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[PlaceHolder Name]

We at PlaceHolder Name Studio are asking for feedback to recently translated demo version of our costume drama mystery Visual Novel – Court of Crowns. We have created our game in Game Maker Studio 2, and the demo is released on Windows and HTML5. Soon it will be released on Android as well.

In our game, you play as Princess Adela de Rex, a young heiress to the throne, and you are tasked with presiding over Crown Court. Similarly to Ace Attorney games, you are involved in questioning witnesses, but you also restore order during heated debates, and compare opposing parties’ versions of events.

Aside from general feedback, we are interested in hearing if you did find the story and premise interesting. We also want to hear your thoughts about graphics and music.   

While providing feedback, please state if you like/have played Ace Attorney or other Visual Novel games.

You can play or download our demo here: https://placeholder-name-studio.itch.io/coc-demo

You can visit our main page here: https://courtofcrowns.com/

You can follow us on twitter here: https://twitter.com/CourtOfCrownsVN

Feedback form that you can optionally use – link

[wolf]

I played through the 1st case until I got game over at the pointing out contradictions stage.

Overall I enjoyed my short time with it. It was well written, with a good premise that had me interested in getting to the bottom of the facts. I haven't played Ace Attorney, but the game explained mechanics well enough that I did not struggle with knowing what to do. I did find it hard  figure out the way forward on multiple occasions - when it came to the multiple choice question of key/cup/etc, I picked the correct answer last. When it came to the map, again the correct choice is what I clicked last. Even with the benefit of hindsight, I did not feel like I stood a chance of picking the correct answer other than guessing. Perhaps that's my noobyness with the genre showing.

At the start, I do wish it had thrown me into the action a bit faster. The graphics are nice, with the characters the highlight. I got a bit annoyed at the camera shake, it felt like it was happening constantly and that the movement did not feel quite right (perhaps more smaller movements in a shorter period of time?). Also the testimony/interrogation UI elements did not feel up to the same level as the rest. And the options/knowledge were a bit intrusive. Wish they had been off in a corner in a less distracting style (knowledge perhaps lighting up when it is relevant).

[PlaceHolder Name]

Thank you for your useful feedback!

Based on also other opinions we are getting elsewhere, we do plan to include option of return to last checkpoint, after getting a game over, and to improve clash of arguments minigame.

That part with floor plan and keys requires some higher level crime scene analyze abilities (what forced them to force the door open, how could the killer plan for their family not becoming primary suspects...), but you face no penalty for being wrong there. At least it helps to demonstrate Lionel's capabilities, when he clearly knows the answer ahead of you.

As for GUI, we plan to revamp it, but this isn't high priority right now.

As for the throwing earlier into action issue, we're afraid it's not much avoidable here. We aren't as much VN newcomer friendly as first Ace Attorney game, even when there are other games in the genre that require much more patience. Unfortunately, this is a judge game. People come to you with a complex issue that has to be known first, before you can do anything about it.

We hope that after we improve things in the next update, you will be willing to give it another go.

[jbarrios]

Hey PlaceHolder,

I played your game and recorded my thoughts:

[PlaceHolder Name]

Thank you for being our very first let's player, jbarrios. We got some valuable feedback from watching you.

Based on the feedback so far, we have released a new version with following improvements:

• Now you can return to your last checkpoint, after getting a game over
• Clash of Arguments has been improved. Now, during the second phase, you hold lines to memorize them, then click on contradictory ones. The narrator will also help you remember what you are supposed to do. Voice Bar shakes when you try to attack a line without it being full. Chaos Bar advances slower during the second phase. Lionel also has altered his explanation for the mechanic, due to its changes.
• You can advance text by pressing anywhere in the game.
• You can advance New Knowledge popup by clicking anywhere in the game.
• Fixed the bug where New Knowledge popup could sometimes not allow to advance the text for a while, despite being already gone.
• Fixed the bug where you could crash the game, during Clash of Arguments, by causing a game over by attacking wrong line.
  
• Some spelling errors were fixed

There are also HTML5-only improvements

• Fixed the bug  that freezes the game, if you return to the game after returning to the main menu from the game.
• Export option now also exports JSON of your last checkpoint, even if you didn't save the game.

There also also further improvements that are planned, but are postponed for the next release, due to them being more time-consuming

• We plan to improve shading on the characters. You can see how it is going to look like here https://twitter.com/CourtOfCrownsVN/status/1479554244806156290
• We plan to revamp the GUI

[PlaceHolder Name]

We happily announce version 1.7 of our demo, which is, excluding theoretically possible future minor bugfixes, the final version of it. With this version being released, we shift our focus on making Steam, Android and Linux releases of our demo. Then, we will make our trailer and start the crowdfunding campaign.

This version focuses on a massive graphical overhaul. We have improved our character art, backgrounds, and also GUI. With this, we trust our game will look aesthetically pleasing, as it was always meant to be. But you don’t have to take our word for it, as you can just look at those attached screenshots!



Due to the visual changes, our main page has been improved as well. Check it out and sign up to our newsletter, to not miss on any major update.

On the technical level, there also has been some performance improvements here and there. Due to the game being a Visual Novel, this probably will be unnoticeable without diagnostic tools. Still, it’s always worth to improve performance whenever you can.

We give our thanks to everyone that has been following our project so far. We happily welcome any newcomer that gains interest in it. We hope you will continue to travel alongside us, during our journey from hobbyists to professional game developers, and we wish you to remain pleased during the entirety of it.

[PlaceHolder Name]

We are happily announcing preview of our Kickstarter Campaign! The campaign will start at November 11 and will run for 30 days, with a humble goal of €3000. Follow our campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phns/court-of-crowns-a-historical-drama-visual-novel

We are also updating our demo to version 1.8.1. Based on feedback and observations of playing it content creators, we have made following improvements:

• Demonstrate button’s placement has been changed, for better visibility
• Clarification for second phase of Clash of Arguments’ tutorial.
• We have added an indicator, when you are supposed to click an area on the map.

We also have added a link to our Kickstarter Campaign.