itch.io

I might need to look into how to adjust animations in RPG Maker. All the current spells use default RPG Maker animations as, truthfully, I'm not much of an animator myself - I've just begun to dip my toes with animating the scenes in this game. Adjusting animations the way I'm supposed to in RPG Maker is as of yet beyond me... but we'll see if I can change that!

My hope is I can get back to this project around January, possibly with new content around February or March for patrons? It depends on how quickly I can get work done for Violet Witch Trials... and if I can get anything done during December, busy time with family that it is. Please do stay tuned!

Thank you for your feedback! I did a poor job conveying where you're meant to target in the first boss fight - you're meant to destroy the consoles as well as the orbs on either side of the arena. My intent is, when I return to work on this project after Violet Witch Trials, I'll fix up the first boss so what you need to do is clearer.

I was having difficulties implementing some of the special effects of most spells - lightning is actually the only spell which currently has its unique effect as a result (an AOE around the player). In future releases, my plan is to incorporate each spell's special effects in addition to damage.

I may have something planned to break the silence during scenes... we'll just have to see! I understand they're a touch awkward at the moment.

Thank you for letting me know! This was in the notes one of my testers gave me and I thought I had fixed it, but I must have forgotten.

I'm glad you're enjoying the game, and I appreciate your report!

I've considered adding music, but I could find little that felt appropriate within the rather short turnaround time for Treatment. I had considered adding strictly diegetic music at one point - maybe I'll return to that idea in the future?

As for the showers being inaccessible by normal means: I do not know how I missed that. Sorted! Thank you very much for informing me.

Sound effects should now be purged properly after treatments. If you encounter issues in the most recent version (1.01), please do let me know where specifically.

You should be able to delete characters by pressing X (your 'Cancel' button). And, thank you for catching that issue with the first name input - I don't know how I missed that!

I'm glad you like it! Though, I'm sorry to disappoint: I don't know how much I will add to Treatment: it's a side project I made during a break from my main priority, Violet Witch Trials. Before I make any other major additions to Treatment, I need to prioritize my primary project. And, perhaps more important than having time to add more - I'll have to think about what else I would want to add in the first place. I want any significant additions to be worth my time to make - and worth yours to play!

Thank you! I'm very pleased to hear that.

Not to worry! No hard feelings whatsoever. I'm afraid I don't know how the Itch app works, I don't use it myself. I can only guess what the issue might be as a result, so I can't be much help...

Your English is excellent, by the way! I wouldn't have guessed.

Hello hello! Could I ask you to give it another try? I tried downloading just now while not logged in, and both downloads seemed to work fine.

Hello there! My apologies it took me so long to reply to you. It's very kind of you to offer to help, but I'm not currently looking for contributors - honestly, I adore every part of the process and I want to do it all myself.

But your work is impressive, very much so! I'd like to be in touch, even if only to talk. If you have Discord, feel free to add me @scarlilydoujin. Thank you!

An additional note for anyone reading these: Pv1.04b has been pushed to resolve placing the player in the wrong starting location!

Hmm! I mean for players to be able to win battles on 0 Stamina or Willpower, being able to heal once the battle is over and potentially keep going. But I hadn't considered what would happen if the player lacked resources to heal with, and entered battle with 0 of either resource. I'll have to include a check for that at the start of each battle. Thank you very much for catching this, I'll take care to resolve it for the demo's last update!

Ah, I'm sorry - I misunderstood you! Yes, that scene ends suddenly and unusually, I agree. I'll keep it in mind and take care to change it when I update the demo one last time.

As for the rocks, there is actually a way to cross the river with magic. You can cast Ice beside the sign which suggests there used to be a bridge across the river. Casting Ice in this way produces an ice bridge for the player to cross. My intent with the river was to teach there is rarely one solution, you can make your path forward easier by thinking about it, and the route which plays into Gentiana's talents best (the one that involves magic) is typically easiest.

To counterbalance this, I know there is at least one case where using magic doesn't help. Encouraging players to consider a new and odd mechanic like this without accidentally teaching to assume it's always the solution is a challenge I'm struggling with, and I hope I have succeeded here.

Wow, a lot to reply to! One of the most fun parts of releasing this demo is all these comments. As an artist before this, I grew used to people being so quiet and shy, but this is great! Truly, thank you.

The apple-stealing is in part a matter of balance (a Noble Festa Apple is a full recovery of your Willpower) and in part simply because Gentiana as a character would only take one. I've tried to confine the player's actions to "what would Gentiana do" - in the hopes I can keep the scope of development reasonable but still varied and prepared for many types of player. Sometimes the boundaries are because I as a developer did not think of something, but sometimes the answer is simply that "Gentiana wouldn't do that". And that is just the result of needing to draw the line somewhere.

The tutorial is both some of my worst and best work. I broke a game design guideline by making it very early in development. It's often wisest to work at first on the middle of a game and then branch out, but I only partially did this. The tutorial is in some ways most purely reflective of my design philosophy and in other ways showcasing just how new to this I really am.

When I design areas, I rarely if ever place things without a purpose. I have a lot of fun hiding away dialog and characterization and even items in strange places. I think one of the best examples of my approach is the bunk beds throughout the Monster Cave. Most if not all of them provide different pieces of dialog from Gentiana, sometimes producing different dialog when interacting with different parts of the same bed.

I hadn't given much consideration to how the music loops, so I will have to look into how most games solve the problem of abrupt looping. Nice catch!

There is, as of now, no placeholder art in the game. At least, not that I can recollect. My art is rough and unusual as I'm still quite new to drawing, but I intend to stick with most if not all of what I have drawn. A day might come where I take another pass through the game, but I only want to do that if my skill has significantly increased and quite a bit later at that. I have seen too many beloved projects fall to perfectionism and I know I am not immune to that myself.

The spell circle is abrupt - I think I want to make the hint for it more clear. Feedback suggests I hid it away in an obnoxious way. I want people to be thinking about what they're doing and treading very carefully, and my priority is a dungeon that feels dangerous more so than fair. But I think the entry of the Monster Cave in general is poorly communicated and I intend to clean it up.

Your words are very kind, thank you! I've received a lot of praise for how different combat is, and this I am overjoyed about. It took a lot of investment to produce and, while I think it is messy and flawed, what matters most to me is people seem to be having fun with it!

I have a lot of work to do as an artist, but it heartens me to see people enjoying my art regardless. I only started learning to draw around August, so I am still learning very basic things and making an amateur's mistakes. I hope to improve a lot as I work on this game! Producing art assets for this project has really pushed me!

Cursed items are something I need to add an in-game explanation for. There are a few systems in the game which I designed and then failed to convey their function appropriately to the player. The short explanation for cursed items is that they require a specific item to be removed. For example, to remove a Chastity Belt, you must have a Chastity Key. But, cursed items and the items required to remove them were added when the pool of items was considerably smaller than it currently is, so they might be too punishing in the current version of the game. I need to gather more feedback and opinions on the matter, though.

Some items are excessively punishing in the current version of the game. For example, the Sealing Choker wasn't designed with current restrictions on items in mind. I will likely need to adjust the balance of cursed items just a little for this demo before I move on.

Thank you! I've worked very hard on it.

My goal is to appeal to a variety of tastes while still remaining within my own. I hope to show you things you didn't know you liked! But I'm sympathetic to appreciators of possession and I may or may not have similar plans for another scene. I can't divulge many details right now, but I hope I won't disappoint you!

Thank you very much for your feedback! I currently plan to adjust the resist/escape minigame based on the great advice many players have provided. There are a lot of changes to be made: I cannot guarantee they will be made to this demo, but they will make it into the final release.

I am very grateful for how tolerant and patient you have all been of my, shall we say, amateur art. I hope to improve a lot as I work on this project!

Thank you for cheering for me!

Hmm! That's wise and I will certainly include it as a consideration in rebalances to come. That change may not come to this public demo, but the struggle minigame will be rebalanced for the completed game quite some time from now. I hope to see more feedback like this as I ponder the details of that balance change!

Thank you very much! I appreciate your advice, and I will keep it in mind as I continue my work. The struggle minigame is something I plan to rebalance - my goal is for it to be a tight window to squeeze through, but I think I may have made it too narrow. As I work toward a final release, I will tinker with and adjust the struggle minigame.

Thank you so, so very much for this report! Another player has reported this issue but I couldn't replicate it, so I assumed it was a one-off issue. I will try more rigorously to replicate this now that I know it wasn't a fluke!

Edit: Pv1.01 should remove this issue. Since it's a rather major graphical issue, I saw fit to publish a fix immediately.

Thank you so much for your feedback! You make a good point and I will keep this in mind when I polish up the escape sequence later. My intent was to keep the information provided by 'Assess' from bogging down the Struggle menu, though it contorted into a mostly descriptive affair.