I downloaded the game months ago to see what it was like and then didn't have time to really look into it. Now I stumbled across it again on my computer and started to casually play. However, I got captivated by the story, the characters and basically everything. It is such an excellent and realistic story with all the ups and downs, the inner conflicts, the problems and so on. I can only recommend it to everyone who likes graphic novels with gay content. You've done a terrific job there and I'm really looking forward for an even more perfect final version - I will download the latest version as soon as I'll be finished with may first play through, not wanting to have to start all over before at least reaching the end once. I'll most certainly replay it though. Thank you so much for your passionate work!
heya. thanks for checking in and thank you for your kind words. it really is a passion project and I'm glad you stumbled back across this little thing. if my opinion means anything, I think finishing the copy you have now before starting on the revamp is the wise way to do it. even though it's the same story, the revamp hits waaaaay different and fresh and i think its even better when you actually know the ending this time. you have more time to pay attention to how much more alive the world feels. lemme know what you think of the end. i worked my ass off on that thing and i'm actually pretty proud of it <3
After having finished the story, I'm feeling a bit emotional and thus I have to reply again. You are so talented with storytelling. I loved every moment in this and I wanted to sincerely thank you for all that you have accomplished with this. Any young gay person should play this game (allthough I prefer to call it a visual novel). It has so much deep wisdom in it - and I'm almost out of words at how impressed I am. Just thank you and to all who read my comment: download this and let yourself be touched by this masterpiece. And I know I'm overhinking everything here (because I'm a little Zach myself), but I hope you can just accept my praises and rejoice in them for they are perfectly justified - at least for me and that's reason enough to tell you.
Please continue to with telling amazing stories - I hope I will have the honour to read them.
Alle the best to you and all the people involved in this outstanding project.
heh, well thank you. i'm glad you made it to the end and yeah, i had a hard time with it, too. however, if you're looking to experience is all over again but new, check out the revamp that hits waaaaaay different right from the beginning. i never expected people to look at this as some paragon for gay media. i was just writing and stumbling through it but it's heartfelt and i'm eternally grateful that that's resonating with people the way that it is. It's been an amazing experience so thank you for reading and i'm glad you stumbled back across it <3
Just asking since I finish the game yesterday (for second time) and I absolutely love it, is there any chance we see them after they go for vacation? I want to see more of them and interaction with each family
heya :) glad you made it through twice. i appreciate the reread. I dont have any plans right now for a sequel. i worked really hard to get a lot of things tied up with the end while still leaving some things open to imagination and individual head canon. however, i'm open to things in the future but it would have to be a really good story. it's really important to me not to run the story into the ground or just milk indefinitely. i ended zack's story on my own terms and i'm grateful for that. but we'll see. i've flirted with some ideas. my standard is that the sequel would have to be better in every way for me to justify doing it.
i think is pretty difficult to make a better story that the one already existing, still, I will play the game with the rework in the animation once is finish, probably could be good to at least make a little future view with each family in like a special chapter or seeing them all group up some years later, but the game is already beautiful as it is, waiting for some others projects you have.
really glad you liked the rough draft. i think the revamp is better in every way. you can actually feel it from the beginning rather than having to wait a bit to get into the narrative. i haven't shown anything after the ending because of the layers involved with the ending. there's been a lot of fan theories about things that one picture could completely undo the complexity of the ending and i like having all of those fan theories able to coexist
it's incredibly humbling and moving to have people that invested that they think about your characters even after or when they're not reading. I was never prepared for much that i've experienced during this process and i'm incredibly grateful for everyone for chiming in and sharing their thoughts and just saying what it meant to you. it's a super cool feeling. thank you for adding your voice to the chorus.
I'm going to try to start taking a serious look at translations soon, although I'm not sure how many languages we'll start with. My main focus is to get through the organization at the beginning of the revamp and once that is mostly settled, I can move onto translations while I continue to work on the revamp.
So I just finished the rough draft and it was definitely a whole experience. Following along Zack's journey had me laughing at times, it made me anxious and sometimes sad. The characters were realistic and relatable. A lot of the time it's all about the fantasy, which is nice in it's own way, but realism is harder to achieve and still be immersive.
The way it's presented, focusing on the evolving relationships with himself and those around him, was especially pleasant. As an asexual person this spoke to me very strongly. While I do enjoy those projects that focus on the sexual aspect, this was definitely a treat from start to finish.
I have books and stories I go back to over the years to read again and again. It doesn't matter how many times, or how often I read them, I'm enraptured by them every time. I have the feeling that this VN is going to be like that for me.
It will be a true pleasure to see how the remake evolves the story in both writing and visuals; but I think I'm going to take the time to absorb this experience first before I jump back in.
i really appreciate you sharing your thoughts. over the years a few people have referred to the story as an "experience" and i think it's still my favorite description of it so it means a lot to me that it had that much of an impact. I'm also glad that it checks the asexual box. rather than trying to list out all the sexual demographics, i wanted to take a different approach that was more inclusive without actually giving them titles. i think there's more individuality there and the idea was to make it more empowering. i've never been one to go back and reread things over and over. hell, i wrote this damn thing and i think i've only read the entire thing maybe 5 times and that's a bit iffy for me because it may not even be that many. but i'm humbled that you would add this story to your list and i'm grateful that you took the time to play it so thank you. and for sure, stick with the remake if you enjoyed this version, i think it's going to be a lot better. thanks for reading and i really appreciate you taking the time to check in <3
Like many others, I initially downloaded this game only because I wanted to get to the NSFW scenes as fast as possible.
But for anyone who's about to download this game only to just straight-up skip the entire story save for NSFW scenes : Don't. You'd be missing out, in my opinion, on one of the most full-fledged story-wise gay VNs out there. I caught myself falling in love with the characters and their routines, their interactions, their feelings (with Zack being quite relatable in certain ways).
The whole story feels so alive, so realistic, it almost gives that "I've been there" vibe that you can feel all the way up to the ending.
I've completed the "rough draft" and I've played what's been done so far in the remaster. The latter is of such high quality that it's honestly really hard for me to recommend the rough draft instead of waiting for the remaster to be fully completed. But on the other hand, you don't want to miss out on that story, so go check out that rough draft and appreciate it for what it is. You even get to see how quickly the developer picked up on how to write good dialogues and set up good scenes.
All in all, a huge recommendation from me. Thank you for this game, can't wait to replay through it once the remaster is fully out!
heya, i really appreciate your thoughts and experiences with the game. you have a shared experience with a lot of people that's just fun for me. for people to download the game for the adult content, only to be distracted by substance is just fun to me. the rough draft is exactly what you said, it's the audience watching me figure out how to create this thing in real-time. we have a lot of purist fans out there that really like this version because they've been following it for a long time. they've seen my struggles and cheered me on to keep going. there's some triumph to that for the audience. The revamp is very much me taking a deep breath with a lot more confidence and saying to fans, if you liked it before, watch what i can do now that i've learned a few things.
the next part of chapter 2 just dropped today so go check it out. massive upgrade to that chapter and extended sequences and more changes and i hope you continue to enjoy it. thank you so much for the recommendation <3
sorry for commenting so much, but i just got to the confrontation part between Braden and Zack ang I felt really betrayed for not picking up on Braden's plans. But at the same time I want to understand where he's coming from so much so that I would really like to see maybe a spinoff of the game where we get to play in the perspective of Braden and also know what went through his mind during the story. Not really demanding for it but I hope in the future it may be considered as a. spinoff, minigame of some sort.
no worries on the posts. if you have discord, you can join us over there and talk in real time and process some stuff with other fans of the game. it's kinda fun to get other perspectives. Also, you may wanna include a spoiler warning in your post here as we don't want to ruin parts of the game for people that are just scrolling down to check out some of the comments when deciding whether to download or not.
that being said: i dont have plans to do a braden specific route despite originally planning to do that. my first plan way back years ago was to finish the game as zack and then unlock the story all over again to play it from braden's pov. i changed my mind in that and i abandoned that plan mostly because i wanted the mystery of braden to be more relatable to people. Because braden doesn't really fit into some typical labels, i didn't want to force his pov on people. i wanted to give them the freedom to determine things themselves. Braden's arc deals a lot with labels and fans that have never really fit anywhere have found a lot of solace in his character. if i wrote a story from his perspective, i would take that away from fans and i dont have a desire to do that. in the scene you're talking about, braden talks a lot about what was going through is head and how things slowly spun out of control and eventually he didn't know how to stop them. in that scene, i wanted to show something that was fucked up and broken but i also wanted there to be some hope there and a strong desire for forgiveness and people to try to rebuild. i wanted to show how people can communicate when both parties genuinely want to fix things. while i, myself, have more questions about his motives, zack did not and we're sorta stuck with the information that we have because we don't control these characters. zack asked the questions he needed to in that moment to get the information that was important to him for him to determine whether things were salvageable or not.
I think the fact that Zack didn't require much information shows how he is very understanding and empathetic towards Braden. And I now realize that we as an audience don't really need to know Braden's full motive and perspective and just know that he is also just human, complex. I really love that the ambiguity of Braden's identity and how you decided not to continue on the original plan to still cater to those people that can relate to him.
yeah, it was a very conscious decision for me. i've never taken any decisions with the game lightly. on the discord, people talk a lot about the game and i really take that feedback and reactions seriously. sometimes giving too much detail can take the magic out for some readers so i've really tried to walk a fine line (having no experience at all but i was attempting to walk a line). and with the type of ending that we see in the game, it's entirely possible that braden himself couldn't answer a lot of those questions and that's ok because all of us deserve the amount of individual time that we need to figure ourselves out
have you considered or already are promoting this beautiful game in Tiktok and on Youtube? I think many people on these platforms will love this game and would be interested after just watching a single video from it. I wouldn't have known about this game if I didn't specifically search for these types of games in itch io. and I think tiktok and yt will bring in more players hence more feedback. just a suggestion though <3
sooooo, not so much if i'm being honest. i've pretty much relied on word of mouth to get me this far and people have been very kind to me. I'm also not exactly satisfied with the beginning of the game. I was very new at this and that's reflected in the jumbled mess at the beginning. that being said, my focus was to get a little ways into the revamp, which i'm much more satisfied with, and then i could potentially start to promote things more. i'm one of those people that has a hard time promoting my stuff because i dont want to draw attention to it for the fear of looking greedy. I also feel guilty to monetize things and I'm bad at hype :p But i am happy with the finished product as a whole, the beginning just needs work because i think it's weak enough to chase several people away and it doesn't reflect the quality of the entire project so that revamp quality means a lot to me before i start to push it more. I'm not ashamed of it; i was just new and it could be a lot better so i wanna fix that. i've also considered putting it on steam but i've been adamant that the game should always be available for free. if people want to donate, that's fine but if they're not in a position to, i still wanted it to be available because i think the premise beyond the story is important and money should never be an obstacle to something like that-- but steam has a few roadblocks to free games. if you want to pass the project along to others, please feel free to do so. if you'd like to promote somewhere or create a thread about it, please feel free to do that. a few more updates on the revamp and i'll start sharing it more, though. the original game was just the rough draft and me trying to figure out how to do this. i am promoting a tad more on my twitter lately so if you're on there and you wanna retweet things or pass it along, that helps me too
The rough draft is majestic in my opinion but I understand that you want it to be the best before promoting it to a lot more people. I will surely do an edit on zack and braden as soon as I finish the game. I will also follow the dev team on twitter and on tiktok/yt if there're official accounts.
well, i appreciate your kind words and they mean a lot to me so thank you. i'm sure the other guys that helped me out on this would each appreciate the follow, too, so please feel free. no official tiktok accounts. all of my official presence is listed here. we do have an official discord in that list, too. if you want to interact in real time :)
heya. So right now development is only on the revamp. The beginning of the game is a hot mess and requires a lot of reworking based on what i've learned since i started the project. this includes writing, coding, and massive visual upgrades. I'm also awful at multitasking so if i were to split my attention between 2 projects, both projects would suffer and take a quality hit and i'm not ok with that. i have a pretty good reputation for putting out quality story-related stuff and I don't want to jeopardize that with taking on a second project yet because i know my weaknesses. however, the plan right now is to focus on the revamp until I get to the part of the story where I require less rewriting and organizational stuff (that's the hard part for me right now because I put a lot of emotion into it), then I may be able to branch out and split my attention somewhere else while i work on the remaining visual upgrades for the revamp. *fingers crossed*
understood, i think it's actually for the best that the revamped is being focused on so much. I've been putting it on hold to play it and im so excited for the full revamped even though I know it will take a long time to get there.
so my original forecast was about one year to get the revamp done. i wish i could say that's on track but i honestly have no idea. there's a ton of work at the beginning that's slowing me down but i also know there's virtually nothing to do at the end so that progress bar for the full game is gonna go slow as hell at the beginning and then probably leap dramatically in the last 3/4. i get that you want to wait until the revamp is done but i'll also toss out something else here that can be helpful to me as a developer. If your'e playing as the story goes, it gives you a chance to pipe up and give feedback. once it's done, you get less of a role in that because it's too late to change. like my thank you notes say at the beginning of the story, the energy behind this has been a group thing. supporters have been amazing to me over the years and have had a prominant role in helping to motivate me and that has turned into subplots that i ended up including that were based solely on the community. but regardless, play the game the way you want. i really appreciate the support either way <3
I downloaded this on my phone and loved it so much I decided to put it on my PC as well. Just a note: it will not install via the itch app. It says that it's hosted on an incompatible third-party website. You will have to install it independent of the app. I'm currently working my way through the rough draft version and I'm super excited to work my through the rework after that's complete.
heya, thanks for checking in and I'm glad you're enjoying things. Be sure to let me know what you think when you finally finish it. I think you're doing it in the right order, too. I'd do the old version and then the revamp.
In terms of the game not working on the itch app, you're correct. I currently am using MediaFire for the download links over here. I pay for storage over there for the game and to my knowledge it's been a safe download space for several years now. Unfortunately, itch has size restrictions and would not allow me to upload anything over 1 gig (the original version is over 4gig now so there's now way it's going to fit). In order to meet this requirement, I would have to significantly reduce the image quality of the game and I was unwilling to do that because it made things look terrible. Best alternative was to just link to the 3rd party site where I host it and offer the full scale version there. Hope that gives you some context :)
I get it, I just wanted to notify future users so it's not a surprise. I'll definitely pop my head in when I finish. I'm looking forward to comparing the two versions in the future.
yep, no worries. i forget about that thing just because i've gotten so used to the third-party upload. good to remind people tho, but hopefully nobody thinks the 3rd party link is sketchy. and for sure, check in when you get done. i always appreciate feedback. i've put a ton of thought and care into this damn thing :p
Playing this for the first time (the rough draft), and LOVE it.
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SPOILERS:
I'm not done, but I swear Max is autistic too. Just finished the coffee shop discussion to the point he leaves and comes back. He has a lot of the signs, but it may just be more subtle. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 22, myself. High functioning is apparently difficult to detect.
EDIT: Just finished it.
Honestly kinda wish the epilogue skipped a few years and showed like Mikhail and Ash together in the future with Ash's bro chilling out on the couch playing games with them or something, but in contrast I think it gives you an opportunity to make more games focusing on different characters and their journeys if you wanted. I'd love to see Zack meeting Braden's family and them slowly being accepted. Zack finally getting the family he always deserved. I imagine Braden's mom doting on Zack once she gets used to their relationship.
Before the epilogue, I thought Braden was gonna bail and Mikhail would step in an wind up being Zack's true romantic soulmate, but I'm definitely not mad about how it ended.
Maybe I'm just spoiled; I blame YAGS, cause its epilogue is more like "2 years later".
heya. glad you liked it although you may wanna edit your post and include some spoiler warnings so you dont ruin the story for someone scrolling down here to check out the comments.
so the ending was written for several very specific reasons. some of which are meta and others are vague and allow the reader to fill in what they want. the discord has come up with some fun interpretations that i was happy to see people playing around with because all of them are possibilities so it kinda allows the reader to determine what's canon and what's not. I specifically didn't want to fast forward and give 100% closure because after getting thousands of letters from people over the years, i came to the conclusion that it was more important to each individual person to get the ending they wanted rather than have me write it. so many people were invested in this story and so many people wanted different things to fit their own narrative so i went a more generic route for the reader. I think that's more fun that having everything resolved just by the writer, that's only one POV. so that was the design. you get to check your own boxes but there's enough there to satisfy most people i think
Fair enough. I do that with everything anyway, even if there's a canon ending. If I don't like it, I change it in my head. As I said, I'm probably spoiled. I completely understand giving an ambiguous ending so people can fill in the blanks themselves.
sure thing. that's perfectly acceptable. get what you need from the project. that doesn't bother me a bit :)
i tried to include plenty of subtle cues for different perspectives on the end so there's hopefully something for everyone. i do appreciate the interest, though, and i'm glad you enjoyed it
Seriously the most affirming and beautiful piece of gay media I've ever seen. One of the most endearing aspects was how the characters' depth and your abilities as a story teller developed in tandem, and all of it seemed to mirror Zack's own development... which I know mirrored my own coming out: stumbling around for way to long just trying to see dick and then slowly realizing the complexity of the world around you and the people in it. Very meta. I have to admit that a couple of the plot points towards the end were a little ... "extra" but how you leveraged them to propel the character development and tell a deeper story made the more superficial plot exploits work in your favor.
The ending did *not* disappoint - and I think it would have been so easy to botch. The meta references (porn can have stories etc...) and how you inserted yourself at the end were really spot on (cheesy, but spot on). The writing in the Ash scenes literally had me laughing out loud.
I downloaded this for "porn" but I got something so much deeper. That really became obvious when I realized that the "hottest" scenes were the ones where they were just laying in bed. And I teared up SO many times. It's definitely unlike anything I've ever seen, and it's something I really needed to see at this moment in my life. Thanks for your effort working on this, the care you put into it is evident and I've been waiting 20 years to hear a story like this. It's really breathtaking, and I hope you're proud.
Thank You! I subscribe to every single word. I’ve been trying to comment for a few weeks to express what this story did for (and to) me but almost everything I want to say was already said in a much better way than I would be able to say it. I find it astonishing how consitent the reactions to this „game“ are (at least from those who take the time to comment). Maybe it‘s a matter of „natural selection“ because those who make it to the end, do so for very similar reasons. But most of all, the way the story is crafted conveys such a strong message that it‘s impossible not to be affected by it. I‘m glad that I found it by coincidence and very grateful to Aaryn and his co-developers.
Heya, glad you guys liked it and I appreciate that you looked at the story on a deeper level, given the genre that it's written in. i think the revamp will be more consistent but you're absolutely right. when i started this i had no writing experience at all you the quality of the story does develop with zack so you kinda get to watch both of us grow in real time. there's a ton of meta references in it and that was an overarching theme throughout. i wanted something that was in the adult genre that actually confronted the genre. also, glad you liked the ending. i was terrified and i agree, good stories can have terrible endings and ruin everything and i was super invested in trying to make this right. i am proud of it. it's not perfect but it's a first draft at something that i've never done before and i literally put my soul into it and i'm humbled that people have received it well and it's made such a difference to people <3
Wouah quelle merveilleuse histoire d'amour entre Zack et Braden. J'aurai tellement aimé avoir un colocataire comme Braden. Grand merci a vous pour ce jeu que j'adore malgré qu'il n'ai hélas pas de version en français.
no sequel planned right now. I dont want to just milk the story forever. I ended it the way i wanted but I'm open to coming back to it if i think of a sequel that is better than the original. if i can't do better, i wanna leave it be :)
In all honesty… I don‘t believe there will be a sequel. Regardless how much it hurt to let go of those guys (as many others I was reduced to tears at the end), I don‘t think I would recommend a Straight!? - Season 2 (I hope I won’t get too much hate mail after this statement). It‘s obvious that you wrote this story as much for yourself as for your audience. You put all your heart and soul into it and it will be difficult to replicate the same emotional intensity you were able to create for so many of us with just a continuation of where you left off.
On the flip side… you are without any doubt a gloriously gifted writer. You have a sense of drama combined with a remarkable ability to balance intuition and self-reflection in your approch to storytelling. So, if you really mean it and you want to continue on this journey, I would rather see you start a new project that is completely different and reflects where you are on your path in life today. You have developed your own unique and genuine voice in this genre. And while it breaks my heart that I will - most likely - never know how Zack and Braden‘s relationship is going to evolve as an „official“ couple, my gut tells me that you won‘t come back to the story. But - as everybody else - I would be thrilled if you proved me wrong. Just my 2 cents ;-)
so.. i totally lost touch with Str8. somewhere months(years??) ago around v.15 or sth. meanwhile, did you actually bring the story/game to an end? like, no further chapters? i see Str8 Revamp v0.02.2 as last update, is it final? gotta play all of it from scratch anyways, but first it’s worth it - especially if it’s revamped - the graphics are awesome, i like the 3d style so different from the usual sprite VN style (probably cuz i dabble in 3d, lol). and i remember parts of the story but really foggy and no idea where i left it so i need a total refresh..
heya, so welcome back. I can explain the differences for ya and it's not really a straight answer so bear with me.
so the story itself is done. that version is v0.21.4. that's a continuation of the original version that you played before. that version has the ending. v0.21.4 will also no longer be updated.
the revamp starts back from the beginning and is me using everything that i've learned to fix the early parts of the game that read, looked, and played like crap. that version has updated graphics, sound effects, music, better writing, and fixes a lot of problems from the old version. the revamp version is the current version that i'm working on but right now it's only chapter 1. the early parts of the game need a lot of work so the updates on the revamp are kinda slow with less content than what people are used to expecting from these game updates. however, it will progressively get faster because i'll have less stuff to do as the game progresses. eventually, the revamp version will replace the old version of the game and will be the finished product. the revamp will have the same ending as the other version
aah thx for the informative reply ^^
so, since i’m a sucker for graphics and also i like/need new stuff to stay interested, i’d better wait for the revamp to be well on its way like the middle or sth, and then i’ll jump unto that train.. cuz if i’m impatient and wanna play the finished old version right now to see the end, when i’ll play the revamp i’ll already know how it ends, it’s gonna be kinda spoiled in a way - and not only the end but all the rest too since it would be so fresh in my mind again… now it’s been so long since i played the old chapters, i’ve almost forgotten the details - ideal for a replay. once, not twice in a row. really looking forward to that revamp, for the old version was maybe not perfect but pretty awesome already! ^^
patiiiiiiiiieeeeence TT
you know.. somehow i really admire you. scratch the “somehow”… i DO admire you. this game was already a titanic task in itself, since you did a lot by yourself.. but now to start “all over” again from the start and make it better, wow. pure tenacity and enthusiasm! wish i had just a tenth of it, since i’m this person who has a thousand ideas.. but can be glad if they actually manage to realize 10 of them. IF even. XDDD
heh, well i appreciate it. i've had my ups and downs but i was really dedicated to this. but i also dont want to drag the game out for 10 years either. i'm not one to milk and i dont wanna run the story into the ground. i appreciate your compliment. i'm not perfect but i try my best considering i didn't know shit about this when i started.
i will say that fans of the original are still enjoying the revamp. it's a very different experience. lot of people are saying it's like a whole new game. several have mentioned they actually enjoy going back through the revamp after completing the regular because you get to catch things that you didn't see before. but that's a preference thing i'm sure. the revamp is still gonna take me awhile-- prob a year anyway so just a heads up. if you hadn't played since v0.15 though, holy crap...i promise the story gets way better than what you've seen before
lol. idk if it'll wow you. you may have high expectations and i'm one dude with 2 buddies helping me out. but it's exponentially better than the original imo. the first 3 screenshots posted here (ignoring the video) are from the revamp
I've already said all this in the ratings but I've decided to say it again, heh.
I'm not even sure where to start. Maybe woah....just woah...when I first discovered this, I thought it would just be something to keep my attention or have some fun with but...this far exceeded anything I could have ever imagined. It seemed so...I dunno, normal, for lack of a better term, at first for what you might expect of a VN and then it just....cascaded into this absolute masterpiece of love, angst, desire, self discovery and a million other things that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a "slow burn" approach at first but....my gosh, I can't say I would have preferred it any other way. All the characters, not even just the "main" ones, all just enveloped me and clearly served to get some message across or fill some role. Every interaction felt real and everything that happened just seemed to build and coalesce until I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I'm not even sure how to properly express the things this made me feel and, honestly, I'm okay with that. I don't really leave reviews too often but I couldn't just quietly rate this without at least attempting to express my gratitude for this project. On a personal level, I've had my own struggles finding my motivation and expressing who I am to the people close to me, but seeing how those in the story were able to fumble through overcome their insecurities...gives me some hope that I might be able to accept myself one day. I'm not really sure what else to say....I'm trying to be as coherent as possible, but my mind feels like as much of a storm as Zack's after finishing this, heh. Just keep up the amazing work. This is going to stay with me for a long while...
Oh, and I fully intend on checking the revamp! Something like this improved upon?!?! I have to see it, heh.
heya, thank you for the kind message. i know the slow burn was different for this genre. in fact, i got a little pressure early on from people that they wanted things to move faster until they really figured out what my goal was. this project isn't for everyone and that's ok. i appreciate you not being able to wrap your head around it. i wrote the thing and i still struggle with it but that's because it was super personal for me. ive produced this thing episodically so each update was just a little more of the story and i never was happy with the episodes until weeks after i launched them. i just needed to sit with it. anyway, that's me and wont apply to everybody. but if it is something you can reflect on and it's healthy for you, take it. but you're not alone in that storm. hope you find your peace with things some day and i'm honored that this story played a small role in that process. thanks for reading <3
Dude...WTF! I come here expecting sone shitty porn game to take care of my boredom and instead i find this gem... Havent finished yet but you made me cry so many times it's almost funny. I literally made an account just to post this because you are an amazing storyteller and honestly i can't wait tu see what else you got...
Keep up the amazing work!
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Update... Finished the game... Wow...
Honestly that ending... it was perfect men, i'm not a usually emotional guy but the entire time you managed to make me feel everything like it was my own story... and that ending i both love it because WOW and hate it because it's the end you know... That scene with the random dude at the train station dude the minute i realised what was going on i just broke down, cold not stop sobbing for like 5 minute straight...
Really hoping for a sequel coz im invested in those characters now, i mean it i wanna know what hapens next... or maybe since you are revamping it add more storylines, more topics to explore, maybe add Breaden's POV stuff like that because i feel like the end came too soon...
Anyways... Thank you so much for this and really hoping it's not the end of this story i love it way to fuking much!!!
heya, sorry I'm slow to get back to this message. I saw your first one but was busy over the weekend. glad you made it to the end and i'm glad you enjoyed the ending. shit made me cry too and i wrote the damn thing, lol. we just had the braden pov topic come up on the discord again today. i dont have any plans right now for a braden pov but it was something i was looking at really early on. i ended up changing my mind because i sorta think the mystery of braden and his nonconformity is actually more powerful and relatable to people without giving all kinds of details. i want more, too. i miss these guys.
but hey, check out the revamp version. you played my rough draft. legit had no idea what i was doing so that was just me messing around in the beginning until i really started to feel more comfortable. if you liked the rough draft, i think you'll really like the revamp, it's way better. it's still a work in progress tho so it's just the first chapter right now but i'm still actively working on it. anyway, appreciate the post and sorry my porn game made you sob :p
Dude don't be sorry this was amazing! seriously in my top 5 best story of all time and you aren't even a professional, i'm in awe...
Right now you have a diamond in the rough, i cant wait to see what you do with it!!! Hopefully you will lenghten it, not gonna lie i loved it so much i was actually sad it was over and that everything hapenned too fast and i wish they had more time to get to know eachother and build their friendship, so adding detail to their story would endear us to them even more...
For the Braden POV you dont have to do it :P i'm just curious as to what was going on in his head the hole time, i mean that guy is just so amazing i would like a peak in his head. Maybe once you are done with the main game you will make an extendes version including it for those of us who are interested, maybe not dosent matter in the end i'm sure it will be extraordinary either way.
By the way i feel like when you originally introduced the other characters you kinda made them into potential romentic partners but scrapped the idea either because you wanted to perfect one route at a time or just changed your idea midway but im happy the way those friendship turned out, i mean if you did add those possibility later on i would play them out of curiosity but i feel they are unnessary, like you have already made me fall for Braden and at this point i would prefer to get more of him than other options... but anyway you do you, im sure that if you did add other romance they would be as beautiful and meaningfull as what we already have...
Anyways as you so beautifully said in the game nothing last forever, so ill sign off with this: I never expected a game to be that good or to make me feel so much, or to be so meaningfull, Zack was so relatable i almost felt like it was my story and i was actually living it instead of just playing a game, and Braden... Honestly i have no idea how you managed to make such an amazing character, i coulden't help but fall in love with him too... I dont think you realise just how much of an impact this game had on me and will have on many in the future, i'm still shaking dude...
I cant wait to see what you do next so keep up the amazing work and i hope i find a Braden of my own somewhere someday.
Aaryn, so you probably already know you did a hell of a job with that VN.. basically every comment here says that.. so just a quick but massive THANK YOU.. as so many ppl already told you, it really spoke to me and meant a lot to me to be read it.. take care <3
heh, aww well thank you. i never take things for granted and it always feels good to know that one more person enjoyed it. that never gets old. thank you for checking in and leaving a message. it means a lot to me. you take care too <3
Thanks you, I won't say much but your story definitely had a strong impact on me. Hopefully, I'm able to move forward and learn from this experience. Hope you're doing great, thanks again !
i want to say that this is the best yaoi game i have ever played and its the first game to make cry. this game spoke to me and did make me think about my life.
ive put this to the ratings but i wanna put it here too hehe, i want to extend my gratitude. Made me contemplate my own life too and i needed it, badly more than i know. Thanks for creating such a wonderful story, it made me feel lots of emotions that i cant really describe much because i always cry lol. I relate to this im also gay and im kinda worried to what my parents will say but i hope soon i can have the courage zack did. Ive been having issues with my friends lately,especially with my own feelings about them and i realized how much clarity this story has given me more than what others can offer me. Me and my friends are like this before but i guess the older you get, the people you thought youll have forever will eventually grow apart with you. Nothing really lasts forever and its been a long time since i heard that and i guess this story reminded me to wake up and face the truth. I love all of them, the story flow and all its perfect! Sorry for blabbering here. Anw, ill be entering college soon and i hope i also find the happiness i deserve. THANKS AGAIN! :D
i had an urge to share this to my friends and spout how much i loved this story but i dont think theyll understand me and my love for the story. Guess ill gatekeep iy for a while until i find someone who can understand me.
heya, sorry about the slow response. holidays had be busy and stuff. promise i read your message like 4 times the day you posted it and i appreciated it. I'm glad that the game touched you in a way that stimulated some contemplation. i think that's always a good thing as long as we look in ourselves with honesty and a desire to improve rather than just being overly critical. relationships do change. i had people i was super close with growing up that i haven't talked to in forever. especially old school friends. if you'd like to share the story and you think it would help others, than feel free. if it's gonna be weird or cause controversy, it may not be a good idea. we do have a discord if you want to join a community of fans. just have to make sure you're 18+ and you're nice. Only two requirements. we're pretty chill
its fine! thank u for responding :) ngh tbh I’m not functioning well lately lol so idk how to respond properly without being weird or something, but i really appreciate ur response. I hope ur doing well and had a great holiday! ill think about joining the community since I’m busy and im kinda shy unlike i used to be, still thanks for the offer!
I can't find enough words to fully express my love and gratitude for these heroes and their stories. It's been a long time since visual novels have caused me such strong feelings, in terms of emotions and affection. I cried like a bitch all day after the end. Because in the behavior of the main character and his actions, I recognized myself in many ways. I will definitely return to this college again and again. And even though I'm fan-obsessed with finding out what happened to the guys next, I'm just happy that they're together and love each other.
Thank you! Thank you so much for giving me this little emotional miracle.
aww, well thank you. i appreciate your energy and i'm sorry it made you cry. i put a lot into this and it's not done yet. if you haven't checked out the revamp, give it a go. it's a whole new experience and it may scratch that itch of you wanting more. thank you for the kind message. i really appreciate it
No, no, I'm incredibly grateful for the emotions I experienced! It is very rare to meet something that can cause such strong feelings in an adult me. And yes, just today I tried a rewamp. Dude.. You're fucking brilliant! It's amazing how it sounds and looks now. I promise to become and be your patron until the end!
heh, aww. i'm def not brilliant. just a dude messing around but i appreciate your motivation and the support. just don't short yourself. the world's been crazy and you need to take care of the people's closest first. i do this based solely on donations for a reason. if you do sign up for patreon, though, there's a new v0.03 of the revamp out now. just dont use old saves. that version will be free come mid january. i'm glad i was able to tug at your heartstrings, though. it's been a powerful journey for me
I would like to say thank you for writing this and telling this story. As you say in the prelude, "For those who have ever stumbled along the path of sexual self-acceptance, this is for us." Thank you...Zack's story is my story; I know mine is not finished yet, however you've given me hope for a happy end as well. Like Zack, I have my inner turmoil, overthink things and wait for the universe to change, instead of me having to change and take a chance. I am a straight-acting gay dude who never fit in, and like Zack, I see the beauty in others and can't understand why they have insecurities, despite not being able to believe it when someone says the same about me. Zack is a beautiful person, whether he accepts it or not, and his story has inspired me to very seriously start the journey to see myself that way too. To the author: I make the assumption that many of Zack's character traits and his story are based on some of your own, only because he is so well written and his inner monologue is so *real*; YOU are a beautiful person. I hope this isn't a spoiler for anyone (and please feel free to edit it out if you think it is), but one of my favorite quotes that really hit me is from Ash: "You can't like me for being an outlier and hate yourself for being one, stupid. Just embrace it and stop arguing with yourself for no reason." I think we all need that unfiltered external perspective. Like a previous commenter, after finishing this, I have some very strong emotions...maybe a bit of depression, only because I don't want it to end, but mostly hope! Anyway, happy holidays and THANK YOU for this gift.
i really appreciated this. i can't express how rewarding it is when people have the intended reaction or the story resonates and clicks with someone. that's always been rewarding for me and i'm glad it made a difference. i read this on christmas morning and it was just really nice timing so thank you. i wish you peace on your own journey and i'm honored the story and these goofy little characters have played a small role in your desire to move forward <3
I absolutely love the game. I'm almost done, but I'm already affected by it so much that now I'm depressed as hell, haha. I know it's just fiction and the characters are not real, but I love them! Their struggles, thoughts, and actions are realistic and that's why it's affecting me so much. Such a really amazing game. I've already given a review, but yeah...I don't know how to describe the game and how I'm feeling. But, basically, I wish I was Zack and have friends like that in my life, which is why I'm so sad. And wish I had made the decisions a long time ago where I'd be better off today and with better friends.
Really an amazing cinematic novel, truly the best I've played and probably ever as well. :)
Looking forward to the revamp! I played a bit of it, the changes are so amazing, super excited about it!
Also, wanted to say THANK YOU so much for making this! I am really and eternally grateful!
lol. well i'm not sure how to respond to someone who is thanking me for giving them depression. but hi... and you're welcome?
but nah, seriously. thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you got as invested as you did. if it makes you feel better, i felt a since of loss when it was all over. i typed the last word and just sat in silence. it's been 5 years so it was pretty bittersweet. while i'm actively working on the revamp, i still miss the characters and where they are. they've been a huge part of my life over the last few years and it left a pretty gaping hole when it was all done for me too. So, while i may not have experienced it the same way you did, i get it that there's a general sense of loss there. I hope you enjoy the ending. endings are always the hardest part. <3
I'm sorry! Maybe depression is not the right word, haha, more like overwhelmed with emotions and I've been contemplating so much with my life. I understand what you mean, it being bittersweet and having it be a huge part of your life.
But, OH MY GOSH, just finished it. Woooooow, the ending was so perfect. That was soooo good....I sobbed a lot, starting with the last day all the way to the very end, lol. That was so good, I've been dreading to finish it because I didn't want it to "end", but I'm so glad I did - I feel much more at peace now! Thank you, thank you for the most amazing story I've had the privilege of reading and experiencing.
I'm not sure what to say now! You deserve all the support with the game! And this cemented my belief even more now that this is the best cinematic visual novel ever. :)
aww, well thank you. i really appreciate it. i was just teasing you about the "depression" reaction too <3
glad you liked the ending. i tried to check a lot of boxes with it while still trying to make it unique compared to other stories out there. Thank you for the kind words and happy self-reflecting :)
So I just wanted to say...wow. Absolutely stunning. My very first VN, and first gay/NSFW game to boot.
I only played the original version, but do plan on trying out the revamped version. Before I do though, is the revamped version really more like a QOL update, or are there plot updates/additions, as well? Just curious.
Thanks again for bringing this to light. You should be proud of this.
heya and glad you liked the old version. So the revamp is my attention to bring the beginning of the game's quality up to the level of quality we see at the end. I'd never done any of this before and my lack of understanding on anything really shows in the beginning parts so I wanted to fix that. The early part also had things cut out just to make Patreon updates. When your'e starting out early, you have to put out product frequently but that takes time and when you're doing it solo, you have to pick and choose what to include and what to scrap. As the project continued, I was able to build enough faith in the community that longer production time actually meant longer updates so it balanced out. The revamp, so far, is completely reshot. No CGs are reused. It's much more cinematic like what you see in the end game. There's also music now and the dialogue is redone, including new discussions, teasing, and stuff like that. I've also eliminated the repeatable grind that you have to go through in the first few chapters, that's being replaced with a more linear story because it was annoying. These revamp updates are coming out way faster than the old ones too. If you get a chance, check it out. I honestly think it's worth it even if you played the original. Just from the time you boot it up, it's a completely different experience for the early game.
Soooo, that's kind of a loaded question so i'll answer it from a few different angles. Thus far, Blayke my co-writer/editor has helped me with that stuff. However, that last v0.02 had a few typos that we missed in the rush. People on my Discord have offered some corrections which will appear in v0.03 that I'm working on the tail end of now.
The other side to that is that this story is written very imperfectly. It has it's own reasons for that and was more of an outlet for me than it was ever designed to be a cohesive tale. The pacing is sometimes off and my sense of time in the story is garbage (lol). I will say that I play to keep some of those imperfections because they're almost nostalgic to me at this point and I don't really want to buff them out. I also like a certain type of writing akin to Faulkner or Cormac McCarthy. i like those long dramatic run on sentences sometimes which are not technically correct but they capture the gravity of the picture in my head. Some of those have driven Blayke beyond the realm of madness and he has made several editing suggestions throughout and i've sometimes ignored some of those just because i wanted it authentically me.
Ok, so I did some checking on this because it used to work. Apparently, Renpy (the coding program) has updated and no longer supports 32 bit for Windows and Linux as of version 8.x. According to Renpy's creator, the 32 bit environment "is not the best environment to run Renpy smoothly in all instances." I didn't realize this was a change with the recent update so sorry about the false info.
Hey! I downloaded version 0.21.4 but there are no sounds in this game? should this be because the settings have that you can adjust the votes but nothing is heard?
heya. there is no sound in v0.21.4. that was my rough draft of the story so it's basically just the rough written story. the revamp is what i'm currently working on now and that has sound. if you're new to the game, i'd honestly recommend playing the v0.21.4 that you downloaded first to get the whole story. even after finishing the story, the revamp is a whole new experience that people are really enjoying
Thanks for the quick reply. I played yeah that remaster version already until when I could. I have now played this 0.21.4. a good story has been and I liked this thanks :)
I played through the game and I just want to say that brought the story was absolutely wonderful! absolutely brilliantly embroidered! made me think about my own life, that you yourself sometimes fall in love so fervently and that love is so genuine... well reveal that I am gay and well myself has been difficult to find a relationship or I would have felt that love... tears came when I played this game... because the story is great but also at the same time became cried how in your own life there is no love... :/ thanks bro for this game! continue with the same pattern and my question is that at some point you were going to start making a whole new game?
aww. give it time. I don't think that's something you can rush and it works differently for everyone. I've said before that this game, the interactions, and the path they walk isn't not the "truth." It's not the "right" or "only" way of doing things. It's just one way that happened to be the path that these characters chose. That shouldn't be a standard for others. But if there's things within the story that resonate with you and things that you can take from it that will bring your joy or improve your own life, then take them. But definitely take the time to find your own way that's unique and special to you <3
You really did an amazing job, making a fun and engaging game, while still keeping it so much more realistic then most other games containing NSFW. Content.
I played this game, really only looking for another NSFW quick game to play for fun. And was so surprised, to find so much going on. Happy fun moments, friendship, responsibilities, moments of great suspense and or great sadness. A game I thought I would spend a few days playing, hooked me and I played through all the available content (at the time) in one night.
It's not only relatable in terms of accepting one's self and desires, like you've said. But it has so much more that really speaks to the player. Such as waiting to do certain things in life until you're older, the fears and insecurities that plague our minds, letting anxieties cripple you. Growing as a person. Making mistakes, that sometimes habe prolonged consequences. And how no matter how close you get to your friends a part of life is being willing to accept they habe their own path to take, and sometimes thay path leads away from yours. It hurts alot, but its a good pain. A pain of I miss you, but you have faith in your friends, and know one day you'll all meet again.
I hope one day you will make a sequel, or some continued parts of this story. It deserves so much. But you also deserve your time to do ehay you wanna do. I know you love your creation here, but you also need time to do other things, and have some fun with other projects you may be thinking of. So there is no rush.
I don't wanna ruin anything more then I habe of your story, but one part I really wish had more options for us to pick, would be when they go to the beach and a certain someone disappeared. I really don't like our character just sits there frozen going through his own thoughts instead of helping. Idk I just could never freeze up like that especially if someone o consider my friend and love deeply was potentially in danger. I know its supposed to play into their characters. But it kinds feels wrong here. Idk not asking you to change anything, simply sharing the only thing that I was conflicted about. Amazing work and thanks so much for sharing your hard work with us. I love it !
same for me, i only search for NSFW at first, but playing every episode from the start really pick my interest and got my feeling up and down, its just seems realistic with real life and how we would react when we were the character, been through giggle and tears by self when playing this.
All those plot hole really got me, never expected the outcoming in the last episode, i won't do spoiler, but this was a great story when you start from the first episode.
Maybe this game could be expanded into playing the other character as well so we will get another point of view, other than Zack pov, maybe we can see how Braden, Mikhail and Max (Ash) pov too, so we can completely understand the whole plot.
Maybe there were another theme on another season to continue the story, so the story doesn't really end now, when this story goes about communicate in relationship and dealing with sexuality label issue. The story could use topic about dealing with sexual protection and dissease, coming out to parents, coping about losing loved ones (partner, crush, or even friends), or maybe the struggle about getting on relationship on another country or another culture, and other struggle that always happen on daily life (gay relationship or another LGBT kind of relationship). The story could go many potential development, as they were still young college kids.
The devs were really awesome doing this visual novel, great job guys, really appreciate every bit of it
heya, thanks so much. I usually won't tell people how to read the story but i can tell from your post that you picked up all the things that i really wanted people to from this story so thanks, it's always reassuring to get messages like that.
In terms of the choices: Yeah, i wish their were more choices too. this was my first attempt at writing anything and i think it would be easier to write a book than a VN just because of all the branching paths and stuff. that can get out of hand really quick so i sorta limited them because my concentration is trash. Plus, the more paths i develop, the longer things take and people get antsy for updates. It's not very often people accusing me of being lazy but 2 or 3 have over the years and while i dont personalize those comments, the time it takes to create something like this is always on my mind.
the specific choice that you listed: the swimming accident, is a tough one. that's been heavily debated on our discord since it happened and i'll go on the record as saying that i have no regret for not giving the audience a choice. there was a lot that went into that moment and giving the reader a choice in that moment essentially breaks the story to me. I realized when i was writing this story that these characters and my ability to control them was out of my hands. they began to have a life of their own beyond me. i knew that for awhile but not until the beach scene. I found myself screaming at zack. i was frustrated and and angry and i wanted him to be a hero there... because that's what people are supposed to do. but in the reality is that that's not always what people do. sometimes trauma can twist you and zack's response in that scene is very much a realistic response. i couldn't control him and i was angry and i wanted the audience to feel the same like of control. while the game is a VN and we usually have choices associated with that to get the ending we want, it was never up to us, the audience, to choose this ending. these characters had to find what worked for them. a large part of this narrative was being yourself and finding who you really are. if the audience was allowed to change the story, or manipulate the character, that defeats the whole purpose because the characters would still have someone telling them who they were and who they should become.
i know some will disagree with that approach. hell, i disagree with it because there's things in the story that i would choose differently for them. but that wasn't my choice to make and i wanted to pass that along to the audience as well
nah. Rather than having a handful of "romance" routes in the game, i wanted to focus on polishing one route to the best of my ability. In time, the fan base grew to see most of my side characters as threats and it really took some careful handling to make a lot of the fans actually like anyone else even on a friend level. So no. no other romance routes. the fan base would have literally killed me, lol
I made this account to be able to comment and thank you for making this game, I honestly loved it and felt identified with many things. I would like to be able to donate something but right now I can't. By the way, are there plans for a sequel? I would love to see how the couple develops. Thank you very much for the story again!
Heya, glad you like the story and were able to identify or find things that you could pull that were applicable to your experiences. Don't worry about the donation stuff, the game is free for a reason. If you want to help out, you can always share or help spread word of the project-- that counts just as much. But no pressure. It's perfectly fine to just play it and enjoy it.
My official position on sequels right now has been that I have no plans for one. I worked hard to tie things up in a certain way at the end of this one and any sequel would potentially undo that. However, if i think of a story that's better than this one for a part 2, then I'll certainly give it a shot. i know people are interested in a sequel but i don't want to drag it out just as a money grab, ya know?
I think it's evident that you care deeply for this story and I'm glad that it resonated with a lot of people. There were parts of it that felt alienating to me. I remember reading one of the earlier chapters and there was a scene where Zack and Braden were talking about the "gay movement" that was off-putting to me. Had to take a break from the story for a while. When I came back to it, I was relieved that the politics were set aside in favor of getting to know the characters. I grew really attached to them, and was enjoying seeing the story progress. It was frustrating seeing the same political issue pop up again in a recent chapter.
I can empathize with feeling like you're maybe being judged or pushed to accept an identity that you're not ready for, but saying that gays that are comfortable with their sexuality make it their personality or "advertise it to everyone" (whatever that means) feels mean-spirited. Some of us can't or never wanted to pass for straight so we either had to accept ourselves or spend our lives miserable. I think closeted guys can be quick to say that out gays judge them but can't see how they're being judgemental as well.
Ultimately it's your story, write it how you want. Just trying to share a perspective you might not have considered.
Thanks for the note and I'm glad you enjoyed most of the story. The early positions of Zack can certainly be off-putting to some, but they're common for many and that was just part of his character and that changes drastically over the course of the story. This story is written very existentially and that can be a very individual journey. I've stated that it's not the way towards acceptance, it's just a story about one person's slow shifting of ideas and what allows them to find and accept who they specifically are. Some of that may or may not be applicable to others. I've always encouraged people to take what benefits them from the story and leave what doesn't.
While I don't normally tell people how to interpret the story, I would disagree with what you took from it as I feel the bulk of the narrative argues on behalf of exactly what you wanted it to. In fact everything you're saying is a leading reason into why i wrote the story and it's a constant message from characters like Mikhail, Ash, and Braden as they try and beat it into Zack's head. Being much more public or overt regarding one's sexuality is completely valid and all the characters would agree with that as well-- even Zack at the beginning of the story would agree with that. The overwhelming bulk of the story very much states that people should become themselves or at least work towards that as much as possible--whatever that may be. Which very much includes someone who, as you said, "never wanted to pass for straight" or is more overtly expressive about their sexuality. I can't imagine these characters disagreeing with that lifestyle and I don't know of any part of the story in which they do. However, that more overt lifestyle may not apply to everyone and that's just as valid like Braden says. I guess I would compare it to an introvert versus an extrovert. Both are valid but trying to force one into the other would probably be catastrophic for their identity. I would also note that "introvert" here doesn't mean closeted. I think in the case of these characters, a more flamboyant and sexually open lifestyle isn't who they are, that doesn't mean they have ill feelings towards that lifestyle or judge people with that lifestyle, it just means that it's not them. I'm pretty introverted but that doesn't mean i judge or have ill feelings towards extroverts-- I just couldn't live that way and be happy, just like an extrovert could probably not live my lifestyle and be happy. We're different people and that's ok. Braden gives a few pretty long talks about that near the end. Honestly, Braden would probably be a blast around a more open and flamboyantly gay character. To me, this story was always about finding yourself on that continuum, wherever it may be, and living that out while also realizing others can live in a completely different way that brings them just as much happiness.
I'm the same person as 2 months ago hehe and I've been replaying it and a few questions were going through my head (and also replaying it again made me notice how accurate and relatable is Zack's character with his overthinking. I see myself so much) anyways the questions are: 1) what year are they in, in the game? is it like a specific year? Ernie refers to them as Millenials so.. 2) is it a made-up story or are some things from a true story? just curious :) 3) do you plan to do more games like this one? because I would be very excited to play it!!
thank you for your availability and for creating this game again haha :)
No probs. I'm always up for questions. Also, I'm happy the story is still holding up after a few rereads.
1) The Year. So there's actually no year associated with the game. I've purposely tried to write the dialogue with references or slang that's all over the place. Some of the references Zack makes reference things from decades ago. But also other references are much more modern (like "millennials" and some technology references). I did that purposely to try to make the game transcend the readers age groups. I sorta wanted any legal age to be able to pick the game up and see something that's applicable to their generation.
2)True Story or not? For this question, I'm just gonna post a link to a Patreon post. It gives some background on the purpose of the game, too. Don't worry, it's a free post and you don't need a Patreon account to view the post. You can check it out here
Hope this helps. If you still have more questions, hit me up. And no problem on being available. I like being accessible as a developer. Lot of devs aren't or they just have a narcissistic attitude. It's honestly super humbling to talk to fans of the project so thanks for the interest <3
thank you omg!! also, another question that I forgot to ask is: did you take a major in psychology? because the words and the "thoughts" seem by someone who took a major in psychology. also, I love the phrase where zack says that people who study psychology want to fix other people's problems bc they can't fix their own because I'm doing psychology at school, and it's honestly funny how accurate it is. thank youu and have a good day/afternoon/night :)
haha. yeah, I have a masters in clinical psych. Finished it while I was working on this project actually.
And yeah, people taking psych classes to secretly fix themselves is huge. It's to the point that at the masters level, instructors are viewed as gatekeepers to try and filter some of those people out.
Honestly one of the best story games I've had the pleasure of reading. So much so that I compare a lot of the other ones to this one and it usually doesn't even come close haha This story really pulled me in and I could feel the raw emotion the characters were portraying. Well done man. I'm so glad I found this and played it out to the end.
well thank you. I really did want to do something different with this, which is maybe why you can't find other games like it. I wanted a heavy story, humor, rollercoaster emotions, and something that people could take something away from if they chose-- all within an adult context. It's a weird mix but I like the vibe of that because that's what living is to me. I know a few people have started writing their own stories after playing this so hopefully we start seeing more. I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Stay tuned because the revamp is taking it up like 100 more notches in quality.
This game is litrally so good. This game mentally, emotionally, and phisically made me feel better about my self and the characters in this game. I absolutely love the story its phenominal, the characters itselfs are phenominal everything is phenominal. This honestly is my favorite game in the whole world to the point where I can't even express my emotions. You deserve the world and you should definitely give yourself a shoulder pat for this.
hehe. thanks. it's a work in progress. I've been wanting to redo things over here to reflect the new direction of the game development but website updates take a ton of time and that's time away from actual development so I tend to put it off. I'm gonna do a quick note to all the followers over here when I get things finalized. glad you like it tho. thanks :)
heya. sure thing. So there's a few different engines that you can use for VNs but Renpy seems to be the most popular. I've never coded in my life and I'm still not good at it but you can do most basic stuff with Renpy without too much trouble. It's also good for games like Straight!? that has a TON of dialogue. Unity is another one that some people role with but from what I hear, it's a little more tedious in starting a new conversation box whereas Renpy is just a new line in the script. You can pretty much google or youtube Renpy tutorials. If I had a recommendation to start with, I'd probably go with that but honestly I'm not that knowledgeable about this stuff, I only know what I've had to figure out to do this game.
In terms of art, you can just draw the stuff you want if you're good at that. Others will hire an artist and write their own story and just work as a duo. I use Daz3D for the art in Straight!? Blender is also good if you need to make custom 3D stuff
well, if it makes you feel better, i'm working on the revamp so you get to start all over again if you're up to it. However, i haven't figured out a way to post it on here yet to make it easy. I'm working on redoing this page to incorporate it but you can still download it for free on my patreon
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I downloaded the game months ago to see what it was like and then didn't have time to really look into it. Now I stumbled across it again on my computer and started to casually play. However, I got captivated by the story, the characters and basically everything. It is such an excellent and realistic story with all the ups and downs, the inner conflicts, the problems and so on. I can only recommend it to everyone who likes graphic novels with gay content. You've done a terrific job there and I'm really looking forward for an even more perfect final version - I will download the latest version as soon as I'll be finished with may first play through, not wanting to have to start all over before at least reaching the end once. I'll most certainly replay it though. Thank you so much for your passionate work!
heya. thanks for checking in and thank you for your kind words. it really is a passion project and I'm glad you stumbled back across this little thing. if my opinion means anything, I think finishing the copy you have now before starting on the revamp is the wise way to do it. even though it's the same story, the revamp hits waaaaay different and fresh and i think its even better when you actually know the ending this time. you have more time to pay attention to how much more alive the world feels. lemme know what you think of the end. i worked my ass off on that thing and i'm actually pretty proud of it <3
After having finished the story, I'm feeling a bit emotional and thus I have to reply again. You are so talented with storytelling. I loved every moment in this and I wanted to sincerely thank you for all that you have accomplished with this. Any young gay person should play this game (allthough I prefer to call it a visual novel). It has so much deep wisdom in it - and I'm almost out of words at how impressed I am.
Just thank you and to all who read my comment: download this and let yourself be touched by this masterpiece. And I know I'm overhinking everything here (because I'm a little Zach myself), but I hope you can just accept my praises and rejoice in them for they are perfectly justified - at least for me and that's reason enough to tell you.
Please continue to with telling amazing stories - I hope I will have the honour to read them.
Alle the best to you and all the people involved in this outstanding project.
Thomas
heh, well thank you. i'm glad you made it to the end and yeah, i had a hard time with it, too. however, if you're looking to experience is all over again but new, check out the revamp that hits waaaaaay different right from the beginning. i never expected people to look at this as some paragon for gay media. i was just writing and stumbling through it but it's heartfelt and i'm eternally grateful that that's resonating with people the way that it is. It's been an amazing experience so thank you for reading and i'm glad you stumbled back across it <3
Just asking since I finish the game yesterday (for second time) and I absolutely love it, is there any chance we see them after they go for vacation? I want to see more of them and interaction with each family
heya :) glad you made it through twice. i appreciate the reread. I dont have any plans right now for a sequel. i worked really hard to get a lot of things tied up with the end while still leaving some things open to imagination and individual head canon. however, i'm open to things in the future but it would have to be a really good story. it's really important to me not to run the story into the ground or just milk indefinitely. i ended zack's story on my own terms and i'm grateful for that. but we'll see. i've flirted with some ideas. my standard is that the sequel would have to be better in every way for me to justify doing it.
i think is pretty difficult to make a better story that the one already existing, still, I will play the game with the rework in the animation once is finish, probably could be good to at least make a little future view with each family in like a special chapter or seeing them all group up some years later, but the game is already beautiful as it is, waiting for some others projects you have.
really glad you liked the rough draft. i think the revamp is better in every way. you can actually feel it from the beginning rather than having to wait a bit to get into the narrative. i haven't shown anything after the ending because of the layers involved with the ending. there's been a lot of fan theories about things that one picture could completely undo the complexity of the ending and i like having all of those fan theories able to coexist
i imagine it feels good to have fans creating theories, but i feel good sharing my opinion with you so you can take it as a idea
it's incredibly humbling and moving to have people that invested that they think about your characters even after or when they're not reading. I was never prepared for much that i've experienced during this process and i'm incredibly grateful for everyone for chiming in and sharing their thoughts and just saying what it meant to you. it's a super cool feeling. thank you for adding your voice to the chorus.
Poderia colocar tradução para português
I'm going to try to start taking a serious look at translations soon, although I'm not sure how many languages we'll start with. My main focus is to get through the organization at the beginning of the revamp and once that is mostly settled, I can move onto translations while I continue to work on the revamp.
This game is so good, thank you!!!
yay! glad you like it! thank you <3
So I just finished the rough draft and it was definitely a whole experience. Following along Zack's journey had me laughing at times, it made me anxious and sometimes sad. The characters were realistic and relatable. A lot of the time it's all about the fantasy, which is nice in it's own way, but realism is harder to achieve and still be immersive.
The way it's presented, focusing on the evolving relationships with himself and those around him, was especially pleasant. As an asexual person this spoke to me very strongly. While I do enjoy those projects that focus on the sexual aspect, this was definitely a treat from start to finish.
I have books and stories I go back to over the years to read again and again. It doesn't matter how many times, or how often I read them, I'm enraptured by them every time. I have the feeling that this VN is going to be like that for me.
It will be a true pleasure to see how the remake evolves the story in both writing and visuals; but I think I'm going to take the time to absorb this experience first before I jump back in.
i really appreciate you sharing your thoughts. over the years a few people have referred to the story as an "experience" and i think it's still my favorite description of it so it means a lot to me that it had that much of an impact. I'm also glad that it checks the asexual box. rather than trying to list out all the sexual demographics, i wanted to take a different approach that was more inclusive without actually giving them titles. i think there's more individuality there and the idea was to make it more empowering. i've never been one to go back and reread things over and over. hell, i wrote this damn thing and i think i've only read the entire thing maybe 5 times and that's a bit iffy for me because it may not even be that many. but i'm humbled that you would add this story to your list and i'm grateful that you took the time to play it so thank you. and for sure, stick with the remake if you enjoyed this version, i think it's going to be a lot better. thanks for reading and i really appreciate you taking the time to check in <3
Like many others, I initially downloaded this game only because I wanted to get to the NSFW scenes as fast as possible.
But for anyone who's about to download this game only to just straight-up skip the entire story save for NSFW scenes : Don't. You'd be missing out, in my opinion, on one of the most full-fledged story-wise gay VNs out there. I caught myself falling in love with the characters and their routines, their interactions, their feelings (with Zack being quite relatable in certain ways).
The whole story feels so alive, so realistic, it almost gives that "I've been there" vibe that you can feel all the way up to the ending.
I've completed the "rough draft" and I've played what's been done so far in the remaster. The latter is of such high quality that it's honestly really hard for me to recommend the rough draft instead of waiting for the remaster to be fully completed. But on the other hand, you don't want to miss out on that story, so go check out that rough draft and appreciate it for what it is. You even get to see how quickly the developer picked up on how to write good dialogues and set up good scenes.
All in all, a huge recommendation from me. Thank you for this game, can't wait to replay through it once the remaster is fully out!
heya, i really appreciate your thoughts and experiences with the game. you have a shared experience with a lot of people that's just fun for me. for people to download the game for the adult content, only to be distracted by substance is just fun to me. the rough draft is exactly what you said, it's the audience watching me figure out how to create this thing in real-time. we have a lot of purist fans out there that really like this version because they've been following it for a long time. they've seen my struggles and cheered me on to keep going. there's some triumph to that for the audience. The revamp is very much me taking a deep breath with a lot more confidence and saying to fans, if you liked it before, watch what i can do now that i've learned a few things.
the next part of chapter 2 just dropped today so go check it out. massive upgrade to that chapter and extended sequences and more changes and i hope you continue to enjoy it. thank you so much for the recommendation <3
sorry for commenting so much, but i just got to the confrontation part between Braden and Zack ang I felt really betrayed for not picking up on Braden's plans. But at the same time I want to understand where he's coming from so much so that I would really like to see maybe a spinoff of the game where we get to play in the perspective of Braden and also know what went through his mind during the story. Not really demanding for it but I hope in the future it may be considered as a. spinoff, minigame of some sort.
no worries on the posts. if you have discord, you can join us over there and talk in real time and process some stuff with other fans of the game. it's kinda fun to get other perspectives. Also, you may wanna include a spoiler warning in your post here as we don't want to ruin parts of the game for people that are just scrolling down to check out some of the comments when deciding whether to download or not.
that being said: i dont have plans to do a braden specific route despite originally planning to do that. my first plan way back years ago was to finish the game as zack and then unlock the story all over again to play it from braden's pov. i changed my mind in that and i abandoned that plan mostly because i wanted the mystery of braden to be more relatable to people. Because braden doesn't really fit into some typical labels, i didn't want to force his pov on people. i wanted to give them the freedom to determine things themselves. Braden's arc deals a lot with labels and fans that have never really fit anywhere have found a lot of solace in his character. if i wrote a story from his perspective, i would take that away from fans and i dont have a desire to do that. in the scene you're talking about, braden talks a lot about what was going through is head and how things slowly spun out of control and eventually he didn't know how to stop them. in that scene, i wanted to show something that was fucked up and broken but i also wanted there to be some hope there and a strong desire for forgiveness and people to try to rebuild. i wanted to show how people can communicate when both parties genuinely want to fix things. while i, myself, have more questions about his motives, zack did not and we're sorta stuck with the information that we have because we don't control these characters. zack asked the questions he needed to in that moment to get the information that was important to him for him to determine whether things were salvageable or not.
I think the fact that Zack didn't require much information shows how he is very understanding and empathetic towards Braden. And I now realize that we as an audience don't really need to know Braden's full motive and perspective and just know that he is also just human, complex. I really love that the ambiguity of Braden's identity and how you decided not to continue on the original plan to still cater to those people that can relate to him.
yeah, it was a very conscious decision for me. i've never taken any decisions with the game lightly. on the discord, people talk a lot about the game and i really take that feedback and reactions seriously. sometimes giving too much detail can take the magic out for some readers so i've really tried to walk a fine line (having no experience at all but i was attempting to walk a line). and with the type of ending that we see in the game, it's entirely possible that braden himself couldn't answer a lot of those questions and that's ok because all of us deserve the amount of individual time that we need to figure ourselves out
have you considered or already are promoting this beautiful game in Tiktok and on Youtube? I think many people on these platforms will love this game and would be interested after just watching a single video from it. I wouldn't have known about this game if I didn't specifically search for these types of games in itch io. and I think tiktok and yt will bring in more players hence more feedback. just a suggestion though <3
sooooo, not so much if i'm being honest. i've pretty much relied on word of mouth to get me this far and people have been very kind to me. I'm also not exactly satisfied with the beginning of the game. I was very new at this and that's reflected in the jumbled mess at the beginning. that being said, my focus was to get a little ways into the revamp, which i'm much more satisfied with, and then i could potentially start to promote things more. i'm one of those people that has a hard time promoting my stuff because i dont want to draw attention to it for the fear of looking greedy. I also feel guilty to monetize things and I'm bad at hype :p But i am happy with the finished product as a whole, the beginning just needs work because i think it's weak enough to chase several people away and it doesn't reflect the quality of the entire project so that revamp quality means a lot to me before i start to push it more. I'm not ashamed of it; i was just new and it could be a lot better so i wanna fix that. i've also considered putting it on steam but i've been adamant that the game should always be available for free. if people want to donate, that's fine but if they're not in a position to, i still wanted it to be available because i think the premise beyond the story is important and money should never be an obstacle to something like that-- but steam has a few roadblocks to free games. if you want to pass the project along to others, please feel free to do so. if you'd like to promote somewhere or create a thread about it, please feel free to do that. a few more updates on the revamp and i'll start sharing it more, though. the original game was just the rough draft and me trying to figure out how to do this. i am promoting a tad more on my twitter lately so if you're on there and you wanna retweet things or pass it along, that helps me too
The rough draft is majestic in my opinion but I understand that you want it to be the best before promoting it to a lot more people. I will surely do an edit on zack and braden as soon as I finish the game. I will also follow the dev team on twitter and on tiktok/yt if there're official accounts.
well, i appreciate your kind words and they mean a lot to me so thank you. i'm sure the other guys that helped me out on this would each appreciate the follow, too, so please feel free. no official tiktok accounts. all of my official presence is listed here. we do have an official discord in that list, too. if you want to interact in real time :)
are you by chance working on a new game right now, or are you focused on the revamp?
heya. So right now development is only on the revamp. The beginning of the game is a hot mess and requires a lot of reworking based on what i've learned since i started the project. this includes writing, coding, and massive visual upgrades. I'm also awful at multitasking so if i were to split my attention between 2 projects, both projects would suffer and take a quality hit and i'm not ok with that. i have a pretty good reputation for putting out quality story-related stuff and I don't want to jeopardize that with taking on a second project yet because i know my weaknesses. however, the plan right now is to focus on the revamp until I get to the part of the story where I require less rewriting and organizational stuff (that's the hard part for me right now because I put a lot of emotion into it), then I may be able to branch out and split my attention somewhere else while i work on the remaining visual upgrades for the revamp. *fingers crossed*
hope that makes sense :)
understood, i think it's actually for the best that the revamped is being focused on so much. I've been putting it on hold to play it and im so excited for the full revamped even though I know it will take a long time to get there.
Same. I played the older version before and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Been planning to replay it only when it's complete in its entirety
so my original forecast was about one year to get the revamp done. i wish i could say that's on track but i honestly have no idea. there's a ton of work at the beginning that's slowing me down but i also know there's virtually nothing to do at the end so that progress bar for the full game is gonna go slow as hell at the beginning and then probably leap dramatically in the last 3/4. i get that you want to wait until the revamp is done but i'll also toss out something else here that can be helpful to me as a developer. If your'e playing as the story goes, it gives you a chance to pipe up and give feedback. once it's done, you get less of a role in that because it's too late to change. like my thank you notes say at the beginning of the story, the energy behind this has been a group thing. supporters have been amazing to me over the years and have had a prominant role in helping to motivate me and that has turned into subplots that i ended up including that were based solely on the community. but regardless, play the game the way you want. i really appreciate the support either way <3
You consider about changing some things while you revamp things?
I downloaded this on my phone and loved it so much I decided to put it on my PC as well. Just a note: it will not install via the itch app. It says that it's hosted on an incompatible third-party website. You will have to install it independent of the app.
I'm currently working my way through the rough draft version and I'm super excited to work my through the rework after that's complete.
heya, thanks for checking in and I'm glad you're enjoying things. Be sure to let me know what you think when you finally finish it. I think you're doing it in the right order, too. I'd do the old version and then the revamp.
In terms of the game not working on the itch app, you're correct. I currently am using MediaFire for the download links over here. I pay for storage over there for the game and to my knowledge it's been a safe download space for several years now. Unfortunately, itch has size restrictions and would not allow me to upload anything over 1 gig (the original version is over 4gig now so there's now way it's going to fit). In order to meet this requirement, I would have to significantly reduce the image quality of the game and I was unwilling to do that because it made things look terrible. Best alternative was to just link to the 3rd party site where I host it and offer the full scale version there. Hope that gives you some context :)
I get it, I just wanted to notify future users so it's not a surprise. I'll definitely pop my head in when I finish. I'm looking forward to comparing the two versions in the future.
yep, no worries. i forget about that thing just because i've gotten so used to the third-party upload. good to remind people tho, but hopefully nobody thinks the 3rd party link is sketchy. and for sure, check in when you get done. i always appreciate feedback. i've put a ton of thought and care into this damn thing :p
Playing this for the first time (the rough draft), and LOVE it.
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SPOILERS:
I'm not done, but I swear Max is autistic too. Just finished the coffee shop discussion to the point he leaves and comes back. He has a lot of the signs, but it may just be more subtle. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 22, myself. High functioning is apparently difficult to detect.
EDIT: Just finished it.
Honestly kinda wish the epilogue skipped a few years and showed like Mikhail and Ash together in the future with Ash's bro chilling out on the couch playing games with them or something, but in contrast I think it gives you an opportunity to make more games focusing on different characters and their journeys if you wanted. I'd love to see Zack meeting Braden's family and them slowly being accepted. Zack finally getting the family he always deserved. I imagine Braden's mom doting on Zack once she gets used to their relationship.
Before the epilogue, I thought Braden was gonna bail and Mikhail would step in an wind up being Zack's true romantic soulmate, but I'm definitely not mad about how it ended.
Maybe I'm just spoiled; I blame YAGS, cause its epilogue is more like "2 years later".
Still an amazing game, what a journey.
heya. glad you liked it although you may wanna edit your post and include some spoiler warnings so you dont ruin the story for someone scrolling down here to check out the comments.
so the ending was written for several very specific reasons. some of which are meta and others are vague and allow the reader to fill in what they want. the discord has come up with some fun interpretations that i was happy to see people playing around with because all of them are possibilities so it kinda allows the reader to determine what's canon and what's not. I specifically didn't want to fast forward and give 100% closure because after getting thousands of letters from people over the years, i came to the conclusion that it was more important to each individual person to get the ending they wanted rather than have me write it. so many people were invested in this story and so many people wanted different things to fit their own narrative so i went a more generic route for the reader. I think that's more fun that having everything resolved just by the writer, that's only one POV. so that was the design. you get to check your own boxes but there's enough there to satisfy most people i think
Fair enough. I do that with everything anyway, even if there's a canon ending. If I don't like it, I change it in my head. As I said, I'm probably spoiled. I completely understand giving an ambiguous ending so people can fill in the blanks themselves.
sure thing. that's perfectly acceptable. get what you need from the project. that doesn't bother me a bit :)
i tried to include plenty of subtle cues for different perspectives on the end so there's hopefully something for everyone. i do appreciate the interest, though, and i'm glad you enjoyed it
That was amazing.
Seriously the most affirming and beautiful piece of gay media I've ever seen. One of the most endearing aspects was how the characters' depth and your abilities as a story teller developed in tandem, and all of it seemed to mirror Zack's own development... which I know mirrored my own coming out: stumbling around for way to long just trying to see dick and then slowly realizing the complexity of the world around you and the people in it. Very meta. I have to admit that a couple of the plot points towards the end were a little ... "extra" but how you leveraged them to propel the character development and tell a deeper story made the more superficial plot exploits work in your favor.
The ending did *not* disappoint - and I think it would have been so easy to botch. The meta references (porn can have stories etc...) and how you inserted yourself at the end were really spot on (cheesy, but spot on). The writing in the Ash scenes literally had me laughing out loud.
I downloaded this for "porn" but I got something so much deeper. That really became obvious when I realized that the "hottest" scenes were the ones where they were just laying in bed. And I teared up SO many times. It's definitely unlike anything I've ever seen, and it's something I really needed to see at this moment in my life. Thanks for your effort working on this, the care you put into it is evident and I've been waiting 20 years to hear a story like this. It's really breathtaking, and I hope you're proud.
Thank you!
Thank You! I subscribe to every single word.
I’ve been trying to comment for a few weeks to express what this story did for (and to) me but almost everything I want to say was already said in a much better way than I would be able to say it. I find it astonishing how consitent the reactions to this „game“ are (at least from those who take the time to comment). Maybe it‘s a matter of „natural selection“ because those who make it to the end, do so for very similar reasons. But most of all, the way the story is crafted conveys such a strong message that it‘s impossible not to be affected by it. I‘m glad that I found it by coincidence and very grateful to Aaryn and his co-developers.
Heya, glad you guys liked it and I appreciate that you looked at the story on a deeper level, given the genre that it's written in. i think the revamp will be more consistent but you're absolutely right. when i started this i had no writing experience at all you the quality of the story does develop with zack so you kinda get to watch both of us grow in real time. there's a ton of meta references in it and that was an overarching theme throughout. i wanted something that was in the adult genre that actually confronted the genre. also, glad you liked the ending. i was terrified and i agree, good stories can have terrible endings and ruin everything and i was super invested in trying to make this right. i am proud of it. it's not perfect but it's a first draft at something that i've never done before and i literally put my soul into it and i'm humbled that people have received it well and it's made such a difference to people <3
Wouah quelle merveilleuse histoire d'amour entre Zack et Braden. J'aurai tellement aimé avoir un colocataire comme Braden. Grand merci a vous pour ce jeu que j'adore malgré qu'il n'ai hélas pas de version en français.
aww. thank you :) I'm gald you enjoyed it <3
I'm going to explore translations in the future but they will only apply to the revamped version
Merci pour ta réponse, y aura t'il une suite car j'ai franchement kiffé cette magnifique histoire d'amour. 🥰😘😘😘
no sequel planned right now. I dont want to just milk the story forever. I ended it the way i wanted but I'm open to coming back to it if i think of a sequel that is better than the original. if i can't do better, i wanna leave it be :)
In all honesty… I don‘t believe there will be a sequel. Regardless how much it hurt to let go of those guys (as many others I was reduced to tears at the end), I don‘t think I would recommend a Straight!? - Season 2 (I hope I won’t get too much hate mail after this statement). It‘s obvious that you wrote this story as much for yourself as for your audience. You put all your heart and soul into it and it will be difficult to replicate the same emotional intensity you were able to create for so many of us with just a continuation of where you left off.
On the flip side… you are without any doubt a gloriously gifted writer. You have a sense of drama combined with a remarkable ability to balance intuition and self-reflection in your approch to storytelling. So, if you really mean it and you want to continue on this journey, I would rather see you start a new project that is completely different and reflects where you are on your path in life today. You have developed your own unique and genuine voice in this genre. And while it breaks my heart that I will - most likely - never know how Zack and Braden‘s relationship is going to evolve as an „official“ couple, my gut tells me that you won‘t come back to the story. But - as everybody else - I would be thrilled if you proved me wrong. Just my 2 cents ;-)
God I wish Zack could have a threesome with the other two guys
give the poor guy a break. he's got his hands full with one dude :p
(see what i did there)
so.. i totally lost touch with Str8. somewhere months(years??) ago around v.15 or sth. meanwhile, did you actually bring the story/game to an end? like, no further chapters? i see Str8 Revamp v0.02.2 as last update, is it final? gotta play all of it from scratch anyways, but first it’s worth it - especially if it’s revamped - the graphics are awesome, i like the 3d style so different from the usual sprite VN style (probably cuz i dabble in 3d, lol). and i remember parts of the story but really foggy and no idea where i left it so i need a total refresh..
heya, so welcome back. I can explain the differences for ya and it's not really a straight answer so bear with me.
so the story itself is done. that version is v0.21.4. that's a continuation of the original version that you played before. that version has the ending. v0.21.4 will also no longer be updated.
the revamp starts back from the beginning and is me using everything that i've learned to fix the early parts of the game that read, looked, and played like crap. that version has updated graphics, sound effects, music, better writing, and fixes a lot of problems from the old version. the revamp version is the current version that i'm working on but right now it's only chapter 1. the early parts of the game need a lot of work so the updates on the revamp are kinda slow with less content than what people are used to expecting from these game updates. however, it will progressively get faster because i'll have less stuff to do as the game progresses. eventually, the revamp version will replace the old version of the game and will be the finished product. the revamp will have the same ending as the other version
aah thx for the informative reply ^^ so, since i’m a sucker for graphics and also i like/need new stuff to stay interested, i’d better wait for the revamp to be well on its way like the middle or sth, and then i’ll jump unto that train.. cuz if i’m impatient and wanna play the finished old version right now to see the end, when i’ll play the revamp i’ll already know how it ends, it’s gonna be kinda spoiled in a way - and not only the end but all the rest too since it would be so fresh in my mind again… now it’s been so long since i played the old chapters, i’ve almost forgotten the details - ideal for a replay. once, not twice in a row. really looking forward to that revamp, for the old version was maybe not perfect but pretty awesome already! ^^ patiiiiiiiiieeeeence TT
you know.. somehow i really admire you. scratch the “somehow”… i DO admire you. this game was already a titanic task in itself, since you did a lot by yourself.. but now to start “all over” again from the start and make it better, wow. pure tenacity and enthusiasm! wish i had just a tenth of it, since i’m this person who has a thousand ideas.. but can be glad if they actually manage to realize 10 of them. IF even. XDDD
heh, well i appreciate it. i've had my ups and downs but i was really dedicated to this. but i also dont want to drag the game out for 10 years either. i'm not one to milk and i dont wanna run the story into the ground. i appreciate your compliment. i'm not perfect but i try my best considering i didn't know shit about this when i started.
i will say that fans of the original are still enjoying the revamp. it's a very different experience. lot of people are saying it's like a whole new game. several have mentioned they actually enjoy going back through the revamp after completing the regular because you get to catch things that you didn't see before. but that's a preference thing i'm sure. the revamp is still gonna take me awhile-- prob a year anyway so just a heads up. if you hadn't played since v0.15 though, holy crap...i promise the story gets way better than what you've seen before
omfg.. a year.. hardcore. but then, according to what you said last, it’s literally gonna wham me into the ground. really worth the wait ^^
lol. idk if it'll wow you. you may have high expectations and i'm one dude with 2 buddies helping me out. but it's exponentially better than the original imo. the first 3 screenshots posted here (ignoring the video) are from the revamp
I've already said all this in the ratings but I've decided to say it again, heh.
I'm not even sure where to start. Maybe woah....just woah...when I first discovered this, I thought it would just be something to keep my attention or have some fun with but...this far exceeded anything I could have ever imagined. It seemed so...I dunno, normal, for lack of a better term, at first for what you might expect of a VN and then it just....cascaded into this absolute masterpiece of love, angst, desire, self discovery and a million other things that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a "slow burn" approach at first but....my gosh, I can't say I would have preferred it any other way. All the characters, not even just the "main" ones, all just enveloped me and clearly served to get some message across or fill some role. Every interaction felt real and everything that happened just seemed to build and coalesce until I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I'm not even sure how to properly express the things this made me feel and, honestly, I'm okay with that. I don't really leave reviews too often but I couldn't just quietly rate this without at least attempting to express my gratitude for this project. On a personal level, I've had my own struggles finding my motivation and expressing who I am to the people close to me, but seeing how those in the story were able to fumble through overcome their insecurities...gives me some hope that I might be able to accept myself one day. I'm not really sure what else to say....I'm trying to be as coherent as possible, but my mind feels like as much of a storm as Zack's after finishing this, heh. Just keep up the amazing work. This is going to stay with me for a long while...
Oh, and I fully intend on checking the revamp! Something like this improved upon?!?! I have to see it, heh.
heya, thank you for the kind message. i know the slow burn was different for this genre. in fact, i got a little pressure early on from people that they wanted things to move faster until they really figured out what my goal was. this project isn't for everyone and that's ok. i appreciate you not being able to wrap your head around it. i wrote the thing and i still struggle with it but that's because it was super personal for me. ive produced this thing episodically so each update was just a little more of the story and i never was happy with the episodes until weeks after i launched them. i just needed to sit with it. anyway, that's me and wont apply to everybody. but if it is something you can reflect on and it's healthy for you, take it. but you're not alone in that storm. hope you find your peace with things some day and i'm honored that this story played a small role in that process. thanks for reading <3
Dude...WTF! I come here expecting sone shitty porn game to take care of my boredom and instead i find this gem... Havent finished yet but you made me cry so many times it's almost funny. I literally made an account just to post this because you are an amazing storyteller and honestly i can't wait tu see what else you got...
Keep up the amazing work!
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Update... Finished the game... Wow...
Honestly that ending... it was perfect men, i'm not a usually emotional guy but the entire time you managed to make me feel everything like it was my own story... and that ending i both love it because WOW and hate it because it's the end you know... That scene with the random dude at the train station dude the minute i realised what was going on i just broke down, cold not stop sobbing for like 5 minute straight...
Really hoping for a sequel coz im invested in those characters now, i mean it i wanna know what hapens next... or maybe since you are revamping it add more storylines, more topics to explore, maybe add Breaden's POV stuff like that because i feel like the end came too soon...
Anyways... Thank you so much for this and really hoping it's not the end of this story i love it way to fuking much!!!
heya, sorry I'm slow to get back to this message. I saw your first one but was busy over the weekend. glad you made it to the end and i'm glad you enjoyed the ending. shit made me cry too and i wrote the damn thing, lol. we just had the braden pov topic come up on the discord again today. i dont have any plans right now for a braden pov but it was something i was looking at really early on. i ended up changing my mind because i sorta think the mystery of braden and his nonconformity is actually more powerful and relatable to people without giving all kinds of details. i want more, too. i miss these guys.
but hey, check out the revamp version. you played my rough draft. legit had no idea what i was doing so that was just me messing around in the beginning until i really started to feel more comfortable. if you liked the rough draft, i think you'll really like the revamp, it's way better. it's still a work in progress tho so it's just the first chapter right now but i'm still actively working on it. anyway, appreciate the post and sorry my porn game made you sob :p
Dude don't be sorry this was amazing! seriously in my top 5 best story of all time and you aren't even a professional, i'm in awe...
Right now you have a diamond in the rough, i cant wait to see what you do with it!!! Hopefully you will lenghten it, not gonna lie i loved it so much i was actually sad it was over and that everything hapenned too fast and i wish they had more time to get to know eachother and build their friendship, so adding detail to their story would endear us to them even more...
For the Braden POV you dont have to do it :P i'm just curious as to what was going on in his head the hole time, i mean that guy is just so amazing i would like a peak in his head. Maybe once you are done with the main game you will make an extendes version including it for those of us who are interested, maybe not dosent matter in the end i'm sure it will be extraordinary either way.
By the way i feel like when you originally introduced the other characters you kinda made them into potential romentic partners but scrapped the idea either because you wanted to perfect one route at a time or just changed your idea midway but im happy the way those friendship turned out, i mean if you did add those possibility later on i would play them out of curiosity but i feel they are unnessary, like you have already made me fall for Braden and at this point i would prefer to get more of him than other options... but anyway you do you, im sure that if you did add other romance they would be as beautiful and meaningfull as what we already have...
Anyways as you so beautifully said in the game nothing last forever, so ill sign off with this: I never expected a game to be that good or to make me feel so much, or to be so meaningfull, Zack was so relatable i almost felt like it was my story and i was actually living it instead of just playing a game, and Braden... Honestly i have no idea how you managed to make such an amazing character, i coulden't help but fall in love with him too... I dont think you realise just how much of an impact this game had on me and will have on many in the future, i'm still shaking dude...
I cant wait to see what you do next so keep up the amazing work and i hope i find a Braden of my own somewhere someday.
Aaryn, so you probably already know you did a hell of a job with that VN.. basically every comment here says that.. so just a quick but massive THANK YOU.. as so many ppl already told you, it really spoke to me and meant a lot to me to be read it.. take care <3
heh, aww well thank you. i never take things for granted and it always feels good to know that one more person enjoyed it. that never gets old. thank you for checking in and leaving a message. it means a lot to me. you take care too <3
Thanks you, I won't say much but your story definitely had a strong impact on me. Hopefully, I'm able to move forward and learn from this experience. Hope you're doing great, thanks again !
i appreciate you just checking in and letting me know it mattered. I wish you the best and i hope you find peace in whatever you choose <3
i want to say that this is the best yaoi game i have ever played and its the first game to make cry. this game spoke to me and did make me think about my life.
aww, well thank you. i'm glad you enjoyed it and it made a difference. now just pass that energy on to somebody else <3
ive put this to the ratings but i wanna put it here too hehe, i want to extend my gratitude. Made me contemplate my own life too and i needed it, badly more than i know. Thanks for creating such a wonderful story, it made me feel lots of emotions that i cant really describe much because i always cry lol. I relate to this im also gay and im kinda worried to what my parents will say but i hope soon i can have the courage zack did. Ive been having issues with my friends lately,especially with my own feelings about them and i realized how much clarity this story has given me more than what others can offer me. Me and my friends are like this before but i guess the older you get, the people you thought youll have forever will eventually grow apart with you. Nothing really lasts forever and its been a long time since i heard that and i guess this story reminded me to wake up and face the truth. I love all of them, the story flow and all its perfect! Sorry for blabbering here. Anw, ill be entering college soon and i hope i also find the happiness i deserve. THANKS AGAIN! :D
i had an urge to share this to my friends and spout how much i loved this story but i dont think theyll understand me and my love for the story. Guess ill gatekeep iy for a while until i find someone who can understand me.
heya, sorry about the slow response. holidays had be busy and stuff. promise i read your message like 4 times the day you posted it and i appreciated it. I'm glad that the game touched you in a way that stimulated some contemplation. i think that's always a good thing as long as we look in ourselves with honesty and a desire to improve rather than just being overly critical. relationships do change. i had people i was super close with growing up that i haven't talked to in forever. especially old school friends. if you'd like to share the story and you think it would help others, than feel free. if it's gonna be weird or cause controversy, it may not be a good idea. we do have a discord if you want to join a community of fans. just have to make sure you're 18+ and you're nice. Only two requirements. we're pretty chill
its fine! thank u for responding :) ngh tbh I’m not functioning well lately lol so idk how to respond properly without being weird or something, but i really appreciate ur response. I hope ur doing well and had a great holiday! ill think about joining the community since I’m busy and im kinda shy unlike i used to be, still thanks for the offer!
no worries. i wish you the best. keep your head up <3
I can't find enough words to fully express my love and gratitude for these heroes and their stories. It's been a long time since visual novels have caused me such strong feelings, in terms of emotions and affection. I cried like a bitch all day after the end. Because in the behavior of the main character and his actions, I recognized myself in many ways. I will definitely return to this college again and again. And even though I'm fan-obsessed with finding out what happened to the guys next, I'm just happy that they're together and love each other.
Thank you! Thank you so much for giving me this little emotional miracle.
I hope my own Braden will find me one day too...
aww, well thank you. i appreciate your energy and i'm sorry it made you cry. i put a lot into this and it's not done yet. if you haven't checked out the revamp, give it a go. it's a whole new experience and it may scratch that itch of you wanting more. thank you for the kind message. i really appreciate it
No, no, I'm incredibly grateful for the emotions I experienced! It is very rare to meet something that can cause such strong feelings in an adult me. And yes, just today I tried a rewamp. Dude.. You're fucking brilliant! It's amazing how it sounds and looks now. I promise to become and be your patron until the end!
heh, aww. i'm def not brilliant. just a dude messing around but i appreciate your motivation and the support. just don't short yourself. the world's been crazy and you need to take care of the people's closest first. i do this based solely on donations for a reason. if you do sign up for patreon, though, there's a new v0.03 of the revamp out now. just dont use old saves. that version will be free come mid january. i'm glad i was able to tug at your heartstrings, though. it's been a powerful journey for me
I would like to say thank you for writing this and telling this story. As you say in the prelude, "For those who have ever stumbled along the path of sexual self-acceptance, this is for us." Thank you...Zack's story is my story; I know mine is not finished yet, however you've given me hope for a happy end as well. Like Zack, I have my inner turmoil, overthink things and wait for the universe to change, instead of me having to change and take a chance. I am a straight-acting gay dude who never fit in, and like Zack, I see the beauty in others and can't understand why they have insecurities, despite not being able to believe it when someone says the same about me. Zack is a beautiful person, whether he accepts it or not, and his story has inspired me to very seriously start the journey to see myself that way too. To the author: I make the assumption that many of Zack's character traits and his story are based on some of your own, only because he is so well written and his inner monologue is so *real*; YOU are a beautiful person. I hope this isn't a spoiler for anyone (and please feel free to edit it out if you think it is), but one of my favorite quotes that really hit me is from Ash: "You can't like me for being an outlier and hate yourself for being one, stupid. Just embrace it and stop arguing with yourself for no reason." I think we all need that unfiltered external perspective. Like a previous commenter, after finishing this, I have some very strong emotions...maybe a bit of depression, only because I don't want it to end, but mostly hope! Anyway, happy holidays and THANK YOU for this gift.
i really appreciated this. i can't express how rewarding it is when people have the intended reaction or the story resonates and clicks with someone. that's always been rewarding for me and i'm glad it made a difference. i read this on christmas morning and it was just really nice timing so thank you. i wish you peace on your own journey and i'm honored the story and these goofy little characters have played a small role in your desire to move forward <3
I absolutely love the game. I'm almost done, but I'm already affected by it so much that now I'm depressed as hell, haha. I know it's just fiction and the characters are not real, but I love them! Their struggles, thoughts, and actions are realistic and that's why it's affecting me so much. Such a really amazing game. I've already given a review, but yeah...I don't know how to describe the game and how I'm feeling. But, basically, I wish I was Zack and have friends like that in my life, which is why I'm so sad. And wish I had made the decisions a long time ago where I'd be better off today and with better friends.
Really an amazing cinematic novel, truly the best I've played and probably ever as well. :)
Looking forward to the revamp! I played a bit of it, the changes are so amazing, super excited about it!
Also, wanted to say THANK YOU so much for making this! I am really and eternally grateful!
lol. well i'm not sure how to respond to someone who is thanking me for giving them depression. but hi... and you're welcome?
but nah, seriously. thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you got as invested as you did. if it makes you feel better, i felt a since of loss when it was all over. i typed the last word and just sat in silence. it's been 5 years so it was pretty bittersweet. while i'm actively working on the revamp, i still miss the characters and where they are. they've been a huge part of my life over the last few years and it left a pretty gaping hole when it was all done for me too. So, while i may not have experienced it the same way you did, i get it that there's a general sense of loss there. I hope you enjoy the ending. endings are always the hardest part. <3
I'm sorry! Maybe depression is not the right word, haha, more like overwhelmed with emotions and I've been contemplating so much with my life. I understand what you mean, it being bittersweet and having it be a huge part of your life.
But, OH MY GOSH, just finished it. Woooooow, the ending was so perfect. That was soooo good....I sobbed a lot, starting with the last day all the way to the very end, lol. That was so good, I've been dreading to finish it because I didn't want it to "end", but I'm so glad I did - I feel much more at peace now! Thank you, thank you for the most amazing story I've had the privilege of reading and experiencing.
I'm not sure what to say now! You deserve all the support with the game! And this cemented my belief even more now that this is the best cinematic visual novel ever. :)
aww, well thank you. i really appreciate it. i was just teasing you about the "depression" reaction too <3
glad you liked the ending. i tried to check a lot of boxes with it while still trying to make it unique compared to other stories out there. Thank you for the kind words and happy self-reflecting :)
So I just wanted to say...wow. Absolutely stunning. My very first VN, and first gay/NSFW game to boot.
I only played the original version, but do plan on trying out the revamped version. Before I do though, is the revamped version really more like a QOL update, or are there plot updates/additions, as well? Just curious.
Thanks again for bringing this to light. You should be proud of this.
heya and glad you liked the old version. So the revamp is my attention to bring the beginning of the game's quality up to the level of quality we see at the end. I'd never done any of this before and my lack of understanding on anything really shows in the beginning parts so I wanted to fix that. The early part also had things cut out just to make Patreon updates. When your'e starting out early, you have to put out product frequently but that takes time and when you're doing it solo, you have to pick and choose what to include and what to scrap. As the project continued, I was able to build enough faith in the community that longer production time actually meant longer updates so it balanced out. The revamp, so far, is completely reshot. No CGs are reused. It's much more cinematic like what you see in the end game. There's also music now and the dialogue is redone, including new discussions, teasing, and stuff like that. I've also eliminated the repeatable grind that you have to go through in the first few chapters, that's being replaced with a more linear story because it was annoying. These revamp updates are coming out way faster than the old ones too. If you get a chance, check it out. I honestly think it's worth it even if you played the original. Just from the time you boot it up, it's a completely different experience for the early game.
Thanks so much for that info! I've started playing through it and agree, it definitely is an entirely different experience.
I want to say, I'm liking the changes so far. By the by, do you happen have anyone proofing/editing the script that you wrote, or is it just you?
Soooo, that's kind of a loaded question so i'll answer it from a few different angles. Thus far, Blayke my co-writer/editor has helped me with that stuff. However, that last v0.02 had a few typos that we missed in the rush. People on my Discord have offered some corrections which will appear in v0.03 that I'm working on the tail end of now.
The other side to that is that this story is written very imperfectly. It has it's own reasons for that and was more of an outlet for me than it was ever designed to be a cohesive tale. The pacing is sometimes off and my sense of time in the story is garbage (lol). I will say that I play to keep some of those imperfections because they're almost nostalgic to me at this point and I don't really want to buff them out. I also like a certain type of writing akin to Faulkner or Cormac McCarthy. i like those long dramatic run on sentences sometimes which are not technically correct but they capture the gravity of the picture in my head. Some of those have driven Blayke beyond the realm of madness and he has made several editing suggestions throughout and i've sometimes ignored some of those just because i wanted it authentically me.
Not sure if that answers your questions or not.
hi. it doesn't work on windows 32 bit. right?
I believe that it should work
indeed it doesn't
Ok, so I did some checking on this because it used to work. Apparently, Renpy (the coding program) has updated and no longer supports 32 bit for Windows and Linux as of version 8.x. According to Renpy's creator, the 32 bit environment "is not the best environment to run Renpy smoothly in all instances." I didn't realize this was a change with the recent update so sorry about the false info.
it's fine. thank you for your work.
Hey! I downloaded version 0.21.4 but there are no sounds in this game? should this be because the settings have that you can adjust the votes but nothing is heard?
heya. there is no sound in v0.21.4. that was my rough draft of the story so it's basically just the rough written story. the revamp is what i'm currently working on now and that has sound. if you're new to the game, i'd honestly recommend playing the v0.21.4 that you downloaded first to get the whole story. even after finishing the story, the revamp is a whole new experience that people are really enjoying
Thanks for the quick reply. I played yeah that remaster version already until when I could. I have now played this 0.21.4. a good story has been and I liked this thanks :)
good deal. glad you enjoyed :)
I played through the game and I just want to say that brought the story was absolutely wonderful! absolutely brilliantly embroidered! made me think about my own life, that you yourself sometimes fall in love so fervently and that love is so genuine... well reveal that I am gay and well myself has been difficult to find a relationship or I would have felt that love... tears came when I played this game... because the story is great but also at the same time became cried how in your own life there is no love... :/ thanks bro for this game! continue with the same pattern and my question is that at some point you were going to start making a whole new game?
aww. give it time. I don't think that's something you can rush and it works differently for everyone. I've said before that this game, the interactions, and the path they walk isn't not the "truth." It's not the "right" or "only" way of doing things. It's just one way that happened to be the path that these characters chose. That shouldn't be a standard for others. But if there's things within the story that resonate with you and things that you can take from it that will bring your joy or improve your own life, then take them. But definitely take the time to find your own way that's unique and special to you <3
Funny how you have them complain about the cold room, and render it with the WINDOW OPEN hehe
you can't overestimate the power of fresh air :)
i love this game
<3 thank you
You really did an amazing job, making a fun and engaging game, while still keeping it so much more realistic then most other games containing NSFW. Content.
I played this game, really only looking for another NSFW quick game to play for fun. And was so surprised, to find so much going on. Happy fun moments, friendship, responsibilities, moments of great suspense and or great sadness. A game I thought I would spend a few days playing, hooked me and I played through all the available content (at the time) in one night.
It's not only relatable in terms of accepting one's self and desires, like you've said. But it has so much more that really speaks to the player. Such as waiting to do certain things in life until you're older, the fears and insecurities that plague our minds, letting anxieties cripple you. Growing as a person. Making mistakes, that sometimes habe prolonged consequences. And how no matter how close you get to your friends a part of life is being willing to accept they habe their own path to take, and sometimes thay path leads away from yours. It hurts alot, but its a good pain. A pain of I miss you, but you have faith in your friends, and know one day you'll all meet again.
I hope one day you will make a sequel, or some continued parts of this story. It deserves so much. But you also deserve your time to do ehay you wanna do. I know you love your creation here, but you also need time to do other things, and have some fun with other projects you may be thinking of. So there is no rush.
I don't wanna ruin anything more then I habe of your story, but one part I really wish had more options for us to pick, would be when they go to the beach and a certain someone disappeared. I really don't like our character just sits there frozen going through his own thoughts instead of helping. Idk I just could never freeze up like that especially if someone o consider my friend and love deeply was potentially in danger. I know its supposed to play into their characters. But it kinds feels wrong here. Idk not asking you to change anything, simply sharing the only thing that I was conflicted about. Amazing work and thanks so much for sharing your hard work with us. I love it !
same for me, i only search for NSFW at first, but playing every episode from the start really pick my interest and got my feeling up and down, its just seems realistic with real life and how we would react when we were the character, been through giggle and tears by self when playing this.
All those plot hole really got me, never expected the outcoming in the last episode, i won't do spoiler, but this was a great story when you start from the first episode.
Maybe this game could be expanded into playing the other character as well so we will get another point of view, other than Zack pov, maybe we can see how Braden, Mikhail and Max (Ash) pov too, so we can completely understand the whole plot.
Maybe there were another theme on another season to continue the story, so the story doesn't really end now, when this story goes about communicate in relationship and dealing with sexuality label issue. The story could use topic about dealing with sexual protection and dissease, coming out to parents, coping about losing loved ones (partner, crush, or even friends), or maybe the struggle about getting on relationship on another country or another culture, and other struggle that always happen on daily life (gay relationship or another LGBT kind of relationship). The story could go many potential development, as they were still young college kids.
The devs were really awesome doing this visual novel, great job guys, really appreciate every bit of it
heya, thanks so much. I usually won't tell people how to read the story but i can tell from your post that you picked up all the things that i really wanted people to from this story so thanks, it's always reassuring to get messages like that.
In terms of the choices: Yeah, i wish their were more choices too. this was my first attempt at writing anything and i think it would be easier to write a book than a VN just because of all the branching paths and stuff. that can get out of hand really quick so i sorta limited them because my concentration is trash. Plus, the more paths i develop, the longer things take and people get antsy for updates. It's not very often people accusing me of being lazy but 2 or 3 have over the years and while i dont personalize those comments, the time it takes to create something like this is always on my mind.
the specific choice that you listed: the swimming accident, is a tough one. that's been heavily debated on our discord since it happened and i'll go on the record as saying that i have no regret for not giving the audience a choice. there was a lot that went into that moment and giving the reader a choice in that moment essentially breaks the story to me. I realized when i was writing this story that these characters and my ability to control them was out of my hands. they began to have a life of their own beyond me. i knew that for awhile but not until the beach scene. I found myself screaming at zack. i was frustrated and and angry and i wanted him to be a hero there... because that's what people are supposed to do. but in the reality is that that's not always what people do. sometimes trauma can twist you and zack's response in that scene is very much a realistic response. i couldn't control him and i was angry and i wanted the audience to feel the same like of control. while the game is a VN and we usually have choices associated with that to get the ending we want, it was never up to us, the audience, to choose this ending. these characters had to find what worked for them. a large part of this narrative was being yourself and finding who you really are. if the audience was allowed to change the story, or manipulate the character, that defeats the whole purpose because the characters would still have someone telling them who they were and who they should become.
i know some will disagree with that approach. hell, i disagree with it because there's things in the story that i would choose differently for them. but that wasn't my choice to make and i wanted to pass that along to the audience as well
this there a way to get with ash and/or Meakil?... maybe threesome or foursome?
nah. Rather than having a handful of "romance" routes in the game, i wanted to focus on polishing one route to the best of my ability. In time, the fan base grew to see most of my side characters as threats and it really took some careful handling to make a lot of the fans actually like anyone else even on a friend level. So no. no other romance routes. the fan base would have literally killed me, lol
I made this account to be able to comment and thank you for making this game, I honestly loved it and felt identified with many things. I would like to be able to donate something but right now I can't. By the way, are there plans for a sequel? I would love to see how the couple develops. Thank you very much for the story again!
Heya, glad you like the story and were able to identify or find things that you could pull that were applicable to your experiences. Don't worry about the donation stuff, the game is free for a reason. If you want to help out, you can always share or help spread word of the project-- that counts just as much. But no pressure. It's perfectly fine to just play it and enjoy it.
My official position on sequels right now has been that I have no plans for one. I worked hard to tie things up in a certain way at the end of this one and any sequel would potentially undo that. However, if i think of a story that's better than this one for a part 2, then I'll certainly give it a shot. i know people are interested in a sequel but i don't want to drag it out just as a money grab, ya know?
I think it's evident that you care deeply for this story and I'm glad that it resonated with a lot of people. There were parts of it that felt alienating to me. I remember reading one of the earlier chapters and there was a scene where Zack and Braden were talking about the "gay movement" that was off-putting to me. Had to take a break from the story for a while. When I came back to it, I was relieved that the politics were set aside in favor of getting to know the characters. I grew really attached to them, and was enjoying seeing the story progress. It was frustrating seeing the same political issue pop up again in a recent chapter.
I can empathize with feeling like you're maybe being judged or pushed to accept an identity that you're not ready for, but saying that gays that are comfortable with their sexuality make it their personality or "advertise it to everyone" (whatever that means) feels mean-spirited. Some of us can't or never wanted to pass for straight so we either had to accept ourselves or spend our lives miserable. I think closeted guys can be quick to say that out gays judge them but can't see how they're being judgemental as well.
Ultimately it's your story, write it how you want. Just trying to share a perspective you might not have considered.
Heya,
Thanks for the note and I'm glad you enjoyed most of the story. The early positions of Zack can certainly be off-putting to some, but they're common for many and that was just part of his character and that changes drastically over the course of the story. This story is written very existentially and that can be a very individual journey. I've stated that it's not the way towards acceptance, it's just a story about one person's slow shifting of ideas and what allows them to find and accept who they specifically are. Some of that may or may not be applicable to others. I've always encouraged people to take what benefits them from the story and leave what doesn't.
While I don't normally tell people how to interpret the story, I would disagree with what you took from it as I feel the bulk of the narrative argues on behalf of exactly what you wanted it to. In fact everything you're saying is a leading reason into why i wrote the story and it's a constant message from characters like Mikhail, Ash, and Braden as they try and beat it into Zack's head. Being much more public or overt regarding one's sexuality is completely valid and all the characters would agree with that as well-- even Zack at the beginning of the story would agree with that. The overwhelming bulk of the story very much states that people should become themselves or at least work towards that as much as possible--whatever that may be. Which very much includes someone who, as you said, "never wanted to pass for straight" or is more overtly expressive about their sexuality. I can't imagine these characters disagreeing with that lifestyle and I don't know of any part of the story in which they do. However, that more overt lifestyle may not apply to everyone and that's just as valid like Braden says. I guess I would compare it to an introvert versus an extrovert. Both are valid but trying to force one into the other would probably be catastrophic for their identity. I would also note that "introvert" here doesn't mean closeted. I think in the case of these characters, a more flamboyant and sexually open lifestyle isn't who they are, that doesn't mean they have ill feelings towards that lifestyle or judge people with that lifestyle, it just means that it's not them. I'm pretty introverted but that doesn't mean i judge or have ill feelings towards extroverts-- I just couldn't live that way and be happy, just like an extrovert could probably not live my lifestyle and be happy. We're different people and that's ok. Braden gives a few pretty long talks about that near the end. Honestly, Braden would probably be a blast around a more open and flamboyantly gay character. To me, this story was always about finding yourself on that continuum, wherever it may be, and living that out while also realizing others can live in a completely different way that brings them just as much happiness.
heyy
I'm the same person as 2 months ago hehe and I've been replaying it and a few questions were going through my head (and also replaying it again made me notice how accurate and relatable is Zack's character with his overthinking. I see myself so much) anyways the questions are: 1) what year are they in, in the game? is it like a specific year? Ernie refers to them as Millenials so.. 2) is it a made-up story or are some things from a true story? just curious :) 3) do you plan to do more games like this one? because I would be very excited to play it!!
thank you for your availability and for creating this game again haha :)
Hey,
No probs. I'm always up for questions. Also, I'm happy the story is still holding up after a few rereads.
1) The Year. So there's actually no year associated with the game. I've purposely tried to write the dialogue with references or slang that's all over the place. Some of the references Zack makes reference things from decades ago. But also other references are much more modern (like "millennials" and some technology references). I did that purposely to try to make the game transcend the readers age groups. I sorta wanted any legal age to be able to pick the game up and see something that's applicable to their generation.
2)True Story or not? For this question, I'm just gonna post a link to a Patreon post. It gives some background on the purpose of the game, too. Don't worry, it's a free post and you don't need a Patreon account to view the post. You can check it out here
Hope this helps. If you still have more questions, hit me up. And no problem on being available. I like being accessible as a developer. Lot of devs aren't or they just have a narcissistic attitude. It's honestly super humbling to talk to fans of the project so thanks for the interest <3
thank you omg!! also, another question that I forgot to ask is: did you take a major in psychology? because the words and the "thoughts" seem by someone who took a major in psychology. also, I love the phrase where zack says that people who study psychology want to fix other people's problems bc they can't fix their own because I'm doing psychology at school, and it's honestly funny how accurate it is. thank youu and have a good day/afternoon/night :)
haha. yeah, I have a masters in clinical psych. Finished it while I was working on this project actually.
And yeah, people taking psych classes to secretly fix themselves is huge. It's to the point that at the masters level, instructors are viewed as gatekeepers to try and filter some of those people out.
Honestly one of the best story games I've had the pleasure of reading. So much so that I compare a lot of the other ones to this one and it usually doesn't even come close haha This story really pulled me in and I could feel the raw emotion the characters were portraying. Well done man. I'm so glad I found this and played it out to the end.
well thank you. I really did want to do something different with this, which is maybe why you can't find other games like it. I wanted a heavy story, humor, rollercoaster emotions, and something that people could take something away from if they chose-- all within an adult context. It's a weird mix but I like the vibe of that because that's what living is to me. I know a few people have started writing their own stories after playing this so hopefully we start seeing more. I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Stay tuned because the revamp is taking it up like 100 more notches in quality.
This game is litrally so good. This game mentally, emotionally, and phisically made me feel better about my self and the characters in this game. I absolutely love the story its phenominal, the characters itselfs are phenominal everything is phenominal. This honestly is my favorite game in the whole world to the point where I can't even express my emotions. You deserve the world and you should definitely give yourself a shoulder pat for this.
aww, well thank you. I really appreciate this. I'm glad it had an impact on you. warm fuzzy messages like this are my shoulder pat so thank you <3
I love the new stil of your side.
hehe. thanks. it's a work in progress. I've been wanting to redo things over here to reflect the new direction of the game development but website updates take a ton of time and that's time away from actual development so I tend to put it off. I'm gonna do a quick note to all the followers over here when I get things finalized. glad you like it tho. thanks :)
hey, if you dont mind me asking, what do you use to create your visual novel? i want to make my own but i dont know how
heya. sure thing. So there's a few different engines that you can use for VNs but Renpy seems to be the most popular. I've never coded in my life and I'm still not good at it but you can do most basic stuff with Renpy without too much trouble. It's also good for games like Straight!? that has a TON of dialogue. Unity is another one that some people role with but from what I hear, it's a little more tedious in starting a new conversation box whereas Renpy is just a new line in the script. You can pretty much google or youtube Renpy tutorials. If I had a recommendation to start with, I'd probably go with that but honestly I'm not that knowledgeable about this stuff, I only know what I've had to figure out to do this game.
In terms of art, you can just draw the stuff you want if you're good at that. Others will hire an artist and write their own story and just work as a duo. I use Daz3D for the art in Straight!? Blender is also good if you need to make custom 3D stuff
ok thank you, this helps !!
sure thing. no problem. good luck. it's suuuuuper overwhelming at first (and by "at first" i mean for like the first 3 years, lol)
this is me still building up the courage to finish it months later..
well, if it makes you feel better, i'm working on the revamp so you get to start all over again if you're up to it. However, i haven't figured out a way to post it on here yet to make it easy. I'm working on redoing this page to incorporate it but you can still download it for free on my patreon
im down to go through all the feels again, is it on your patreon right now ?
yep. It’s very short. Just the first day but I’m hoping to have the next section out next week. Here’s the direct link to the post if that helps
https://www.patreon.com/posts/72286791?utm_campaign=postshare_creator
This game is excellent. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get super hard, it has everything
it's the circle of life, Simba :)
it moves us all