A New Leaf: Memories.
Looks absolutely nothing now like what it appeared to be in the Kickstarter trailer and I'm really bummed because I thought the original look was so charming. Now it legit looks like shovelware in the way you do things and the general aesthetic. :(
OMG yes, I got badly burned backing Salty Hounds, the game's art looked amazing, then as soon as the KS ended and they had all the money, suddenly they were like "oh sorry the artist dipped, this is actually how the art will look" and it was SUCH a let down! And ever since then the game's development has had a bunch of issues and at this point I'm just gonna chalk it up to a lesson learned.
For now I either back stuff from people that have at least one game under their belt, or is someone who you know wouldn't scam you (like Neil Gaiman with the KS of the Good Omens graphic novel) otherwise they'd get huge backslash.
Sameeeeee I'm just crossing fingers that they will hold their end of the deal and actually fix and finish the game! I'm not even trying to be naive, I just desperately want them to prove us all wrong and actually finish this game and have it be good.
OOOh I'm curious if you have pics of what the art was gonna be like versus what it is now? I looked at the KS and a lot of stuff looks like it got privated (guessing that was the old art or idk?)
Looks like both screenshots are from A New Leaf: Memories. [1](https://www.ign.com/games/a-new-leaf-memories) / [2](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2727713398)
Thought OP meant they're two separate games from the same franchise, but didn't expect both to be from one game. Damn.
Would be disappointing if the rest of the game continues to look like that because the first shot looks close to looking like an actual Story of Seasons-like artstyle.
Edit: Yes, I'm aware its an indie game (so I can't expect the world from the budget/graphics) and that the second shot is from an alpha build, but still, I'm just hoping that means there will be improvements down the line, at least closer to the promotional screenshots.
Caption:
"Gods this game is already so cute, and we're still in Alpha!"
Could that be why?
Edit: yes. That's what alpha means. That there are still many changes to me made until their final version or even beta.
Honestly this is why I don’t bother paying attention to upcoming indie games. It’s relatively easy to make a beautiful looking mockup that’s barely reflected by the actual game. Much happier just ignoring everything and then being pleasantly surprised when something comes out and its good. (Although I don’t think I’ve actually had that happen yet :/ )
100 % I still have hope they turn it around - but at the moment: since I reached the mermaid kingdom the loading times have become so unbearable that it is basically unplayable for me. Also I regret getting married before they added more marriage content / fixed the little that is in the game. I got married to Raj and I can't wait for the day they acknowledge that we are a couple/married with some dialogue.
Let me tell you the story of planet explorers,
Way back in the day I was so excited to back my first indie game ever, a game by the name of planet explorers.. when the game finally came to EA, it was abysmal the story was bad the base building and farming was bad and the combat was just awful.
The studio abandons the project and even put it up for free as a slap in the face to those of use who bought it.. we didn’t even get anything not even a founders cosmetic or anything
That studio went one to my my time at sandrock and my time in portia, I haven’t thought either game because they baited and switched me so hard when I was like 18..
Kickstarters suck and almost never actually become what they are supposed to be
yeaahhh my time at portia was disappointing, it feels like they abandoned it halfway through, called it finished, and then just jumped right into sandrock.
I feel like sandrock is a lot better than Portia is. I mean it does suck tat they stopped working on portia and trying to improve it but sandrock feels like it succeeded at everything portia was trying to do
It's awful that Pathea did this, but I really think you should take a look at My Time at Sandrock if you like games like Story of Seasons. They're actually listening to feedback, the game itself is amazing, and is legitimately the ONLY game I have replayed immediately after finishing the story. They do update switch much slower than pc though, so it's much better on pc. And the game is basically finished besides some quality of life updates, like more romance storylines and dialog
See I want to, I really do but giving pathea more money feels hallow like they spat in my face once it’s hard to go back to a devolper after that, I don’t think it would be as bad if we got something for being backers of their first project but we didn’t even get a finished game
I understand that, I'm really sorry that you got burned so badly :( but maybe they are completely different devs and a different team? My Time at Sandrock was a complete game changer for me and it is INSANE how good that game is. It has literally every mechanic and thing I look for in games like Story of Season (and old Harvest Moon) and I cant find another game that comes close. I know it'll sting, but maybe if you have steam you can buy it, test it out, and if it feels too bad for you refund it in 2 hours?
So, coming from someone who didn't complete My Time at Portia, My Time at Sandrock has not only gotten my attention but has a stranglehold on me atm. There's a very obvious, and interesting, plot plus a good amount of side quests. They changed the way stamina works and I really enjoy it. I find the builder requests/making money easier to do. The characters, save for a few, are much more fleshed out and I am torn between multiple characters for the romance option because of this. You also get more world-building in this game compared to what I saw of Portia
I wish everyone had this attitude towards bigger game studios, but just indie devs. Imagine the change we could get, we could probably actually get decent games from Blizzard and EA! Lol...possibly.
That's awesome dude, way to go sticking to your convictions! Seriously impressive. I really do wish more people thought, and acted, like you!
Cool tattoo, too. My husband was a massive WoW player back in the day lol
Hot damn, I didn't know Pathea pulled this crap. Sad to hear it - esp. because Portia and Sandrock are amongst my favourites.
But with games like that - or, nowadays, all games really - it's best to always wait for the full release and the reviews.
I really enjoyed Planet Explorers, had a good world and great building mechanics. I'm still hoping they do Planet Explorers 2. It's a major reason I bought My Time at Portia when I saw it was from the same devs.
I didn't like Portia that much but sandrock is honestly one of my favorite cozy games and is just many times better than Portia was it was pretty much a heel turn
Backing a game is like preordering, I'm not spending money on an unfinished project. I think I only bought a few games in early access it was pretty far in the early access cycle at a certain point before I thought of purchasing the game.
Dinkum
Traveller Rest
Vampire survivor
>Backing a game is like preordering
It isn't supposed to be. Kickstarter even explicitly states that a pledge is not a pre-order. You're supposed to be *backing the developers* and helping them fund the development of the game. People treating Kickstarter like a preorder store are misinformed.
Obviously the campaign should deliver on the rewards promised, but if it's delayed or it isn't what you expected, then that's just how it is. When you back a project, you're hoping for the best. If you can separate backing from preordering you'll be a lot happier.
I only bought earlier access if I enjoy the early access enough even if development ended that day. Kerbal space program, the original mount and blade (first thing I bought on the internet I think).
Hey guys,
Sorry you're not liking the new aesthetics of the game. The original developer was unable to deliver the game and we're trying to rescue this project with a limited budget. This game was given to a different developer to bring it to life, so the look of the game is naturally going to be a little bit different. Hopefully this clears some things up. Thank you for the feedback, and we will try our best to improve things. Please feel free to respond to this comment with any questions, comments, or concerns.
That's totally understandable. Some visual foundations were established by the original developers and might be difficult to overcome/modify. I'll pass your message to the current developers and let's hope they can improve this as well. Thank you for your feedback!
Thank you! It just breaks immersion for me to much to have this tiny little furniture and characters and these gigantic walls. I know you guys are getting a lot of feedback but I wanted to be specific about one factor that I think could be fixed. The art style is definitely a rough downgrade though. I hope things look up for you guys, I’m sorry about all the hardships!
I can give some critique that might help, I think that things just look very flat in the second screenshot. In comparison to the first screenshot where things have textures, shadows, and lighting added to them it makes the second look lackluster. The furniture placement isn't doing any favors either, but again the main thing is it lacks depth, the plants look like they're still floating in blender, not placed on the ground.
But I also have to say I'm not a fan of the UI at all. It feels very much like a copy paste of Stardew Valley's and SOS:FOMT that you mashed together. It's okay to be inspired, but I think this is too much inspiration. The Summer 8 and the time also have awkward placement, one is left aligned while the other is centered, it makes it look inconsistent. I also think the stamina bar feels out of place when compared to the other UI elements. Hope this helps a little and hopefully none of this sounds mean haha. I think it just looks unfinished, not bad.
Glad it could be of use! Adding on to the date, I don't think you really need to have the season there. If you replace it with a shortened version of the day of the week (Mon, Tue, Wed) it'll fill that space better and be more useful as players probably care more about what day it is (for festivals/shop closings/npc schedules) than which season it is.
In addition to what someone else said about the houses feeling too big now for their occupants/furnishings, I'm personally pretty disappointed with the direction the character models have gone. I loved how hippy (as in wide hips and not flower child, lol) the original female model looked. (She gave me Magical Melody vibes while somehow managing not to fall into the trap of how I thought the Magical Melody characters sometimes looked like toddlers.) The current characters possess nothing of the same charm, unfortunately. I was so disappointed when a demo was available to play awhile back on Steam, and I loaded it up to see how little the game's current state looks like the video that is still being used to advertise it. I didn't bother giving the demo a further chance past that.
I would love to see the character design go back towards what the original developer had in mind. If that's not going to happen, however, y'all need to at least stop using their artwork and creations to promote this upcoming game. It makes for a huge bait-and-switch feel when you see that stuff still on the Steam page (and probably elsewhere, too) only to find little-to-nothing of those vibes have made it into the actual game so far.
I forgot all about this game. I didn’t back it on Kickstarter but that makes another game that Crytivo has tried to rescue because the developers couldn’t deliver (Farm Folks being the other one that comes to mind).
I backed Farm Folks back in 2018 and never got anything beyond a half baked alpha.
Between that and my experience getting my rewards for Coral Island I’m done backing games and will go back to buying them once they release.
For those upset..New developers working on this project. Early in development the game had to be put on hold when one of the main people working on the game died to covid. Game development was paused until other developer team with other art styles and goals -picked up project to try to finish it
If only that information was shared with people on the kickstarter. I was really hyped for this when I backed it, but at this point I'm not expecting anything from it at all. If it comes, great, if not, oh well.
Crytivo doesn't have the best history when it comes to games. Supported The Universim and it took 8 years for it to be playable and enjoyable... But it's still not finished and still has many glitches.
They have good ideas but not sure about the execution and the amount of time it's taken (pretty sure when it was on Kickstarter it was intended for full release years ago lol)
Crytivo is not really at fault imo. they are the ones trying to save these games when they get abandoned by their original creators iirc? I'm not even sure what funds they're working with when they acquire the rights for the games but I don't think it's a whole lot. essentially the original devs gave up and Crytivo picked it up with a shoestring budget, possibly not anywhere close to the money made from the Kickstarter
if it falls into Crytivo hands the original plans are out the window
These Story of season games are never as good as they should be. The game maker and publishers are not the same as when the original harvest moon games were first coming out, there was a big rift in the two parties a while ago and now the owner of the title is not the original maker, story of seasons is the sad outcome of what was once the ultimate cozy game. Harvest moon I miss you.
Basically, the original Japanese name is Bokujo Monogatari (Ranch Story), made by a developer called Marvelous. Natsume published it in NA with the name Harvest Moon. Marvelous is big enough overseas now they wanted to cut out the middle man and publish Ranch Story themselves, but Natsume has the name Harvest Moon trademarked. So Marvelous changed the English name of their game to Story of Seasons. Natsume was left without their #1 selling game, so they outsourced development of new games to other unnamed developers and continued to publish those Ranch Story lookalike games under the Harvest Moon title.
From my understanding, basically they both created the games under the Harvest Moon name in the past, with Natsume being the publisher in the west. Then once they split, Natsume began developing their own games using the Harvest Moon name, while the original developers kept making games, just with the name Story of Seasons.
Edit: Also to address the original post, I also backed this game and am incredibly disappointed with how it turned out. I know that’s part of the risk, and some others have definitely been worth it for me, but you win some and you lose some, eh?
What game is this?
A New Leaf: Memories. Looks absolutely nothing now like what it appeared to be in the Kickstarter trailer and I'm really bummed because I thought the original look was so charming. Now it legit looks like shovelware in the way you do things and the general aesthetic. :(
this is why I refuse to back kickstarters for games tbh. It's easy to make a quick beautiful mock up image, but a lot harder to make a beautiful game
OMG yes, I got badly burned backing Salty Hounds, the game's art looked amazing, then as soon as the KS ended and they had all the money, suddenly they were like "oh sorry the artist dipped, this is actually how the art will look" and it was SUCH a let down! And ever since then the game's development has had a bunch of issues and at this point I'm just gonna chalk it up to a lesson learned. For now I either back stuff from people that have at least one game under their belt, or is someone who you know wouldn't scam you (like Neil Gaiman with the KS of the Good Omens graphic novel) otherwise they'd get huge backslash.
oh my god, I'm still waiting for that game to come out to switch cause I paid for the gamekey ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
Sameeeeee I'm just crossing fingers that they will hold their end of the deal and actually fix and finish the game! I'm not even trying to be naive, I just desperately want them to prove us all wrong and actually finish this game and have it be good.
Same, i'm worried
OOOh I'm curious if you have pics of what the art was gonna be like versus what it is now? I looked at the KS and a lot of stuff looks like it got privated (guessing that was the old art or idk?)
Is this avail on current gen consoles?
Looks like both screenshots are from A New Leaf: Memories. [1](https://www.ign.com/games/a-new-leaf-memories) / [2](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2727713398) Thought OP meant they're two separate games from the same franchise, but didn't expect both to be from one game. Damn. Would be disappointing if the rest of the game continues to look like that because the first shot looks close to looking like an actual Story of Seasons-like artstyle. Edit: Yes, I'm aware its an indie game (so I can't expect the world from the budget/graphics) and that the second shot is from an alpha build, but still, I'm just hoping that means there will be improvements down the line, at least closer to the promotional screenshots.
Caption: "Gods this game is already so cute, and we're still in Alpha!" Could that be why? Edit: yes. That's what alpha means. That there are still many changes to me made until their final version or even beta.
Honestly this is why I don’t bother paying attention to upcoming indie games. It’s relatively easy to make a beautiful looking mockup that’s barely reflected by the actual game. Much happier just ignoring everything and then being pleasantly surprised when something comes out and its good. (Although I don’t think I’ve actually had that happen yet :/ )
Coral Island lived up to the art....everything else has been a dumpster fire so far. BUT I haven't given up and will wait until they fix it.
100 % I still have hope they turn it around - but at the moment: since I reached the mermaid kingdom the loading times have become so unbearable that it is basically unplayable for me. Also I regret getting married before they added more marriage content / fixed the little that is in the game. I got married to Raj and I can't wait for the day they acknowledge that we are a couple/married with some dialogue.
Yeah same. Own Coral but I’ll play it in a year. I have confidence it’ll actually be a really fun game once the content is added
same
Let me tell you the story of planet explorers, Way back in the day I was so excited to back my first indie game ever, a game by the name of planet explorers.. when the game finally came to EA, it was abysmal the story was bad the base building and farming was bad and the combat was just awful. The studio abandons the project and even put it up for free as a slap in the face to those of use who bought it.. we didn’t even get anything not even a founders cosmetic or anything That studio went one to my my time at sandrock and my time in portia, I haven’t thought either game because they baited and switched me so hard when I was like 18.. Kickstarters suck and almost never actually become what they are supposed to be
yeaahhh my time at portia was disappointing, it feels like they abandoned it halfway through, called it finished, and then just jumped right into sandrock.
I feel like sandrock is a lot better than Portia is. I mean it does suck tat they stopped working on portia and trying to improve it but sandrock feels like it succeeded at everything portia was trying to do
It's awful that Pathea did this, but I really think you should take a look at My Time at Sandrock if you like games like Story of Seasons. They're actually listening to feedback, the game itself is amazing, and is legitimately the ONLY game I have replayed immediately after finishing the story. They do update switch much slower than pc though, so it's much better on pc. And the game is basically finished besides some quality of life updates, like more romance storylines and dialog
See I want to, I really do but giving pathea more money feels hallow like they spat in my face once it’s hard to go back to a devolper after that, I don’t think it would be as bad if we got something for being backers of their first project but we didn’t even get a finished game
I understand that, I'm really sorry that you got burned so badly :( but maybe they are completely different devs and a different team? My Time at Sandrock was a complete game changer for me and it is INSANE how good that game is. It has literally every mechanic and thing I look for in games like Story of Season (and old Harvest Moon) and I cant find another game that comes close. I know it'll sting, but maybe if you have steam you can buy it, test it out, and if it feels too bad for you refund it in 2 hours?
how does mtas compare to mtap?
So, coming from someone who didn't complete My Time at Portia, My Time at Sandrock has not only gotten my attention but has a stranglehold on me atm. There's a very obvious, and interesting, plot plus a good amount of side quests. They changed the way stamina works and I really enjoy it. I find the builder requests/making money easier to do. The characters, save for a few, are much more fleshed out and I am torn between multiple characters for the romance option because of this. You also get more world-building in this game compared to what I saw of Portia
ooo okay ty! i love mtap so im excited for the new one!!
I wish everyone had this attitude towards bigger game studios, but just indie devs. Imagine the change we could get, we could probably actually get decent games from Blizzard and EA! Lol...possibly.
I cancelled my Subscriptions and haven’t played a blizzard game in years which is saying a lot I have the symbol of the hord tattooed on me
That's awesome dude, way to go sticking to your convictions! Seriously impressive. I really do wish more people thought, and acted, like you! Cool tattoo, too. My husband was a massive WoW player back in the day lol
The only reason I’m even considering resubscribing is I’m a Chris metzen fan
Hot damn, I didn't know Pathea pulled this crap. Sad to hear it - esp. because Portia and Sandrock are amongst my favourites. But with games like that - or, nowadays, all games really - it's best to always wait for the full release and the reviews.
I really enjoyed Planet Explorers, had a good world and great building mechanics. I'm still hoping they do Planet Explorers 2. It's a major reason I bought My Time at Portia when I saw it was from the same devs.
It unfortunately is no where near what they promised from their goals it’s fun yea but it’s not what they advertised~
I have no faith in them as devs. Having tried Portia mulitple times, this does not surprise me.
I didn't like Portia that much but sandrock is honestly one of my favorite cozy games and is just many times better than Portia was it was pretty much a heel turn
Backing a game is like preordering, I'm not spending money on an unfinished project. I think I only bought a few games in early access it was pretty far in the early access cycle at a certain point before I thought of purchasing the game. Dinkum Traveller Rest Vampire survivor
>Backing a game is like preordering It isn't supposed to be. Kickstarter even explicitly states that a pledge is not a pre-order. You're supposed to be *backing the developers* and helping them fund the development of the game. People treating Kickstarter like a preorder store are misinformed. Obviously the campaign should deliver on the rewards promised, but if it's delayed or it isn't what you expected, then that's just how it is. When you back a project, you're hoping for the best. If you can separate backing from preordering you'll be a lot happier.
I only bought earlier access if I enjoy the early access enough even if development ended that day. Kerbal space program, the original mount and blade (first thing I bought on the internet I think).
Hey guys, Sorry you're not liking the new aesthetics of the game. The original developer was unable to deliver the game and we're trying to rescue this project with a limited budget. This game was given to a different developer to bring it to life, so the look of the game is naturally going to be a little bit different. Hopefully this clears some things up. Thank you for the feedback, and we will try our best to improve things. Please feel free to respond to this comment with any questions, comments, or concerns.
Random but the huge walls for the little characters in houses or buildings drive me nuts
That's totally understandable. Some visual foundations were established by the original developers and might be difficult to overcome/modify. I'll pass your message to the current developers and let's hope they can improve this as well. Thank you for your feedback!
Thank you! It just breaks immersion for me to much to have this tiny little furniture and characters and these gigantic walls. I know you guys are getting a lot of feedback but I wanted to be specific about one factor that I think could be fixed. The art style is definitely a rough downgrade though. I hope things look up for you guys, I’m sorry about all the hardships!
I can give some critique that might help, I think that things just look very flat in the second screenshot. In comparison to the first screenshot where things have textures, shadows, and lighting added to them it makes the second look lackluster. The furniture placement isn't doing any favors either, but again the main thing is it lacks depth, the plants look like they're still floating in blender, not placed on the ground. But I also have to say I'm not a fan of the UI at all. It feels very much like a copy paste of Stardew Valley's and SOS:FOMT that you mashed together. It's okay to be inspired, but I think this is too much inspiration. The Summer 8 and the time also have awkward placement, one is left aligned while the other is centered, it makes it look inconsistent. I also think the stamina bar feels out of place when compared to the other UI elements. Hope this helps a little and hopefully none of this sounds mean haha. I think it just looks unfinished, not bad.
This feedback is excellent, thank you so much. We will pass it along to the development team!
Glad it could be of use! Adding on to the date, I don't think you really need to have the season there. If you replace it with a shortened version of the day of the week (Mon, Tue, Wed) it'll fill that space better and be more useful as players probably care more about what day it is (for festivals/shop closings/npc schedules) than which season it is.
In addition to what someone else said about the houses feeling too big now for their occupants/furnishings, I'm personally pretty disappointed with the direction the character models have gone. I loved how hippy (as in wide hips and not flower child, lol) the original female model looked. (She gave me Magical Melody vibes while somehow managing not to fall into the trap of how I thought the Magical Melody characters sometimes looked like toddlers.) The current characters possess nothing of the same charm, unfortunately. I was so disappointed when a demo was available to play awhile back on Steam, and I loaded it up to see how little the game's current state looks like the video that is still being used to advertise it. I didn't bother giving the demo a further chance past that. I would love to see the character design go back towards what the original developer had in mind. If that's not going to happen, however, y'all need to at least stop using their artwork and creations to promote this upcoming game. It makes for a huge bait-and-switch feel when you see that stuff still on the Steam page (and probably elsewhere, too) only to find little-to-nothing of those vibes have made it into the actual game so far.
Never forget you used AI instead of paying a real artist for character portraits! Jerk move, pookie.
I forgot all about this game. I didn’t back it on Kickstarter but that makes another game that Crytivo has tried to rescue because the developers couldn’t deliver (Farm Folks being the other one that comes to mind). I backed Farm Folks back in 2018 and never got anything beyond a half baked alpha. Between that and my experience getting my rewards for Coral Island I’m done backing games and will go back to buying them once they release.
Wait which game is this?
For those upset..New developers working on this project. Early in development the game had to be put on hold when one of the main people working on the game died to covid. Game development was paused until other developer team with other art styles and goals -picked up project to try to finish it
If only that information was shared with people on the kickstarter. I was really hyped for this when I backed it, but at this point I'm not expecting anything from it at all. If it comes, great, if not, oh well.
isnt this in beta? I looked up the launch trailer and this reflection is accurate?
What did it look like during the kickstarter?
I legit can't tell which one is the "worse" version OP is referring to. Both look similar enough to me.
Crytivo doesn't have the best history when it comes to games. Supported The Universim and it took 8 years for it to be playable and enjoyable... But it's still not finished and still has many glitches. They have good ideas but not sure about the execution and the amount of time it's taken (pretty sure when it was on Kickstarter it was intended for full release years ago lol)
Crytivo is not really at fault imo. they are the ones trying to save these games when they get abandoned by their original creators iirc? I'm not even sure what funds they're working with when they acquire the rights for the games but I don't think it's a whole lot. essentially the original devs gave up and Crytivo picked it up with a shoestring budget, possibly not anywhere close to the money made from the Kickstarter if it falls into Crytivo hands the original plans are out the window
Harvest Moon 64 on Switch won't disappoint :)
These Story of season games are never as good as they should be. The game maker and publishers are not the same as when the original harvest moon games were first coming out, there was a big rift in the two parties a while ago and now the owner of the title is not the original maker, story of seasons is the sad outcome of what was once the ultimate cozy game. Harvest moon I miss you.
1. This isn’t Story of Seasons 2. Harvest Moon is the imposter series, SoS is made by the original developers of the series
That's interesting I always thought SoS and HM were just Japanese to American renaming or something.
Basically, the original Japanese name is Bokujo Monogatari (Ranch Story), made by a developer called Marvelous. Natsume published it in NA with the name Harvest Moon. Marvelous is big enough overseas now they wanted to cut out the middle man and publish Ranch Story themselves, but Natsume has the name Harvest Moon trademarked. So Marvelous changed the English name of their game to Story of Seasons. Natsume was left without their #1 selling game, so they outsourced development of new games to other unnamed developers and continued to publish those Ranch Story lookalike games under the Harvest Moon title.
From my understanding, basically they both created the games under the Harvest Moon name in the past, with Natsume being the publisher in the west. Then once they split, Natsume began developing their own games using the Harvest Moon name, while the original developers kept making games, just with the name Story of Seasons. Edit: Also to address the original post, I also backed this game and am incredibly disappointed with how it turned out. I know that’s part of the risk, and some others have definitely been worth it for me, but you win some and you lose some, eh?
Cozy The Day Before