Responding to comments before posting an update - thanks as always to everyone engaging:
Can I ask quick you plan to want to get on Steam for Chimera:Bloodlines but it is on hold. If I am not sure i would be in if you are putting on hold and starting another project. I think both look great and I liked the story of Bloodlines.
It's on Steam as a Demo with the latest version, so anyone can play the full Day 1 experience.
I consider the story one of my better ones - but as the game, it's not up to my standards and requires a redo from 0, rather than being something I can fix. If I was to come back to it, I'd nuke most of it, and start again with fundamentals.
And when it comes to Sandbox - it has taken out most of my development time, it was a pretty complicated code, because of how many variables I had. That's why the new game won't have it.
Good luck with the game!!!! but for now I will be on the fence to watch how this goes. Don/t want to get my hopes up on another game.
That's understandable, and I pretty much expected this would be the most common reaction, with the other end of the spectrum sending me life threats, and another being ok with it xD On the other hand, my Patreon reaction was mostly positive - which is obviously a priority as the most dedicated community, so it's an overall win.
I played hundreds of VNs, really love the medium (not only talking about romance stuff, I read everything) - and it's just plain obvious that the first game I attempted is just not on par. That's the result of making the first attempt public, I guess, but on the other hand, my skill has significantly improved. And you need to be excited about your own stuff as a dev too.
So is that mm or mff (just the mc), if you add it?
I decided against it for now as I have my draft and the chapter 1 development started - doesn't fit as a theme
Do you need an SFW version to be on Steam? I see porn games there all the time, some of them even have porn right in their trailers.
I know Steam has issues with "visual novels" featuring real people, like Super Seducer 3, but 3D and 2D stuff should be ok.
Here's the thing, Steam allows some sexual content in games (and the SFW will content stuff like nudity, non-explicit, kissing, rubbing, etc.) - but when it goes above the definition of GENERAL - they mark it as an adult only, and it limits the opportunities of promotion. The typical approach in the dev community is to have a version with non-explicit content, that won't be limited by the moderation policy, and guarantees max reach (also making the game available in Germany, Brazil and China - which adult games are not available in). You distribute the full version of the game on other platforms, with an adult patch that the user can download, install, and get access to everything.
I just made an Adult release for Chimera: Bloodlines - and my reach was significantly hindered because I published it as an adult game. It's part of the reason why the game was unlikely to be commercially viable (speaking as a new dev with low patreon subs - obviously, more following gives more time, hiring power, and time).
That's pretty much the difference, but the whole thing is pretty grey, some stuff works, some stuff doesn't. Better to be on the safer side, if you wanna to actually finish it and make it viable. A lot of devs on the forum helped me to get an understanding of it.
