Update on the Status of Blossoming Journey!
Hello everyone,
I want to start this update by being honest with you all—it’s been a tough couple of weeks. Version 0.5 of Blossoming Journey was leaked early, and while it was my biggest and most exciting update so far, the reception hit me hard. There was strong criticism about the game's linearity, which has been a recurring point of feedback. After dedicating myself to near-monthly updates, writing 280,000 words in just five months, I found myself burned out.
The leak and criticism made me question everything. I had been stressed with problems in my daily life already so these setbacks effected me more than normal. I even considered removing this page and shelving Blossoming Journey entirely, as has unfortunately happened with so many other projects in the genre.
But after taking some time to reflect and recharge over the past two weeks, I’ve decided not to give up. Blossoming Journey means a lot to me, and I’m committed to making it the best it can be. However, there will be some significant changes moving forward.
A New Focus: Less Linearity and More Choice
One of the biggest takeaways from your feedback is the need to make the game less linear. To address this, I’ve started reworking the existing content to include more choices, more variations, and new stats for the MC. This will add depth and I think it will make the game feel more dynamic and personal for each player.
So far, I’ve revised about 34 days of content, adding over 24,000 words to enrich the existing story. I’ll continue revising the rest of the current content in the coming weeks. After that, I plan to rework the morning class scenes, which I know many of you have found to be the dullest part of the game. Your Monday mornings will include meeting Jia before the class from now on. The other three mornings will introduce three brand-new characters, each with potential as future romantic partners.
In addition to these changes, I aim to include one full week of brand-new content in 0.6, alongside the revised storylines.
Why These Changes Matter
I understand that some of you might not love these updates or might even choose to unsubscribe, but I truly believe these changes will make Blossoming Journey stronger in the long run. A more engaging, less linear experience will help the game grow, attract new players, and make it more sustainable for me as a creator.
After writing a 60-day plot that I’m proud of, I feel much more confident about adding meaningful choices and branching paths. As the story progresses, the plot will naturally open up to even more branches, allowing players to experience different paths and outcomes based on their choices.
Before reaching that point, though, I believe it’s essential to lay a solid foundation by reworking the existing content. Adding choices and variations now not only enriches the early game experience but also gives me valuable experience in crafting these elements, ensuring the later branching storylines feel seamless and impactful.
-Atta
Comments (17)
I love the game can't wait for the next update to be posted
I love the way the photos and gifs actually match the story line, it really helps with immersion. Looking forward to your next update. Dosent matter if its linear, you are telling a story so it dosent need to have branches.
I know some people criticize it for being linear, but I see it more as a novel where you are telling a story and I find it very good. My fear if you give too many options is you could take the story too far from where you intended. Remember for each branch you either have to eventually bring it back to the story or have a different story line.
I Hope that you found and managed to 'Plug your leak'...
Wanted to say that I just came here after discovering the game 2 days ago and catching up and, while I do agree that the game is noticeably very very linear, I don't think that is neccessary a bad thing I think that a lot of games like this are in danger of ending up with content bloat, if the story branches out too much with every decision and I personally felt that the story you wrote so far worked very well as a sort of visual novel. Either way, I'm looking forward to see how you continue this. I just wanted so say that I don't think the games linearity is an issue.
As others said, we'll support you no matter what, Atta! Keep working on what you consider best, but try to follow your enthusiasm and personality over anything else. All your supporters (paid or not) recognize your talent and style. I LOVE your game, my dear friend!
Don't care what others think. Do your best.
Hello, I loved the game, one of the best of this style this year. Story 10/10, character development 10/10, the images you use are very well chosen. For my part, I would not stray so far from the linear story, you have great writing power, it is very engaging and incredible. Much encouragement, very happy new year and continue with this great juice, the direction it takes will surely be good. Greetings
I have been following TFG/f95zone games for several years at this point. I have really enjoyed this game, and I will give similar advice that I often do when a dev starts getting hit with this criticism. I would recommend for you to be careful. Adding too many branches can make it impossible to finish your game in a meaningful way.
Just wanted to say F95 is inherently critical to most games, especially HTML games that don’t let them choose the most complex of elements within the story/character. Don’t take to heart every criticism, as while a story with a lot of choices can be good, a story with a linear branch in mind tends to have better development and writing overall as it’s much more focused. This is especially true for sissification styled games who tend to have great starts but then devolve into just having updates with whatever sex position the author hasn’t wrote in yet, because they have no idea how to wrap up the story or come to a satisfying conclusion after the main character accepts themselves as a sissy/slut/etc. If you feel a change in direction of the game is best, ofc do it. It’s your game and YOU are the one who needs to feel satisfied with how it turns out. Just know I personally have appreciated the game having a more focused and clear path in mind, and don’t feel it needs many choices to be great, but ofc I’m not opposed to more content/choices overall. Best of luck, look forward to seeing how it turns out, regardless of what you choose to change/include in the story/writing. You’ve made a great game so far, I’m sure whatever you choose to do will be great as well.
I agree with what Eric said. You do you. But I will offer a little advice. I've spent my life writing music and other various creative things. While Blossoming Journey may seem linear now, you have to remember that you are still creating your masterpiece. And one of the important parts of that, just like say...building a skyscraper (yes, strange analogy, but go with me), you need the core before you can embellish. Like a building, you need to build the core and example, the elevator shaft, connecting floor 1 to the last floor...you need to create your story line to get from the beginning, to the end. And then you can create side quests, side stories, turn it from a Visual Novel to an open world sandbox game. But you still need a start and an end, and they need to connect. That is what you're doing now. Sure, a lot of people are impatient, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither can Blossoming Journey. YOU need to take your time, and do it the way you want. And then you can cater to everyone. Your patrons, donors and helpers are here to watch you create something spectacular. So if they bail because they don't like one minor thing, or something stupid like it being "too linear" when you're only on version 0.5 - 0.6...then they aren't "supporting" for the right reasons.
Love this game - its one of the most engaging stories I've played too in this genre. The pics, gifs, and videos you find also compliment the scenes - very rare to see. Your hard work shows. Ignore the noise and just focus on your characters, they'll let you know where to go next organically. If your short on ideas with fixing or changing past events... I wouldn't touch it, just add to it if you want to. I remember one game had the MC go through a phase of turning his back on his transformation process and purging his clothes only to eventually be seduced down the rabbit hole to a further degree... Maybe you could do something similar w/ the MC and Alex. It's your baby, you do what you want to do... Majority of us on board for it!
Love the update and how u doing the game. Don’t listen to the haters.
Whatever you choose to do i am 100% behind it. You know from the start that I will support this project. Like I said on lobsermans site. Yours is a close second to the work he has been doing on tgs. I am happy that you do you, and keep up the fine work you have been doing. And yes f95 comments are not what counts.
Agree with Eric. Also dont take to heart what people on f95 say. I've enjoyed the game and support it when I can as do others. You will always have detractors no matter what on f95. Its just how it is.
I felt the linear story was good but am also excited to see the new branch choices and look forward to playing it from the beginning again. Keep up the good work Atta!
Hey Atta, like i said on discord, you do you. Its your vision and your baby. Just know that we support you man !