I think I found your profile via your upscaler app! Although I’m not using it much in the end (preferring the command-line from the original script), I decided to have a look at your other projects anyway.
I see there is a feedback form already with questions on art in particular, so I won’t mention it here and focus on other points below (there will be some overlap on things like story and UI though).
Story
Overall, I like the player character arriving from nowhere with a mission and hinting at it without revealing everything to the player. Tick Tock Isle has a similar style, although you really control the character so you’re moving around the island without being sure of your final goal in that game, and discovering it gradually.
The MC seems to be strategical and let people come at them while playing dumb; or fails at it, which is quite fun. But I’m not sure why it seems the first two characters are “part of the plan”, while the third one who looks like the previous one and could potentially be their sister but the MC handles her very differently like she’s “not part of the plan”. Maybe he just needs a warrior and a thief (Zula is definitely a thief, right?) to complete an archetypal team but not an extra mage?
The way he interrogates people without saying everything reminds me how we tackle investigation in my own TRPG campaign…
Dialogues
OK, although some dialogues get a bit long e.g. between Azaria and Zula arguing at the beginning and later about food; it seems a lot proportionally to the importance of it, and if it’s not too important to set a chill mood before getting into the action. It is important to show characters’ personalities but Zula is quickly associated to a certain stereotype of positive, air-headed character, so it doesn’t need to be repeated too much maybe, to better focus on her less common quirks such as counter-investigating the MC and saying “beware of pickpockets” (see more below)
Script
- Typo: I don’t know that Zula’s sister is you -> I didn’t know that Zula’s sister was you -> (more natural) I didn’t know you were Zula’s sister.
- then right after: Alto: It’s just like my impression when I’m with you Azaria: Really? The good ones or bad ones? Alto: Of course, the best ones! => what are they talking about? Did I miss a line? The good/bad/best impression? (but then why plural “impressions”?)
- “beware of pickpockets” with Zula zooming in was very fun and ironic (plus voice acted)
- why do I have to choose between a meal and a desert? (OK I get it now, the cake is actually a hidden pointer to vegetables)
- kinda fun to make to choose whom to please indirectly via food though
UI
- nice widget animations. It has a kind of extra polished Renpy feel. Are you using an add-on or is it a custom VN framework?
- window cannot enter 100% fullscreen, apparently due to max resolution being 0.9x
- listing available resolutions as 0.9x, 0.8x, 0.7x is disturbing: it seems we are talking about lowres vs hires, and 0.9x is the best resolution. In fact, this affects the window dimensions (which I know is sometimes referred to as resolution in game engines) and therefore 0.7x will give a smaller window with the same graphical assets, leading to a higher perceived resolution (for instance, 0.9x looks blurry on a 1440p monitor while 0.7x is OK)
- apparently the semi-transparent gears at the bottom are part of the dialog box. They are nice but spread far above and all over, giving a feeling of blending with the BG which can be disturbing. It may be intended if you mean the world is part of space, time and logic (clockwork world), otherwise it takes some time to get used to
- there is no Back button, but Log + click to warp to any previous line is cool!
- the log doesn’t indicate “Narrator” though, so it looks like it’s the previous character talking (Alto however is shown properly, it’s just Narrator when Alto thinks)
- Zula name text color is too dark (dark blue), should be brighter for better contrast
Audio
- Zula voice seems low compared to BGM, had to increase voice volume (maybe 1st character was too but I didn’t notice)
- UI SFX spam when moving slider
Voice
- … and there are also other ingredients, like meat -> voice says “another ingredients”
OK, it wasn’t a short comment… But I have nothing specific to discuss either so I didn’t make a new thread… It’s just a compilation of short feedback notes.