Miss Castlewood V 0.15 Alpha Release
Added 2024-11-13 00:40:13 +0000 UTCGet it on PC here, Mac here, and Linux here.
Here comes the new game! Casey and Bria should both be able to be completed in this build. Kal has basically had to learn a whole new language to build a visual novel in Unity instead of Ren'py so we're still smoothing out rough edges and have yet to get the gallery to work properly. But I'm pleased with what's here and look forward to adding new girls and improvements as we go.
I know I always say I appreciate feedback but I especially mean it this time. This game is for supporters first and if there's anything you'd like to share with us about your experience with it, please do so right here in the comments, DMs, or the Discord server. Same goes for bugs or performance issues you'd like to report. I am still on vacation visiting family until next Tuesday though, so forgive me if I'm slow to respond at times.
I hope you enjoy what we have so far!
Comments
Hey thanks for playing and giving feedback! We're starting small with this one and are still figuring out what we can add in over time as the project goes on. But your points are all things we would like to hit on eventually.
Reinbach
2024-11-29 15:42:05 +0000 UTCVisuals: 1. There should be more space around the text within the textboxes. The text is basically pressed right to the edge, especially on the top and bottom. I would start with at least half the text height in padding around the text and tweak from there. 2. It would be nice to use color or some other visual indicator of who is talking. It just makes the reading experience smoother when you know immediately who is talking. 3. I don't really like the different font sizes to make the options fit within the box. It just looks strange. I would rather the box be wider, or wrap the text if necessary. Gameplay: 1. The conversation feels very much like a serial interrogation at this point. It would be nice if some questions lead to other follow-up questions. The questions from the girls to the player should come more frequently, instead of after five or more questions asked of them. 2. It needs some kind of gameplay beyond just memorizing the answers and picking the correct or likely best answer. Maybe some kind of (hidden or visible) attraction meter. Maybe she will only answer more-sensitive questions after you have asked some friendly ones first. Maybe if you ask a question that you should already know the answer to, you get penalized (ex: asking Bria if she has kids if you have already received an answer that makes it obvious that she just gave birth). 3. Other dating-sim games usually have multiple dates, gifts, etc, to make it feel more like you are building some kind of relationship with the character. Even if you only want to have this one location and don't want to add gifts, you could have multiple interactions with the same characters (maybe elimination rounds in the contest?) that would require you to remember things about them across multiple conversations.
Deus
2024-11-27 23:21:22 +0000 UTCThanks so much for playing and offering feedback!
Reinbach
2024-11-24 01:16:29 +0000 UTCI wanted to wait a bit before posting my views. After a good few hours playing it through, I can say that I love this game. I only had one idea where Bria repeated herself once but other than that it was smooth sailing. I also feel people are being a but hard and expecting something bigger then it was stated this was a simple little project. Sure, I'd like to see the girls have some expressions or see the mayor hand the girls their prize but this is the first build, as Abbey said, and we got everything we needed for now. And it was nice to just talk to the girls for once, you know? Get to know them. Made them feel more real. Keep up the amazing work, Rein and Kal.
Lukas West
2024-11-20 06:52:28 +0000 UTCDifferent locations, maybe decision connected Story pathing, with different endings or something. Just something to maybe heighten replay value and keep the game loop engaging. I know it's a lot if work so take these only as vague ideas. It's your game, your baby, to decide what would be good to integrate. Take your time and I'm sure it'll be great.
bentakuu
2024-11-14 12:55:31 +0000 UTCUp until recently I had given up on Steam because they made it pretty clear we were unwelcome to re submit but honestly who knows how closely they police that as long as we don't happen to get the exact same reviewer.
Reinbach
2024-11-13 23:49:17 +0000 UTCGlad to hear it!
Reinbach
2024-11-13 23:46:23 +0000 UTCThanks!
Reinbach
2024-11-13 23:46:14 +0000 UTCHey thanks for reporting!
Reinbach
2024-11-13 23:46:02 +0000 UTCAt least one new girl every three months is the initial promise I'm making. But if the project gains steam over time and people are liking it I could see myself committing more time to it.
Reinbach
2024-11-13 23:45:36 +0000 UTCHey guys thanks for giving it a go. This is meant to be just the beginning and the idea is to add new girls, locations and possibly gameplay mechanics over time. After pouring 5 years of work into a story driven VN only to hit a brick wall when we tried to sell it, we opted for a more cautious and less initially ambitious approach to starting a new one. If I implied Miss Castlewood was meant to be a sequel or a true follow up to the previous game, it was unintentional. This is meant to be more of an interactive companion piece to the comic.
Reinbach
2024-11-13 23:43:06 +0000 UTCAll feedback and suggestions are welcome. By dating sim, do you mean taking them to different locations, having currency, time limits, mini games etc etc? This is super early Alpha, just to gauge everyones views. Rein might correct me here, but long term if this goes the distance, we are talking potentially every female in the cast. Which could make the game quiet lengthy even if it's simple.
kaldonis
2024-11-13 22:14:33 +0000 UTCI think the only thing that's been stopping me from resubmiting it under something like Isaac's wild adventure. Is if we get banned for the same reason. I just wish I knew what the hell, it was specificially was their problem. Then we can edit or just remove it the offending part(s)
kaldonis
2024-11-13 22:06:18 +0000 UTCOr maybe try gog. They sometimes accept games that steam doesnt accept...
rrr441 3333
2024-11-13 21:27:43 +0000 UTCIt was heart breaking, really. I recommend that you wait a few months, change the name and re-submit. My game grossed $320K so far, TRW The Game can easily break $1M.
Dor Knov
2024-11-13 21:26:18 +0000 UTCAgreed, it's currently too flat and needs definitely more to be fleshed out game. Though I do appreciate to find out more about the girls I would like it to really feel more like a dating Sim and not a one and done. Then again this is just an Alpha version so maybe we just need to wait.
bentakuu
2024-11-13 20:58:47 +0000 UTCThanks once again Angelo! Much appreciated advice as always :)
kaldonis
2024-11-13 20:49:05 +0000 UTCUnfortunately Steam banned TRW The Game. And we weren't allowed to fix what was apparently wrong with it and resubmit it. We got a very vague response, concerning the setting but nothing pin pointed to the issues. Which sucks as I've seen far, far worse on Steam than what we made.
kaldonis
2024-11-13 20:46:44 +0000 UTCAre you thinking of publishing any of your games on steam?
rrr441 3333
2024-11-13 18:53:35 +0000 UTCHad some time to think after completing this demo. I've been supporting Reinbach for more than five years (switched to this account in July, but before that I supported on my other account since May 2019) and this is the first time I feel a little disappointed. *If* what we saw here is the core loop of the game, Miss Castlewood essentially boils down to a... memory quiz with a one image reward? Is that it? I hope I'm wrong. I *loved* TRW The Game but *if* Miss Castlewood is a bigger version of what we have now... I'll be disappointed. But perhaps I'm being too pessimistic, Reinbach didn't let me down in the past so I hope Miss Castlewood will be as good as TRW The Game. Even better.
Dor Knov
2024-11-13 16:37:28 +0000 UTCThank you!
Chautauqua
2024-11-13 12:25:35 +0000 UTCThanks for the suggestion. :) I'll certainly look into what can be done for the key mapping.
kaldonis
2024-11-13 11:59:07 +0000 UTCThis was great, a few technical issues but still great! Can I ask how often releases will be?
finnfinn
2024-11-13 11:57:56 +0000 UTCRe: keyboard. I want Space to act like the left mouse button, and I'll explain. For most people, operating the mouse is a strictly right hand proficiency. However, when playing the game some people (wink wink) might want their right hand to be busy doing something else... hence the mouse moves to the left hand which is not very good at operating it. So: Space for choosing and keys for selecting different answers. In other words: make the game (almost) fully controllable by the keyboard.
Dor Knov
2024-11-13 10:19:08 +0000 UTCHey thanks for the report I'll look into the saving issue. Thought I'd fixed that, loading issue. As for the keyboard, what did you want it to do skip with the space bar ? You should be able to type your name in with the keyboard, let me know if that wasn't work or what you mean by keyboard functions and I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the feedback :)
kaldonis
2024-11-13 10:08:02 +0000 UTCAfter saving the game once, I could no longer access the Save Game option. The Esc option only gives me Resume, Options, Load and Quit.
Dor Knov
2024-11-13 09:54:12 +0000 UTCBug: 1. Finished Bria's flow. 2. Saved game. 3. Back from the Save Game menu, the game showed me a blank screen with only the beach background and no options. Loading my saved game didn't help.
Dor Knov
2024-11-13 09:50:00 +0000 UTCSince you can't skip text (Thanks Unity!) restarting the game and going through all the initial dialog is a real chore.
Dor Knov
2024-11-13 09:29:57 +0000 UTCPC: Keyboard not working on purpose? If Yes, it's a bad design IMHO.
Dor Knov
2024-11-13 08:52:05 +0000 UTCWhen you unzip the file don't use the default Archive Utility. I use The Unarchiver, you might have to download it from the app store. Once you do that you just have to right click then go to open. It'll give you a warning at first but try it again and it will open the file.
Angelo
2024-11-13 03:55:53 +0000 UTCThe mac version can't be opened
Chautauqua
2024-11-13 03:15:16 +0000 UTCnice yo
GhostlyJudge
2024-11-13 01:29:39 +0000 UTCloved it, loved getting to have bigger conversations with girls always fun.
alex baker
2024-11-13 01:22:29 +0000 UTC
