Degraman: Act I. Vincent
Sexism in Degraman
Good evening to everyone! Warning: the text!
A month has passed since the release and we are generally very happy with how everything is going! Although we did almost nothing to promote the game (mainly because we got sick again, and have not recovered yet), the game reached the minimum required number of reviews! And the general tone of these reviews strikes us very pleasantly :3
We see in this not only our merit as a developer, but also you as an incredibly responsive and intelligent audience.
Many thanks to everyone who wrote a review! We reread each one several times, discussed and rejoiced. (although a couple were frankly strange, well, okay, nevermind)
We are happy that you have appreciated our work so highly. And this motivates us to make the next game even better (and thanks to your constructive feedback, we see what can be improved in the next routes).
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But that's not what we wanted to talk about.
Recently, we received a review from a Steam curator. This review bothers us a little bit for several reasons:
It's not even that it's negative and has many likes (although this is also the case). But the fact is that the reasons why the curator did not like the game are very important to us. Namely: sexism, inappropriate, offensive jokes, triggers, thin characters, stupid and horny main character, lack of plot, etc.
Please share here your thoughts about the justification of violence, sexism, about inappropriate topics, etc. applicable to our game.
The topic is very subtle and sensitive, which is why we are so verbose here.
In no case, do not take this post as an incentive to downvote the review or "annoy" in response in any other way. Our goal is to understand if there are any topics covered in the game that we have treated incorrectly and about which it is difficult for everyone to talk at the same time.
P.S. Please, we kindly ask you to write boldly whatever you think, don't hesitate to write something negative. This is not the case where you should restrain yourself, because the topic is incredibly important
P.P.S. we will not give a link to the review itself (although it is not difficult to find it), because we want to hear your opinion first of all
P.P.S. If you want to share your thoughts privately, please write an anonymous question in Tumblr
Comments
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I really enjoyed it! It was hard though which surprised me in a visual novel. So many interesting characters! I was shocked when I found out about Cassel though. I have yet to play his route but the ending for Vincent was so sad! Maybe I just got a bad ending? Seemed like the ominous end could be resolved hopefully in the next release but I just don't know lol Regarding the darker tone, I personally love dark and gritty and sexy! Was sad to see that the mature content was removed :( I'm a mature woman who isn't offended by visual novel hotties baring their hot bodies lol I'm hoping you guys will give us pervs some nsfw update that would be terrific! Victor is still my fav :D
Thank you! So kind words :3
We will definitely come up with some decision regarding adult content in the game. We didn't write it for nothing.
Ugh this is going to be kind of a childish rant but are light hearted vanilla "dating" games they only type of games we as women can enjoy? Men have a WIDE range of different fetishes and what not in their games and no one calls them out on it, no one makes commentary videos and articles on how problematic is is, it's just normalized and seen as simply exploring ones fantasy in a safe environment. There are dark otome games that are popular in the community but if the developers DARE to experiment with more "rique" mature content they are automatically crucified.
Women have no problem consuming yaoi content with VERY unbalanced dynamics but the moment it sways the hetero direction "itS prOblMaTic", "yOu aRe gLoriFyinG aBusE", "tHis iS triGgErinG", I guess it's because it hits too close at home?I get where its coming from and the criticism shouldn't be automatically dismissed but it's getting so ridiculous and hypocritical since it's only the female oriented games that get downright trashed, as if women don't have ANY "foul" fantasies we want to explore in a VIRTUAL and SAFE enviroment.
I have seen that you toned down some of the darker content from the demo and I know it's for marketing reasons but I can't imagine you guys heading with that route later on without people going full woke on you. It's honestly a shame cause I don't personally mind inappropriate and offensive content in games geared to women (hell I prefer it lol) but If I don't like it I will simply NOT play it because I acknowledge that it doesn't appeal to my fantasies but it will for someone else.
Best luck on the development of the game, I will support you guys regardless but it's sad that we have to limit this genre so much because it "tRIgGerS" some people.
Thank you for your feedback here!
We really softened the game so that more people could get acquainted with it. However, do not worry too much, we have left this unformatted material, and we plan to publish it as soon as possible.
Whatever works for the future of the game, don't feel pressured. The characters and the story lore of this game are already pretty interesting to explore, the rest are bonus.
Few days late, but yeah... pretty much. It's an annoying double standard I'm really tired of. I love horror games, but horror (even just... horrorish) visual novels like this aimed at women (non-yoai) are practically nonexistant. It really is a shame, as I'd love to see more of them but apparently that's unacceptable. :/
Thank you for your support!
Our scriptwriter loves dark stories and definitely felt almost the same lack of such stories around. That's why we decided to make our own :3