itch.io

Hey, thank you for taking a moment to review the alpha. I agree on the fact the input system isn't very clear yet. I've changed the way it pops out fairly recently and I was so happy with my work I dismissed the need to polish it. I know it may seems like something to get rid of solely for that reason, however I wish to keep this gameplay mechanic for several reasons :

1. Players seem to like the fact not every answer is handed to them on a plate. When they find something, it's their own discovery, not something anyone could have found by button mashing. The ??? are there to signify the player, however small they might be, there are still things they haven't tried. It's also handy to keep track of what's been tried and to re-enter such actions quickly if needed.
2. I'm purposely inspiring myself from the open nature of text adventure games and am trying to make it as seamless as possible to describe your actions with long lists of synonyms. I'm working on an easier mode for relevant actions to show up so typing isn't mandatory.
3. Concerning weird actions, they might seem superfluous but I believe it part of the pleasure to test how far you can tease the game with curious ideas. Like, why would you lick the cell bars ? I don't know, but now the narration just judged you for having the idea. A bit like a roleplaying adventure where the GM has to deal with the crazy ideas of his players, some of them might actually be quite clever so it's always good to give at least acknowledgment that "Yes, this is an action recognised by the game". I believe it encourages the player to think out of the box. I for myself, prefer a small but dense game with many interaction-able parts rather than a large world where most of what's to see is just a cardboard cut-out and you're almost punished for not thinking like the devs want you to.
4. I believe it's part of the charm of the adventure to not discover the same things as another player, even if that means missing on content. I work hard on making each path interesting and to have multiple solutions to the same problems.

I will continue to make the input system clearer and perhaps provide a list of suggested actions in the tutorial, I'm simply trying not to spoil or influence the player into one or another path. I believe I need to make the Input box a lot more inviting to type in.

Concerning the reaction commands, since several keywords can show up in the same sentence and due to the nature of this part of the code from Ren'py, it is difficult for me to act accordingly to what is displayed outside of the text zone itself. I will admit I purposely made the reaction keywords italicized so they wouldn't be too obvious to the player. I wanted them to "think twice" before realising a character said a certain word that should have caught his attention.  I'm worried if I made the system too obvious that the players would just mash every possible reaction word. Perhaps a little icon aside the keyword and instead of having a mode to activate before hand, a menu with the available actions ? I'm not sure how to code this with the twisted way I've managed to make this even work in the first place, but I'll have to try.

I will do my best to fix these issues, I've listed them.

Sincerely,

Ghu'