Finding Miranda (En, Sp, Fr, It, Ge)

[BloodyMares]

A very interesting point you brought up, Tlaero. I love your focus on the narrative and it doesn't bother me that it's 'too linear'. First of all, you never said that these games in Elsa-verse were about decision-making and consequences. Basically they are dating sims but with a great overarching story (and amazing art thanks to Mortze). Most dating sims are fairly linear where there is only one correct path (with a few 'adventures' to choose from) with several checks for amount of points.
With many games that I played (not just erotic ones), I would say that the games with different paths work best as stand-alone projects and won't work as a connected series. They tend to either make decisions very small so the changes are purely cosmetic or they would ignore/retcon some of the decisions away with some bs explanations so they could railroad the player into the story they wanted to tell. And it sucks even more if the story ends up being lackluster (the notorious Mass Effect 3/Andromeda disaster). I wouldn't call that player agency either because in the end player decisions don't have any impact on the story. Not to mention it takes so much time/effort to write all the different paths.
If you plan on making a single self-contained story without sequels and such then you can really have fun with all the different paths and endings and the beauty of it is that you don't have to 'canonize' a certain path and the players would be happy that it was 'their' unique experience. Otherwise, better to opt-out. As for Saving Chloe structure, it looks interesting and I know I would have fun figuring out different scenarios and trying to guess which one is canon.

Off-topic: is there any chance to see you return to your old projects and, say, do something more with Christine? Unlike Keeley, she was only in one game (as a main character) but she will always be in my heart. I don't even know if you're allowed to since you don't work with Phreaky anymore. I guess I'm kind of curious what the game with her would look like now that you're much more experienced and paired up with Mortze.
Thank you.

[tlaero]

I won't answer the Christine question, but I will say a few things:

1) While it would be reasonable to say that Phreaky owns the visuals for Christine and the other Keeley-verse characters, their stories and characterizations are mine. I think it would be morally appropriate for me to tell further stories with those characters using different visuals. That would be similar to Stan Lee doing a Spider-Man comic with a different artist than the original.

2) Way back in the day, before Mortze, I had started thinking through a sequel to GtkC. If I were to do anything new in that universe, it would most likely start with Christine.

3) If you're curious as to what those characters would look like if Mortze had recently been tasked with putting his spin on them, our $10 patrons know...

Tlaero

[Tao Dude]

Well, it's still me writing the game, and I think "story" is the most important part of these games. So, even the shortest paths have a fair amount of story in them. It's just not as long and intricate as in the longer paths.

Tlaero

Keep doing what you do best, and don't worry too much about what critics say. I like your games for the storytelling (and Mortze's artwork) and other people's games for the mental challenges. If they all morphed into some sort of hybrid, they would be too samey.

[Nightshade09]

Yea I second that. Mortze's artwork is OUTSTANDING. Especially in Finding Miranda!

The painstaking detail work both in characters and in scenes.

Even a month later after downloading and playing it. When I go to start up the game and see those graphics . I find myself saying 'Wow!'

Especially, the scene of Lucus, Miranda in conference with their boss in the sunny boardroom. Shading, lighting heck even reflections in the shiny table top.


I'm very glad that your games are in the click to advance format because pausing just to take in the scene is a must see. As well as too draws you deep into the scene an game play.

[Marco6661]

Well, it's still me writing the game, and I think "story" is the most important part of these games. So, even the shortest paths have a fair amount of story in them. It's just not as long and intricate as in the longer paths.

Tlaero

And this is why I love your games, lady Tlaero, sublimated by the Mortze artwork. As already said previously, I consider the technical considerations secondary.

Marco

[BloodyMares]

I won't answer the Christine question, but I will say a few things:

1) While it would be reasonable to say that Phreaky owns the visuals for Christine and the other Keeley-verse characters, their stories and characterizations are mine. I think it would be morally appropriate for me to tell further stories with those characters using different visuals. That would be similar to Stan Lee doing a Spider-Man comic with a different artist than the original.

2) Way back in the day, before Mortze, I had started thinking through a sequel to GtkC. If I were to do anything new in that universe, it would most likely start with Christine.

3) If you're curious as to what those characters would look like if Mortze had recently been tasked with putting his spin on them, our $10 patrons know...

Tlaero

Wow! Very happy to hear that. The future looks promising. Don't want to sound dirty but you do know how to tease...

[L1nk1980]

I won't answer the Christine question, but I will say a few things:

1) While it would be reasonable to say that Phreaky owns the visuals for Christine and the other Keeley-verse characters, their stories and characterizations are mine. I think it would be morally appropriate for me to tell further stories with those characters using different visuals. That would be similar to Stan Lee doing a Spider-Man comic with a different artist than the original.

2) Way back in the day, before Mortze, I had started thinking through a sequel to GtkC. If I were to do anything new in that universe, it would most likely start with Christine.

3) If you're curious as to what those characters would look like if Mortze had recently been tasked with putting his spin on them, our $10 patrons know...

Tlaero

I hope you will do that sequel, I like Christine a lot and as a patron of yours I know how Mortze renders the lady'
s and as always he did a great job with it

and are there not a few different people that draw the Marvel or DC comics all with a different style.

[Hoboy]

I won't answer the Christine question, but I will say a few things:

1) While it would be reasonable to say that Phreaky owns the visuals for Christine and the other Keeley-verse characters, their stories and characterizations are mine. I think it would be morally appropriate for me to tell further stories with those characters using different visuals. That would be similar to Stan Lee doing a Spider-Man comic with a different artist than the original.

2) Way back in the day, before Mortze, I had started thinking through a sequel to GtkC. If I were to do anything new in that universe, it would most likely start with Christine.

3) If you're curious as to what those characters would look like if Mortze had recently been tasked with putting his spin on them, our $10 patrons know...

Tlaero

All I can say is - color me intrigued...

[Weltmeister]

When will we get some new information about SC? It's been a long time...

[JFR]

When will we get some new information about SC? It's been a long time...

They have been keeping folks up-to-date over at their P*****n page with the last update on November 29. Over 1300 pages and almost 1400 images done to date and heading into the home stretch. I imagine Tlaero or Mortze will chime in here soon.

[tlaero]

Thanks JFR,

I post weekly progress updates for all patrons who pledge $1/month.

Current status on Saving Chloe is that the entire script is written. All of the non-canon paths have images and pages, and have been tested. We're down to the last four scenes in the canon path. Mortze is hard at work creating the images for those scenes based on my script, and I'll write the pages and implement the programming as he sends the images to me. We've been struck by various things that have slowed down the creation of the images, so I can't be sure when we'll be done, but it feels like sometime in January to me.

Tlaero

[Ano_nim_20171205]

To: tlaero

Hi, I wrote to Mortze some ideas for game UI on his email (email from yours page), hmm it's not just idea but screenShots from workable changes, but no positive or negative answer so i'm trying to write here.

I like this game for the story and images quality and changed web UI of the game for personal usage but then I decided to share it with you (only small changes but maybe you will interest in).
So if you interest in he can check emails (contain screenshots) or can post screenshots here (but only with your permission)

PS: my profile email is not real

Thx for answer :P

[tlaero]

Mortze sent me the images you did this weekend. Thank you for your effort. The CSS changes look nice.

However, I generally don't feel that changing the look of the UI for a story game is the right place to spend effort. I believe that the words and game images matter much more. I think about the over 500 years between Gutenberg and the Kindle in which books really didn't change and reject the idea that we need to freshen up the UI on a game that came out a year ago. I do see feedback from people who that say things like, "The HTML looks like it's from the 90's" which is strange, because I've never seen a book review where someone said, "The story was good, but the whole 'black text on a white background' thing is so 17th century." These discussions remind me of the early web, where people were more interested in making text wiggle than writing good text. I plan to continue to focus on writing good text and stick with the minimalist UI.

Tlaero

[JFR]

... I plan to continue to focus on writing good text and stick with the minimalist UI. ...

[L1nk1980]

... I plan to continue to focus on writing good text and stick with the minimalist UI. ...