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Cruel Serenade: GutterTrash

bitshiftgames · 2023-06-15T18:57:55Z

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Cruel Serenade: GutterTrash community

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A topic by bitshiftgames created Jun 15, 2023 Views: 15,701 Replies: 359

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BerryAbs136 days ago(+1)

I hate to be THAT guy but I just have to say: even though i do appreciate the more work this has compared to the first chapter it is more difficult. Although I find the challenge introduced in the first chapter more fair, I somewhat dislike the mechanic where if the enemies stuns you then they immediately go first which allows all the enemies to attack you twice. If I remember correctly, you mention that this game is somewhat stealthy (I could be wrong), I didn't have a problem with it that much compared to the first game but in this game it's a bit more difficult as well. It's not a big deal since I find myself beating all the enemies anyways but it's difficult to be stealthy when their speed is pretty much the same speed when sprinting and they'll walk ANYWHERE if you're patients trying to be stealthy. I had this happen, I was planning on moving pass by an enemy while I was hiding is an alleyway and found the enemy walking right into me lol.

I bought the update from your support page and appreciate the new content. I'm aware that you can defeat Mahir and not get the hypnosis effect to make everything easier, but I decided not to just in case it would affect the ending of defeating the last boss.

BerryAbs136 days ago(+1)

I decided to backtrack from a previous save file and I tried a different approach instead of beating all of them. I definitely find this more doable than previously when i made the original comment. I was stuck at the right alley where I had to fight all those stages of hyenas that were waiting for me. When you lose to them then it's gameover (in my case since I was in my third stage of hypno). I guess I should saved my special move for those and just preserve them when I'm fighting the normal enemies.

bitshiftgamesDeveloper136 days ago

So first of all, thanks for the feedback! While I like hearing what people like, hearing what they DON'T is also important. May not always result in a change for a variety of reasons, but I at least want to be aware of what is and isn't working for people.

Second, there are a few different things that are getting entangled here:

1. During the normal, initial playthrough of the entertainment districts, the enemies have a daze move they can use on you. This immobilizes Mezz for a few turns and lets them get his submission up easily. This ability exists for a reason: without it, it's actually fairly easy to steamroll the early enemies if you're careful, even without using the charm. I felt the gameplay needed a little more unpredictability, because TOO much power or agency in combat in these games makes them boring; there has to be some risk, something keeping you on your toes. That said, I've done my best to make sure the enemies don't spam this ability, via a bunch of manual checks, both to make sure it DOES show up every so often, but also that it doesn't get overused. That said, RPGMaker's RNG is...odd sometimes, so you will get some weird lineups every once in a while.

2. If you lose 3 times to the mobs, you then go into a different stealth gameplay mode in that section. The daze attack is no longer a factor, because you don't enter combat. In this mode, the enemies are on set paths to facilitate sneaking past them, rather than their random movements in the normal mode.

With all that said, it is still somewhat possible to avoid SOME of the enemies in the normal mode, and you certainly don't need to fight all of them to progress. But yes, in normal mode you do end up fighting most of them. The stealth aspect is more in that particular mode.

And yes, the main purpose of the special attack is crowd control, and you'll mostly need it for that last gauntlet. It IS possible to get through without using special there, but pretty hard as you'd imagine. But yes, overall I'd definitely recommend avoiding fights if you can. Cruel Serenade is far from a survival horror, but it is a bit stingy with items, and those that are given are provisioned in order to get you to your goal, not to defeat every mob on the map. So in that sense even the normal gameplay is a little "stealth": you're trying to avoid conflict if you can, because you're always just a little (sometimes a lot) behind the 8-ball.

Zendir_Johan133 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

What kind of voice do you think Mezz would have? I personally think Michael Kovach would fit really well canonically.

bitshiftgamesDeveloper133 days ago

Oh I couldn't even say. Probably something cute and with attitude, a bit 90s. Like Sonic's voice in the old cartoons. Not EXACTLY like, just in that genre of snarky 90s heroes. But with the obnoxiousness turned down slightly.

Zendir_Johan132 days ago(+1)

That is quite perfect, except cocky hero actually get fucked here.

conkersrs132 days ago(+2)

I love your game Mezz and it's so cute and endearing don't let it down even after 5 chapters it deserves to have more art of its own a comic will be cool again thank you the rabbit sounds my favorite animals Long live our long-eared favorite

bitshiftgamesDeveloper132 days ago(+1)

Glad you like it! To be clear, I'm Bitshift, not Mezz, but I appreciate the enthusiasm all the same.

conkersrs128 days ago(+1)

I know well but I speak well of Mezz for this time thank you for your answer

Alioth Sol128 days ago(+1)

Hi Bitshift, i'm runing in to some problems whit Crysta Data transfear, i copy and paste the data in the correct folder (www\js\plugins) but the game dosn't recognize it, i star whit defoult stats. I even try playing whit the numbers on DataCrystal but nothing, could you help?

bitshiftgamesDeveloper128 days ago

So a few things to clarify. 1. The Datacrystal won't carry over items, level, moves etc. It's JUST there to carry over story data, so the game can remember some of the things you did. 2. For story reasons that will become obvious after you've played a bit, on first starting the game your STORY stats (viewable in the menu under stats) will still all be zero. The DataCrystal info won't load in until you return to Haven for the second time. If you're still not seeing those numbers change after that, let me know.

Alioth Sol128 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

thanks, i didn't remember that, all works as it should

Gardevoir4President128 days ago(+1)

Hi, I want to use the starter save but cant figure out where the save files are stored please tell me what the path is?

Alioth Sol128 days ago

Game folder\www\StarterSave, copy and paste the save data in the folder: Game folder\www\save

Gardevoir4President128 days ago

thanks I found it

SigmaOutlaw127 days ago(+1)

No Mac?

bitshiftgamesDeveloper127 days ago(+1)

Nope. In theory you MAY be able to get SOME of it to work: it's just javascript running in a nodejs browser, so index.html kinda sorta works in normal browsers with some adjustments. But it's never going to be perfect, because I do some wacky stuff with plugins that normal browsers aren't going to be happy with.

Ridodon127 days ago(+1)

I think I'm retarded because I can't get the slut mode ending. If I lose yeah, I get steam rolled by Khazeem and get the sub bottom bitch bad ending, but if I win the fight ends in a very abrupt way, like the first normal ending but "worse" because Mahir doesn't undone the conditioning with his thrigger phrase, feels like I'm doing something wrong

Malph126 days ago

I think the lose was the new ending? Like beating him in slut mode lets you leave with nothing else added on. There is a scene guide that might be updated soon you could look at.

bitshiftgamesDeveloper126 days ago

Yeah, scene guide will be going up in the next couple of days thanks to the tireless work of OpenFireplace, but in the meantime: There are now 4 endings for the game, two of which are new. You seem to have gotten to both of them: losing to Khazeem in the slutmode battle (different bad end than the normal loss), and winning, but under certain circumstances. The epilogue should be...a bit different for that one. There's also the stuff at the host club of course, so be sure to check that out if you haven't.

Zendir_Johan124 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

I played the new content pack, as always I loved it. I can see more content is coming (?) and that's really impressive for how much work you can do as only one person. Work and effort like this is why I always hope you get more love and support that you totally deserved, I can only imagine what the future chapters will bring us and I hope you always love what you are doing because we love you. <3

bitshiftgamesDeveloper124 days ago

Aw, appreciate it man. As fast as I get stuff done, I always wish it was faster, but I am glad I've been able to finish a decent amount of stuff so far that people are enjoying. And yeah, another pack in the works. Wanted to have a roadmap post up already, but I'm a little under the weather at the moment. Soon though!

Mathadar121 days ago(+1)

IT was excellent as expected, great update! Love it! Thanks as always, and will keep enjoying your games, assuredly.

bitshiftgamesDeveloper120 days ago

Excellent! Definitely appreciate it.

spairon120 days ago(+1)

is there a way to edit the save to give myself the lucky charm to see the last scene without having to redo the entire game possibly? really like this and im so looking forward to the next addition

bitshiftgamesDeveloper119 days ago

Save Editor might be able to help you out.

bobboter119 days ago

late to the party but have you tried m tool? great little debugging or cheating tool.

TourFrans118 days ago(+1)

I got question dont know whether this will count as spoiler or not. Will there be a route or bad end that involve mezz and scratch being fucked together within one cg. it might be a long shot but i really like the slut khazeem fight bad end and how i wish we get the cg describing their fate in the Gutter

bitshiftgamesDeveloper118 days ago

In this game, no. In the future ones, what I'll say is that I'm definitely planning on doing more with Scratch.

PeterFoxx129 days ago(+1)

This is a long shot and a bit of an odd question, but have you made any art in the past under a different name? When I saw Scratch I felt like something in the back recesses of my mind activated, he just felt so familiar. I feel like I've seen your art style or at least something that looks similar to that somewhere and I'm losing my mind trying to remember lol. Anyway these games are phenomenal and I'm super looking forward to seeing more of your stuff!

bitshiftgamesDeveloper117 days ago(+1)

Sorry for the late reply. Sometimes Itch grabs posts as spam for arbitrary reasons, and I don't get a notification or anything, it's just down to whenever I check next.

To your questions: I'm over on FA as Bitshift. Used to do pony stuff. Still dig it, just want to do my own IP for now.

And thanks, glad you're enjoying them!

jonfgrabo02@outlook.com91 days ago(+1)

will the next game go off a certain ending or any of the ending?

bitshiftgamesDeveloper91 days ago

Any of the endings that actually carry through. Obviously the ones where he completely loses/disappears are dead-ends. But as long as he "wins" one way or another, he continues on, and the consequences will be reflected in little ways in the future games.

jonfgrabo02@outlook.com90 days ago(+1)

what about the lucky charm ending dose that count as a win?

bitshiftgamesDeveloper90 days ago

Yup, anything where he leaves.

jonfgrabo02@outlook.com89 days ago

interesting I really wonder how that will go especially compared to the slut ending

corbinbelasco87 days ago(+1)

Imagining Mezz after 4-5 Slut endings where his brain is complete mush after becoming brainwashed to bend over for every criminal species in the series XD

bitshiftgamesDeveloper87 days ago

Bun gets a lot of mileage on him (potentially). But he's spry!

bobboter87 days ago

would be funny if the brainwashing backfires due to so many diffrent methiods leftovers overlaping turning mez into an agressive hornball with the main baddies scrambling to undo it beacuse everyones a bit sore now in more ways then one.

Spunntwisted66685 days ago(+1)

Hot

Hexclan1384 days ago(+1)

other then looking sexy is there a purpose for the bunny suit or the hyena clongue? also while i get that it's a furry porn game a bit of skill, weapon, item and enemy variety would be nice.

bitshiftgamesDeveloper84 days ago(+1)

Yup, the suit and cologne are both needed at various points (although technically you can avoid using the cologne, it's just...very tedious.) As for variety, I agree, but this is the work of one person, with limited abilities. More weapons or enemies means more art assets, which means a considerable amount of additional time. Adding new mechanics isn't AS hard or time-intensive, but it does still take time, not just to develop but to bugtest and balance. I've surmised, so far correctly, that most people would rather that time be put into more scenes and horny content; for a game like this, being hot is always the priority. Even the gameplay is there primarily to enhance the horny, because imho having some actual interactivity and agency is more fun that just clicking forward in a visual novel. I also don't want to make things TOO complex, because I want to keep the game fairly accessible. That said, again I agree, it could absolutely use some more variation, and maybe I'll be able to work more in as I go. But even my attempt to get just TWO completely distinct enemies into this one didn't turn out, with the second (the "clients" or customers, the dobermans) ending up as just NPCs for now.

This is also a function of what I'm doing fight-wise. If this was just an ordinary RPG fight system, and if you lose, sexy scene, that would be very simple to implement, and to add bad guys to. But instead, I have elaborate systems built into the fights themselves to do the sexy stuff IN the fight, not just after. This means that every significantly new enemy has to be fit into that system (or have a new one made for them, which is even worse.) In other words, there IS a fair bit of complexity to the fights, it's just been build around a few enemies, simple basic mechanics, and more complex sex mechanics. It's like character creation in an RPG: I have limited points, and I put them in scenes and battle sex mechanics, which makes things a little weak elsewhere. Hopefully still fun though.

Shinslover65 days ago(+1)

you know , China is difficult to get BL game especially about hypnosis and sex .I'm really looking forward to the next three games, and I'd love to know if there's an approximate launch time ? I already want to have the next game experience

bitshiftgamesDeveloper65 days ago

It will be a while. I'm currently working on the second content pack for GT, due out by the end of March. I MAY do a final third pack after that, which will be another 3-4 months. Then I'll finally start working on the 3rd game, which I anticipate will take roughly 13-14 months to develop.

Mathadar52 days ago(+1)

Copy that, will definitely buy that one too, love it!

Malph58 days ago(+1)

If the art takes the most time you could get someone else do the art so you can focus on like coding and stuff not sure how making games works but if it helps you get the game out faster you could get more games out faster to make more money which would easily make up for the cost of hiring someone. Or you could do it the other way around if you really like making the art

bitshiftgamesDeveloper58 days ago (1 edit)

Outsourcing the art would create a host of other issues, even beside it being impractical financially. I've got a pretty decent balance going at the moment though.

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Cruel Serenade: GutterTrash

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