(Just a note to start off with: This is Windchimes, the writer of Lads in Distress / Catfish Crew. I'm just using this account for our new VN studio to answer comments because I have added this account as a contributor to LiD project, and it's easier to monitor all our games under both CC and EG from this account alone.)
Hello! Thank you for trying our new demo and for the detailed feedback! Don't worry, we don't mind long comments at all ^_^
We're glad you like the new demo! :D It particularly makes me happy that you felt the writing has improved. Crazy how much one year of constant VN writing can do, huh? Looking back on the old NaNoRenO script makes me cringe now lol.
Thank you for the compliments on the art! We were worried about whether fans would be unhappy about art inconsistency with the changes in the character artist position, so we're glad to hear you like the character/CG art and Ellis's new design!
Haha, glad to hear you like Tabitha! Yes, she can definitely be pushy, but that's why she's such great friends with Charming ;) Charming needs strong characters like Tabitha as friends or else she'd probably scare all of them away, lol. Yes, I'd say Ellis's social awkwardness is part of his charm. It's so different from all the princes Charming meets daily that she's drawn to it in a strange way. ;)
Ah, another Nicholl fan! Honestly, with how much fans were asking for a Nicholl route for NaNoRenO version, I was so nervous about whether this Nicholl route would let you guys down, so I'm glad to hear you like his route! As for the melon garden... It's actually a joke / meme that started in our public Discord server with fans, so blame them! I ended up making it canon because it fits and it's hilarious, so the melon garden will definitely come up more often in Nicholl's route!
Haha, Beau and
Hood... Maybe in a distant future. xD No promises yet! Sorry for the
disappointment though OTL We really didn't want to cut them, but we had
no choice ;o;
The full game will indeed continue to be free! So no worries about that :D After all, we're using a lot of CC-NC background resources, so we can't make the game commercial even if we wanted to, unless we want to commission full set of original backgrounds lol.
Anyways, thank you again for playing our demo and letting us know your thoughts! ^_^