I was of the belief that most people dislike AI are because they believe it’s lazy/takes no effort/is a cop-out. The reason it’s hard to tell it’s AI is because Eisen takes the time to thoroughly curate the images and probably touches them up to make them very believable. It also helps that it’s simulating essentially drawings, rather than trying to make something 3D. To me Daz assets very quickly get into the uncanny valley if people don’t take their time with it. At least lazy AI is just funny (this game has good AI), lazy Daz is an absolute horror show.
As someone who dabbles in AI image generation as a sheer curiosity of the technology, making convincing and consistent AI characters is hard AF.
I definitely have respect for the people willing to put in the time to really navigate the tech, it’s just that I have some deeper ethical and philosophical concerns that kind of poison the well.
But Eisen is definitely very talented. I’m not going to let my own biases distract from that.
I’d bet good money it’s not that. Most people dislike AI because A) the product is bad B) it’s heavily promoted. When the product is good, they don’t notice it’s AI, and if you point it out reactions vary. It’s mostly only artists who care about the effort / soul thing.
There’s some of that, but Eisen discloses that the art is AI generated via the project being tagged as “AI”, and it seems like people definitely see that as a big red target. Though you may be right anyways as I do think the denizens of this site probably disproportionately fancy themselves as artists and therefore have belief in the “soul of the art”. At least relative to the population at large that is.
I also think that the 20 dollar change is a bad idea in marketing and also removing the demo; i bought the game and im loving it, but if I had encounter this game after you made these changes I wouldnt buy it, because as mrtdum said: i dont know how the game is , and sometimes in these types of games the first thing that I see is the price, and I wouldnt see the specifications that are written after seeing it . Some recommendations that I think would improve the perception of the game are : 1. You could re-add the demo from chapter 1( that demo hooked me with the story) 2. I think lowering the price in itch could reduce the price shock, a slighty lower price or the original price would improve the first perception of the game .
I already got that you pay $ 20 and get the whole game. It’s cheap compared to others. But I insist on what I said, I quote: “… the problem is when people see a very high price they don’t buy. Many games here, through Patreon subscription, are paid way more, but it’s different. In part because people subscribe to support the creator and encourage him to continue, in part because people are more willing to spend $ 5 per month for 10 months than spending $ 20 all at once, don’t ask me why.”
I disagree on the game being mediocre at best. Here you can see all the time people releasing stuff that obviously took 10 minutes to make, without any shame, don’t say those things. Your game is good, both art and story. It may be liked or not, but it’s not mediocre.
About the inconsistencies at some point it’s said Haruka is eating even more, but then at lunch time she is having the very same bento and onigiri box. There’s the yakisoba bun, true. But Shiori’s appetite, compared to hers, has improved definitely more. Shiori had 4 sandwiches instead of her usual 2. Then at Burger Heaven they both get the usual, nothing more (or did I miss something?).
Also the way their bodies are changing is not very clear. In the beginning, in the hotel, we could see Haruka had a bigger belly and much wider hips compared to Shiori. Later, we see the one gaining in the belly is Shiori.
Those are the inconsistencies I found (plus a minor one).
Just food for thought, it might be worth exploring having patreon exclusive teasers or sneak peaks of development that would make the patreon a much higher value proposition. It’s definitely what i see a lot of other people doing with their patreons to encourage subscribing.
Thanks for your suggestions! So far I’m happy with the support I’ve received.
Anyway, I’ve put the free demo back on Itch!
Starting tonight I’ll start writing the whole screenplay for Act 4. In theory it shouldn’t take me too long to implement everything. Before I was slower because I implemented one piece at a time.
Yes between Act 2 and 3 Haruka’s lunch remains the same, and they both get the same from Burger Heaven, but still consider that they go there basically every day It’s implied they also eat more during the day. Anyway, I’ll try to improve on that.
As for the gain, more or less is Act 2: both gain a bit of belly, Act 3: Haruka gains in her breasts and belly, Shiori in thighs and belly.
Anyway, in terms of hours played, how long has the game lasted you so far?
If I actually stop to read every line of text I’d say probably an hour. On replay maybe ~30 minutes since I’m kinda speeding through a lot of text as I’ve seen it before and skipping to my favorite scenes. But I also have enjoyed a couple of replays, so I’d say i probably get 3-4 hours out of each update (assuming a full replay from the start when the new update comes out.
Do you already have an idea of where the fat distribution for each girl is going to be or is that something you’re kinda figuring out as the story goes?
Update 1.4.0 is out with a sneak peek of Act 4. I know it’s not very long, but I still wanted to post an update to show that the development is going well.
I don’t want to spam the patreon anymore, so anyone who wants can check out a more complete changelog and some tips for playing the new stuffing scene there. I won’t post here the update banner because it already contains spoilers so
The new Azumi stuffing scene was originally supposed to have a minigame, but I decided to postpone it to a future eating contest-style scene with scores and other stuff (yes, keep adding stuff ).
Sorry for not replying sooner. Anyway, I think this latest update makes it a little clearer, although yes, that’s still being decided. I might do some surveys about that on Patreon. If I’m not mistaken @Wert844 you were a fan of Azumi, I hope you like her new scene. It’s still a test so I don’t know if the bloated sprites look any good and I might make it longer in the future
The internal monologue (white text) describing Shiori was probably my favorite part of this update. Azumi’s event was a close second this go-around. Stuffing isn’t generally my cup of tea, but the un-stuffed images of her were very good. looking forward to seeing all the girls in more revealing clothes and poses as they go up weight. personally hoping all of the girls have rear and side views whenever we get to the swimsuit suit chapter.
Sorry I don’t have a keen eye for spotting bugs myself. As always, keep up the good work.
Paid for v1.4 on itch. The game is simple, but fun and lighthearted.
Don’t stress about adding stuff too much. If you want to experiment and things happen to go smoothly, that’s great!. But you’ve got a solid core at the moment and if you finish the story then I think it’d be a good product. You can always save ideas for a different future project.
I like the art too, I think AI is a good choice here. Although given it’s AI I was surprised there’s no “full screen” images displaying a scene, like an establishing shot of Shiori lying in a hospital bed or something. Nothing complex like multiple characters which AI might struggle with, but something simple that adds variety to the presentation.
Also I think the pricing is a good idea. As someone who occasionally dips into patreons to pick up something, a $20 price tag to buy the “final” product as an alternative is fine since you’ve been regular with your updates so far, which is a good sign.
Thank you Wert for the feedback as always! Yes, I’ll do all three poses for that!
I’m glad you enjoyed the game, and thanks for the support
Yes, for now the priority is finishing the story. I’ll see what I can do for full-screen illustrations (I would like to commission those to artists in the future).
Can I ask how long it took you to finish the game?
I keep noting small inconsistencies, but I’d be annoying if I keep pointing them out, and probably not many care, so I won’t say anything about them.
I think the fat distributions and the body types should take a clear direction and be consistent. Good thing stating that Shiori is pear-shaped, but Haruka is still a question mark. I can’t speak for others, but I’d personally love if she remains consistent and keeps gaining weight all over.
Another thing: in the clothing store we met Haruka’s mother and we came to know that she cooks a lot of food for Haruka. As of now, there’s no trace of this in the story. I’d personally like a scene where MC finds out that, regularly, when Haruka is done with Burger Heaven she goes home and has a second dinner. It would be consistent with the clothing store scene and, for me, very satisfying. I don’t know how many others would be interested, however.
May I ask a question? As the story progresses, will the girls keep eating food of all kinds or will they slowly switch to mostly fast food? I ask because I don’t like when they totally go on fast food. This is maybe uncommon, but as I said I’m different from most people here.
I know you mentioned on the patreon having softer faces starting on weight stage 5. Are you planning on generating new faces or editing existing faces? If you’re planning to generate new faces to make them softer it would prob be worth “previewing” them on the patreon for input, because I know matching character faces with AI is a nightmare and I’d love to be able to help make sure things stay as consistent as possible.
Also, in terms of overall story, will it always be monogamous or will there be a story branch with a harem type ending?
About ending we’ve got answer for that allready before. It will be possible with right choices.
Also i wouldn’t be afraid of faces he managed them well before.
Dropping a note to say I’m enjoying the most recent updates
It’s really starting to get some momentum with the wider cast so I’m excited to see where it goes next as the scale ticks up. The new sprites are great and definitely a worthy addition - cannot wait to see how the girls will look in the future.
The pace of development has been great too - if anything I would say I reckon you could get away with more infrequent updates in return for bigger content drops. Likewise, I wouldn’t worry about adding minigames or gimmicks or anything like that at this stage. I think we’re broadly all here for the VN which is great, so I wouldn’t worry about needing to scope creep - the core VN is more than good enough. There’s nothing I specifically want from the VN at this stage other than for the narrative to continue so I would just focus on your vision as it’s already pretty great
It’s implied they also eat more during the day. Anyway, I’ll try to improve on that.
).
