Life With Keeley

[rabbie]

(By the way, I suspect most males aren't really up to coping with one woman, let alone two -- the ones that say they are are almost certainly boasting or deluded! )

Well - i want to atleast get to try one day? Even if i fail horribly...its worth a shot.

[flyserpat]

Hi Tlearo,


I don't post very often, but I just want to thank you for this amazing game. In my mind, this is your best work! I really loved Christine, but this one beats it!

As for the other guys complaining about issues, so what if it doesn't work with Chrome, use Firefox!

What a game!

The storyline is really big and the Save/Restore feature helped me big time! On my wishlist, Anal would have been in there with a threesome but I totally undertsand that it didn't fit in the story. At least we had a lesbian scene!!!

I hope this isn't the last we see of Christine and Keeley!

And I do hope you'll continue your great work in the future with Phreaky!

[dryheave]

Very cool game. It's different and that is a good thing.

I think I might have found a bug though. I can't replicate it, but I will try.

I went to the clothing shop and then to the love shop and talked to the guy. I then went arround to several of the mall shops,but definately did not go back to the clothing shop and get the card. I later went back to the loveshop and found I had the card to give to the guy.

[thundergod]

As for the other guys complaining about issues, so what if it doesn't work with Chrome, use Firefox!

Just so it's clear, no one has complained that it doesn't work with Chrome. People have identified the previously-unknown compatibility with Chrome and helped someone who couldn't figure out how to make it run without using Chrome. I think the characterization of what's actually gone on in this thread is grossly unrelated to the reality, unfortunately.

[MysteryMan2333]

Count me as a pilot posting for the first time. Tlaero's post probably has something to do with it, as I do want to it to feel like her, and Phreaky's, work should be commended. That being said, I do think expecting a bunch of posts within a day or so is potentially unrealistic as your games are far more complex than the standard fare posted on these forums. I, personally, always play on Hard difficulty when playing your games as I don't see a point of playing on Easy/Medium if you can't reach the end of the game. I'm fine with failing (which I did the first time with 22/35 points) and playing through multiple times (2nd playthrough 31/35). I'm sure that the other difficulties exist because some people may not want the added challenge, but then IMO you might as well just open the various .html files to see the various situations/pictures (which I'm sure people do and are perfectly in the right to do as the files are there for the viewing).

Essentially, I don't think you can take a lack of posts as a personal attack against your work. If anything, considering Chaotic games are released and then the next 50 posts are about not even being able to complete the game (I do think people are unusually harsh on his games though, power of internet anonymity I guess), you should take it as a compliment the fact that the bug posts in this thread are just about a browser that a minority of people use. Let me also say that Tlaero/Phreaky (Tleaky? Phaero?)) games have quickly become favorites of mine. I'd rank my AIF games in somewhat of this order: GoblinBoy (don't know if he works with a team, but his games are mind-blowing IMO), Tlaero/Phreaky, Pusooy, Shark, Leonizer, Chaotic, whatever else I'm missing. So with that, the following is my opinion (some positive, some negative) of the game. Hopefully it's constructive which you can use for the next game you work on... and I do hope you guys continue.

I honestly haven't decided if I liked this more than Getting to Know Christine. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as I thought GtkC was basically the pinnacle of this style of game (up there with ArianeB). I do like the character of Christine more than Keeley as I find her far more adventurous/exciting than Keeley. Obviously I didn't comment in the previous GtkC thread, but I guess there were complaints in there about the game being to linear? I didn't mind that because it felt like each date built up to the next. The linear aspect of that game made perfect sense to me.

So while I admire the fact that you wanted to try to make this game non-linear, I personally, am not sure if it was necessary yet. I'm sure I would of gotten bored with it eventually, but at the moment I was loving your previous games so much that this one was a bit of a shock that I had to actually do more than just pick a "You so hot" response. I can understand that for the characters of Keeley/James though it makes sense considering there obviously not in the dating phase, but in a full blown relationship. So technically, I can understand that this game would be far more difficult to code based on the fact that at any given time, Keeley can be doing a number of things. I was concerned at first that it felt like on the first day, I was doing numerous things that I wasn't sure if I should be doing (desk/magazine/cinema) all at once, but they all worked without a hitch. It's a great accomplishment to release something far more complex than your previous works without a bug to speak of ... and no, I don't care about "Ut oh"... but yes, it's totally wrong

Also as a male (which I'm sure 99% of your playing audience is), playing as a female character is odd and confusing to me I'm a guy, and am not necessarily in tune with what Keeley should be saying to other female characters. Guys think about sex, a lot. So while Keeley may want to talk about feelings with another female character, at the same time I'm thinking that Keeley and that character should totally make out. Don't blame me, it's in my DNA or something. Also, considering that I was playing Keeley in the adventure phase of the game, but controlling multiple characters during the sex scenes, was a little jarring to me. It kind of takes you out of the experience a bit more than the previous games IMO. I felt like if I was Keeley, then I should just stick to being Keeley, even if that means I have to blow a dude under the... wait, no, oh god no... Good decision with 3rd person! :P Seriously though, while you have every right to write a game from a female perspective, it's going to be a tough sell to a predominantly male audience. Basically because they want to picture themselves as that character.

Also, I know if previous games there was an emphasis on not really choosing a conversation topic, and instead clicking on something in the picture. So a lot of time for the dialogue scenes I found myself constantly mousing around trying to find some additional option to select, which very rarely ever happened. It did happen more in the sex scenes, so it did make me feel like I wasn't searching for nothing (thankfully!), but it seemed less of a concern this time around than previous games. Just wanted to make note of it as I'm not sure if you know people like myself just spend more than half the game trying to find those options... or maybe you do expect that!

I do think the graphics were top-notch. The first "animated" scene seemed to be a little pixelated to me, but the rest were fine so I'm not sure if it was just something with my PC on that one. As mentioned before, I personally prefer Christine's look/style more than Keeley's, but I'm sure that there are just as many that prefer the other. To continue on that, I even thought the girl in the "video" was more attractive than either Christine/Keeley. It's hard to critic anything else in this area as I think the graphics have continually improved over the course of your games and this is just really a personal preference on the girl you prefer.

In any case, this post looks like it's getting pretty long... you guys did want feedback right? I'll just summarize here. I think this is another fine edition to the series you guys have going, however I'm still leaning towards liking GtkC more. That's not a knock against Life With Keeley as I think it is still a great effort overall, and a great advancement technically/graphically. I personally just preferred that game more. There's a reason VG developers make the same style of game over and over; it sells when it's good, and people get comfortable with it. The difference here is that while I can like GtkC more, I don't care if you make the next game as an advancement and even more non-linear. As phreaky mentioned in an earlier post, while it's great to hear feedback for your games, do it because you want to and you're having fun doing it. You're not getting paid for this, so do it because you want to. People are entitled to their opinions, which on the internet tends to be critical (I mean really, who criticizes something for being non-linear and more open... oh... right, me ), so don't let it get to you.

[thundergod]

I think your post is on point. The temporal gap between the release of the game and the dismay at the reaction was virtually nothing at all. Inevitably, the first large percentage of posts are going to be about the mechanics of playing the game, which would include browser issues and bugs (though I think it's well worth emphasizing that the degree to which this game was bug-free is absolutely remarkable and unprecedented in the genre...which is, I'd caution, not exactly the same thing as saying that is was bug-free).

There will, also inevitably, be a bunch of one-off gut reactions to the game. "Why didn't Keeley have sex with Adrian," etc. This is only an expression of personal preference, and still really has nothing to do with the game.

Anyone who was going to offer a true, serious, in-depth analysis of the game would have had to play it over and over, exploring both the failure paths and the various success paths. Then look under the hood to see what they'd missed, then play it again. There simply hadn't been time for most people to do that by the time this thread took a turn for the hurtful, and that's really unfortunate. As noted earlier, I was prepared to offer a very long, and overwhelmingly positive -- but with some significant caveats that I think would have been more interesting than nitpicky -- response, but that was sort of cut off at the knees.

Because, of course, the last thing anyone wants is for there to not be a subsequent game. So if the price of that assurance is my (or anyone else) not offering a response to the game, then that's worth it for me. Even if I hated the game (which I most assuredly didn't; it was a masterwork of craft [my issues were character-related]), I would no longer explain why, here. I suppose that's too bad, but really it pales in comparison to the possibility that tlaero and phreaky would be too discouraged to continue. They really are the best at this stuff, really without question, and to see that happen would be tragic.

[rabbie]

Christine
Keeley3
Keeley2
Keeley1
ariane
about an acre of space
The good VDG stuff
The bad vdg stuff
.

Have you played jessica? It is a little hard but i think it's underrated in that it does not tend to get mentioned along side some of the top games in the genre, feels like the first game in this series really - even though tlaero did not put it in the first thread so maybe its completely unrelated while using the Jessica model that was used in Keeley 1 and 3. Keisha pops up too if you know how to find her...on that point would love to see a game about her, my fav cameo character Very pretty.

[bootus]

On the one hand, congrats because your game is amazing. I love the story and the gameplay.

On the second hand for those who use chrome, you must download the game open the "_function.js" file
and substitute some function :

function deleteVar(name)
{
localStorage.clear();
}

function setVar(name, value, expires)
{
localStorage.setItem(name, value);
}

function setString(name, value, expires)
{
localStorage.setItem(name, value );
}

function readString(name)
{
return localStorage.getItem( name );
}

function readVar(name)
{
var val = parseInt(localStorage.getItem( name ));
if (isNaN(val))
val = 0;

return val;
}

After you done this the game must work.

[bosbrand]

Quite a few reactions in this thread, as well as in those for other games are (at least partially)along the lines of "Great game, but I'd love to see more of {insert poster's fetish here}". Totally understandable, of course. I'll always appreciate something that includes blowjobs to completion more than something that doesn't, as long as they're of equal quality.

I'll say that again. As long as they're of equal quality. Because that's next to impossible. An artist, be they writer, painter or game maker, will not be able to give the same effort, and generate the same quality, if they work on something that doesn't interest them. That is one of the reasons why Tlaero/Phreaky, GoblinBoy etc. are often ranked above for instance Leonizer in quality lists, I think. When you decide to go commercial, you need volume, and it is very very hard to produce volume while still only doing the things that affect you a lot personally.

So, please please please, continue to write exactly what you personally want to write about, and draw what turns you yourself on, because that way, and only that way, will we get the hottest and most beautiful games, stories and pictures.

[Synthus]

That's not entirely fair. Leonizer's games have improved markedly over the years. The later games have far more believable characterization (within the limitations of the medium) and development (generally in the cause of bonking some attractive virtual girl, but hey!). I'm pretty sure that the addition of a writer to the dev team around the time these changes started occurring is no coincidence.

Also, I'd love to comment, but I'm still lurking about and waiting for a rehost so I can play the bloody game in the first place. I've grown resigned to the fact that I'm going to get to play these games only a few weeks after release.

[Rikwar]

That's not entirely fair. Leonizer's games have improved markedly over the years. The later games have far more believable characterization (within the limitations of the medium) and development (generally in the cause of bonking some attractive virtual girl, but hey!). I'm pretty sure that the addition of a writer to the dev team around the time these changes started occurring is no coincidence.

Also, I'd love to comment, but I'm still lurking about and waiting for a rehost so I can play the bloody game in the first place. I've grown resigned to the fact that I'm going to get to play these games only a few weeks after release.

Would you and others stay with the subject at hand Life With Keeley and post your thoughts about other game developers elsewhere for fuck sake

[Synthus]

Take your backseat moderating to another thread, mate.

[J_I]

I'm just now downloading the game. I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I've enjoyed almost all of this team's work.

Still, I think that outburst was uncalled for. Sure, some people are going to be unappreciative, but a number of people are just critiquing. That's what people on this board do with virtually every work that comes through. Expecting waves of praise is somewhat unrealistic.

I think everyone should expect their work to be appreciated. I agree with that. But I also don't think that tearing down the work of others in comparison to your own shows much more consideration to the author than the posts that upset you in the first place.

That said, I genuinely thank you both for the time and effort it took to put this game together. I'm about to play it and no doubt enjoy it.

[Greebo]

@ Synthus How hard have you tried to get around your system problems with RapidShare, because from what I can tell your problems aren't likely to be due to whether you have a dynamic or a static IP. Browsers make a difference, and as I have already said, a good download helper can work wonders.

If you don't bite the bullet and find a sensible way to make RapidShare work for you, you are likely to remain on the sidelines for many downloads since many folk use RapidShare exclusively nowadays. I used to find various previous incarnations of their main page a pain but the present one seems to be excellent.

[ledino]

Just a quick opinion.

Great game, I really like it.
For the moment, I can't say that I reach a perfect ending, but it's not a problem, I try harder next time