itch.io

Hi Yeonjunney! I'm so glad that you enjoyed playing the ADW games so far. I personally never got passed 21 clicks myself but some of us got higher than 30! (with the use of a controller) *eyes Ekkoberry *o* Here's a guide for achievements I whipped up, but please let me know if there's any issues or if I should make any more clarifications. ADW: Gacha Date! Achievement Guide 1.1 And Thank you for giving Ruwin love <3!!

Hi Chocolatefries,

Thank you so much for trying out my game!

Ah I'm sorry for the confusion but since ADW is an RPG with combat and has a lot of animations that is a bit different from standard RenPY games, the rollback and skip functions were disabled on purpose. (Rollback and Forward can make things get desynched and janky) Due to the amount of player clicking necessary to intereact with menus and screens, there usually isn't a ton of long dialogue  dumps but I apologize for the inconvience. And I'm sorry that I probably forgot to make note of that in the default controls menu. I'll make a note to check for the next update.

Ah, and I'm wondering who you are planning on giving rings to? As Lor, Samuel and Katnir should still accept it even if you flirted excessively. Hope that helps!

Ahh~ TOchan! She's so adorable ha ha! I can imagine her asking for her Queen's dress to match the fabric of the Advisor's.  And thinking of the whole story of the original ADW through Jeth-colored glasses is pretty interesting to consider! I can only imagine how things would derail if TOchan just repeatedly threw herself at Jeth from the very start LOL. Also if they had an on-going secret mailing exchange.... It could work in the context of chapter 8... Not to get too spoilerly. These comics are so funny and great. I love how shameless and dedicated TOchan is... And that huge sack of soulstones in the last panel that looks like enough for all 30 days... all the details are so good! 

 I honestly didn't know that fluffy-haired murderers was a 'type' but I'm thankful that Jeth roped you in because it's was so much fun working on ADW:GD with you! I'm so honored that you gave this a game a shot despite not usually preferring self-inserts and very glad that you found it to be fun! I wonder if you'll ever consider writing a project with a self-insert protagionist in the future?

Hi JustaOneGirl,

Thank you so much letting us know about your MC! I'm glad that Samuel's comment about the MC dietary preferences was meaningful for you, as I think he's the only one who really asks the MC about this. As a very religious person himself, he's considerate of such things. I can't say it was intentional on my part tbh, but I'm glad that you felt the  freedom to include this aspect of your character by your own choice. 

I give a few teasing or blunt options but I don't think I bother with flat our mean or malicious options, as that would be too story breaking imo. I don't think the cast of ADW would follow and protect the MC as much as they do if the MC was an abusive tyrant. Like if the MC called them a dog, I think they'd probably leave the guild. These are all adult characters, so they are mostly mature enough to work through differences but there's a limit to when it comes to flat out disrespect. For this reason, I'm not sure that I like games that have good vs evil paths, as they are just too polarized/extreme for my tastes. I'd be making two different games, and that's a lot of work. Plus I just have a heard time writing pure evil characters as even my 'villain' characters are not so stark imo.

It's interesting that you mentioned the comments about the MC seeming calm. In my mind I picture the player sitting at a computer looking at cute sprites and dice, rather than jumping up and down shouting excitedly as someone might if they were in the midst of a life and death battle. I wasn't intended to say the MC is a stoic personality but rather they were unusual in their perception of battle. But perhaps some players are able to immerse themselves more fully than I thought. I'll try to keep that in mind. I was suprised that some people find losing harsh, even though there is not a game over penality like there is in a lot of RPGs. I hope losing doesn't feel too bad, as the companions do show some discontent but they are also accepting that battle is not always ideal. They are tenacious enough to handle the occasional defeat, so feel free to let them toughen up a bit LOL. I do have a list of randomized losing battle dialogue in every dungeon for that purpose anyway~

Again, I love your drawing of Lor with your MC reading together all cute and cozy in ADW:GD~ I hope the two can cheer each other on!

Hi Star!

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and take on the MC.  I was hoping that the player had enough choices to self-insert without feeling too frustrated so I'm really glad to hear it worked for you. I'm not sure why there seems to be a slight stigma around "self-insert" in some circles? but I actually find it really whimsical and endearing to think of someone being able to directly immerse themselves into a story as I think most people read stories/play games to escape reality a bit. Maybe the whole premise of isekai has a stigma for being too self indulgent, with certain themes being somewhat over reiterated in some animes/manga/light novels as of late. However, I remember 'isekai' stories before I even knew the term for it (like Escaflowne,  Fushigi Yuugi, Peter Pan) and I just think there's something really fascinating about the premise. Perhaps as a transracial adoptee, who has always felt a bit out of place and thrown into this world, it connects with me on a deep, subconscious level.

My copy editor sometimes makes notes in the margins that I sometimes give options to "kick" the companions (I think of it more like being blunt, opinionated or teasing? LOL) Like maybe no one would take those options (I'm a recovering people pleaser myself) because they don't want to read a potentially upset response from the character, but I wanted to make sure there were options that weren't all centered around telling the characters what the player would think they'd like to hear. I think it also opens up to revealing more about the character when you can listen to their disgruntled side or coping sides as well. Also I don't want to condition people (even if it's just a game) into thinking you need to agree with people all the time or they won't love or like you LOL.

I'm actually someone who tends to over empathize with characters to the point of 'dreaming' of hovering over other people's shoulders and observing them rather than being the 'main character', so if I were to try and self-insert, I'd probably make an OC instead. I hope I'm not being too noisy, but I'm very curious, do you prefer to self insert over a defined protagonist when possible? What are your opinions on the isekai genre in general?

Best wishes and sincerely,

Jen

Hi JustaOnegirl,

Thank for again for your feedback as always! I'm glad to hear you didn't run into any other bugs. The other guild members do tend to have some strong opinions on Lor, (especially since he's the TO self-appointed personal assistant) LOL. I thank you for the compliment that you find the characters to feel realistic. I doubt that you will stumble on the dialogues that the characters can reject the MC if they propose the wrong item (ex. giving a ring if you flirted with them a lot) but these vary depending on the character, as some characters are more tolerant forgiving of the mixed signals and also more open to friendship or romance and vice versa. I think a lot about the characters behaving true to themselves from their dialogue to their battle skills and I hope that it helps with immersion. Best wishes~

Sorry it took me so long to fix, but I think I got it! Thank you so much for letting me know~

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to start by saying ADW is my first attempt at a "blank/insert" protagonist. I come from a comics/graphic novel background so it was never an option to me when I was writing for that format. For a long time playing jrpgs, I didn't care much for "blank/insert" protagonists as many of them had an established name, history, gender and visual appearance but were "silent" so in my mind they just seemed like lazy writing. I gained more appreciation for the concept when I started playing DnD and some other games like the Dragon's Age series. For those who know me, I always like to try new things when I'm creating, so when I was preparing ADW, I thought I would challenge myself. It's opened my eyes firsthand to the unique and interesting writing/visual presentation challenges around this concept.

 And most importantly, I create games to connect with others and I love seeing/learning about players interpretation of the protagonist! From a creator's standpoint, it feels like I get to "collaborate" with the player to some extent when I saw fanarts with the player's OC and I absolutely love it.

Please share your thoughts, interpretation of the MC and any suggestion or related experiences. Along with any instances of both poor/jarring execution on my part (I'm always trying to improve and thinking about whether I will do another "blank/insert" protagionist in future works.)

Thanks so much and I hope your MC is having a good journey~

Thank you for your help with the testing <3<3<3. Whew that was a close one LOL

Hi JustaOneGirl, Ooh thank you for pointing this out and reporting quickly, as that could be a terrible bug for anyone who can't get the Samuel's tutorial. It's an oversight that can happen with some pre-existing save files that I didn't take into consideration. I believe I fixed in 2.51 Hotfix now. Sorry for that oversight!

Hi SoluneMoon!

Glad you had a chance to try out the game and share some of your thoughts! We always appreciate reading it. Also glad you enjoyed the character interactions and the ad clicker mini game. What's your top score? Hope you see you back in ADW~ best wishes to you too!

Hi Star,

That's a pretty fun chart! TY for putting that together! I like the color coding especially.

Just adding another instance in here of Ruwin's height being mentions, as  you may not not triggered it being that it's very RNG based. Ruwin's turn serving the MC in the morning at the forest hideout after the Battle for Brookhaven.

n "The door swings open and Ruwin appears with full tray of various dishes."
show ruwin smile at heroskill with dissolve
ruw "My [hero.title]-! Good, you're awake!"
ruw "I remembered to-"
hide ruwin with dissolve
play sound "audio/thud_wood.mp3"
n "The low entrance catches the tall man off guard. He hits the top of his head trying to enter."
n "Cursing profusely under his breath, he still manages to keep the contents of the tray from spilling."
show ruwin sigh at heroskill with dissolve
ruw "..."
hide ruwin with dissolve
n "Taking a deep breath, he sets your breakfast gingerly down at your bedside."
n "He leaves without saying another word, carefully ducking through the door on his way out."

Hi Star!

Oooh this is a really interesting question! Tbh I didn't make any standard "profile" type sheets for these characters, other than figuring out their traits, combat stats, and backstories.  I know their sprites are not accurate to actual size. Ruwin's height is pretty much the only one that's commented on because he's abnormally tall, like probably if you saw him walking down the street in a crowd of people you'd notice that he was really tall. I don't really have a specific number in mind only that he's sort of like a pro basketball player height, getting closer to 7ft. Deita is the shortest character, closer to 5 ft.  I'll list them how I envision them in order from tallest to shortest rather than coming up with arbitrary numbers on the spot right now XD;;

Ruwin, Mikaylis, Beileph, Jonas, Ashur, Beisel, Jeth, Katnir, Eve, Lor, Miyetta, Samuel, Deita

Hi Star,

Thank you so much for sharing that edit! I love how you defined the characters in the captions.  Also thank you for pointing out the bug you found! We actually had another message sent earlier, so the update that we uploaded on 7-6-24 should've fixed the Ashur issue. That naughty and chaotic guy! Glad you liked the spicier art that we added to the gallery. Clearly we had too much extra time in the last week of the jam LOL. Thanks for sharing your favs and thank you again for showing your support of ADW <3

Oooh thank you so much for always sharing your thoughts extensively. The whole team was really happy and excited to read this post. <3<3<3 Thank you also for the adorable fanarts, I will print it out and hang it in my cubicle at work to cheer me on everyday XD we're really glad you enjoyed all the LI routes especially your fav, as we didn't want to disappoint! Best wishes and hope university work isn't too harsh!

Hi Huta-chan! Glad you like the song by Corasundae~ we uploaded it to youtube for you. Thanks!

Yurul, we are so glad you enjoyed Lor's route. And yes, Eve and Jonas will be making an appearance in ADW!

Thank you so much for all the copy edits! Hope you enjoy!

Ooh I'm sorry to hear it's not working. Not sure what could be the cause. Please email me which game you are wanting to download (arcane dice wars or gacha date) and if you are using MacOS or PC to wulfmune@gmail.com and I'll try sending it to you.

Hi JustaOneGirl, thank you for following our progress! We did have a blast working on this and hopefully some of our love and joy is felt through the game. It's definitely not perfect but we really did keep players like you in mind. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Disclaimer: results may vary <3

Hi SoluneMoon,

Aww! Thank you so much for sharing your story! I wonder sometimes how it may affect someone's opinion or view of the characters if they started with ADW:VH or ADW. The tone between the two stories is pretty different, so they might appeal to different story tastes despite being the same characters/universe. It will also be interesting to see if anyone starts with ADW:GD when that is released at the end of this month (which also has a very different tone?). As a creator I think I tend to bounce around a lot with my concepts and goals. There's been a few emails I've gotten that mentioned they thought my art looked familiar to later realize they had played Soul Union/Labyrinth but didn't realize that I also made ADW until later, so I think your story of discovery is not too uncommon? I'm just glad that itch helped you find ADW and that you recognized Lor in the thumbnail ^^! Hope you continue to enjoy his story as new content releases. 

<3 Jen

Hi justaonegirl, im glad you are looking forward to this game and we are very excited to share it with you! Yes , ekkoberry did the sketches and I did inking so we blend our styles a little. It's been very smooth process actually!

To clear up confusion about the timeline, the TO in this game didn't "finalize" any romance so it's possible they were starting a romance but didn't confirm it with the eternal pendant. It's purposely vague. The LIs at the start are obviously fond of the TO but react differently to meeting them again after saying goodbye (what they thought was forever bye) so it's a bit like meeting again at reunion and thinking maybe we can see where things go type friendly romance. it's more light hearted than ADW so it's more meant to be a fun dating game than a serious sequel. I hope that clears up your question ^_^ but I'm happy to o clarify more. I hope work gets less stressful for you and you can rest. Best wishes, and thanks again for sharing your thoughts Jen 

Thank you so much SoluneMoon! I always appreciate the positivity energy! We are in good shape so I'm really hoping to deliver a complete package by the end of the jam this time! We would love to share with you and get your thoughts. Best wishes! Jen

Hi YURUL,

Ah thank you for giving my game and stories a chance. I'm so glad that you enjoyed this game and very grateful for your comment and rating. Jeth willl be returning for this year's OtomeJam project so I hope you will also try it that game when it's ready! For the endings, I made a loose guide so I hope this is helpful! Best wishes~

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f1qhja_4YLpHTOwqmm2Qg_m4sAOYQv8J3ZLUrr6hnRg/...

Hi JustaOneGirl,

I hope that everything is going well with your University work and that you are getting enough rest. Please try not to stress too much, it's not good for your health!

I'm glad that you enjoyed this mission content, as it was meant to be pretty playful and fun. I'm glad I was able to surprise your expectations a bit, as I do try to mix things up and not let the story get too heavy with constant wars, tragic backstories and stuff. Hopefully it was a good break.

Thank you again for sharing your experiences and interpretations of the events and characters! It's always so helpful for me to see if my words are being interpreted as I intended, as I'm not always the most direct with my writing and characterizations. 

I apologize for the forgotten text in that pendant/ring offering. I decided to re-work the pacing of the bond conversations since the story had been expanded and I forgot to change that information text. I was planning on having these gifts and bonds unlock after the next mission 08. I'm very sorry for that mistake and any confusion it might have caused. The bond 6 conversations will be a pretty hefty amount of text and story in their own right, as well as introducing the bond specific morale skills, so I might try to make a separate update for this added content alone if needed.

Again thank you so much for sharing thoughts with me and I wish you the best!

<3 Jen

Added  Chapter/Mission 7 (over an hour of new content to play

Choose the MC pronouns. 5 Male and 1 Female Companion / romance any many as you want or none and go ace friendship! 

Yay~ I'm glad you can look forward to the LI choices to pick from XD Thanks for voting <3!

Let's here it for the wholesome softbois! Who says nice guys finish last?

Ahahaha. So very "Ashur". <3 Great job!

Hi Michi! Thanks for voting and participating in the 'campaigning'. Ashur was a dark horse for sure. You get to see him again in the upcoming chapter,  (this time with a voice!) so hopefully there will be no regrets LOL.

Hi JustaOneGirl,

I'm so glad you liked this little celebration of Lor's victory. It was great seeing the supportive replies on the voting devlog post. Ekkoberry and I had a lot of fun with this and his vo had a lot of fun as well. I always appreciate your sharing your thoughts and your enthusiasm. Good luck with your university work! Best wishes~

I love the artwork and GUI! I like how Fern is an artist and alchemist as well as mage. I like magic systems that require investment, cost and crafting. Congrats on finishing for Nanoreno~ Here's a doodle of Sienna!

hey HirayaManwar1, glad it worked for you! No worries at all for asking. I'm happy to answer. I hope you can enjoy the story.

Have you tried consulting with watermage? At some point he should suggest for you to visit the Temple and make a tithe. Afterwards, Samuel should appear in the Fortune Shop. Let me know if this works or if you are still stuck! Thanks so much for trying out the game!

Oh thank you so much for the positive energy! This did totally make my day :D I'm so happy that you look for the updates! And that you were able to play through these missions without any pesky bugs and that you enjoyed the most recent conversations with the companions. I'll keep working diligently and hope you will check again at the end of April for the next mission! <3 best wishes!

Hi Fortunastreet,

Thank you again for sharing your "fairy" tale! It was very funny and entertaining for me to read. I agree that I definitely should fix the crafting menus. It's not really needed until late, late game so I guess it was more just putting it there as a placeholder lol. And I should probably rework all the shop type menus in general, as they are super clunky. I'll have to sit with it for a while for sure. It will go on my list of things to do. And thank you for pointing out the Ren'PY tool tip description! I just left in what Ren'Py ships with there. oopsie.

Hi Mooglerampage,

I appreciate you taking the time to try out my game and share your thoughts. You gave me a lot of good food for thought. I'd like to say some of the issues that you have with combat are improved as the game progresses but that doesn't matter if the player never makes it there and I can see where the beginning especially has issues.  I could give more tools and units to the player from the start, but it sort of doesn't make sense with the story and negates some of the sense of progression I was aiming for. I will read over your comments more and think about where I can make improvements. Thanks again very much!

Hi JustaOneGirl,

I look forward to reading your thoughts on these updates so thank you again very much for sharing! I'm always looking at the characters and events as the creator, so it's always really fun and interesting to learn about your perspective. Sorry for the bugs! Ack, I think I focused on testing the war more than the convos as you'd think that would be pretty standard by now from a programming POV haha. Still prone to little mistakes and typos apparently. I thought I had checked/played through all of the update content but I guess I forgot to check all the dialogue options. Thank you for finding these bugs/errors! I will definitely fix them by the next build. Also I am doing well, thank you so much for your well wishes. This month's earlier release is a good indication that my life is back on track haha! <3

Hi Fortunastreet, 

I considered your feedback and made adjustment in the current build. It is also suggested that player recruits a (non-water) mage for the rear postition and levels bonds to 2. Thanks again for trying out my game!