Sooooo I just read your public thank you.....I already loved your work dearly and I'm always trying to share it with others....you really know how to connect with pple. Lol You seem like a wonderful person based on your creative personality and how you present yourself. I hope you continue to create special moments for pple even outside of your work. I know I don't know you personally but I see great things in your future bc a story like this one takes more than a creative mind. It takes a kind and understanding heart. One that can be vulnerable, supportive and an overall good person. Keep up the good work bc your work seems to really be inspiring pppe in this hateful and judging world we live in. It's not all bad honestly but pple like you help us see the light when things seem so dark. Some sense of direction when there is no where to go.
My bad for running on. Please enjoy the rest of your day and thanks again for what you do
First off, thank you for the support and for sharing the story with others. That's actually how I've managed to get the word out is just mostly from word of mouth. While advertising is nice, it always feels better when others are inspired by the story enough to spread the word for you. I just like the feeling of that so I appreciate it. It's also one of the dozen reasons the game is free.
I'll also say thank you for the more personal compliment. I'm just a regular guy, though, really. There's very much a lot of me in the characters and that includes both positive and negative characteristics. I'll admit that writing this has made me very vulnerable but I wouldn't change that. I like the parts of me, even the not-so-pretty parts that I've managed to capture here. Sorta like I snapshot from where I was compared to where I am now. I'm deeply touched that you see the work as something positive though with everything going on in the world. If I had a vision for it, it would be that. An adult game with heart that has a point and you walk away a different person because of that. It's a super niche focus but I like it and It feels really good when someone picks up on that so thank you.
Wow! I tried a few games on this platform and this definitely stood out!
Honestly, I was primarily going for a nsfw game and this game is not primarily about nsfw—BUT that doesn't change that I'm pretty impressed by the game. It has enough nsfw content, but the plot is strong enough to stand out on its own. The plot doesn't serve the nsfw content, it's deep, it's thoughtful and the slow pacing is realistic. This game is addictive, like literally.
I know, the game is still in development, so don't interpret my feedback as harsh. Whatever I criticize now, you might already know and want to change when you go over it. Furthermore, these are small points of criticism, so they don't diminish the quality of the game:
Sometimes, there are long parts without "decisions". There are some points at which you'd be able to add some decisions. Even though, it doesn't change the outcome that much, eases the experience in my opinion
Even though, they point it out in-game, parts of the game feel like running in circles with ever the same activities and dialogues. I'm pretty sure, you can add a bit to that and probably already work on that
Some locations (especially the lecture hall) seem to be pretty empty. I know that you didn't want to add too many characters and Ernie appearing and disappearing makes it a bit more interactive but there is—yet slight—room for improvement, I guess
Last but not least, who wrote the verbal exchanges between Zack and Braden? Kudos to them? They are absolutely off the scale. I just love these dialogues 👍🏻
Thanks for checking in and I'm glad the game stood out from such a large website here. The search function around here is also pretty hard to navigate too so I'm glad you stumbled across me however that may have happened.
That being said, I take criticism pretty well and most of the limitations I've had with this story could probably be summarized as inexperience and budget. All of the things you've noted are things that I've either considered or are aware of. Since you took some time to write a lengthy post, I'll do the same for a response. A lot of the "decision" type stuff was something that I slowly moved away from because of organizational problems. When you're mapping these VNs out, choices and the variables can quickly get out of hand. For example, a few years ago, I was trying to do the poker scene and I had every hand have a winner and loser, that alone quickly branched out to like 60 different paths in one scene. It was insane. I'll also admit that my concentration is absolute garbage. If you spent any time in the Discord or talked with me on voicechat, you'd see how quickly I can derail myself. So because of that, I made the conscious decision to limit the choices to a number that I could handle. I decided I'd have less choices and try to do those routes right rather than have choices everywhere and just lose focus on everything. That being said, I plan on doing a revamp based on what I've learned and there will likely be some things added in if I have the budget and time to do it. So we'll see. But yeah... you're totally right. The choices are limited here.
2. Running in circles. So that part is likely going to be fixed on the revamp. The reason that plays out like that is this game started in 2017 and the majority of the adult games were grind-based. You had skill points that you had to grind up by doing the same events over and over and then eventually unlock the next tier. That required more coding skill and to be honest, I'm pretty awful at that so I slowly just moved away from it. I tried to quick fix the beginning but it's still pretty bad to the point that I can't even play it anymore. So I want the story to be more linear like it is post-chapter 3 (I think that's when the circles stopped).
3. Empty school. This one is kinda funny and I'll make fun of myself. Truth is that the reason the school is empty is because of computer issues. When I started, I could only render one model at a time in the screens mostly. That lasted until a *spoiler hint here * certain park scene with motion. After that, I was able to upgrade the computer system I have based on Patreon donations and after that scene, you noticeably see a little more detail. over time, I gradually was able to add more people in until hit about 5 max. Which brings me to the current rig. I now have a new computer based on Patreon donations and I can get about 10 people in and maybe more. The tradeoff is that it takes hours to position all those for every shot so it does slow down production but it looks better. We'll likely see more students in the school during the revamp. In fact, there's a sarcastic dialogue line in the game somewhere where I have one of the characters say that sometimes it feels like they're the only students there--- that's me totally busting myself out :p
4. Dialogue is all me except Blayke, my co-writer wrote the scene in the car where they're driving to a sandy location. If you spent 5 minutes talking to me, you'd know where that dialogue came from, lol. I write exactly like I talk :P
Thank you for your equally lengthy reply! I don't know, how I found it. I played three other games before, but yours was the only one that made me literally addicted. Funny that this is not the only time, I was looking for nsfw stuff and ended up with something not primarily nsfw that I absolutely love ^^
Yeah, I absolutely see your point. Maybe I should add that I'm a web application developer, so I know what coding is like. However, despite looking into game development a couple of times, I always had loads of respect for those who choose that field of software development since the focus is pretty much on details that happen in a split second or influence almost every other detail during the progress of playing the game.
What I called "decisions" could be roughly divided into two or three sub categories: On one hand, we have the "influential decisions" that would make stuff quite complicated as you said, but then we have more like "conversation topics" that don't matter, and the player can just decide the order in which they take place or skip them. I don't say, that a game should be cluttered with decisions, I sometimes get bored when I have to click over and over again without being challenged with making decisions every now and then—I hope, that makes sense. Or to put it a little different: If it feels more like a continuous movie, maybe the dialogue should proceed without me having to click all the time :D Especially the inner monologues at night, where the background is all black could be over the whole screen to have fewer pieces to click through.
3. Yeah, I like your meta jokes very much. It's good to have that kind of humor as a creator 👍🏻 Thanks for sharing a few technical details with me. I am constantly curious how this or that was implemented.
4. Actually, I haven't talked to you yet, but it sounds like it would be great fun, and I'd be a fool if I miss out on a chance to. However, I neither have Discord nor Patreon—turns out, I'm a fool after all.
haha, no worries on the Discord or Patreon. I'll be uploading the update over here 3 weeks after I release it on Patreon. The Patreon donations just help with all the expenses and stuff so they get first dibs.
And yep, I agree with you on the decisions and stuff. So one thing you may not have considered (and honestly I still can't get over this part even after a few years now). But one problem with putting large reading sections on the screen at the same time deals with non-English speaking readers. I honestly still don't know how non-English readers can get through my writing with all the generational slang but thousands do. But there's been loads of people that will copy this game into Google translate line by line. You simply can't do that when you make it into a movie or animated sequence. There's one sequence that has words on it in the game and I didn't do any more than that because I didn't wanna leave the non-English speakers out. I assume that copying that into translate would be just as complicated if I loaded a wall of text as a slide (kinda like I did my giant damn thank you page).
Another weird writing quirk I apparently had with this project is that I frequently say that I "lost control of the characters." At some point, this story began writing itself and I found myself, even as the writer, not really having choices on what they did. That sorta got passed down to the reader as well. I figured if I didn't get a say in this outcome anymore, than neither is the reader. We're in it together and for some reason, I kinda like that. The fact that I couldn't control outcomes made me more anxious as nervous as a reader. The tense scenes seemed more tense because i couldn't go back and choose something better to rescue them. I kinda like that
Donating works from over here as well ^^ And honestly, the game is worth every cent, possibly more. And you really deserve that for the effort you put into all of this.
As a non-native speaker, I can tell that I have seen "worse"- Your writing didn't bother me and I don't recall any hard to read parts. People might wanna switch from Google Translate to Deepl.com. That one uses neural language processing (fascinating topic tbh) and translations feel quite natural. Have you considered making the game multi-language by letting the community input translations? But that might be a lot of extra work. I just thought, if they already kinda did that for themselves, they might wanna share it with others this way. Yeah, I imagined my solution looking kinda like your thank you page indeed.
Here's another thought, I just had on this: Maybe, some people want to skip optional monologues. How do you feel about adding something like a "page x of y" (maybe more like "(x/y)") on the bottom?
I absolutely what you mean about that aspect of writing. This is sometimes just wild. It often times feels like the story already exists out there (Plato might have called that "World of Forms"—sorry for getting philosophical ^^) and it somewhat just flows through you, your arm, your hand, your fingers and your pen onto the piece of paper or the keyboard onto the screen. Another thing I do while plotting for a story, I wait for an idea to ripe. Sometimes, the way, I wanted that one subplot to play out, just doesn't feel right to one of my characters. In that case, I wait longer until the character comes up with a slight alteration that keeps the general idea intact while making it coherent for the character to decide or act a certain way toward a specific goal.
I'm pretty sure, Ash wouldn't have played the game :D Don't tell me, you didn't have him say that on purpose :P
I just finished v0.20.5, and you absolutely killed it with the "Never have I ever" bar scene. I was laughing my ass off and with every line of dialogue I thought, you couldn't top that, but boy was I wrong! I said it before, and I say it even more now: There was sex in there, and it was good, but it was nothing compared to characters, story, emotions and humor. I could finish the character's sentences—that's how well you introduced us to each of them. In the spirit of 'honest day' I have to admit that I couldn't help but join them playing 'Never have I ever'—it was just too much fun—well, I know, it is ridiculous. I actually don't remember the last time I laughed THAT much. You should really consider, continuing to use your talent—I'd so love to see more of that, and I'd miss it, if I couldn't. Your frienda must enjoy playing drinking games with you so much! And you were right about the language thing: I actually had to look stuff up 😅—not much, but still.
First of all to say that I just registered because I can't do anything else but think about this game and I want to share my opinions. Before clarifying that English is not my first language and I'm not very good at speaking it.
Something that has caught my attention in the story is how connected I feel with the characters even though I personally haven't experienced practically any of the situations they suffer. I have fallen in love with Zack and Braden, they are very complex and three-dimensional characters, with tastes, fears, emotions, ways of speaking, moving, etc.
By the way, applaud the improvement that can be seen, comparing the last chapters with the first ones shows the great improvement in the game as well as in the script.
It is not a criticism that I want to comment on below, it is more a personal opinion that nobody should care about, but I feel that the characters are too handsome and perhaps it makes me realize that I am in a game.
The relationships between the characters are very realistic, they feel like people I could meet at any time but I must say that my absolute favorite and without a doubt is Braden, and I think that within the internal problems of each character he is the one that interests me the most, I really liked that conversation with Zack about his orientation after arriving in the new bedrooms and the bathroom scene and I'm curious to see the answer to his questions, although I have my own opinion on that subject I can't stop thinking about the conclusion to the one that Braden can reach. AND I LOVE BRADEN WITH GLASSES.
I don't like the original dormitory building, it reminds me of my college building and brings back bad memories because it's identical and every time I went to that building it was to find out very important news.
Finally to say that I have a mixture of love and hate for the game, I love it because it is great, wonderful and I have been playing it non-stop since I started. The bad thing is that when I finished it I felt empty, I tried to play other things or watch some series or movie but I can't concentrate because I keep thinking about what is going to happen to Zack and Braden and others.
So first off: you English is very good so no worries at all. I continue to be amazed that people who do not have English as a first language are able to understand this story. Unfortunately, I write with a lot of slang and I purposely try to use slang and references from different generations throughout the story just to try and make it appeal to different age demographics. I just never imagined that it would go world-wide like it has. It's just really cool when I'm able to still get some of those points across even though there can be a huge language barrier for a lot of readers.
I'm also glad you appreciate the game improvements. I had no clue what I was doing when I started so I'm very much learning as I go. It's funny now that I wrote the damn thing and I can't even make it through the beginning because I think it's so bad now. It really needs fixed so I'll be going back to update the game based on what I learned so hopefully it'll look more consistent in the future.
I appreciate your mixed love and hate for the game and thank you for sharing your thoughts. Stay tuned, it's almost done.
Have to agree to AbelCain... you made the game in a very smart, decent and emotional way, so that we could connect to the characters easily. Remember and connect own experiences and actually feel something for Zack and Braden. So of course we will miss them, when the game is done. That's why I'm taking my time with the game very slowly, enjoying every scene, noticing every word and expression.. Maybe you'll be able to set up something in the future, which will make it easy to re-connect to that.. ;-)
I actually prefer if people take the game slower but I can't honestly tell if that's just the spoiled dev side of me that wants the amount of work put in to actually pay off and last. It's crazy how quickly people can blow through content that takes you months to do, but we see that in AAA studios, too, so it's not just an indie problem. Just don't go too slow or you'll more of the stuff that I still gotta fix :p
The depth of the psychology you've brought to the narrative is brilliant, you can tell it's your major. It helped to build the characters and draw us in on an amazing level.
I understand the mix of story vs 'porn'...although personally I don't view it as such, I see it as the intimacy you can read in most romance novels, it shows their inexperience and their connectivity with each other to explore such a nerve wracking human experience together...and be comfortable with each other with doing so. Amazing work!
I know many people have expressed how they too see themselves in Zack and Bradens journey...even Mikhail and Max's. But its true. People seem to forget that not so long ago being gay was a hidden thing...and in far too many places today is still seen as wrong, evil, and even illegal. So the internalised homophobia is something all too common. Some don't even face it, or are lucky to find people that can let us be who we truly are without shame or judgement.
But I'm going off on a tangent here. Just know, regardless of some others, your content is amazing. It has touched many people...and truly as others have said, this needs to be out there more.
Well done! Keep doing you.
You've got a fan base regardless of some other opinions.
Thanks a lot. I'm glad you appreciate the weird mix of things I did here. The sex stuff is meant, as you said it, to be more about exploration and intimacy than it is about porn. I think the adult genre can be more than what it is and has been and I've tried to hold myself to a higher standard with capturing that. In general, i don't like censorship and I try to not censor things with this story so we definitely have to include the adult stuff. Sometimes that's erotic and other times it's just funny or even tragic how bad they are, lol. But that's a lot of us. We're clumsy when we're in uncharted territory and that's what I wanted to capture with a coming of age tale here. However, in other scenes I've purposely censored some nudity and stuff because I didn't want people paying attention to physical stuff there-- I wanted them to focus on the character dialogue or the events or other things that just felt important to me.
The story is as deep as I, personally, needed it to be. As you stated with internalized homophobia. Much of that is things that I've grew up around and internalized myself and it comes out in these characters and I wanted them to confront that. I've publicly said that this story isn't a solution to that, it's just me capturing my own solution to that and I continue to be humbled by the amount of people that it's touched as well. It's nice to share something positive on the internet for a change and it's insane how many people this story and the community have affected. I'll never stop being thankful for that. I appreciate your kind words. I just did another Patreon post today with an update outline but I'm dropping the end of the story this month so stay tuned and I hope I do it justice. I've fretted over this ending long enough.
Please check the social media links or the links posted above on the game development. It can be pretty frustrating when I make the game for free and people like to point out that it's not being made quickly enough for them.
Your genuine question was riddled with sarcasm, whether you're going to admit that or not. The game IS FREE to play, and will always be FREE to play - Patreon subscriptions are there primarily to help fund a FREE to play game, and provide people with consistent progress updates and supplementary content - such as the Selfie sets.
If you were a £4 Patreon Supporter you should have been well aware with the current update progress, as there have been several posts in regards to it. We are very transparent with how each update progresses - whether that be on our public Twitter pages, Discord server or Patreon.
The amount of hours we put into this game is beyond the normal hours for a normal day job. The planning, writing, CG creation- it's all done with a very small team of 3 people, two of which have day jobs too. Game creation takes a lot of time, especially if you give a shit about the content you're making and want to release a quality product.
We thank you for your support up to this point, and hopefully you understand the process a little bit better and know where you can find updates on the game progression in future.
There's a lot to unpack here but asking you to be polite on a public forum is not a toxic trait. I'm truly sorry you've missed the point of this story and why I'm doing this despite my frequent posts as public comments here, Twitter, my Patreon, F95zone, and Discord. I'm unsure why you think there's no content when there's 30 Patreon posts between December 2, 2021, and today (June 28, 2022). Some of those are about the game and some are supplemental content. But this is itch, so I'm not sure why you're talking about Patreon content here when you could have messaged me on there. I'm pretty approachable.
The game is free. I post it for free. People donating money to the project is not the same thing as charging for it. Do I accept donations? Yes. Because making this requires supplies and has cost me thousands of dollars to make because I do it legally rather than pirate the assets. I'm fine with that. But if people want to chip in and help out with that, I'll reluctantly accept the money and I appreciate it beyond words. You can make your own decision on whether you think I'm genuine in that; I have no control over your assumptions. If you've read even one of my posts, I'm sure you could tell where my heart is. Many of my Patreon posts are public and free so anyone is able to see that and I would encourage you to go back and look at any of those if there is debate.
I appreciate "support" and that is not the same thing as money. Throwing money at something does not mean you support it. I don't want money and I certainly don't want money from sources that have made false judgements about me or have name called people on a public forum after self-identifying as "genuine" like you did to another user below.
Please respond with your Patreon user name and I will gladly refund you. Patreon billing only allows me to refund the past 3 months. If you've donated for more than that, I will refund what I'm able to and donate the rest to a charity and post a screenshot publicly because I'm not interested in keeping your donation when you harbor such ill feelings about my project.
The Trevor Project thanks you for your generous $50 USD donation. I matched your donation to my project with a little interest.
Also, for anyone else interested, I just realized that the Trevor Project is matching all donations this Pride month at 100%. If you would like to donate, it's one of my favs but it is US based to my knowledge. You can find out more here:
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with organizations in the UK otherwise I would have directed the funds back in that direction. Regardless of your blocking, I hope you find happiness in this life.
I'm just popping in so I can't see the original question/comment. I'm a little confused as any information needed is readily available. If you are a patron as well, I don't see why you wouldn't message directly rather than try to create drama on a public forum. Furthermore, developing any game is expensive (AAA games are something around $80-100 million) and time consuming, but there has never been a requirement to pay. This team has put their heart and soul into this as a passion project, not something to make money off of.
The last piece I want to say (and I hate being this bitchy) is get over yourself. its £4 you were never even asked to pay and if you take your head out of your ass, you would see there are constant improvements being done and shown as well as other non-canon content to hold everyone over while the story is being written and perfected.
I hope that one day you can see just how much has been put into this and the countless people it has helped in so many different ways.
Yes, the OP appears to have been deleted. While I'm able to ban people or delete posts from the page, I normally do not do that (The exception being when someone deletes a post and I just purge it to clean up the page). However, in this case, my assumption is that the OP deleted the post because I did not. I don't like censoring comments just like I don't like censoring the game writing. I did however report two of the comments simply because they were attacking another user directly and there's just never any need for that. But enough about that, let me briefly and objectively summarize some reactions to some other points that you made regarding game development.
Yes. It's expensive. You mention AAA studios and the budgets. It's crazy how much this costs and how much time it takes. Regarding what the OP originally stated, there's an expectation that game updates for games such as mine will occur monthly. With Patreon, people pay on a monthly basis so if they're paying, they like to see something immediately for their money. I have two reactions to this:
1) People that pump out monthly updates normally release very small updates (usually 10 or 20 minutes of gameplay). In contrast, Straight releases much less frequently but the there's more content because I just like being able to sit longer and have time to actually dive back into the world. Releasing 10 minutes of this story, imo, wouldn't give us enough time to have emotional reactions to the situations so I spend time and drop an update that usually takes around 90 minutes or so to get through. Buuuut, it takes me like 6 months average to pump those out anymore. This story also comes from the heart so I have to feel this out. Because of the inconsistency and my own inexperience with doing this, I have always refused to charge for the project because I don't know when I'll get the updates out. I care about them so I want them to be good. If you wanna chip in money for the project, it's appreciated but never required. There's a million ways people can be supportive of this project without paying or donating.
2) While I disagree with the OP tone and profanity towards other people, I will objectively piggyback off one comment that he directed towards me: The indie dev community is actually pretty toxic and inconsistent. Games like this get abandoned constantly. In fact, I would argue that abandoned games are actually the norm--especially in this genre. Many devs are super money hungry and it's created a culture where followers have a right to be skeptical and mistrusting of them. Some have publicly admitted later that they put out a couple good game updates as bait and then abandoned the game but left Patreon turned on to autobill people for months or years. Another popular trope is that indie game devs in this genre will have some sort of mental health crisis that delays updates but ironically the billing stays turned on *eyeroll*. Honestly, it's terrible and something that I'm very conscious of. When you're honest with people, that's the last thing you want people to think. But I've also learned that some people have an extraordinary ability to jump to conclusions on the internet and I have no control over that. I have a good 5 years of posts on here, Patreon, f95zone, and Discord that I feel adequately illustrate where my heart is with this community and with the project. All of those posts are available publicly and I would encourage people to look at them if they've attached any conspiracy theories to me.
I started this project in 2017 and have consistently put out updates. The overwhelming feedback that I have received over the years is that each update was better than the previous one. I have a track record with the project and I have enough respect for the community and these characters to finish this. Throughout the process, as you stated, the art has improved and the quality of the writing has improved--unfortunately that translates into the project taking longer each time but people enjoy it and I honestly enjoy it. Ironically, it's usually the players donating that are telling me to take a day off; and while I appreciate that and it's reassuring-- it'll never be taken advantage of. The game will be finished and everyone will have access to it without the need to pay for it.
In short, do I mind if people ask when the next update is? Nope. I also understand that a lot of people don't follow other sources of social media and things like that. People are always welcome to ask (just don't spam me because then I spend half my day answering the same question). However, over the years about 3 people have gotten an attitude about the game updates and they want them now and for free and there's zero respect there at all. Just be nice when you're on the internet and remember that there's other people on the end of the screen. People have been very supportive of this project and I've only gotten hate from like 3 people over the years but I definitely see entitlement with other projects and I will get defensive if I see that attitude creeping near this one.
Yours is the first game of this type I ever played, so I pay special attention. I've tried to read every post and see the journey to create what you have. I am easily the type that gets frustrated when I binge all the available content of something I like. the difference is that you guys communicate everything. as ive started supporting more games and content creators I have started to see the "mental health excuse."
I have not seen you do this. there is a fairly consistent stream of information or content so I was dumb struck seeing someone get upset especially on a public forum.
On the main subject of indie games being abandoned as being the norm...why does that matter? this is not every indie game, and you are not every developer. haven't we learned not to stereotype or generalize? haha
I will say I am so glad that that you've only had 3 people over the years give you hate. and again im sorry for getting a little inappropriate in my comment. I just tend to become very overprotective.
Reported this troll...don't let him get to you, you've been working your ass off on this story for years and clearly he doesn't understand how to appreciate the amazing story you've put together and the amount of time invested...or that its available for free for those who choose to read the itch and patreon pages -.-.
LOL. dick head. report me to whoever you want. Kiss my arse.why not report the dev to patreon for taking £10k with nothing in return. Keep feeding him cash you suckers
Thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah, I feel like I'm pretty open. Sometimes it takes me a little longer to do things cause I'm learning as I go. I'm a psych major, not a game developer. I sorta just fell into this and people responded to it and it's something I want to finish <3
No worries. I do. I literally have thousands of letters over the years and like 3 people that have yelled at me. That's pretty good. Most of the people that go off about things on the internet are usually unhappy about more than just the thing they're complaining about. I hope those kinds of people find happiness some day. Being angry at everyone is no way to live.
initially found a video of your game on a more sexually focused platform. I watched it out of curiousity and it tollay blew me up! I had almost that same kind of story with my first boyfriend at High School when I was just 16.. he and me met almost the same way. In the same innocent, but almost "straight" manner starting in 1990. All the dialogues not only could have happened but actually did happen nearly the same way. Even in the face expressions of the guys in the game, I found my own former reality reflected. Really astonishing work! I had the fortune to have continued this journey of basically two more or less straight young men falling for each other till I was 26, so almost 10 years. Then he decided that he wanted to have some sexual experience with women too and he left. It almost broke me. Even as a bi-sexual and able to understand his wish, I loved him for ten years from day 1-to the last with the same intensity.. and after he left, I knew, that this was most probably not going to happen another time in my life. I missed him much the following years. We shared time in a very special moment of yourself starting to get an adult and having many experiences together for the first time in life. Today I'm even more appreciating this precious gift, life has given to me. Your sensitive and decent story telling and the buildup of the real characters was a masterpiece. I really feel connected to Braden and Zack. Almost as being together with them and experiencing and exploring things day by day. You have put everything in the right place. It was like a timemaschine for me and at the same time it was some kind of comfort for own experiences seeing so completely shared by another man experiencing the same. Thank you for that! I would wish and could imagine, that you are not already completely through your own inner story and memories, so you might consider a second part of this (?) Maybe again with Zack and Braden or maybe in a different way based on your experiences and inner sights you have gained through all this. Thank you bro for giving this touching emotional journey to us!
I always appreciate these stories. It's just crazy that I keep hearing from from multiple demographics and time periods, and places around the world. I appreciate your message and thank you for sharing your own story. I'm glad I could take you back one more time <3
Thanks for your kind reply. I'm taking my time and going along with the story very slowly. Had to smile when it has come up to the first massage scene, with Zack sitting on Bradens back. So funny.. cause with massage my friend got me in these times. I was 16 and felt completely straight. He was 15 and had to persuade me to let it happen. When he had finished.. I was emotionally completely confused for the following days. And from there on, we started to do it again, sometimes many times a week..till we passed the line, that is determined to be passed that way.. ;-)
I tried to make a realistic progression. A lot of people just try and play games like this for the adult content so I sorta eased some of that in but only for the sake of story building. I wanted it to feel organic and realistic the way a relationship could. It was kinda fun to take a lot of those natural situations that seem become porn cliches and make them actually have some substance to them. It's a long story so you got a long way to go and honestly i think the beginning is the worst part. I promise I get better
Unfortunately, there are no trans or femboy characters in the game. I've done a post that I'll link here as well as this post on why the letters of "straight" are in red here. Both posts are sorta related to your question. But to quickly summarize, I was mostly focusing and using characters with things that I needed to personally work through or things that, in my particular cultural area, were things that were difficult for me to accept about sexuality. I'm very straight acting and I'm ok with that. I wanted to depict a world in which that could still exist because it's something I'm very comfortable with but without it being assumed it was toxic masculinity. In this vein, femboy characters were sorta avoided because it didn't fit the particular narrative that I was personally trying to work through as well as me feeling that since I'm uber straight acting, that I wouldn't be able to write a femboy character with any type of justice. I've never written anything before so I tried to stick with what was familiar to me personally. Which leads to the trans character question which sorta has the same answer. It's not something that I personally had any experience with. This game focuses A LOT on the mind of a very straight acting gay character. There's a lot of psych and a lot of internal processing in the narrative and I simply just wasn't able to do that with a trans character because it's not something that I've experienced. I'm sure there's plenty of trans authors/writers/coders/artists-- just creators in general-- that could do that role with a lot more justice and introspection that I ever could have so I'd rather they did that and I'll gladly shine a spotlight in their direction. I'll stick to my bro dramas for now until I figure out how to objectively write better. Hopefully, that made sense, if not, then hit me up or check out those posts for more depth on what I was personally trying to accomplish with this project.
I finished it up to the cliff-hanger "to be concluded." I am definitely looking forward to the reworkings of the initial chapters, including the enhanced graphics, added music and revised writing that I saw mentioned in an update. The current state of the story is... wow, damn good. I cannot accurately describe how amazing this story is. I think the greatest aspect of this game is the writing, and to me it was an excellent, introspective work. I also really liked the art and character designs even though they're (I guess) still in a rough draft form. So with the game, while playing, I actually started questioning my own self and my life choices leading up to now. Even though the story revolved around two young male characters' issues related to sexuality and authenticity, I still could relate as a mid-20s/trans-F. For instance, Zack's internalized homophobia and him hiding his true self for so long, as well as Braden's confusion on his own identity and his issue with dealing with the public's perception of him, resonated with me as someone who is beginning to question my own identity as possibly "non-binary" and who has had internalized transphobia in the past. I really liked the inclusion of Mikhail and Max (Ash), they were incredible characters who offered unique perspectives to the two main cast. Team Ash. The gradual build-up of the plot was done very well, and I felt like the sensual scenes near the end were normalized.
So yeah! Those are a couple of my thoughts on the story, and I am just obsessed. It was so good and I will stay tuned for new updates. Rooting for you guys because I think this game needs way more recognition. What were some game/media inspirations? This game gives me Life is Strange vibes, but with more mature content.
P.S. I listened to lo-fi hip-hop while playing and it.. oddly fit the vibe. Haha.
So on the rework, the models would stay the same but I'm sure you've noticed that the beginning of the game is poorly lit and just looks crappy. The idea is to make the beginning look graphically like the ending does. The game is just me progressively getting better I think.
I'm also glad that you were able to relate to parts of the game even though (and I just made a few comments like this in the post above) that it was sorta designed as a bro game. I wrote what I was comfortable with but a lot of existential thought and self discovery is very personal revelations but the focus or method of accepting those can be a bit more general. I'm glad it holds up to someone who has a very different orientation than I do and that it just seemed "normalized" to you.
I appreciate the desire for the game to get more recognition. I'm pretty lowkey and don't market very well. It's also my first project and I've gotten way more out of this than I ever imagined that I would so I don't need all the attention. I'm certainly thankful for what I've gotten and continue to get. But i do hope that it finds it's way into the hands and hearts of people that could find meaning from it.
I find it cool how you channeled your own experiences into the game, it makes it more meaningful and intimate. And yeah, I think the writing in the game, in comparison to other male-on-male romance novels out there that I know of, is so much more personal that the reader can actually empathize with the characters. That's a great thing. It's almost like Zack and Braden actually exist in maybe an alternate universe, haha.
On a side note, is the Discord server accepting new members?
Oh for sure, the Discord is free and always open to people. The only real limitation is that it's 18+ like the game is and we try and keep drama to a minimum. We try to be a pretty chill community that's pretty accepting of people. Pop in if you wanna say hey. I usually try and greet everyone but sometimes I got windows up working on stuff so I miss them. If you join, say hey and tag me if I miss you. We regularly interact with people.
um... so they all state or imply ages at some point during the story but since we're coming to the end of a semester or year, you could imply an extra year if you wanted. But canonically Braden is 18, Zack is 19, Mikhail is 19 and you could assume that Ash is probably 19 or maybe 20... him and Mikhail are pretty close in my head tho. Although Cody is pretty popular with the fanboys, I've never actually given him an age in game.
Well, well, well... your team definitely did a good job of reeling the reader in and pulling on their heartstrings. **SPOILER** I have to vaguely mention the "cheating" scene because my heart was so crushed; it's the only reason why I made this account to rage, however, you got me so f-ing good!🤣😭 In all seriousness though, the story immersion is impeccable you undeniably have a talent for story telling! Please continue :)
heh, sorry about the bouncing emotions on that scene. It was designed that way on purpose but not only for the fake out. A lot of the game confronts things--either things that I personally struggled with or things that I feel hold a lot of people back from positive experiences in relationships. That scene in particular was supposed to confront how quickly people make assumptions about the behaviors of others just because media has sorta groomed us to think that way. Early Mikhail scenes were the same way. Glad I got ya tho. I think it's hard to write those fake out scenes and actually make them pack the punch you want, ya know? Thanks for the support though and thank you for making an account just to rage at me :p
played this game over the span of a few days, about a week ago? wasnt going to write a comment or review, because i never do on this website.
but i just CANNOT stop thinking about this game. i am so connected to this game, the characters and the storyline just mean so much to me. as someone who has struggled with my identity (sexual, romantic, and gender) seeing a representation of queer romance where its not overly sexualized but still clearly a relationship between two adults is just so heartwarming. i played the romantic route and it just made me so unbelievably happy.
when they were sad i was sad, when they were happy i was happy, and when they got fluffy and romantic i couldnt help but get excited.
thank you for such an amazing game, im so excited to see more! <3
This is honestly a reaction that I never get tired of: the people who make accounts just because they can't stop thinking about the game. I'm glad to have moved you in such a way because the journey has moved me as well. Thank you for walking with us :)
havent played this game in awhile and...i finally played and i loved every part of it. its sad seeing this split but all good things end eventually, hopefully they will reunite but for now it is what it is. im looking forward to the rest,
@aaryn.reese - Over 50 years ago I lived this very wonderfully presented story for two and a half years. Yes, some differences, actually many differences, but the core plot gay young man and 'Straight!?' young man for just one very special person hit me to the very center of my soul. I made one massive mistake, I followed a career instead of my heart and lost that very special person as a soul mate. We've remained friends but I sorely regret that mistake. Thank you for reminding me that the core of ones existence is how one commits to the ones we love.
I'm glad the game brought back some old memories and I'm also glad that some things are timeless--that someone who experienced a story similar to this 50 years ago, can still relate to something written too. I really tried to write this in somewhat of a generic fashion, weaving in slang from multiple time periods and trying to give a lot of different age groups something to ground them to their generation. Glad to hear it held up with you. Thanks a lot <3
I don't have a clue as too wether or not you'll believe this, but since I wrote my original post to you, I've made connection with the party that your game brought back so many memories of. He's in troubled times once again, lost his job due to Covid. Strange how life ebbs and flows. Thanks very much.
Doesn't have to make sense. Sometimes it's just the way of things. I wish you luck on your journey and hope both you and him find peace with whatever direction it may go <3
Wonderful game! I really appreciate when a creator treat their work with respect and I wanna say you did a really good job capturing the psyche and dynamic of a, ummm, let's say "gay-straight" relationship. I'm sure it would resonate with lots of gay men, I know it did with me.
I love how you manage to depict a gay crush romance so well, the anticipation, the urges, the shame and the fear, I can truly appreciate the work when I play this game, not many gay romance content today really click with me. Especially as someone who's Chinese, most Asian gay contents we have are female fantasies and Mary Sue bull crap so I'm glad I found this game. I'm also glad that it's not over the top "Woke" and "PC", perhaps it's complicated in the west but I have never been a huge fan of it. The other day I was reading a quite popular VN where the MC and his "straight" best friend whom he's known for years suddenly engaged in a talk, or a lecture, about all the sexualities and "LGBTQQIP2SAA" inclusivity stuff out of nowhere. It's cool and all but, not really what happens during the struggle of a gay man developing a subtle and ambiguous relationship with a straight friend, at least not for situations like a teenage gay crush.
Anyways, enough with the little gay speech, it's a really good game and as a gay dude I enjoyed the story very much, thanks for this game.
As a side not, if you enjoy this type of content, check out Scout: An Apocalypse Story on this site, I was really drawn in by the "gay-straight" relationship of that VN.
Heya. Thanks a lot for the kind feedback. One of the things I was increasingly nervous about is that, while I put this out on the internet, I never expected it to really go world-wide. But I increasingly get mail from people all over the world with different beliefs and cultures. I want to reiterate that I don't think my story is true for everyone. It's just a slice of life and that doesn't have to generalize to everyone but I'm glad it resonated with you on the other side of the world. For many things in the world to be as polarizing as they are now, it's nice to find some things that we can join ourselves together. I simply just wanted to try and normalize something that I struggled with and capture the process of me coming to terms with it. I appreciate you and I'm glad you're enjoying my little existential romance :)
We have a Discord and regularly talk with fans of the game on a daily basis. You're more than welcome to join there. I'm pretty open to talking to people but if I'm writing, I'm pretty quiet on there. My concentration is garage and i can't multitask so if you see my tagged as writing, expect a slow response.
I'm self-taught on everything with no experience so it's def doable. I use Daz3D for the pics. Blender has been used to create some objects in the game as well as some environments and the videos. Renpy is the coding program.
This is legit the most beautiful story I've ever read. A masterpiece. I downloaded it expecting to be a 'porn-game' kind of thing, and ended up literally crying at some parts. I took 3 days to finish, and there wasn't even a single hour of my days that I didn't think of Braden and Zack, kinda feeling butterflies in my stomach for two charachters that doesn't even exist! I don't know who wrote it, but whoever made this VN, is a fucking genius. As a 22yo, I could clearly see myself in most of the situations that Str8 portraits, things that happened to me in many parts of my life. The guy who wrote it surely knows what he's doing. The dillemas, drama, everything was on point. I literallly have no words to describe Str8. Please keep up with this amazing work!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I know I've talked with you on the Discord about your reactions to the game but I just wanna say thanks again and I'm really glad you enjoyed it so far <3
oh ... yeah... i didn't really focus on body types much in this because the story is based more on character interactions rather than what they look like or what shape their body is. I did focus on a few random attributes for my own narrative reasons but those were isolated variables that I wanted to address for specific reasons. I can't see myself ever putting a body type in the game just to include it--there needs to be a reason for things that move the story forward and body types just wasn't something i was going to focus on in this story.
What software did you use for creating those characters and scenes?
Issues: I am using the android version of the game. Everytime I minimize the game and open it, the screen goes black until you restart the game.
I can't wait for the next update. This is probably one of the best Visual Novels I've played so far. If only I had the money to support this game, then I'm sure to give lots. I just hope that the sex animations are like Mikhail's and Ash's during Pool Locker. And also, I suggest you to add Gallery where scenes are saved once achieved in the story.
Overall, I'll rate this a 9/10. Keep up the good work.
heya, thanks for the positive comments. I use Daz3D for the art.
The Android version is somewhat newer and something that people have asked about for a couple years now. I have another guy do it for me but I'm not sure what the limitations are with it. I know Android is so different from phone to phone so that may cause some of the issues but I'm honestly not sure. I have an iPhone now so i can't test it. Although, I may try more testing on an emulator in the future.
yes i see that is there anyway to seprate them other games have them sepret and thus i can get the dowlodeded to work yours i cant cuse it just opens up this weid zipper thing rather then downloded the files i need
The zipper is just a compressed Windows file. The download file is compressed so that it's a smaller file to download. There isn't a Linux version and a Windows version separate. It should be one download that just works on each because that's the way Renpy (the coding program) exports the game files.
All you have to do is extract the file. If you're in Windows, you should be able to just right-click on the zipper and "extract all" to wherever you want it. Then wait a sec while it unpacks it then the game should be in that new place. After it's working, you can just delete the zipper
Okay I went back and started a new playthrough of the game and I went the pervy route this time and I am totally floored by how that played out. The end of this update actually made me cry.
Ash is such an interesting character. As I was going through I got invested in seeing how everyone developes and interacts with each other. I hope that we will see Ash and Mikhail again.
Aaryn, such a masterpiece my friend. So indepth and real with the situations that are protrayed in the game. Like being right there in college with them, living the life with them and surviving all the trials and tribulations that come from that sort of setting.
I can not wait for the next update. I am really looking forward to seeing how Zack and Braden deal with being apart for the summer.
thank you. truly. I'm glad you liked both routes. i know i did something different than most people do and i wasn't sure that it would go over that well but i liked the idea and the challenge of it. glad it paid off for you <3
I can't even begin to describe how well thought out, put together, deep, structured and relatable this VN is. I've told all my friends about this story and quite simply because this game changed my life. And I say that with no exaggeration and in full confidence.
In 23 years I've read countless books, watched years worth of TV and Film and never have I emotionally connected to characters the way I've found myself connected to Zack and Braden, the main characters of this piece. Even the side characters I find myself in love with. When the characters were happy, I was happy. When the characters were upset, I was upset. When the characters argued, I was angry. When the characters laughed, I laughed. Yet most fascinating to me is the end of Chapter 9. I won't spoil anything but the story is written so perfectly and the twist at the end of Chapter 9 made me, for the first time in my life, cry genuine tears of happiness. No work of fiction has ever taken me to a powerful emotional place like that, I'm not sure I've cried happy tears at anything ever in fact. Until this story came along.
In these games, it's easy for the 3D modelling to get a little questionable, but in this particular story I found myself fully immersed the entire time, the model work is done flawlessly, I never found myself pulled out of the story because of the visuals.
The clichés in the story are so well done to avoid being eyeroll clichés, the twists and turns really had my jaw on the floor and my hand over my mouth in shock, yet never went so far as to be hugely unrealistic.
Now this is only my opinion of course, I can't say this is going to be the same for everyone, but for me, for me this is the single greatest work of fiction I have ever happened across.
I can't thank the people who worked on this enough nor give them enough praise for creating such a masterpiece.
I know you joined the discord server and you've gotten a chance to process some of this. I appreciate your passion for the project and your support. I'm humbled to have it have such a profound effect on you and to somehow dwarf everything you've tried so far when this is my first attempt at anything like this. <3
Alright, I usually do not make comments about games because it's usually the same old things but THIS game. It's different, I can tell you worked hard on it, so I wanted to comment to talk about what I think.
So, character stories are hard to write. This is because the story is determined by the characters and what they do and how they react to things, there is very little outside forces. It can make it seem like its dragging, but you were able to craft a really well written story and it captured my attention. it's one of the first visual novel type stories where i barely ever skipped. All of the dialogue was interesting but also felt natural and kept me interesting, but the best thing was the characters, so I'll go over the main four.
Zack is probably the best main character i ever seen that's not just you. Usually in games where you are controlling another character, they are either a unnatural goody guy who is unnaturally happy and optimistic about everything and just comes in and fixes all of everyone's problems or a blank board who doesn't have a single personality trait but everyone loves them. But Zack? Zack is real, his problems his emotions are real things that many people face. i was playing the chapter where he confessed that he hated being gay and i bawled my eyes out because I felt the exact same way. At a certain point i started to just root for zack and is happiness because if he could be happy than maybe I and other people could even if he's just fictional lol.Idk, and the QUOTES. i feel my inner walls and resistances collapse around me and run like sand through my fingers. Bro I'm using that, that's top tier writing. Best character by far.
So personally, I don't like the straight dude going gay stereotype that's in every game. Tbh it is what made me take so long to play this game. But for what the stereotype is Braden does it well. I like the fact that he wasn't aggro about it and his concerns about not feeling gay made sense. Anway's yeah, he's hot insecurities in all. I'm really glad you changed his design tho because the twink look is not my type lol. His scenes are great, I love how flirty he is when he's comfortable.
I think everyone here loves ash, i do too. He's pretty unique and his struggles is something i bet others actually deal with. He's funny, a breath of fresh air honestly. we need some breather and comic relief. Yeah Great character
idk how to spell his name now that i'm off the game but zach friend is someone i think everyone needs in life. He's just a good guy, too good of a guy at times. I'm glad we got to see more of his problems in the later chapters so he can seem more real.
I love all the characters and love how they interact together; their dynamic is great. they make for a interesting story.
nsfw scenes, they aren't the main part of the story, they are nice but its more added stuff. honestly tho, none of them was really provoking until the shower scene. That was amazing, I'm really glad that you let us choose and about that. I hope you let us choose if there is a final sex scene where they go all the way. personally for me, i like bottoming and enjoy reading those scenes more. I was a little bummed that braden was a small 'twink' who looked super young and zack said "I'm a top" and the focus was mainly his ass but after zack started accepting he could be a bottom and than braden grew it gave me hope :). If we could pick which position that would satisfy everyone but I'm fine with it if Zack just bottoms lol. Of course not gonna downgrade it if he tops only as well.
My only criticism are pretty simple. I do think the start could use some work. there is no tutorial so when the choices on what to do you are just running around like a headless chicken until you pick all the options. Than this option completely disappears at the end where you aren't choosing what to do at all. i think maybe adding some required story beats in the beginning for direction and slowly working towards more and more would make it less jarring. or maybe any type of prompt in the beginning explaining how to progress.
The rock scene after he catches braden in the wrestling locker room zack talks about a moment where he almost *R word* Braden that i never experienced. I assume it was the choice in the beginning to be respectful or pervy. I picked respectful and it looked like he wasn't thinking about anything or didn't even get close and just went back to sleep. idk if it's supposed to happen on both routes or maybe i just skipped it but just wanted to say it unless it was missed.
Ernie disappeared :( I know that he wasn't really important and i don't really care that much but I did like him lol. I was stuck at the beginning for a while and was just talking to him every day so I got attached.
But yeah, really small criticisms that don't really effect my score on the game. It's really good, good enough for me to want to support you on patreon. so yeah keep doing what you doing, i think if you wanted to you could get super huge, you're writing is better than 90% of this genre for real.
heya, thanks for the lengthy post. I'll admit that i'm always intimidated to try and reply to these so I'll give it a go.
The balance of Zack was tough in the beginning (although i dont like the beginning of the game and it needs work but this is just my pre-alpha rough draft of the story so far). I wanted Zack to be somewhat typical because if i hit everyone with his realism right off the bat, i figured I'd lose people. People are used to the adult/NSFW genre being porny and I wanted to do a fakeout at the beginning and give people a sense that that was the case here. However, trying to balance that with the slow introduction of something deeper here was kinda challenging to me. I basically wanted an adult game that people would eventually have to take seriously as something much deeper that just chose the adult genre because there's no limits on what you can discuss and portray sexually.
Braden's character is a bit tougher to crack and will continue to be in the final chapter. While some could look at him as the str8 boy going gay, it's much more complicated than that and he wrestles with that in a completely different way than zack does. I figured the community was attack him, in fact there's one sub-community of a particular tuber that does relentlessly attack him. But I wanted Braden to stand as the complete antithesis to people who demand that someone admit they're gay when they're authentically not. This story is very much making the case that labels, regardless of how many we try and make, will still be limiting to people. It's very much a journey of finding yourself regardless of what categories people want to place you in or force you to admit to being.
In terms of your criticism, I agree. the beginning is very much what adult games were at the time it started (2017). They were grind and state based so I started there given that I had no experience. Eventually I think i found my voice and said fuck the genre i'm doing my own thing and I think that paid off. I want to reconstruct the beginning as well as update the quality of writing since I got quite a bit of experience with that over the past few years.
Also, the rock scene is only in the respect route.
I agree with most of your suggestions and hopefully i can connect some of those dots when i got back and try and polish some of this. This is very much just a public rough draft of my story
I'm not sure where you're stuck at but you should just be able to download it and then unzip/extract it. The download file is compressed to make it smaller to download. After that, you play it like any other game by clicking the .exe file inside the base folder. If you're still stuck, please post again or if you have Discord, you can pop on there and we can try and troubleshoot with you in real time
This is amazing, simply amazing. Ive been reading a lot of this type of Visual Novel and yours is by far my favorite. Its not just the NSFW stuff which is too notch in its own right, its the absolutely brilliant character development. My heart goes to each of the 4 guys. They are wonderful, beautiful souls.
Max might be the single best person ive ever seen. The utter selflessness he has towards his friend. It makes me cry just thinking about how unfair life was to him. He deserves his own spinoff. It would be crazy, chaotic and heartfilled all at the same time. Just like him.
Braden coming out of his shell and being comfortable with himself is inspiring. He started out almosg crippled by his phobias but his trust in his friends drives him to be better.
So much about this speaks to me. Looking back I can see myself as Zack. Heck, Zack is me! I was and still partially am, that ball of anxiety that overthinks everything. So afriad to make a move and face a potential negative outcome that it paralyzed me from going after what I really wanted. Just like Zack almost faced, I didn't know what was there until it was too late. I hope with all my heart that you give Zack the happy ending that I missed out on. He deserves to be happy and not just a simple end of semester, see you next time ending. The real life changing ending that his character has been building up through whole journey .
I'm glad you enjoyed the arcs. Max is a fun character. I can't decide what I honestly like more: him as a character or just hearing from the audience about how quickly they jumped from hate to love in one chapter even tho he actually never changed anything about himself really.
I'm working on the ending now and hopefully I do it justice.
Will we have to share a dorm? Will I like that person. Will that person like me? Will I likethat person? If I pray to the gay gods will I get a fine specimen of a man for some eye candy? Well in Straight!?, the answer is a big fat YES!
This game is has plenty of FLUFF. And that is why it is so true to what the characters are experiencing--being out of your comfort zone for the first time in your life. Slowly, but surely the begin to get closer. They learn to bond. They become friends. The become intimate and confortable with each other in a way they completely makes sense -- they share a room -- and it's the type of comfort we would all be lucky to have in a friend.
Don't get me wrong, this game is NOT SFW. But it is the blend of Smut and Fluff which makes it so special. We see these characters go from stranger to people who rely on each other, trust each other, and care for each other and learn to understand each other. It is this character development that we witness for the characters, that makes STR8!? so special. You'll laugh with them, cry with them and even I think, be proud of who they become. And if you're anything like me, you'll be thanking AAryn when our str8! boys finally do get together, no cheap pen0r here -because this story, is fucking beautiful.
This literally my favorite game ever. The friendship is so unique and the way Zack and Braden build slowly their reletionship untill getting confortable with all the sex thing is just soo good. Keep going I really appreciate your work <3.
Ps when are you going to upload the next chapiter here on itchio ? Wanna subscribe to your patreon but I can't know but I will soon or lately💗
heya, so thanks for the love. Glad you like the weird dynamic here.
So i post things on the Patreon page first. While i accept donations here, the Patreon page is the primary place where i post devlogs and put out supplemental content for the donations received. Because the game is free and will always be free, I post the newest updates when they're ready for those who donate exclusively on patreon (it's just easier to manage there). 3 weeks after that is when i post it publicly on Patreon as well as here on ichio and one other website.
This was i really good game i thought it was going to be like every other game on this site with their "porn shenanigans" that ends up ruining the plot but this was really good i felt a connection with the story and characters truly a great job on the creators part sure there's NSFW but it would be completely wrong to say this is porn it's so much more this is a story one that I hope never ends 5 stars
unfortunately not hosted on a site that is compatible with itch.io. says 3rd party site... looked like a good vn, but will not try it from a 3rd party site
Sorry you're not able to try it. It's actually really common because Itch.io restricts uploads to this site to 1GB so any projects larger than that are forced to use external links. Up until recently, itch.io forced you to use external photo links with very small size limits to advertise your project so they apparently just don't have the space here.
The links used here are through Mediafire, which I pay for and are the same links that I use from my Patreon site. The only downside to Mediafire is it seems to really suck for download speed in the UK. Unfortunately, as the game has grown and I learned more about development, the image quality increased and this increased the size of the game files. When you spend thousands of hours trying to increase something, the last thing you wanna do is shrink it back down by 75%.
Wow. This was an unexpected experience. Left me very emotional. Wish I had the eloquence of Zack's internal monologue to express just how impactful it was. Looking forward to the conclusion.
One question, since this is in alpha: Is there a preferred method or path back to you for feedback on nits or hiccups spotted?
hey thanks. glad it surprised you. we have a discord for the game and that'st he quickest way to get in contact with me. There's a lot to fix in the beginning part. i had no idea what i was doing and that shows in comparison to the ending chapters but I'm always open to feedback and stuff :)
Heh, didn't expect such a quick response. Sorry this post wasn't more timely. Not enthusiastic about joining yet another online site; Will have to think about that. In the mean time, here is some more-detailed feedback, none of which diminishes the emotional impact the overall story has had so far.
--the following contains spoilers--
I have played the game through three times. First time I played it through, which was prior to my first comment, I made what I thought were sensible choices. Have played it twice through again, once choosing what seemed like respect choices and once choosing what seemed like perv choices.
I was surprised that Zack still apologized at the pond (respect path) for nocturnal creeping even though I as the player actively tried to avoid that path. I even avoided going to the shower to observe Braden's shadow beating. And speaking of that, no mention of the shower wall on that respect path. My expectation there was for Zack to only apologize for the creeping that was beyond the player's control (like the removal of the shower wall.) Otherwise, why give a choice at all?
On the perv route, I had expectations going in that the two would be going their separate ways from the gym, with maybe Zack and Mikhail ending up together. I mean, how many times can Braden forgive Zack's BS. Glad it didn't go that way though. (Of course, it might have been interesting if they had separated only to have Max thrust them back together at the end of Chapter 9, since his plan was already in motion by time of the gym confrontation. Have them deal with each other in the room that first night rather than in the gym. The gym feels too public a forum for that discussion anyway.)
Max also missed a loophole when it came to Braden's phone; Zack was at swim practice earlier on the same night as the swim lesson and fire so the phone could have been left then--by anyone at practice. All Zack had to say was"Oops, I left that at the end of swim practice, can I have it back?" or words to that effect. Though Max's performance during the meeting is beyond awesome.
I also seemed to miss how Zack ends up with Braden's phone. Was that there somewhere?
I feel that some mention of the shower lights is needed since messing with a thermostat might not burn down a dorm but a poor wiring job repairing some commercial lighting definitely could.
----------
This is getting way too long so just a few questions:
Any significance to to Cody wearing the shirt Braden rejected when shopping? (LOL, BTW, on shopping at Ashley's Boutique)
How much foreshadowing is in the third screen presented to the player when the game first launches? (BTW, I think there should be a way to disable the warning screens after you've started the game the first time.)
Do we ever get optional dialog on:
-Braden's bisexual friend in high school? (so expected this to come up again to the point that maybe it is a Chekhov's Gun detail)
-How Braden's GF embarrassed him enough for the breakup?
---------------
Some but not all of my fav moments
-park after the bar.
-beach shower "I where know your heart is."
-the entire night swim.
-Max breaking the fourth wall by throwing shade on clicky text-base games.
-Max's wave (As someone who knows that ADHD isn't something you grow out of but learn to manage, Max became a fav rather quickly. This scene punched hard.).
------------
And add me to the list of peeps curious to know what 3D software you are using for your visuals. Because part of what sells your story is the cinematic realism of your 3D assets.
I don't even know where to start. This game hits so damn good, pulls every single string of my heart. I'm not usually that interested in NSFW content (I always find myself skipping through it lol) but this VN is worth every single picture. I seriously can't express (and not being eng-native isn't helping lmao) how muchh this story meant and mean to me. I've found so many similitaries between me and Zack that just that was enough to threw me off. He also kinda looks like me and I'm...speechless. Zack's train of thought through all the events (I'm trying not to be a spoiler beetch ugh-) was so understandable, and I don't know if that's 'cause you're just that good at writing or because I've found myself thinking and acting the same as him. Even just that one thing that happened in the wrestling locker-room, where he thought things were happening between Bradon and his friend, was almost identical to what happaned to me.
I'd go on and on about every single thing you wrote but I don't want to be the Dante 2.0 so I'll just say: I love the way you write and explain every single thing. I want this VN to never end 'cause it's just that good. Thank you so friggin' much for all your hard work, I hope I can see so many other things from you, and I'll close saying that this little masterpiece you created made me...kinda want to meet and talk to you.
I hope you're doing good and wish you all the best! Thank you, again. You made this not-that-little guy feel something again.
Also, sorry if something is not understandable but, again, I'm an italian mess lmao
Nah, your writing is good and I'm following you. I appreciate this because I never really thought this project would go global. I mean, obviously when you put something on the internet it's global but I didn't expect the world to react the way that they did. It's humbling and it's meaningful to hear that it still resonates with people in other countries that speak other languages. There's a lot of slang in this game so that was something I was honestly worried about-- i didn't think it would translate well.
There's a lot of my personality in these characters. In fact, it's hard for some people that know me to even read it because they can't separate them from me. I'm around on the discord server and talk pretty often if i'm not writing :)
Hey there again my man. Just wanted to tell you that I read your reply to my post and I really appreciate you taking the time to try and reply to as many posts as you can. Especially since you do so on MULTIPLE forums from what I have seen. Your work on the game and on the forums needs to be acknowledged once again. You are a truly inspirational person to someone like me. This game has touched me deeply as I have said before, and it has gotten me into writing my own novel. I wish I was talented enough to make a VN as you are, but I wouldn't even know where to start. I was watching the latest update like a hawk, starving for more content. The update didn't disappoint either. I REALLY hope we get to see Mikhail again though. This update had me really happy, then kinda horny lol, then laughing my ass off at the bar, then crying like a baby at the end. I don't know how you play with emotions the way you do, but you have a real talent. I can't wait for the ending of this story as much as I am dreading it. I'm extremely excited for anything else you have in store for us, in this game and onwards. Please never stop even after this game is over. Your talent needs to be shared with the world.
This post needed to happen a LONG time ago (like 90 days) lol but I'm awful and haven't gotten around to it before now. I procrastinate and dawdle too much lol.
I do try and answer every post that I can. Lately, I've been super busy and the comments over here on ichio have really stacked up so I'm behind. Ironically, you pointed out that I respond to comments when I was the most behind, lol.
The last few updates in the game have all been rollercoasters. I think everything since chapter 7 has been really up and down and I sorta like that. It doesn't feel chaotic but it feels more like the ups and downs of life. I put a lot of emotion into writing it. I have to be in a certain headspace to do the writing part and I really do feel for the characters. Sometimes that slows things down a bit so i get what you talk about with the procrastination. I'm the opposite and just work on it constantly. I'm not sure what my next project will be but I'd like to do something again. There's plenty left to do on this game tho so that's still gonna prob take me a year or more to polish this up.
Love playing this game. I found on Amazon music Eli Lieb an amazing singer. I have a really good soundtrack from him and a couple others. His songs work so well. Makes the experience that much more immersive. When you really lose yourself in the story it's worth it.
I love this game. So well written, beautiful cg and animations. I do hope the story will continue. I ache between every chapter. I long to read more, to follow their development and the love story. And I wish I had supportive friends like them.
:) glad you liked it. I also don't wanna run the story into the ground either. I wanted to tell a specific story here and hopefully I'm able to accomplish that in the last chapter. Glad you enjoyed the writing. not something i knew I was any good at so it's nice to continue to hear things like this. thank you <3
I'm working on it now. it's estimated to be pretty long tho so it's taking awhile. Plus, I try and incorporate something new and learn new things in each update so that usually slows me down. It's all still practice for me. this is just the rough draft of the game.
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Sooooo I just read your public thank you.....I already loved your work dearly and I'm always trying to share it with others....you really know how to connect with pple. Lol You seem like a wonderful person based on your creative personality and how you present yourself. I hope you continue to create special moments for pple even outside of your work. I know I don't know you personally but I see great things in your future bc a story like this one takes more than a creative mind. It takes a kind and understanding heart. One that can be vulnerable, supportive and an overall good person. Keep up the good work bc your work seems to really be inspiring pppe in this hateful and judging world we live in. It's not all bad honestly but pple like you help us see the light when things seem so dark. Some sense of direction when there is no where to go.
My bad for running on. Please enjoy the rest of your day and thanks again for what you do
First off, thank you for the support and for sharing the story with others. That's actually how I've managed to get the word out is just mostly from word of mouth. While advertising is nice, it always feels better when others are inspired by the story enough to spread the word for you. I just like the feeling of that so I appreciate it. It's also one of the dozen reasons the game is free.
I'll also say thank you for the more personal compliment. I'm just a regular guy, though, really. There's very much a lot of me in the characters and that includes both positive and negative characteristics. I'll admit that writing this has made me very vulnerable but I wouldn't change that. I like the parts of me, even the not-so-pretty parts that I've managed to capture here. Sorta like I snapshot from where I was compared to where I am now. I'm deeply touched that you see the work as something positive though with everything going on in the world. If I had a vision for it, it would be that. An adult game with heart that has a point and you walk away a different person because of that. It's a super niche focus but I like it and It feels really good when someone picks up on that so thank you.
Wow! I tried a few games on this platform and this definitely stood out! Honestly, I was primarily going for a nsfw game and this game is not primarily about nsfw—BUT that doesn't change that I'm pretty impressed by the game. It has enough nsfw content, but the plot is strong enough to stand out on its own. The plot doesn't serve the nsfw content, it's deep, it's thoughtful and the slow pacing is realistic. This game is addictive, like literally. I know, the game is still in development, so don't interpret my feedback as harsh. Whatever I criticize now, you might already know and want to change when you go over it. Furthermore, these are small points of criticism, so they don't diminish the quality of the game:
Last but not least, who wrote the verbal exchanges between Zack and Braden? Kudos to them? They are absolutely off the scale. I just love these dialogues 👍🏻
Heya Zuri,
Thanks for checking in and I'm glad the game stood out from such a large website here. The search function around here is also pretty hard to navigate too so I'm glad you stumbled across me however that may have happened.
That being said, I take criticism pretty well and most of the limitations I've had with this story could probably be summarized as inexperience and budget. All of the things you've noted are things that I've either considered or are aware of. Since you took some time to write a lengthy post, I'll do the same for a response. A lot of the "decision" type stuff was something that I slowly moved away from because of organizational problems. When you're mapping these VNs out, choices and the variables can quickly get out of hand. For example, a few years ago, I was trying to do the poker scene and I had every hand have a winner and loser, that alone quickly branched out to like 60 different paths in one scene. It was insane. I'll also admit that my concentration is absolute garbage. If you spent any time in the Discord or talked with me on voicechat, you'd see how quickly I can derail myself. So because of that, I made the conscious decision to limit the choices to a number that I could handle. I decided I'd have less choices and try to do those routes right rather than have choices everywhere and just lose focus on everything. That being said, I plan on doing a revamp based on what I've learned and there will likely be some things added in if I have the budget and time to do it. So we'll see. But yeah... you're totally right. The choices are limited here.
2. Running in circles. So that part is likely going to be fixed on the revamp. The reason that plays out like that is this game started in 2017 and the majority of the adult games were grind-based. You had skill points that you had to grind up by doing the same events over and over and then eventually unlock the next tier. That required more coding skill and to be honest, I'm pretty awful at that so I slowly just moved away from it. I tried to quick fix the beginning but it's still pretty bad to the point that I can't even play it anymore. So I want the story to be more linear like it is post-chapter 3 (I think that's when the circles stopped).
3. Empty school. This one is kinda funny and I'll make fun of myself. Truth is that the reason the school is empty is because of computer issues. When I started, I could only render one model at a time in the screens mostly. That lasted until a *spoiler hint here * certain park scene with motion. After that, I was able to upgrade the computer system I have based on Patreon donations and after that scene, you noticeably see a little more detail. over time, I gradually was able to add more people in until hit about 5 max. Which brings me to the current rig. I now have a new computer based on Patreon donations and I can get about 10 people in and maybe more. The tradeoff is that it takes hours to position all those for every shot so it does slow down production but it looks better. We'll likely see more students in the school during the revamp. In fact, there's a sarcastic dialogue line in the game somewhere where I have one of the characters say that sometimes it feels like they're the only students there--- that's me totally busting myself out :p
4. Dialogue is all me except Blayke, my co-writer wrote the scene in the car where they're driving to a sandy location. If you spent 5 minutes talking to me, you'd know where that dialogue came from, lol. I write exactly like I talk :P
Heya Aaryn,
Thank you for your equally lengthy reply! I don't know, how I found it. I played three other games before, but yours was the only one that made me literally addicted. Funny that this is not the only time, I was looking for nsfw stuff and ended up with something not primarily nsfw that I absolutely love ^^
Yeah, I absolutely see your point. Maybe I should add that I'm a web application developer, so I know what coding is like. However, despite looking into game development a couple of times, I always had loads of respect for those who choose that field of software development since the focus is pretty much on details that happen in a split second or influence almost every other detail during the progress of playing the game.
What I called "decisions" could be roughly divided into two or three sub categories: On one hand, we have the "influential decisions" that would make stuff quite complicated as you said, but then we have more like "conversation topics" that don't matter, and the player can just decide the order in which they take place or skip them. I don't say, that a game should be cluttered with decisions, I sometimes get bored when I have to click over and over again without being challenged with making decisions every now and then—I hope, that makes sense. Or to put it a little different: If it feels more like a continuous movie, maybe the dialogue should proceed without me having to click all the time :D Especially the inner monologues at night, where the background is all black could be over the whole screen to have fewer pieces to click through.
3. Yeah, I like your meta jokes very much. It's good to have that kind of humor as a creator 👍🏻 Thanks for sharing a few technical details with me. I am constantly curious how this or that was implemented.
4. Actually, I haven't talked to you yet, but it sounds like it would be great fun, and I'd be a fool if I miss out on a chance to. However, I neither
have Discord nor Patreon—turns out, I'm a fool after all.
haha, no worries on the Discord or Patreon. I'll be uploading the update over here 3 weeks after I release it on Patreon. The Patreon donations just help with all the expenses and stuff so they get first dibs.
And yep, I agree with you on the decisions and stuff. So one thing you may not have considered (and honestly I still can't get over this part even after a few years now). But one problem with putting large reading sections on the screen at the same time deals with non-English speaking readers. I honestly still don't know how non-English readers can get through my writing with all the generational slang but thousands do. But there's been loads of people that will copy this game into Google translate line by line. You simply can't do that when you make it into a movie or animated sequence. There's one sequence that has words on it in the game and I didn't do any more than that because I didn't wanna leave the non-English speakers out. I assume that copying that into translate would be just as complicated if I loaded a wall of text as a slide (kinda like I did my giant damn thank you page).
Another weird writing quirk I apparently had with this project is that I frequently say that I "lost control of the characters." At some point, this story began writing itself and I found myself, even as the writer, not really having choices on what they did. That sorta got passed down to the reader as well. I figured if I didn't get a say in this outcome anymore, than neither is the reader. We're in it together and for some reason, I kinda like that. The fact that I couldn't control outcomes made me more anxious as nervous as a reader. The tense scenes seemed more tense because i couldn't go back and choose something better to rescue them. I kinda like that
Donating works from over here as well ^^ And honestly, the game is worth every cent, possibly more. And you really deserve that for the effort you put into all of this.
As a non-native speaker, I can tell that I have seen "worse"- Your writing didn't bother me and I don't recall any hard to read parts. People might wanna switch from Google Translate to Deepl.com. That one uses neural language processing (fascinating topic tbh) and translations feel quite natural. Have you considered making the game multi-language by letting the community input translations? But that might be a lot of extra work. I just thought, if they already kinda did that for themselves, they might wanna share it with others this way. Yeah, I imagined my solution looking kinda like your thank you page indeed.
Here's another thought, I just had on this: Maybe, some people want to skip optional monologues. How do you feel about adding something like a "page x of y" (maybe more like "(x/y)") on the bottom?
I absolutely what you mean about that aspect of writing. This is sometimes just wild. It often times feels like the story already exists out there (Plato might have called that "World of Forms"—sorry for getting philosophical ^^) and it somewhat just flows through you, your arm, your hand, your fingers and your pen onto the piece of paper or the keyboard onto the screen. Another thing I do while plotting for a story, I wait for an idea to ripe. Sometimes, the way, I wanted that one subplot to play out, just doesn't feel right to one of my characters. In that case, I wait longer until the character comes up with a slight alteration that keeps the general idea intact while making it coherent for the character to decide or act a certain way toward a specific goal.
I'm pretty sure, Ash wouldn't have played the game :D Don't tell me, you didn't have him say that on purpose :P
I just finished v0.20.5, and you absolutely killed it with the "Never have I ever" bar scene. I was laughing my ass off and with every line of dialogue I thought, you couldn't top that, but boy was I wrong! I said it before, and I say it even more now: There was sex in there, and it was good, but it was nothing compared to characters, story, emotions and humor. I could finish the character's sentences—that's how well you introduced us to each of them. In the spirit of 'honest day' I have to admit that I couldn't help but join them playing 'Never have I ever'—it was just too much fun—well, I know, it is ridiculous. I actually don't remember the last time I laughed THAT much. You should really consider, continuing to use your talent—I'd so love to see more of that, and I'd miss it, if I couldn't. Your frienda must enjoy playing drinking games with you so much! And you were right about the language thing: I actually had to look stuff up 😅—not much, but still.
First of all to say that I just registered because I can't do anything else but think about this game and I want to share my opinions. Before clarifying that English is not my first language and I'm not very good at speaking it.
Something that has caught my attention in the story is how connected I feel with the characters even though I personally haven't experienced practically any of the situations they suffer. I have fallen in love with Zack and Braden, they are very complex and three-dimensional characters, with tastes, fears, emotions, ways of speaking, moving, etc.
By the way, applaud the improvement that can be seen, comparing the last chapters with the first ones shows the great improvement in the game as well as in the script.
It is not a criticism that I want to comment on below, it is more a personal opinion that nobody should care about, but I feel that the characters are too handsome and perhaps it makes me realize that I am in a game.
The relationships between the characters are very realistic, they feel like people I could meet at any time but I must say that my absolute favorite and without a doubt is Braden, and I think that within the internal problems of each character he is the one that interests me the most, I really liked that conversation with Zack about his orientation after arriving in the new bedrooms and the bathroom scene and I'm curious to see the answer to his questions, although I have my own opinion on that subject I can't stop thinking about the conclusion to the one that Braden can reach. AND I LOVE BRADEN WITH GLASSES.
I don't like the original dormitory building, it reminds me of my college building and brings back bad memories because it's identical and every time I went to that building it was to find out very important news.
Finally to say that I have a mixture of love and hate for the game, I love it because it is great, wonderful and I have been playing it non-stop since I started. The bad thing is that when I finished it I felt empty, I tried to play other things or watch some series or movie but I can't concentrate because I keep thinking about what is going to happen to Zack and Braden and others.
Very good job, I love the game.
heya,
So first off: you English is very good so no worries at all. I continue to be amazed that people who do not have English as a first language are able to understand this story. Unfortunately, I write with a lot of slang and I purposely try to use slang and references from different generations throughout the story just to try and make it appeal to different age demographics. I just never imagined that it would go world-wide like it has. It's just really cool when I'm able to still get some of those points across even though there can be a huge language barrier for a lot of readers.
I'm also glad you appreciate the game improvements. I had no clue what I was doing when I started so I'm very much learning as I go. It's funny now that I wrote the damn thing and I can't even make it through the beginning because I think it's so bad now. It really needs fixed so I'll be going back to update the game based on what I learned so hopefully it'll look more consistent in the future.
I appreciate your mixed love and hate for the game and thank you for sharing your thoughts. Stay tuned, it's almost done.
Have to agree to AbelCain... you made the game in a very smart, decent and emotional way, so that we could connect to the characters easily. Remember and connect own experiences and actually feel something for Zack and Braden. So of course we will miss them, when the game is done.
That's why I'm taking my time with the game very slowly, enjoying every scene, noticing every word and expression..
Maybe you'll be able to set up something in the future, which will make it easy to re-connect to that.. ;-)
I actually prefer if people take the game slower but I can't honestly tell if that's just the spoiled dev side of me that wants the amount of work put in to actually pay off and last. It's crazy how quickly people can blow through content that takes you months to do, but we see that in AAA studios, too, so it's not just an indie problem. Just don't go too slow or you'll more of the stuff that I still gotta fix :p
Hi Aaryn,
I'm blown away at everything about this game!
The depth of the psychology you've brought to the narrative is brilliant, you can tell it's your major. It helped to build the characters and draw us in on an amazing level.
I understand the mix of story vs 'porn'...although personally I don't view it as such, I see it as the intimacy you can read in most romance novels, it shows their inexperience and their connectivity with each other to explore such a nerve wracking human experience together...and be comfortable with each other with doing so. Amazing work!
I know many people have expressed how they too see themselves in Zack and Bradens journey...even Mikhail and Max's. But its true. People seem to forget that not so long ago being gay was a hidden thing...and in far too many places today is still seen as wrong, evil, and even illegal. So the internalised homophobia is something all too common. Some don't even face it, or are lucky to find people that can let us be who we truly are without shame or judgement.
But I'm going off on a tangent here. Just know, regardless of some others, your content is amazing. It has touched many people...and truly as others have said, this needs to be out there more.
Well done! Keep doing you.
You've got a fan base regardless of some other opinions.
Thanks a lot. I'm glad you appreciate the weird mix of things I did here. The sex stuff is meant, as you said it, to be more about exploration and intimacy than it is about porn. I think the adult genre can be more than what it is and has been and I've tried to hold myself to a higher standard with capturing that. In general, i don't like censorship and I try to not censor things with this story so we definitely have to include the adult stuff. Sometimes that's erotic and other times it's just funny or even tragic how bad they are, lol. But that's a lot of us. We're clumsy when we're in uncharted territory and that's what I wanted to capture with a coming of age tale here. However, in other scenes I've purposely censored some nudity and stuff because I didn't want people paying attention to physical stuff there-- I wanted them to focus on the character dialogue or the events or other things that just felt important to me.
The story is as deep as I, personally, needed it to be. As you stated with internalized homophobia. Much of that is things that I've grew up around and internalized myself and it comes out in these characters and I wanted them to confront that. I've publicly said that this story isn't a solution to that, it's just me capturing my own solution to that and I continue to be humbled by the amount of people that it's touched as well. It's nice to share something positive on the internet for a change and it's insane how many people this story and the community have affected. I'll never stop being thankful for that. I appreciate your kind words. I just did another Patreon post today with an update outline but I'm dropping the end of the story this month so stay tuned and I hope I do it justice. I've fretted over this ending long enough.
Please check the social media links or the links posted above on the game development. It can be pretty frustrating when I make the game for free and people like to point out that it's not being made quickly enough for them.
Your genuine question was riddled with sarcasm, whether you're going to admit that or not. The game IS FREE to play, and will always be FREE to play - Patreon subscriptions are there primarily to help fund a FREE to play game, and provide people with consistent progress updates and supplementary content - such as the Selfie sets.
If you were a £4 Patreon Supporter you should have been well aware with the current update progress, as there have been several posts in regards to it. We are very transparent with how each update progresses - whether that be on our public Twitter pages, Discord server or Patreon.
The amount of hours we put into this game is beyond the normal hours for a normal day job. The planning, writing, CG creation- it's all done with a very small team of 3 people, two of which have day jobs too. Game creation takes a lot of time, especially if you give a shit about the content you're making and want to release a quality product.
We thank you for your support up to this point, and hopefully you understand the process a little bit better and know where you can find updates on the game progression in future.
Lemlin67,
There's a lot to unpack here but asking you to be polite on a public forum is not a toxic trait. I'm truly sorry you've missed the point of this story and why I'm doing this despite my frequent posts as public comments here, Twitter, my Patreon, F95zone, and Discord. I'm unsure why you think there's no content when there's 30 Patreon posts between December 2, 2021, and today (June 28, 2022). Some of those are about the game and some are supplemental content. But this is itch, so I'm not sure why you're talking about Patreon content here when you could have messaged me on there. I'm pretty approachable.
The game is free. I post it for free. People donating money to the project is not the same thing as charging for it. Do I accept donations? Yes. Because making this requires supplies and has cost me thousands of dollars to make because I do it legally rather than pirate the assets. I'm fine with that. But if people want to chip in and help out with that, I'll reluctantly accept the money and I appreciate it beyond words. You can make your own decision on whether you think I'm genuine in that; I have no control over your assumptions. If you've read even one of my posts, I'm sure you could tell where my heart is. Many of my Patreon posts are public and free so anyone is able to see that and I would encourage you to go back and look at any of those if there is debate.
I appreciate "support" and that is not the same thing as money. Throwing money at something does not mean you support it. I don't want money and I certainly don't want money from sources that have made false judgements about me or have name called people on a public forum after self-identifying as "genuine" like you did to another user below.
Please respond with your Patreon user name and I will gladly refund you. Patreon billing only allows me to refund the past 3 months. If you've donated for more than that, I will refund what I'm able to and donate the rest to a charity and post a screenshot publicly because I'm not interested in keeping your donation when you harbor such ill feelings about my project.
The Trevor Project thanks you for your generous $50 USD donation. I matched your donation to my project with a little interest.
Also, for anyone else interested, I just realized that the Trevor Project is matching all donations this Pride month at 100%. If you would like to donate, it's one of my favs but it is US based to my knowledge. You can find out more here:
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with organizations in the UK otherwise I would have directed the funds back in that direction. Regardless of your blocking, I hope you find happiness in this life.
I'm just popping in so I can't see the original question/comment.
I'm a little confused as any information needed is readily available. If you are a patron as well, I don't see why you wouldn't message directly rather than try to create drama on a public forum.
Furthermore, developing any game is expensive (AAA games are something around $80-100 million) and time consuming, but there has never been a requirement to pay.
This team has put their heart and soul into this as a passion project, not something to make money off of.
The last piece I want to say (and I hate being this bitchy) is get over yourself. its £4 you were never even asked to pay and if you take your head out of your ass, you would see there are constant improvements being done and shown as well as other non-canon content to hold everyone over while the story is being written and perfected.
I hope that one day you can see just how much has been put into this and the countless people it has helped in so many different ways.
Heya,
Yes, the OP appears to have been deleted. While I'm able to ban people or delete posts from the page, I normally do not do that (The exception being when someone deletes a post and I just purge it to clean up the page). However, in this case, my assumption is that the OP deleted the post because I did not. I don't like censoring comments just like I don't like censoring the game writing. I did however report two of the comments simply because they were attacking another user directly and there's just never any need for that. But enough about that, let me briefly and objectively summarize some reactions to some other points that you made regarding game development.
Yes. It's expensive. You mention AAA studios and the budgets. It's crazy how much this costs and how much time it takes. Regarding what the OP originally stated, there's an expectation that game updates for games such as mine will occur monthly. With Patreon, people pay on a monthly basis so if they're paying, they like to see something immediately for their money. I have two reactions to this:
1) People that pump out monthly updates normally release very small updates (usually 10 or 20 minutes of gameplay). In contrast, Straight releases much less frequently but the there's more content because I just like being able to sit longer and have time to actually dive back into the world. Releasing 10 minutes of this story, imo, wouldn't give us enough time to have emotional reactions to the situations so I spend time and drop an update that usually takes around 90 minutes or so to get through. Buuuut, it takes me like 6 months average to pump those out anymore. This story also comes from the heart so I have to feel this out. Because of the inconsistency and my own inexperience with doing this, I have always refused to charge for the project because I don't know when I'll get the updates out. I care about them so I want them to be good. If you wanna chip in money for the project, it's appreciated but never required. There's a million ways people can be supportive of this project without paying or donating.
2) While I disagree with the OP tone and profanity towards other people, I will objectively piggyback off one comment that he directed towards me: The indie dev community is actually pretty toxic and inconsistent. Games like this get abandoned constantly. In fact, I would argue that abandoned games are actually the norm--especially in this genre. Many devs are super money hungry and it's created a culture where followers have a right to be skeptical and mistrusting of them. Some have publicly admitted later that they put out a couple good game updates as bait and then abandoned the game but left Patreon turned on to autobill people for months or years. Another popular trope is that indie game devs in this genre will have some sort of mental health crisis that delays updates but ironically the billing stays turned on *eyeroll*. Honestly, it's terrible and something that I'm very conscious of. When you're honest with people, that's the last thing you want people to think. But I've also learned that some people have an extraordinary ability to jump to conclusions on the internet and I have no control over that. I have a good 5 years of posts on here, Patreon, f95zone, and Discord that I feel adequately illustrate where my heart is with this community and with the project. All of those posts are available publicly and I would encourage people to look at them if they've attached any conspiracy theories to me.
I started this project in 2017 and have consistently put out updates. The overwhelming feedback that I have received over the years is that each update was better than the previous one. I have a track record with the project and I have enough respect for the community and these characters to finish this. Throughout the process, as you stated, the art has improved and the quality of the writing has improved--unfortunately that translates into the project taking longer each time but people enjoy it and I honestly enjoy it. Ironically, it's usually the players donating that are telling me to take a day off; and while I appreciate that and it's reassuring-- it'll never be taken advantage of. The game will be finished and everyone will have access to it without the need to pay for it.
In short, do I mind if people ask when the next update is? Nope. I also understand that a lot of people don't follow other sources of social media and things like that. People are always welcome to ask (just don't spam me because then I spend half my day answering the same question). However, over the years about 3 people have gotten an attitude about the game updates and they want them now and for free and there's zero respect there at all. Just be nice when you're on the internet and remember that there's other people on the end of the screen. People have been very supportive of this project and I've only gotten hate from like 3 people over the years but I definitely see entitlement with other projects and I will get defensive if I see that attitude creeping near this one.
Yours is the first game of this type I ever played, so I pay special attention. I've tried to read every post and see the journey to create what you have. I am easily the type that gets frustrated when I binge all the available content of something I like. the difference is that you guys communicate everything. as ive started supporting more games and content creators I have started to see the "mental health excuse."
I have not seen you do this.
there is a fairly consistent stream of information or content so I was dumb struck seeing someone get upset especially on a public forum.
On the main subject of indie games being abandoned as being the norm...why does that matter? this is not every indie game, and you are not every developer.
haven't we learned not to stereotype or generalize? haha
I will say I am so glad that that you've only had 3 people over the years give you hate.
and again im sorry for getting a little inappropriate in my comment.
I just tend to become very overprotective.
Reported this troll...don't let him get to you, you've been working your ass off on this story for years and clearly he doesn't understand how to appreciate the amazing story you've put together and the amount of time invested...or that its available for free for those who choose to read the itch and patreon pages -.-.
LOL. dick head. report me to whoever you want. Kiss my arse.why not report the dev to patreon for taking £10k with nothing in return. Keep feeding him cash you suckers
Thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah, I feel like I'm pretty open. Sometimes it takes me a little longer to do things cause I'm learning as I go. I'm a psych major, not a game developer. I sorta just fell into this and people responded to it and it's something I want to finish <3
Try to ignore such comments. Every morning there is a weird guy in a strange mood somewhere opening his eyes..
Doesn't mean that you did something wrong at all. And the majority here greatly appreciates your work, so don't mind.
No worries. I do. I literally have thousands of letters over the years and like 3 people that have yelled at me. That's pretty good. Most of the people that go off about things on the internet are usually unhappy about more than just the thing they're complaining about. I hope those kinds of people find happiness some day. Being angry at everyone is no way to live.
Hi Aaryn,
initially found a video of your game on a more sexually focused platform. I watched it out of curiousity and it tollay blew me up! I had almost that same kind of story with my first boyfriend at High School when I was just 16.. he and me met almost the same way. In the same innocent, but almost "straight" manner starting in 1990. All the dialogues not only could have happened but actually did happen nearly the same way. Even in the face expressions of the guys in the game, I found my own former reality reflected. Really astonishing work! I had the fortune to have continued this journey of basically two more or less straight young men falling for each other till I was 26, so almost 10 years. Then he decided that he wanted to have some sexual experience with women too and he left. It almost broke me. Even as a bi-sexual and able to understand his wish, I loved him for ten years from day 1-to the last with the same intensity.. and after he left, I knew, that this was most probably not going to happen another time in my life. I missed him much the following years. We shared time in a very special moment of yourself starting to get an adult and having many experiences together for the first time in life. Today I'm even more appreciating this precious gift, life has given to me. Your sensitive and decent story telling and the buildup of the real characters was a masterpiece. I really feel connected to Braden and Zack. Almost as being together with them and experiencing and exploring things day by day. You have put everything in the right place. It was like a timemaschine for me and at the same time it was some kind of comfort for own experiences seeing so completely shared by another man experiencing the same. Thank you for that! I would wish and could imagine, that you are not already completely through your own inner story and memories, so you might consider a second part of this (?) Maybe again with Zack and Braden or maybe in a different way based on your experiences and inner sights you have gained through all this. Thank you bro for giving this touching emotional journey to us!
I always appreciate these stories. It's just crazy that I keep hearing from from multiple demographics and time periods, and places around the world. I appreciate your message and thank you for sharing your own story. I'm glad I could take you back one more time <3
Thanks for your kind reply. I'm taking my time and going along with the story very slowly. Had to smile when it has come up to the first massage scene, with Zack sitting on Bradens back. So funny.. cause with massage my friend got me in these times. I was 16 and felt completely straight. He was 15 and had to persuade me to let it happen. When he had finished.. I was emotionally completely confused for the following days. And from there on, we started to do it again, sometimes many times a week..till we passed the line, that is determined to be passed that way.. ;-)
I tried to make a realistic progression. A lot of people just try and play games like this for the adult content so I sorta eased some of that in but only for the sake of story building. I wanted it to feel organic and realistic the way a relationship could. It was kinda fun to take a lot of those natural situations that seem become porn cliches and make them actually have some substance to them. It's a long story so you got a long way to go and honestly i think the beginning is the worst part. I promise I get better
have a femboy or trans characters?
Heya,
Unfortunately, there are no trans or femboy characters in the game. I've done a post that I'll link here as well as this post on why the letters of "straight" are in red here. Both posts are sorta related to your question. But to quickly summarize, I was mostly focusing and using characters with things that I needed to personally work through or things that, in my particular cultural area, were things that were difficult for me to accept about sexuality. I'm very straight acting and I'm ok with that. I wanted to depict a world in which that could still exist because it's something I'm very comfortable with but without it being assumed it was toxic masculinity. In this vein, femboy characters were sorta avoided because it didn't fit the particular narrative that I was personally trying to work through as well as me feeling that since I'm uber straight acting, that I wouldn't be able to write a femboy character with any type of justice. I've never written anything before so I tried to stick with what was familiar to me personally. Which leads to the trans character question which sorta has the same answer. It's not something that I personally had any experience with. This game focuses A LOT on the mind of a very straight acting gay character. There's a lot of psych and a lot of internal processing in the narrative and I simply just wasn't able to do that with a trans character because it's not something that I've experienced. I'm sure there's plenty of trans authors/writers/coders/artists-- just creators in general-- that could do that role with a lot more justice and introspection that I ever could have so I'd rather they did that and I'll gladly shine a spotlight in their direction. I'll stick to my bro dramas for now until I figure out how to objectively write better. Hopefully, that made sense, if not, then hit me up or check out those posts for more depth on what I was personally trying to accomplish with this project.
I absolutely loved this visual novel.
I finished it up to the cliff-hanger "to be concluded." I am definitely looking forward to the reworkings of the initial chapters, including the enhanced graphics, added music and revised writing that I saw mentioned in an update. The current state of the story is... wow, damn good. I cannot accurately describe how amazing this story is. I think the greatest aspect of this game is the writing, and to me it was an excellent, introspective work. I also really liked the art and character designs even though they're (I guess) still in a rough draft form. So with the game, while playing, I actually started questioning my own self and my life choices leading up to now. Even though the story revolved around two young male characters' issues related to sexuality and authenticity, I still could relate as a mid-20s/trans-F. For instance, Zack's internalized homophobia and him hiding his true self for so long, as well as Braden's confusion on his own identity and his issue with dealing with the public's perception of him, resonated with me as someone who is beginning to question my own identity as possibly "non-binary" and who has had internalized transphobia in the past. I really liked the inclusion of Mikhail and Max (Ash), they were incredible characters who offered unique perspectives to the two main cast. Team Ash. The gradual build-up of the plot was done very well, and I felt like the sensual scenes near the end were normalized.
So yeah! Those are a couple of my thoughts on the story, and I am just obsessed. It was so good and I will stay tuned for new updates. Rooting for you guys because I think this game needs way more recognition. What were some game/media inspirations? This game gives me Life is Strange vibes, but with more mature content.
P.S. I listened to lo-fi hip-hop while playing and it.. oddly fit the vibe. Haha.
heya Kami, thanks for the feedback and comments.
So on the rework, the models would stay the same but I'm sure you've noticed that the beginning of the game is poorly lit and just looks crappy. The idea is to make the beginning look graphically like the ending does. The game is just me progressively getting better I think.
I'm also glad that you were able to relate to parts of the game even though (and I just made a few comments like this in the post above) that it was sorta designed as a bro game. I wrote what I was comfortable with but a lot of existential thought and self discovery is very personal revelations but the focus or method of accepting those can be a bit more general. I'm glad it holds up to someone who has a very different orientation than I do and that it just seemed "normalized" to you.
I appreciate the desire for the game to get more recognition. I'm pretty lowkey and don't market very well. It's also my first project and I've gotten way more out of this than I ever imagined that I would so I don't need all the attention. I'm certainly thankful for what I've gotten and continue to get. But i do hope that it finds it's way into the hands and hearts of people that could find meaning from it.
I find it cool how you channeled your own experiences into the game, it makes it more meaningful and intimate. And yeah, I think the writing in the game, in comparison to other male-on-male romance novels out there that I know of, is so much more personal that the reader can actually empathize with the characters. That's a great thing. It's almost like Zack and Braden actually exist in maybe an alternate universe, haha.
On a side note, is the Discord server accepting new members?
Oh for sure, the Discord is free and always open to people. The only real limitation is that it's 18+ like the game is and we try and keep drama to a minimum. We try to be a pretty chill community that's pretty accepting of people. Pop in if you wanna say hey. I usually try and greet everyone but sometimes I got windows up working on stuff so I miss them. If you join, say hey and tag me if I miss you. We regularly interact with people.
How old is everyone?
um... so they all state or imply ages at some point during the story but since we're coming to the end of a semester or year, you could imply an extra year if you wanted. But canonically Braden is 18, Zack is 19, Mikhail is 19 and you could assume that Ash is probably 19 or maybe 20... him and Mikhail are pretty close in my head tho. Although Cody is pretty popular with the fanboys, I've never actually given him an age in game.
Well, well, well... your team definitely did a good job of reeling the reader in and pulling on their heartstrings. **SPOILER** I have to vaguely mention the "cheating" scene because my heart was so crushed; it's the only reason why I made this account to rage, however, you got me so f-ing good!🤣😭 In all seriousness though, the story immersion is impeccable you undeniably have a talent for story telling! Please continue :)
heh, sorry about the bouncing emotions on that scene. It was designed that way on purpose but not only for the fake out. A lot of the game confronts things--either things that I personally struggled with or things that I feel hold a lot of people back from positive experiences in relationships. That scene in particular was supposed to confront how quickly people make assumptions about the behaviors of others just because media has sorta groomed us to think that way. Early Mikhail scenes were the same way. Glad I got ya tho. I think it's hard to write those fake out scenes and actually make them pack the punch you want, ya know? Thanks for the support though and thank you for making an account just to rage at me :p
played this game over the span of a few days, about a week ago? wasnt going to write a comment or review, because i never do on this website.
but i just CANNOT stop thinking about this game. i am so connected to this game, the characters and the storyline just mean so much to me. as someone who has struggled with my identity (sexual, romantic, and gender) seeing a representation of queer romance where its not overly sexualized but still clearly a relationship between two adults is just so heartwarming. i played the romantic route and it just made me so unbelievably happy.
when they were sad i was sad, when they were happy i was happy, and when they got fluffy and romantic i couldnt help but get excited.
thank you for such an amazing game, im so excited to see more! <3
This is honestly a reaction that I never get tired of: the people who make accounts just because they can't stop thinking about the game. I'm glad to have moved you in such a way because the journey has moved me as well. Thank you for walking with us :)
havent played this game in awhile and...i finally played and i loved every part of it. its sad seeing this split but all good things end eventually, hopefully they will reunite but for now it is what it is. im looking forward to the rest,
Writing the end is just as bittersweet. I'm glad you enjoyed it <3
@aaryn.reese - Over 50 years ago I lived this very wonderfully presented story for two and a half years. Yes, some differences, actually many differences, but the core plot gay young man and 'Straight!?' young man for just one very special person hit me to the very center of my soul. I made one massive mistake, I followed a career instead of my heart and lost that very special person as a soul mate. We've remained friends but I sorely regret that mistake. Thank you for reminding me that the core of ones existence is how one commits to the ones we love.
I'm glad the game brought back some old memories and I'm also glad that some things are timeless--that someone who experienced a story similar to this 50 years ago, can still relate to something written too. I really tried to write this in somewhat of a generic fashion, weaving in slang from multiple time periods and trying to give a lot of different age groups something to ground them to their generation. Glad to hear it held up with you. Thanks a lot <3
I don't have a clue as too wether or not you'll believe this, but since I wrote my original post to you, I've made connection with the party that your game brought back so many memories of. He's in troubled times once again, lost his job due to Covid. Strange how life ebbs and flows. Thanks very much.
Doesn't have to make sense. Sometimes it's just the way of things. I wish you luck on your journey and hope both you and him find peace with whatever direction it may go <3
Wonderful game! I really appreciate when a creator treat their work with respect and I wanna say you did a really good job capturing the psyche and dynamic of a, ummm, let's say "gay-straight" relationship. I'm sure it would resonate with lots of gay men, I know it did with me.
I love how you manage to depict a gay crush romance so well, the anticipation, the urges, the shame and the fear, I can truly appreciate the work when I play this game, not many gay romance content today really click with me. Especially as someone who's Chinese, most Asian gay contents we have are female fantasies and Mary Sue bull crap so I'm glad I found this game. I'm also glad that it's not over the top "Woke" and "PC", perhaps it's complicated in the west but I have never been a huge fan of it. The other day I was reading a quite popular VN where the MC and his "straight" best friend whom he's known for years suddenly engaged in a talk, or a lecture, about all the sexualities and "LGBTQQIP2SAA" inclusivity stuff out of nowhere. It's cool and all but, not really what happens during the struggle of a gay man developing a subtle and ambiguous relationship with a straight friend, at least not for situations like a teenage gay crush.
Anyways, enough with the little gay speech, it's a really good game and as a gay dude I enjoyed the story very much, thanks for this game.
As a side not, if you enjoy this type of content, check out Scout: An Apocalypse Story on this site, I was really drawn in by the "gay-straight" relationship of that VN.
Heya. Thanks a lot for the kind feedback. One of the things I was increasingly nervous about is that, while I put this out on the internet, I never expected it to really go world-wide. But I increasingly get mail from people all over the world with different beliefs and cultures. I want to reiterate that I don't think my story is true for everyone. It's just a slice of life and that doesn't have to generalize to everyone but I'm glad it resonated with you on the other side of the world. For many things in the world to be as polarizing as they are now, it's nice to find some things that we can join ourselves together. I simply just wanted to try and normalize something that I struggled with and capture the process of me coming to terms with it. I appreciate you and I'm glad you're enjoying my little existential romance :)
Hello aaryn.reese, I admire your work a lot. I want to start developing a game like that too and your pictures are amazing.
Can you give me a way to contact you so I can ask you some questions while I develop mine?
Would you be interested in a cooperation with me?
Also, can you tell me what tools and programs have you used so far for your novel? especially the characters body features?
We have a Discord and regularly talk with fans of the game on a daily basis. You're more than welcome to join there. I'm pretty open to talking to people but if I'm writing, I'm pretty quiet on there. My concentration is garage and i can't multitask so if you see my tagged as writing, expect a slow response.
I'm self-taught on everything with no experience so it's def doable. I use Daz3D for the pics. Blender has been used to create some objects in the game as well as some environments and the videos. Renpy is the coding program.
Thank you!
This is legit the most beautiful story I've ever read. A masterpiece. I downloaded it expecting to be a 'porn-game' kind of thing, and ended up literally crying at some parts. I took 3 days to finish, and there wasn't even a single hour of my days that I didn't think of Braden and Zack, kinda feeling butterflies in my stomach for two charachters that doesn't even exist! I don't know who wrote it, but whoever made this VN, is a fucking genius. As a 22yo, I could clearly see myself in most of the situations that Str8 portraits, things that happened to me in many parts of my life. The guy who wrote it surely knows what he's doing. The dillemas, drama, everything was on point. I literallly have no words to describe Str8. Please keep up with this amazing work!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I know I've talked with you on the Discord about your reactions to the game but I just wanna say thanks again and I'm really glad you enjoyed it so far <3
when is the next update so I can look forward to it?
i dont have an ETA yet but i'm working on it. it's probably a little over 70% done
ok thank you!!!
I can't wait, it sounds like the biggest update ever.
Can't wait!! Thanks for your hard work on this amazing game!
No chubby?
um... not sure what you're talking about
there's no chubby
what's a chubby? I can think of several definitions both literal and slang so I still don't know what you're talking about
I think they meant as in a chubby character
oh ... yeah... i didn't really focus on body types much in this because the story is based more on character interactions rather than what they look like or what shape their body is. I did focus on a few random attributes for my own narrative reasons but those were isolated variables that I wanted to address for specific reasons. I can't see myself ever putting a body type in the game just to include it--there needs to be a reason for things that move the story forward and body types just wasn't something i was going to focus on in this story.
What software did you use for creating those characters and scenes?
Issues: I am using the android version of the game. Everytime I minimize the game and open it, the screen goes black until you restart the game.
I can't wait for the next update. This is probably one of the best Visual Novels I've played so far. If only I had the money to support this game, then I'm sure to give lots. I just hope that the sex animations are like Mikhail's and Ash's during Pool Locker. And also, I suggest you to add Gallery where scenes are saved once achieved in the story.
Overall, I'll rate this a 9/10. Keep up the good work.
heya, thanks for the positive comments. I use Daz3D for the art.
The Android version is somewhat newer and something that people have asked about for a couple years now. I have another guy do it for me but I'm not sure what the limitations are with it. I know Android is so different from phone to phone so that may cause some of the issues but I'm honestly not sure. I have an iPhone now so i can't test it. Although, I may try more testing on an emulator in the future.
So im using a pc but every time i try to click that downloded the Linux one comes up instead anyway to separate the two?
PC and Linux are the same download :)
yes i see that is there anyway to seprate them other games have them sepret and thus i can get the dowlodeded to work yours i cant cuse it just opens up this weid zipper thing rather then downloded the files i need
The zipper is just a compressed Windows file. The download file is compressed so that it's a smaller file to download. There isn't a Linux version and a Windows version separate. It should be one download that just works on each because that's the way Renpy (the coding program) exports the game files.
All you have to do is extract the file. If you're in Windows, you should be able to just right-click on the zipper and "extract all" to wherever you want it. Then wait a sec while it unpacks it then the game should be in that new place. After it's working, you can just delete the zipper
Okay I went back and started a new playthrough of the game and I went the pervy route this time and I am totally floored by how that played out. The end of this update actually made me cry.
Ash is such an interesting character. As I was going through I got invested in seeing how everyone developes and interacts with each other. I hope that we will see Ash and Mikhail again.
Aaryn, such a masterpiece my friend. So indepth and real with the situations that are protrayed in the game. Like being right there in college with them, living the life with them and surviving all the trials and tribulations that come from that sort of setting.
I can not wait for the next update. I am really looking forward to seeing how Zack and Braden deal with being apart for the summer.
thank you. truly. I'm glad you liked both routes. i know i did something different than most people do and i wasn't sure that it would go over that well but i liked the idea and the challenge of it. glad it paid off for you <3
I can't even begin to describe how well thought out, put together, deep, structured and relatable this VN is.
I've told all my friends about this story and quite simply because this game changed my life. And I say that with no exaggeration and in full confidence.
In 23 years I've read countless books, watched years worth of TV and Film and never have I emotionally connected to characters the way I've found myself connected to Zack and Braden, the main characters of this piece. Even the side characters I find myself in love with.
When the characters were happy, I was happy.
When the characters were upset, I was upset.
When the characters argued, I was angry.
When the characters laughed, I laughed.
Yet most fascinating to me is the end of Chapter 9. I won't spoil anything but the story is written so perfectly and the twist at the end of Chapter 9 made me, for the first time in my life, cry genuine tears of happiness. No work of fiction has ever taken me to a powerful emotional place like that, I'm not sure I've cried happy tears at anything ever in fact. Until this story came along.
In these games, it's easy for the 3D modelling to get a little questionable, but in this particular story I found myself fully immersed the entire time, the model work is done flawlessly, I never found myself pulled out of the story because of the visuals.
The clichés in the story are so well done to avoid being eyeroll clichés, the twists and turns really had my jaw on the floor and my hand over my mouth in shock, yet never went so far as to be hugely unrealistic.
Now this is only my opinion of course, I can't say this is going to be the same for everyone, but for me, for me this is the single greatest work of fiction I have ever happened across.
I can't thank the people who worked on this enough nor give them enough praise for creating such a masterpiece.
I know you joined the discord server and you've gotten a chance to process some of this. I appreciate your passion for the project and your support. I'm humbled to have it have such a profound effect on you and to somehow dwarf everything you've tried so far when this is my first attempt at anything like this. <3
Alright, I usually do not make comments about games because it's usually the same old things but THIS game. It's different, I can tell you worked hard on it, so I wanted to comment to talk about what I think.
So, character stories are hard to write. This is because the story is determined by the characters and what they do and how they react to things, there is very little outside forces. It can make it seem like its dragging, but you were able to craft a really well written story and it captured my attention. it's one of the first visual novel type stories where i barely ever skipped. All of the dialogue was interesting but also felt natural and kept me interesting, but the best thing was the characters, so I'll go over the main four.
Zack is probably the best main character i ever seen that's not just you. Usually in games where you are controlling another character, they are either a unnatural goody guy who is unnaturally happy and optimistic about everything and just comes in and fixes all of everyone's problems or a blank board who doesn't have a single personality trait but everyone loves them. But Zack? Zack is real, his problems his emotions are real things that many people face. i was playing the chapter where he confessed that he hated being gay and i bawled my eyes out because I felt the exact same way. At a certain point i started to just root for zack and is happiness because if he could be happy than maybe I and other people could even if he's just fictional lol.Idk, and the QUOTES. i feel my inner walls and resistances collapse around me and run like sand through my fingers. Bro I'm using that, that's top tier writing. Best character by far.
So personally, I don't like the straight dude going gay stereotype that's in every game. Tbh it is what made me take so long to play this game. But for what the stereotype is Braden does it well. I like the fact that he wasn't aggro about it and his concerns about not feeling gay made sense. Anway's yeah, he's hot insecurities in all. I'm really glad you changed his design tho because the twink look is not my type lol. His scenes are great, I love how flirty he is when he's comfortable.
I think everyone here loves ash, i do too. He's pretty unique and his struggles is something i bet others actually deal with. He's funny, a breath of fresh air honestly. we need some breather and comic relief. Yeah Great character
idk how to spell his name now that i'm off the game but zach friend is someone i think everyone needs in life. He's just a good guy, too good of a guy at times. I'm glad we got to see more of his problems in the later chapters so he can seem more real.
I love all the characters and love how they interact together; their dynamic is great. they make for a interesting story.
nsfw scenes, they aren't the main part of the story, they are nice but its more added stuff. honestly tho, none of them was really provoking until the shower scene. That was amazing, I'm really glad that you let us choose and about that. I hope you let us choose if there is a final sex scene where they go all the way. personally for me, i like bottoming and enjoy reading those scenes more. I was a little bummed that braden was a small 'twink' who looked super young and zack said "I'm a top" and the focus was mainly his ass but after zack started accepting he could be a bottom and than braden grew it gave me hope :). If we could pick which position that would satisfy everyone but I'm fine with it if Zack just bottoms lol. Of course not gonna downgrade it if he tops only as well.
My only criticism are pretty simple. I do think the start could use some work. there is no tutorial so when the choices on what to do you are just running around like a headless chicken until you pick all the options. Than this option completely disappears at the end where you aren't choosing what to do at all. i think maybe adding some required story beats in the beginning for direction and slowly working towards more and more would make it less jarring. or maybe any type of prompt in the beginning explaining how to progress.
The rock scene after he catches braden in the wrestling locker room zack talks about a moment where he almost *R word* Braden that i never experienced. I assume it was the choice in the beginning to be respectful or pervy. I picked respectful and it looked like he wasn't thinking about anything or didn't even get close and just went back to sleep. idk if it's supposed to happen on both routes or maybe i just skipped it but just wanted to say it unless it was missed.
Ernie disappeared :( I know that he wasn't really important and i don't really care that much but I did like him lol. I was stuck at the beginning for a while and was just talking to him every day so I got attached.
But yeah, really small criticisms that don't really effect my score on the game. It's really good, good enough for me to want to support you on patreon. so yeah keep doing what you doing, i think if you wanted to you could get super huge, you're writing is better than 90% of this genre for real.
[Generic Spoilers Included In Below Response]
heya, thanks for the lengthy post. I'll admit that i'm always intimidated to try and reply to these so I'll give it a go.
The balance of Zack was tough in the beginning (although i dont like the beginning of the game and it needs work but this is just my pre-alpha rough draft of the story so far). I wanted Zack to be somewhat typical because if i hit everyone with his realism right off the bat, i figured I'd lose people. People are used to the adult/NSFW genre being porny and I wanted to do a fakeout at the beginning and give people a sense that that was the case here. However, trying to balance that with the slow introduction of something deeper here was kinda challenging to me. I basically wanted an adult game that people would eventually have to take seriously as something much deeper that just chose the adult genre because there's no limits on what you can discuss and portray sexually.
Braden's character is a bit tougher to crack and will continue to be in the final chapter. While some could look at him as the str8 boy going gay, it's much more complicated than that and he wrestles with that in a completely different way than zack does. I figured the community was attack him, in fact there's one sub-community of a particular tuber that does relentlessly attack him. But I wanted Braden to stand as the complete antithesis to people who demand that someone admit they're gay when they're authentically not. This story is very much making the case that labels, regardless of how many we try and make, will still be limiting to people. It's very much a journey of finding yourself regardless of what categories people want to place you in or force you to admit to being.
In terms of your criticism, I agree. the beginning is very much what adult games were at the time it started (2017). They were grind and state based so I started there given that I had no experience. Eventually I think i found my voice and said fuck the genre i'm doing my own thing and I think that paid off. I want to reconstruct the beginning as well as update the quality of writing since I got quite a bit of experience with that over the past few years.
Also, the rock scene is only in the respect route.
I agree with most of your suggestions and hopefully i can connect some of those dots when i got back and try and polish some of this. This is very much just a public rough draft of my story
This novel is a gem.
Applause for creators. It's Life is Strange level of an atmosphere. Ur very talented.
It's an art. Thanks.
thank you soo much <3
how do you play it I have downloaded it but now what?????????? sorry its my first time using with website.
I'm not sure where you're stuck at but you should just be able to download it and then unzip/extract it. The download file is compressed to make it smaller to download. After that, you play it like any other game by clicking the .exe file inside the base folder. If you're still stuck, please post again or if you have Discord, you can pop on there and we can try and troubleshoot with you in real time
This is amazing, simply amazing. Ive been reading a lot of this type of Visual Novel and yours is by far my favorite. Its not just the NSFW stuff which is too notch in its own right, its the absolutely brilliant character development. My heart goes to each of the 4 guys. They are wonderful, beautiful souls.
Max might be the single best person ive ever seen. The utter selflessness he has towards his friend. It makes me cry just thinking about how unfair life was to him. He deserves his own spinoff. It would be crazy, chaotic and heartfilled all at the same time. Just like him.
Braden coming out of his shell and being comfortable with himself is inspiring. He started out almosg crippled by his phobias but his trust in his friends drives him to be better.
So much about this speaks to me. Looking back I can see myself as Zack. Heck, Zack is me! I was and still partially am, that ball of anxiety that overthinks everything. So afriad to make a move and face a potential negative outcome that it paralyzed me from going after what I really wanted. Just like Zack almost faced, I didn't know what was there until it was too late. I hope with all my heart that you give Zack the happy ending that I missed out on. He deserves to be happy and not just a simple end of semester, see you next time ending. The real life changing ending that his character has been building up through whole journey .
Let me see what could have been through him :)
I'm glad you enjoyed the arcs. Max is a fun character. I can't decide what I honestly like more: him as a character or just hearing from the audience about how quickly they jumped from hate to love in one chapter even tho he actually never changed anything about himself really.
I'm working on the ending now and hopefully I do it justice.
Is it continues to another chapter. I am looking to the continuation of this novel
The new update is in progress. the are still working on it
my guess is its comes around august
Current Progress on v0.21
Outline v0.21: 100%
Rough Draft Writing: 70%
CGs: 65%
Draft Revision: 0%
Peer Feedback and Final Editing: 0%
We've all imagines going to college.
Will we have to share a dorm? Will I like that person. Will that person like me? Will I like that person? If I pray to the gay gods will I get a fine specimen of a man for some eye candy? Well in Straight!?, the answer is a big fat YES!
This game is has plenty of FLUFF. And that is why it is so true to what the characters are experiencing--being out of your comfort zone for the first time in your life. Slowly, but surely the begin to get closer. They learn to bond. They become friends. The become intimate and confortable with each other in a way they completely makes sense -- they share a room -- and it's the type of comfort we would all be lucky to have in a friend.
Don't get me wrong, this game is NOT SFW. But it is the blend of Smut and Fluff which makes it so special. We see these characters go from stranger to people who rely on each other, trust each other, and care for each other and learn to understand each other. It is this character development that we witness for the characters, that makes STR8!? so special. You'll laugh with them, cry with them and even I think, be proud of who they become. And if you're anything like me, you'll be thanking AAryn when our
str8! boys finally do get together, no cheap pen0r here -because this story, is fucking beautiful.This literally my favorite game ever. The friendship is so unique and the way Zack and Braden build slowly their reletionship untill getting confortable with all the sex thing is just soo good. Keep going I really appreciate your work <3.
Ps when are you going to upload the next chapiter here on itchio ? Wanna subscribe to your patreon but I can't know but I will soon or lately💗
heya, so thanks for the love. Glad you like the weird dynamic here.
So i post things on the Patreon page first. While i accept donations here, the Patreon page is the primary place where i post devlogs and put out supplemental content for the donations received. Because the game is free and will always be free, I post the newest updates when they're ready for those who donate exclusively on patreon (it's just easier to manage there). 3 weeks after that is when i post it publicly on Patreon as well as here on ichio and one other website.
Ok thank you i really love your work keep going !!
I love how the game doesn't get right into the sex. It makes the eventual sexual scene even better. ESPECIALLY THE RECENT ONE
I think things matter more when you're invested in them and there's value in it :)
Exactly
I love it
<3 thank you.
I'm suprised how good this game is. Actually loving the story and the fact of nsfw growing slowly, step by step. Keep up the great work, man.
I'd actually love to subscribe to you on Patreon. Just keep creating games like this.
thanks a lot. surprising a few people lately. glad you liked it <3
This was i really good game i thought it was going to be like every other game on this site with their "porn shenanigans" that ends up ruining the plot but this was really good i felt a connection with the story and characters truly a great job on the creators part sure there's NSFW but it would be completely wrong to say this is porn it's so much more this is a story one that I hope never ends 5 stars
thanks a lot. i'm glad it surprised you :)
unfortunately not hosted on a site that is compatible with itch.io. says 3rd party site... looked like a good vn, but will not try it from a 3rd party site
Sorry you're not able to try it. It's actually really common because Itch.io restricts uploads to this site to 1GB so any projects larger than that are forced to use external links. Up until recently, itch.io forced you to use external photo links with very small size limits to advertise your project so they apparently just don't have the space here.
The links used here are through Mediafire, which I pay for and are the same links that I use from my Patreon site. The only downside to Mediafire is it seems to really suck for download speed in the UK. Unfortunately, as the game has grown and I learned more about development, the image quality increased and this increased the size of the game files. When you spend thousands of hours trying to increase something, the last thing you wanna do is shrink it back down by 75%.
Wow. This was an unexpected experience. Left me very emotional. Wish I had the eloquence of Zack's internal monologue to express just how impactful it was. Looking forward to the conclusion.
One question, since this is in alpha: Is there a preferred method or path back to you for feedback on nits or hiccups spotted?
hey thanks. glad it surprised you. we have a discord for the game and that'st he quickest way to get in contact with me. There's a lot to fix in the beginning part. i had no idea what i was doing and that shows in comparison to the ending chapters but I'm always open to feedback and stuff :)
Heh, didn't expect such a quick response. Sorry this post wasn't more timely. Not enthusiastic about joining yet another online site; Will have to think about that. In the mean time, here is some more-detailed feedback, none of which diminishes the emotional impact the overall story has had so far.
--the following contains spoilers--
I have played the game through three times. First time I played it through, which was prior to my first comment, I made what I thought were sensible choices. Have played it twice through again, once choosing what seemed like respect choices and once choosing what seemed like perv choices.
I was surprised that Zack still apologized at the pond (respect path) for nocturnal creeping even though I as the player actively tried to avoid that path. I even avoided going to the shower to observe Braden's shadow beating. And speaking of that, no mention of the shower wall on that respect path. My expectation there was for Zack to only apologize for the creeping that was beyond the player's control (like the removal of the shower wall.) Otherwise, why give a choice at all?
On the perv route, I had expectations going in that the two would be going their separate ways from the gym, with maybe Zack and Mikhail ending up together. I mean, how many times can Braden forgive Zack's BS. Glad it didn't go that way though. (Of course, it might have been interesting if they had separated only to have Max thrust them back together at the end of Chapter 9, since his plan was already in motion by time of the gym confrontation. Have them deal with each other in the room that first night rather than in the gym. The gym feels too public a forum for that discussion anyway.)
Max also missed a loophole when it came to Braden's phone; Zack was at swim practice earlier on the same night as the swim lesson and fire so the phone could have been left then--by anyone at practice. All Zack had to say was"Oops, I left that at the end of swim practice, can I have it back?" or words to that effect. Though Max's performance during the meeting is beyond awesome.
I also seemed to miss how Zack ends up with Braden's phone. Was that there somewhere?
I feel that some mention of the shower lights is needed since messing with a thermostat might not burn down a dorm but a poor wiring job repairing some commercial lighting definitely could.
----------
This is getting way too long so just a few questions:
Any significance to to Cody wearing the shirt Braden rejected when shopping? (LOL, BTW, on shopping at Ashley's Boutique)
How much foreshadowing is in the third screen presented to the player when the game first launches? (BTW, I think there should be a way to disable the warning screens after you've started the game the first time.)
Do we ever get optional dialog on:
-Braden's bisexual friend in high school? (so expected this to come up again to the point that maybe it is a Chekhov's Gun detail)
-How Braden's GF embarrassed him enough for the breakup?
---------------
Some but not all of my fav moments
-park after the bar.
-beach shower "I where know your heart is."
-the entire night swim.
-Max breaking the fourth wall by throwing shade on clicky text-base games.
-Max's wave (As someone who knows that ADHD isn't something you grow out of but learn to manage, Max became a fav rather quickly. This scene punched hard.).
------------And add me to the list of peeps curious to know what 3D software you are using for your visuals. Because part of what sells your story is the cinematic realism of your 3D assets.
I don't even know where to start. This game hits so damn good, pulls every single string of my heart. I'm not usually that interested in NSFW content (I always find myself skipping through it lol) but this VN is worth every single picture.
I seriously can't express (and not being eng-native isn't helping lmao) how muchh this story meant and mean to me. I've found so many similitaries between me and Zack that just that was enough to threw me off. He also kinda looks like me and I'm...speechless.
Zack's train of thought through all the events (I'm trying not to be a spoiler beetch ugh-) was so understandable, and I don't know if that's 'cause you're just that good at writing or because I've found myself thinking and acting the same as him.
Even just that one thing that happened in the wrestling locker-room, where he thought things were happening between Bradon and his friend, was almost identical to what happaned to me.
I'd go on and on about every single thing you wrote but I don't want to be the Dante 2.0 so I'll just say: I love the way you write and explain every single thing. I want this VN to never end 'cause it's just that good.
Thank you so friggin' much for all your hard work, I hope I can see so many other things from you, and I'll close saying that this little masterpiece you created made me...kinda want to meet and talk to you.
I hope you're doing good and wish you all the best!
Thank you, again. You made this not-that-little guy feel something again.
Also, sorry if something is not understandable but, again, I'm an italian mess lmao
Heya Phree,
Nah, your writing is good and I'm following you. I appreciate this because I never really thought this project would go global. I mean, obviously when you put something on the internet it's global but I didn't expect the world to react the way that they did. It's humbling and it's meaningful to hear that it still resonates with people in other countries that speak other languages. There's a lot of slang in this game so that was something I was honestly worried about-- i didn't think it would translate well.
There's a lot of my personality in these characters. In fact, it's hard for some people that know me to even read it because they can't separate them from me. I'm around on the discord server and talk pretty often if i'm not writing :)
Hey there again my man. Just wanted to tell you that I read your reply to my post and I really appreciate you taking the time to try and reply to as many posts as you can. Especially since you do so on MULTIPLE forums from what I have seen. Your work on the game and on the forums needs to be acknowledged once again. You are a truly inspirational person to someone like me. This game has touched me deeply as I have said before, and it has gotten me into writing my own novel. I wish I was talented enough to make a VN as you are, but I wouldn't even know where to start. I was watching the latest update like a hawk, starving for more content. The update didn't disappoint either. I REALLY hope we get to see Mikhail again though. This update had me really happy, then kinda horny lol, then laughing my ass off at the bar, then crying like a baby at the end. I don't know how you play with emotions the way you do, but you have a real talent. I can't wait for the ending of this story as much as I am dreading it. I'm extremely excited for anything else you have in store for us, in this game and onwards. Please never stop even after this game is over. Your talent needs to be shared with the world.
This post needed to happen a LONG time ago (like 90 days) lol but I'm awful and haven't gotten around to it before now. I procrastinate and dawdle too much lol.
Heya :)
I do try and answer every post that I can. Lately, I've been super busy and the comments over here on ichio have really stacked up so I'm behind. Ironically, you pointed out that I respond to comments when I was the most behind, lol.
The last few updates in the game have all been rollercoasters. I think everything since chapter 7 has been really up and down and I sorta like that. It doesn't feel chaotic but it feels more like the ups and downs of life. I put a lot of emotion into writing it. I have to be in a certain headspace to do the writing part and I really do feel for the characters. Sometimes that slows things down a bit so i get what you talk about with the procrastination. I'm the opposite and just work on it constantly. I'm not sure what my next project will be but I'd like to do something again. There's plenty left to do on this game tho so that's still gonna prob take me a year or more to polish this up.
thank you for your kind words, though <3
Love playing this game. I found on Amazon music Eli Lieb an amazing singer. I have a really good soundtrack from him and a couple others. His songs work so well. Makes the experience that much more immersive. When you really lose yourself in the story it's worth it.
oh for sure. I have a playlist I use when I'm writing. music makes all the difference for sure
I love this game. So well written, beautiful cg and animations. I do hope the story will continue. I ache between every chapter. I long to read more, to follow their development and the love story. And I wish I had supportive friends like them.
:) glad you liked it. I also don't wanna run the story into the ground either. I wanted to tell a specific story here and hopefully I'm able to accomplish that in the last chapter. Glad you enjoyed the writing. not something i knew I was any good at so it's nice to continue to hear things like this. thank you <3
When will the next update be up?
I'm working on it now. it's estimated to be pretty long tho so it's taking awhile. Plus, I try and incorporate something new and learn new things in each update so that usually slows me down. It's all still practice for me. this is just the rough draft of the game.
awesome I can't wait ur story Is really good can u please let me know when u update it