Harem Protagonist is a very good game about making human connections with your fellow students and sharing an experience

[West Filly]

I found the three artists who did the image above, there was a lineartist, a colourist who is also the animation rigger and then a separate someone who actually animated the rig.

I found the lineartist, whose commis.io page says she works for 39 bux per lineart, but it looks like she's got a closer relationship with Starbeam Studio than just being commissioned. One tweet she gave suggests that she makes money on the side in order to have time to work on the game without worrying about money.

I started looking deeper to see if she's got some kind of deal with them or if the game is maybe a passion project of hers. What I found was a human being, and a very talented artist. She's super cool and doesn't deserve me poking into her social media to see if I can prove my point or find anything of interest for this thread. The turning point for me was when I found a joke tutorial she made of how to draw a boob.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

The project head is the artist. This is not a question of keeping costs down.



The most expensive part of this project is the writing. And it's already apparent that the project has a bunch of incompetent writers with no lead editor instead of recruiting just one strong one.

[West Filly]

I looked into the lineartist not realising the colourist was also the concept artist and head of the project. When I saw the credit for the colourist on DA I just assumed it was the normal process of Sketch>lineart>colour, and with only a lineart credit it lead me to believe the first two pieces were being completed by saltedcoins/Syrah Fairbairn. With the information that cuddlebeam is the concept artist I now realise I was looking in the wrong place.

[West Filly]

The fact that each character has their own writer (except Ayano and Satomi, who share a writer) explains why there's no shared continuity between the characters.

[Logicgate]

Man collaborative fiction writers have been smushing each other's works into shared universes for ages. I'm not going to say it's a "solved problem" or anything. I've been a de facto continuity fixer for a roleplaying setting and things can get weird. But really you just have to want it and see its value.

And yeah this just...isn't a harem story. Most of the harem tropes require the girls to interact with each other almost constantly. Always with the protagonist as the focus, of course. But it's just as much (or more) about the characters fighting with each other or competing for the protagonist's affections than it is about a bunch of two-way relationships the protagonist has. Can't really do that if they're all partitioned into their own universes.

[Daikatuna]

No.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Man collaborative fiction writers have been smushing each other's works into shared universes for ages. I'm not going to say it's a "solved problem" or anything. I've been a de facto continuity fixer for a roleplaying setting and things can get weird. But really you just have to want it and see its value.

And yeah this just...isn't a harem story. Most of the harem tropes require the girls to interact with each other almost constantly. Always with the protagonist as the focus, of course. But it's just as much (or more) about the characters fighting with each other or competing for the protagonist's affections than it is about a bunch of two-way relationships the protagonist has. Can't really do that if they're all partitioned into their own universes.

75 grand for a visual novel that can't even remember its own premise in the demo

I should really get in on this grift

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

I just tried to play the "demo". You have more than just problems with floating sprites and missing pictures and UI, the first scene you pick keeps repeating itself for every other scene you choose. And looking at the scenario files you linked to us on the forum, every single scenario has the EXACT SAME labels. Which means, it's gonna keep going back to the first scene, until you exit out completely. That is a major coding error. And worse, a beginner's error. And it is present in all 150 scenario files. Simple QC check would have discovered it in an instant. And if you did, and you thought it was a minor error and good enough to give to your backers, then that says a lot about how you think about your sponsors.

I would like my $80 back as soon as possible.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

This game is such a trainwreck and it fucking delights me

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Oh right, there's a bunch of scripts posted for public viewing in Google Docs, so this thread gets to live on

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

After a long and brutal morning of holding it in, I couldn’t hold it anymore. My feelings of release just had to come out before I burst from the inside!

You'd think that this is a fake out

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Urinal gods, accept my blessing. Brought to you by the letter P

It's not. It's the least charming bathroom joke possible.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

There are so many innuendos in this I don’t even know where to begin.

Okay, it's even less funny if you hang a lampshade on it

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

I see Satomi rushing down the hallway in my direction, and I swerve to avoid her.

Who the fuck is Satomi again? Is she the girl we didn't meet?

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Just as I try to sidestep a rushing Satomi, an equally fast Izumi comes at me from the opposite direction. I try to step out of Izumi’s way, but end up caught between a pillow and a soft place.

what the fuck is wrong with these writers

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

After a pause that seems to last a few moments longer than it needed to, Satomi and Izumi separate themselves, freeing me to collapse to the floor and finally start breathing again.

HELP I AM BEING CHOKED BY THE TIDDY

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

What’s the rush, girls?

This line is spoken by somebody named Shujin. I have no fucking clue who Shujin is.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

With all due sense of urgency, I rush with Satomi and Izumi to where the bread vendor has set up their table. Unfortunately, a large crowd has already formed around the bread cart.

So this scene is just getting dragged along with two girls to get some bread. I... guess that's not so bad? It's like a real thing real people would do.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

We’re not going to GET a turn if we wait behind all these people. I already told you, they always run out. We’re not going to get any unless we’re aggressive.

What's funny is that the way this is formatted in the spreadsheet makes it super obvious that the sentences start with the same word. "We're not going to get" stands out like a sore thumb.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Izumi steps forward into the crowd, trying to shove her way through to the front. Unfortunately, all of her attempts to get through the writhing mass of bodies are instantly repelled by a seemingly impenetrable barrier. It’s evident that nobody wants to let her through.

I am legitimately surprised there is no boob "joke" here

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Inner Izumi hands me a 500 yen note.
Shujin Uh...how am I supposed to get through here? This crowd looks pretty tightly packed, Izumi. I mean, if you can’t get through…
note If player has high strength:
jump 10
note If player doesn't have high strength:
jump 20

Oh, stats are actually supposed to do something

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

There's a bunch of stuff about ordering bread and over/underpaying and it's really boring

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

No, no! It’s just… I’m a little self-conscious about eating with others.

Why would you? It’s not like all you eat goes straight to your chest, right?

god i hate this game

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Not that it’s a bad thing! Some guys can overlook a girl’s eating habits if they have the looks and you deliver. I mean, well...

The dialogue between girls in this game is so, so embarrassing

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

As stimulating as girl-on-girl conversation is, the meals you’ve painstakingly fought to buy are going to go stale by the time this scene is over.

GIRL ON GIRL CONVERSATION

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Let’s find somewhere private to eat then. How about the roof?

Oh come the fuck on. Didn't I call this one earlier in the thread?

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

If not a tad cliche, but the cliche itself might work in that everyone assumes it’s obvious. Sure, let’s go there.

What the fuck does this even mean

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Both girls tear the plastic wrap off their desserts. Satomi begins by breaking off the end and inserting it into her mouth, while Izumi seems to be trying to suck the chocolate filling out of hers.

This is the worst erotic fiction I've ever read.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Anyway, I can understand liking the chocolate part best, but if you eat that first, then you’re only left with the bread…

Yeah, well, sometimes I don’t finish that. You know, I’ve been trying to cut carbs out of my diet.

I'm no nutritionist, but isn't chocolate just all sugar?

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

An awkward silence ensues as Izumi and Satomi find themselves left without a safe topic for conversation now that the food is gone. Satomi is the first one to try and break the silence.

If these two characters don't like being around each other, why are they eating lunch together?

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Ah. I guess that’s the nature of human relationships though, isn’t it? I mean, I don’t think any relationship is so simple that you can sum it up in one sentence. If someone introduces their spouse, saying ‘this is my husband,’ that could mean lots of things, because every marriage is different. Some are happy, some are fraught, some are intimate, some are distant...

God how is this writing so overwrought

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Oh, it’s a western idiom. It’s based on the idea that married people fight a lot, but still love each other. So whenever people squabble a lot, you can say they fight like a married couple.

I'm 100% sure that "married couples fight" is not something unique to the west

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Oh, it’s not as if they fight all the time. I get the impression that most married people are very happy. But marriage can also be very passionate. And when two people have a passionate relationship, that can mean that everything, including fights, can be very heated.

Same applies to sex too, of course.

:barf:

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

You can only hit him after he kisses you.

LOVE HINA

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Oh dear! I’m not part of a love triangle, am I? I care for both my friends, but to be so involved so scandalously?

LOVE HINA

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

This scene features Ava, as requested by Geomancing

I rush down the back hallway, hoping to get to class on time, when I suddenly stumbled upon a room to my right. Dark Room is taped overhead, with unintelligible text scribbled out underneath. The gray door in front of me is riddled with scratches alongside a rugged and displaced handle. This has got to be the creepiest room I've ever laid eyes on.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

I knew it! You're one of them, aren't you? The Bakeneko!

The... what?

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

I can see through you... Why else would you have come here? To infiltrate and gain access to my secret operations?

So there's a choice here, and it affects how many date points you get with Ava. However, it doesn't actually change the script.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Never mind the Reptiles. You know how they are about their galactic travel. They aren't here to stay.

I kind of like this line.

[Fartlord Dunktronix]

Is it that... you secretly think I'm hot? Is that the reason why you're so paranormal around me?

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh