Post by Malia_Gede in Bright Oak (demo) comments

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I believe that tag "relationship" imposes a special responsibility on developers. The time when experienced players were satisfied with the old-school system "I am nothing special, but I will say a couple of right words and anyone will fall in love with me" has passed.

The characters of this game seemed quite interesting to me, the plot is relatively fresh. But I want to believe that the main character will be a little more peculiar (including the efforts of the player). I understand that such things are not worth comparing, but over the past month several new relationship games have been published (for example, "mask of the rose"), which have satisfied even the most demanding of us.

Bright oak definitely has potential in this direction and I wish you good luck and inspiration in your future work.

Butterfly Rocket Studios1 year ago (2 edits) (+2)

It's my devout hope that Bright Oak will fulfill that for you, as well! 🌿

My reason in choosing the "relationship" tag is to better represent the scope of interactions the story represents-- not only between the player character and a chosen someone, but also among the rest of the cast; and not only restricted to romantic love, but further encompassing friendship and found family. After all: there is a lot of range and nuance that fall under the larger umbrella of "relationships". ✨

The demo is just the first act of three, and focuses primarily on introducing the characters and setting; with that now set, the rest of the game involves deepening the interactions between characters, as well as addressing the overarching narrative storyline. The MC/Kit is naturally a major hub in that, and while I did my best to leave enough breathing room to accommodate a variety of different players, I do consider Kit as coming with a pre-established personality, which becomes increasingly evident as the tension mounts.

Looking at the game you cite, it does look absolutely fantastic! --and it also looks like it has a very, very different shape and aim from Bright Oak (to say nothing of having been made by a group over four times the size of my tiny studio 🫣). Bright Oak does feature relationships as a major story element, but I would not say that Bright Oak is either a dating sim, nor would I describe it as a romance first and foremost. It is not focused on stat-building, nor customizing appearances, nor is the overall narrative predicated entirely on player choice: there is a specific vision and story I wanted to tell with Bright Oak, and while it is my dear hope that people will enjoy shaping and exploring the way that story unfolds, I totally understand if that isn't what you're looking for. 💕

Thank you so much for taking the time to play the demo, and for leaving a response so clearly close to your heart; I hope that the finished story will meet your standards, and if it doesn't, that you're able to find many others that do! 🌿

Malia_Gede1 year ago(+1)

Thank you for the detailed answer! Having almost three decades of gaming experience, I rarely write comments at all and do it only in those rare cases when new projects are worth it. I guess this is just the case.

Games from small development teams often have the sincerity and spontaneity that the big gaming industry has long lost in trying to reach an ever-larger audience (and correspondingly more profit). Returning to the topic of relationships, another problem is the unsatisfactory state of many games for an adult audience with sufficient life experience. Watching the relationship of brother and sister Forster in your game is already an obvious pleasure. Therefore, I hope to see many more equally natural interactions of characters parallel to the main plot.

So you can take my comments as a compliment, mostly with a hint of some constructive criticism (which may not be useful because your plans are not yet obvious).

Butterfly Rocket Studios1 year ago

❤️ Thank you! I look forward to sharing more, and I hope that you enjoy the way the character dynamics play out going forward!

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