Unity Aurora's Fog [v0.11] [CATINMASK]

CATINMASK said:

Hey guys, can you please tell me what can I do to improve the game in terms of balance/gameplay/visuals...? I don't know but as far as I see the game is not popular and I can't say why. I was thinking that the balance was the main problem but after some changes in food balance almost nothing changed. I think from your player's perspective it's easier to see the main problems.

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I've played a few hours of your game, up until I messed up by placing the mortar I found in one of the tutorial ovens and couldn't complete one of the later quests. Other than that I didn't have any issues and the game felt more polished than what I was expecting which I mean no offense by saying, it's just that most games here that are more complex than a VN tend to be very unpolished. "Expectations" I think is the key word here, I saw this game in the latest updates section, with VN/html/renpy games filtered out, of course, and saw the unity tag along with a game I'd never seen before. The banner and the name don't say a lot about the game but it's on this website so it's got adult content, right? That's the only expectation I had going in.

I'm glad I gave it a chance though because what I did play I really enjoyed, it kind of reminded me of the gothic games but I think the things I liked would probably turn your average person off. First and foremost, the game is a slow burn experience, most people going in to a game that has adult content expect to see it relatively quickly but you can't do that here. Then there's cooking which I hate to complain about as you've quite clearly wrote an explanation of how it works in game but even with that I still screwed up my first meal because I didn't realize I had the campfire icon selected rather than the pot.

I'd never ask you to change how cooking works because if you wanted it to be a simple "just have the ingredients" you'd have went with that first but idiot proofing the instructions would go a long way, I think. Something like a still image that has arrows pointing to various elements and what they do, at first I assumed that simply having the pot icon meant that any recipes that called for it would be covered not realizing that it was selectable. It's a system that I've never seen before and deceptively simple once you figure it out but I feel like the player could be eased into it a bit more.

Speaking of hand holding, I didn't realize I could sleep on the bench, by the time I'd spoken to everyone, got quests, and explored, night fell and I was completely stuck, as a last resort I thought about a bench I'd seen near a campfire earlier and tried using it on a whim in pitch black darkness (I didn't know about the lantern in the blacksmiths chest at the time). Maybe it was pointed out in dialogue and I forgot but a camera pan to the camp site, after being told you can use that would help cement that better in the players mind when starting out. Along with this, I don't recall any of the characters telling me I could use their chests for storage, I'd just assumed I couldn't since it says in dialogue that they don't appreciate you barging in and using their crafting stations/beds so I assumed the chests were part of that.

I wish there was more I could say or do, but that was my experience as a new player, for what it's worth. I'm a bit biased when I say this as I really liked your game but if I had to guess as to why it never picked up speed, it's probably because it's more complex and slow compared to your average adult game which is a shame because this game has a lot of soul, the fact that you've worked on it this long with so little support is proof enough and overall it's a very well presented game.

CATINMASK said:

Do you think I should upload some gifs with adult anims demonstration? This may help. Plus I can also upload some from non-demo build, for example with Vlada (centaur girl), but this may confuse some players...

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I'm pretty sure they have rules here against posting paywalled content that isn't available on the build posted here, in the original post at least. You could still make a new post but eventually it would get buried under all of the other comments so long term this wouldn't be that big of a boon.

CATINMASK said:

I think it's on the edge of genres... youtubers/streamers won't be playing it because it has NSFW content and it's a big red flag for them even if you say that the game has censorship. And "adult" players don't like it because it does not show them any NSFW content in the first 30-60 minutes so they just stop playing.

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Yeah, it's in an awkward spot. You could plaster sex all over the banner and in all the screenshots but that would only do more harm than good because the game isn't really all about the sex. All I can say is to keep plugging along with it, if you can, and keep advertising yourself on reddit, itch, etc. You could post those previews of Vlada over at the various adult game subreddits, I think it would do you a lot better than here. I believe there's a niche out there for you but you just haven't found it yet.

I boot up the game, but can't click on anything in the main menu. I see the in-game sword cursor, and I can move the cursor, but I can't click on anything.

kraoro said:

I boot up the game, but can't click on anything in the main menu. I see the in-game sword cursor, and I can move the cursor, but I can't click on anything.

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I doubt this is the case, but its worth mentioning. Sometimes games can have a sort of mismatch with the expected screen resolution and what is actually displayed. Its rare and I've not seen it in this game, but when it happens you have to try and move the cursor around the intended target and see if it works from a near position. I'm not saying thats the case here, but its just a possibility and something to quickly test to rule it out.

Actually, I saw a seemingly unrelated issue, and tried changing Dynamic Resolution to 0 in the json file, and that fixed it. The other uses with a problem was using a 4K monitor, but apparently it's also a problem on 1440p ultrawides. New thing, though, how the hell do I pick locks? I press space, hear a click, then hold LMB and rotate left/clockwise, and the lockpicks still keep breaking.

Yeah, I'm doing what the tutorial says. I find the spot and it clicks when I hold space, but then the lockpick breaks when I try rotating the pick after hearing the click. Am I supposed to keep holding down space while holding LMB? Because I tried with and without holding space, and the pick keeps breaking.