This was a good read, despite being shit on almost every post the humor was still great. Will plop my comments below as I go through the thread. This should give some backstory to some of the more questionable choices I made for the development.
The 'bug' where the face shows up for a frame before the text was actually my doing. The speech bubble system was being weird when it changes between each text system (bubble and normal) for the first box that showed. Bit of a band aid fix but I made the first text box auto end without any text for a work around.
The retro costume is actually Hiroshi's outfit from version 1.1 of Ao Oni. Thanks for that bug fix in the Tatami room, can't believe I overlooked something like that (also misspelling 'guard' so much, I did fix most of them after Neco's videos). Got both fixed on my computer now.
The deal with Rose and being naked is a simple one - I found the base model but didn't finish the edits to it by the time I decided to launch the game. I did attempt to edit it to match the artwork but my skills in that department are not great so I just left it. The Mika transformation and chimney scenes are great feedback. I originally wanted basic animated cutscenes in the game but my friend had a hectic work schedule then. Now, who knows - his art has improved significantly and he's at I think three days a week. Another reason the animations were hard to do was because they are RPG Maker XP sprites being used in VX Ace with a script that can accept larger sprites. This causes problems trying to set them in the right positions to make the animation happen.
Yes, there is indeed meant to be a roof outside, little awkward to portray that. Moving on. The bug with the Oni at the start of the Annex was fixed I think (well it's the same code as the other rooms, so it could be tile related (seems to happen sometimes where the AI would get stuck on a part and I'd need to repaint a room) The Annex gave me the most problems designing. Oh! The doll head on the light bulb bug, thanks for that, also done a fix on my end, to the Labs!
The breaker puzzle idea is actually taken almost entirely from Dino Crisis, was a little nod to one of my favorite games. For the picture book, again, I wanted it all redrawn but never got around to doing it and the original still had its charm. The original version I made was around three times longer in text and much more edgy before I cut down a lot of the meat. I believe a sprinkle of M Night levels works for Ao Oni, it's always about the cheese!
Outside - The tombstone poem is by P. B. Shelley, and one of my favorite poets (he was the husband to Mary - Frankenstein's writer). It surprisingly matched with the puzzle so I used it. Essentially this was the second insert of something I love.
Ah that 'c' word, it also didn't sit right with me, so don't worry. It was originally part of the older script mentioned above and then I left it in as a joke at the end. While it is disturbing, I realized that and the scene with the doctor were great conveyers at how the Oni's influence changes people - and it could also be debatable if it is happening to the doctor as well as the other workers or if they are truly evil pricks.
I wanted to convey a sense of hopelessness through disgust and using taboo, which seems to have worked (especially in the thread I'm getting a chuckle). Been constantly debating about changing it though, but never did. It could have been a lot worse as I almost included worse examples - such as cannibalism in the catacombs and the 'n' word in the labs/mortuary. So that's basically the reasoning, not because of fetishes or whatever.
The Shun reveal - I originally wanted to have some clue in the basement that points to it, but with the lighting it was just too dark to enjoy. Actually, just checked the project and there was indeed a hint at the bottom of the basement stairs. Either I put that there later or it just isn't very visible.
Okay, I lost it at the Smiling Friends edit, genius. *chef's kiss*
Finally the perfect ending artwork was originally a placeholder but it just stayed, was meant to include much more original art in the game.
"Maybe the body is mindless, but the mind is still somewhere in this case in red head." You said it perfectly - the Oni is like a husk that can't control its actions but is still along for the ride - it relies on its head space to try and talk to others to help it, but eventually the summoning curse infects the people it tries to use. As for why didn't everyone inside the Jailhouse forget people who died? I guess you could say being protags gave them plot armor? It's a good bit of feedback though, so maybe they were just simply immune while inside the Jailhouse?
I'm sure if I did heavily change parts of the game to exclude the stuff that made the original a fan favorite I also would have copped some flack for not having it. Also on testing - I did try to get some playtesters but people just never seemed interested in helping me during development. I had to basically complete almost everything so I couldn't find all bugs and grammar errors myself.
Finally it seems you like Ridge's art, you can find his twitter here - https://twitter.com/lowis_ridge and his artstation here https://www.artstation.com/ridge_lowis I don't think he uses instagram anymore.
Sorry for the long reply. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
