Hanako Games

Preview on Steam Next Fest

#1 by hanako - Jun 14 2021

The short demo version of the game is now available on Steam as part of the "Next Fest" festival for upcoming releases. This demo will only be playable until the end of the festival or thereabouts, because it's not a complete product. It will be disabled, and as I understand it, even previously-downloaded copies might stop working at that point. (I don't know exactly when I'm going to turn it off, but by the end of the month.)

The kickstarter beta version is about to get a huge update at the end of this week, which will make the game playable to the end and open up the collections of primary career pictures. Romances and character storylines have not been added yet, but there's a lot of game to explore!

Re: Preview on Steam Next Fest

#2 by FantasyFan - Jun 16 2021

Just played it and honestly, I don't like how sleeping in the coffin decreases so many stats, given that you HAVE to spend a lot of time sleeping at the beginning when your stats are already really low to begin with.

Re: Preview on Steam Next Fest

#3 by hanako - Jun 17 2021

Would it feel better to you if a popup explicitly warned you during the first sleep cutscene (when she worries about losing her memory again if she sleeps) that all skills will decay very gradually over time when you rest?

Would it help if the popup suggested a strategy? (ie, "focus on only a few skills when you're first starting out" or the like?)

Re: Preview on Steam Next Fest

#4 by FantasyFan - Jun 17 2021

I'm not sure, since only a couple of weeks in she ran out of energy and was forced to sleep, giving no choice but to lower all her stats.

Re: Preview on Steam Next Fest

#5 by hanako - Jun 17 2021

It lowers them by tiny fractions, though, so most stats won't even lose a single point from sleeping all week.

(Just to clarify - I'm not trying to argue with you in any way, just trying to figure out what's causing different thoughts and feelings so I can see if there's a way to adjust expectations.)

Does it feel overwhelming because of all the down arrows displayed during the week, even though the actual amount lost isn't very big?

It is intended that sleeping is a less-optimal way of recharging, though it's required at times. But it isn't meant to make you feel hopeless. I'm wondering if I should stop displaying all those down arrows next to the Sleep action. Since the affected skills change randomly, the display isn't that helpful because you can't see how things are changing over time, which might be making it feel like you're losing a lot more than you really are.

Re: Preview on Steam Next Fest

#6 by FantasyFan - Jun 18 2021

It did feel pretty nerve-wracking to watch those down arrows on all those stats without being able to do anything about it.

Re: Preview on Steam Next Fest

#7 by MillaMaxwell - Jun 19 2021

I kinda felt like that too... I think for me, the issue was that there were so many down arrows every day. So it felt like all my stats were plummeting. But then at the end of the week, it showed the summary and I'd only actually lost a couple points. It just felt like so much more because of all the down arrows in the daily activities.

Re: Preview on Steam Next Fest

#8 by hanako - Jun 19 2021

Makes sense. Yeah, I think I'll look into adjusting the display for that activity. Thanks!