itch.io

Thank you! :)

Thanks for the clarification! And of course hitchhiking is a totally different story. I would do this only in case of emergency.
Moreover, I'm from central Europe and always had the impression that Canada is basically on a similar safety level (unlike the US). (Of course you can get into trouble there in certain areas at night, but besides that the risk is much, much lower than, e.g., having a car accident.) Maybe I'm too optimistic there about Canada, and I trust that you as a local will know better about that!

Just wanted to say thank you to all the organizers of the jam! You did a great job!

I've got tons of critical and useful feedback plus a few streams. That was definitely worthwhile and I'm looking forward to joining the next event!

I agree with the age issues. When I played the game, I just assumed she would be 18+. While if she were 17 getting on a train shouldn't be an issue, getting a room would be. I also agree with the realism issues in the case of this story: It's basically a travel ad as VN, and then it should try to be correct wherever it doesn't get in the way of the story.

I do not really agree on the "dangerous, woman can't travel alone"-thing. As far as I know, Canada is a fairly save country, and people worry too much about this issues, thus restricting their freedom of movements more and more. While it's important to be careful (particularly, but not only as a woman), doing sightseeing alone shouldn't be and isn't really an issue, at last in the areas I've seen in the story so far. I also know enough examples of young women traveling alone exactly like this.

Rubber ducks! RUBBER! DUCKS! How cute is this?

Ehem. Anyway, it took me a while to figure out what one has to do (I kept happily resetting time at first, since I thought I get more spirals, so more points that way... Yes, I am stupid.) The game loop (pun intended) is nice and strangely satisfying. Add some more graphics to it, and please make the music less dissonant. (The BGM and the click sounds are out of tune at present.) Then that will become a really fun game.

Oh, one thing: Sometime the duck gets nearly stuck in the loop. Usually, it's automatically forward moving on the yellow lines, but somehow, sometimes it doesn't and then one needs to jump to move forward. I guess that's a bug...

The game runs smoothly, even in the browser, which is nice. The graphics were well done and fights worked. I don't often play RPG, sotake all feedback with a grain of salt (or maybe a tablespoon of it), but I found it unusual to start with many abilities and then figuring out on the go which are strong and which are not and how to work them out. Until the first fight it was also unclear to me that I would only play one of the heroes (and which one). The first two fights I had happened to be identical – same opponents, same strength. In general I found no need for strategy there, which is a pity. (Maybe that would change later in the game.) 
I was surprised that the game had switched to some kind of map mode where a city is represented by one square when I started out first walking through a whole city. 
Finally, but this is probably an RPG thing, I found it weird to go to "help" people and then empty out every treasure box I see, even in the middle of a village. (I mean, that must belong to one of the villagers, wouldn't it?)

All in all, I see that a lot of work went into this, and it's definitely a solid foundation, even if it still needs some improvements.

I like the mood. I'm not much into card/dice games, so I can't say much about it. Obviously a tutorial is needed, but I guess that's clear, and right now it's just a prototype...
It feels weird that a player has to pass when he can't play anymore. So maybe automatic pass would be better.
(I've spotted a small bug: After going to full screen mode, the cards are not enlarged anymore when hovering on them.)

Unfortunately, the game does not work in my browser. The screen is just black.

Thanks for your review and the video! Was really fun watching. I guess I have to state a few things more than once at the beginning to make sure that more casual readers get them, since this left you a few times in unnecessary confusion about the world building. :D I also need to make clear that the "recap" is a recap of the prequel game ("Sweet Science") which explains why it feel like a summary: it is a summary!

Thanks for your review!

Some important information that you might have overlooked: The game is a sequel to the visual novel "Sweet Science". Chapter 1 recaps the story so far, so it's naturally a bit *quick* if you haven't played "Sweet Science" before. Guess we need to make this clearer to avoid confusion. Also, the "throw-away characters" are from "Sweet Science" and will also play a major role later in the story of "KIETA MEMORY", so not they're far from "throw-away" (and I would never dare to throw away Sylvia, as that could be dangerous)...  
I'm glad you liked the humor, even though you dislike AI. Regarding your question: If you knew how much some pics have been "touched", you'd be surprised... :D

P.S.: If you would like to share a list of the English errors you found with me, that would be great! Looks like you have a better eye for that than other test players.

Funny little puzzler. The idea is neat, but I had trouble to understand it at first. The menu is very unintuitive: I first thought that the level selection would actually be a help screen... :D

I also wished to see how many cards I have in total...

The music is cozy and fine, but too short: it gets quickly repetitive.
Since the main fun seems to be to figure out *what* the cats want, rather than to fit them in once you know it (that's the easy part so far),  I wonder how long the fun of the game would last.

Funny little puzzler. The idea is neat, but I had trouble to understand it at first. The menu is very unintuitive: I first thought that the level selection would actually be a help screen... :D

I also wished to see how many cards I have in total...

The music is cozy and fine, but too short: it gets quickly repetitive.
Since the main fun seems to be to figure out *what* the cats want, rather than to fit them in once you know it (that's the easy part so far),  I wonder how long the fun of the game would last.

P.S.: In the newest update, Patti is rendered. completely new. I think she looks much better now. (Will be more important in the later chapters where she will play a major role.)

Thanks for your small feedback. I know how critical you are, so I'm happy you seemed to like it, even though long VNs are notoriously difficult for short streams, I know. :)

Just two comments: 

- There's no canonical ending in "Sweet Science"! Just because this is a sequel of one of the endings, doesn't mean it's the ending (nor my personal favorite). However, Azuki is the favorite character of the players, by quite some margin.

- That there are more typos than in Sweet Science is probably simply due to the fact that the game is still far from finished. So sorry for that!

Would be great if you could send me a link to your video. 

Ah, that is your method. Thanks a lot for sharing!

Really beautiful game. I like the backgrounds: Wonderful photos, really nicely processed. I wonder how you did that!

I'm not so much into the BGM, but I like the song "Reminiscence" as it gives me strong Yoasobi vibes. The beginning is very similar to "Tabun", see here: 

The UI is mostly really pretty. Personally, I think the parts that you changed from the original Ren'Py template are much better than the parts you left unchanged.

All in all this game must be perfect for somebody who plans to visit Canada (and also likes cat girls ;-). The tourist agency should pay you for that! :D Maybe other players might need a bit more of a hook in the story. (I mean the beautiful backgrounds are of course a hook by itself...)

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it!
Patti will be re-rendered, that's on the to-do list, so you've spotted that well. Thanks for the reminder about sound effects. That somehow got a bit forgotten in the production, although we actually have the sound files ready, so we'll add that soon.

The time travel story is explained in detail in "Sweet Science", the previous game (in a different branch of that story which does not lead to the events in "Kieta Memory"), so instead of a lengthy explanation we cut it short in the intro. There will be more mystery about that later...

Regarding the first choice... Interesting point. We thought, on the other hand, the first choice should be an easy warm-up instead of something really decisive.

Thanks a lot for your feedback! I'm very happy that you liked the game! :)

Cute idea and funny theme. It took me a bit, however, to understand the whole thing, and I still don't get how the warps work and what to do in the higher levels. – Just let them run around for ages to get enough milk? I'm a bit clueless there...
A bit of text in the game would help a lot.

I think that could become a really entertaining little game.

Wow, thank you for your feedback (the bugs are fixed now) and in particular for the wonderful stream. I just started watching the recording and that was really fun. You're a born voice actress! :D

You have actually nearly finished Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is a lot shorter, so all in all you have played around 2/3 of the demo.

Nice and clean concept. Simple, yet stylish graphics. Music is fine, sound effects could be better. I also don't understand the upgrades at all. I don't know whether the concept is enough for long gaming fun, or whether it gets boring after a while. Maybe it needs some additional features, but I'm not sure.

I would like to have the option to remove a command by clicking on it.

Wow, quite some professional graphic and smooth game play, even in browser!
I'm somehow stuck after finding a jewel and clicking on it. A box appeared, but I could not find out how to close it again and to progress the game. 

I'm also a bit confused about these eye things standing there after an attack. What do they mean? I'm a bit lost. I might have figured that out over time, but due to the above mentioned bug, I stopped for the moment. 

By the way: We are working on a sequel where Azuki is the main character, but Sylvia will be in as well. If you like to become a test player, please contact us!

Very touching little story, thank you!

Very retro, and intriguing premise. Works so well in the browser.

[Spoiler alert!]

So far I've lost twice. At least once I've made it to the final, but the King of Pain got me at the end. Story is well written and doesn't get boring. Nice game for a few entertaining, nostalgic and dark hours...

Yeah, the four girls are cute indeed! :)

That's the idea: Everyone gets his favorite... In our polls, all of the girls have their fans! :)

Yes, I autocorrected the name to Azuki when I read your post. ;)

I'm glad you liked the art and in particular the music. My favorite from Dere Quartet is the Yanko-chan ending song... but the opening also came out very well.

The idea with the stationary is nice. Next time maybe...

We haven't planed any more high school stories currently (besides a version of Sweet Science for female players that will be without romance), but I would consider your teacher idea.

If you want to become an early testplayer of our next VNs, please contact me on Twitter or via our web page feedback form!

Thanks for your feedback once more!

You're right: the side image of the protagonist shouldn't be there when he's grown up. I changed that for the next update.

Regarding the story's pacing: I'm sure that can be improved, but there's also the issue of different players: I had people saying my first VN was too slow while others said it were too fast. There are definitely different tastes there. – Same as with the length. I'm working on the pacing of my stories nevertheless. 

There's no big stakes in Dere Quartet, as it is a rather cozy story meant to give some relaxed time. It's different in The Last Secret and it will be different in Kieta Memory.

Thanks for your feedback!

Regarding the ending song with the other names: They are famous "tsundere" type girls from famous anime and VNs.

About AI use: So far, my other VNs have not used AI for the story writing. That was definitely an experiment in Dere Quartet. It was half-successful, I would say: The AI had some pretty good ideas and is writing more natural English than me, but it lacks coherence and direction, so I would only use it as a helper tool in the future.

I have one VN without any AI use: The Last Secret. 

That one was done before AI could contribute anything useful. The graphics are – not as good, but it's okay if compared with other non-profit projects, and the VN got very good ratings on Steam. You might want  to give it a try. 

It's set in the same universe as Sweet Science, by the way, and the connection between both will become more visible in the third part of the trilogy "Kieta memory" on which we are working right now. (Test players welcome!)

Thanks for the bug report! I've fixed it and will upload an update now.
Sorry for the mistake!

Maybe I should add a romance route for the teacher...? :D
But well, let's better stay out of the danger zone of teacher-student relationships... ;)

Thank you! I'm happy you like it! :)

Because I could not have done this project without it. I'm not an expert painter. If I had hired artists, I wouldn't have been able to make the game for everybody to play for free.

Moreover, this was an interesting experiment: It was the first full-scale VN made with AI. At that time this was unchartered territory, and the production process was documented on our home page, showing possibilities and limitations of this technology.

Thanks a lot for your comment! I'm glad you like the game – and Sylvia! If you enjoy the soundtrack, then you may take a look at the soundtrack of  our game "The Last Secret" on Spotify, Apple Music etc. :)

Thanks for the stream. I'm glad that you seemed to have liked the game. I understand how conflicted you were with the rating, and I respect your decision. 

If you want to play the full game (that extends a lot beyond what you have seen, since there the demo stops after the first day, but there are also events on the following days, please let me know, then I can give you access before the full version is officially launched.

Thank you very much for your feedback! I'm currently traveling, so I could unfortunately not follow the even this time as much as I would like to have.

If you could share your link, that would be very nice!

Ren'Py-Tom just recommended this in a video interview, so now I'll try it out... – I guess you'll get a lot of downloads currently because of that recommendation? ;)

Funny and short. Right thing for entertaining 30 minutes.

Trigger warning: don't be hungry when you play it! ;D

I can sympathize: https://thelastsecret.itch.io/sweet-science