feedback on 'the scene', no spoilers:
i am aware that scene pace is important for cinematic reasons, and while it is indeed a little cumbersome to click through a 'scene', it does have the benefit of allowing us to set the pace if we happen to be 'enjoying' a particular frame in the scene... it allows us to stop and focus on a detail and let it 'inspire' us a bit extra, which some of us do need. i'm not a hair-trigger guy.
for those who do want to noscope a 'scene', there's the 'auto' function.
i think the solution is to set the timing in line with the default auto-advance time setting (however, i do usually increase that setting a little cos i read a bit faster than the default setting). not sure how much control you have over the menu settings.
as for a general "all im doing is watching, i'm not touching my big banana" gameplay style, the scene itself is very good and cinematic.
further feedback, spoilers included:
in the scene immediately after, the waking up of alex, and theres a line "i dont think i could choose her over you either", then she asks "she would be okay with that?", then an animation plays of her thinking about it..
that animation.. that one right there, that was gold in this genre. the wy she goes through three differnt expressions as she thinks, it creates beleivability.
even just having more than simple still images during conversations.
even something as simple as blinking, or a hair tuft of hair shifting, hell, even leaves on a tree shifting as if there is wind, thats what i find most games lack. thats what makes artists like carbidis so great at their craft, its the little bits of movement that bring life to the characters, camera shifting or rotating shots that add depth to a setting and/or character. it creates immersion. well done, 10/10 for that wakeup scene, she's adorable
Thank you for the feedback.
for ava scene. The pacing was set around the music, however, I discovered after having to replace my primary monitor that this doesn't work. Even though renpy's documentation states refresh rate or fps does not effect transition timing, going from a 60hz monitor to 165hz proved to me that it does because it is way out of sync on my system now, and the only thing that changed was the primary monitor. So that idea is a bit in the wind atm. So its going to be changed to more standard ero scene on the next update for the time being, till I find a solution.
my idea with it was "watching, WHILE touching my big banana" :) but seeing the responses, a lot of people loved it, a lot of people hated the hands off approach, so once I figure out the timing issue, it will be a choice, you can choose standard scene, or the 8 minute music timed scene. also looking into a mix of both as renpy does support multi synced audio tracks, so i could keep timing across tracks and adjust music 'style' as you click through the scene.
further feedback :)
Personally I would love to be able to do things like that more often, I would love to animate more, even the more subtle "animations" using just a few frames in a more stop motion kinda thing. The reason I don't atm. is I already render to much, its a personal OCD issue with me. trying to get passed it.
The working directory for this game, contains over 20,000 renders, a little over 5000 have actually end up in the game... its a problem ;)
But I have been trying to do something differently in this pending update, their is a lot more expression changes, more '3rd person' camera angles, because I realized over time, doing a first person only camera angle, while serving its purpose, limits you on a lot of things. so much can be changed about the feel of a scene just by adjusting camera dof, angle, position, etc.
i understand that a lot of what i like is impracticable, and i dont expect every shot to be the ideal, i'd just like you to know that they are appreciated, and they do make a difference to the game.
and considering how often you update the game, you're doing really well with what you've done so far :) production-wise, this really is a top notch game, up there with the best