Wolfenstahl

[Wolfenstahl]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Well, I'm kinda one of those simple people who assumes the person is female if they have a female character as their avatar.. (And vice versa)

lol ^^

You, a bunch of girls, working on an h game.

You smart smart man.

Most of my team members are close friends of mine.
But uhm... it's not that I make my friends to my team-members.
It's more, that my team, is my family... so everyone who joined us, has to stay in contact to the others.
It's just like a family, yeah.

I always handle stuff like that.
Better to have a good team with a close relationship, trust and friendship etc.
(I could talk hours about this, but I'll just stop here... it's just that teams are more productive, if everyone understands each other and if it's not just random people... if they are friends, you have that bond that ties you all together etc. etc)

And regarding the fact that they are all girls:
Well, I've got a fiancée, so I don't really care.

I also have lots of male friends, but I don't count them as team members right now.
(since they are not actually working on the project, occasionally they give out some oppinions, or critizsm or such stuff, but they actually don't work on the project itself)

Amelia does the voice acting for Verdani.
While Koyuri does some voice acting, and translation into japanese.
And then there is Nayuru, who is the main artist and of course myself (Wolfenstahl) who works as backup artist and programmer... and some other stuff.

Those people are the current team of Projekt Wolfenstahl.
With Nayuru and me working full-time on the games.

(those are all nicknames, yes, I wouldn't place real names into the internet so carelessly)


And yup, I did a new blog post today.
Not much important details I guess.
But at least a life-sign.



~Wolfenstahl~

 

[ramza91]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Stupid thing keeps saying the file is corrupted...i downloaded it twice...

 

[Wolfenstahl]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Hmmm... it works for me.
I also checked the DL and the file itself.
Honestly I have no idea what could be the reason why it wouldn't work for you.

Maybe I could help you, if you specify the problem?

 

[Ayra]

Re: Wolfenstahl

First, about the newest blogpost:

"It somehow feels weird to have only 4 enemy types (and 3 special looking bosses at the end of each stage) and some subtypes who only have a slight difference.
Even though there are tons of animations, I somehow feel that it would be better to have less animations, therefore more enemy types?"

Yup! That's exactly why I cautioned against having too many animations a long while ago Having a ton of animation for each enemy takes a lot of time, time which usually can be used in more beneficial ways to the game. I also agree on making sure not to have the sprites too big: While bigger sprites look good, they limit vision and gameplay. I found the sprites in Paperhead to be a nice size though: Bigger would be problematic, but as is they're fine in my opinion.

Regarding your job... I'm sorry to hear that. Best of luck with your company plans: It's a lot of work, it's hard, it's definitively not a guaranteed success but it's oh so fullfilling if it all pans out. Go for it!


Regarding the Paperheads demo, I'm honestly a bit iffy. It might sound a harsh, but I feel that honesty is preferable than endless praise. Do note that I value gameplay higher than h-content though so my opinion might not reflect most of your potential "customers".

The game is definitively pretty, the artwork is nice, the story and text is acceptable and there's some great ideas, but as is I felt that there were some issues that prevents the game from being too enjoyable. It's unfortunately not things that can really be changed before release but more things to keep in mind for a future game.

There's some major annoyances that you've already covered in various blog posts (Like the extremely annoying height switching mechanism) but as you mentionned they are staying there because it would take too much effort to fix at this point in time, especially since it's a free game. That's acceptable, so I won't harp on the points you already mentionned.


Except one: Combat. You mentionned that the combat is not too developped because it's not the focus of the game and that the grab system is. The problem is that you actually spend most of your time fighting. What the player spend most of the time doing should be the most robust part of the game. Right now, the combat consist of hammering "kick" until the enemy drops dead if you are faced with one enemy. If you are faced with two enemy on the same plane, things get more annoying.

Since both enemies tend to follow each other movements perfectly, it's often impossible to separate them. There's really only 3 ways to deal with 2 enemies stacked over each other: 1) Do a kick at max range, take a step back, repeat until dead, run to other side if near a wall. 2) Do running slashes until they die while standing around doing nothing. 3) Get grabbed willingly to defeat them during the grapple (Although that might not be a real option anymore with the dual grappling). Option 1 and 2 gets really tedious, really fast. In a Final Fight game, you can hit multiple enemies that are standing in a single spot which removes that issue: In those games, the challenge comes from enemies actually trying to attack you from behind and a variety of attacks you have to react to. The inability to attack multiple enemies really feel like "fake difficulty" to compensate for 1 enemy type with 1 attack with no AI beside comming straight at you.


The grappling fortunately fares a bit better. It's certainly better than the usual "Mash left and right to escape". Thumbs up also for the "second chance" system: I know that freeing yourself at that point is more "mashy" but it feels warranted in that circumstance.

It has a few issues however. The first one is that it's not user-friendly at all. Even though I read the guide online before playing, I still was confused as to what was happening or what I was supposed to do (The c timing in particular). It does make sense after a few tries, but nowadays a lot of people don't want to be confused by a game. Maybe a simple in-game play-along tutorial grapple battle might be enough, though.

One thing that doesn't help matters is that there's little feedback to the user. If you do the key combination right, you have no idea what it actually did (if you didn't read the separate guide). If you press X or V, you see absolutely nothing happening unless you watch the health bars like an hawk. Something like a simple green glow while pressing V could at least give some feedback to the user that something is happening without having to do a ton more animations.

Another thing is that due to the key sequence locations, you have to focus on the top right part of the screen and not what's happening on the screen, making a lot of those small animations go unnoticed.

Finally, I feel that there's a bit of a wasted opportunity here. Right now, you already have super-swell animations especially for the tentacle monster. For example, if you succeed in pressing C at the right moment and that the tentacle monster try to go for her mouth, she'll slap the tentacle away. There's various "attack" and "defend" animations present and I adore them.

The problem is, all those animations are just cosmetic and not part of the gameplay. They could be, however. Instead of just watching for a giant "!" to appear and simply press C, you could have the attack animation starting, and the player would have to push the right direction to stop it. You see the tentacle heading for her mouth, you push Up to slap it away in time. You see it going for her pussy, you press down to kick it away, right or left if it goes for her breasts, ect.

This way, not only will the players be looking at the animation for queues instead of giant obnoxious exclamation points, but all your little swell animations would be part of the gameplay itself, making them more useful, noticeable and making the grappling more interactive. It's obviously a costly approach animation-wise, but if the game really is focused on grappling and that the animations already exist, why not put them to good use? It could also be used by itself as a "minigame" of sort in your next game (To finish off a boss or some other uncommon event, so that you don't have to spend all your time doing animations for grapples and keep them special and something to look foward to).


It's by no means a bad demo/game, but it's not exceptional either and it feels like it could definitively be more entertaining from a gameplay perspective. What I did see left me pretty hopeful for your next game though, and I'm still definitively going to play the full version of Paperheads when it comes out. I'm sorry if I've been too mean in my commenting!

 

[Jaydubs]

Re: Wolfenstahl

It's by no means a bad demo/game, but it's not exceptional either and it feels like it could definitively be more entertaining from a gameplay perspective.

I think many of your comments are correct. Many of your suggestions are constructive, and in terms of gameplay, it's not as good as your standard final fight type game. But I think you're doing the wrong comparison here.

The gameplay is better than most H-games. The character responds without delay, you can actually move around the screen in more than 2 directions, there's an actual move-set, etc. It's not Kurovadis, where the gameplay quality was comparable to console games of the same genre, but really that's the exception rather than the rule. Browse through the games available on this site, for instance, and I think you'll find Paperheads is definitely ahead of the curve. There is still room for improvement, but this is just a demo. The only really annoying thing is the infinite-grab loop, but the author is already stated he's fixing that.

The real gem in Paperheads though is the actual H-content. The animations, images, and character design are amazing. It's spot on for what I would want in an H-game. If the full game has artwork of similar quality, it will probably end up as one of my favorite H-games to date. Actually, I can say that unless something goes horribly wrong, it will definitely be one of my favorites.

 

[Wolfenstahl]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Uhm, first of all, the game shouldn't be a "free" game when it's done.
But there is lots of contend to come, and I already improved the fighting system quite a bit.

Regarding the fact, that you can't hit multiple enemies at once.
(except with "slash attack")
I did that totally on purpose, not to do a "fake difficulty".
But to give the "slash attack" a legitimate reason to exist.

This might be, because I think that in most fighting games it doesn't really matter what attack you use, since they all do the same... they just look different?
That's how I feel most of the time, so I thought about doing it a bit differently.
(of course trying new stuff, often happens to run into a lot of resistance)

Another reason for doing this would be:
Most games where you can hit multiple enemies, are games, where at least 3-5 enemies appear on screen at once, sometimes even more than that.
I want to place only 2-3 enemies maximum, at all times.
So the number is noticeably smaller, and I think it would be waaaay to easy to deal with this small amount of enemies, if you can hit them all at once.


Regarding the AI.
There are Paperheads who can attack you from behind.
And there are some that will try to get behind your back.
But since the stupid sewer stage has those "edges", the AI works only inside of the rooms.
(where there are no "edges")
Else the Paperheads would run walk over those "edges" just as if they wouldn't exist.
So it's kinda a level design problem, no issue with the AI, or the lack of an AI.
(of course I'll add some more stuff to the Paperheads later on, it's not that the game is done yet, and there are several subtypes of Paperheads to come... and the subtypes are not counted into the "4 enemy types")



I also realized that several people are too confused with the Grab-System as is.
So I decided to heavily simplify it for future games.
There are just too many options and possibilitys.
Of course it's nice, when you figured out how it works.
But I think, simplifying it will make more players happy, and we (the devs) can invest the time into other stuff.

But the Grab-System will stay the way it is for the Paperheads game.
Of course we will improve the visuals or add something if necessary.
I just don't want to throw it away and build it up completely from scratch.

The problem is, all those animations are just cosmetic and not part of the gameplay. They could be, however. Instead of just watching for a giant "!" to appear and simply press C, you could have the attack animation starting, and the player would have to push the right direction to stop it. You see the tentacle heading for her mouth, you push Up to slap it away in time. You see it going for her pussy, you press down to kick it away, right or left if it goes for her breasts, ect.

That's what I thought to do at first.
(when I planned everything out)
But it would overwhelm most players even more, than the current Grab-System does.
At least if I add it on top of it.
(and that's what I "originally" planned... but it was just too much, so I cut several things out, and this was one thing I cut out)

I just want to say it again:
The Grab-System will be modified in future games, so yeah, this could be a possible outcome.
When the time comes, I'll talk to the community and see what's best.

This way, not only will the players be looking at the animation for queues instead of giant obnoxious exclamation points, but all your little swell animations would be part of the gameplay itself, making them more useful, noticeable and making the grappling more interactive. It's obviously a costly approach animation-wise, but if the game really is focused on grappling and that the animations already exist, why not put them to good use? It could also be used by itself as a "minigame" of sort in your next game (To finish off a boss or some other uncommon event, so that you don't have to spend all your time doing animations for grapples and keep them special and something to look foward to).

To keep it short:
I guess the Grab-System will be a rare sight in upcoming games, since (from what I know "now", what games we want to do) the heroines mostly have long range attacks.
Making "grabs" a more rare occasion.
(yes, it was also totally intended, that in "Paperheads" the heroine has not even one ranged attack, after all I wanted to draw the Grab-System a bit more into the spotlight... or so)

So if it's being more rarely seen, I guess it will feel fresh most of the time.

It's by no means a bad demo/game, but it's not exceptional either and it feels like it could definitively be more entertaining from a gameplay perspective. What I did see left me pretty hopeful for your next game though, and I'm still definitively going to play the full version of Paperheads when it comes out. I'm sorry if I've been too mean in my commenting!

I don't think that your comments are bad.
I think they are honest, and I like to hear honest oppinions.

You should just take into consideration, that I'm trying to do a hentai game with at least decend gameplay.
(I don't plan to "top" all those genious indie-game devs, who all work so hard and to some "genious" games that are really impressive... I'm just someone who wants to do some good "hentai games")
And I'm no programmer, in fact I'm just an artist.
(my programming skills are pretty weak, but at least I understand the basics)

So I kinda have my limits on all this stuff.
But at least I'm overall satisfied with what I'm "able" to do.
(of course this is my first game, I never tried anything before ^^")
And I think I can really do some hentai game, that a lot of people will be able to enjoy.
Or at least that's what I hope for.

I think many of your comments are correct. Many of your suggestions are constructive, and in terms of gameplay, it's not as good as your standard final fight type game. But I think you're doing the wrong comparison here.

The gameplay is better than most H-games. The character responds without delay, you can actually move around the screen in more than 2 directions, there's an actual move-set, etc. It's not Kurovadis, where the gameplay quality was comparable to console games of the same genre, but really that's the exception rather than the rule. Browse through the games available on this site, for instance, and I think you'll find Paperheads is definitely ahead of the curve. There is still room for improvement, but this is just a demo. The only really annoying thing is the infinite-grab loop, but the author is already stated he's fixing that.

The real gem in Paperheads though is the actual H-content. The animations, images, and character design are amazing. It's spot on for what I would want in an H-game. If the full game has artwork of similar quality, it will probably end up as one of my favorite H-games to date. Actually, I can say that unless something goes horribly wrong, it will definitely be one of my favorites.

I guess you understand my intention with this game.
Kyrieru's Kurovadis for example is really great.
(I played it myself, and I love it)
But I'm not trying to copy him, I'm trying to do my own stuff.
And yeah, I'm more into hentai content.
I felt that Kurovadis lacked a little bit on the hentai content (CG wise).
But this isn't bad, because Kyrieru didn't intended on doing a whole lot of great CGs.

He focused on the gameplay itself.
While still maintaining some good CGs and hentai contend.

I guess I'm a bit more into the other direction.
While I focus on the hentai contend.
(more CGs and hentai animations)
I lack a bit on the gameplay side.


It's up to the autor, how to balance out/place the focus of the game itself.
And I think it's pretty much impossible to cover "everything" and make an overall perfect game.
Well... if several people with great skills in different things (programming, drawing, etc.) are gathering, you get even better results.
But as I already stated, I'm originally an artist.
So my focus is the graphics and CGs.
I'm trying my best at the gameplay stuff, but I have my limits.
(and I already failed at stuff like the "custom controls"... I don't know, whatever I tried, it wouldn't work... looks like I'm just not able to do this... but at least I was able to do everything else that was important for me)



Well, I'm going to bed now.
Thanks for the comments, and keep the commenting and critizsm up.
It's really helping me a lot.
(and the next demo release has a lot of fixes, I hope I made them accordingly to the comments --> more responsive controls, more fluid gameplay etc. but I can't judge it myself... since I was happy with the game like it was before, so yeah, I'm really depending on all the comments and on future feedback)



~Wolfenstahl~

 

[Papanomics]

Re: Wolfenstahl

If you were happy with the game you should continue developments as you see fit. Always consider feedback, but never let it dictate how you make your projects work.

I'd play this as it was, seems a little bit slow to me, but if you like it, heck, it's your game.

Go for broke.

Yes I just said that.

 

[Wolfenstahl]

Re: Wolfenstahl

The game runs much faster now.
It's just being tested (because this was a major change, and there could be new bugs anywhere right now) and we'll add some more content in the next days.

Double tapping for running is also included.
(the regular button for running is still working)

I guess all the changes that I planned to do are already ingame.
It's just testing and adding at least a bit more content to the game now.
(just some new animations and more rooms with a new riddle to solve, though we would need to make at least one new CG for this... but lets see about that)

In my oppinion the fighting system feels different now.
(it's somewhat faster than it was before)
And I really hope that I did the changes as people hoped them to be.

 

[Dracador]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Just stumbled across this, and I have to say I was surprised by the quality of it - given that it is, as you say, a beta/demo.

Just a few suggestions (spoilered to save space):

Spoiler

• The paperheads appear to be trying to imitate the ministry of silly walks when they follow you on a different level (likely because they move slightly faster than you and always move towards your exact position). Likewise, they sometimes get stuck behind you on the same level doing this. It's amusing, but I figure it probably shouldn't happen Making them follow you to a point just ahead of where you are and then stopping until you've gone a little ahead of them again would sort it, I imagine.
• It's far too easy to just sit in the first phase of a grab and block. Maybe there should be a slow negative impact that builds the longer you're grappled for?
• Some indicator of which way is forwards and which is backwards would be helpful. Signposts pointing towards the exit, possibly. Or a basic map that updates as you explore more. For the directionally challenged fappers amongst us.
• The boss-paperhead-guy (the one with loads more health) could do with something to stop you from kick-spamming him like all the rest. I know he tries to move around you but that's easily countered by jumping over him and running. As it is there isn't a huge amount of challenge in him.

However, this is still a very promising game. All of the above points are 'polish', as has been said before. If it stays at this quality through to completion I would quite happily pay for it. The grapple system is fundamentally sound and I feel that normal combat mostly works. The only things it's really lacking are length and variety but that's hardly a problem in a demo.

 

[Wolfenstahl]

Re: Wolfenstahl

The paperheads appear to be trying to imitate the ministry of silly walks when they follow you on a different level (likely because they move slightly faster than you and always move towards your exact position). Likewise, they sometimes get stuck behind you on the same level doing this. It's amusing, but I figure it probably shouldn't happen Making them follow you to a point just ahead of where you are and then stopping until you've gone a little ahead of them again would sort it, I imagine.

I already fixed that for the next version.

It's far too easy to just sit in the first phase of a grab and block. Maybe there should be a slow negative impact that builds the longer you're grappled for?

Actually it's intended to be that way.
Some special enemy will do small amounts of damage while he holds her.

Some indicator of which way is forwards and which is backwards would be helpful. Signposts pointing towards the exit, possibly. Or a basic map that updates as you explore more. For the directionally challenged fappers amongst us.

I intended the game to be a bit more maze-like.
So I didn't include a map or directional sign etc.
Especially because you sometimes have to search for stuff, going back and forth.
Or looking for something you might need in order to advance, as well as dead ends (game overs) that could be avoided if something points into the "right" direction.

The only thing I could over would be, to make a map of the areas.
Something like a walkthrough.
But I think this is actually something that I should leave to the community.
(while just giving occasionally hints or something)
And yup, this only makes sense when the game is done, not midway.
(since changes might occur)

The boss-paperhead-guy (the one with loads more health) could do with something to stop you from kick-spamming him like all the rest. I know he tries to move around you but that's easily countered by jumping over him and running. As it is there isn't a huge amount of challenge in him.

I'm not giving him a blocking option or something like that.
But he will get at least 1 more attack.
So he isn't that easy to take down anymore.


As always:
Thanks for the feedback and critizsm!



~Wolfenstahl~

 

[lhurgoyfguy]

Re: Wolfenstahl

I was kinda hoping the new update would hit by the fourth of July. Would have been an interesting way to celebrate.

 

[thswherizat]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Canada Day was July 1st and we didn't get everything. It's not always based out of the U.S.!

 

[Papanomics]

Re: Wolfenstahl

I'm gonna celebrate with beer in my hand, burger in my stomach, and blonde, big breasted female on my...

 

[Oiz]

Re: Wolfenstahl

I was kinda hoping the new update would hit by the fourth of July. Would have been an interesting way to celebrate.

Don't forget, the creators are german.
And over here the only thing independence day we care about is the movie with Will Smith.

I'm gonna celebrate with beer in my hand, burger in my stomach, and blonde, big breasted female on my...

...Display

 

[parjoala]

Re: Wolfenstahl

...Display

You, sir, have thrown me into a fit of laughter at 1 AM in the morning. My neighbours all thank you.

 

[Bovoovoo]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Game looks interesting so far and not being censored makes it even better.

 

[ramza91]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Game looks interesting so far and not being censored makes it even better.

Agreed.

 

[ombre vengeresse]

Re: Wolfenstahl

And is made by a team!

 

[ichigo]

Re: Wolfenstahl

if you check the blog looks like there may be a new version in the next 12 hours or less not sure when that was posted, depending on how the testing goes hoping it goes well since this one is much better then most others out there in my opinion.

 

[Lenneth]

Re: Wolfenstahl

Well...looks like it'll be pushed again. They must have found new bugs or something Forgetting for a today release I fear...I hope I'm mistaken and this period of little problems ends soon.