We Want Your Feedback!
Hey everyone! I know I am always open to feedback, but I wanted to make a dedicated post to ask for it.
You can ask or say anything down below, but here are some guiding questions.
Thoughts on the move to Unity?
Thoughts on the new animated sprite system?
Thoughts on Character Creator?
Thoughts on the new Monthly Release Schedule?
Thoughts on our communication about the game?
Do you find the Weekly Progress Reports helpful?
Was the video/audio version of the Weekly Progress Report a good alternative?
How can we improve communication?
And anything else you want to add or say, we want it all!
I'm excited to hear from you and want to keep an open line of communication!
Comments (48)
It might be a bit late to jump in here with feedback. I played the renpy version quite extensively, even as far back as the beginning of episode 2, but took a break from NSFW games around the time episode 5 was being worked on. After playing through the newest release, I went back to the renpy version and played them side by side to refine my thoughts. Please bear in mind that any criticism is written with love because I really loved a lot about this game before the reset. When I first played Hazelnut Latte I had a difficult time at work the next day because I stayed up all night playing... I am a big fan of Hazel and what I am most interested to see in this game is a pure manogamous romantic path with him. I'm not a shot caller here by any means but a romantic path of abstinance until marriage with him would be 10/10 game of the year every year for me. Anyway... I like the promise of the switch to Unity, especially as a linux user. I think the new sprites and animations look great and I like the new music. The game performs very well and I did not experience any bugs or crashes. I like the changes and developments made to Jamie's character a lot, I'm much more interested in learning more about him now comparing first impressions between the old and new and I would be interested in seeing what a monogamous romantic path with him would look like. I like the new gallery feature, especially when I figured out there was a commentary button. Two things that I think could improve the gallery would be making the fade in/out animation faster or user-interruptable and highlighting recently unlocked/unviewed pictures. I think the skip feature would benefit from increased speed and automatic stopping at unseen text like in renpy. I would also like if the right-click save menu had a way to switch from save to load, I accidentally overwrote a couple of saves by not paying attention there. I do have a lot of concflicted thoughts about the changes that have been made to the story so far. To rip the bandaid off, I like the original introduction considerably more. I think the pace used to be much more natural for a VN. I liked how meeting Hazel felt like a life changing moment, where the MC was well established at his job but obviously unhappy and feeling stuck until he meets someone special by chance and (after self-evaluation) decides to risk his whole livelihood and sets out on an adventure of love. I was heartbroken when I finally got to meet him in the new version and there was no special Hazel sauce in the coffee... I also noticed that the MC never verbally refers to him as a girl, making the "tea gu... guru" line not make sense because I don't think Hazel would assume that MC thought he was a girl right off the bat. I understand the desire to push back learning that he's a boy and that the new intro with the Galli, Max, and Charlene is intended to establish the MC's mental and emotional state before you meet Hazel, however I really wish those scenes could be pushed back to after you meet him. As it is now, Hazel feels like just another love interest that gets put into the MC's life rather than being the shining spark that makes him want to change. Hazel isn't even the only love interest that you meet that day because you get introduced to Jamie right after the meeting with Mr. Noto and the MC barely considers Hazel in the process. Speaking of the conference room scene with Mr. Noto, it feels like it drags on for a long time... The receptionist girl is very cute, however... One thing that is confusing to me is in the original version, it was pretty well messaged to the player that pursuing other characters would hurt the relationship that you were beginning to form with Hazel but now the MC might already have been involved romantically or physically with several other characters before meeting him for the first time. Because these other characters are introduced to the player first, you end up feeling bad for turning them all down while you wait to meet Hazel and even in the MC's retrospection it sounds like he's failing to take oportunities even after meeting and flirting with Hazel. I don't want to drag this part out because it's just my opinion and a lot of work has already been done, it's just in my impression of the new game Hazel feels like an afterthought rather than the center. I am greatly looking forward to how the game changes over time and I can't wait to see more of Hazel and Jamie! Thank you and the whole team for your hard work!
Thank you for all the feedback! I think highlighting new gallery unlocks is a good idea. We're always refining how fast the skip dialogue is and are working on a system that will be way better than skipping; we just need time to make it. Meeting Hazel, I think, still is a life-changing moment for Isaac. The opening illustrates how much his life sucks and also serves as a tutorial for how the game is going to flow. Max & Charlene in the Galli is the entire romance part of the game in microcosm. Do you want a more romantic encounter like the main love interests? A quick and mindless sexual experience like hookups? Or you can completely skip all of that. You get all the flavors of the game and learn early that there is stuff you can miss. Isaac missing out on chances, Isaac potentially fumbling Max/Charlene/both, is all to give weight to why he eventually will uproot his entire life and go to Jade City. Which, to me, always felt incredibly weak. I think the opening does a lot to establish: 1. Who Isaac is. 2. Why he is willing to risk everything. 3. How the game will function in a short period of time. They're the tutorial. The first boss you lose to. You can, of course, completely bypass those characters pretty quickly to get to Hazel ;) It still sets up Isaac's mental state well and leans into him not taking chances since Charlene says she wants you and you can ignore her, then you can ignore Max. But the emphasis should not be solely on Hazel. He is the first main love interest (and yes, the game is named after him; god, I wish it wasn't, but I can't just throw away 4 years of brand recognition), but he is not the only love interest. A problem myself and others had in Ren'Py is that everything is connected to Hazel. To get with anyone else, you NEED to be with Hazel in some form, at least until you can drop him in Ep 5. For a game about giving the player the option to be with any of the 7 LIs, forcing you to be with Hazel for 5 episodes sucks. Now, maybe Jamie is your connection to Jade City. If you don't want either, we'll give players options later. Hazel is very important, but he is not the lead. Isaac and Hazel didn't have as much time to connect as Isaac and Jamie because Hazel is at work. The date is where they really connect, and we are building toward that. Hazel not cumming in your coffee is something I've been wanting to remove as soon as the game became more than just Hazel in that shop in that one scene. Because the more I wrote Hazel, the more I learned about him, the more I thought, "Would he seriously cum in some stranger's coffee without consent?" What does that say about him? What kind of person does that make him? Would you want to be with someone who does that? He still does a risky thing by potentially blowing Isaac, but it's consensual. I think the new scene, which shows more of who he is and what he is dealing with, is narratively far more interesting. And he will still cum in Isaac's coffee, but when the two have actually formed more of a relationship. I am planning to go over episode 1 soon to prep for the demo, so I will look at the Hazel conversation, but Isaac is supposed to say he thinks Hazel is a girl, and Hazel is supposed to not correct him. So if I flubbed it and didn't include that, I'll fix it. As for the Noto scene, I don't think it's longer than most scenes? In fact, it's sorta short. But it does start setting up The Plot of the Entire Game. Which before was very slapped together: "Whoa, you're now the boss!" I also never intended players to think that pursuing other characters would hurt your relationships. The game is a harem game. Pursuing other characters is part of the game. I'm not 100% sure how that came across, but I hope the new version doesn't give that impression. Once again, thank you for your thoughts! As a reminder, we have a Discord ;)
I would like to sincerely thank you as a POC for giving me the option to choose what I look like.
My absolute pleasure 🙏
I really want more scenes with Vera, I need to take her ass
Yes, one of our main love interests will definitely return and have more scenes <3 - Rad
I really enjoyed the original, so my opinions are some what biased... I played through the new style 3 times the old style im not sure how many, since the opening scene with Hazel was the only one. On mobile, Android. Overall I think the gameplay changes that have accompanied Unity were good. 0 complaints about performance, the visuals, all good. For me the new text was small and not adjustable there were times when i had to stop and look closely to read. Also when the time came to make a choice there was no kind of indicator or stop to make that choice. You could easily just accidentally tap through a choice without knowing it was a choice, along with that the way the choice selection worked on mobile felt clunky. Scrolling, selecting and tapping size 2 font made it not hard but not easy or intuitive to select the choice you wanted to make... other than that my opinions are story based. I think the original intro was better not only is a night club cliche but when you first went to get coffee it was because you loved it you went in with the hope of improving your day with something you were passionate about and testing out a local spot rather than a chain because thats what you liked to do, you happened to find more. That difference between just being at the same place you always were and being at a new place for good reasons that matter made the life changing moment feel better than oh I was feeling down and a new kind of sex made it better. The new run of just going to a familiar place because you dont know what else to do and it also being a club isnt exactly you had an eye opening life jarring experience. I dont hate the story line that unfolds but I feel like it isnt a great opener or introduction into the new world/life for the mc. I feel like that sad not sure what to do experience and you hit a club and then it dawns on you should come after something like the original intro.... after that ive seen the hints at hazel having a belly being a soft "chubby" type character which is totally off from the character weve spent so much time with. I think that idea is good but unless it comes down the line after certain story development it would be better used with a different character that hasnt already had so much development. It would fit in easily with Dave or Robbie, even Jezzie or any of the others... I wont hate it but I also wont be able to forget how long we spent with a different hazel under different circumstances... sorry for being long winded just my thoughts
Hey, thanks for all the feedback. We love this! I'll try to tackle this point by point as best I can. For the text size, we do have it so you can adjust it in the settings if you find it too small. Not sure how well this worked out for you, but we can see what we can do to improve it. As for clicking too fast and hitting a choice, we can workshop a fix for that. :D As for story changes, yeah, there is a lot that is different here, but there will also be a lot that isn't. The new intro is just giving Isaac (you) a more defined character arc. Part of this is building to why Isaac will eventually decide to drop his life and move to Jade City. It felt poorly done in the original, so I am trying to improve it. Part of that is showing Isaac at a low point of self-discovery. I can't go into too much detail since the story will do that for me. You could also do nothing at the club if you want. We're still going to get the Cafe Estro scene with Hazel. This just gives greater context for Isaac's arc and different ways to explore it. As for "hints" at Hazel being chubby. This is odd to me, since those scenes already happened in the original Episode 5. We aren't changing Hazel in Unity to be how he looks in that potential ending from Ep 5. I don't think I've said so, anyway. Hazel is going to be more in line with how he acts in later episodes. As I've said a lot, when I wrote Ep 1, Hazel's character wasn't defined for me, and I thought I was writing a one-shot lewd game. Now that I've fully explored Hazel as a character and understand him, I want to bring his earlier appearances in line with who he really is. His look is not changing. So, don't worry about that. I feel like you just never played Ep 5 fully since chubby Hazel is there, not here. Again, thank you so much for the feedback! If you have any more questions or comments, I'll be here :D - Rad
Throwing my 2 cents about that trivia talk thing, since I still struggle with. For me it is because I like learning and being engaged so much I do it to others to be nice and spread the joy, but not everyone likes that. Just today I almost went on a small rant about how Labubus are foretelling of an economic crisis, before I realized what was going on and apologized and wished her a good day
Like I said in my other reply, of course, there is more nuance than what can be conveyed naturally in this conversation. This is a romance game, not an essay; I'm not going to give every fringe case a moment to have its argument. For some people who do it, it's because they are neurodivergent. But the characters are talking about a specific kind of guy. They are making fun of douches who question whether a women is really a fan while acting like an alpha because they heard from Andrew Tate that was how they could bag chicks. I'm not sure how clearer I can be in the text that that is who they are talking about. - Rad
Played it and it was amazing, there is 2 gripes though - You should have a chance to dance with Charlene, preferably in a way that still allows you to still see Max if you don't got backroom with her - That male loneliness talk needs a little rewriting, it was really cringy how much it was simplified. Just adding little "worked for me" and " not really everyone is different" would give such complicated clusterfuck of socioeconomical issues the respect it deserves
We toyed with the idea of having you actually dance with Charlene, and it just came down to what we have time to do. We realized it would have cost us more to include the scene, and it isn't super important since Charlene's whole character is "I just want to have sex and feel good." But I get ya, it would be nice. As for the loneliness talk, it was simplified for sure. It's likely something that will crop up now and again since it's such a prevalent phenomenon, but two people chatting don't have to go into the nitty gritty. It's one stop in the natural flow of a conversation between two people. You can disagree and think there is more to it, that's fine, but this is how the characters feel. In my opinion, going any further in depth into it than I already had so early in the game would be cringy to me. I do appreciate the feedback! - Rad
New player, after being recommended by a friend. Fantastic, but I am now madly in love with Max though so I'm kind of heartbroken to find out he's not in the main cast?! Feel like the Max encounter is more meaningful than the one with Charlene, but I guess that's intentional? Left me feeling bad for Charlene and I wished there was a way to connect with her in a some way, but also I get that it is the story and that's just how it goes sometimes. Not that I want to save her, but at least be her friend. I liked her too. Anyway, great writing, love the art and music and the connection the story made with me.
Hey I'm so happy you liked it! Yeah, all that is intentional 😇 - Rad
Hi! First of all, I want to say that the game looks amazing after switching to the Unity engine. The animations are excellent, the overall performance feels much lighter, and everything looks much more polished and clean than before. It really feels like a big technical improvement. My only criticism about this beta is that it felt a bit too small. Since it only had one animated scene, it didn’t add much overall content-wise. Aside from that, I’m really enjoying the direction the game is going. Also, I wanted to ask: is Dave going to be replaced by this new character that was introduced in the story, or will Dave still be part of the game going forward?
Well it had two animated lewd scenes ;) but yeah, we knew it was going to be small. We more wanted to focus on getting the game running in the new engine with the new systems :D As for Dave, why would he be replaced? I even showed him in the trailer 😉 he'll be in the next update. Who would have replaced him? - Rad
Animations are fantastic. Tried both PC windows and android (on s25). The text on mobile seemed a tad on the small side Could the sentence leading into a dialogue choice somehow remain on screen. if i intentionally or accidentally speed through some dialogue, a sudden "yes/no" or "good plan/no thanks" is a little abrupt and having to 'menu > history' to see what im responding to is a little jarring and hard to mentally route what choices im making to result in what paths. not so much an issue in this early phase with the game ending at each path, though could be more confusing later, trying for different routes/scenes
In the next big update, we're going to make the history easier to navigate! (Having the button be on screen instead of hidden in a menu) So hopefully this could alleviate that. As for having the question on screen, maybe. Sometimes the character asks a question; sometimes you need to respond to a series of sentences. Not to mention the dialogue box is also where choices are. So... we might mess around with it, but hopefully, having an easier-to-find history log will help. - Rad
Okay, first, wish the character creator had maybe a few more options? Second, I kinda miss the old animation style, but I think this new one could grow on me. Other than that I think its really good? But I think my biggest issue is (not sure if this will be how the game will start in the future) but it feels like... it removes some story beats from the old games character stuff. But I also get it that you could want to get it out of the way later for other character development. So. I think. On its own 4 out of 5. But compared to the old version (probably mostly because there isn't more game yet) 3.5 out of 5.
I think there is definitely room to expand the character creator with more options! By the second animation style, do you mean the sprites not moving or the old way we did lewd scenes? As for the story, so far, nothing has been removed. We just started the story a bit earlier than it originally was. We are going to get back to Hazel and Cafe Estro soon! (It's why I ended the build with a tease of Hazel) - Rad
Ive been following the project for a couple months, I love it so much! Here's some feedback from me: 1. I love the new Unity update, however Ive noticed that sometimes there's a little bit of lag from time to time. Mostly after opening the menu. I play the android version btw. 2. Character creator is great, however I do wish there was a facial hair option, specifically want to add stubble to my character. Also a light Hispanic skin tone would be nice to see added. 3. Communication has been great as per usual. 4. In the new build, I noticed that the sprites have a bit of a lazy eye problem. It's especially bad with Max, where his right eye kind of drifts too far to the right. I didnt notice this issue with CG's though. 5. Finally, I will say that I did like the MC's first gay experience being with Hazel. I thought the story's original beginning was very romantic and nice. Especially with the flying back specifically for Hazel twice. However, the new portion isnt a huge deal breaker for me, and it isnt my story, so I dont mind if you decide to keep the new beginning. Keep up the great work, love this project!
Lag might be due to your phone, but we are constantly making changes to the builds to improve compatibility with phones, so hopefully that has been or will be alleviated! Depending on which version you played, we may have already fixed it. Facial hair options would definitely be good for the character creator. We can also see about another skin tone. I'll have to look at the sprites again to see what you mean about the lazy eye, as I didn't notice this. I mean, you can still have your first gay experience with Hazel. You don't HAVE to do anything with Charlene or Max. Like how in the old builds you didn't HAVE to do anything with Hazel. You could have waited for Jeze, Robbie, Vera, or even Finn and Dave. That's part of player choice. So you'll be able to play the game as you used to, but I do tempt you with these new characters. And if you choose to pursue either of them, interesting things will happen. - Rad
Q - Thoughts on the move to Unity? A - I liked it. I understand why developers use Ren'Py, but I think it's limited and slow to load. You made a good choice. Q - Thoughts on the new animated sprite system? A - I think it's better; it feels more alive. Sometimes it's a bit too much, but I still think it's an improvement. Q - Thoughts on Character Creator? A - To be honest, creating a character that we almost never see doesn't feel necessary. Unless the characters react to it in some way, but that would increase the complexity of the game's design. Q - Thoughts on the new Monthly Release Schedule? A - I think it's great, especially since you reset the game's development. It gives the impression that the project is moving forward. Q - Thoughts on our communication about the game? A - I like it. You are always transparent—sometimes maybe a bit too much—but even so, I prefer it this way. Q - Do you find the Weekly Progress Reports helpful? A - Only if you have something really interesting to report. Saying something generic like “we fixed some bugs” doesn't really say much to me. Q - Was the video/audio version of the Weekly Progress Report a good alternative? A - I'm not sure. When you give a video report, I think people expect to see something about the game—an image or a bit of gameplay. If you can do that, I think it's worth it. Q - How can we improve communication? A - To be honest, I like the way you're handling things. Maybe bi-weekly reports could be better, but I’m fine with how it is now. Overall: I really liked the new version. The new UI is so pretty and very on point—I'm honestly enchanted, lol. The old story felt more intimate, like building a new relationship. This new one feels a bit crazier and more fast-paced. To be honest, I'm a bit worried, but I believe in you. I'm looking forward to the next update.
See, this is the amount of feedback I crave for xD What do you mean by the sprite animations being a bit too much? For the character creator, you do see your Isaac during choices. You also see him in lewd scenes and special moments. It's mainly there so that people who don't want to play a white Isaac have the option to switch, as that skin color change will be reflected in every lewd scene. I can remember two lines of dialogue already in the playable build that change based on your skin color and your hair. As we go along, the changeable Isaac will be reflected, and we'll make changes/additions/improvements. I added it since a lot of people wanted to play a black character, since pretty much every lewd game is about a White Guy. I do feel like I am too transparent and communicative, but it's in an effort to make sure everyone knows what is going on and that they know we're not just taking your money and playing OSRS all day. For the weekly report, I did actually start specifically saying what bugs we have fixed xD For a long time, though, it was hard to say exactly what we were doing since the animated sprites were a secret. If I do another video report, I can do some edits to make it more visually engaging. I expected most people to put it on while they did other stuff. Though barely anyone has said if they liked it or not, so I may not keep it up. It's interesting that you feel the new story is crazier and faster-paced. I actually tried to slow things down and really dig into Isaac's character development before ever meeting Hazel or Jeze. But I hope you all can enjoy the ride with me! Thank you again for the in-depth feedback!!! We really appreciate this <3 - Rad
I speak Spanish, and I would love it if the game had a language feature, but beyond that I love the game and its story; it's amazing.
I'm glad you liked it! I also want translations, but until the scripts are finalized, it just doesn't seem like a good idea to pay someone to translate them only to have to retranslate them if I go back and change the dialogue. - Rad
Love the update all told but had to stick to PC because the Android build kept giving me crashes without any repeatable cause that I could see. Linux version is nice too but due to lack of controller support and the fact it claims window context, I can't navigate even with the onscreen keyboard for Steam Deck. For actual content my only complaint is that bartending animation. One-handed shaking a cocktail shaker always feels off, it looks a little silly.
Glad you enjoyed the update! When was the last time you tried our Android build? We've been improving it with every hotfix as we get more feedback from players. And yeah, we didn't even think to have controller support since we are so far from a Steam release. I didn't even know you could put it on a Steam Deck already... huh. We can look into adding it if people are able to play it on there. As for the shaker animation, I can talk to our animator and see if we can make some improvements. Thank you for the feedback! - Rad
Oh what i first think about this... its so "absolute peak" like i can see the great potential in the future... The characters have animations whenever you interact to them, like dude i have no words its just absolutely insane update! But i was sad that it will take more time to make a new update for this, but its alright i know you guys are trying your best to make this so much better... but all of it... ITS SO GOOD!!! I cant wait for more updates soon and im craving for Vera Scenes (please get her a good lewd scene🤩) STAY RAD!!!🔥🔥🔥
I'm so glad you liked it! Well, not too long for a new update since the next build is in a month. How do you feel about the new release schedule? - Rad
This made me just wanting even more to see the old scenes reanimated, hope for some Vera taker POV
I can't wait for everyone to see how some new scenes will look in this new style! - Rad
A face to face meeting would be better for a superior communication
A meetup would go crazy. I'm sure some Seattle indie coffee shop would love to host us! - Rad
Worried about the weekly schedule due to how it might results in saves not working and needing to star fresh off multiple times
That will likely only happen once, since in the next update, we are upgrading our dialogue tool to a new version. But I doubt we will rarely break saves. Even if we do, we're adding a skip button! - Rad
Love the new animations, only wish there was more. Hopefully we get the old characters and scenes back too. I still have the old update to view them when I want.
Glad you liked the animations! We'll get back to familiar territory real soon :) - Rad
The character movement is nice and a lot more fluid. I'm eh on the character creator though, was hoping for more facial features maybe facial hair but for what it is it does the job.
I definitely think there is room to grow with the character creator! Beards would be a nice addition... I'll float it by the team! - Rad
Waiting patiently for the $5 teir access to the update, going in blind
I hope you like it! How do you feel about the new release schedule? - Rad
Absolutely insane upgrade. The jump is massive. The characters movement is so fluid and very appealing. Its hard to really imagine that being applied to all the characters we know and love. Really, its incredible and I can't wait to play more. If I were to nitpick, the text on my phone, the galaxy s10 was a tad small, and I prefer tapping the screen vs tapping the dialog box to skip but thats really just me. And I know you guys are working hard for it to work well on Androids already so im not too worried. Character creator was great, but I do hope just a few more styles are added and maybe eyes? Really, again, not a big deal at all though. Id still give it a 10/10. Just sad how quick it was over haha.
I'm glad you liked it! Definitely planning on increasing text size on phones. And we are going to make it so you can click the screen to advance dialogue. As for more character options, we actually held back on letting you pick crazier hair since Isaac is supposed to be a businessman. But we plan to add a barber shop when the map opens up in Ep 6 where you can get new hair styles and colors! - Rad
For me, so far with the changes on the new Unity version... magnificent! The game feels much more alive with the animated sprites. Im usually a pile of ass who skips dialog sometimes but with the new changes i couldnt bring myself to adhd spam my way through lol. My only negative is that I want more content like yesterday! But I trust the process and the progress reports are always great 👍🏼
I hear you on more content! Probably our #1 feedback we've gotten is wanting more, which is a good problem to have! I just hope I properly communicated beforehand how much content would be in this new build. I am also happy to hear you didn't feel the urge to skip! Makes all the hours we take writing/animating/drawing feel worth it :) -Rad
I definitely want a character creator. (If possible.) Because I feel like I dont want some scraggly faced white guy as my pc?
Did you not like the character creator in the new build? - Rad