Hello JT!
First of all, thanks so much for writing such detailed feedback and for sharing your thoughts with me! I love hearing feedback from playes and it's great to hear everything you had to say! I don't know if I can address all your points fully, but I will do my best!
Thanks for the compliment on my username, hahah! It's a name I made up when i was 12, thought it was really cool, and it just stuck to me tbh. Later in life I found out, by some divine coincidence, that my username was also the name of the final boss in Sonic Adventure 2. Which is... kind of crazy lol. Ever since, all people usually say is "DAMN YOU LIKE SA2?!" and all I can say is that I have NEVER played it, hahah!
I am really glad the game impressed you overall! And that it even spurred the creation of an itch account! I did make sure to get nice and comfy too while reading :)
It's great to hear that the troubles I presented feel relatable to you, and others too. i want the characters to feel as real as possible, and tackling serious issues is a part of it. But I also wanted to make sure I don't cloud the game with negativity - these characters are just like us. They have ups. And downs. Things happen, they change, and people keep on living even if things are bad. It's what we all do day-to-day, and I want the cast to reflect that reality. I did my best to keep them consistent too!
I'm glad you had fun exploring various paths too! The tutorials are fun to write, so it's assuring to hear they're fun to read as cheeky 4th-wall-breaks too!
Grace is definitely a... "deliberate" departure from visual novel cast members. She has her own hard-to-access subplot going on, with hints littered through the game, but admittedly - the demo doesn't delve into it at all. There are beginnings of her "quest", but nothing meaningful can happen yet. I will take your advice and think about ways to allow the player to engage with her more earlier! But yeah, no matter what you do, Grace is never a huge fan of Syd. She has her own hang-ups, and problematic ways of dealing with them (ie blaming Syd for her "goal" being out of reach.)
You are right in guessing that, the more secrets Syd keeps from Maisy - the more she keeps from him!
Jayda doesn't ask for much. She's sweet and nice. But as you mentioned later on, her neediness and dependency can become detrimental...
Steph doesn't judge who Syd likes based off of free time usage - it's more about certain dialogue choices you make in front of her ;)She's VERY observant!
Stuart is a voice of reason among the chaos of their insane last few weeks of the high school year - it's true!
Syd is very much capable of strategic thinking! I wonder what you'll think in the full game - Syd's parents do one particularily embarassing thing to him based off of who he nominates that night ;)
I actually did my best to keep Syd being as compatible as possible with all the girls. I like your analysis, and it's great - but I did my best to keep it believable that Syd could potentially end up with ANY of the three heroines. Like you listed, there is a positive and negative to each relationship! Maisy and Syd have wicked chemistry that leads them both into their preferred power dynamics, meanwhile Steph can be so cold that she can't commit to Syd in the same way he expects him to commit to her at times. And you were spot on about Jayda's reliance and neediness. I definitely want to keep all their dynamics varied and interesting though! It's great to hear your interpretations - which are just as (if not more) valid than my authorial intent hahah.
I definitely get what youre saying when talking about only hugging Maisy. It's definitely a tough decision! Especially because I throw it in so early!
I worked SUPER hard on the exhibition, so I am glad it met your expectations! And pretty much everyone else's. It seems to be the highlight in a lot of people's eyes! There are three majorly different ways Syd can end the art exhibition - so I'm glad you had fun exploring your path! Keeping Maisy and Nacho under control is a tough battle, and just keeping things to one's self makes sense too! I'm glad you enjoyed giving Nacho the Mortal Kombat treatment. I wanted it to be a lot of fun!
Girl and the Beast is by the talented MadnessRage (here on twitter:https://twitter.com/MadsMadnessRage). Check out her art! She did the amazing painting, so watch her for more of it! If I end up doing merch, I'd love to get it printed out for people! (bomabrd me with requests, people!)
I do have a proofreader - but more hands on deck could certainly help! I have had a few typos reported to me, but if you end up playing some more and catching any, feel free to send the errors to me! Even just the typo out of context in text form is fine - I can search the scripts! : It is a LOT of writing, especially with branching paths, so I am sorry the typos have slipped through the cracks!
Stuart and Grace's parents are... interesting. They are conservative and like parading their children around, but 201X is a modern time. Grace's personality, and a more modern understanding of the world, means that she never faced intense homophobia from her parents. In fact, her mother sees it as "good for her brand." They're THOSE kinds of capitalists, hahah. Considering they both won major prizes at the prestigious art school's yearly competition, both of them have earned a lot of brownie points with their intense parents - thus they were allowed out. They know that keeping Grace and Stuart on a tight leash means allowing them to go off on their own and rewarding them when they do "good" - because they know they're gonna resist less and be more compliant if they're kept happy. In a weird way, they're a bit more insidious than just "being strict"...
Grace and Stuart parents are of vietnamese decent, but have very much embraced a lot of western values and "success" mindset. I will keep your suggestions in mind though!
It's great to hear that the game allowed you relive some high school days!
Also - it seems you're a canberra local?! Or have spent time here? I chose a shopping centre that was relatively far from me - but you did a good job of indentifying it! Canberra does have a unique look and atmosphere - and I really wanted to capture it in LoveSick Darlings!
I really love that you made the time reach and share your thoughts about LoveSick Darlings. It's seriously so great to see, and I love hearing from you and others! I'm so happy the story's heart spoke to you. This game came together thanks to the work of many other talented creatives, so I'm glad you wanna thank them too!
If you'd like to support the project, as you mentioned, I can still offer certain kickstarter rewards! Contact me directly via tiwtter or discord and we can try work something out!
Also... it seems you noticed my sneaky little addition I put on Steam! Nice work! ;P
I can't promise there will be many, or any, more "Darlings" games at this point in time. But I'd really love to do more. Really. Making this game has been a lot of fun, and I'd love to revisit the VN format sometime! Keep your eyes out ;)
But for now, I hope you look forward to the full release of LoveSick Darlings!
Thanks so much again for writing to me, providing all this lovely feedback, and for supporting this project! I will be sure to be holding my head up super high once the game is finally out!
Regards,
Dimitri