New Hosted Game! "Hero or Villain: Genesis" by Adrao

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I’m sorry if I come across harsh but I think both the game and some of your responses are quite disappointing…

I commend you for taking criticism so well, I know it isn’t easy but saying things like “it just sort of happened that way” and “many of those characters are not interesting” and “most RO are an afterthought” is quite disappointing. If you knew these things before you published then why was they not corrected or why were they still in the game?

The game was decent, you had a lot of interesting ideas but the majority of them wasn’t fleshed out. Some powers were very OP and used frequently but others we only used like once or twice, the whole cancer plotline with the mother felt very forced as you had little interaction with her aside from her asking for money and as some others have pointed out, the ending is very linear which is strange considering all of the different types of choices you attempted to give us.

While I am disappointed in this game, I do look forward to your next game as you are clearly a writer with some creative ideas.

(EDIT: I agree with @Zeroken09 above, reducing the number of RO’s would probably be wise since many of them are either forgettable or barely seen) (I really like Lyron though)

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@Frogs (some of the issues you raised are discussed in other replies below). I do agree that one of the best paths (my own favourite) is to start a hero, then turn “semi-villain” for love and pursue the SA. The Paladin Evil stat is a bug, hopefully corrected soon. Meeting again the side-kick or not depends on whether you go on to need him or not…

@Wolfsra Sorry if that came across the wrong way. If you want the longer story, I originally wanted to create a story where you had a hero that was bored by his daytime work (with boring colleagues, etc), with a boss shouting at him (think spiderman here), and who had to battle crime. Obviously, I achieved that… but then people started to complain those characters were bland (they were supposed to be so… when I worked in an office that is how I felt about those around me… they probably thought the same about me…). So, I tried to make them more interesting (as too many complained), but by that point the structure of the story made change more difficult. I could tear everything apart and re-write from scratch, but I feel that side of the story is “good enough” (not perfect… I know that). The question, as an author, at that point is: “This might not be perfect, but my motivation is out. Some people might have problems with it, others might love it. Is it good enough that the majority can have a decent time with it?” (also, bear in mind the complexity of the game already… given that it’s more of an open canvas than a detailed painting, many people can enjoy the freedom that the game brings?)

Then, many playtesters were asking to romance character A, B etc… so well, I thought, fine. That’s not the main point of the story (the first drafts had no RO at all… but, if you want to romance somebody, why should I prevent you? But, I didn’t want to write a different sequence for each character). I have often confessed that I don’t think I’m very good at writing RO at all! (but, if they were not there at all, people might be more upset?). Anyway, I am going to wait for the vote above a bit further… and then I might write 1-2 extra romance sequences (as I said above, I know this game is not perfect… given many structural problems it won’t ever ben, but I am intending to continue to polish it!) :slight_smile: So feedback and constructive criticism is welcome! (I am learning, and in my next game I am going to start character-building the RO from scratch… ).

I also agree some powers (combinations of powers) are OP. Actually, I feel that this depends on the path in the game, and this is to some extent by design. So, some powers will let you cruise in some parts of the game, and you’ll crash in others (assuming you are playing in normal difficulty). I wanted to give that sort of superhero feel… juggernaut is an all powerful villain, yet take away his helmet and zap, and telepath can take him down. My problem at this point is the inherent complexity in the game, whereas you can play it once, find it super-hard (or super-easy), and this changes the expectation of the player.

Regarding the ending… well, it’s the epilogue. Basically, for the second part I need to move the story forward, and this is the story of the stones after all. So, to continue on the story of what the stones are, I want to take the MC to where they come from. Thus, I need to “forcibly” remove them from Earth… I could have removed the Epilogue from the game, but then some people might complain there is no epilogue…

@Zeroken09 yes, I guess that Lyron is a bit harder to find, but I take your point that they are a bit neglected. I could have made them flippable… (I made some of them flippable). Just, as a writer it is more difficult to write them. The colleagues are all flippable, and I think ultimately this shows in the writing. I can’t “picture them” as clearly. Like, many of the other characters have fragments of friends of mine in them. So, I can relate to them a bit… the office workers are not like that… and I guess it shows.

And yes, if you don’t go for the SA path in the game I guess the sidequests do have a stronger impact in the overall perception of the game…

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Well, this is the start of a series, right?

The first game was your Bethesda phase, establishing what kind of hero you were. Future games will probably have more focus on relationships and on what you do.

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Well now u got me intrigued :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Yes

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The biggest problem with Romance seems to be the pacing of the relationships. If you were just to add a few more unique scenes between characters and maybe relate the love interest to the main story I think the problems would be fixed on that front. My recommendation is try to have 2-3 big “dates”(anything where they spend time together in a significant manner,doesnt have to be formal) with a charcter before the end of the storyline.

And also dont just gender swap the RO’s. Unless you take time to make the genders unique and more human it just feel like a cash grab the gun store clerks are a good example of why it doesnt work as they just feel like placeholders rather than actual people. Heck the dancing scenes they have are used by three different npcs that I know of.

A good one to start with would probably be Emily just because she seems fairly plain Jane. Basically you could have the mc take her on a series of dates eithier at restaurants or places of some importantance to eithier of them. you could also make Emily the neuron butterfly as they honestly seem quite similar and Emily does complain of headaches frequently. Only thing you’d have to change is the fact that mind control wouldn’t work on her. I would still recommend the dates though

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I just started the game but there’s an option I can’t find: how to choose casual clothes and hairstyle

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Even Peter Parker could go out there and freelance, so he’s actually had much more freedom than the rest of us white collar office workers. Being a white collar salaryman is actually one of the worst career options for someone who expects to transform into a super powered alter ego on short notice at any time.

Intentionally or otherwise, this epilogue is giving me very strong Dragon Ball Super vibes.

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It’s not an option for the player character, who was a salaryman before they became a hero. But I agree, a smart superhero would gravitate to freelance or gig professions, or use their abilities for hire.

Thanks. I’ve been playing pretty thoroughly since it came out.

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I’ve done 3 playthroughs so far and got to get started back on my project, but it was quite enjoyable although I only achieved romance with one character.

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I’ve played the game multiple times and I can’t find Shiroi Yuki, both as a villain and a vigilante. I want to defeat and romance her, what am I doing wrong? How can I find her?

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I wish you could ignore the captain, playing a villain trying not to hide the fact they are bad in the beginning seems impossible. I wish we dont have to talk to the captain and have newspapers assume you were always a hero.

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So far, I only found her by helping the Steel Aeronaut, she shows up to stop you both. Don’t know about a romance - but you can turn her into a vampire, so there’s that.

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So, no regeneration powers when you turn into a vampire? Come on, its one of their most famous powers.

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I’m also kind of miffed that if you had a melee weapon, it’s automatically replaced by claws. Come on, I liked my energy katana!

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The strongest attack of the game is your plasma cannon if you continue to upgrade it, you can actually one shot almost everything. I mean this is the only super attack that is upgradable. In theory, if you upgrade it each evening, you will get another 10-15 damage+. Just think about how many days we spent in new York City.

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@jasonstevanhill I am not sure what is causing this problem on steam. I cannot see it on my own steam app… could it be that this is only for the download of the game? (i.e. it is showing Samura of Hyuga only during the donwload?)

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I have now started work on the first update of the game, which will include extended ROs. As suggested, I started with Emily, but will then go on to do Lyron (given the imbalance of male to female RO). I will then work down the poll on post #75 (not sure how far I get before I am forced to make another update due to some major bug, but anyway hopefully I can slowly improve the game).

As suggested, there is now a first date with Emily (which starts the same as it used to do, but then individualizes) and then a second date. This is already written, based on my own thoughts of Emily… but… any suggestions of any questions you would like to ask Emily, or options you would like to have?

Again, for Lyron I already have some ideas (I am thinking going fishing or for a swim in Coney Island at night… but again, any questions you’d like to ask, or options you’d like with him? (I will later ask about the other characters, but for now I’d like to concentrate on Lyron and Emily).

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If it helps, in my library it shows up like it should, with the correct picture. It’s only shown this when I first had it installed and then for an update, only on the downloads page.

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Full disclosure: when I first saw the option to channel energy into a melee weapon, this was the first thing that came to mind

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