Valentine's Rain

Hey there! Hmm, I haven't coded this game in a while, but if memory serves me right, I might have created separate channels for looping background noise/music on certain points, which would not have a control in the renpy menu. Sadly, im out of the country for a month due to a family emergency, so im a bit limited in what I can do, but maybe i could do some sort of quick fix for you if I can; which OS are you using (Windows, android, apple, or linux)? 

(If its apple or linux, it might be a bit harder for me to fix, but ill definitely try)

Thank you so much for the kind words! I agree with you when it comes to the sprites; it's a lesson learned on my part, and its my intention to have more varied art assets in my next game (and from a far better artist than me!).

As for the playable characters, it certainly was a roller-coaster to write! I understand why it's not made a lot in VNs; it's a lot of work haha!

Thanks again! :)

Drac

PS: Love the CSI meets Saw comment, very accurate!!

Hi there!

I'm not a professional in IT, but I can certainly try! Is this a problem you've had only with this game or any APKs you've downloaded through itch.io?

If it's the latter, the problem may be with your permissions regarding third party apps. Essentially, a security feature of your phone makes it, by default, prevent any apps from a source that Samsung does not recognize, including Itch.io. To allow your install to proceed, you need to go into your settings => Apps. Then from that screen, at the top right, select the menu and choose "Special Access". Then from the list, select Install Unknown Apps. You can then select the browser from where you downloaded the APK, download the app again, and it should install :)

If that doesn't work or if you've never had an issue with APKs from itch.io before, let me know! I'm not sure how I could fix it, because i just tested out the download on my phone and it works fine, but maybe I can find something else.

Thanks for stopping by!

Drac

As you may have seen below, I have a terrible habit of having wordy comments, so I hope you will forgive me if it's a tad long haha!

First of all, a big thank you, really. Your words are beyond kind! It made me really happy to read it, I can't really describe it. Believe me, it was a crazy project to do on my own, so my mind is boggled too at times thinking about it! The funny thing is, when it comes to choices, the entire thing spawned from a crazy idea that I had, which was "What if a main character could die right at the start if the player chose to... and the story would just continue?". Little did I know what I was getting myself into haha!

I also have to say that I really -really- appreciate you mentioning the music! It is quite amazing what others have made and allowed for use under creative commons, and I'm thankful for them all, but your comment alone makes me glad I spent literal hundreds of hours pouring through track after track XD

And thank you again for the kind personal words ^^ It's been a journey, but hey, no road is without its bumps on the road!

Ah yes, the endings. Thank you for your honesty :) as hard as it is to put out a creative work like a VN, it's also tough to be honest how we feel about things to someone else when work is needed. It might surprise you to hear it, but I agree with you! I can tell you the reasons, that there are 30 variations of the endings, that I was beyond exhausted from making sense of over 150 variables that impact to a greater or lesser degree how things proceed, that I had run out of creative juices so to speak. But a pilot that makes an excellent take-off and a great trip, but crashes the plane on landing can't be told he did a good job. A drastic analogy but you get what I mean =P I won't promise anything, as I don't want to make a commitment, but if only for readers like you who've obviously liked the story I made and the characters, I will try to rethink if I want to redo the ending at some point. Again, no promises; it's hard for me to justify working on a project that did not really have success, but let's say that I have at least the motivation after reading your comment :)

Thank you also for reporting that bug! As I said earlier, there are over 150 variables, so I'm pretty impressed that yours is the first error report I'm getting loll! I'll take that as a good sign that my QA, while not flawless, at least isn't too too bad haha! I'll look into it :) Sadly, I don't know exactly when I'll patch it, but it's duly noted. I apologize that the game ended for you at that point though, I hope you didn't lose too much time retracing your steps =(

As for the spelling mistakes, I appreciate the heads up! A friend of mine kindly combed through the scripts and also pointed out a few mistakes here and there, so I'll take a look at those we're and were as well :) And I do care haha! It's amazing how a typo can take you out of the experience, so gotta make sure there's as few as possible! Though 455k words without an editor, there's bound to be a few here and there =S Add that English is not my first language, so yeah, it's a recipe for disaster lol!

Thank you again for taking the time to write this lovely comment :) I know it will never be a best seller, I know very few people will actually ever read it, and even from the few that do, it may be polarizing... But know that you've made an aspiring writer very happy, simply for playing it :) Thank you!!

Drac

First hate comment, had to happen at some point I suppose, just wish it were more creative

Hi there! Sorry to disappoint, but Valentine's Rain does not contain romance :( Keep your eyes peeled tho! My next VN will have romance in it, hopefully something to look forward to! ^^

Thank you so much for your comment! Since you took the time to be thorough here, I will try to do the same for a response :)

The fact that you felt something for all the characters really makes me happy, though I understand, much like the comment below yours, the disappointment that comes with the fate of some characters. All I can really say about it is that everything's been thoroughly planned and all outcomes carefully thought out; whether it's for character development or shock value to the reader, there's a reason behind it all.

When it comes to the art, your criticism is completely valid and one I've heard before from my close knit friends that play tested it. The lack of art variety (and arguably quality) is linked to two things: my overall apathy with drawing and a depression to boot. I'm not going to go into sob stories here, it's just a fact of my life I've been working to overcome. Whether it's a direct result of the depression or not, drawing has become something I don't enjoy anymore. The art you see was painstakingly made as is, so I went for the bare minimum. I agree with you that some scenes could have been improved with visuals, but it was (and still is) something that is very difficult for me to do. It does not excuse it, but I certainly hope this gives you a bit of insight into why it's so. My next VN will be illustrated by another artist, thankfully, so there should be more variety of sprites (expressions!!) and some CGs at least, so that should be something to look forward to :)

As for your suggestion of an alternate timeline, I actually like that a lot! There would certainly be things I could explore more with those characters and different outcomes could certainly be interesting. That being said, I stand by the decisions I've made relating to the story of Valentine's Rain. I'm all for exploring what ifs though!

And lastly, regarding contributions, the fact that you want to at all means already so much to me ^^ I used to have the donate button active here on Itchio, but some friends told me it dissuaded others from downloading the game. For me, it's more important that people feel free to play the game than any coin I could make. I created Valentine's Rain to be an experience to be enjoyed by the most people possible. And in having played the game yourself and commenting about it, you've already given me more support than you can imagine ^^ So yeah, consider that mission accomplished haha!

Thanks again for playing the game! Despite the art and some disagreements with the dramatic turns of events, I do hope you still had a good experience :)

*Spoilers!!*

Thanks so much for your feedback and for playing the game! I totally understand the hurt when it comes to Butch, it was a hard decision because I really liked him as a character too, and I debated a long time, but for Trinity's character development, it was a necessary step... I hope this gives you a bit of insight in the decision process that came with it ^^

As for coming up with Valentine, I don't even know myself how I conjured up someone as messed up as him XD

Thank you very much for your kind words! To answer your final question, I do plan another VN! It will be completely different than Valentine's Rain, however; the plan is for a more linear romance/horror VN. It's still in conceptual stages and I also have a different artist doing the artwork for it; so it could take a few months before it's ready, sadly.

Thanks again for your comment and review! It means the world to me!

Drac

PS: your english is perfectly fine haha; english is also my second language believe it or not; don't underestimate your abilities! :)

Haha! Glad you're enjoying it ^^ You don't have to wait much longer, I'll be posting a new update in a little over a week from now =)