I love the music choice in the game! ^^
I especially love the music in the background of Khazeem’s fight :3
I'm glad, cause MAN did it take some time trawling through a bunch of sites to find what I was looking for. But you gotta have that personality, you know? Especially because in a game like this, you spend a LOT of time listening to some of the tracks. Me even more so when bug testing. So they have to earn their keep, or they get tossed out quick.
But yeah, Khazeem's is definitely a good one. I was really pleased with myself finding the title theme too, took a while but it fit perfect.
I was going to say right-click, but shockingly it seems like this functionality is completely absent from RPGMaker by default. I've found a plugin that does it just fine, but it also seems to slowdown the skip speed you get by holding down enter by a bit, so eh. Will test and possibly include with the next bugfix release.
Just the convention from a lot of Japanese games I was emulating that I carried through. If I had to guess, it might have something to do with them reading right to left instead of left to right, but that's just a guess. For what it's worth, these kind of games also require a really large and detailed player character sprite, and I think it feels more "balanced" to have that on the right than on the left for some reason.
Hey there, loved the game and have been watching your work from when you first launched Cruel Serenade! Just a few questions if you don’t mind.
— The scene where Mezz inspects a certain vent (being vague to avoid spoilers) and you play as a different person for a little while has got me wondering. Do you plan on future scenes in other games where you’re not actually playing as Mezz or is that a one time type of deal?
— With Scratch being an actual ally to Mezz and Mahir being… nicer towards Mezz, do you plan on adding more characters in the future that are named friendly NPCs or will we see something more similar to the first game where it was Mezz solo the whole way through.
— Lastly, will there ever be other weapons Mezz uses or will it be the same staff for each game? Just curious since we learn more moves but never any different beating sticks. And will moves such as the Dodge from the first game and the Dazzle Blast attack carry over or is each move in it’s own game and that’s it?
Sorry if these are dumb questions, and thanks for working so hard on bringing something this cool to itch!
No, always glad when people have questions like this. It means they're actually getting into the game and story, which is great!
I can't say one way or the other whether I'll have more non-Mezz gameplay, It kind of comes down to what presents itself story-wise. I will say I probably won't have FULL gameplay, fighting and all that, because lord would that be a lot of new art assets. But I have full walking sprites sitting around for most of the characters, so if it's something like that, it's always possible. Just depends on how things go.
Scratch will definitely be sticking around, and have some extra stuff as time goes on. I probably won't be introducing any other allies/rivals that kind of thing, but there will obviously be new named characters with each chapter.
Almost certainly just the staff. It's an art asset's thing: I'd have to redraw something like eight battle sprites for each new weapon (and the nude versions, and on and on). Plus the staff is just kind of his thing, it's part of his design and all. The plan with the special moves are that there's a new one for each chapter to keep things interesting, but none of them carry over. Balance would quickly become a nightmare if I had to account for all of them.
Thanks for the questions, and for playing the games!
Nope, just flavor. I guess I had it in my mind that I wanted him to have an excuse to be bringing the clients over there, even though they...just use the alley anyway. So it could have just been bare, but I think in my mind the implication was "hey big guy, let's go to the shady BAR and fuck, and then they never quite get there. Game dev is not always a straight line.
Oh this is INTERESTING. I've thought a few times it would be neat to actually see someone stream the game, but resigned myself to that never happening because Twitch and Youtube are very against hard-core bunny fucking action. I had no idea one could even stream on Fansly (though it makes sense), let alone that there were people doing game streams. But wait, is this an announcement of a stream today, or have you already done it? Either way, will definitely take a look, certainly can't pass up the opportunity to finally live my lifelong dream of being Devin Chat.
Also, took me a moment, but my, that's a very familiar outfit you're wearing there :D.
Im playing the 2nd half today! we just got to the dlc last weekend and got to our first breeding pole scene before ending we'll be continuing the rest of the game today. around 7:00cst
And yes I loved the outfit so much on Mezz i Had to draw my self in it. I can't wait to see the rest of the dlc and the ending of the game i think my community is gonna love it.
Nice! Well I'm in, will take a look at the VOD and drop in for the second half (hopefully, my browsers don't seem to play well with Fansly.) Also, if you aren't already, remember you can check OpenFireplace's handy reference chart to make sure you've seen everything, since I haven't got a gallery in yet (soon!).
Also holy shit, sorry I never responded to your question on the first game! I check notifications pretty regularly here, but sometimes Itch just...breaks and I don't see a comment. Or maybe by the time I saw that one you had already figured it out? Glad you got it in the end though.
The startersave is for people who have already played most of the game so they can get to the most recent content pack quickly. The DataCrystal transfers some extra information from the original game. At this time, it only unlocks one additional scene, but other information is carried over as well, and it will be used more in future chapters.
The scene in GT that the DataCrystal file unlocks is unlocked based on number of defeats in the first game. Low defeats mean no scene, mid means a scene, but you can fight to avoid it, high mean the scene is forced. Any ending in the first game where Mezz leaves the island will write the file with the relevant information. The other information in the file is not currently used, but will be later.
Not sure if this has been discussed before, if so I apologize, I am still fairly new to the series, it's been 2 and a half months I think. However, in terms of content of the series that I'd like to see/be willing to pay for beyond what's already available (unless I missed it somewhere), I'd be interested in a Mezz (or CS/GT themed, potentially options for other characters as well) Poster. Option for SFW/NSFW. I know you are focusing on the game itself, and I don't know if it's appropriate of me to ask you to take your character to that kind of medium, however I thought I'd throw this out there and see if maybe I'm not the only one interested in something like that, and if it could be a possibility in the future.
Oh no worries, I'm always glad to hear ideas, though obviously I have to turn down most of them. This is actually an interesting idea, and one I hadn't considered. I tend to take a chuckling, self-effacing view to the idea of merch for the games for the most part: a. Are people really THAT enthusiastic and b. Do they really want to advertise in public that they're jerkin' it to a cartoon bunny? But a poster would be...somewhat private? And fairly cheap and easy to contract production for, shipping etc, with some decent room for profit margin (sounds mercenary, but you have to understand this stuff takes time, and I'm running a business, so it has to generate at least SOME income to justify itself.)
So yeah, I actually really like that idea. That said: Time. I am currently working on the third Content Pack, and getting some IRL stuff sorted. After that I have to immediately dive into Chapter 3, giving it 150% of my time and energy because 1 was important, 2 was important, but 3 is also very important to get just right for a variety of reasons. Without even researching it I'm guessing it'll take me two to three weeks to whip up the art, and probably at least another month to get all the logistics of printing and ordering worked out. So it's probably not happening until after the initial release of 3 is out. That said, if you or others have suggestions for services to work with on this, I'll definitely archive them for reference later. Those kind of groups have a history of being unreliable, disrespectful of IP, and cutting pretty aggressively into profit, but it definitely won't hurt to get a jump on researching the options.
Never would I have expected to be using the personality of "Broken" Mezz for inspiration for a Dungeons and Dragons character but lo and behold, I just had to roleplay out an insane mind broken of my kobold character. So uhhh thank you for that I suppose?? Lol. In other news I've absolutely loved both chapters and can't wait to see where the next chapters go.
Ha, always glad to inspire further filth! This sounds like quite the campaign, let me know how it goes. Over the years I've gradually realized I enjoy re-tellings of tabletop games more than actually playing them. But glad you're enjoying them so far!
Oh for sure. The campaign itself has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride, and I found myself so caught off guard when I realized where the campaign was going that the party would be running into a version of my character who's just flat out insane. (Basically, the party had been on a mission to save him from hell but due to this campaign being a large scale campaign with two groups in the same world, the second group made a drastic decision which lead to both groups jumping to the past when we all first met therefore abandoning my character in hell and our last session ended with one of the party getting a vision of my character basically being out of hope, giggling like a maniac, and yea! Terrified myself and the DM. Excited to see where that goes and also mortified to see "Broken" Mezz come out of me. Definitely will update you on what comes next.