For the Future

A fantasy yaoi dating sim set in the world of Aravorn https://www.winterwolves.com/heirsandgraces.htm
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Ryocchi
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For the Future

Post by Ryocchi »

Hello Jack, I was replaying the game recently and I was pretty disheartened that it didn't do better and that you decided to not make any BL/yaoi game exclusive anymore but even so I wanted to share my honest opinion in several points so here we go:

The story: Overall I really liked it, characters were defined motivations were clear, the only thing that throw me a little were some cliched reactions, that some people tend to overuse, people while referencing BL/Yaoi often tend to think that being gay and being and uke often translates into wanting to be a woman and often uses expressions or reactions more common in female characters, even if unconscious, but at the end of the day, you're managing an all male cast, if the character himself is not depicted as very flamboyant or he himself having concious inclinations towards feeling feminine you must remember that even if he likes dudes, he's still a dude.

Art: I can tell the artist of Heirs and Graces wasn't a BL main artist, her girls were pretty and he/she put a lot of details in their clothes, but when translating to the male characters the proportions were a little of when you put them all side by side and the details are a little plain, I mean no offense but when you compare them with other characters in mangas or so the look like extras they lack this distintive protagonist/interest aura that is achieved by being more detailed drawing them.

My recommendation would be to actually look for an artist who has equally good masculine (or masculine just in case you decide to do another MxM exclusive) and feminine character designs and has previous experience drawing male/male also art wise I understand you are not on top of what is currently attractive in the yaoi world, pretty delicate ethereal faces and almost un-muscled bodies for yaoi are not on trend anymore, since the 2000's the more masculine characters have been on the rise, even for ukes, also, there's style a way to portrait a very clean prince-like character and still make him look masculine, For example the Elf, Legolas has flawless skin and features, but instead of giving him feminine eyes he has very intense eyes and thick eyebrows that are even accentuated by leaving them dark, for scholarly characters there is a way of making them beautiful and still masculine without looking excessively meekly, it is totally okay to add a feminine character to add variation, but image-wise 3 of the 4 love interest were too feminine even though once you go through the story you discover more layers of them, I must admit that I put off doing their routes for the longest time simply because I wasn't attracted to them image wise.

Alright, these are my two cents, I hope at least a little something in here becomes useful for you in the future, if not I'm sorry, I'm not the best at expressing myself but I did it with the best intentions, Good Luck in the future!
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jack1974
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Re: For the Future

Post by jack1974 »

Thanks for the feedback. I think now I have some artists who can do that kind of art, like Rebecca (Love Bites) or PSCD manga artist :)
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Ryocchi
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Re: For the Future

Post by Ryocchi »

Yes, they are awesome, Undead Lily artist as well =).
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jack1974
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Re: For the Future

Post by jack1974 »

Rebecca though doesn't do full nudity or more hot stuff. I had the impression that most of yaoi fans wanted that kind of stuff? or is not "essential"?
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Ryocchi
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Re: For the Future

Post by Ryocchi »

It is highly encouraged if you can get both, beautiful attractive characters and nudity/hot stuff, but for me as long as the characters are very attractive I can work with underwear and kissing/holding each other and let my imagination do the rest.

Thought it is a pity she doesn't do it but very respectable, her art is still amazing =).
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