itch.io

Hi Dev,

I am having difficulties with 0.9.1. I am running Win 10 Home on an older system.  I note the download file is now a .exe, and may this is around the change to Godot I see reference to in other posts.

In any case, on my system the EXE is prevented from running by Defender as an unrecognised App. If I bypass that and run anyway, then I see a dialog box: "Unable to initialise Vulkan video driver"  and the dialog wants me to  enable the OpenGL3 driver by running from a command prompt.  This works and the game starts. I have placed that command in a .BAT file and that works too.  So I can run the game, but the process is clumsy. I thought I left .BAT files behind decades ago.

It is all a bit ugly. Windows tells me my drivers are all up-to-date, and a bit of searching on the Net shows installing the right openGL driver looks tricky.  I do not want to mess up my cosily stable installation with the wrong drivers. I want no third party driver installers either, and that seems to be one of the options. I don't trust any such installers, I barely trust the official Windows's updater. 

I am lobbying for a game that uses standard drivers, vanilla for Windows.

I understand that your new platform may be significantly better for developers. But if it troubles players, then that is counterproductive. I also understand you are in no better place to advise on drivers for user's video cards and the dialogue box is better than a silent crash. But it still looks like a step backwards from a player's perspective.

I think, if you can, using standard Windows drivers is a good option, and I am lobbying for that.

Please consider. Regards,

Hi Dev,

Hope you are going well. I was wondering how the translation to English of version 5 was going. Not so easy I realise, but I am sure there are other English speakers like me who are keen to see how Dave is progressing with his group of girls that he has managed to charm.

Regards,

Thanks, the step I was missing was the verification in the rules section. Downloading as I type this. Thanks for the hint.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

I am keen to have a look at WOTD 0.9. I can see the link on Discord but it tells me "No Access", with a closed padlock:

Public version 0.9.0 is now available on the channel <lt-highlighter contenteditable="false" data-lt-linked="1"><lt-div spellcheck="false" class="lt-highlighter__wrapper" style="width: 97.15px !important; height: 21px !important; transform: none !important; transform-origin: 48.575px 10.5px 0px !important; margin-top: 2.8px !important; margin-left: 472px !important;"><lt-div class="lt-highlighter__scroll-element" style="top: 0px !important; left: 0px !important;"></lt-div></lt-div></lt-highlighter>⁠No Access. I hope you enjoy it and like the new personality test.

I admit freely I am no expert Discord user, what am I missing?

Regards,

OK, I misread the post, my apologies for the misinterpretation.  Thanks for the explanation of the filename structure. What you say makes sense. It will be helpful to interpret  future releases.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

I am confused by the download file name. I would have expected Chapter 2, Episode 3 for the PC to have the file name SerenityC2-0.3-pc, not SerenityC2-0.2-pc which has existed for some time. Have you added new content but retained the old file name? Some clarity would be good.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

Good story, likeable characters and I also enjoy the detective part and hope to see more of this story-line, but I won't if I must grind through mini-games.

I understand some players just love mini-games, and more power to them. But I can't stand mini-games, especially when they cannot be avoided.

Persistent mindless grinding on mini-games is a common reason I will dump a game and never return. VN's make you grind quite a bit anyway and author's should remember that, for some, grinding is not fun. VN are supposed to be a pleasant and entertaining diversion, and surely we have enough grinding in real life. I know I don't need more.

Mini-games should be optional! Will you consider some form of switch or gradation control in the options section to turn off or limit mini-game content for players who detest them.  I have just reached Elanor's tutorial mini-game, and I am finding it difficult to find  strong enough words to elucidate my loathing.

It is your brain-child of course, and do as you like with it, but without the option to disable mini-games I am currently out of it, never to return, if I have to put up with the mindless rubbish of getting arrows in order so I can progress.

There are plenty of other games where I can focus on the story, which for me is significantly more enjoyable.  (The real shame here is that you have a potentially great story developing which I will miss).

Your decision, of course, and if you decide you don't need me as a reader then that's fine, and I hold no malice, but I'll not be in any hurry to support this game or look at other games you might write in the future. Once bitten, ...

I wonder how many readers who regard mini-games with similar rancour just abandon games and don't bother to feedback their position to the Dev?

It is just a VN after all, and we both have the right to walk away from differences in style and opinion without much loss. As it stands, I have walked away. Whether I return is in your hands. 

Regards,

Hi Dev,

Was wondering how progress is on the English version of 0.5? As you might remember, I am quite a fan of this work and I am curious as to Dave's progress.

Some thought shows how formidable an enemy  a collective of diverse predatory  monster girls working to a goal could be. Especially if their army has a few spider girls. They are genuinely scary. An attack from such a force could be devastating and almost impossible for a conventional army to resist. The Kitsune is right to be concerned about such a development.  But such a group has a basic weakness, their fundamental instinct: "every girl for herself".

Dave is already hinting at another possibility where he has an army of inspired, cooperating monster girls who truly work together looking at the whole, not just the individual.  It is already a force that is awesome and likely unstoppable if Dave can manage his prejudice and loosen up a bit to adjust to a balanced "give and take" leadership style. 

Dave is a bit of an unlikely hero.

Speaking of spider girls, one of those on Dave's team would really strengthen it if he can manage to charm one of them like he has charmed the others. Dave is already working with a team made up entirely of volunteers - not one of them has to be there, the only reason is that they want to be there - and there is never any better way to garner the required commitment.

Can't wait to see more.

Regards,

Good so far, wondering where the mystery element will take the story.

Hi Dev,

I see the 0.8 release  to Patreon is now more than 70 days ago. Is it your intention to release this to the public? And if so do you have a timeline?

Regards,

Thank you, works for me too. I have referred the Dev to your post. Regards,

Hi TM, See the comment below this from  dam36 re adding parameters to a shortcut to the executable.  Works for me too. Maybe this  provides some clue as well. Reagrds.

Hi TM,

I know that kind of problem, having spent a significant part of  my life in maintenance. When the root cause just will not reveal itself any change you make to fix the problem is really random and may or may not actually impact the problem at all.  In the worst case this all you can do,  and is fine as an approach until further evidence turns up. I would appreciate advice from you if you turn up further evidence related to the observed problem. Should you want further details of my system feel free to ask.

As well, I will:

1) Try a fresh download and install of the game. My system took  Win 10 patches from Mr Microsoft on that day,  which might have needed a proper reboot  to finally install, not to mention that Mr Microsoft has bugs of his own sometimes.  That  reboot has now been done and the problem may have cured itself.  If so I will let you know here.

2) If the installation fails again I will wait until the next release and try again.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Regards,

Hi TM.

Thank you for your reply.

No software messing with clock speed, at least none that bothers to tell me. I set clock speed in the BIOS, and it is set for  "reliable". I am not over-clocking. This PC is fast enough in this mode.

Here are the specs as reported by Windows:

Device name    Maroon

Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz   3.40 GHz

Installed RAM    8.00 GB (7.89 GB usable)

Device ID    4FF50ED5-7883-4776-9246-57559ECE6F53

Product ID    00326-10000-00000-AA483

System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch    No pen or touch input is available for this display

Edition    Windows 10 Home

Version    21H2

Installed on    ‎25/‎09/‎2021

OS build    19044.2006

Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4180.0

Regards,

Hi Dev,

On starting the game 2 things happen:

1)  Windows Firewall presents me with the option to allow HT to access my network. I don't think this is a problem, I note it for completeness.

2) I receive the attached crash message, and this is a problem.

Hope you have seen it before and can solve it.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

Very sorry to hear your data loss problems. It is very disheartening. I don't program games, but I have had similar programming data losses where I must rebuild from the  previous version. It has happened more than once, even with good backups. Not trivial programs either, but thousands of lines in the control systems space, mostly in C or C++.

My only consolation is that whenever this happens, I find that the rebuild is much faster than the original build process. It is amazing what you remember from the first build and the mistakes you don't make the second time around.  Also, I have found my code is better than the first build as the overview you get in reconstruction produces an overall better outcome. But this memory won't last forever.

My recommendation is that if you move to your other project you will forget the details which would have made the rebuild easier. As frustrating as it is, I think you should rebuild ToU while the knowledge is in your head.

Regards,

Hi JPY,

Thanks for your reply. I ended up trying the save immediately before the one that failed, and it worked. Some replay of content I have seen before, of course, but better than a complete replay.

You have stated that this is a rework of a game that was previously quite well developed. I played that original game as far as possible and liked it as it was. I accept it may have had severe technical problems and could not be practically taken further.

However, many of the ideas in that first version were really good, such as being able to purchase and redevelop property.  This increased resources available to the MC vastly and really enabled game progress. It really helps to have to not bother about gathering and selling flowers to cover off the taxes.Taking the girls on dates also seems to be missing. I hope that it is the intention to re-introduce those ideas or something like it soon.  And the dates are a fun "non-grinding" diversion. Even working with the girls seems less fun in this version. I really miss the interactions with Makoto, unquestionably my favourite girl.

Anyway, your game, your call. I look forward to updates.

Best of luck and regards,

Hi JYP,

Thanks for your update, always pleased to see games progress.  I previously had 0.2.7-PC and had a save towards the end of that version. On loading that save in 0.2.11-PC I got a fatal uncaught exception. I can't seem to escape from it. Here's the log:

[code]

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:

  File "renpy/common/00action_file.rpy", line 462, in __call__

    renpy.load(fn)

Exception: Couldn't find a place to stop rolling back. Perhaps the script changed in an incompatible way?

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:

  File "renpy/common/_layout/screen_main_menu.rpym", line 28, in script

    python hide:

  File "renpy/ast.py", line 928, in execute

    renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)

  File "renpy/python.py", line 2245, in py_exec_bytecode

    exec(bytecode, globals, locals)

  File "renpy/common/_layout/screen_main_menu.rpym", line 28, in <module>

    python hide:

  File "renpy/common/_layout/screen_main_menu.rpym", line 35, in _execute_python_hide

    ui.interact()

  File "renpy/ui.py", line 298, in interact

    rv = renpy.game.interface.interact(roll_forward=roll_forward, **kwargs)

  File "renpy/display/core.py", line 3325, in interact

    repeat, rv = self.interact_core(preloads=preloads, trans_pause=trans_pause, pause=pause, pause_start=pause_start, **kwargs)

  File "renpy/display/core.py", line 4160, in interact_core

    rv = root_widget.event(ev, x, y, 0)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1102, in event

    rv = i.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, cst)

  File "renpy/display/transition.py", line 48, in event

    return self.new_widget.event(ev, x, y, st) # E1101

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1102, in event

    rv = i.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, cst)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1102, in event

    rv = i.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, cst)

  File "renpy/display/screen.py", line 727, in event

    rv = self.child.event(ev, x, y, st)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1102, in event

    rv = i.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, cst)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1323, in event

    rv = super(Window, self).event(ev, x, y, st)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 273, in event

    rv = d.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, st)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1102, in event

    rv = i.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, cst)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1323, in event

    rv = super(Window, self).event(ev, x, y, st)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 273, in event

    rv = d.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, st)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1102, in event

    rv = i.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, cst)

  File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 273, in event

    rv = d.event(ev, x - xo, y - yo, st)

  File "renpy/display/behavior.py", line 983, in event

    return handle_click(self.clicked)

  File "renpy/display/behavior.py", line 918, in handle_click

    rv = run(action)

  File "renpy/display/behavior.py", line 330, in run

    return action(*args, **kwargs)

  File "renpy/common/00action_file.rpy", line 462, in __call__

    renpy.load(fn)

  File "renpy/loadsave.py", line 771, in load

    log.unfreeze(roots, label="_after_load")

  File "renpy/python.py", line 2200, in unfreeze

    self.rollback(0, force=True, label=label, greedy=greedy, on_load=True)

  File "renpy/python.py", line 2014, in rollback

    self.load_failed()

  File "renpy/python.py", line 1932, in load_failed

    raise Exception("Couldn't find a place to stop rolling back. Perhaps the script changed in an incompatible way?")

Exception: Couldn't find a place to stop rolling back. Perhaps the script changed in an incompatible way?

Windows-10-10.0.19041

Ren'Py 7.4.11.2266

Scarlet Law 0.2.11

Thu Jul  7 23:13:32 2022

[/code]

Regards,

Hi Dev,

Been replaying TTS, following the science club route.

Couple of things.

When being taught basic Volleyball moves by Reiko, she comments on Naoto's "complexion" and movements. Complexion is mostly about skin colour and condition. Physique might be a better match to the intent.

I won't argue it here, but I point out you could buy yourself a ripper of an argument in physics circles by asserting that life defies entropy. That's a pretty controversial point of view, and there's a ton of counter-argument to that stance. A lot depends on the timing and where you draw your boundaries and if you get them just right, life appears to reduce entropy for a while. But the case that entropy, over all and over long times, just grows without limit is pretty convincing, life or no life.

Gloves and acids are definitely a safety thing. The wrong glove gives a false sense of security in protecting hands from a spill. For some acids, some gloves provide no effective protection, being eaten through quickly or even bursting into flame. In the case of an acid spill, you could easily do more damage to the victim getting the glove off than if you just flood the injured area with water. Many labs have safety showers for just such a purpose in case delicate parts like eyes are impacted.

YouTube's NileRed, who knows a thing or two about chemistry, looked at some common gloves vs conc HNO3. You can see it here: NileRed:conc HNO3 vs gloves There's another NileRed video (re-uploaded by someone else) where NileRed pours acids of various types on his bare hands (Do not try this yourself anyone who reads this). See it here: Acid vs hands Scary but pretty convincing.

Information on which glove to use for reasonable protection can be readily found in several places, this is one for example: Safety Glove compatibility

Regards,

Hi Dev,

perspicacious!!? - I had to look that up, my vocab is pretty decent, but the exact meaning eluded me. Thanks, "I dips my lid", as some of the more old fashioned might say.

As to Alba and Dave, when they finally sort out where they stand with each other, it could be an interesting "deal" they strike for both of them: "Think mud wrestling with benefits."

LOL & Regards,

PS Started replaying Time for School. So far, so good.

Hi Dev,

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Very interesting.

 I remain unapologetically fond of Alba despite her being "not human", and I stick by my comment about seeing her as a "woman".   (This says a lot about effort put into character development for what is a H novel.)  When others consistently stand up for you, when they really need not,  it sends a powerful message. Actions speak louder than words. Dave and Alba had a rough start for sure, but that would not be the first relationship with a rough start. Agreed, monster girls are dangerous, but so are humans given the right circumstances, even more so as a collective. And some monster girls seem to act out of desperation to some extent. Desperation is a bad master,  and if that element is removed, outcomes and behaviour can be quite different!

In terms of reality, humans are going to have to get used to the idea of entities that are clearly not human but displaying  plausible  signs of humanity, or subsets thereof. It may be that significant hurdles remain for AI, but progress is being made.  Exploring relationships with non-human "humans"  has been a theme of fiction for a long time, and can help condition thinking (Asimov's "I robot" series, for example). The idea that monster girls have higher callings than humanity aspires to is also a fascinating  idea. Well worth exploring. You never know, we may see the same thing in AI in time.

Seems like this novel has a plan and a future. I look forward to the next episode.  I have other thoughts, but I think I will just let you play it out. Too much here could lead to spoilers, enough for the moment.

Is your other game "And now, time to study"? I hope so, as that had potential too. It is quite a while ago I played it. When I first played it, there were jarring moments. When I get a spare minute, I'll replay it and see if there is anything where specific comment might be useful.

Catch you in the future,

Regards,

Hi Dev,

Just finished replay up to the end of the current public release.  I found it most entertaining. I await the next with bated breath.

I see your dilemma regarding terminology.  The period setting is somewhat akin to the medieval, when things were not nearly as clear as they are now.  In fact, you can see Dave as quite the pioneer in this regard. He wants to push forward out of a dark age.

The term physician might be a bit older than you might expect. Some research on the etymology of the word points it being around as early as 1200 which is solidly in the middle of the medieval. I haven't spent hours on this, but some searching came up with this:

physician (n.)

c. 1200, fisicien, fisitien, later phisicien, "healer, one who practices the art of healing disease and of preserving health, doctor of medicine" (as distinguished from a surgeon), from Old French fisiciien "physician, doctor, sage" (12c., Modern French physicien means "physicist"), from fisique "art of healing," from Latin physica "natural science" (see physic). The restored classical ph- spelling is attested in English from late 14c. (see ph). Related: Physiciancy; physicianly; physicianship.

I see your links to physicist here. The rest of this page may well be of interest as well as it shows the progression of physica (Latin  as in natural science )  to  physician.  Physicists were once called natural scientists or even natural philosophers.

See it here: etymology of physician

Here's the equivalent page for physicist: etymology for physicist

Food for your deliberation.  Personally, I still favour physician, it will confuse English speakers quite a bit less and with an origin in the mid-medieval (as fisicien or the like) it isn't too far out of place.

I endorse completely the substitution of banquet for agape. English readers will grasp that instantly.

Since I am picking "lint" off your work I might as well note that baptism might not be the ideal term when Dave names the catgirl.  (And a great name  he comes up with too - good job, Dave. She just about bursts with pride).  But baptism just isn't quite right, it has too many other connotations. I am sorry to say I have no other ideas. "Naming" sort of doesn't do it justice.  In principle, what happens at this point has parallels to baptism. The catgirl goes from a nameless monster to an individual with an identity and some purpose, and the story develops that line. I still think that baptism isn't appropriate though, and it may offend even??

One final thing, the MC. For all his enlightenment, Dave is, in many ways, the classic clod of a H novel MC, incapable of seeing what surrounds him. For example, he has a  slime girl companion who risks physical harm for him on a regular basis ,  yet asks nothing more than conversation and the chance to accompany Dave. In return, he treats her appallingly.  On top of that, the poor woman is constantly naked due to her physical composition.  You can't help but feel some sympathy for her position.

Then there's the succubus girl Dave has eating out his hand,  with nothing more than her steadfast belief in Dave to complete the mission.  Finally,  we have a wild catgirl who bowls up out of nowhere, and for little benefit to herself and quite some risk as well, pulls the trio out of dire trouble with that spider girl. This catgirl isn't stupid either. She instantly recognises the potential of a monster girl human alliance and in joining the expedition is well along the way of eating out of Dave's hand too.  And for her trouble gets little more than distrust and cold treatment from Dave.  This catgirl talks of "deals" as well, the possibilities of that idea all going blissfully over Dave's head.

To add insult to injury, Dave's is portrayed gleefully feasting on roasted venison, when in reality his companions are likely going hungry to some extent.    I hope he is due for a giant epiphany fairly soon. 

Keep up the good work.

Have to have patience for next release.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

I'm replaying the MGTA game and was wondering about a couple of things. The section in question is when Dave visits the castle of the Infante to treat Meiya to treat her fever illness.

First is around the description of the first person who treated Meiya unsuccessfully and which concerns Dave before he treats her with the green orchid potion. This unknown person is described as a physicist. Now that might be what you actually mean, but I am wondering if you really meant physician.

Definitions (slightly simplified from Wikipedia):

A physicist is a scientist who specialises in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.

A physician, medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments.

My second question relates to Dave's description of the food left for him by the Infante when Dave goes to his room following the first treatment of Meiya. He uses the word "agape".  I am guessing you are referring to "an agape feast" with agape referring to the generic Greek word for love. 

While completely valid, I'd suggest that this is an unlikely reference for your average under-educated English speaker.  I am lucky enough to have a decent education and I still had to look it up, as I could not see how the usual definition of agape fitted.

For most native English speakers, they will see the word agape and think the usual definition:- "wide open, especially with reference to the mouth". In usage: "She was so astonished her mouth fell agape".  Caves, doors, gates and other openings can be agape as well, so the reference to food is obscured unless you read the Greek word instead. Some will, a lot won't.

Now this isn't the first time I have learnt something from a H game, all writers tend to have a pretty broad knowledge, and they bring their readers with along them, so if you mean it that way, that is also fine, just be aware it will likely slip under the radar for at least some readers. Not everyone bothers to chase down an odd reference, or even see that they need to.

Otherwise, enjoying the replay. Good work, keep it up.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

It is pleasing to see that your alchemist is using SI units!, well on the way to being a proper scientist. Milligrams of bicarbonate, no less! But he still has his beer in pints!

Hope the next chapter is going well.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

Hope this finds you well. I am still enjoying your game. I see BB is on DLSite now as well. Congratulations on that milestone. Is the version of the game on DLSite the same as BB v1.2 on Itch.io. I am missing something I think. I have played a long time (day 126) and can't seem top unlock the scene in the kitchen with her wearing the apron in the classic manner. The PC gives me mysterious messages about aprons and other things which don't seem to lead anywhere. It looks like there is more of the game I don't yet have. Any help gratefully received.

Regards,

Thanks THO, I don't follow F95Z, and consequently had not seen this update, but your clarification explains a lot. You understate that "cancer is a pain". I have lost friends and relatives to it, and the Dev must devote his energies to fighting  and beating it. Best of luck to him, get well soon. If he returns to the game, then good, but I would not hold it against him should he choose to do other things with his life.

Regards,

Hi Dev,

Long time since we heard from you. Your most recent post on your Patreon was  "Hello everyone and happy Halloween to those who celebrate it. First of all I apologise for being missing so long I will explain I..." and the rest is locked unless you are a Patreon.

I humbly suggest that if you want more Patreons you need to unlock this post now for general exhibition if you are intending to continue the game development.  With you being away so long, it will be hard for anyone to commit to you if they can't see why you seem to have left the helm unattended, and what your intentions are.  Especially when that post is early November, 2021, nearly 200 days, or more than half a year ago, at the date of writing this.

When it tastes, looks and smells like the game is abandoned, there is really only one conclusion that fits the observable facts.

I hope you have not abandoned the game, you have an excellent cast of characters, some great plot lines and an intriguing way of telling the story.  I would really like to see it develop.

On the other hand, it is possible that your personal circumstances don't allow you to continue. That sometimes happens for real people in the real world, games such as these are often a labour of love, and it can all become too much if things don't go right on the personal front. I am sorry if that is the case and hope things improve.

I am personally looking forward to an update, but if that will never happen, it might be best to just say so and be done. We can then all move on.

Best regards.

Hi Dev,

Good effort so far. One little thing I have noticed.

There is a weird timing issue related to the first date. Just played up to the set up for the first date,  in my case it happened on day 25,  Friday. The scene starts with the MC getting out of bed saying it was his day off and Fuyuka uses her key to come into the apartment, noting it is Sunday. There is some dialog about clothes & sparrows and other stuff and eventually Fuyuka accepts the idea of a date with the MC at the park, provided she has other clothes. Then there's a time warp and we are back to Friday day 25 again. (I encountered another one of these elsewhere in an earlier version of the game and if I find it again I will log it.)

I don't know how hard this is, but perhaps it is worth considering synchronising the day of the week with day related event triggers, so events like this cannot happen unless it is their target day, in this case Sunday. That would be way less jarring.

Another suggestion I have is to be a bit less rigorous when it comes to rent collection if you have imposed an event on the player. Not meeting rental amount is fatal, and it can hit a player hard if they have just made a big purchase late in the week (TV for example) and are planning to recover money by working double shifts for the rest of the week when wham, the game hits them with an event where they lose an opportunity to work and earn money. If they don't have enough savings, as a result of an unexpected event, the player find themselves out of the game on rent day. Even a recent save does not always fix this. It is too late to save once you are in an event.

Also the rent constantly rises without warning. Real life has enough of this kind of behaviour, we don't need more in our games.

Finally that r*pe scene early on is pretty brutal and caught me napping. Otherwise, BB is a pretty sweet and gentle game and when I tried that path as an experiment the resultant play came as a shock. Too nasty for me by a long way. I guess it should be obvious really as a stupid decision to make, and will be never playing that path again.

Regards,

Hi Dev, Good to see you overcame the problems and got this done! Hope it goes well for you. Now to try it out and see what has changed.

Hi Dev,

Thank you for your prompt response. It is quite possibly a false alarm from Sohos, as sometimes this type of software is set to be "sensitive" to be on the safe side and hence prone to false positives. I'd prefer that to some malware/ransomware infestation, however.

I downloaded the crunched version as you noted (Thanks!) and unzipped it without issues from Sohpos or anywhere else. The game runs nicely and the visual appearance is most acceptable, I have not seen any noticeable compression artefacts. Maybe this kind of download should be the default as it is significantly smaller, and it could be worth learning how to do it. 

It is likely what happened to my unzip the first time will remain a mystery, as I am not keen to repeat it.

Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Regards,

Hi Developer,

Just downloaded White Russian Episode 1-4 and when unzipping to install my antivirus (Sophos Home (paid version)) stepped in  during the unzip process to block actions from what Sophos thought was a ransomware attack. When I look into my Sophos dashboard history, Sophos has 2 entries as follows:

Ransomware blocked

An application was prevented from encrypting a number of files

C:\Windows\System32\dllhost.exe

and

Ransomware blocked

An application was prevented from encrypting a number of files

IgnoreHide Advanced Options

C:\Windows\explorer.exe

If this was an attack, my computer seems OK, and all I can do at the moment is to believe Sophos on face value. That is why I run an antivirus  after all.

So far I have encountered no encrypted files although I have not examined every one, however it is an experience I can do without.

I have not experienced this before with files from this site. Do you have any ideas? Perhaps the upload is in some way "infected" and can you please have a look at it.

Regards,

Bizarre is the right word, but entertaining bizarre. Game made me smile many times, sufficient to pay the Dev for it plus a bit extra. Looking forward to more bizarre adventures.

I don't want an argument either. Be aware Math or Maths usage depends on what country you come from (and I note the good argument from Oorsavich as well.)  There is nothing wrong with Maths as an abbreviation, it is just not the US convention. 

Ok, My apologies to some extent. Less than obvious path, totally obvious when you see it. On the day I referred to, go early to Minato's house, when you get there click on the intercom on the left of the gate (of course!) That gets things going. Regards,

Hey  RNGeusEX,

Reference to Happyyylife earlier. Poor game experience for a player who has paid. Game stalls not long after catching the suspicious guy lurking around Minato's house. In my case on the day where the player must meet Minato, the girls at the park and then have the 3 thugs beaten up by the trainer. Somehow I managed to force the Minato meeting - I could not repeat that -  but I am currently stuck at the park, no girls. Frustrating!

Firstly there should be no need to go to Discord to look for a workaround, and since Discord messages "fail to load" at the time of writing this, I cannot see the workaround anyway. Please address bugs or post the work around here.

Also a note on your game Itch page to show that version 0.4.2 follows a side story, not the main story, would be more direct for customers.

Regards.

Good job on the bug fix update!, KuMoNoSu. Better than ever. I see the crash on playing the JRPG game remains, here's the crash log:

[code]

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:

SyntaxError: invalid syntax (roomaction.rpy, line 1189)

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:

  File "home/roomaction.rpyc", line 1189, in script

  File "renpy/ast.py", line 1852, in execute

    if renpy.python.py_eval(condition):

  File "renpy/python.py", line 2247, in py_eval

    code = py_compile(code, 'eval')

  File "renpy/python.py", line 835, in py_compile

    raise e

SyntaxError: invalid syntax (roomaction.rpy, line 1189)

Windows-10-10.0.19041

Ren'Py 7.4.4.1439

Bottle Biosphere 1.0

Sat Feb 12 08:50:15 2022

[/code]

Keep up the good work.

Hi again,

I had a chance to get back to it and in fact replayed it from the start, this time being careful not to run out of stamina too often or money ever. The more I play it, the more I like it, and I have just paid you some money for it through this site. Really looking forward to the proper non-demo version. What you have already is almost there.

Fuyuka is an endearing character - well done, and the MC is OK too. The player can make him act like obnoxiously, but if he is reasonably decent and patient, it goes well.

If it is not obvious, the following is in praise of the plot as is, but since it is a demo, some suggestions too.

While comparisons are odious, they also a bit inevitable. Fuyuka has a bit of Silvie in her from Teaching Feeling, although Fuyuka's scars are all on the inside. There's also a bit of Yuu in her from 1Room Runaway Girl. Please don't let Fukuya get as dependant as Silvie can get. I know some players like their heroines quite yandere, but not everyone one does. I don't know how it fits the plot you have in mind but Fukuya can still be head over heels in love with the MC without being a total yandere. Yuu is a good model, she loves her MC deeply, but is also quite independent. (If you played this VN have a look at the epilogue in the gallery where Yuu is expecting her baby but also planning their new life  and explaining her part time job. Very satisfying. That couple has a future. I should point out that getting the epilogue scene is a bit tricky, you have to do a few non-obvious things and then go look for it in the gallery. No prompting, and if you didn't look you would never see it.) Silvie on the other hand just seems to sink into a mire of dependency, ending up a one dimensional character. Silvie could, for example, have studied to be a proper nurse, not just the cardboard cutout she plays, and become a real asset to the MC's practice all the while remaining his devoted lover. These are not mutually exclusive goals.

Seeing Fukura taking on some meaningful role like partnering the MC in running a business, or being a mother where she uses her own horror  childhood experience to do it right, might make fitting good ends to the VN. A full-on yandere end is also fine to appeal to those who like it, but make it an avoidable option please. Fukuya and the MC have the makings of proper multi-dimensional characters even in a H VN.

I was really impressed with the "confession" scene on the swings at the park - very moving for a H VN, which are mostly not even close to this well thought through in general. I also liked the recovery for that, although was initially confused. I got a couple of responses  "wrong" the first time, and I was expecting a forced end when she returned the aprtment key. But instead Fukuya came back to the apartment, and then it got really confusing. When I clicked on Fukuya, a second Fukuya appeared and responded in Jpanese. I had to resort to my phone to translate what she had to say from the screen. Even then it wasn't totally clear until the park scene repeated by itslef the next day and the MC was given a "second chance". Love the principle - no dead end- but implementation could be improved.

I know for some of your other comments you prefer  the Unity game engine to Ren'py, but as a player I am so pleased you did not go the Unity path. I am no fan of the Unity interface, and it deters me from playing these games. I suspect you have turned off certain Ren'py features like rolling back with the mouse wheel to alter decisions, but I hope you will re-enable them. It makes reversing an accidental or stupid mistake so much easier. Games should not be like real life where a mistake is mostly irreversible and carries consequences, sometimes disastrous. We have enough of that in real life, and we don't need it in games  as well. Games are supposed to be an escape from such realities.

Also watch for other errant Jpanese remaining in the English version. I saw another one of those when I ran out stamina/food/water and Fukuya gave me another one of her "Charms of Health" - a lovely idea - but how to use them? Some hints would be good. Are they are preventive or a cure after the event? See one of the attached pictures. Another "ghost" Fukuya.

There is also an issue in the code somewhere when playing the JRPG game. You see this on playing the JRPG game:

I chose "Ignore" and the game continued with no sign of mal-operation, but under the hood? But who knows? - I hope you do.

Well, that's enough for now. Keep up the good work and I hope your troubles remain at bay. Best of luck and kind regards.

So pleased to see you back, I hope the troubles you have mentioned in the past have gone away. They sounded pretty serious, so I am surprised and delighted to see you back. Good effort too, given you are likely working on your own, with less than ideal conditions. Couple of comments intended in the spirit of making what a game with great potential even better:

There are cases where the segment of the day indicator (eg, evening) gets confused with the time of day, eg 20:00, so it is supposed to be 8PM, but the game tells me it is midnight and Fuyuka is sleeping. She should not be sleeping at 8M but instead leaning aginst the door near the kitchen entrance where she usually sits waiting for chat or head pats. This inhibits headpats as she is asleep instead and the game admonishes the MC for not head patting her. Slows progress for no reason and is confusing. Maybe your code is looking at the wrong variable?

Events sometimes turn up as a bit of a shock. For example, the presentation of the apartment key just kind of happens and interrupts the flow of the game. I understand it is a required step to progress, but a bit better integration to the rest of the game flow would help.

Same goes for dating Fuyuka. It is a welcome development, but it comes from nowhere at a random time, and in my case the "Date Fukuya" option was revealed at 9PM on a game" Friday night". Nice reveal and we can feel a bit of her heart melt by the way, so not at all bad in that way, but the timing and introduction feels clumsy.

Now I don't know where this goes eventually, but the only place to take her at the start of dating is the park. And no self-respecting MC is going to take his favourite girl to the park at 9PM to watch sparrows that are in the trees asleep for the night. How about showing the dating option only at appropriate times, say like on weekends day time?

Also the dating option icon overlaps the icon for head pats and it is hard to head pat her as the interface interprets it as a date request. Moving the icons apart would help.

Finally I was too busy dating her and missed the fact that I could not afford the rental payment and was subjected to the sudden death end "Expensive girl" or something similar. Now many games have such sudden death features and I would have to say I hate every single one of them. Developers may think they are dramatic and wonderful, but as a player they are a classic pain. If you have spent significant time grinding away at progress and miss just one critical point through inattention to saving, hours of play are lost and must be repeated for no gain.

If you must have fatal outcomes that terminate the game, at least warn the player or autosave somehow so hours of grinding are not lost. This game involves a lot of grinding to make what seems like precious little progress at times, and if you don't happen to be a diligent saver of the game getting a dead halt that is irreversible is downright annoying.

I do understand that saving is a user responsibility, but my most precious commodity is time and losing it to an arbitrary Developer decision to terminate a game without any recourse is downright irksome. Sufficiently irked players drop games and never come back. Perhaps consider an option to turn dead stops off?

It is one thing if a player chooses to replay a game knowing the grinding cost, but is downright rude of a Developer to make the decision for a player about how they are to use their time. Understand clearly, repetitious grinding might be good to string a game out but it is NOT entertainment.

Anyway, enough whinging, good job and significantly better than demo 1, I look forward to future updates.

Regards and hope things go better for you.

Thank you, they all work now. Regards.

Good job on the game, always an unexpected twist. Keep up the good work. The .png files in Bonus Renders - Set 2.zip do not open for me. Win 10 reports them as "Not a valid PNG file". I have not tried to open them all, I admit, but a representative subset fail to open. The files from Set1 open just fine. Can you check please if there is some problem and rectify.  Thanks for your efforts.