Hello everyone! First of all, sorry to disappoint you, but no, I'm not announcing a spin-off of the game with the subtitle "One Week Later". Rather, I'm talking about the response the game has gotten a week after its release! It's been a lot, and I want to detail it all! Because if there's anything I like more than DILFs, it's numbers (half joking). Let's get into it!
So, since I released this demo on Steam, I got roughly 100 wishlists since the demo dropped. The reception has been pretty positive, and I'm really happy that people are enjoying the game! I'm not much of a wordsmith, so all I have to say is: thank you so much! Every download and kind word has made every second of working on this VN worth it!With that out of the way, I do want to address some of the feedback on the game, some of it positive and some of it critical. First, the good! Pretty much everyone has at least one lion they like from the cast, and most people love the cast so far! That's pretty good, as the main focus of the VN is the characters! It's hard to say which characters are the most popular, but I've been seeing a lot of love for Earth and Lake. Which I completely understand; they're good kittens! All of them are, but those two especially. Believe it or not, I don't have a favorite. I like all the characters pretty equally. Casey included. I'm just glad that they're all getting the attention they deserve.The other thing I saw is that people have consistently praised the art of the game. Which makes me very flattered, as I did all the art for the game! This time, I decided to create all the backgrounds in the game. I'm clearly not a dedicated background artist, but I think I did a good job, all things considered. As for the character art, I do think I improved subtly. I do prefer the sprites here than in my previous project; I think they look cleaner and more full of life. I think the CG with Lake and Casey is probably one of my favorites. I think I definitely benefited from taking my time, compared to my previous project, where I did rush a few art assets, so I'll try to really take it easy when it comes to developing this game.The last thing that was universally praised was the music, which is funny, because it's the only thing in the VN that wasn't made specifically for it. All of the music was made by nobonoko, a furry musician I quite like. Specifically, their albums Music For Animal Cafés, Milkydaddy, and Strawberry+. I chose their music not only because they gave me permission to use it for the VN, but because I thought a VN set mostly in the savannah with a soundtrack consisting of urban-sounding synth music would be an interesting mix of styles that would help give the VN its own identity. I'd say it's comparable to wearing winter colors in Summer. I was worried that people would find the styles to not match, but I have yet to see any criticism of that, to my delight. I would talk about how good their music is, but you've played the demo already; you already know how good it is. It's just good, easy listening music that you can listen to in any situation. You can listen to their music over on their Bandcamp. Support them and buy their music if you can!Now for the critiques of the VN. First off, a lot of people have noted that the text blocks in this VN are very long. The average number of words per block is 36. For comparison, the average number of words per block in my previous VN is about 14. This has led people to note that the VN is a bit uncomfortable to read, and that the text is too small. Those are valid criticisms that I will try to rectify in future builds, both the content you've already read and future content as well. To explain why this is the case, the writer, Regnbogi, is quite new to writing visual novels. While he has a good amount of experience writing other mediums, this is the first visual novel he has written. I did notice how long the text blocks were, but I didn't think it was that big a deal until people noted how long they really were. I actually suggested that we make the VN NVL, similar to Edicition by Don Attico; however, he decided to make the VN ADV. I will say, this is mostly my fault, as I should have noticed this long before the demo was released. Again, this will be remedied in future builds.Another criticism I've seen is that the narration is very long. That one is a bit more subjective. I was actually worried that people would complain that the VN would be too long-winded for most people. Then I remembered that Umineko exists, and then I decided it wasn't worth worrying about. Still, while not as frequent as the previous critique, I did see a few people complain about it. While I do think there are some lines that could be trimmed, ultimately that's simply the writer's style, and I'd have to badger him quite extensively in order to address this "issue", something neither of us wants. Most people like the writing, and so I'll edit the script how I've been editing it so far.One last criticism I've seen that I want to mention is one I probably shouldn't mention, since I've only seen one person mention this. But I do want to address it anyways, because I feel like doing so would temper expectations for the VN for the future. I saw someone say that the VN doesn't really have a lot of deep themes and that it's mostly just horny wish fulfillment. Mind you, this person liked the VN, so he's not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. And it's true that this VN is mostly light-hearted, horny wish fulfillment; that's how we envisioned the VN when we first decided to make this into a real thing. However, I do want to mention that Regnbogi and I are planning to introduce themes and a message for the VN that aren't obvious in the demo. While it's probably not going to be groundbreaking or anything, I hope people appreciate what we're trying to say with this VN when it finishes. Also, there's nothing wrong with a VN just being horny wish fulfillment. There's a place for VNs like that! But I did want to mention that HCTP! is a bit more than that.There were a few other things I saw people say, but they're pretty minor and, in my opinion, not relevant enough to mention. I do plan to release a polishing build that fixes at least the text blocking and adds some stuff that couldn't make it into the initial demo launch. Until then, once again, thank you for the amazing response the demo has gotten! I'm really glad to hear everyone's thoughts on it, good and bad! Before I go, here are a few words from the writer, Regnbogi:
"Greetings! Good timezones, esteemed readers. It's Regnbogi here again. I wanted to add a little thank you to on my behalf to all of you in this devlog for the wonderful reception HCTP! Has recieved. I never could have imagined even on my most optimistic dreams that it would be so overwhelmingly well recieved and have so many people sharing their thoughts about it. Knowing that a work I poured so much of myself in has gotten this much attention is incredibly humbling and lovely. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for giving this project a chance and this much love. I would like to say that I have been listening closely to and keeping in mind all of your comments that Rat has shared with me so far and that I plan on using all your praise and criticism to make this an even better experience. I hope that I am able to keep making you all happy and satisfied with our work and love it even more with each update. I am still very new to vn development, but your love and attention is certainly making it a wonderful experience even with all my insecurities. I also am very thankful for that. Please look forward to more good things coming down the line and share your thoughts about them with us. They're the fuel that keeps us happy and moving forward. Farewell and see you all next update! ♥️🐗"
With that, that's all I wanted to share with you! Laters!