General comments go here, or feel free to make your own thread if it's more in-depth.
Don't get me wrong I noticed there's more frequent enemies, several extra bad ends, and more locations. Compared to the previous game, it's a little larger. It's clear you leaned in on some new tricks you've learned. The combat is mostly more balanced too, except maybe the whole "dazed" ability the hyena have. Still a short game so far.
Again just curious.
Like in some areas, we still only have the one weapon. There's only two outfits. If it wasn't for the save system, there'd really only be one faction. We also lost the dash/dodge special ability which kinda hurts. The new Dazzle attack is great, but doesn't have a lot of utility outside of very specific scenarios.
No, perfectly alright to ask. Again, I outline what I plan to add in the roadmap devlog, but to what you brought up specifically: No new weapons, though there are some simple additional battle mechanics planned, mechanically the different colored hyena enemies do do different things, though it's modest and toward the later part of the game, and I MAY add another enemy in the later content packs, but we'll see.
I know you answered a similar question, but I worried it wasn't clearly worded. For the $10, are you getting ALL the chapters relating to the Cruel Serenade game, or just Cruel Serenade: Guttertrash (which you also call the Second chapter) and all updates for this chapter, but NOT Chapter 3 and above (whatever they will be called)? You've mentioned a plan for 5 chapters, and since this game is partitioned from Cruel Serenade's first part, and it isn't clear if your wording of "Everything that comes after for GutterTrash is free once you buy in." has the "comes after FOR Guttertrash...." which I think means all updates for this chapter, but not for any of the planned later chapters. I think people who asked before are worried each Chapter will be $10 a pop, so more likely $40 or $50 by the time the game is done.
Will this chapter ever be made free? I understand if it isn't as well as future chapters, but I wanted to ask for future reference so I can know to spare some money for future chapters as I was confused at seeing payment was required. I will of course pay once I can as I understand this took a lot of time and effort, I may have just missed any statement you made in the past saying I'd need to pay
So just ran through the game in both what i can guess is pure mode and im guessing slut mod very fun ill say was wondering what the stuff for that data crystal that was talked about in the first chapter a few days ago i only really think i saw during gameplay that could be linked to it and wanted to know if there was post to be more to the Datacrystal plugin.
So take a look at the devlog for 0.3.3 of CS1 first of all, if you haven't. That'll describe how to generate and use the file. In terms of what it unlocks, I don't want to spoil too much, but in general terms it's one scene for now, but more stuff eventually in future chapters, especially the final one. The trigger is pretty much what you would expect: More slutty = good (if you want to see the scene anyway). If you'd rather not keep replaying CS1 to get the stats you want, you can also just open and edit DataCrystal, it's just a text file, though you'll spoil yourself a little one what triggers what.
Definitely planned. I anticipate spending the next week at least just handling bug reports and so on, but once things calm down a bit and I start dev again, I'll be slowly working my way through those extra sections. The hostclub in particular already has a lot done, I just haven't made the scenes yet.
Glad to see the release of GutterTrash seems to have gone smoothly for you! Thank you for the time you've spent creating this, it's been delightful and the writing is a real treat. I appreciate the amount of interaction during the fights, and all the information in Scratch's computer! Will we see more of Scratch and Midnight City in the future?
Unfortunately not. In THEORY MV is multi-platform, since it's just js running in a web browser. Just hit the button and you've got it exported to Windows, Linux, or even mobile! In reality, a lot of things break that very fast. I'm using a number of plugins that won't work on mobile at all, and several others I suspect won't play nice with non-windows settings, so I don't currently support any of that.
If you want to mess with it of course, you're welcome to. The "real" game is the index.html file in the www folder; the exe is just the browser than runs it. It won't load on say Chrome by default, but it WILL run once you tweak some security settings for local pages. In my experience the performance while running this way is poor, and any number of bugs may crop up, but if you want to mess with it, you're certainly welcome to.
That said, if you DON'T want to pay $10 just to tinker, I entirely understand. Officially though, this is Windows only, not by neglect but by necessity.
Yeah, as I've said a lot of it should run just fine, as it's just javascript in a browser. But it DEFINITELY won't work on mobile (some of the plugins I use explicitly say so), and a variety of things may be wacky on Linux, to one degree or another, especially the io I do to read and write a few files on my own (for the data crystal, and soon for the gallery). It's fine if people want to try, just know there won't be any bug testing on, or fixes for that platform. Like using Windows 7 in 2024, it's entirely possible for a variety of cases, but unsupported.
I can already predict this is going to be like Grove, in the sense that the artist is going to slowly get better and better and CH 1-2 is gonna start to have an outdated look compared to new chapters.
I feel a bit of improved artistry on the new illustrations.
I hope game dev is not soul crushing to you Bitshift, you're really good at it and I'm glad you're going for the long haul, planning 5 chapters.
The content right now was worth the price, so I'm really glad to know there's going to be updates to it, because It just feels like a deal that keeps on getting better.
is it possible to be able to turn off some effects or simplify some of the performance? on the entertainment distract map im having lots of performance issues and while it doesnt make stealth or avoiding the thugs impossible it hampers it a bit.
i had a similiar issue in the first game whenever i was on the map leading to the boars HQ with the water. my solution was to just get to the next area as soon as possible.
Yeah, it does chug there a bit unfortunately. Keep in mind the minimum requirement is a Ryzen 3 or equivalent, so if your system is worse than that I probably won't be directly targeting it for optimization. On a Ryzen 3 with decent memory it runs fairly smoothly most of the time in that area, but I'll admit it's still less than ideal. There's no good way to optimize it unfortunately without cutting up the map, which I may do eventually but will be...quite the project to migrate all the scripts correctly. In the meantime though no, unfortunately there's not much you can do on your end.
played to a couple of the bad endings, good stuff.
i was playing on my absolute potato of a laptop, and i wanted to note that the big huge area with the back alleys and unfinished bunny suit path runs really poorly.
now again, potato laptop, so probably not an actually big issue, i have stronger computers elsewhere so its not like i can't play, so feel free to disregard. but i would be remiss if i did not mention this as it may be evidence of something else going wrong with that zone that may have a compounding effect going forward. i don't do enough rpg maker to nail it down, maybe the zone is just too large or has too many actors, and chopping it up into smaller chunks would fix, or maybe there's some kind of script going awry and just chewing up the cycles, or maybe my laptop is too shit for rpg maker lol.
anyway, had fun, was surprised to see the ear clips weren't making a return, though i guess it makes sense since he only holds onto them in one of the endings lol.
That area definitely does chug a bit, largely because the lighting plugin I use, while great, is very poorly optimized, so I have to be careful with it. Combination of that and the size makes that area a bit chonky. It occurs to me that you only ever see one side or the other at one time (plus some stuff at the bottom), so I might be able to gain some by chopping it up, but that would be an enormous project. Ent. Dist II and II were originally one big map too, and when I had to chop those up it took...quite a while. And they have far less script events, and don't have an entire duplicate version of themselves for slut mode. So I'd be making, and testing, like three whole new maps.
For now though, I'll tell you what I've told others: the informal "Minimum Requirements" for GT are my own system: an ancient Ryzen 3. If your laptop's worse than that, I'm probably not going to put much dev time into optimizing for it, at least for now.
First game was absolutely amazing, as soon as I saw this my eyes widened (no joke). Cant wait to give it a try! Just purchased. Quick question: Will saves from previous versions work with the current version?
I should probably add to my 0.3.3 post on CS1, because there's been a bit of confusion on this.
ACTUAL saves do not carry over from CS1 to GT. The DataCrystal system is a separate thing of my own creation to carry over a handful of specific, relevant stats to determine whether certain scenes are unlocked ( just one for now).
And no, no discord planned. Though I have unironically considered Slack for more intense bugtesting situations. Hopefully it won't come to that though.
Wow, good memory. But like I've said, that was a stub idea that just never ended up getting fleshed out. It would make even less sense here, with different sex mechanics. If you like that kind of thing though, I'd recommend talking to one of the plaza vendors when you're sans-jacket. No art for now, but a fun little set of scenes.
Well! I have so far gone two ways as a whore and a winning option, as I understand there is no middle option yet? I liked in many ways in the first part exactly the moment when we lose not in the form of slut.. when a bunny is broken gradually without hypnosis it looked amazing) Well, as for the second part, I will highlight a few points! 1) I certainly liked it, especially the scenes with the video are just super :3 I hope to see even more interesting things in the future) 2) As it seemed to me, the complexity of chapter 2 turned out to be higher than the first, but maybe I'm just so used to the first that I'm not used to it yet. It was really difficult to defeat Khazeem, I had to sweat a lot with it, but perhaps Dazzle blast would have greatly simplified my life. In the version without defeats, they didn't stay with the boss. Next, I'll move on to the questions) 1) Is it possible to defeat Khazeem in slut mode? I never managed to do it, and will the ending be different in this case from the version without defeats? 2) Of course I was interested in Mahir, will there be a special scene with him?) 3) and of course Scratch is also wondering what will happen to him in the future is it possible that he will also be able to sleep with Mezz? 4) It seems to have been mentioned somewhere that there are 3 bosses in the game, but so far I have noticed only two, will the third be later or did it just seem to me? That's all I have so far) thanks for the content! I will be waiting for updates and subsequent chapters) Good luck in development!
Nope, no middle path yet. You can absolutely defeat Khazeem in slut mode at the moment, but that's because the slut mode fight isn't really in/doesn't exist yet: for now it just defaults you to the standard one once you get there. Ending's the same, since again, it's just the standard fight. Mahir scene is planned. As is Scratch, but probably not this chapter. Only one formal boss this chapter, though you can fight Mahir as well, and there are harder enemy troops toward the end.
And thanks! Glad you're enjoying it so far.
I feel like this might be something that would be low on the priority list, like something to slot in once the whole story/development is finished. However I feel it would be worth having Cruel Serenade, the chapter one map and plot eventually ported into Guttertrash once everything is done with. Granted, new content and finishing the game would be much preferable but hopefully once that milestone is met, having the whole story be a seamless experience would feel great.
I admit I felt a bit of whiplash for like the intro flashback part of the island for Guttertrash, I was like, did I just miss something?
I look forward to your future development. And a toast to your success
No, probably won't do that. I WAS originally planning to join all the games up into one big thing once they were done (that's one of the reasons Haven is structured like a "hub"), but seeing how big GT got, and the limitations of RPG Maker, that's no longer planned. There's probably a fancy literary term for what the early bit of the GT story does, but that's entirely intentional. You start out thinking you're AFTER the events of the first game, only to realize you're briefly BEFORE them. I like the little "Oh wait-" that causes.
How so? If you're wondering why they don't appear in the special scene, they aren't needed now. They were a training device. If you allowed them to do their work in CS1, the effect is permanently etched in Mezz's mind now. Thankfully it only applies to boars, and possibly even just THOSE boars, that particular gang.
Been following your work ever since I found you on Derpibooru.
I must say, you've done some fantastic work with Cruel Serenade, while I did encounter a few bugs here and there, it wasn't anything major.
I enjoyed hunting around through the game for little secrets and other hidden stuff and was pleasantly surprised to see some hidden plots going on, down a certain alley.
While I'm not yet done with everything, I've enjoyed my time immensely so far, thank you for all your hard work Bitshift, I hope this serves as a little motivation boost and that you continue to be successfull in your developer endeavors♡
Wow all the way back to Derp! You have been with me a while.
And thanks, I really appreciate it. There's been a lot of interesting ups and downs trying to get game stuff working, and I never expected to be doing it this soon. But the opportunity came up, so I kind of had to jump on it. And so far, I'm glad I did.
I've been really excited for this game for a while and I remember you mentioning different starting points depending on what ending you got in the previous game. I started a new game but haven't seen any prompts or anything mentioning the ending of the last game so I'm curious if I need to do something to activate that or if I am just too hornybrained to have noticed.
Read the following update post to the previous game, it will explain how to transfer your ending to the new game. Cruel Serenade 0.3.3 is up! - Cruel Serenade by bitshiftgames (itch.io)
Yes and no. All modes are playable to the end, but Slut Mode just loops back to the normal boss fight for now. Eventually it will have it's own fight and end scene, and possibly a few other art assets as well. I'll be sharing a roadmap with more thought-out time frames for new content in a week or so, but I'd say we're at least a couple months out.
Heya
There, the 1st game I've bought here and was it worth it, the 1st chapter already got me hooked so I had to. This was so worth the wait though, the game's ambience, story and music fits so well all together it had me sucked in from start till the end.
I loved every minute I've played so far and can't wait for whats to come in the future. Thx for all the hard work you've put into this.
I might hop in later today to find some events/things I might have missed
Peace :3
Oh I don't doubt it's possible. RPG Maker MV games are just javascript interacting with a canvas element in a browser. But there's a difference between POSSIBLE and RELIABLE, STABLE, PREDICTABLE etc. That's the reason I ultimately decided not to update the pixi and NW frameworks under the hood, and the reason I won't be distributing a mobile version. People are welcome to buy the desktop version and adapt it on their own to run on mobile if they like, but doing so "voids the warranty." I won't give any support, or spend any time troubleshooting/bug hunting on any mobile versions. Performance will suffer, plugins will break, and things like the DataCrystal system are utterly impossible without some really nutty stuff and the nightmare of navigating the file system of a phone.
I liked the game. Through i have few comments and suggestions.Comments-game is nice,i like your draw style and writing skills,also kink of this game appeals much more to me than grove (through would you ever add bdsm?),also i think so far game kiiiiinda lacking nsfw artworks (atleast in comparison to other games of similar type).Suggestion: 1-quick skip scenes (losing CG's and such) option,2-why main character have tapering p but all other enemies have humanoid p,even the dobermans,can you give other characters animal genitalia too? 3- you can put constant slurps/other sounds during CG's and in fight. 4-maybe put less enemies or make new content appear more often,cuz this getting rly boring to fight similar enemies each second and not getting any new content for 20min.
Thanks for the feedback, and glad you're enjoying the game so far (or at least some of it.) "BDSM" is kind of a nebulous thing. In terms of powerplay, that's already obviously in the game. Bondage as well, though only lightly, as is a VERY light bit of pain with slapping and such. In general I tend to not think in terms of "BDSM" or any specific kink (besides mind-fuckery of course), but just what make sense and presents itself as the narrative unfolds. There will be more art as time goes on: art is the most costly part of the process in terms of time and effort. This game took 13 months to make, and a good third of that (at least!) was just art creations. On the other suggestions:
1. Most of the scenes are designed so that you'll only really see them once. The notable exception is the end fight, but unfortunately there's not a good way for me to put a detection counter there because it doesn't loop. Losing is a game over, so there's no way to add the information that you've already lost once to the save file to trigger a "skip scene?" prompt. In theory I could monkey around with a separate file to save this information, but that has downsides too (wouldn't be able to tell two different playthroughs apart for example).
2. Ha, glad you noticed. Just kind of the way it turned out. I try various things as I'm designing characters and end up going with what works. I just wasn't happy with more animal-esque junk on the enemies, or more human stuff on Mezz. It's a little inconsistent, but not the end of the world.
3. I experimented with some various sounds, and in fact GT DOES have more sounds than CS1 did (especially proud of the slaps). Ultimately I just wasn't happy with the way more obviously explicit sounds felt. Ended up taking you out of the experience. I'm also mindful that some people might be playing this in less than entirely private situations, and given that I've been there myself, I know I appreciate a game that, should the headphone plug get yanked, won't immediately blanket the entire apartment with the sounds of an orgy. By sound alone, Cruel Serenade sounds (mostly) like a perfectly ordinary game, and that's intentional.
4. Like I said, some new content coming eventually. Probably not a lot in terms of extra battle content or new enemies though. Might have a little additional stuff there in the last pack.
It looks like you figured out the answer to the first question, but GT is the second game in the series, so yes, they're related, and you can transfer some information via the DataCrystal file. It's not required, but you will potentially miss out on a scene, and more in future games. Endings of GT are not effected.
Also, try not to double post: you can edit your posts if you thing of something else you'd like to add.
Took a look and figured it out: when I re-did some things to fix an earlier bug, I forgot to apply the new switch logic to both the Hyena thug AND the stairs themselves. You probably triggered the scene by trying to go up the stairs in the Porn shop. Talk to the hyena beside them instead. This'll be fixed on the next bugfix release.
I have...no idea how that was missed. Yet another switch that wasn't getting flipped back correctly (in two different places!). I've tested the patch in a number combinations and it SEEMS to be fixed now. I certainly hope so, as this is the third time trying to get this simple thing to trigger right. I must have been changing something each time and forgetting to account for it. Regardless, it's fixed now. I'll try to have the new version up fairly soon. Surprised you were the only one who brought this up, though it isn't a COMPLETE progress barrier: you can still get around it by defeating Mahir when you first meet him.
just bought the game,and its really good,if i could suggest a hidden easter egg somewhere?,maybe in the entertainment district,put up graffiti thats effectively a trap,have the character reads it and it hits a trigger,then he goes to the next one in a certain order getting more and more brainwashed leading to an ending scene or something?~,you had a graffiti that was 'yeah just like that' which makes me feel like the potential is there,you could have it be slightly off color from the blue kind,or maybe do something with the glowing green phone at the back of the city portion,it looked important and i tried to interact with it at first
Thanks! It depends on how you define easter egg, but there are a number of things in the game that are somewhat more obscure. Have you found the keys yet, for example? Or the Street Sausage? And there's actually one reference not a single person has commented on yet. None of this is essential of course, but there are some minor things hidden here and there.
ive yet to find the street sausage,though i would love more stuff with the thing that happened in the side alley~,you know the one where the person disappeared?,dont want to get too descript for people so not spoil
but yeah maybe the dogs perverted the graffiti in the entertainment district,and have it so each one mezz finds puts him more and more into a hypno slut mode more or such,fun stuff like that
i've been really enjoying the game so far and as of right now i've gotten most of the fail endings that takes me back to the title screen. got the after the final porn shop visit with what happens if you get caught too many times. but my personal favorite so far is the vial in the vent game over. though i'm now eagerly awaiting for the Slut ending like with CS:Ch1 as well as the extra pathways such as the middle in ED1 and i believe the side path in ED2 or ED3
Yeah thats true but ill defintly be buying the other chapters when they come out ❤️ Cant wait to "Accidently" get Mezz hypnotized in them.I also wanted to say its the attention to details I love too for exampe both games where Mezz becomes dazed and cant hurt the opponents properly or with what happens at the end of chapter one boss if you decide to be a slut aha.Alot of hypno games kinda miss the mark with those details so I'm glad you dont :3
Dug through my records for some clarification on this.
The plan initially was to start on the first pack around July 7. But while I technically did, work was extremely slow through most of July due to me having to spend a lot of time on unrelated IRL issues. So yes, due to this delay the effective time since the July start date for the first pack will probably be four months, not three. Three months of solid work, but with a month "wasted" on non-game-related stuff. I'm currently targeting the end of October as stated. I've indicated the initial slowdown in various posts, but hopefully this will clarify the current state of things.
Note that while I take timeliness seriously, dates WILL shift, which is one of the reasons I rarely give especially defined ones. Sometimes up, sometimes down. Sometimes I'll over or underestimate what it takes to get something done, and sometimes, like here, unexpected things will come up. The important thing to me, and hopefully to the fans, is that I'm putting in as much time and effort as is possible, and planning in a way that's practical and doesn't get bogged down in idealism or perfection.
I think the timelines for GT are a perfect example of what to expect. I dramatically missed my first deadline, because I underestimated the scope of what I was doing. But I delivered within a month of the second, which is pretty good for a 13 month project.
of course,i never expected you to stick to a hard deadline or anything adn irl stuff happens,ive no problem at all with you taking as long as you need to need to get it done up to the standards you deserve,i just honestly forgot about the first month irl stuff adn took to looking at the timeline and got mistaken,hope i didnt offend~
Oh no worries. It's a balancing act: on the one hand, I don't want to drive myself too hard, or rush too much and sacrifice quality where it matters. It's not like I'm a 90s game company that has to hit "the Christmas Rush" or whatever. On the other hand, it is important that I have SOME sense of urgency, and try to communicate where I am with stuff clearly, so I appreciate the nudge to re-check my dates every once in a while.
The game has been magnificent to play, yes, when I saw the title the word "gluttony" came to my mind, since the title was "Guttertrash" and I thought it was going to combine lust and gluttony in some kind of style, Just kidding that if I see a part three where the hypnosis is based on rage or fury, since it seems that with each episode the hypnosis changes color, and acts differently, since in the first episode it was slightly different from how it acts in this one, Likewise, I adore this saga from the first day I found out about its existence!!
Don't worry, honestly if you saw two identical messages sent by me, I don't know how the site works completely, simply seeing two options to publish the post, one at the top of the page while another option was at the bottom of the page. I sent one of each, so maybe that's why you got marked as spam
I played the first chapter of this game, loved it. At first I didn’t see why it was slow paced at first but now that I finished it I noticed the honest charm with it. The battles, characters, options, and decisions on can make was great. Now that I’m started to play this new one (new for me) I see that it still has that amazing charm and story along with it! However I hate!(love dw) the consequences of my actions :( <3 keep up the good work and I would support this 100%.
Ah, ok. Yeah those are all about speed, prioritizing the right enemy, and maybe just a bit of save scumming. Don't just blindly attack: pay attention to where your multi-attacks land, and if one guy's about to go down, sometimes it's worth it to prioritize rushing him with a regular attack rather than waiting for your multi to recharge.
Ngl when I saw that cruel serenade had its part two I dropped everything to buy it. I was genuinely excited and not just for the lewd(I do like it of course duh!) But because I honestly like the character of mezz and the universe even if the enemies are simple. This one feels ALOT harder then the first but I have enjoyed challenging myself. I used like all my healing items my first try then realized patch up was in this one. Restarting after locking myself I just pushed through and saved all my items in the first area. I also when closing the game lost my save for some reason.. but no worries I can just now try and do better since my main goal is to avoid getting sent back to the district after a hypno loss. Of course I might accept I get just one and I enjoy the scene (dober daddy am I right?) but Idk like the challenge.
No worries about the save, I replayed and found something I missed in a section, and I replayed to try a playthrough where I didn't get hypnotized more than once and then one where I played with the bunny costume to also see the scenes in the p-shop. Was enjoyable so I had no worries about saves. The loss scene for the final boss I also saw intentionally, and it was pretty hawt good game.
The game really isn't that expensive. And I think it's awesome that the first one is free so that players know what they are paying for before buying it.
And while your concerns are valid about inputting your info. Plenty of people before you have made secure transactions on this site without issue.
If it helps put your mind at ease. The personal info any secure online payment process and method requires helps ensure whoever is using the credit card is the actual card holder and not some identity thief.
Cost comes down to the person obviously. I think it's a reasonable price for what's on offer, but only you can say whether it makes sense as a purchase for you. As for the info, depends what you're concerned with. If it's a privacy issue, I hear you, and that's just one of the unfortunate realities of buying stuff online. I really wish there was an anonymous way of buying stuff digitally (that was actually practical, unlike crypto), like cash, but the powers that be will NEVER let that happen, because they've gotten used to being able to track everyone. If you're just concerned with fraud, there are services that let you make "disposable" cards you can put limits on so there's no chance of unexpected charges. Even without that though, most cards and banks these days are more than willing to assist with fraudulent charges, and you're USUALLY not left holding the back, though your mileage may vary.
It's two things, kind of contrasted. As revealed in the end of 1, it's a reference to the sound of Mezz beating up an opponent, and violence/conflict more generally. But also yes, it's a reference to the nature of the narrative: it's a game about Mezz losing, over and over again, and suffering various cruel fates as a result. But I also don't want to just nail it down to those specific things. As seen in the end of 2, it kind of flexes and twists to mean different things as the story goes on.
Interesting, well could mean the fate of Mezz is about to about twist as well if you wanna go that way, at least not like anytime soon. I love how a character can grow as chapter move on, Mezz became stronger since he can replenish used energy after each fight and have more powerful abilities, but let his luck remain the same would just be perfect, no amount of skill can save you from ass pounding here. I am only more invested in the game and story and will continue to support it.
Hi! So far I love your games, they are like a breath of fresh air among the furry-themed NSFW stuff! Heck, even the Japanese stuff doesn't really compare, as most of their games are with female characters, and I haven't seen any that have the same dark kinky vibe to them or go as deep into hypnosis and personality rewrite/destruction as part of the main gameplay loop. Your stuff is amazing in this regard, kudos! <3
I have a question though, maybe even a suggestion: do you have any plans for level-down mechanics in the next games?
Something where Mezz can become a noticeably stronger hero, but then the more he submits or gets his brain messed with, the more he forgets all of the techniques, and the weaker he becomes?
This can even have a fun bad end in store for when his level drops all the way down to 1... and then goes to 0, turning him into a permanent blank slate with no way to recover the lost memories to grow stronger >:P
That was kind of a stub of me playing around with it, but I never really elaborated on it and ended up pulling that out. In order for it to be fun the lack of level would have to be noticeable when fighting enemies and so on. It is a fun idea though, so I might find a way to slip it in briefly in the future.
Really like level down thing in games, but yeah it's hard to implement it properly. Personally I think having specific events that use that mechanic and after you're done with them you get your levels back works well, but that can feel underwhelming to some people since level downs are not permanent. Maybe an option depending on if you loose or win decides if you get those levels back could work. Either way can't wait for what you come up with. The previous game became one of my favorite hypno games and I can't wait to eventually play this one when it's a bit more finished.
Glad you're enjoying it! I may be able to help, but there are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Make your second purchase on this account, then reply to let me know you have (or let me know what account you're going to use.) 2. Make sure the email you have attached to your account is accurate, because that's where the link is going. 3. Download it quickly, because the link will only be up for a couple days after I send it. 4. Early releases tend to have a number of patches as bugs are fixed leading up to the public release. You won't be getting any of these, just the initial release, and then the public release with everyone else.
If you're fine with all that, feel free to purchase a "second copy" and let me know once you have. Also, note that while I'll try to be quick, I may be in and out a bit the next few days, so it may take a day or two for it to get sent out.
Not gonna lie, I've never had a specific kink/interest in humiliation or hypno content before, but this definitely won me over. I think the concept of gradually becoming more and more depraved (in a lust filled way) by the constant defeats is a pretty hot touch and I'm 100% into this series now. With the content update established is ch.2 complete and next steps are ch.3? or is there still more for ch.2 to be done?
Cute character and fun game, keep it up!
Excellent, exactly what I like to hear. Part of the motivation to make the games hypnosis/mind-fuckery focused was just that there was so little out there that was good, but I also always try to make them fun explicit games overall, rather than just niche titles, so I'm glad whenever I hear they're having that broad appeal. And you've got it exactly: they're hypnosis games, but more broadly they're corruption games, which is a lot of fun.
The first content pack that was just finished caps off all the absolutely crucial stuff. I have two more smaller ones planned, but we'll see what the timeline on those ends up being.
I hate to be THAT guy but I just have to say: even though i do appreciate the more work this has compared to the first chapter it is more difficult. Although I find the challenge introduced in the first chapter more fair, I somewhat dislike the mechanic where if the enemies stuns you then they immediately go first which allows all the enemies to attack you twice. If I remember correctly, you mention that this game is somewhat stealthy (I could be wrong), I didn't have a problem with it that much compared to the first game but in this game it's a bit more difficult as well. It's not a big deal since I find myself beating all the enemies anyways but it's difficult to be stealthy when their speed is pretty much the same speed when sprinting and they'll walk ANYWHERE if you're patients trying to be stealthy. I had this happen, I was planning on moving pass by an enemy while I was hiding is an alleyway and found the enemy walking right into me lol.
I bought the update from your support page and appreciate the new content. I'm aware that you can defeat Mahir and not get the hypnosis effect to make everything easier, but I decided not to just in case it would affect the ending of defeating the last boss.
I decided to backtrack from a previous save file and I tried a different approach instead of beating all of them. I definitely find this more doable than previously when i made the original comment. I was stuck at the right alley where I had to fight all those stages of hyenas that were waiting for me. When you lose to them then it's gameover (in my case since I was in my third stage of hypno). I guess I should saved my special move for those and just preserve them when I'm fighting the normal enemies.
So first of all, thanks for the feedback! While I like hearing what people like, hearing what they DON'T is also important. May not always result in a change for a variety of reasons, but I at least want to be aware of what is and isn't working for people.
Second, there are a few different things that are getting entangled here:
1. During the normal, initial playthrough of the entertainment districts, the enemies have a daze move they can use on you. This immobilizes Mezz for a few turns and lets them get his submission up easily. This ability exists for a reason: without it, it's actually fairly easy to steamroll the early enemies if you're careful, even without using the charm. I felt the gameplay needed a little more unpredictability, because TOO much power or agency in combat in these games makes them boring; there has to be some risk, something keeping you on your toes. That said, I've done my best to make sure the enemies don't spam this ability, via a bunch of manual checks, both to make sure it DOES show up every so often, but also that it doesn't get overused. That said, RPGMaker's RNG is...odd sometimes, so you will get some weird lineups every once in a while.
2. If you lose 3 times to the mobs, you then go into a different stealth gameplay mode in that section. The daze attack is no longer a factor, because you don't enter combat. In this mode, the enemies are on set paths to facilitate sneaking past them, rather than their random movements in the normal mode.
With all that said, it is still somewhat possible to avoid SOME of the enemies in the normal mode, and you certainly don't need to fight all of them to progress. But yes, in normal mode you do end up fighting most of them. The stealth aspect is more in that particular mode.
And yes, the main purpose of the special attack is crowd control, and you'll mostly need it for that last gauntlet. It IS possible to get through without using special there, but pretty hard as you'd imagine. But yes, overall I'd definitely recommend avoiding fights if you can. Cruel Serenade is far from a survival horror, but it is a bit stingy with items, and those that are given are provisioned in order to get you to your goal, not to defeat every mob on the map. So in that sense even the normal gameplay is a little "stealth": you're trying to avoid conflict if you can, because you're always just a little (sometimes a lot) behind the 8-ball.
So a few things to clarify. 1. The Datacrystal won't carry over items, level, moves etc. It's JUST there to carry over story data, so the game can remember some of the things you did. 2. For story reasons that will become obvious after you've played a bit, on first starting the game your STORY stats (viewable in the menu under stats) will still all be zero. The DataCrystal info won't load in until you return to Haven for the second time. If you're still not seeing those numbers change after that, let me know.
Nope. In theory you MAY be able to get SOME of it to work: it's just javascript running in a nodejs browser, so index.html kinda sorta works in normal browsers with some adjustments. But it's never going to be perfect, because I do some wacky stuff with plugins that normal browsers aren't going to be happy with.
I think I'm retarded because I can't get the slut mode ending. If I lose yeah, I get steam rolled by Khazeem and get the sub bottom bitch bad ending, but if I win the fight ends in a very abrupt way, like the first normal ending but "worse" because Mahir doesn't undone the conditioning with his thrigger phrase, feels like I'm doing something wrong
Yeah, scene guide will be going up in the next couple of days thanks to the tireless work of OpenFireplace, but in the meantime: There are now 4 endings for the game, two of which are new. You seem to have gotten to both of them: losing to Khazeem in the slutmode battle (different bad end than the normal loss), and winning, but under certain circumstances. The epilogue should be...a bit different for that one. There's also the stuff at the host club of course, so be sure to check that out if you haven't.
I played the new content pack, as always I loved it. I can see more content is coming (?) and that's really impressive for how much work you can do as only one person. Work and effort like this is why I always hope you get more love and support that you totally deserved, I can only imagine what the future chapters will bring us and I hope you always love what you are doing because we love you. <3
Aw, appreciate it man. As fast as I get stuff done, I always wish it was faster, but I am glad I've been able to finish a decent amount of stuff so far that people are enjoying. And yeah, another pack in the works. Wanted to have a roadmap post up already, but I'm a little under the weather at the moment. Soon though!
I got question dont know whether this will count as spoiler or not. Will there be a route or bad end that involve mezz and scratch being fucked together within one cg. it might be a long shot but i really like the slut khazeem fight bad end and how i wish we get the cg describing their fate in the Gutter
This is a long shot and a bit of an odd question, but have you made any art in the past under a different name? When I saw Scratch I felt like something in the back recesses of my mind activated, he just felt so familiar. I feel like I've seen your art style or at least something that looks similar to that somewhere and I'm losing my mind trying to remember lol. Anyway these games are phenomenal and I'm super looking forward to seeing more of your stuff!
Sorry for the late reply. Sometimes Itch grabs posts as spam for arbitrary reasons, and I don't get a notification or anything, it's just down to whenever I check next.
To your questions: I'm over on FA as Bitshift. Used to do pony stuff. Still dig it, just want to do my own IP for now.
And thanks, glad you're enjoying them!
Yup, the suit and cologne are both needed at various points (although technically you can avoid using the cologne, it's just...very tedious.) As for variety, I agree, but this is the work of one person, with limited abilities. More weapons or enemies means more art assets, which means a considerable amount of additional time. Adding new mechanics isn't AS hard or time-intensive, but it does still take time, not just to develop but to bugtest and balance. I've surmised, so far correctly, that most people would rather that time be put into more scenes and horny content; for a game like this, being hot is always the priority. Even the gameplay is there primarily to enhance the horny, because imho having some actual interactivity and agency is more fun that just clicking forward in a visual novel. I also don't want to make things TOO complex, because I want to keep the game fairly accessible. That said, again I agree, it could absolutely use some more variation, and maybe I'll be able to work more in as I go. But even my attempt to get just TWO completely distinct enemies into this one didn't turn out, with the second (the "clients" or customers, the dobermans) ending up as just NPCs for now.
This is also a function of what I'm doing fight-wise. If this was just an ordinary RPG fight system, and if you lose, sexy scene, that would be very simple to implement, and to add bad guys to. But instead, I have elaborate systems built into the fights themselves to do the sexy stuff IN the fight, not just after. This means that every significantly new enemy has to be fit into that system (or have a new one made for them, which is even worse.) In other words, there IS a fair bit of complexity to the fights, it's just been build around a few enemies, simple basic mechanics, and more complex sex mechanics. It's like character creation in an RPG: I have limited points, and I put them in scenes and battle sex mechanics, which makes things a little weak elsewhere. Hopefully still fun though.
If the art takes the most time you could get someone else do the art so you can focus on like coding and stuff not sure how making games works but if it helps you get the game out faster you could get more games out faster to make more money which would easily make up for the cost of hiring someone. Or you could do it the other way around if you really like making the art
Was definitely worth the money. The longer plot line, challenges, and variety of scenes were awesome. This is a shorter review than what I did for CS but really you have a new long time fan here and I'm excited for the future. Fun, hot, great soundtrack.
Not sure the next time I will be able to play and get to the Credits- as I've said a few times now I really enjoy the Soundtracks, are you able to share the musical artist (s) information somewhere (for CS and GT)? I would like to follow them as well if possible.
Hello , just to say your work is really impressive I plan to buy the 2nd chapter of the game, mezz is really adorable, it motivated me to start drawing again, (for the moment it's not that yet but as soon as I can I would like to do it a mezz fan art ;p). excellent work I don't know what else to say =^-^= ( sry for my english i am french )
Aw thanks, really appreciate it! I've improved a lot since I started, but I still have a LONG way to go on my art, so to know that it's motivating others is...very flattering. Also the reach of this game, goodness; I've got people from all over! Hope it comes across clear enough for a non-native speaker. Also, I know everyone says this, but people who apologize for their English usually have better grammar than native speakers :D. I wouldn't have known if you hadn't said anything; certainly better than my French.
Glad you're enjoying the games, and would love to see the fan art when it happens (we even have a thread for it here).
If it's not a bother, I was hoping to posit a few questions to you.
First, will there be any backstory about Mezz revealed in later developments? Even with NSFW games, I still appreciate learning about each character.
Second, is "Mezz" a pun on "mesmerize," or merely a coincidental name choice?
Finally, will there be any moments where Mezz wants to do something sexual without being hypnotized first? I know the main selling point is hypnosis, I'm not judging; I'm simply curious due to wanting to know more about his original personality.
Overall, the game looks interesting, and I look forward to seeing what you do in the future. Also, Mezz is adorable.
No bother at all, love it when people are thinking a little more about the games beyond the immediate.
There will definitely be story and setting development, and some degree of seeing who he is as he interacts with things, but I hadn't planned an elaborate back-story, no. Mezz is a fairly simple character, and that's partially on-purpose, as the player avatar. But in general it's more about where things go, rather than where they came from when it comes to him.
No, but I love that it works out that way. I think it's actually that long ago in the depths of time there was this artist called Muzz I kinda liked, and when I was trying to come up with a name some synapses deep in my memory crossed and mis-fired and my brain spit out "Mezz." No other relation though, it's not actually connected in any way. I just like the sound.
As for non-hypnosis sex, definitely with Scratch eventually (sorry, spoilers, but come on :D). Possibly in one other situation as well, given the way you worded that, but that won't be for a loooong time.
And thanks, I agree. Just imagine the way the little ears bounce when he's takin' it :D.
Also, while we're talking the game and references, there's still one in there no one has caught. One of the graffiti. Too obscure I think, but let me know if you catch it.
I came across some graffiti outside Mahir's place, which appears to reference to John Dowland. I was able to understand the rough gist of the Latin phrase, but I do not know much about music history, so I had to do some research on that.
If that is not the reference you were referring to, then is it the graffiti that says, "It's hard to draw a sexy rabbit" or however it's worded? I could not find the definitive answer, but some research has lead to claims that it originated from Jazz Jackrabbit, although I am unsure in what way; one source claims it was a weird easter egg in one of the games' credits.
On the note of backstory and personality, I really appreciated the dialogue in the garden. The fact Mezz seems so surprised by real trees and grass shows how physically scarred their world is, and also shows a subtle emotional side to the normally cocky Mezz, even if he immediately goes back to being cocky afterward.
Oh ho, got the Dowland too! Very good. You may wish to keep an eye on that going forward too. But yeah, I was thinking of the Jazz one. It's a "complaint" by the game's animator in the Instructions section. I'm curious what this "research" entailed though; it sounds like some others have made the connection? Nicely done though.
And thanks, I definitely will continue to have stuff like that; not huge exposition dumps but just little hints of "Here's how this character reacts, given who he is and the setting." Glad you enjoyed that.
I found an OpenForum thread from 2002 that was, from what I can tell, a guessing game about video game quotes. The text is slightly hard to read, coupled with me being dyslexic, but I was still able to find a reference to the quote. I searched up Jazz Jackrabbit screenshots and videos, and one stream recording of the game made the same claim about this quote. I couldn't see it in the credits, but again, that could be due to my dyslexia acting up; I can sometimes skip entire paragraphs, which is why I try to remember to double-check everything I read.
I'm sorry for suddenly jumping back into our conversation, but I had another weird and sort of morbid question.
I won't specify where it's said, as I don't want to accidentally spoil too much for other players, but there's a piece of dialogue that says Mezz "trimmed down the ranks" of the gangsters. Is Mezz a no-kill kind of hero, and this dialogue implies he simply hurts enemies to the point of being out of commission? Or does he sometimes hit hard enough to kill? Even what amounts to a well-crafted stick can cause catastrophic damage if swung with enough velocity and into the right areas of the body.
I know this sounds extremely morbid, but I always am curious if combatant (especially armed) heroes follow a no-kill rule or not.
Side note, does Dragon's Breath cause physical damage to hyenas after long-term abuse? I know it's already shown to cause mental disturbance (not even counting suggestibility in other species), but I can't stop thinking about how a drug like that would ruin a person's body over time.
I've intentionally left it vague. It's mostly video-game logic: you can bring a giant buster sword down on someone and bring their HP down to zero, but they're not dead, just "defeated", whatever that means. Making it explicit that he's murdering every single one of the enemies seemed like the wrong tone, and doesn't quite fit his character. To be clear though, Mezz isn't Spiderman/Batman, he's perfectly fine with killing (though you should probably picture it as a more cartoony killing, rather than him drenched in blood or something). It's just that he's somewhat of a stealth character, so he USUALLY favors knockouts; he sees killing as sloppy and unimpressive, but not off the table. You don't live your whole life in the ruined city and not kill. Even Scratch probably has a few notches (though I'm not definitively specifying there). But Diezel and Khazeem for example are 100% dead in the appropriate endings, and it's at least somewhat Mezz's fault.
Now, does all this mean that that bit of narration about "trimming the ranks" means he ended them all, or just crippled them for a while? Whichever you prefer, though I think my intention was more toward the latter; again, he prefers not to kill because it's sloppy, and doesn't fit as well with the "hero" identity/delusion he's crafted for himself. He is, like all good people, trying to live up to a somewhat unattainable ideal. But he's not unrealistically hard-line about it.
As for Dragon's Breath's potential for physical damage, the answer is that it's never been fully determined. Anyone who's not a hyena either ends up a sex slave (which tends to have a fairly...unimpressive career length) or ends up wandering off before training is complete and dying because their sex obsession and empty-headedness leads to the neglect of basic self-preservation: starving, tumbling off a high ledge, picking fights they shouldn't, etc. Anyone who IS a hyena goes crazy with violence and paranoia, and is murdered by other enterprising entrepreneurs before any physical signs of damage manifest. In the few cases where slaves/"Entertainment" have survived several years in their new roles however, no clear evidence of physical harm from the drug has manifested. But keep in mind that for "fresh meat" the drug is only used as an ensnarement and training tool for conditioning, then discontinued once the new assets are ready, so there's no continual abuse that might lead to further damage. Mahir only uses the clicker in the end.
ALSO: Was thinking over my comments on Mezz's name and realized I'm forgetting my own...lore? Dev lore? Originally I was going for a musical theme in naming for the first game, though I gave up on it pretty quick ("Diezel" is a brand of amplifier for example). "Mezz" is a reference to Mezzo, as in Mezzo Forte. "Medium". Get it? Cause he's short?
I actually was kind of curious if there were more music references hidden around, as there was the Dowland graffiti, not to mention the title "Serenade." I completely missed the name references for the characters, since I don't really know much about music at all, let alone brands or types of instruments.
I get what you mean about ambiguity on enemies' fates, and I appreciate that it's not just a concrete "kills everybody or nobody" dynamic. Aaaand because I'm deranged, when you said "more cartoony killing," I envisioned Mezz replacing one of Mahir's cigarettes with a stick of dynamite.
Ho boy, getting into esoteric Jazz lore a moment here: No actually, not Dean Dodrill. He did the excellent opening animation on Jazz 2, which still gives me chills to this day, but like the music (where the new tracks on 2 were done by the amazing Alexander Brandon, later to be of Unreal and Deus Ex tracker fame, but the first game's score was by Robert A. Allen), animation and styling for the characters in general was done by Nick Stadler on Jazz 1. Kind of a sad story: he went to school for animation, hoping to work on big movies and shows, and took the gig with Epic as a stepping stone, a quick stop to gain experience on his resume. Finished up, they offered to let keep him on, but he was set on going on to "real" work in entertainment. Aaaand then Toy Story happened, and suddenly no one would hire new animators if they couldn't do this new 3d thing. As a side bar, that MIGHT also be why so many games, especially edutainment titles in the late 90s had such lush 2d animation: There was a whole crop of traditionally trained animators that couldn't get jobs in the industry anymore, but the gaming world was thrilled to have them, as multimedia and CD ROM was just becoming a thing, and it would be eons before PCs could do decent real-time 3d.
He ended up doing illustration work for an LGBT magazine for a while (I believe he was gay himself) and then just kinda faded from public view. In hindsight, ouch, should have stuck with Epic, though I'm sure that would have had its own issues.
Heh, but yeah, lot of fun stuff in that game. Very jank in places, but beautiful art and music.
Ah, that's a good question, pondering the actual character. There's three layers: 1. How he sees himself. 2. What he actually is. 3. What the hypnosis makes him. He sees himself as 90% top, way too cool to bottom unless he was doing someone a favor. In reality, he's probably closer to 70 sub, 30 dom (That smugness isn't ALL self-delusion). But the hypnosis switches off that 30 (and massively amplifies the 70), making him 100% long-eared sex toy.
had an absent thought, what would the remaining flavors of mind control even be? just asking because theres really not many er existant flavors so to speak... and for some reason i cant really see mez being a hypnotized dom top or a stepford so i thought i would ask incase theres a dev roadmap someplace.
No, for a variety of reasons I kind of have to do it myself. Cost was one early on, though that becomes less of an issue as the game picks up. There's still the issue of trustworthiness and branding though. For a game like this, the art IS the game to a large extent. Unfortunately, artists have a tendency to be...flighty, and that's dangerous in a situation like this. What happens when I hire someone to do art for a game, and they bail for whatever reason before it's finished? What happens if they finish one, but then can't stick around for the next? What happens when they realize "Wait, art is the hard part, why am I working for someone else? I could just make my OWN game and keep 100% of the profits!" And I mean good for them, but that doesn't do me any favors. I also need someone who's not just ok with, but enthusiastic about the kinks being explored. When that's one person, that's pretty easy. When two have to agree, much harder. So I'd need someone who was:
-Willing to work for...something, but not a lot
-Insanely, unreasonably devoted to the project
-Perfect mind-meld with me on kink
-Had a style that matched what I was looking for
-Was very hard-working and reliable
Kind of a hard list to hit. These worries aren't theoretical either: I've seen MANY projects stutter and die because of struggles in this area. Until you become a big company that can ensure reliability through substantial pay, the only really safe bet is to do it yourself.
And even all that aside, I enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of working on it myself. Even if the skill level is modest, it is improving, and is already far more than I thought I'd get to (though still far less than I want).
There's not alot I can prove to you that I can do all that but I am willing accept every terms you stated, basically you don't have to pay me anything at all. If you still remember the mail at the furaffinity a while ago, my offer is still up. This would be an honor if I can help whatever I can.
edit:grammar
I'm glad, cause MAN did it take some time trawling through a bunch of sites to find what I was looking for. But you gotta have that personality, you know? Especially because in a game like this, you spend a LOT of time listening to some of the tracks. Me even more so when bug testing. So they have to earn their keep, or they get tossed out quick.
But yeah, Khazeem's is definitely a good one. I was really pleased with myself finding the title theme too, took a while but it fit perfect.
I was going to say right-click, but shockingly it seems like this functionality is completely absent from RPGMaker by default. I've found a plugin that does it just fine, but it also seems to slowdown the skip speed you get by holding down enter by a bit, so eh. Will test and possibly include with the next bugfix release.
Just the convention from a lot of Japanese games I was emulating that I carried through. If I had to guess, it might have something to do with them reading right to left instead of left to right, but that's just a guess. For what it's worth, these kind of games also require a really large and detailed player character sprite, and I think it feels more "balanced" to have that on the right than on the left for some reason.
Hey there, loved the game and have been watching your work from when you first launched Cruel Serenade! Just a few questions if you don’t mind.
— The scene where Mezz inspects a certain vent (being vague to avoid spoilers) and you play as a different person for a little while has got me wondering. Do you plan on future scenes in other games where you’re not actually playing as Mezz or is that a one time type of deal?
— With Scratch being an actual ally to Mezz and Mahir being… nicer towards Mezz, do you plan on adding more characters in the future that are named friendly NPCs or will we see something more similar to the first game where it was Mezz solo the whole way through.
— Lastly, will there ever be other weapons Mezz uses or will it be the same staff for each game? Just curious since we learn more moves but never any different beating sticks. And will moves such as the Dodge from the first game and the Dazzle Blast attack carry over or is each move in it’s own game and that’s it?
Sorry if these are dumb questions, and thanks for working so hard on bringing something this cool to itch!
No, always glad when people have questions like this. It means they're actually getting into the game and story, which is great!
I can't say one way or the other whether I'll have more non-Mezz gameplay, It kind of comes down to what presents itself story-wise. I will say I probably won't have FULL gameplay, fighting and all that, because lord would that be a lot of new art assets. But I have full walking sprites sitting around for most of the characters, so if it's something like that, it's always possible. Just depends on how things go.
Scratch will definitely be sticking around, and have some extra stuff as time goes on. I probably won't be introducing any other allies/rivals that kind of thing, but there will obviously be new named characters with each chapter.
Almost certainly just the staff. It's an art asset's thing: I'd have to redraw something like eight battle sprites for each new weapon (and the nude versions, and on and on). Plus the staff is just kind of his thing, it's part of his design and all. The plan with the special moves are that there's a new one for each chapter to keep things interesting, but none of them carry over. Balance would quickly become a nightmare if I had to account for all of them.
Thanks for the questions, and for playing the games!
Nope, just flavor. I guess I had it in my mind that I wanted him to have an excuse to be bringing the clients over there, even though they...just use the alley anyway. So it could have just been bare, but I think in my mind the implication was "hey big guy, let's go to the shady BAR and fuck, and then they never quite get there. Game dev is not always a straight line.
Oh this is INTERESTING. I've thought a few times it would be neat to actually see someone stream the game, but resigned myself to that never happening because Twitch and Youtube are very against hard-core bunny fucking action. I had no idea one could even stream on Fansly (though it makes sense), let alone that there were people doing game streams. But wait, is this an announcement of a stream today, or have you already done it? Either way, will definitely take a look, certainly can't pass up the opportunity to finally live my lifelong dream of being Devin Chat.
Also, took me a moment, but my, that's a very familiar outfit you're wearing there :D.
Im playing the 2nd half today! we just got to the dlc last weekend and got to our first breeding pole scene before ending we'll be continuing the rest of the game today. around 7:00cst
And yes I loved the outfit so much on Mezz i Had to draw my self in it. I can't wait to see the rest of the dlc and the ending of the game i think my community is gonna love it.
Nice! Well I'm in, will take a look at the VOD and drop in for the second half (hopefully, my browsers don't seem to play well with Fansly.) Also, if you aren't already, remember you can check OpenFireplace's handy reference chart to make sure you've seen everything, since I haven't got a gallery in yet (soon!).
Also holy shit, sorry I never responded to your question on the first game! I check notifications pretty regularly here, but sometimes Itch just...breaks and I don't see a comment. Or maybe by the time I saw that one you had already figured it out? Glad you got it in the end though.
The startersave is for people who have already played most of the game so they can get to the most recent content pack quickly. The DataCrystal transfers some extra information from the original game. At this time, it only unlocks one additional scene, but other information is carried over as well, and it will be used more in future chapters.
The scene in GT that the DataCrystal file unlocks is unlocked based on number of defeats in the first game. Low defeats mean no scene, mid means a scene, but you can fight to avoid it, high mean the scene is forced. Any ending in the first game where Mezz leaves the island will write the file with the relevant information. The other information in the file is not currently used, but will be later.
Not sure if this has been discussed before, if so I apologize, I am still fairly new to the series, it's been 2 and a half months I think. However, in terms of content of the series that I'd like to see/be willing to pay for beyond what's already available (unless I missed it somewhere), I'd be interested in a Mezz (or CS/GT themed, potentially options for other characters as well) Poster. Option for SFW/NSFW. I know you are focusing on the game itself, and I don't know if it's appropriate of me to ask you to take your character to that kind of medium, however I thought I'd throw this out there and see if maybe I'm not the only one interested in something like that, and if it could be a possibility in the future.
Oh no worries, I'm always glad to hear ideas, though obviously I have to turn down most of them. This is actually an interesting idea, and one I hadn't considered. I tend to take a chuckling, self-effacing view to the idea of merch for the games for the most part: a. Are people really THAT enthusiastic and b. Do they really want to advertise in public that they're jerkin' it to a cartoon bunny? But a poster would be...somewhat private? And fairly cheap and easy to contract production for, shipping etc, with some decent room for profit margin (sounds mercenary, but you have to understand this stuff takes time, and I'm running a business, so it has to generate at least SOME income to justify itself.)
So yeah, I actually really like that idea. That said: Time. I am currently working on the third Content Pack, and getting some IRL stuff sorted. After that I have to immediately dive into Chapter 3, giving it 150% of my time and energy because 1 was important, 2 was important, but 3 is also very important to get just right for a variety of reasons. Without even researching it I'm guessing it'll take me two to three weeks to whip up the art, and probably at least another month to get all the logistics of printing and ordering worked out. So it's probably not happening until after the initial release of 3 is out. That said, if you or others have suggestions for services to work with on this, I'll definitely archive them for reference later. Those kind of groups have a history of being unreliable, disrespectful of IP, and cutting pretty aggressively into profit, but it definitely won't hurt to get a jump on researching the options.
Never would I have expected to be using the personality of "Broken" Mezz for inspiration for a Dungeons and Dragons character but lo and behold, I just had to roleplay out an insane mind broken of my kobold character. So uhhh thank you for that I suppose?? Lol. In other news I've absolutely loved both chapters and can't wait to see where the next chapters go.
Ha, always glad to inspire further filth! This sounds like quite the campaign, let me know how it goes. Over the years I've gradually realized I enjoy re-tellings of tabletop games more than actually playing them. But glad you're enjoying them so far!
Oh for sure. The campaign itself has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride, and I found myself so caught off guard when I realized where the campaign was going that the party would be running into a version of my character who's just flat out insane. (Basically, the party had been on a mission to save him from hell but due to this campaign being a large scale campaign with two groups in the same world, the second group made a drastic decision which lead to both groups jumping to the past when we all first met therefore abandoning my character in hell and our last session ended with one of the party getting a vision of my character basically being out of hope, giggling like a maniac, and yea! Terrified myself and the DM. Excited to see where that goes and also mortified to see "Broken" Mezz come out of me. Definitely will update you on what comes next.
Saw a Humble Bundle on my feed for royalty free music and sound effects and figured I'd let you know. Not sure if it's anything you could use but if you do it's less time scouring the internet for bgm
https://www.humblebundle.com/software/audio-arcade-definitive-collection-music-a...
Oh I have it planned out, but I'll share more once I start gearing up for the production process on the third game. Got a ways to go yet: bugtesting on this pack, releasing this pack on Itch, getting a gallery set up on the first game, working with a very hard-working Japanese fan to get the translation up and working, etc. If all goes well, I'll hopefully be doing my presentation of "here's the plan for 3" in a month or so.
Just so you all know ill be playing the 3rd part of the game on my fansly Stream at https://fansly.com/JohnnyJellyJaw/posts at 8:00pm CST tonight for those of you who wanna toon in and watch a horny slime watch this horny bunny slut get railed.
No one with that email has purchased GT recently according to my records. Please share the email associated with the itch account you used to buy the game. I would also highly recommend against sharing email addresses here, as they will be harvested by spammers and scammers. Please contact me via note on FA (bitshift), or if you have to post an address here, at least add additional clear nonsense characters (legitmailSPACE@SPACEgmail.com).
I got question dont know whether this will count as spoiler or not. Will there be a route or bad end that involve mezz and scratch being fucked together within one cg. it might be a long shot but i really like the slut khazeem fight bad end and how i wish we get the cg describing their fate in the Gutter
Hi, been following your journey for a while and i can't wait to play your game!
But to buy the game on itch i'd need to provide my precise location in accordance with 2015 Vat Moss regulation, and im not really comfortable with that.
I know that you have a subscribestar and i think they only ask your country which im fine with. Can i buy one month of your 10€ subscription and still be able to get the game(and future bug fixes updates)? Sorry for the bother , big fan!
They were originally going to be another kind of "enemy" in the proto-version of the center path, but with different "fighting" rules based entirely around sex. That ended up being scrapped both because I decided to do something less top-heavy and tedious for the center path, and because they didn't work well as direct antagonists due to how non-emotive they are.
So to clarify, we're talking the center path? If you get caught by the hyenas, you get a scene with them, but then can continue trying to lure in dobermans. You won't be able to get ones you've already pulled, and it's randomized: it activates...3 or four, can't remember, at random to be available, and if you go through all 4, it activates a new random set of 4. Once you've used an alley, you can't immediately use it again, you have to take them to another one, but there should always be A doberman to find and A alley to take him to. Finding both and threading that needle without getting caught is the challenge.
Again, make sure you're reading the guide carefully. The file just transfers over details of how you played the first game (it's written every time you finish that game). You can also "cheat" and just edit the numbers yourself, it's just plain text. The numbers have to match certain values for the scene to trigger. In addition, it doesn't trigger the FIRST time you enter Haven and walk past the alley, but the SECOND, after you've talked to Scratch and done a bunch of things.
Yes, assuming you have the right switches set in the DataCrystal file, you have to go on the first "mission", and then the alley scene triggers once you walk past it. Keep in mind, we also have a text walkthrough/guide stickied here, so feel free to check that. Even I do sometimes when I'm going back to test something.
Probably not. While Steam has massively reduced what they censor (or increased what they allow, depending on how you want to look at it), my understanding is that a lot of the "adult" games you see on there use the dodge of selling a "clean" version and then making the explicit stuff available as an "add-on pack", as this bypasses the payment processor's forced censorship guidelines ("We didn't sell smut Mr Mastercard, we sold a perfectly clean game! If the users want to mod it after the fact, that has nothing to do with the transaction you were handling!"). This is goofy, and there's not really a way I could make such a version of the CS games even if I wanted to, because the sexual aspect is so inter-woven with everything.
There's also a question of audience: While I certainly want to draw in a crowd, there's such a thing as too large a crowd. One of the many things that makes social media terrible is that it shoved everyone into one big tent instead of letting them hang out in their own communities, which leads to chaos and misery. I'd rather stay in the niche I belong in.
I played the game entirely on a pure playthrough. Then I started a new save and agreed to work for Mahir. Problem is, when the Strip Club shift is over, I'm stuck in the restrooms. For the love of God, what do I need to do to leave?
Nvm, figured it out. Regardless of the fact that I clicked the door and beyond and even walked up against the wall a million times, I couldn't leave until the last try.
thank you, but it was only the first shift. I was so sure it was the door too bc nothing else made sense. Only took a few tries (this part's for anyone else who might have the same issue: don't try to walk out of the door, click the bricks against it with your mouse, that's the only way that got me out). Otherwise, yeah, I didn't have many problems. Gotta say the combat is the best part, and I had a lot more fun on the pure playthrough. Not something I expected from a porn game.
Hello, I loved chapter 2! (loved the glory hole minigame) I had an idea. maybe you could include an extras folder with chapter three showing behind the scenes dev stuff like some other games do? it's really cool and fun to see a developers thought process. (example: concept art, rough sketches, scrapped ideas)
Potentially. There isn't a ton of that to go through though, and I tend to keep it fairly close to the chest just because there's always the chance old stuff gets repurposed down the line (has already happened in a few cases). Also I tend to talk about a lot of that here and there in devlogs before and after. But certainly worth considering.
'The Boar's Newest Plaything' by PupNeedsToBeBrainDrained - Gay Spiral Stories
A little story for all of you to enjoy and possibly add your own stories to.
A good opportunity to point out people can certainly link their stories like this as well, doesn't have to be visual art. Also, good to see but not a fan of that site. Any reason you didn't go with AO3? Or sofurry? Or hell, even rentry.org if you just need a place to dump formatted text and don't care about the community element?