Thanks!
You've commented on so many of my posts over the years, it feels like I know you! <3
Hey Orleansbano,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I completely understand your disappointment. Our Patreon supporters help cover the ongoing costs of development, which is what makes it possible for us to offer the base game free to everyone, including those who aren’t able to support us financially.
We know having the Android version available only to patrons isn’t ideal for everyone, but we have to balance accessibility with the resources available to us. Without our amazing patrons, the game simply wouldn’t be what it is today. We genuinely try to make the game as accessible as possible, especially for people who might not have disposable income to contribute.
I truly appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective. <3
You play as a Mah'Abeu, which is more a title than a species.
Mah'Abeu's are genetically enhanced humans. Your appearance and DNA is still very much human.
I can't do spoilers here, but it does have some effects on your character. I believe some of it has already been revealed, and we there are some consequences which will also be revealed soon. <3
Right now you can pursue several people with no/limited consequences. We have some planned content where the LI's will each be affected by your choices down the line. (Some won't mind, and others will be devastated)
We're also working on the foundation for the first ever throuple(?) relationship option, which will be hinted at with the next content release, depending on who you flirted with thus far.
Hope that answers your question! <3
<3 We hope to share the answer with you soon!
In the meantime, if you've enjoyed the writing, consider peeking at Infinite Stars, a much much longer story written by the same team!
Thank you for your interest! We're working very hard on the next content release for Infinite Stars, releasing later this month, and then we have two other projects that will be releasing in April and May, respectively if all goes according to plan.
We'll most likely revert our attention back to Thalassaphilia then, or earlier if possible.
Sorry for the wait, but comments like yours encourage us to continue working on Thalassaphilia!
Thanks! The writing was a group effort, but the same writers as for Infinite Stars.
Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. We have a bit more planned for the story, and not to keep repeating myself, but if the reception and support warrants it, we'll continue working on it. If not, it's a fun little game (Over 20K+ words though to 100% complete) and allowed us to implement some ideas we've been wanting to try.
Not at all!
It's similar to the subjective "how old is your Mah'Abeu" and the intention is that players should be able to decide. Depending on the decisions you make, it is entirely possible that MC was in their pre-teens to early adolescence during the war. It's possible that MC played an active part in the war, or that they were still undergoing training at the Academy.
I might do that eventually, once the whole story is concluded. Right now the intimate scenes are there as a thank you to all the generous people who make Infinite Stars possible on Patreon. If you can't afford to support the game, or don't want to use Patreon, that's fine! The game is written in such a way that you should still be able to have an enjoyable experience even without access to the nsfw content. <3
Alright! There's a lot to unpack here! <3
So yeah, the options can be broken down to friends, friends with benefits/lovers and kind of "meh, it's you."
The characters should NOT be able to trigger intimate scenes if you never flirted with them, and you're absolutely right: The "we're going to die, let's live without regrets" setup was an intentional and plausible reason to remove any relationship obstacles to intimacy without having it feel rushed. (–In my opinion. It's interesting that you mention it feels rushed to you, several people have voiced the same opinion, while several others have claimed that it's way too drawn out, and then several others have mentioned it feels perfect. Such is the ways of internet feedback.)
The friendship option still shows the flirting options to simulate the whole friends to lovers dynamic, but if you never pick a flirt option, you should remain JUST friends and intimate scenes won't/shouldn't trigger. Initially the not interested option functioned the same, but I had to change it as some players were legitimately frustrated, especially when they were doing a playthrough as a straight male for example, and continually kept seeing the flirt options despite choosing "not interested."
If you have any specific scenes that felt out of place for you character's personality, please let me know (you can do so on our discord server), along with how you feel your character would have reacted in the situation. It's not always possible, but sometimes it is and I love to add fixes like that, even if they are done retroactively. You can talk to several of our other fans, adding choices/content like that happens more often than you think!
The romance options were added due to market demand. I've always believed that Infinite Stars should have a strong story, even if you were asexual and not interested in any romantic options, and I feel I've achieved that to a sense. I also feel that the romance options are little stories on their own, running parallel to the main story, and that the free version of the game (without any intimate scenes) should be able to give a full and wholly enjoyable experience without having to pay anything, while still rewarding the super fans willing to support the development of the game with something special and extra (the intimate scenes.)
Part of my original design document states that there will never be any crucial main story plot developments that occur ONLY during an intimate scene, as free players won't be able to experience it.
I'm quite excited for the content we're currently working on. I hate building hype, as it's so easy to overhype something, so I'll try to cone across as unexcited as possible: With Veera's intimate scene(s) we've been working on, she has a whole story arc how she changes as a person, with each intimate scene slowly chipping away at her masks and revealing the woman inside the assault armor. Veera will still be Veera, but you'll have a better connection and understanding of her after going through her various intimate scenes. There are also some scenes which are 100% fanservice scenes that aren't taken as serious. (Sometimes it's just fun to write (and play) silly yet hot romantic kissing scenes to take a break from the tension of the story!)
There aren't any professional aspirations when it comes to writing Infinite Stars. I break TONS of writing rules deliberately because it shouldn't be a chore to me, and it's not trying to be anything else than what it is– a fun hobby. It started as a hobby, and I sincerely hope it stays that way. There is so much planned story in my head, and the day when there are no more new ideas or if it's no longer fun to write is the day that I'll neatly wrap the story up.
Apologies for the ramble, it's been a day and a half for me! <3
The ensign tier has access to the same NSFW content as the Commander+ tier, just not on android. That's all.
The link to the latest build is over here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patreon-build-1-82867479
We have a new Khalil casual + intimate scene that's almost ready for release, but most of our attention has been prepping for the next public release in November.
Hey, not sure about the gamepad support.
As for putting it on Steam, I doubt it. There are some not insignificant costs involved in uploading a game to Steam. (unless if we do it as a DLC? mmm.)
In all honesty, we'll probably merge it with the main game and have it trigger as a surprise event if you happen to be playing on Halloween / in October.