itch.io

How didn't I see this update note before?  

It's great to see that the mechanics are already set and done! I personally find it one of the best aspects of your game, because they're always so original. And from the looks of it, this next chapter will be even bigger than GutterTrash. If I found Guttertrash a big chapter, this might be a full-on game on its own lol

Kudos to you for persevering through everything this game has come across. I still remember all the different issues that caused you delays and a good dose of stress. That kind of thing can kill game development, but you pushed through and you're still delivering after all this time! It's great to see how far it has come ever since the beginning of the first Cruel Serenade! 

I hope to see the rest of the universe you have planned!

Woah, sounds like the game is on its way to be fully done! That's quite impressive. Following the development at this game from its early stages to the very end was great, and I gotta admit you work quick xd

Oh well, it seems like the story goes on and on xd

I hope all this problem is not affecting you *that* much, because it all points to a very tiring troubleshooting that could take a while. I do know some devs in here make a living out of their games, and something like this would really suck for those. But if you're still able to hang in there despite the payment difficulties that's going on, then it's something we should be thankful for, I guess xd 

Anyhoo, I hope soon enough you won't have to worry about it!

I think I might've worded badly my post, so I apologize. I didn't mean you wanted them to bill the users, but rather that, since they won't, it's going to take time to normalize. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

I'm sorry to see you're going through this! chapter 3 has been facing a lot of outside problems, and I was hoping it had finally subsided. It's good to hear that it's getting finished, however. Hopefully that will increase back your subscriptions!

I see some people in the comments are noticing the issues on their end, so making your post is certainly having an effect. Though I'm not sure if subscribestar can really help, as just turning back on the billing on all subs could have consequences for them. With some luck, you can try to make them send a notification of sorts to the users, at least! 

anyhoo, wish you the best

Nsfw games be saving lives nowdays 🙏

Hey! Good to see the third month out. Would it be possible to pass on save files from previous versions onto this new one and keep the progress? I can see how it's not possible if the save file is at the endgame, but the question stands about the save files before the third month.

Eager to check out the new stuff!

Nice! Wasn't expecting update from any games at the very last day of the year, but I doubt anyone here is complaining lol 

Keep up the good work! I don't have the money for support, but I'll be waiting for when the free version comes out!

I'll just hope Itch.io decides to notify me then xd

I see! My question was more focused regarding how the whole thing affects your project, and you did make a good job clarifying it. Any game, regardless of genre, takes time, effort and dedication to make, and I appreciate that above all else. I'm sure these issues are a stress that you did not sign up for, but I assure you there'll always be people to support a good dev who cares for what they publish. I gotta admit, you've done a lot of good progress with such haste even being a lone dev, which is on its own very impressive. 

I won't keep on this thread as to not pollute the update page any further, but consider this a token of appreciation!

Oh, so you mean a lot of weak enemies on the map? I guess it was confusion on my end, but I thought you meant in the fight itself, as in a cat/dog mentioned along with the cannon-fodder rats. 

Now that I'm thinking it through, it wouldn't make much sense for them to team up given the little background you just gave about them. Oops, I guess! xd 

I remember we got some sprites of the dogs a while ago, which made me wonder how they fit into this setting. I might take a look into the hideout computer and try to match for myself. That lore dump you did was much appreciated lol

Lastly, had that whole ordeal with payment processors and Itch.io been solved or will it affect your next chapter's pricing? I haven't been able to follow the news.

Woah! It's great to finally see how the chapter 3 is panning out! I haven't texted here in four months but I've been watching every update you post. Enemy designs are great and unique, and I'm curious on how the "cannon fodder" enemies will work out. Considering it's a turn-based game, I feel like it's a tricky concept to implement on the system already used. 
I love how you always manage to get the ambience right in your world building, which is honestly that captivates me the most in yours games. Hornyness aside, the universe you made is pretty damn cool! lol
Would you mind talking a little bit more about how the new fight mechanic is going to be? I know you don't want to spoil much, but the cannon fodder idea mentioned made me intrigued on what your plans are.

Once again, I'm happy to see you making progress!

Hey! I've been following this game for a long time and only now I I found out there have been new updates. Last time I played there was only 5 or 6 pictures to collect, so it was great to see how much progress you've done.  Your art style and humor is so nice and I really enjoyed the 'new' content!

I would like to suggest 2 things, however

The first is that it's really easy to miss the optional checkboxes when you're skipping dialogue, which can be frustrating at times. I don't see there being any autosave, and a person like myself would have to skip plenty of text when they forget to save regurlarly. It happened more times than I'd like to admit.

The second thing is regarding the gallery! It would be nice to have some guidance on how to get the missing pictures, like a hint of vague instruction. I'm currently missing 5 of the 17 photos, and I have no idea how to get the rest. The pics in question are the 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th.

Keep up the good work! It's nice to see you being present to this day

Hey, if it comes to it, I could help building discord server for you. I know how to set everything up to make it easier for you to focus on what's important: Your games! Solo devs already go through enough hassle on a normal basis and I've seen great games being lost for such things..

When I found out about the Itch.io shadowban, I immediately came rushing here! it's wild to see that, even if you search Cruel Serenade on the search bar, the game does not show at all. "NSFW" tag also does not do much. 

May I ask if you have a plan in mind regarding this? besides word of mouth, there won't be many ways for such games to reach new players. Considering your game's topics, I'm afraid the review process doesn't sound very promising... It's a really tough spot for all of you, because you can't really escape payment processors wherever you are, which are the main problem.

I'm following another game which is having the same problem and I'll be sure to pass it along to you if they come up with an idea! Hopefully there will be a place to welcome all these forsaken games...  xd

Oh, hello again! Always a great time to see an update from you. This grinding feeling can sometimes feel overwhelming and stressful, but you're doing an amazing job!

I'm quite curious about what your plans are for the new mechanic, so far you've brought up very creative concepts!

Ah, so good to hear from you again. I had hopes you would post in January and you did! Single devs are the ones who struggle the most when it comes to making a game because they need to manage their work without interfering with their life.

I'm happy to hear(?) that this game is still getting a lot of (well-deserved) support even after more than a year from launch. Your games have a lot of dedication put into and very creative approachs, and I think their success reflect that.

Keep up the good work, bit!

Ohhh, I see. Thank you!

I noticed there is a "Perfect Home [v.1.10.1].zip" file from file from 12 days ago, but the dev logs only go as far as [v.1.9]. What does it change in 1.10? I'm genuinely so curious I couldn't help but log in to ask xd

I think the whole fascination about AI is simply convenience. Sure, it is cool to generate some simple blank story about a topic, but it's not a real production. Real storywriting goes being convenience, because it requires planning and plotting to make it all connected. As far as of now, AI is unable to reach any sort of progression beyond the very basic. Also, its sense of coherency is very lacking.

As you said, AI misses the experience of living. It can't understand and reproduce the sensation of grief, hate, love, like great books out there can. It can try to mimic, but it's so artificial you can't really dig it. Also, for it only bases out of a database, it doesn't generate a writing style. It's the very same descriptive text with way too many dispensable adjectives. 

After long testing, I've learned how to cheese and model narrative in chatgpt, Gemini, Llama and a few others, but didn't get anything besides the sameness they make. That's why I'll continue to admire well-written stories and, most importantly, those who make  them. I love your writing style and I'm eager to see what you'll pull up in the next games!

Agreed! I believe AI should be used to assist on time consuming tasks only to complement the human's job, not replace it. Even more considering that AI is (so far) unable to produce elaborate stories and universes without very delicate manual guiding (that is the responsible for the story itself, not the AI).

I make stories/narratives myself and I would hate to lose that feeling you get when you see your world gaining life. I've extensively used AI since the very first ChatGPT and it's very clear to this day how artificial it is. The structure, the writing, the progression.. I just don't think it will get close to human writing in a while.

The complete game is Great as expected! I can't wait to see what other ideas you have in stock for the sequels, you've proved to have quite a creative approach to the Hypnosis. 

You're one of the few RPG Maker devs that makes such good storytelling! I can't deny that I'm curious about the whole lore that was not seen in depth.

I forgot to post on the last few updates, but I didn't find any bugs in any of them

Enjoy your break, you deserve it!

Ohhh, It's so nice to see you back with the content! From the amount of scenes, drawings (and dialog) you say this pack features, I can understand why it took you that long lol 

I bet it's excellent! I will check it out as soon as it comes out free for us commoners xd
Btw I'm glad how well this project is seemingly doing so far! I've been watching it closely from the very beginning and always saw a lot of potential in it with your storytelling

ah, getting an update from you always put a smile on my face! Don't let these problems discourage you,  you have been doing an amazing work so far and I'm sure your project is only getting greater from here on!

I feel bad for all of the awful people you guys have to deal with for literally no fucking reason.. I wish you all the best on your making of the game, even tho I can't support financially.

For anyone reading this, you can actually report ilikefishsfm's comment. It's right next to the reply button. No indie devs deserves to hear this kind of unbased nonsense

Some graphic bugs I found in the most recent version here:

[Redacted]
I also noticed that the guard pathing while in slut mode can get messed up very easily, even forcing the player to get captured in order to progress, which is a bit annoying. . It happens when you get caught while being chased by other npcs . Before this recent update, it was possible to stall the pursuer(s) by going left and right until the chase was over, resulting in the npc returning to its original position.  Not sure if it is possible to fix this, I'm not that familiar with rpg maker...  Resetting their position when you get caught could be a way to solve this, but I don't know the quirks behind this engine

Let's go! Funnily enough, I got the notification 5 min ago and just saw that this update is up it's been an entire day. Itch.io doesn't seem to like doing its job lol

Oh, so great to hear about this game after all this time! I can imagine that the artwork may be one of the most time-consuming parts of the making in the game, thus is awesome to see that it's mostly done with. It's good to see that everything is going on track, I was beginning to worry that something had happened. Sadly, it's not uncommon to see delays in indie games due to personal struggles and such...

Funny to see the finished piece has the chance to be considered a hallowen present for some of us! lol

Up this. That's what I mentioned about the kitsunes days ago. I also might have had my outfit worn automatically in the boss fight in that same run, but I wasn't sure if I just forgot I put it back on.

(Spoilers ahead)

Good tip for everyone in hopes of winning the final boss: Do NOT waste your Dazzle Blast on any but the last group of hyenas that lead you to kaheem's property (save all of it if you're able to pass them). As far as I'm concerned, there are four DBs spread throughout the map so far, and I have made the  biggest mistake of all that is wasting them on the last two groups of hyenas and overwrote the save. With a fully leveled up save (lvl13) and 5 tasty burgers, I didn't manage to kick his ass, but get mine fucked. A good strat I found was not blocking his wound ups, since half the strikes are misses: if you get lucky, he won't drain 80% of your life (choices). Instead, Focus or attack him, because you can use the burger on the next turn if he got you good. A bit riskier, but at least I got more hits in before innevitably falling to the scent of defeat.

1- First one is right at the begining. You go downwards past the park, you'll find this prop at these ruins.


2- I didn't have time to get a screenshot for the the second collision bug, but it's right at the trifurcation with the center path guarded by guards. Head east facing the north wall and you will see a sign on the wall very soon that you can walk over.

Also, at the Party place before the boss fight (not in slut mode), every hyena sitting on a chair facing the stage will be through the seat. I'm afraid you can't fix it, since it is a graphic bug and RPG Maker is... you know.

Finally, a minor spelling mistake at the alleyway with a secret scene in which I really thought I was going to be jumpscared on.

I will try to get prints from the kitsunes once I have sparing time. I tried doing a quick run, but Mahir made sure I got the unluckiest odds:
He did wound up
I guarded
He dazed me
(lost turn)
He striked and one-hit killed me.

That happened Twice in a roll. I'm not sure that is intended, but I didn't have that problem the first few times I fought him. Anyhow, it doesn't give much chance for the player to evict an early game-over.

Also, the store guy can softlock if the other hyena is conveniently placed in front of it. He pushes him to the corner and gets stuck, and I think it can happen to the cat as well, as it also wanders around the store. Had to Restart

The only pieces of walls that are walkable that I've found are merely cosmetical and doesn't enable any exploits (still, if you want me to point them out, I can take some screenshots). But I did notice that, after talking about the job to the porn store guy when you lose for the first time, you can just leave the store instead of talking to the stairs hyena. After the second loss and you go back, it considers as if you've done it anyways (but you will miss the content and won't get the first tape). Also, the kitsunes at the end talks about Mezz clothes even if he took them off or wore the bunny suit off after the third stage.

Is object collision considered a bug? I've found a few places where you can walk over some props and can't go past minor cracks in the floor, but I don't know if you are able to fix those with your engine

Sorry for the delay, my work hours are messy. I live in Brazil, which uses Brazilian Reais. I didn't have a FurAffinity account, so I made one and texted you.

I can only admire the second chapter from afar, because the currency conversion screams too loudly for me, sadly. It's looking awesome, though! Will there be anything like a gameplay video in the future?

I did get all three force stones, but only 2 of them remain in my inventory. Even before I sent this report, I checked the place for each stone and they were all taken, as I thought.
Blinky said I was missing 2 stones: the one at the lava area and the one in the water. I hadn't taken the lava one at the time, but I did take the one at the water in river ruins.

If you want, I can send screenshot of every place and my inventory, but I don't see a reason for such thing. Must be a bug that I'll just have to live with

Spoilers ahead:


I can't do the Konami Code at the Blue Forest maze, since everytime I get to the "Down, down" part, it goes for another section  of the map. Blinky says I had to bring Sunny with me, but that also didn't seem to work. Was that supposed to happen or am I missing something I had to do in order for it to work?

By the way, just noticed that, although I got all the 3 gems, there are only 2 of them in my inventory. I checked all of the 3 places and they were all picked up, so... I can't progress. Can I know/see what happens if you get them all and use them, at least?

I've read in some comments about different endings in the game. How many are they? Relying on RNG to find that out is pure torture, I'm not doing that. It would be nice to have more control over whether or not you fail a task while having the requirements (such as 5 cha for a C+, for example).

That reminds me: Small healing items are practically worthless. At best, you get healed by a little amount and get lucky the enemy doesn't take the hp back on their first turn. I always thought item usage was supposed to be a free action, but I don't know if you have power over that, considering the engine you're using..

Quick Report: There is now an equipable weapon called "hardknocksplaceholder". I think that's not meant to happen. Not sure if you are aware of it and have no way to deal with it or it's just a minor bug you didn't know about