Katawa Shoujo Act 1 Preview feedback thread

[U.T. Raptor]

The equivalent would be a Japanese making a game about life in an English-speaking country with a character named "Fishette" or "Char".

You left yourself open for this one...

[ojisan]

Of course, should have known better to leave myself that wide open! Perhaps that's why the character was named "Iwanako" - we may have a Gundam fan among the developers!

Minor quibble again: Perhaps Nomiya should be spelled "Noumiya"

[Khaos]

The game is good as it is being a hybrid between western and japanese components.
And it's just fantasy...remember? That strange world where there are things possible that aren't possible in reality.

[Guest]

Just nitpicking, and sorry if this has come up, but two of Shizune's sprites seem a little messed up.
The "default" pose is her turned slightly to the left, and her, um, bust reflects this. However, on two of her sprites, the "disgruntled" one, and the final sprite on her ending (the one where she has her arms spread out), are meant to appear like she is facing you.
Her bust doesn't reflect this, either making the right breast look larger than the left, or making her breasts look like they are rotated.

Sorry if I'm wrong.

[Snicket]

First off if i come off as pessimistic, that's not my intention. Despite some minor issues with the game, it was pretty enjoyable. Though the demo was short and had a lot of run on that could of been cut out/changed for during each character path. Originally after seeing this thread, i came up with a list of the pros and cons along with suggestions for this game. Since it was asking for feedback. Though since most of what i had listed has already been said, i'll just put what hasn't been....or at least what i think hasn't.

There are some things that i noticed that may need to looked into before the final release of the game.

First , the music. The music it self wasn't bad, but there were times that i swore another characters music was playing during a scene that they weren't in. Example being during Shizune and Misha moments were i thought Rin's music was playing, when she wasn't even around. Now i could of just played the game too many times and thought it was playing.

Second, some of the character sprites. Granted its probably common to use sprites more then once, but there are times when the exact same sprite is used for many different situations. Some i've noticed have only 2 or 3.

Third, the length of character story or lack there of. Some characters story totally encompassed every ones, while others were barely explained at all. Though there story could be brought out later on as the game progressed. For the demo they weren't explained enough.

Fourth, the animations. Most felt like a bad "tween" job in flash. They would transition sluggishly and unevenly.

Fifth, the backgrounds. Nothing wrong with them. (other then whats already been mentioned) Though it did feel that some were over used. Also it felt that a different one should of been used at certain times, rather then have the characters dart across or get closer to the screen.

Sixth, the text. At times "Hisao" would go on some long tangent about whats going on around him, only to have it become a jumbled mess. There were at times that i had to pause and read the text history to figure out what he was saying.

-Aside from the whats been mentioned by myself and others on this forum. This game has a lot of things that are enjoyable about it. So don't think that these "issues" are going to cripple (no pun intended) the games possible success. I'm just putting in my two bits on this.

[Xevo]

First , the music. The music it self wasn't bad, but there were times that i swore another characters music was playing during a scene that they weren't in. Example being during Shizune and Misha moments were i thought Rin's music was playing, when she wasn't even around. Now i could of just played the game too many times and thought it was playing.

Second, some of the character sprites. Granted its probably common to use sprites more then once, but there are times when the exact same sprite is used for many different situations. Some i've noticed have only 2 or 3.

Third, the length of character story or lack there of. Some characters story totally encompassed every ones, while others were barely explained at all. Though there story could be brought out later on as the game progressed. For the demo they weren't explained enough.

Fourth, the animations. Most felt like a bad "tween" job in flash. They would transition sluggishly and unevenly.

Fifth, the backgrounds. Nothing wrong with them. (other then whats already been mentioned) Though it did feel that some were over used. Also it felt that a different one should of been used at certain times, rather then have the characters dart across or get closer to the screen.

Sixth, the text. At times "Hisao" would go on some long tangent about whats going on around him, only to have it become a jumbled mess. There were at times that i had to pause and read the text history to figure out what he was saying.

1. In my opinion, the music should just fit the situation. Which the game did well.
2. This is related too your third question I suppose, since some characters had more screening time than others.
3. If they would already explain everything here what would there be left for the full version? Only h-scenes? Either way you do have a point, like that Emi's path was very short and didn't even start too think about why she doesn't have any legs, while Shizune's path went way up to a blacked out scene with them on the roof together watching fireworks. We'll just have too wait I suppose.
4. Not sure if this is the games fault or the fault of renpy.
5. Kinda tru, but keep in mind that this a totally free project getting a lot of high quality pictures which also fit together perfectly is pretty hard and takes up time.
6. Well it is a long story, after reading the game twice I still didn't get some parts in total, but oh well. Isn't so bad I guess.

[Snicket]

yeah it kind of came off as a rant, but like i said there was some other things i noticed that had already been said. Most of the things that i mentioned are probably just me being nit picky. Even the best of games have problems. Whether fixing them is a high priority is another things all together.Though for the record i did explain the "issue" rather then saying "" sucks." My 2 and 4 "issues" are the ones that i felt strongly about,Issue 2" being the biggest one. Since there have been a few people on other forums that have brought this up too. So i know i'm not the only one that thinks this "Issue 4" being more of an annoyance more then any thing. Most if the characters movements are alright, it just the face expression are whats wrong. A happy to a sad face seems to be slower then a character ju,ping up and down or moving across the screen.

[Opes]

Wow, im only part of the way through the demo, but this is waaaay better than i thought it would be. Only complaint, the backgrounds. I know that they are going to stay the photo/cartoon thing, but some of them look too much like the photo (the nurses hallway comes to mind) but, that's not a big deal. Now, HURRY UP AND FINISH.

[BaselarDavid]

Hey! I know this has probably been asked 10-200 times but what does this mean? How can it be fixed?

I'm sorry, but an exception occured while executing your Ren'Py
script.

Exception: pixellate requires a 24 or 32 bit surface.

After initialization, but before game start.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

File "C:\Program Files\Katawa Shoujo Act 1\renpy\bootstrap.py", line 255, in bootstrap
File "C:\Program Files\Katawa Shoujo Act 1\renpy\main.py", line 297, in main
File "C:\Program Files\Katawa Shoujo Act 1\renpy\display\core.py", line 1091, in __init__
File "C:\Program Files\Katawa Shoujo Act 1\renpy\display\core.py", line 708, in __init__
File "C:\Program Files\Katawa Shoujo Act 1\renpy\display\scale.py", line 123, in real_smoothscale
File "_renpy.pyx", line 118, in _renpy.pixellate
Exception: pixellate requires a 24 or 32 bit surface.

After initialization, but before game start.

Ren'Py Version: Ren'Py 6.9.1h

I am in PAIN T.T

___________________________________________
EDIT:
NEVER MIND! i found out what it was... it made me feel really, REALLY dumb XDD

[No0en]

hello I played all the endings this week and I think the game was VERY good

The art
VERY good, backgroud and the characters are both yummy.
One note on shizune tho, her boobs seems a bit funny, one bigger than the other, or something.

The paths
Rin: Absolutely fantastic! (because i love Rin)
Hanako: Just as good as Rin's path (exept that i like Rin more
Lily: A little dissapointing, would have been better without hanako i think
Emi: Also a little dissapointing, talking about health dosent turn me on xD give more romantic school festival plz
Shizune: Possibly the best path of them all, very good "feel" about it, personally i dont like shizune too much, but thats not because of the story.


Technical stuff
Fireworks: when they pop in, you can see the "edge" of the picture that the firework is a part of.
Saving: when you play the game, and transfer to another computer, the saved stuff dissapear, kinda annoying as i wanated to play on my laptop as well.

[Sturm]

Why does skip mode have to work by flashing through text really quickly? Can it not just be a direct scene skip? That would save some time.

[Kari]

Why does skip mode have to work by flashing through text really quickly? Can it not just be a direct scene skip? That would save some time.

I think most VN skip modes work by just flashing through the text...

[Boxy]

First and foremost i would like to say thanks for putting forth the effort to make this game. When i saw the original threads back on /a all that time ago now i was not sure whether such a game would be in good taste or be entertaining. I've played through the demo over the last 2 nights accumulating about 6 hours of playtime to finish all the routes, and i have to say the game has floored me. The concept and presentation are nothing like i imagined, my only regret now is that i must wait for the full installment to see the rest of the stories. I will try to turn my fan goggles off for a bit though and give some constructive feedback.

-First the backgrounds.
One of the things i like best about the game is that it does what many visual novels (In my admittedly fairly small experience) fail to do, which is make the fantasy believable. KS's theme hits home in a unique way in that it is a very real possibility for everyone that this could in fact happen to you. The photo backgrounds and real scenes only re-enforce this which i think is fantastic. Admittedly some of the background scenes are a bit bland, but that to me is preferable than a technicolor nightmare you find sometimes, its a cafeteria not the sultans palace. I especially loved the tea house location, that one fits perfectly.

-Storyboard.
Kudos to the writers, the start scene and the followup myriad of introductions of all the heroines was done quite well. Some girls had more spotlight than others, but i think that may be more due to whats going on in the first act rather than anything accidental or deliberate. I can honestly say i had the good feeling i usually get when enjoying a good book while playing the game. It marks the game as quite unique that i want to learn about the characters and story more than just waiting to see them naked. I enjoyed how you don't have to give the cold shoulder to 90% of the cast in order to progress down a route, and how you were not locked into 1 path after the first 2 or 3 choices. The pairings of the girls in an interesting idea too, it brings a lot more life to a story rather than just being with your solitary choice after about an hours playtime. All the combination's play off each other pleasingly.

-Sound/Music
I cant really think of anything bad to say about this. I think all the tunes fit the situations quite well, though once or twice i did come across a tune that seemed out of place for the mood. This was very rare though, the composer/s have done a fantastic job here.

-Game UI
Cant complain, fairly simple and functional with a pleasing design.

-The girls

Rin: Possibly my favorite as it stands currently. I sort of went from "What?" to "Wow.." with her. Awesome dialogue and interactions, didn't notice any glaring design flaw in her sprite sequences. Watching her mural take shape over act 1 was really something i immensely enjoyed. Her dialogues were all interesting and sometimes thought provoking which was not something i was expecting. Would love to see another art project take shape over an act with their relationship being fleshed out more during it.

Shizune/Misha: Fantastic combo, easily the most dynamic pair of the group presented. Their route in the first act was a bit of a roller coaster for me, it started high dipped a little then finished very strongly again. I did play their route last though so i'd already seen them around a lot as they are fairly prominent in the first act story. Easily the longest and most fleshed out story, again due to the first acts content, Touching end. I have a feeling this route is going to be especially tragic in the finished project.

Lilly: Very close behind Shizune/Misha as my second favourite, i love her character design although there were a couple of times her drawing seemed a little off for what she was doing. Lilly (As do Emi and Hanako) feels a little under developed, but i guess she doesn't feature very heavily in the first act story, i can see where some more character development for her might come from for her.

Emi: On my first play through i ended up on her route by just picking whatever option i fancied or felt right. Very girlish (almost loli esq) but heartwarming character, a little under developed in the first act as i mentioned before but definitely lots of potential for growth can be seen. Not really my cup of tea but i can see the charms.

Hanako: I'm not sure how i feel about Hanako really. I guess its a taste thing but she's just not HNNNG inducing or interesting for me. Too little dialogue and too much hiding for me, you spend more of her route chasing her around with Lilly than with her really. I guess that's just leading on to her main story, of which i can see there is probably a lot waiting. I think i am probably asking too much from a demo/preview, but its hard not to when you guys set the bar so high already.

-Side Characters
All were pretty decent, especially Kenji... you really nailed that one


-Future H scenes
These will really make or break the game i think, honestly i believe the less fetish pandering the better. From what I've seen of the game so far I'm sure that's not what you guys are going for here so I'm not too worried. Done correctly they will be a great addition to whats there already.


Okay i think that's enough wall of text from me. This post ended up a lot longer than i thought it would. I appreciate everything you guys have put into the game so far, it really has a special feel about it. I wish you all the best in completing it.

[Tualha]

while playing fullscreen mode on my 22' monitor the images is stretched horizontaly, but the text is displayed correctly

Arrrrggghhh MONITOR ENVY

[Tualha]

Every path is engaging and as much as I'd like to finish every story completely, I've been playing it for about three hours straight since I downloaded the demo instead of studying for a final I have on Friday.

Do you:

* Study for the final *
* Decide to play the visual novel game just a little bit, then study *

Picked: Choice 2

Several scenes later, you fall to your death