Species survey results

Hey everyone! As I mentioned on Discord, I ran an informal public poll last week, asking for feedback on some of the species I've picked for the game. I was curious to see how my choices aligned with popular opinion, and to see if anyone could sway my mind with strong arguments.

It was super interesting and well-worth it. The responses were a pretty even split between people who felt I should emphasise well-known species, and those who were supportive of my goal to give lesser-known ones time to shine. I am confident I can make *any* species interesting, so popularity isn't something I worry about, but it's also true that people like certain creatures solely because they've seen more of them in other media. For example, I'm staunchly against having a lion in the game simply because they've been done to death in every other vaguely African-related piece of media ever. I feel people can just wait for Anhes to do another 500 lions if they want that.

I did not post all the species in the game in the survey; some are remaining no matter what. This includes the 5 equines, and the dragon. They are critical to the story. Others, though, are personality shells that could be occupied by several different species, and some of these I've decided to adjust:

• The hare who acts as your introduction to the game will be replaced with a meerkat. Hares are indigenous to Africa, but they're also not the most interesting of species. A meerkat can fulfil the same role while giving me a more interesting animal to work with.
• Nabo the aardwolf will be changed to a rhino. The bio remains the same for the character; only the species changes.
• To compensate for the loss of the only hyenid, a gemsbok character that you have not yet met is being changed to a spotted or perhaps brown hyena.

Those were the easy ones. Rhino especially got a lot of support, and I'm happy to have one in. The switching of the aardwolf for a more typical hyena makes me a little sad, but it's still possible to reverse that if you guys want it back :) Let me know in the comments.

There were also a bunch of great suggestions that were very difficult to put aside. Honey badger, or ratel, was one that I wanted as soon as I heard it. But I cannot add endless characters without ballooning the cost and effort, so I have to be strong. If the game is someday, somehow, pulling in thousands of euro a month, I can reconsider, but for now they must be excluded. To compensate, I'm going to try find a way to insert other animals as very secondary characters, totally unromanceable, whom you can just interact with platonically. They'll need spritework, but that's far cheaper than CGs, so it should be doable. The species I'm considering for this are the now-cut gemsbok, a warthog, a honey badger, and perhaps the aardwolf.

Then there's one final choice which I need your feedback on. Apart from the rhino, the main thing a lot of people were clear about was that they associate Africa with big cats. The only two cats in the game are a caracal that you have yet to meet, and a house cat named Dustafyer who is a new addition from the Valet tier. Neither are classical "big cats". As I mentioned earlier, I'm not interested in adding a lion, but I do quite like the idea of a leopard. The problem is...where?

I would rather not replace the caracal if I can avoid it, but the only other character I can even fathom swapping is the boerboel - which would leave the game almost canineless. Equally undesirable. I could insert them as an entirely fresh character, but I would need to be certain it would not impact the overall timeline and cost. And perhaps you guys don't think a leopard is even necessary.

I need to spend more time thinking about this one, but in the meanwhile, weigh in in the comments with what you think! I hope you're excited about the fresh species being introduced :)