Saturday 28 August 2010

Brushing Away the Cobwebs


I like how after all this talk of inordinate amounts of free time, I abandon the blog for like, four months. Oops! I honestly apologise to anyone watching this place for the complete and utter lack of updates, but rest assured, I've actually been working far more on the game than ever before, and progress is going very smoothly. With the current word count in the vicinity of 90,000 words (and counting!) this is shaping up to be a pretty long game! I've also been reading up on my fashion mags, and have added a ton of new clothes and accessories to the game, along with new events, CGs and dates. Huzzah!

The down side to this, of course, is that working on Lucky Rabbit Reflex takes up most of my time, to the point where I can't really justify spending so much time on the game without charging for the finished product. I honestly do feel guilty and apprehensive about charging money for the game, which I had originally intended to be a free English alternative to the Tokimeki Memorial games, and for anyone following this blog in the hopes of getting a free game at the end of it all, I truly am sorry. That said, charging for the game would allow me to pay for music and fonts and all those other slick, professional things (and also food! Graduate life is hard D:), so I'd really appreciate comments from anyone reading this blog - would you be prepared to spend $20 or thereabouts on a Tokimeki-style dating sim? What do you expect from a $20 indie game, in terms of length, polish, extras and so on? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Image Time!


New clothes menu! ...Again. Fashions change from season to season, so you might have to hurry if you want that dress you've had your eye on...


...Don't hate the player, hate the game.


Let's all go to the movies... to buy ourselves some snacks!~


...So yeah. Hopefully I'll be able to release a demo with all of this new content at some point in the near future, so watch this space!

...Hopefully.

11 comments:

  1. No, I wouldn't mind paying that for your game if it turns out as very entertaining and polished as it looks so far :)

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  2. Although I am feeling a bit disappointed that I won't be able to play this for free, I think that I would be willing to pay in order to play this game so long as it's a good length, and the fact that you have 90 000 words so far is a good sign.

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  3. Thanks for the update, Chensterrain. I was a bit worried that the development of Lucky Rabbit Reflex was getting bogged down.

    I've paid about $20 US (same price as best-selling console games) for several download-only romance games and visual novels. I was thoroughly impressed by Spirited Heart and Date Warp, and I had quite a few positive things to say about Summer Session, Jisei, and Fading Hearts.

    If you're worried about whether fans will consider your finished product to be worth their money, then consider the following options:

    - Optional content for a little more money. (This could be bonus characters, voiced dialogue, alternate endings, or even tools to modify the game.)

    - Placing content at the end of your demo which states what players will find in the paid version.

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  4. I would definitely pay that for this game.
    For the amount of time and effort you must have put in to this I don't blame you!
    It's still looking amazing by the way, can't wait to play it!

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  5. Thanks so much for the feedback, guys - I'll make sure the game's worth it!

    To Taiyakifan: I've played nearly all of those games too, and think they're pretty amazing, tbh - hopefully Lucky Rabbit Reflex'll measure up to them! I'll definitely take your suggestions into account. :)

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  6. I too would automatically pay $20 the first day you release it. your product is so good compared to others that i have bought in the past.

    I just want to know if the game will have different ending for the girl and how she does in life depending on her stats.

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  7. Must've just missed this comment, whoops! But thanks so much, Vicky!

    At the moment, the game is more of a dating sim, where the stats determine which boys are attracted to the heroine, than a raising sim where her stats determine the actual ending; that said, how you do in exams, club activities and whatnot does affect the ending, and I'm thinking of maybe having a short text epilogue (a la Princess Maker 2 or TokiMemo GS3) saying what the heroine goes on to do after leaving school, so yeah. Hope that helps!

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  8. I think I would probably buy it for $15-20, all you have to do is polish the game up, release a new demo and advertise on every games listing you can find. Maybe throw in a few high resolution images for people who buy, that would be neat ^^.

    - And the epilogue thing would be really cool too :)

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  9. No debit/credit card, no bank account, etc = no way to buy things on the internet. orz Good luck, though!

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  10. If you live in North America, you can always by a pre-paid Visa/Mastercard. They're very useful for shopping online ^_^.

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  11. Great work! One thing that I've always wanted to see in a sim is a diet system. Like going to the bakery a lot would make her fat, exercising would make her buff, etc... But I'm guessing that would be too much work this far in the project :/

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