yo, thank you so much for the response. glad you're enjoying the revamp. I really felt like i had to make a case for why i was going back through things but it seems like people are onboard with this once they actually see it. I will say Brian did a good job on the story. He brought some really good points into the reading of it as well as sharing personal things and adding things that I left out or just didn't even think of-- i think that's what makes a good stream on something like that: just taking the source material and adding something of your own to make it better. I know he was able to reach a lot of people that I couldn't and I appreciate that. He did a good job and i'm grateful for that. thank you for reading :)
Aaryn
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haha, sorry about your hangover. but super glad you enjoyed it and all the feels hit the way they were supposed to. In terms of how you interpret the characters and stuff, i really wanted to leave that part open so people could look into them the way they wanted to of whatever appeals to them the most. sexuality is a big discussion in this game and it's really hard to take a complete stance on what that is or isn't. it's complicated and diverse so i really wanted to leave it up to the reader. I've never heard of Skam here personally but it looks kinda interesting. i can add it to my list and maybe get to it eventually :)
heya :)
so no plans on a sequel right now. the ending was really purposefully done to tie up a lot of things and really focuses on the story that i wanted to tell here. it checked a lot of boxes for a lot of people. that being said, i'm open to a sequel but it would have to be better than the original for me to even do it. I'm not a fan of just running stories into the ground with dozens of sequels and stuff.
heya :)
So no plans for voiceovers for a couple of reasons. 1) Logistics. The amount of dialogue in this game is insane. The original script had over 50k lines of code. It would be hard to try and record some parts and not record others. Recording that would take months and coding it in and editing it would be a nightmare. I honestly don't think it would be worth the time and would likely delay updates, prolong development, or just prevent me from starting something else. There's just never been a lot of demand and I don't want to be a developer that just spends forever redoing and adding to the same project. 2) Voices can ruin head canon. So this second point is honestly more important to me and is the primary reason I'm about 99% sure we'll never see voiceovers. I think visual novels, especially one of this length, kinda blend that novel and game genre together. However, the length of this one really pushes more of a "novel" than a game. I think that causes a lot of people to read it like a book where you get to make the voices up in your head. There's also a lot of readers that have developed head canon about these characters including voices, accents, ethnicities, and all kinds of diverse characteristics. That freedom allows the reader to identify more with the characters and that's proven powerful to thousands of readers over the years. I don't want to take that from them. I think the characters are more powerful and diverse being silent and left to the imagination of the reader with this project and I want to protect that.
However, that being said, cinematically it would be pretty sweet to have voices and it would make doing music way easier
The comments really do help with the game visibility. Itchio bumps up projects that are "active" from comments so every bit helps. It's nice to get feedback but it's also nice to hear reactions to the story or even the stories of other people who have had similar experience is even something completely opposite. Tons of people read through this stuff and even if they end up not playing the game, you never know who you're going to impact so that's nice too. we're all in this crazy life thing together.
good deal. glad you found it. and thank you. I've really tried hard on the music aspect. while i respect that music taste is objective, I've really tried hard to find things that make me feel the moment when i'm writing the stuff while still remaining within my price range because.... bruh... the music stuff is expensive as hell, lol. But i'm happy with the tracks so far and i'm seriously glad you're vibing to them.
sorry i'm slow on the response. Really happy you enjoyed things but sorry it left you sorta lost after you finished it. I'll take that as a compliment :) Lemme know how you like the Revamp. I've grown a lot during this so it's definitely something I recommend if you liked the first one. It's way better from the opening scene. I think it grabs you much earlier and it's just fun to see the characters look 1000 x better.
but thank you for your kind words. I know people don't always say stuff and that's ok. I'm pretty shy and quiet myself so I'd probably be one of those silent type, myself. Hell, on the discord i talk because I'm the admin but otherwise I'd probably be waaaay quieter. But I'm just really glad you appreciated the story and the angle I chose for this whole thing.
No plans for a sequel right now but i didn't really plan this thing in advance either. apparently, i do ok just winging it so we'll see where the future goes. I'd only seriously consider a sequel if i thought I could blow this one out of the water
Oh, no worries on social media. I dont really blame you for not keeping up with it. I only use it to try and keep people in the loop but there's a lot of nonsense on there.
i also dont blame you for avoiding the revamp. i think if you play an original version of something and then a remake comes along, i'm almost always skeptical. I really wanted to keep this as true to the original as possible-- including many of it's flaws. But the project was supposed to be something that evolved over time and was sort of a living testament to me creating something for the first time. So the revamp is part of that. Most of the dialogue doesn't change at all, things just look way better and there's more facial expressions and the campus feels more real this time around-- plus the sound is something new that I'm working on as well, too. hopefully, everything that you loved before is still preserved. that was the goal. i'm just polishing it mostly. Some minor changes-- which you're more than welcome to ask or critize-- i talk about those at length on the patreon page which has way more devlogs than here.
heya! thanks so much for playing and i'm glad you liked it. yeaaaah... Portuguese has been a popular request. It's on the list to get it done at some point and i know there's a lot of you out there that have been excited about it. We have had discussions about translations on the discord server so it kinda got pushed on the backburner right now. But I would like to get it done at some point. I seriously appreciate you going through all the extra steps you had to just to read this thing, though. I really appreciate that and I'm glad you enjoyed it <3
lol. i'm not sure on the 6. i think the longest ever was close to 4 but that was a really big update and was a couple hours long. There's definitely a speed difference between the original game and the Revamp. with the writing now, i'm just polishing mostly. the beginning of the revamp was a ton of work tho but i was anticipating it would get faster and it mostly is (until i add a bunch of new stuff and make it complicated, lol).
also, the dev logs over here are really inconsistent. this isn't really my main base. I just do quick stuff here. I do post stuff on my social media or discord links tho about update progress
oh good deal. yay! glad you got it working. sorry about all the trouble. hopefully, that wasn't something on my end. And thank you very much for the kind words. glad you enjoyed the story and hopefully it was worth all the BS of getting it to work :p
braden def is a cutie
in terms of a sequel, nothing is planned right now. i'm working on the revamp as my priority right now then i'll see what's next :)
Just some clarification here: the original version of the game took much longer for updates for several reasons. 1) i was super new and literally learning how to do this in real time. 2) i had to write it plus do each outline for each update. I didn't like working ahead. 3) i've just overall gotten much faster now.
that being said, the Revamp updates are waaaay quicker and are usually closer to the 2 to 3 month mark. The next update has already dropped on Patreon on May 17. I drop it there first for donations then put it over here as well as Patreon for free 3 weeks later. Which means the next update here is gonna be June 7. That update will be the second half of Chapter 5. I'm already working on the next update after that now :)
haha. awww. one of my fav scenes too. thanks for reading and i'm glad you enjoyed it and got sucked in. also thanks for the recommendation to your friends. i always appreciate that because it just helps spread the word (i'm a terrible marketer, lol). let me know what you think of the revamp, i promise it's waaaaaaay better. also, make sure your sound is turned on because it actually works this time :p
Heya, I know I ended up talking to you when you joined the Discord but I'll still respond here. Glad you enjoyed this thing. I'm always happy to hear people downloading because it's NSFW but then completely forgetting about that while they're playing. It's a fun compliment that I just really appreciate. Lot of people have called it an "experience," which i think is super fun, too. I'm glad the story gave part of you a voice and helped you sort through some stuff. I think that's a lifelong journey. I know I seem to do it pretty often now and I think that's healthy :)
thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, and thanks for joining our little discord community <3
Haha. Yeah, you're energy came through. I'll admit to making some assumptions while reading it that you write exactly like you talk-sorta like I do. I could hear a voice in the comment and it was just fun.
You mention the "all male cast", which is honestly something that I was a bit ashamed of by the end. I like diversity in characters and I really tried to come up diverse personalities and combatted a lot of stereotypes here. However, in the process of that-- I completely left out female characters. Since this as a first writing attempt, I sorta went the direction of "write what you know." I don't know that I can write a good female character-- at least what my goals for the character would be so I very much stuck to my comfort zone in terms of gender. I wrote a very "bro" story here and I'm fine with that. However, it does kinda suck that we don't have female characters (I did sprinkle them in as secondary characters throughout so females do exist, lol). But with the story, I felt like I was already trying to do a lot and I was worried I'd end up writing a cliche female character and that would be almost more offensive than not including some.
In terms of gender and their relation to the Zack. I think that can really depend on the person. I tried to include a lot of generic struggles and hopefully those had enough of a reference point that people could relate to something in their own life just to be able to empathize with the characters in that moment. Gender is certainly a variable here as also is culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and tons of physical characteristics that are included in the story. As a female, i'm glad you were able to relate at least to some degree and hopefully the all male cast wasn't too exclusive.
Chapter 6 is coming up. I'm good. 6 is a difficult chapter so I'm ready to get started with it. I do take breaks but there's also a ton of work to do on this stuff when you mostly develop it solo. There's not a lot of time to take breaks but I am pretty good at self care most of the time. I've taken my motivation seriously on this project-- it's easy to get burnout doing that and that impacts the community, characters, and me so it's important I avoid that. I'm good :)
You take care of yourself too <3
Hey, thanks for the comment and really glad the story won you over. And yep, over the years I've read thousands of messages and comments and I really tried to stay intune with how the story was affecting the community. Open was the way to go. Let the readers make several assumptions throughout the game and I just really didn't want to take that from them by have very specific "what happens next" kinda situations. There's stuff to go with, for sure. But this project began back in 2017 so it's very much a commitment for another chapter. We'll see. I'm not closed to the idea. For now, I told the story that I personally wanted to tell :)
Revamp is looking (and sounding) great so far. Next part drops over here on June 7 FREE and finishes up Chapter 5. Chapter 6 is next and it's a doozy.
Thanks for reading and glad you enjoyed this thing. Seriously appreciate the comments <3
Heya :) Such a fun post to read. Thank you for this. No judgement on your list of mistakes-- they were fun to read :P Honestly, it's meaningful that the game slowly just chipped away until you sat down and read it. As someone who's never done this before, that's a very meaningful compliment. I just really appreciated reading this. Actually, I've read it a few times but just have been too busy to comment back yet. I also want to acknowledge that you mentioned being a female reader. The game audience has mostly been male but it's always super fun to have another female reader in here. I've had a few over the years and it's just a fun demographic that brings an entirely new perspective to things and I just really appreciate that and appreciate having you in the audience.
Stay tuned with the Revamp, I definitely think it's going to continue to upgrade the entire story like we've already seen in the beginning. I have grown a lot with this and it's super cool you noticed that so thank you. Thanks for reading, thanks for your energy, and thanks for making an account just to check in and tell me how much you enjoyed it. Super fun post to read :) Stay tuned! There's more coming! <3
i won't go into a lot of detailed spoilers with the ending (lots of people check comments down here before downloading so you can really spoil things if you're not careful) but the ending was very purposeful for me. It checked a lot of boxes and tied up all the loose ends while still leaving a lot of things open to reader head canon. over the years, a lot of people have related to these characters in many different ways and the community around this story has really grown. I've received thousands of letters and messages and personal stories just based on these character interactions and how important they were to people. As the story progressed, I found that I really wanted to write things in a way that was specific to the characters but also left openings for the reader's own head canon and fan theories about things. So trying to keep the majority of those as possibilities was definitely a goal for me for the ending. you sound like you interpreted things in a very different way than most and that's ok. that's the first I've heard of a "bittersweet" reaction to the bestie plans but I'm glad you like the friendship dynamic. that was a big part too. The majority of this story is just guys hanging out :p
There's also hints throughout the game on things like the phone picture that end up popping up on the patreon page as additional content sometimes. most patreon pages have monthly CG extra they put out. I used to do that frequently but then found that it delayed the game development so now I do it a bit less. I mostly use a lot of those photo sets as practice for other development and visual skills that I want to use in game later. Over time, i thought it would be fun for those pictures to end up actually playing a roll in the game somewhere so that everything is connected. They're not required for the story but it was just an attempt to make supplemental content there actually matter. There's a photo set on there that's unconfirmed if it's the actual one he's talking about but it could be. This is also just a first attempt at all this for me so I'm learning as I go-- mistakes and all. I've thing I ever wrote before this was research papers for school :p
Heya:) glad you're enjoying stuff. So with the Revamp, I didn't plan to have any extra NSFW scenes; however, I didn't make a lot of plans with the original game and it sorta just wrote itself. So the short answer is they're not planned but that's always possible. There are a ton of changes in the Revamp visually-- some of which include NSFW content-- either adding more in some scenes or using new tricks to obscure stuff more artistically. Almost every scene in the game has expanded CGs now so that could easily translate into more NSFW images to make the same scene. The Revamp is planned to follow the same story tho-- it's just waaaaay better quality in every way.
So in terms of another game: i haven't officially announced anything. Truth is that I'm terrible at multi tasking and i dont do well splitting my attention. When you're doing most of this solo, there's a lot of jobs to do already-- trying to take on another project while doing all the work that Str8 requires, is just not something I naturally excel at. The work with Str8 will gradually get easier with each Revamp update. I'm through the roughest parts of the writing now so that's getting easier and the end of the game will just need some image touch-ups so that should go super quick. That extra time should help me plan any future things. I've also began the process of learning more animation and tyring to techniques in Str8 that could apply to future projects on purpose. I will say I have a secret folder on my computer and another notepad on my phone tho with some things I'm tossing around :p
yay, that makes me happy you made it that far. you're getting out of the roughest parts of the story then in terms of me being soooo new. around chapter 5 i got more community support and encouragement so I really started to push the story to a more mature narrative than just a smutty adult game.
if you're playing the original v0.21.4 it is the complete story. it's 10 chapters and they progressively get longer. like i said before, the quality is a bit rough at the beginning but i promise it gets better. all that stuff is ironed out in the Revamp but the Revamp is only the first 5 chapters right now.
yep. Original is very much a work in progress or a “rough draft.” I wanted legal music but couldn’t afford it when I started the project so I kept the original without audio. The Revamp does have a licensed soundtrack and sound effects though. If you’re playing for the first time, the game starts rough. I promise I get better. It’s also repetitious at the beginning and requires the right combination of activities to progress otherwise it loops. There’s a walkthrough file included in the game folder if you need it. That mechanic was annoying tho and goes away by the third chapter. It’s completely removed in the Revamp because I didn’t like it.
heya. glad to see you pop back in for the revamp. yep, the entire game is brighter overall now to be in par with the quality of the ending of the original (well... it's actually gotten better than that as you'll see if you go further into the Revamp). one thing that i continue to struggle with artistically is dealing with white. there's a pic set on the patreon page of Braden in the white hoodie and i've continued to try and just create opportunities to work with lights and white backgrounds or white tile or whatever. white blows out really easily and i still haven't figured it out yet. i've gotten better but it's definitely a struggle for me
heya, thank you so much for the comment. i like hearing from people that started with the Revamp and went backwards. i was worried about the shock of that transition given that the original has no sound and is so empty on the campus but I think you did it at a good time. Hopefully it will continue to be excited to see how those same iconic scenes later in the game translate to the Revamp. i'm intimidated by some of them but that just means i'll be careful :)
thanks for playing and i'm really glad you enjoyed it <3
heya, thanks for checking in. Not sure which version you played. If you played the original (v0.21.4) that one is no longer being updated as it was the end of the story and is being replaced by the Revamp when it's completed. If you're playing the Revamp (Revamp v0.09.3) then the first half of Chapter 5 will drop here on March 27 for FREE. It's currently on my Patreon for early access. I'm already working on the second half of Chapter 5 now.
I was fine with the question. I was just trying to determine what your definition was. Typically when I think of a "definitive edition" of something, it's usually several versions later after a game is completed maybe with add-ons, DLC, or upgrades or things like that. Then part of me just thinks that's a marketing ploy and using a specific term to try to identify their product differently. You used the word a few times in your OP so I was curious of your definition. I guess based on my understanding of the term, I'd say I have no plans to release a definitive edition-- I'd just release the final game when it's complete. As far as I'm concerned, the final Revamp edition should be the definitive edition of the game.
However, if you're question was asked based on why I release the story episodically versus just releasing the entire game in one update, that's a different question entirely. If this is what you meant, then I have no plans to release a game at this time that would just be one update with the full story. I prefer the episodic releases for a lot of reasons.
1) Episodic is just more fun. It's fun to have chapters that stop and cause readers to pause and think about a certain circumstance and the "anxiety" that you referenced in you OP is an important emotion to sit with for a bit. On our Discord, here, and on my Patreon and even other websites, people get to debate and guess what's happening. That was a big deal during the original game development. I had servers crashing during updates based on the volume of downloads because people were excited. that energy was fun but it only existed based on the anxiety of having to wait.
2) Episodic releases get you more content faster. I started Straight!? back in 2017. Which means if I didn't release episodically, I would have posted on a forum one time and then waited 6 years before anyone saw anything else. I'd rather give people something as it comes out-- the same way a TV show would or an ongoing manga or comic series.
3) Episodic gives me more time to adjust to public reaction. If i released the game in one lump, I would have no time to interact with fans and hear their thoughts throughout the story. The evolution of Straight!? is very much based on fan reactions. Side characters like Cody and Ash appeared more frequently because of subtle reactions from the fan base. I literally got ideas from hearing fans react and talk and that made the project better. It also allowed me to learn better ways the community was interpreting things so that I could adjust or even hide certain aspects of the story to make them more of a surprise later (like some of the twists). we wouldn't have seen that to the depth that it occurred without the fan base reacting in real time to each update. similarly, this also gave me a chance to learn how to write because i've never done this before.
4) Episodic gives me a chance to take breaks and not burn out. When an update drops, it usually forces me to take a break. While i'm much better at taking breaks now than I used to be, i do still sometimes need reminders and updates have always been a good time to do that. I release an update and i sit back and wait to make sure things are working, if they are, i get to walk away for a bit, clear my head, and regroup. It would be much harder for me to do that if the light at the end of the tunnel was 6 years away versus one to three months.
5) Episodic also shows that I'm actually working. Indie game devs, particularly in the adult field, have a terrible track record for updating things, stealing, milking, being jerks, and just generally abandoning things after they cash out. With regular updates, people know that I'm still working. They can see what I'm doing and experience it. The alternative would be me taking the George RR Martin approach where i promise fans, they assuming i'm working, but then 20 years passes and no one has seen it. I want people to see things along the way and many of the followers of the project just appreciate those updates. They want to hear and see that this thing is still in production and not abandoned like so many other games or canceled TV shows.
Ok, so to catch up here: the game is not supported on iPhone. There is a MAC download but that's only going to work on MACs and not the actual iphone. apple has a ton of restrictions to their content and trying to meet all of their demands would heavily censor important parts to the story's narrative so i just generally avoid the apple app store.
that being said, it should work on your chromebook but i also know those can be challenging. you should be able to run the .sh file from the Linux version or it could be possible to run the android version on the chromebook
well hello to fellow psych nerd :p welcome :)
jokes aside, thanks for reading and checking in. there's been a handful of people in the professional or associated professions over the years that have jumped on board the story and it's always fun to get that perspective. but first off, gratz on your graduation and i wish you success in the field :)
in terms of a sequel, nothing yet. yep, one project at a time for me. i can't multitask and i always fear that juggling too many things at once will scatter my thoughts more. if i take on a project, i want my audience to know that it will get my full attention. but sequel-wise, nothing yet. i worked really hard on the ending to check a lot of boxes and a sequel could destroy that. i'm ok doing more but only if i think i can do better than this story. sequels seem to be the standard nowadays and they keep pumping them out until they run stories into the ground. sometimes it's better to end on a high so i'm very much against jump pumping out the story as a money-maker. i like this story and it doesn't deserve to be ruined as a cash grab. but we'll see. the revamp is my main focus right now and much of the experience i'm gettring with the revamp could easily be turned into new ideas for future stuff--whatever that may be :)
but thank you for your kind words. seriously . i appreciate you reading the story and just taking time out of your busy life to post some nice stuff in the comments here. thank you <3
The advice by ShadowHaven here is a good start. Since Str8 isn't an official app from the app store, you'll have to do the "install from unknown source" thing. Also, if the game does start and you get a black screen, give it a few to load. Depending on the age of your device, it can take longer to load on older models. The newest version of the game (currently on Patreon) has a splash screen notifying people of that but that was only added on the most recent one. Hopefully the unknown source thing is what's holding you up, though. Try that and let me know.
Another option could be to join our Discord if you have it. that's real-time talking and we may be able to help. we also have several other android users on there that usually drop tips or help people out