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[POLL-REVIEW] A breakdown of all three polls!
🕑 Added 2023-07-14 23:10:00 +0000 UTCHi all! For this week's poll, I will be breaking down the three results from the three polls from last week, which were intended for me to gauge general feedback and sentiment towards E1P2 and Cara in Creekmaw as a whole!
The feedback is definitely clear in the polls and I have already finalized a good amount of scenes in Episode 2 based on each outcome, but let's get into the nitty gritty of each poll and describe what my motivation for each poll was and the eventual outcome!
As always, there are NO wrong choices, and the breakdown below will discuss aspects relating to the majority choice(s) and the effect(s) of the choices that everyone has made!
Spectator looking in...
For the first poll regarding seeing events from the eyes of other characters aside from Cara, the main motivation behind this is actually two-fold:
- During the post-launch of E1P2, I was wondering if some scenes in E1P2 felt like it wasn't built up enough and/or forced (i.e. scenes that did not involve Cara directly).
- Playing from a perspective other than Cara's also mildly detracts from the story, and a few mysteries become redundant (i.e. you know why, but Cara does not know why).
The results of this first poll are equal in terms of wanting to see more and being neutral about this style of storytelling. I will say that this method of storytelling/scene writing is definitely good in terms of adding to the variety of scenes available but I do intend to be more careful about their placement (due to the above-listed reasons) in Episode 2 and to naturally build it up instead of forcing a random sex/vore scene to play out all of a sudden!
Thus, the outcome of this poll is:
- Scenes that are told from another character's perspective will continue to be present in Episode 2.
- They will be more well-paced and be more in line with the mystery mechanic.
Gameplay elements
The second poll is one that focused heavily on the gameplay mechanics that are presented in specific sections within Cara in Creekmaw. With each development cycle leading up to release, I always ask myself the same question: How do I make the game more engaging to you, the player?
With that said, I will always try to include gameplay that is new and refreshing every update while keeping to a "master list" of tried-and-tested mechanics that most of you enjoy!
As Cara in Creekmaw is three releases in, my main motivation here is to maintain the best elements so far and to retire those that are not as fun or interactive.
The results of this poll are very interesting, to say the least. Free-roam seems to be slightly more favored, followed by branching dialogues/phone conversations, with the mystery/Journal interaction having the least overall interest in making a return to Episode 2.
I would have thought that the results of the first two would be swapped around but the numbers here do not lie!
The outcome of this poll is:
- As most of you would have seen in the dev log, there will be a heavier emphasis on the free-roam sections as well as the interactivity within those free-roams!
- Multi-dialogue options and scene-by-scene advancement via choices presented to Cara as well as phone interactions will still be present as they have been!
- Journal/mystery interaction present in the Prologue will no longer be revisited in future episodes.
A genuine wake-up call
In the last poll regarding which episode you felt was the most genuine, the standout #1 response was E1P1. For me, this poll was created with the goal of understanding what you liked the most about Cara in Creekmaw in terms of how each episode presented itself, as they represented three different methods of development during my entire humble learning journey of how to be a better storyteller and a better game developer.
While I'm slightly deflated about E1P2 being less well-received, I think those sentiments are extremely fair. E1P2 was enjoyable in its own way and is a release chock full of steamy scenes, but there are definitely areas that could be better in terms of flow and overall storytelling, which would have helped to tie the whole experience together, which was what E1P1 did better (not to mention it had a free-roam section, which E1P2 does away with).
It's not all doom-and-gloom at least, as E1P2 has dramatically improved the quality of the renders presented from E1P1 and the Prologue, which I aim to increase even more heading into Episode 2's development!
The Prologue was definitely enjoyable to make in its own way as it was a 'kick-the-door-in' kind of introduction, where each 6th image I stitched together with dialogue always came with an internal thought of "Will I even release this game?" followed by "I'm not sure, I just know I like what I'm doing."
Alright, enough of my ramblings! So, what's the outcome of this poll?
- Episode 2 will follow E1P1's basis of storytelling and flow: Better planning and better overall structuring before the start of rendering.
- Episode 2 will draw on E1P2's render quality, and improve on that even more!
- Fun fact: I deliberated for 2 hours before pressing "Submit" for the Prologue release on Eka's.
Conclusion
Overall, these three polls have been eye-opening and have been extremely helpful in setting the direction and development plan as I am in the midst of finishing up the planning of Episode 2 with the feedback in mind. While there may be some choices I glossed over above, do know that I always appreciate any form of feedback from each and every one of you, as I believe Cara in Creekmaw always has room for improvement!
Thank you and stay safe, I'll see you guys next week for a brand-new poll!
