Let's talk about...
Well... In three months, it will be one year since the first version of the "UoP" was released to the public. A lot of work has already been done... Even more work is ahead. But this is not about that yet.
I have never hidden that I make the game so that I like it. But at the same time, I try to give the players sufficient opportunities to influence the further development of my project. I believe that this is the right decision. But it seems to me that I'm missing something. And I can't figure out what exactly I'm missing.
When you are working on a game alone, it is a little difficult to soberly assess what is happening with your project in time. Maybe I deviated from the previously planned course? Maybe the overall mood and concept of the game have changed? Who knows?
Most likely, this post would not have existed at all... But I rarely get enough feedback from players (and especially from patrons), so I believe this post will help me fill this void.
Because of this, I want to hear any feedback from you and collect it here. Suggestions for improving the game, your requests, your comments, your reviews, your feelings, your observations on the development of the game over the months and conclusions based on this, and so on. Maybe you have something to say about my Patreon page, about benefits, tiers, and so on. Feel free.
In other words, I believe that thanks to this post I'll be able to understand how the game has changed from the player's point of view. Maybe I'll find some interesting ideas for further development and improvement of the game. Maybe thanks to your feedback, I will fix some shortcomings in the game.
It's time for me to listen to the fans, make some notes and draw some conclusions.
Best wishes,
Dream Now
Comments (28)
My initial fear was that this would be a generic story of a super-dick hero who builds a harem in college. And I am glad I was wrong.You hint at several dark themes which make for a great drama with unexpected outcomes and heartbreak. To me this is more important than any lewd scene, because it gives all of that meaning and purpose. And I see that you have an idea and am curious how you will execute it. That being said, there are two issues I have early on and I am not sure if these issues are real or just my perception. First, it seems that I am locked into certain relationships very early on. I never felt that I had control whether I enter a relationship with Carol. Same with Roxy. I feel we are heading to a moment where they will clash with each other, maybe Ashley on top of it, and I have no idea how to prevent or influence it in any way. Things just flow like a movie without me doing anything about it. I lack agency and that doesn't feel right to me. Second, some of the thoughts MC is thinking are very lewd in moments where I feel rather protective, like with Ashley. He seems horny like a frat in moments where I feel she needs support. And while I get the gist of this, sometimes I wish I had more room to fill the blanks, so to say. I know this MC is not me, he has his own thoughts. But he seems to be caring, and then again has thoughts that are disgusting in the context of the situation. I am able to ignore this, but it ennoyed me a couple of times. Maybe there are hidden stats that influence this, wrong choices I have made, but since you asked about opinions that is something I find slightly disturbing. Still, your game is awesome. There is incredible potential in this story and your abilities with animations and renders, they are mindblowingly good. I am really glad that you have the financial support to pull this off.
Thank you very much for your feedback and for some of your thoughts! Regarding the MC's relationship with Carol and Roxy. Indeed, if you initially decided to support Carol (in the first days in the dorm), then it will be hard for you to break up with her since there is simply no such opportunity in the next few days. It's kind of a lack of variation and an omission on my part in terms of Carol's story. However, a few patches ago I added an additional opportunity to stay friends with Carol (an event during free movement around the dorm, Carol in a red T-shirt). In the story with Roxy, as far as I remember, there are also ways to close a relationship with her, or not to start a relationship with her at all. But once again, you are right that there are not so many opportunities to get out of any girl's stories. I can't say anything meaningful about your second remark except that it's a matter of taste for each of us. Some players find the MC too gentle and tender. Someone, on the contrary, would like to see even more care and all that from him. So I try to keep the balance and, of course, keep doing it the way I like. I may be overstepping boundaries in some moments, as you said. But I hope such moments don't spoil the overall impression of the game too much. Thank you so much one more time!
want more sub
Мне нравится Кэрол и ее отношения с героем. Хотелось иметь все концовки с девушками , свадьба , беременность. Лично мне нравится когда меняется повседневная одежда девушек.
Love the game, and thanks for all of the hard work. I'd like the MC to have more sex. Specifically, I'd like the MC to have more sex that does not occur on the first event. The best part about playing through this game is the story and character development, this allows for some natural sexual tension to build up between MC and the girls. However; there hasn't seemed to be much of a middle ground, it's either constant sexual tension build up without intercourse (Sara, Yuki, Ashley), or MC is getting LEWD in the first event or 2 (Kim, Roxy, Sasha). For the record, I like all of these: both the build up (assuming there's an eventual payoff) and the immediate sex scene, however, I do think characters that fall in between, would provide loads of value. Please don't change the main story line though, the relationship development has been fantastic, and that's something I think all of the patreons can agree on.
Will we be able to break it off with Carol if we're already in a "relationship" with her? I don't like her character too much. Too much drama & clingy. Rachel or Roxy is where it's at.
In the next update, it will be possible to finish the Carol's path if the MC has not yet had a date with her (postpone the date). If the date has already been, then you will have to move along Carol's path for now. In the future, I'll do something like cooling down the relationship or whatever it is called. If the MC behaves apathetically with any of the girls, then eventually the romantic line will disappear by itself.
Hey, have been following this since the beginning(?), I would say the key thing is actually building the trust between the dev and the community. This is your first game and I believe it is totally a success. It is not perfect but it is great for a small team(maybe only you, :D). It is important for a developer to utilize manpower efficiently. So far, the updates are on time and of great quality. The following is just my observation and you may want to consider it for your next game(s). Having 7 "main" love interests are simply too many for a game on this scale, 5 is probably the ideal number. (I like all 7 of the girls, but I am giving my own opinion here.) The "main" love interests will demand attention from both the dev and the players by their very nature. The amount of content per update is actually a lot, but it can feel very little after being divided between 7 main love interests and the main story. (I personally don't mind the main story is slow to unfold, and hanging out with the girls is worthy of my time.) Maybe some of the main love interests' events can be better integrated into the main plot. However, this will also introduce a lot of potential plot holes due to "player choices". This will seriously test your decision-making as a developer. I am happy to see the UoP has been getting better and better since the demo. Also, I am happier to see you(dreamnow) are constantly improving as a developer.
Thank you! About the number of main girls... You're goddamn right. Probably, when creating the concept of the game, I was too ambitious and inexperienced. But I always say in my life, I'm not looking for easy ways. And yes, I'm working on the game alone (but thanks to my proofreader and testers for taking on part of the pre-release preparation).
I think you're doing great. I am a one girl at a time and will play multiple times if need be. So I'm really enjoying being able to stick with just one girl but then also being able to be friends with the others to help them. I also understand if an update is really short because of the way I play. So keep up the good work and as long as you don't force me to cheat on who I'm interested in or force them to cheat on me that's about all I ask. The story and everything else is interesting and am curious to see where you go with it.
Honestly, I don't know much about game development or making a plot but keep doing what you're doing! I really enjoy the game.
To be honest is like a routine every time you and underground Steve drop an update I play it as soon as possible I personally believe both of y’all games can reach being a dik profile and maybe even pass it I don’t really stay active in the discord or Patron but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love to support this game
Imo, I like the extras I get to do with the girls, fan votes or not. Even though I voted for more ff😅. With that said, the main story is your story. It should never be influenced by the fans. I like where it's going so far and I hope you don't stray to far away from it. Nothing wrong with a couple of plot changes here and there, as long as you're the only one making the decision. Also, my advice, take a break from the game, for a couple of days at least, to do a little brainstorming for new ideas maybe?!
Thank you! I take a break of 1-3 days after each update. But I try not to spend this time searching for new ideas or anything else related to UoP 😬 I just want to have a little rest before starting developing a new update 😴 But most of this time is spent on the game anyway. Post-release support, wallpapers, polls, patreon pics, and so on.
For my this is one of the greatest games I have ever played, that's why I followed it from the beginning. I wouldn't like to see it change, because for me there is a great balance between lewd scenes and story. Other games have this kind of problems while in yours is perfect. Story wise every character is being developed and has a clear personality, so please don't change that, because sometimes when you start to listen everyone and try to please everybody then the main idea you wanted to developed is destroyed, and you will not end up pleasing anybody. You can apply some minor things, but please don't change it, the game is great as it is. From my point of view sometimes it is diffucult to find all the variants on the story and everytime, based on decisions it will be more difficult, but Im ok with that, because as I said before YOUR game is amazing! Please if you want to do something, apply some ideas, but don't change the way of the story development, amount or so. Some will said story is not too well developed, but I think this is because they play the game in a monthly base, while other developers launch their games every 4 months you are doing it in a montlhy base. If you'll do it like others, every update will have around 2400 renders, so, it will be a good amount to build a big story with more content, but for me, this is a choice, this is why I support you, because you are proffesional and deliver every month, and for everybody is a choice to play it every month or every 3 months. I love to play every month, I know that for sure I'll count on you to deliver. So again, please if you want, adjust some minor things, but I have seen enough developers changing and destroying their products when following others advises or ideas. Keep up the great work! This is one of the best games I have played, and I have been playing this kind of games from a long time now. 🤘👍👍👍
Thank you!
I'll be honest I try not to play much of the game until my favorite girl has gotten an update. However, because of the way you've designed the game, This is probably the only game I've ran through three or four times from beginning to the current update to find anything I've missed in relation points without the use of the walkthrough. I agree with some of the other posters, I wouldn't want to influence the way you've written your characters. There's a reason why I like who I like, and it's not because it was due to my input on how she should be. I think that takes away from the mystery of what I'll witness in the future. I am a character designer myself, and I'll be pretty vocal when it comes time if I feel that the character did something out of character. So far I'm enjoying Roxy and Sasha. Looking forward to seeing what type of person Niki will become. I've done both Carol and Rachel storylines and I can't say I remember anything about Carol... as a character; storyline wise she makes sense. Her personality... I can't seem to remember who she is. There are characters that have the story drive them and then there are characters that drive the story. Neither is a negative way to develop a character. It's just that, sometimes to find out who you're writing, you'd need to take that character out of the story and place them in a different circumstance to see who they are. All in all, keep up the good work. The last update was awesome, you knocked out two of my favorites. I'll try to go through each of the other girls story arcs. I just have a strong tendency to lean into the lone wolves, because they're more relatable for me.
Thank you for your feedback.
Eventually, the MC is going to need to either choose between girls, or cheat/conceal his relationships with some of them from others. (Obviously, there might be exceptions, in one or two special cases...) I'm actually looking forward to this point, in part because I'd like to see how you choose to handle it. What I would _not_ recommend is pretending that such conflict does not exist, by continuing parallel narratives where the women are all blissfully unaware of the MC's other relationships...
Sooner or later some conflicts will happen anyway... But for now, let's enjoy a less problematic narrative.
Your game is top notch for me. I would love to see more femdom content. Keep up the amazing work. your work's quality is truly rare
Absolutely agree. More femdom please!
I think in terms of sex scenes and fetishes, you can conduct polls and let patreons have a say about them, but story-wise you can't let anyone influence you. So far the renders and sex scenes are wonderful, especially the latter, as they contain a lot of foreplay, lovely pillow talk and detailed depiction with different positions and angles, a merit which many other adult games lack. However, the story is not the best I have seen; it is sort of okish from the start, nothing out of the ordinary, but lately it seems to me that it has gone somewhat astray, a little bit out of direction with little progress in the main plot. If there is no progress in the plot, at a certain point those sex scenes will only become repetitive and meaningless. I am not a writer, but that is just what I feel as a player of this game. Nonetheless, I still enjoy playing it and will continue to support you.
Thanks! This is exactly what I was talking about. Probably the problem is that I got too carried away with sex scenes and the plot with girls, while I moved a little away from the general concept of the game.
hi Dreamnow, im hearing you reaching out, Im here telling you that you're feeling is right, Im have the same feeling of lacking mood in your game, Maybe it because the length of your update? How about developing a chapter (or episode with tiwst for the next one) then let the whole things out at once? May be 3 4 months develop? With a Patreon tide of 10$ above, im happy to support you whenever new chap coming out at once more than only with this lowest tier every month to inspect. And yes your game being mentioned in reddit to compare with being a Dik, they said UoP is a good game but it too short I have the same opinion, maybe chapter’s way can help Or maybe it because of lacking comedy stuff which Im really enjoyed with acting lesson, being a Dik or the leap of Faith? MC really need a wings man right here, that where all the dirty jokes come from, Im feeling that you trying so hard to make all the pieces of story come together make perfect sences but best things of the college life is brotherhoods, friends, party things, and the classic “never had I ever”-game or “truth or dare” never getting old in this kind VNs, not only girls with their stuff and MC run around helping all of them to get laid. Or maybe it because of the music content? Yes I know it required more time of work and money on it and even people not playing with their volume on but im just saying Im telling you that your graphic look great even awsome to compare with orders big potential to compete with BaD, that why I decided watching your work. Gud lewd scence (checked) + gud story line (not sure) = huge success I know it not easy to hear people comparing your spirit child with another but based on my experience of playing the adult VN I hope that can help u out a bit and anyway u asked for it :v so suck it up bro Best regard Hope u fully understand, Eng is my 2nd language
Thank you for your feedback. About updates: I think that this update mode is quite good. Someone likes monthly updates, someone likes big updates. I can't please everyone here. But I believe that if a player likes big updates, then he can wait 2-4 months, and wait for an imaginary "major update". Yes, I understand that this is a bit strange way, but nevertheless, I did it myself when I was just a fan of AVN's. However, I may switch to a different update mode in the future. I completely agree with you about jokes and funny stuff. I'm not good at this 😅
I think there are some things you can refer to fan opinions, but you can't let fans influence your plot. For example, some characters have extra plot. If you let fans vote, most of the same characters will win. It is a good idea to let the winning character not participate next time, but maybe you should choose some characters by yourself and leave one or two. It’s better to vote for fans, so there won’t be too few people with low popularity. It is a good thing for everyone to participate, but it can't be affected too much. You have to stick to your position. Like Milfy City, it allows sponsors to choose too many directions, and finally loses its enthusiasm. This is your game, not Others, you are willing to listen to opinions, I like it very much, but don't let others influence you too much, please continue to cheer, love you Dream Now
I have to agree with this. Being a recent patron myself, I actually joined up so I can possibly have a voice on which storylines move first (I'm partial to Rachel and Natalie). To be honest, at first I was a little frustrated that Rachel in particular hasn't had that 'Carol date night' moment yet. But, seeing how you handled some of these characters' progressions, I'd say you already have a good handle on where the story goes and how to pace each character properly (though I have to admit, that last event with Rachel in 0.5.5 was such a big tease haha). I'd also agree with my fellow patron's point on the way you could approach the voting for the extra events -- just for those who want to scratch that extra itch on some of the ladies. But also, maybe to also keep everybody relevant, only include voting options for the ladies YOU have some ideas on (e.g there's an event with Ashley or Sara that could set up a good alternative scene). But so far, well done! Staying on as a patron just to say job well done!