itch.io

After reading a bit about what many devs have said; I'm most probably going to continue using Ren'Py. It's what I've been using for years and moving to different engines every time something like this happens is just not productive in the long run. More and more engines are adding AI to their coding to a point where it feels like it will be (or already is on its way to becoming) unavoidable. Who's to say someone releases a new engine with no AI but then, after a few years, the same thing that happened with Ren'Py happens again?

At this point, in my opinion, what's best to do is minimize the damage as much as possible. In this case, using the engine BUT guarantee that the games themselves are completely free of AI stuff. Kinda like how vegans also can't follow through on being vegans 100% not because they don't want to but because certain vital products have animal stuff and there's just no way to avoid them or it's extremely difficult to do so. 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, by the way! I appreciate it a lot; especially the fact that people know that I'm against having AI in my games.

Not really sure; I admit I'm not very knowledgeable about these things. Some people are arguing that what was done was vibe coding and others that it wasn't. It's all a mess 💀

Honestly, I think the most upsetting thing to me and many other devs is the fact that he hid this info for so many years.

Fortunately, I've also been seeing some threads that have been really helpful, too. Like this one here: https://bsky.app/profile/kayin.moe/post/3mnvrg2led22x

All in all, these news are still very fresh, so it's a matter of time to see what happens. 

You can also buy it on my Ko-Fi shop, which accepts cards! 😊

https://ko-fi.com/prikarin/shop

Thank you, that's very sweet of you! ❤️

Yeah, I only learned they had some other controversies after all of this happened... but at least I learned from this experience and hopefully this post also helps more people to be wary of them!

Thank you, Doksa! 🫂

I don't have one at the moment, but the intention is already super sweet of you, so thank you for that ☺️❤️

Jajajaja dskjgbdksb perdón por el susto! Siii, creo que lo que dijiste tiene mucho sentido y por eso me pareció que podía agregarlo en un mini edit 🥰

Y siii, el español es mi lengua materna ❤️

Thank you for your kind words, Kigyo 🫂💕

Yeah, to be honest, I would have declined their proposal had there not been so many cases of indiedevs successfully releasing their plushies. And I wanted a plushie of Oz and my other OCs so bad...

Don't worry, I won't give up! This was a bad experience, yes, but I think I learned a lot from it and I'll definitely be more careful now if I ever collaborate with a company down the line. Hopefully I can make the plushies a dream come true someday 🥰❤️

Claudia y cheto radiactivo 🤣🤣🤣 perdón, me hizo mucha gracia shxhshdh

Es completamente comprensible lo de no haber podido comprar un peluche; ya incluso sin el shipping a mí también me parecían muy caros. Y me enteré del precio cuando la campaña ya estaba live 💀

El día que vuelva a considerar hacer merch físico voy a intentar de que sea lo más accesible posible. No quiero que nadie se gaste una barbaridad en algo que debería ser para darles una sonrisa 🥲

Sí, aun con todas las cosas poco profesionales que hicieron... creo que una de las que más me afectaron es lo sola que me dejaron en esta "colaboración".

Muchas gracias por tus palabras ❤️ Espero que tengas un lindo mes!

Don't worry, the wording and grammar is good! 

Yeah, it's disappointing to know that they're so unprofessional and, probably, acted similarly to other collaborators before me. Hopefully my post helps others become more aware of them so they don't go through a mess like this.

Thank you for your kind words! 💕

Muchas gracias por tus palabras 🥹💕 eres muy dulce.

Sí, la verdad toda la situación fue bastante estresante pero lo bueno es que al menos aprendí de ella y pude compartir mi experiencia a otros para que no les pase lo mismo.

Por ahora nomás seguiré con el juego y merchandising digital (tengo pensado hacer un artbook de Killer Trait, al igual que hice con Where Winter Crows Go); pero me encantaría en algún momento poder hacer merchandising físico. Me tocará investigar para más adelante 💪

Que bonito que hagas cosas DIY; mucha suerte con eso! ❤️😊

Yeah, thinking back, you're absolutely right that it's rather unprofessional to make it all a verbal agreement instead of a formal licensing 😭

Thank you! I hope you have a great month 😊

Thank you for your kind words! 💕

Another commenter below, Dollheart, offered the perspective that I might have talked to several people, after all. And I think it makes sense too 🤔

All in all, I'm not really looking for them to release any statements about this; especially since they've already refunded everyone and, at least in the last email, they apologized.

What they did is certainly not a good look on their company, but just being able to write this post (with all the screenshots as evidence) and share it with the world is enough for me. This way, people will now make a more informed decision if they're ever reached out by them or others.

Thank you for the support, that means a lot! 😊 

Thanks!

As for the rev share part, I consulted it with people in my circle and they said it's okay. I was never told to sign anything, so there wasn't an NDA. If I had been bound by a contract, I wouldn't have shared things they told me not to share. But there was never a contract here.

Thank you, Naarel 🫂

Thank you so much for the kind words 🥹♥️💕

Thank you! 

Kickstarter is a possibility but it also comes with its big risks, so I'll have to consider carefully if that's the best option 🤔

Thank you, Mus 🫂

Thank you for your kind words, Carrot! 🫂 And for your sharing your thoughts with me when we chatted about this whole ordeal too; it's helped me a lot <3

Hopefully better things are coming. I'll keep doing my best!

Thank you so much for your comment and for sharing your call center experience, Dollheart! 

What you said makes total sense; perhaps it's because it was different people that the English level among the emails changed depending on who was writing it!

Yeah, their lack of help in marketing really bummed me out... I wasn't sure if I was being paranoid but it really IS more logical for partners in a collaboration to BOTH try to market a product, right? I actually visited a Miniso shop recently and they certainly do promote a lot of Sanrio so I'm not surprised their campaigns are so successful <3

Everything that happened was a real shame... but well, at least I learned from this. Hopefully the next time I make physical merch it goes well!

Thank you for the good wishes and your kind words, hope you have a wonderful month! <3

Ooohh that looks beautiful!! Thank you so much for sharing it; I love how you drew Crowe! 🥰❤️

AAAHHHH, I'm so excited for this!! Thank you for the update and congrats on this new release!! 🥳🎉

Aww, muchas gracias!! 🥺💕

Oohhh otra persona Argentina en España entonces! 🥳💕

Siii, estuve viendo que también han traído cosas de Argentina 😊

Espero adaptarme bien pronto con mi gata Kiki! ❤️

Muchas gracias! 🌸 He llegado ayer así que ahora comienza la adaptación ✨

Sí, soy Argentina! 🇦🇷 Me gusta mi país (sobre todo Buenos Aires, que es de donde soy), pero la verdad es que la situación económica allí va de mal a peor 😞

Oohhh, me hace ilusión probar las tapas! Tienen mucha fama y se ven muy buenas! 🤩

Muchas gracias! ❤️

El viaje fue muy bien, por suerte! Llegamos ayer ✨ Mi gata estuvo muy tranquila en el avión. Ahora solo falta que las 2 nos adaptemos bien a nuestro nuevo hogar 💪

Yes! I'll definitely make sure to take it easy these days. Resting and relaxing! 🥰

Oohhh, muchas gracias!! 🥹❤️

Sí, tienes razón, mejor concentrarme en asentarme bien en España y ya luego seguir con los juegos, cuando esté más tranquila y mi gata Kiki también. Thank you very much for the support and the kind words, you're very sweet!! ☺️

Hello, there!

Oohhh, I see! Thank you for letting me know! I love crime fiction but certain legal terms escape me sometimes 🫣

I'll make sure to change it for the next demo update. Thank you! 😊 🙏

Hello, there! The full game will most likely cost 12 USD. 

As for the time of release in 2027, I'm sorry, but I can't really give you a specific month. Making games takes quite a lot of time and there can always be unexpected things  that happen. I don't want to say a specific month/date and then have to change it if there happen to be delays; not to mention I'm funding the whole project by myself and a bit of help from donations here and there, so there could also be delays because of the need to save money to commission more artwork or other things for the game.

I really loved the full-version!! Ricky was definitely my favorite but I really liked Nanu too <3

I'm curious to know, is Ricky the canon route?

I'm only having trouble finding the last ending (I already got all of the characters'/potential love interests' endings); not sure what I'm supposed to do for the last one :(

Edit: Oh, wait! Nevermind, I just got the last ending, hehe!

Yay!!! I'm so excited to play it!!!

Haha, I'm happy you like the new art style!

The old art for Aslan, Oz and Arthur were stock sprites I bought and, therefore, could be used by anyone who bought them, so I preferred commissioning a new artist to make original designs and sprites.

Aaaahhh me gustó muchoooo!! 😭❤️💕

Fonsermónique y Sein son adorables y fue muy interesante aprender sobre el lore tanto en la historia como en el bonus room.

Me gustó mucho la moraleja de la historia y también leer el cómo la inspiración de esa moraleja te llegó por una experiencia personal que has vivido.

El arte es hermoso, tanto el pixel art de los escenarios y objetos como se los sprites de los personajes 🥰

Me alegra haber podido aportar mi granito de arena a este proyecto con mi voz para el tono de voz de Fonsermónique ❤️ Los beep beep beep sonaban muy tiernos!! 🥺💕

El mini juego de cocina fue muy divertido; adoro los juegos que tienen cosas de cocina!! Especialmente cuando algunos (o todos) los ingredientes son de fantasía ✨

Esperaré ansiosa a los DLC!! ☺️

Hello! No worries, your english is good! 

The characters will stay partially voiced.

I think when you pay with Paypal you can choose the currency and then that currency automatically gets converted when I receive the payment, so there shouldn't be any issues 😊

AAAAAHHH, I LOVED THIS SO, SO MUCH!!! Hiro, you have a real knack for writing romance; all of your romance games are always AWESOME and, to be perfectly honest, they make me giggle like an idiot and give me lots of butterflies!! First of all, Lawrence is adorable and I really like the fact that he learned from his jerk ways in Quaint (and even became friends with Q!!). His gay panic/crisis is super funny and cute and I was rooting for him the whole time (except for when he didn't ask Vale for permission on certain things, which thankfully Vale called him out for). Seeing him fall so deeply in love with Vale was very sweet and the dramatic parts made me feel really sad for him, so I'm glad that everything turned out well in the end <3

As for Vale, gosh, where do I even begin!! The fact that he's a double demi/demi rose (both demisexual and demiromantic) made me super happy, 'cause there's really not much representation on the ace and aro spectrums, and a lot of his feelings regarding dating and sexual things were very, very relatable. I especially felt the thing about how many friends sort of DISAPPEAR after getting into relationships! Like Vale said, of course you don't expect your friends' lives to revolve around you, but you also wish they valued your friendship more, you know? 

The other thing that was EXTREMELY relatable to me was the thing about wanting to hug/cuddle with friends; specifically male friends. For some reason, if you want to cuddle with guys, they find that to be a thing that's reserved for romantic partners ONLY, and I find that so sad... I'm an AFAB demigirl, so it's probably not exactly the same for people who are AMAB, but I still really empathized with Vale in that scene.

I also have to say, the way Vale slowly falls in love with Lawrence is really well done! I'm gray ace and demiromantic, so I felt really close to Vale's emotions. How you're super confused, how you're not sure if what you're feeling is actually romantic love or platonic love or what. How you need more time to get used to certain things (if you ever get used to them). And something that I really appreciated was the fact that, despite starting to date Lawrence almost at the end of the story, he didn't completely change his views on dating. Sure, Lawrence was an exception for him, but that didn't mean he still didn't find certain romantic aspects to just not resonate with him (like the petnames or being super verbal about his romantic feelings all the time).

The art, of course, is gorgeous, as always!!

Looking forward to more of your games, Hiro!! <3