Post by redonihunter in Harmful Heaven, End of the World Visual Novel

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Nice devlog. A few thoughts.

Please reconsider the names. Sera is a female name and Desi, well, google it. If you insist, better maybe make it nicknames, like for Désirée and Seraph.

The game is whatever you want it to be. The engine is only a tool to make it easier to program. That said, if you do not want a kinetic novel, mini games and sandbox are good to break away from that. Illusion of choice vn with different ending in name only, are still kinetic, as far as I am concerend. As for vn, you know best if you want to have game play or just a branching story to read. Both have their fans.

Please be aware that this is a hobby. You can dream of becoming so successful that you can live from your hobby, of course, but indie dev is actually a synonym for unemployed (or overconfident boastful amateur with delusions about own skill and own game quality). You should still aim for a day job.

You can see the page view for topics and compare to other devlogs. Many of your views will stem from the same people though. And this section of the community is kinda deprecated as explained in the sticky.

I do not know how translator friendly rpg maker is. But if you hardcode the game in non-english, well, .... And if you do write wihtout translator in comments your engrish is good enough to write the game in that. But this is the opinion of a non native english speaker here ;-)

The problem with getting exposure is that you get exposure. People will say nice things, people will say not so nice things. Some only for the lulz. It is hard to see the valid criticism behind the insults. Your art so far sucks. That was not nice of me to say, but it is true. For me it looks not like pixel art, but like pixels drawn by a kid. If this is intentional, well, ok, can be done, but is hard to pull off. Art is a skill and takes lots of practise to look good. And without classes in that, it might take even longer. Also, even if you had a refined art style, people might just not like it, as it is a matter of personal taste. I do not like most pixel art in general for example. I think your chibis are good.

Oh, and your approach looks already more professional than most of the so called indie devs here. I wish you luck and fun with your hobby.

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Maidelen1 year ago (1 edit) (+1)

Seeing what you commented on the topic I did made me want you to take a look at my devlog and comment. What a thing.

If Translator++ (software for editing and translating text from RPG Maker games) has a replace text style option, I will change them to Désirée and Seraph. I would refuse if Sera and Desi were names with special meanings, but the truth is that I decided them quickly and without thinking too much when I had this story as a thing of many jokes and little seriousness. Besides, Désirée and Seraph sound better.

Thanks for the comment about the game can be whatever I want, some time ago I decided definitively what I was going to do and I have already made some sections of the story already playable and I like the way they were/are.

After my first year in this,I understood that I am not going to make a living out of this. I don't think so at all, I don't think it's possible with my capabilities. But it's my fault with using "successful" ambiguously, what I want is to have a little reputation with a niche audience that is willing to support me so that I can continue making games. That's the most I can aspire to, and I think it's realistic to pursue that. My fault also for mentioning ZUN he's in another very high league.

Your art so far sucks. That was not nice of me to say, but it is true.

Uh, that hurt, but I guess I have to prepare myself to read it quite a few times. I'm not following the rules of a particular style, I don't think it's pixel art as such either. The way I draw is a result of ignoring what I don't like about a style and just sticking with what I like. I suppose I could improve if I apply myself more to this to make it more convincing.

your approach looks already more professional than most of the so called indie devs here.

Do you really think so? Thank you thank you, I feel like the best thing anyone can say to me on this is that I'm being professional. Although I think you can give me a compliment without disparaging other users.

Thanks for stopping by and taking your time to comment.

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redonihunter1 year ago(+1)

Oh, you can keep the names as they were. It just bothers nitpickers like me, if never an hint of an explanation is given. And boys having a girls name and girls having a non-name is something to stumble over.

The boy could have been made fun for the angelic sounding name and thus only uses a short form. Or since it is postapocalpytic. People usually have better things to do than running around with their passports. They have no last names eithers, after all. So an introduction could be like:

Your name is what? That is not a name. - Duhhh. It is not my real name, I chose it myself! It is a new world, didn't you notice?

Or. That is an odd name for a boy. - That is because it is a nickname, doofus.

Whatever you like. Even subtle as one of the kids carrying a school bag with a name tag on it that spells the full name. But if you do nothing, I have to assume it is a world were these types of names are normal. Or worse, I could misinterpred the gender of your toons. All of this could of course be intentional. Like foreshadowing with the whole angel topics.

Names in such a setting can be anything. Including origin places, occupations or making fun of a activity the character did. In postapocalyptic, you might be called Rpg or Pixels, if you talk about your preapocalyptic activities.

Since it is your hobby, it should make fun to you foremost. There are just too many indie devs. Even if you make a good game, have an inviting game page, a free game, stunning social media ... you still have hundreds or rather thousands of people that are the same. I could play a new vn every day, and never accidentally stumble over yours. And I do have a backlog of literally hundreds of games to play. Maybe I should comment less and play more ;-)

Regarding your art style. Yes, I did say that intentionally, of course. But also because in my opinion it is like that. It is just not appealing to me (but not appaling either...) There are not many objective criteria to look at art. I can give an example of an evolving art style. There is a webcomic, questionable content. It runs 20 years now and the artist is self taught. You can look at the style evolving by looking every 100 pages or so. (he has over 5000 now). Or you might know the anime Shin Chan as another example. That one looks not quite like other anime...

Oh and it is pixel art to me. It is not very artsy and not the usual kind, yes, but you draw in low resolution, so I can see the pixels and stair case effects. The style is drawing-like-a-kid. And in this day and age, if I can see the pixels, it is intentional. (ok, maybe it is just low resolution art and not pixel art, report me to art police, if you must)

As you might have noticed, i am a forum lurker. So I do see lots of topics by ... "aspiring" developers. It was not a compliment for compliments sake, of course you are free to see it like that. As you are free to take offense by people not liking your game or your art. But you go at it without the attitude, that i observe so often. You know your current limitations and seem to have a plan. Compared to those others you are professional and they ... are not. I diss them because they project this delusional attitude: I made half a line of code and managed to press export on a game engine, thus I am a developer; why is no one playing (buying) my game. Seriously. If you dig in the forum you see lots of such threads. And if you take a look at the game, you see the why in the first seconds and question the meaning of the term indie game developer. Maybe they think it is (indie game) (developer). While I see it as (indie) (game developer).

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