensive, but I'll perhaps come back to explain my thoughts in more detail once they're clearer in my head.
Thank you for giving us this experience.
Thank you so much for reading Bad Faith. I really appreciate that it resonated with you so much, particularly the third act. While writing, that act was definitely the big story peak for me too...
I'd love to hear your fuller thoughts on the game - I'll be waiting patiently! ˆˆ
Quick question - is it alright if I use part of your review for future promotional materials? :>
I wanna give you a big, hearty congratulations on your release!! I don’t have the funds right now but when I do I’m gonna play to my heart’s content and probably give a more proper review, maybe? Anyway congrats!!
Thank you so much!
And don’t worry - take all the time you need. ^^
Hello!! i love this game so much!!! <3 but is this game going to be paid after it's all finished??
Thank you - I’m glad you enjoyed it!
And yes - Bad Faith’s full version will be a paid experience.
when will it be available?
January 5th, 2022!
This is absolutely amazing so far, and I really enjoyed it! All the little details in the art and story and the stuff like accessibility options were so nice!
Thank you so much! Glad you like the accessibility options too. ^^
I enjoyed this so much...too much god i love this game!!!
Thank you!! I hope you enjoy the full release too! ^^
the demo for this game was absolutely amazing!! from the artstyle to the backgrounds to the sound effects, all of it really blew me away! i really love how there are different accessibility options to make it more inclusive as well.
the story so far is very intriguing and im curious to find out more about magda's and the others backstories. also glad to see the palms on grace's hands. a lot of artists overlook that little detail in darker skin tones and im glad it was added in!
im not sure if this was intentional or not, but when i did finish the demo and was brought back to the menu, there were black rectangles over the 'start' and 'help' buttons although hovering over them quickly fixed it. kinda spooky but it definitely added to the atmosphere of the game!
i can also proudly say after playing that i am officially a magda kin. shes so amazing and girlboss and so relatable and im not saying i kin her only because she gives off wlw vibes and i may or may not also be in love with maria.
in any case, this a a beautifully designed demo and im very much looking forward to the full release of this game!
Thanks so much for enjoying the DEMO! I hope you enjoy the full release as well when it comes out. :>
I’m really happy you got a lot out of Bad Faith so far (and thank you for noticing Grace’s little detail too *u*). You’ll definitely be seeing a lot of development from Magda in the full release.
Also this is the first I’ve heard of the black rectangles issue - is it alright if you could show me a screenshot?
hi, i really insterested with these Art style in the game, and i really enjoyed this story and this game, keep it up and thanks you for demo
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the demo!
Hello ! I just want to say that I actually really enjoyed playing the demo, I really wanted it to continue when I reached the end, haha. I really like the art, I think it looks really nice, the expressions of the characters are one of my favourite part ! I can't wait to play the full release and to finally learn what the heck is happening (and see more cool art, of course >:-)) I hope the full release will go well for you and that the beta testing phase will go smoothly !
P.S : It also cool to have such accessibility options ! I also really like the fact that it's an interesting story with LGBT romance, it's everything I wanted !Thanks for playing - I’m really happy you enjoyed the demo (as well as the central romance and accessibility options)!
I hope you enjoy the full release too!
Omg the BETA is finally out, congrats!, I've followed the development from the very beggining! :))
Thank you!! I'm really excited to beta test this. :3c
The demo was amazing! :D I absolutely love the idea of the game and the art is so awesome!!
Thank you!!
Hello author! If possible, on your next update, could you please update Renpy to the most recent version? 7.4.10 works on my machine but the 7.4.5 version you're using doesn't, unfortunately. :(
That said, this looks really cute and I'm excited to see the finished work!
Thank you for letting me know about this issue! I will do so before I release the final build!
do you know when the full version is gonna be released? this game is looking gorgeous!!! nice work!
I’m currently working very hard on the full version as we speak! I can’t give any exact dates for release yet, but I’m trying to work towards the end of this year as my release goal. We’ll see, though…
Very glad you like the game’s presentation otherwise!
I can't wait for the full game, I'm so interested in the story:D
Thank you so much!! Very glad you like the demo. :>
Holy crap, the demo was awesome. I can't wait to see and download the final product!
Thank you!
holy frick this is so good, i cant believe this is just the demo
Very glad you like it so far! I hope I can make the final release just as good. :>
Oh, wow. This demo was... so damn good. It had me on the edge of my seat by the end of it. I can't wait to see where the story goes from here! Amazing work!!
Thank you!! Very glad you enjoyed it! :>
THIS LOOKS SO GOOD, I'M DOWNLOADING IT
Thank you!! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. :>
this game was amazing !! i can't wait for the full version, great job on this :D
Thank you for playing and enjoying the DEMO! ^^
oigan, ¿es normal que abra el programa y se ponga todo en blanco y no quiera iniciarse o cerrar, y que la única forma sea en administración de tareas?
No lo creo... No creo que nadie haya encontrado este problema antes... (Lo siento, utilicé la traducción automática.)
I wasn't sure exactly what I expected at first, or where this would go, but I was rather surprised (in a good way)! The demo was amazing and your writing style and restraint/expression with your art is really good. I cannot wait to see the full product, and I'll be purchasing it when it's done!
Thank you so much! I’m very glad you enjoyed the DEMO!
I’ll be working hard on the full release. :>
OH MY GOSH, THIS WAS SO AMAZING!! I had so much fun reading this aloud!! I was going to make 2 parts, both 30 min each but I was so into it I forgot,
and now my throat hurts... 🤣
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!😁👍
Thank you so much!! Glad you had fun with the DEMO!
I really should be thanking you again for the fun I had.😁 I wish your project the best of luck,
so,
Good Luck!!😆
loved this game. the writing style was really appealing and the art and plot was engrossing. can't wait for the full version!
Thank you!!
Loved the story so far, and the speech bubbles were a very nice touch. The soundtrack is so good! Can't wait for the final game to come out!
Thank you so much!! ^^ I'm very glad you enjoy the VN so far.
this demo was so fun to play! I loved that it had the option to go back a step in the text since i sometimes click too fast and miss what theyre saying. also the way that the characters spoke was cool too! i havent seen dialouge presented in speachbbbles before.
Thank you so much!! I'm glad you enjoyed those little touches to the UI in the DEMO. :>