I have very mixed feelings about this game. At it's core there is something interesting and fun, and think there is a lot of potential; but that you also needed more feedback from native speakers before publishing.
As someone in the US I find the idioms used a bit odd, and sometimes hard to understand. It's one thing that there is an age gap relationship, but it's another that both marrying a teacher and that there is a minigame about impregnating her. I don't think homophobia was intended (at least I hope it's not), but it is definately implied.
Also the minigames are sometimes confusing, its very hard to understand what the criteria for success is at times. That I couldn't go to the public bath in the beginning felt confusing, and then I suddenly could.
The use of pay and fees feels incomplete. Money is only truly used in one place, and yet you make enough that it isn't really an issue. So I am confused why it is there.
Normally with a short game like this I would want to play multiple times to see different outcomes or explore the other quests, but the issues I mentioned get in the way enough that I have no desire to.
Additionally this page says the game is playable on Mac, but that isn't true. There is no mac executable, and your can't simply run the python executable.
Please understand I bring all this up because I want your future works to be better and learn from this.
Viewing post in Harold And The Witches 1.2 NSFW comments
Hello HisDarkerSide,
thank you for your feedback which unfortunately is also confusing for us (Dan and me) to read. But I will try to answer you. (There is also a FAQ.txt (frequently asked question) file included in the game folder.
1a. You are playing a fictional story, also called Fairy Tail and all characters/persons and their opinions are fictional and do not resemble our, the game developers, real opinions. If we decided (for story reasons) to include a homophobic character in the game, we would certainly do so, because it is a fictional adversion of a fictional character in a game.
1b. They don't both marry a teacher and your wording is unintelligible in the context of homophobia.
2. Dan is asking which idioms confused you and/or were difficult to understand. Could you post one or more examples?
3. No one but you noticed that the Mac version is missing xD. I'll fix that and post a Mac version in the next few days.
Regards
Tom
There were a lot of idioms I noticed, but I really don't feel like going back over the game to make a list (sorry), my comment was more about the feedback that you should have more native english speakers as testers to get that feedback in the future. If I ever do replay I will make that list.
But I can bring up one, and it feeds into my comment about homophobia. "Fudge Packer" is an insult towards gay people. Aside from gay people jokingly saying it to each other (with consent), it doesn't have any other context that I am aware of.
So you have a character repeatedly using it as a taunt, but that taunt is homophobic. There are any number of insults you could have used instead that wouldn't have changed the intent.
But saying this is fiction, therefor implying it is ok to use that idiom is bad argument. It had no point, there was no arc for the character using the term. And throughout the game you conflate liking anal sex with being gay, which is at times painted as being negative.
Just because it isn't your intent, it doesn't mean that isn't the effect. Things like racism, homophobia, etc etc should have a point to them, illustrate a point, have the character have an arc and change, spur some other character into action, etc. If you simply include it without commentary, it comes off as authorial intent.
I did not say he marries both characters, I am saying you both marry a teenager, who you have authority over as a teacher, AND you play a minigame to impregnate her. I am talking about the same person the whole time.
I was saying those things were problematic AND there is content that comes off as homophobic. It was a list of issues I had