Re the ending: I'm glad you liked it. It'd be possible to put in a choice to stay a woman. Be a neat touch. I'll make a note. But yes, they are waters of emancipation so you'd have to lose the kitsune aspect.
As for new content, it'll be a timeframe of months. I'm not starting until the end of March because I'm finishing up an RPG maker game this month and I'm gonna try to get a visual novel release out for the anniversary on march 22nd. On top of that, I'm not a very fast or consistent writer, it's a good day when I get a thousand words written. Checking the patch notes, kitsune 1 was about 100K and kitsune 2 will likely be about that big. It's also gonna be a path I'm less enthusiastic about, just because I don't really enjoy mind control or mind control adjacent content. But I'm be at it this long, so I'm gonna finish it.
I won't release the whole path at once, I generally put out releases when I hit writing milestones, or make the game 10% bigger. Anyway thank you for all of the feedback.
Viewing post in Monsters of the Forest .4.25.04 comments
Yeah, I totally feel like staying a woman should be a choice in the hidden ending, because that does seem to be a reoccurring option in most of the content of the game, so it makes sense to at least let it be an option for the player to pick.
Edit: One thing I did also find surprising with the hidden ending, is that Frederick decided to go back to being a guy as well. I haven't seen every ending yet I'm sure, but he does seem to pick staying as a girl a whole lot, so that surprised me a bit when he turned back in the hidden ending. Nothing is wrong with that mind you, it was just a surprise to see. I would love to know what's different in that path, that makes him make that decision compared to the endings where he stays a woman. Especially when he does seem to enjoy being a woman.
As for new content, take however long it takes dev. There's no point in rushing it, especially if it isn't content that appeals a ton to yourself as a person. Trying to force yourself to write something you don't enjoy as fast as you can, will only make it a bigger challenge to write it. As for myself I'm more than contend to wait for it to be done, and whatever time it takes is worth waiting. I might try it out in the increments that you end up releasing it in, or I might wait for it to be done, but we'll see. Either way, I don't mind it.
I'm excited to see what the RPG maker game is about though! I've pleasantly enjoyed almost every other game you've released on TFGs, so I'm excited to see whatever this next game is about! I'm curious about the visual novel version though. I assume it doesn't change much plot-wise to what we already have, but how much is the different transformations on display in the game? Does the MC have a sprite that changes as well, or is it a 'first person point of view' sorta situation, where only the other characters have a sprite? I might just try it out later today when I'm done with my chores for the day.
If you read closely, Frederick almost always gets the idea to stay a woman from the player character. The way I read him is that he's interested in experiencing new things, which is why he enjoys being a woman so much. The group dynamic and how he's not the bravest soul means that he wouldn't want to be the only woman, so he "volunteers" to help when the player character stays. In the hidden ending, partially just to switch up the regular way things go, partially because like the player character he views staying a woman as still being kitsune influenced so he returns to normal because that's what he expects the player character to do. (Not that being a woman is necessarily kitsune influenced, but that's how things were vibing.)
Rpg maker game has been out sadly. It's the research tower one, with all the hardening content. It sucks. I know it sucks. But I woke up with a plan to make a game, and by god I made it. Anyway there needs to be a lot more writing to fill out the blank spots in the design, so I'm making it a writing challenge to get into the swing of writing lots. Also need to redo some of the puzzles.
The visual novel is currently just a retelling of most of the ant paths. The art and music are all placeholder. But the MC has a sprite. The writing is a touch stronger because it's first person and I gave it an editing pass. It's far from essential. A good friend of mine, Salty Justice was adding visual novel functionality to their game engine and offer to help me set up it. Lot more work than I was expecting sadly. I'd really like to finish it someday, but I'll have to finish the twine game first. Gotta get my life's work done.