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Hard to Get

A NSFW Cartoon Dating Simulator/Visual Novel · By HardtoGet

Feedback

A topic by HardtoGet created Aug 30, 2024 Views: 286 Replies: 35
Viewing posts 1 to 5
Developer (1 edit) (+2)

Feedback! If you have any feedback, just let me know. I haven't had anyone to playtest this thing, so sorry if it's a bit rough. Let me know anything positive or negative, any bugs, playability issues, or suggestions. I hope you enjoy the game, but I know there will be issues.

There is a Manual on the Patreon, but I will get a written PDF manual made so it's easier to understand the base game.

Known Issues:

- I think Aiko's Eyes might randomly appear after completing the Episode 1 Standard ending. This glitch should be permanently fixed going forward.

- There are a few playability issues I know of, like I don't think its obvious enough on how to use some of the mechanics, like items and such. I'm trying to think of ways to make this more obvious, so players don't have to figure out how to do it.

- Female style tracker is a little broken. Stuff is boosted way too much, and other style stats get deleted completely for no reason. I believe this is caused by some checks for nudity, which is more complicated than the male option, and hopefully this will be fixed soon.

- Some characters look pretty messed up, and will be updated as the game is updated. Sarah, specifically, looks pretty bad. Beyond that, Annette's expressions don't look perfect, and could use some work.

- Just realized I think I forgot to specifically state the expenses and income mechanic, OOPS! That's kinda important. If you aren't looking out for it, it's kind of a big cash hit, like -$600.

Let me know anything else you might find!

(+1)

Hey! I absolutely adore this game. Admittedly I came here to get my rocks off, only to stumble upon a really fun dating sim. I actually find your art style really charming in its simplicity, it brings me back to playing old-school dating sims on Newgrounds from my tween/teen years.

I was a little disappointed to only see one episode available, and I was kinda hoping for some sort of mechanic where you could get phone numbers and send them a message at home or something. The clothing also seemed a bit unclear, I didn't realize replacing Slot 1 meant my old clothes would disappear. And tbf, even though I read the guide, I have no idea what the items do. Are they to aid in conversations? And I'm guessing clothes up your stats in other ways besides style? I noticed my character's confidence went from one bar to two. Not really sure how that happened.

Another feature I'd love to see is since some of the girls are close friends, maybe dialogue options can be unlocked from talking to other girls. Like, maybe you want to get to know Kat better but she's closed off, but if you get to know Naomi better she'll help you get Kat talking more (telling you what gets her going or what to bring up). I don't know if this is more complicated than you're imagining, but I think it'd really make their friendships feel more whole.

Regardless, I had a great time playing and I'm a little obsessed with the game now. Even though I see a huge library of girls I hope you'll take the time to go into depth with them and explore their personalities and quirks deeper. It felt like I was getting introduced to a real friend group. Felt super cool.

Developer(+2)

This is perfect, thank you so much for the feedback! I was waiting for this haha

Next episode is coming along well, the 1st draft dialogue is finished (1066 unique lines) and I just implemented the first and most difficult activity, which is a board game. It still needs the rest of the dialogue programmed, some backgrounds made, and one new character added. I actually do have a mechanic in the works for a phone number system, it's an app called EmojiBlast. I'm not great at programming, so I figured this would work by sending an emoji to them and they reply depending on their mood, friendship, and relationship status. First test of this is pretty fun, but needs a bit of tweaking. Images can also be sent in this app, but it will depend on the character how racy they are. I originally planned to have your character ask for their number, but that was a while ago and now all the characters have usernames, so I could use those instead. *SUPER early, I wasn't gonna show it in this state, but here's a concept of EmojiBlast-

Some of those are a little... much haha

Sorry about the clothing thing! I will definitely write a note to make that more clear. I have trouble sometimes knowing what is clear and what isn't since I've played this damn thing so much haha I'll definitely try to see what I can do with that, especially as I introduce more rare clothing, I don't want anyone accidently overwriting stuff. The guide is kind of a nightmare, and I'm hoping to make it more clear. The items are a little weird right now, still deciding exactly how I want them to work. Right now, they add minor boosters that will increase things like mood, stats, style, stuff like that. I might make these more visual when you open the "M" menu so you can see what is actually applied, but it's pretty early right now. Will definitely make a note to implement that too! I kinda just pushed this thing out D: I think beer does increase confidence, but I can't remember xD I'm sorry haha

Early on, I had an idea to make an on the fly guide where a little Tyler icon would appear when you press "M" or something. Then, when you left clicked on anything, she would explain what it did and how to use it. I'm working with a few ideas right now for playability, and now that I understand optimization more, I think I could make this work-

I love that idea about the dialogue feature! I originally had a plan to do something like that, but I think I forgot to add it haha I bet I could add something back in, I'll try and come up with some ideas. I love the idea. Originally, each character had three secrets that you could learn through dialogue with other characters, and then you could discuss these secrets with the characters during their "Personal" conversations. However, each "Secret" had five possible lines of dialogue, and I felt like sometimes I didn't have the best idea for these and they were lame as hell. To add onto that, some of the secrets felt like you were cornering the character, which wasn't really the vibe I was going for, so I decided to change it to more of an open topic conversation. I'll brainstorm this though, I bet I could throw something in!

I really appreciate the feedback, and I'm glad you enjoy the game! I apologize for the lack of content, I got a bit in over my head. My hope is that content will start coming more quickly now that I've built the infrastructure, but it's tough because I won't have as much time to dedicate to this thing soon. I have massive bios written for each character with information that probably won't even be released to help me write them all more authentically, and some of my favorite characters haven't even been shown yet, except for in the picture with all them in it. Again, thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it! If you think of anything else, just let me know.

(1 edit) (+1)

Actually, I just realized, it'd be super helpful to get an alert if a dialogue option or action made a character's friendship level or romance level with you go up. And maybe "favorite food revealed" for the other stats as well. Obv you can view them after the episode but I think having alerts that something changed would help guide the player.

Developer(+1)

Hmmmmm I can brainstorm something I bet, I can mess around with some options! Probably just a little quick indicator beside the character or something. Thanks for the feedback! I'll put it in my notes-

(+1)

Haha awesome. I just finished playing a second time around and finally got my stats up to the S Rank! It's amazing how much more you have packed in here. It was cool finally getting to hear all their stories. Took a lot of playthroughs of chapter 1 but it felt very earned to make that progress!! This game turned out to be such a hidden gem, even with only one chapter out. Had a hell of a time.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it, I think the game would really shine with a few episodes, as then you won't have to farm stats on just one level. But, damn, I did pack in a bit too much I think haha about halfway through episode 2 and it's coming along well, Hoping for a, like, September 15th-20th release. Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

(+1)

Haha sweet. I won't hold you to it though, don't want to rush you if it's not ready. But I'll def jump at the chance to play the next update!!

(+1)

Ok so this is very rare, but I did just come across a duplicate of the movie options in Filmstream. Might want that to be patched!


Developer(+1)

I bet that will be an easy fix, thank you for letting me know!

(1 edit) (+1)

Just finished my first playthrough of 1.1! Here's some initial feedback.

- Encountered highlight dots on Roadtrip USA when hovering mouse over areas

- If no card or gas, feel like getting a low roll like a "1 or 2" should generate a disappointed or "meh" response, maybe different dialogue for 1st and last place as well

- Colors on roadtrip USA should be easier to distinguish, maybe an indicator or a square/circle background behind the faces

- Commentary from other girls on players' rolls would be a nice addition like "Nice job" or "Too bad"

- (Game breaking bug) After rejecting Grace's offer to dance with her and Emmy at the nightclub, dialogue options stayed on the screen. This progressively got worse throughout the rest of the episode. I couldn't see dialogue options so I just clicked randomly to end the episode. Will attach screenshots. In addition, when dealing with the unwanted guy, Pat said both dialogue options for the guy and girl player character. (Oh it's my boyfriend, then oh it's my girlfriend.)


(1 edit) (+1)

oh, also I think Mindi's dot doesn't go over her head, it's like off to the side below her

Developer

I totally forgot to test that, I don't have it turned on in my game, I should just do that haha I threw her in so quick I didn't do a mega thorough bug test D:

Thank you for the feedback! Sorry it was a little busted-

Developer

Alright, V1.1 is now updated to V1.11 and I believe this fatal error has been corrected! As well as a few other quality of life things, and a few errors as I was going through. Let me know if you find anything else, and if Roadtrip USA still is visually nasty, lemme know! The fix was a little quick.

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! That sucks about the gamebreaking bug D: I'll get that fixed today and a hotfix out, as well as a few quality of life stuff recommended. I'll have to think about adding some dialogue options for RTUSA, but I'll deal with the more pressing stuff right away!

(1 edit) (+1)

After a full day I had a chance to play some more! So Feedback for the 1.11 version!!

- Roadtrip USA really needs to go by faster. It's fun the first time around but when wanting to explore the club it's the only option, and it takes like 10 minutes to get through. I'd recommend a skip option and randomly selecting a winner after the first time playing, but if you don't want that I'd *at least* recommend making the game use two dice instead of a single die.

- Never have I ever Wonder World? (I assume you meant "been to Wonder World")

- Pat's eyes are cute af. Love them in the pics!

- I'd recommend a warning before a player starts an episode that they're naked. And maybe a reminder that they can change in their room or on the phone app in an episode. I might even suggest having the game stop you from going to the club unless you're clothed.

- The "Do nothing card" in Roadtrip USA is hilarious btw.

- Thought it was funny, Georgia took part of Florida's land loool


- Male character doesn't want pants and underwear to be selected. Pants only available if you go commando. If you select undies, the pants get unselected. Turns out I've been rocking it in boxers this whole time. xD



- (Game breaking bug) In "How Old Was I" if you get Allie's question wrong, the "next" button will be unselectable and you'll have to close out of the game.



- Speaking of, there should probably be a way to quit out of the episode early and go back to the main menu.

- At one point Emmy's line at the door repeated in the beginning after finishing the first time. Only happened once. Can't seem to re-create it. Might've been the pace I clicked it or something.

Developer (1 edit)

Damn it! Alright I'll check all these out tomorrow morning and get them fixed up. 

-I agree on Roadtrip USA taking too long, I'll figure something out for it. Double dice might be the way to go, or at least doubling each roll. There's 83 spots so max 6 a roll is brutal haha

-Hahaha I'll take a look at the pants thing, I gotta give the male character a little more attention and get all that working correctly. I'm assuming its a leftover effect from a mechanic that makes it so you can't wear certain clothing items with other clothing items, but I'll have to do some tests.

-Funny enough there's a warning if you are only wearing underwear before starting an episode, I could definitely do one if you don't have clothes on. 

-A better heads up before the club should be easy, I might just modify Graces dialogue options to be more straight forward. I'll see what I can do! 

-Originally I was going to put a quit out button, decided not to because it could be used to farm stats, but now realize it doesn't matter and if people exploit stuff, who cares haha that will be super easy to put in. This will also make the fatal errors less devastating. I'm doing some touchups on the M menu, and might add it in there. Additionally, I could make "esc" do the same function, since "M" can't be used during dialogue. 

-What exactly happened with Emmy's line, and which line was it? I can take a look at it all tomorrow.

Thank you for reporting the errors! I gotta start doing open bug tests. The next episode will be much shorter and hopefully easier to test. This game is too damn big for my brain sometimes. A post on Patreon will be put up in the next few days on what to expect for the next update!

(1 edit) (+1)

For Emmy's line, it was the whole introductory section before you can click on a girl, Grace's lines included. This section repeating a second time was weird, as it was a one-time error. I really have no idea how it happened lol. It was some bizarre accident.

If you don't want people to farm stats, maybe a quit out warning where progress will not be saved? Not sure how difficult that would be.

Don't be too harsh on yourself! You did a lot of great work. Making games is hard! I've wanted to make one for ages but lack the skills necessary. I know some devs make beta/alpha testing as a patreon reward, you could always use that as an incentive. If you do an open release, I recommend having multiple versions of the download available (Such as if 1.2 comes out, make it like 1.2 alpha/beta along with a 1.12 version which was already tested). There's all sorts of options!!

(1 edit) (+1)

Also, if you want more updates and still large episodes, you could release certain paths at a time. Like hypothetically a club path, how old was I path, alt Roadtrip USA path, etc. Just more options to consider!

And honestly, I kinda love being your unofficial game tester haha. Feels like I'm a part of the team. :)

Developer (1 edit)

I'll take a look and see if anything looks funny, just got the fatal error from HOWI fixed. Honestly at this point I don't really care if people farm stats, if people wanna play the game that way then they can haha 

My plan going forward is with any new episodes, they will release as a smaller version, but then have the possibility in the future to be updated. But, I feel these smaller episodes will allow for better bug testing, quicker release, and less work load. If my workload remains the same with the same engagement, it will be difficult to continue D: I opened up the two smaller Patreon tiers that actually do have early testing, but even if you stay in the loiter tier I can send you early versions haha

And thank you! You've been invaluable to this project so far! I appreciate it greatly, new update coming in an hour and a half!

(+1)

I managed to repeat the beginning section with Emmy again! I did a few clicks relatively quickly, like I was just skimming through the next button to continue, and it repeated once again. It wasn't *super* fast but a steady quick pace. Hard to explain the timing without recording audio and saying it out loud. xD

(2 edits) (+1)

In addition!! It looks like on the second round of the sped-up strip Roadtrip USA, my car won't advance past the start position. Like, it will once, but not after. I did manage to lose all my clothes though, so I think my car's position kept advancing but the token on the map stayed in the same spot.

Developer

Dang it! Haha alright I'll take a look at that, I threw that all together pretty quick D: I'll take a look at the intro dialogue, and 100% will check out the round 2, that's so weird. I started implementing the new early quit system, but realized the method I was using might be too dangerous with the way Episode 1 is designed. I did one quick playthrough to make sure it's ended. This episode is kickin my ass! haha

Look on the bright side, at least we didn't discover any more game-breaking bugs! They're all tolerable atm.

Developer

That's absolutely a bright side haha Next one is getting bug tested properly xD

Developer

Alright, 1.13 is out and should be stable! (Fingers crossed). A few insights into issues! 

-I haven't researched the intro error yet, but I'm hoping that should be easy. The new episode end function may be a little buggy, but it should -function regardless. I gotta bug test that more haha 

-I think I might have figured out the issue you were having with wearing pants! I haven't looked at the code yet, but I realized that some of the "underwear" options are actually swim shorts haha So, when shorts are equipped, you can't put on pants. It would probably make a lot more sense to just put them in the pants category, since they kinda count as shorts, but my brain thought it made sense because it was the same way the female swimwear works. So possible good news, you may have been wearing pants this whole time. Bad news, I gotta figure out how to make that more visually obvious hahaha I'll add it to the little bug fix! It would make sense to add them to pants and add more options for underwear I think, since Male is lacking in clothing options anyway.

-RTUSA Strip error should be fixed! The way the game is programmed only supported the previous non x2 dice method for going around the board, so that was a super easy fix.

Thank you again for all your help!

(1 edit)

Yeah... that would be pretty confusing to have swimming clothes and dry clothes under the same category. I had on the long green swim shorts then? I thought they were just boxers and the shorter ones were like, boxer-briefs haha. Maybe redesign them a bit and add string? That's the only visual indicator other than text I can see working to separate them, unless they have text or are in their own category.

Alright! So I played a bit of 1.13 (though just one session, since I've been catching up on chores and errands the past two days.) And I think the beach needs a good amount of TLC. There's some dialogue with Grace but it really feels like everything ends abruptly. This may be a consequence of being too ambitious for Grace Episode 2. It's really the only location/activity that hardly has anything going on. You do get the secrets option, but it really doesn't feel worthwhile without there being any event taking place. (And so much can happen! Would love to see this expanded on a tad in a future update. You can try and help Hope spot fish, watch the ocean and chat, go seashell hunting, maybe someone gets stung by a jellyfish and you have to act, or someone decides to go skinny dipping!)

Obviously Episode 2 has a TON to tackle, and now I'm really seeing the benefit of having a more condensed episode style. Because areas of the game are unbalanced in terms of what's available to do. In particular I love the club and strip roadtrip USA as well, but even the fast food trip felt worthwhile because we got some good story elements and were introduced to a new character. So the fast food trip really shows it doesn't need to have a lot to be worthwhile, it just needs something meaningful to the player.

I'll try and play more, but I'll likely spend most time grinding stats to try and get Mindi up. She's a bit of a perplexing one, but I think I figured out how to get her friendship level consistently higher. In fact, I think I'll sneak in one more playthrough before bed. >:)

(+1)

Can I just say I adore the artwork on the installer?? I think sharing your art on Twitter (and maybe other sites) would be a great way to draw attention to your game!

(+1)

Real.
Developer

Thank you! I have some stuff in the works to try and get twitter eyeballs. Hopefully once I have a solid stable version of 1.1, I'll post on reddit too haha