itch.io

God, I have no words for how sorry I am for this.

In short, a bug caused the game to incorrectly use debug text in a cutscene.

There are parts of the game where I need to check for profanity and slurs. To test these features, I use about 40 lines of text, 10 of which that contain purposefully inappropriate things to ensure the game handles them correctly.

This text was only meant for internal testing and never meant to be seen by the player, and I should have done more to prevent that from happening

They text has been completely wiped in v1.05. A further explanation is here: https://josh-bossie.itch.io/village-monsters/devlog/362459/village-monsters-v105...

I am so sorry this happened. No amount of explanation is suitable for letting this bug slip by.

Thank you! Shouldn't much longer of a wait!!

Oof, I've gone far too long between updating on Itch.io! I always forget to post the things I do on Steam and Kickstarter here.

In short, kcharnet has the right of it. Very close, "weeks" instead of "months" away. Hard to say for sure, every day I'm in a flurry of activity and some days I feel really good and some days I feel super bad. But it's coming up!

I would personally wait for v1.0 instead of starting a new game

Thanks for the bug report, and the comment! I'll definitely keep up the work. Look forward to v1.0!

I would like to submit my life sim game, Village Monsters. I've had it in Early Access for about a year now, and the final version is nearing completion, so it's a great time for potential buyers to jump in.

https://josh-bossie.itch.io/village-monsters

Thank you so much for the kind words!! It really means a lot to me. Look forward to the upcoming version 1.0 release!

In terms of reporting bugs, here is fine, or you can report them in-game (there's an option in the menu). I jotted this one down to fix for 1.0

Sounds great!

Thanks for all the nice words and feedback! I really hope you'll love the final release even more

You should be fine downloading the latest version and installing it "on top of" the one you have. You won't need to start over, your save files are stored elsewhere. If you use Itch.io's app then I think it'll handle the update automatically for you.

Thank you so much for the kind words!

I would also love to see VM on mobile some day. The engine is GameMaker Studio, so in theory I should be able to get it up and running easily (on a technical level), but I'd have to work on the UI and controls.

Still, I'll be sure it's on my radar. After PC / Max / Linux I'm going to target the Switch and all other console platforms.

Dev mode is just a silly thing that lets you use some of the debug commands I use for testing. Page Up / Page Down can change the time of day and season. F2 lets you teleport, while F4 lets you add items to your inventory

It's not meant to be a super useful function, but I thought, hey, couldn't hurt to let people play with it while in Early Access :)

Village Monsters is currently in early access, but I anticipate the full release being finished by this Spring

Purchasing the game means you'll get v1.0 (and all future updates and free DLC) in the future

This makes me so happy to hear! There's an enormous update coming out in the next couple weeks, so I hope you'll check it out once it hits. It'll make increasing your hearts a lot easier

I love this comment so much! Thank you for sharing!

Sure! I think the easiest way would be via email (josh@warpdogs.com). You can also DM me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/VillageMonsters)

Can you send me an email (josh@warpdogs.com) with a screenshot of what the crash looks like? I should be able to figure it out from that

This has been fixed as of yesterday's patch. Thanks for letting me know!

Hello! This seems to be a common issue with downloaded games on Mac. It seems related to security on MacOS. Itch.io suggests using their App (https://itch.io/app) to rectify this issue.

Unfortunately I'm unable to do much from my end, but I've had lots of reports of this solution working for others, so please give it a shot.

(Just FYI, this bug is now fixed! It was due to a rambunctious octopus. Thanks for reporting it)

Hey, I'm really sorry about that! I'll have a fix out for that crash very soon (within the next day or so)

Thanks so much for the kind words!!

Not a silly question at all! The good news is that your progress will be maintained with each update. Just replace your downloaded folder (or use the Itch.io app) and load your save file.

Once I hit version 1.0 - aka the 'final' release - then I may have everyone restart, but even then you'll be able to keep playing your old save files with the old version of the game.

None of the games in the Racial Equality bundle come with Steam keys. However, I keep Itch.io updated with the exact same version on Steam and upload the new updates at the same time

If you prefer Steam then purchasing the game from this page will include a Steam key, so you'd have both a DRM free version and a Steam version.

Thank you so much for the kind words! It was definitely a big priority of mine to make the villagers have existing relationship, as if they have a life outside of your own. I'm so glad you're appreciating them!

Just wanted to follow up and say this bug will definitely be fixed for next time. Thanks again for reporting it.

You're not crazy! The framework for village projects / etc. exists in the game, but it's far from finished. The next release (coming next week) should do more to address this aspect of the game. You'll be able to improve the general store, library, and the town itself. (plus your home, of course)

Time *should* pause whenever you're in menus, including dialogue. However! It seems there's at least one bug preventing that from always working. Sorry about that! It was definitely not my intention for you to feel rushed. I'll fix that in the next release.

I totally get what you mean about time adding pressure and stress. It's a delicate balancing act of making days both not too short and not too long.

Oh, neat! All the in-game music is from Josh Woodward who puts out Creative Commons music. His acoustic tracks are wonderful and really fit the relaxing mood I'm going for.

Love this review! Thank you so much for taking the time to play Village Monsters and to write this up.

Hello! This seems to be a common issue with downloaded games on Mac. It seems related to security on MacOS. Itch.io suggests using their App (https://itch.io/app) to rectify this issue.

Unfortunately I'm unable to do much from my end, but I've had lots of reports of this solution working for others, so please give it a shot.

Really appreciate the kind words! <3

Best place would be Discord: https://discord.gg/NaNc7Tr

There's a Bug Report channel

Hey, just wanted to follow up that this bug has been fixed in the patch I released yesterday (v0.75.2). Let me know if you continue to have any issues, and thank you so much for reporting it!

Hey, just wanted to follow up that this bug has been fixed in the patch I released yesterday (v0.75.2). Let me know if you continue to have any issues, and thank you so much for reporting it!

So sorry you're experiencing this. I'm trying to track down the source of this bug. What is your OS? Windows, Mac or Linux?

Do you recall when or where it freezes? Is this a new game, or an existing save file?

I'm really sorry about that. Unfortunately, those are the requirements to run any GameMaker Studio 2 game in Linux, which means I'm unable to change them

This bug will be fixed in the next update (releasing sometime tomorrow)

Thanks for your bug reports, and also for your kind words! Glad to have you along for the ride :) There's a lot of work to do between here and version 1.0, but it'll be well worth it.

The best place to report bugs would likely be Discord (http://bit.ly/ChattyMonsters) or my email (josh@warpdogs.com), but I make an effort to do a little "patrol" of comments and forum posts every couple of days, so no matter where you post I should stumble upon it eventually

In terms of the bugs you reported, I should be able to get them all fixed up for the next big update (next week). Thank you so much for reporting them!

No offense taken! He is pretty lame. The answer is yes, you'll be able to customize your look and gender at some point. It just requires a lot of sprite work, so I've been putting it off in favor of other things, but it IS coming before 1.0