Your games were always super ambitious - especially for a single dev. You could have gone with a pure visual novel experience, axing all gameplay elements or slashed some routes, yet you always delivered despite putting out beefy content. I really respect and admire you and Woodsy Studio (Who also started out on Lemmasoft).
So.. uh. Thank you. Sending you good energy for your shoulder.
As someone who remembers you from the Lemmasoft forum days and playing Freak-Quency, it was such an amazing journey seeing your works of art evolving. Thank you for giving us joy with your games and stories. Whatever you do in the future I hope you are happy (and never let go of your artistic spark whatever it may ask you to make)
Fascinating idea! I don't remember any VN that builds in a bit of awareness towards this particular exploitation of our earth's flora from big agriculture companies - and the resulting loss of our biodiversity (how can you patent a seed? How dare they willfully mass replace seeds to destroy our plants' diversity).
This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine since my family has farmers and I grew up on a farm. When my grandfather decided to import a more resilient old Russian grain seed so that his wheat has a better chance of surviving harsh weather the big local agriculture produce company didn't wanted to take his grain. After all he didn't buy their overbred seeds from them and required less chemical spray. So he had to find a privately owned milling company to sell his grain to.
Anyway sorry for the rambling... Art, music and writing came together in such a lovely blend here. Very cohesive. And the writing doesn't meander.
Regarding uploading it on Steam and your Spooktober submission explanation of your plans:
Steam had to change some policies reading certain countries over the the past years, due to them failing to implement a proper age verification system. They already hid "adult" games from the store in my region (Germany). Games that don't have a developer/publisher given rating will be hidden from the affected regions, too.
The rating is an internal Steam survey on the Steamworks page. It requires a bit of your time, but thankfully doesn't ask for additional money. Then there are some weird new rules for releasing additional content for adult games - like DLCs. I just wanted to let you know after reading your submission page and hopefully this game end up being "not too adult" for Steam.
There are games and in particular visual novels that fall into the mature category that are still visible on the shop. I think the 18+ adult hammer gets only enacted if the game is too explicit with sexual content. Hah... I can still buy super violent games(DOOM). It's never about the kids.
Oh a biological thriller + apocalypse + romance VN? It's like it was made for me.
Love the colors, the character design and the art. Good music, too. Very interesting to see how Lykos is portrayed. Normally these type of LIs are all a blank slate with them being a test subject and possible not having any memories. Our MC is cool. Level-headed and serious, as it fits the situation. Not OP, she is a scientist not some super soldier.
My comment contains SPOILERS, if you haven't played the demo yet scroll back up.
I was debating whether I should leave a comment or not as I'm not even the target demographic, but... eh..
First off, the title of this game and the double theme (society -> genetic matchmaking/ Eden's attempt to mutilate forge MC into the perfect partner) are a perfect fit. The menu music? It's called Bluebeard. Also fitting.
There is a really good cohesiveness here despite having many cooks working on it. Be it sprites, backgrounds and even the choice of font. There is also nice contrast going on with how clean and empty (less being more) the backgrounds, UI, sprites and CGs are, compared to the game's merciless and gory nature.
I played through the end. *Extreme body mutilation is not my cup of tea. So I cannot say that I liked that, but the theme is good and it was an interesting read.
Really good and memorable music. "Brownout" feels sentimental, like days blending into the other. Suits the MC and her "best" friend hanging out and being poor souls trying their best.
* This is not a criticism of the content of the game. Maybe a view point from someone who isn't into mutilation, or at least that much? Sometimes you need to play something despite content warnings to see if it's something you enjoy. I do like dark content. Composition and intensity of that said content comes in flavors. Sometimes you ain't into it.
Did you fill out the age rating form in the Steamworks for this game? Shouldn't take that long and will cost you no money.
For example in Germany all games that have yet not managed to fill out their age ratings on Steam get automatically blocked as well as 18+ adult games (sex). This could be simple puzzle physics games that wouldn't need an age rating, but due to laws in Germany everything requires and age rating. Steam just then block a game for my region if no age rating was provided by the developer/publisher. Region access will then be unblocked if the age rating was provided and reviewed.
Great writing. Gets you hooked and doesn't meander. The art-direction is lovely and cohesive. I love the way you used highlighted words and sound effects to aid the horror elements in this game.
After seeing the announcement I became sad and angry. It's easy for me to say to ignore the Ai art accusers, but you and the people who point fingers will have to understand something:
They feel it is their morally righteous duty to hound developers + artists they think are using AI. I saw that happen on steam game forums plenty of times. What they don't get its that certain popular artstyles got copied, because they ARE popular. So everyone that made this style their own gets accused. The Ai Inquisition would burn down a village to even get to one AI user and people who use Ai tend not to be bothered about using it. It doesn't matter what the artist will do. The inquisition will never be happy, no matter what proof the poor artist will bring forth.
The box got opened, it cannot be closed. By screaming about advocating for real artist and creative people with dog-piling and finger-pointing they will burn theses creative peeps down in the process. They aren't helping. AI user will continue using AI. They will not stop. What's more ironic is that the majority of Ai - "inquisitors" aren't even artist or even creative people.
All I can hope is that you and your sparkle can preserve. It's your art. It's you.Your way of expression.
I don't know if the forums are being read anymore, but the game still flags the "save the gaelians" choice as "save the asmadi" choice. Every dialogue after the battle scene with the two Ascended Champions fighting the dragon have the wrong lines regarding this decision.
The BG corruption and pixilation in one scene of the earlier chapter is still an issue.
Virion was not partnered to the general in the first season, but I wasn't able to pick Virion before the last battle in the tent despite me flirting with Virion constantly. When summoning Raelan in the tent I was able to pick "I'm in love with Virion" and "I'm in love with Theoren", both of which I'm filtered with the entire time. I do not know why Virion's S2 friend to lover route is so bugged. I don't even know if we miss out on some other SE2 romantic dialogue with due to this. To bypass him not appearing him in the tent we have to flirt with Raelan and then tell him that we like Virion to appear in the tent at the end.
Theoren's epilogue is the same when we pick the "Start a Divine war" or "Seal the gate with the Dragons" option. Don't know if it is mean to be like that.
Having the same problem. Was so scared that my graphic card was dying.
My system specs:
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (10.0, Build 19044) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12-Core Processor (24 CPUs), ~3.8GHz
Memory: 65536MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 65486MB RAM
Card name: Radeon RX 570 Series
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x67DF)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Type: Full Device (POST)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_67DF&SUBSYS_341B1462&REV_EF
Device Status: 0180200A [DN_DRIVER_LOADED|DN_STARTED|DN_DISABLEABLE|DN_NT_ENUMERATOR|DN_NT_DRIVER] Device Problem Code: No Problem
Driver Problem Code: Unknown
Display Memory: 40913 MB
Dedicated Memory: 8170 MB
Shared Memory: 32742 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Eh, there's plenty of people that are more of a homebody or like hedgehogs. They like the comfiness of their home. And the quietness. I also rather stay at home or go to a museum before walking into a bar. We all just have different tastes.
As for my mother. She is angry and these two haven't apologized. Basically after their father(my grandfather) died half of his children went a bit nuts. He said please don't quarrel amongst each other after I'm gone. Welp, they did it anyways. My paternal family side has their own trauma and the children just can't accept that they may be better off taking some therapy. Their grandfather was a monster. And since it's a farmers family that means a big house with many children and the grandparents under one roof. Needless to say pretty much anyone hated my great-grandfather. All these old family issues from my grandmother's and grandfather's side resurfaced with the death of my grandpa. Generational trauma and unresolved issues are a pain in the butt.
So... I don't know what's up with the family of your Ex, but maybe it's better not getting roped in. I just hope for you that his family won't turn into rats and being all two-faced depending with whom they are talking to. Slander is ugly and destructive. That's just the worst-case scenario I'm painting here. Maybe they are verbally tearing him a new one right now, because he went "whatever" on his (ex)wife.
Either way, and it may sounds callous and weird talking like over the internet, but "whatever" is not good enough. I asked my mother if I did the right think to share my opinion with you. She said that you are very brave and strong and "Thank god they don't have children. That would have made it so much worse and so much harder and scarier for her." My mother was the poor sob that had children with a man who didn't know that he was depressed and didn't wanted couple therapy for the sake of the marriage. Ended in an ugly marriage and a divorce. Whatever is not acceptable. I'm glad that you are away from him.
I mean... his relatives are cowards too. They agree that his and his mother's behavior and attitude is bad and that it negatively impacted you, but they want you to go back to him? Nah. Maybe they like your work ethic around the store. Free labor. Yay.....
Sorry if that sounds cynical. Some families can be weird and ugly or develop hurtful dynamics. After my grandfather died my paternal side of the family went nuts and his two daughters attacked my mother who isn't even blood related. So please stay safe and don't give in.
He probably hopes that if he ignores it long enough that it will "just go away". Meaning you will give up and submit yourself to whatever him and his mother want.
Please remember that before you meet him you were fine, whole and were able to be happy. That's what my mother said to herself when my father left us. It will feel really bad and even numbing. But it's better to leave now, especially when you guys don't have any kids and while being financially independent. Whatever the future holds for you I hope you'll find something better. Maybe you won't even care about marriage and will be happy with just being a couple with whoever is going to be your love. Who knows...
Anyway... Your husband is a muppet. I wish you all the best. Eat something nice. Hug your mom.
I'm sorry. I'm not sure how valid my advise is. I don't even know whether I should comment or not. But here I am... I come from a different cultural background, but to me your hubby sounds like a 100% momma's boy and your family in law should mind their own business. Especially his mother. You aren't wrong. You aren't bad. You aren't a disappointment. Everything about this situation sounds like old-fashioned over the top conservative bollocks. You shouldn't need to fight for your right of living your own life. You shouldn't feel trapped. Because that's what they do (Energy vampires). Or at least it sounds like that to my ears.
Your husband is stuck in the past and sounds like one of those "women should behave" numb-nuggets. Then there's the stereotypical "dragon" mom. It's 2022.
I don't want to give up, but if he keeps taking his mother's side and didn't consider my feelings, that I need him, how is he my husband?
...........
I found out that he didn't even know why I was upset in the first place... I mean, he didn't even listen to me when I exploded and talked about many things?
I'm very sorry... but no. He is not. You should be the priority. I... ah. If he magically doesn't make a 180° turn very soon then I don't see how this will last. To be frank I can only see it getting worse from here on. He showed you his face after making this marriage official. Either "divorce" yourself from them or you bend yourself to such a painful degree at which you aren't even yourself. I don't think it's wise to let this "recent" thing turn into a sunk-cost fallacy on your side. Go while you still can.
This release is like multiple holidays and festivities in one package. Thank you, Rin and the team!!!!
I have been playing your games since Ascension. (I'm supper stoked for the remake, by the way. I absolutely love the old school RPG mechanics, level design, mobility) I'm happy to see you come this far and making games.
"Disk quota exceeded"
Does that mean your MacOs has only a limited amount of drives it can hook up into it's registry of it's system? I'm sorry, I'm a noob with MacOS. Anyway I found this troubleshooting post. Maybe it helps.
As for Jedit suddenly throwing in symbols... can you open the file in another coding program/text file like for example Notepad ++ to see if it still throws in symbols? (Notepad++ is free and opensource. No bloat or adware)
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
If it doesn't then something is wrong with the settings of the Jedit program.
"You can try opening those files with windows' western charset cp1252 (aka windows-1252) because the euro sign € is not in latin-1 (aka iso-8859-1). In the open dialog you can choose your encoding in Commands/Encodings. Otherwise do you know Unicode?"
Otherwise I would post your problem to a programming community. Reddit allows you to make throwaway accounts without an email. So that is a quick and painless option.
