On the surface this AVN looks ridiculously polished, but the writing beneath is just bad. It's all over the place and trying too hard to be funny. The dev put way too much work into things that don't matter. Just look at the game page: It looks very pretty, but it also lists every damn character in the game, who needs that? The game follows that same philosophy. If you care about writing, I can't recommend this AVN.
(EDIT: I removed some outdated criticism)
This comment feels completely unnecessary. I can understand having doubts, and that’s fair, but coming here to imply that my game or app might be dangerous without providing any evidence is going too far.
First, regarding the writing: this is primarily a medieval fantasy comedy. If you clicked on the game because you saw a nice ass and then discovered that the writing wasn’t for you, that’s perfectly fine. You can simply move on. I genuinely don’t understand why so many people feel the need to present their personal tastes as if they were objective flaws.
As for the game page, my friend, it’s my page. I’ll showcase whatever I want. I like displaying the characters, I think it looks beautiful, and each of them has a purpose. Why should that bother you? Comments like this will always remind me of the message Tite Kubo left for people who criticize an author’s creative choices while demanding that the work cater specifically to them.
Regarding the app, it is officially available through Google Play and has gone through Google’s verification process. If you have discovered an actual security issue, show me the evidence and I’ll take it seriously. Otherwise, implying that my work is suspicious simply because you don’t understand what the app does is irresponsible.
It genuinely hurts to spend months creating something, only to receive comments like this based on assumptions rather than evidence.
Thank you for you civilized response, I'm not taking that for granted. My comment wasn't unnecessary, it's a review.
Regarding my malware suspicions, I consider myself more tech savvy than the average person. If I see something potentially harmful, even if I'm not 100% sure whether I'm correct, I'm compelled to protect people less experienced than me. I get that even just suspicions affect your reputation, I sincerely apologize in advance if my suspicions turn out to be false.
My justification for my suspicions: An app being on the Google Play store does not guarantee that it's safe. Also, both the app and your game seem to be brand new pieces of software, released around the same time, and you're promoting the app quite firmly both here an in the game, AND NeXusTC in the same manner is promoting your game on their own (kinda shady looking) website, so I'm rightfully wondering about how much you're exactly associated with the app's developers and what's really going on here. I recommend you to make a statement about your association with NeXusTC, for better transparency and, in turn, for more trust.
Then, you're saying that I should just move on if I don't like the game. I am doing exactly that, I'm just leaving a review for other players who are considering to check out the game. I'm not planning to become a lifelong hater. My review mainly states that the game's writing is poor, and I'm well aware that a lot of players don't really care about that. So... those players will disregard my review. As for your game page, I only mentioned it for a practical, see-for-yourself example about the game's design philosophy.
Lastly, I know that comments like mine can really hurt a dev like you, who poured his heart into this project. I could've used more gentle wording, but that would've bloated the review, reducing its usefulness. The point I was trying to make was pretty straightforward, so I went for it. Know that I still have a lot of respect for devs like you who put their work out there, but feedback like mine is both important for players who are wondering whether your AVN is for them, and for you to see how you can improve further. I have no ill will towards you, I'm just a bit disappointed.
I understand your position, but I dislike comments like this precisely because, as you acknowledged, someone reading them without context could walk away with a very damaging and inaccurate impression.
If you want to discuss these concerns on Discord, that’s completely fine, since I can explain everything there more easily. I am already well known within the Hispanic AVN community, where I have an established audience and have been involved with these kinds of projects for years.
NeXusTC is not some unrelated company secretly promoting my game. It is my own brand and ecosystem. I am the owner and sole developer of the NeXusTC Ren’Py Player, and I am also the creator of this visual novel.
I created the app to address a real problem for Android users, who represent over 90% of the audience in my Hispanic communities. The app and the game launching around the same time was simply a coincidence and a blessing. I had already spent four months working on the app before both projects happened to be ready around the same period.
Since you say you have considerable technical knowledge, I would genuinely appreciate it if you tested the app and gave me detailed feedback. If you discover anything that does not work correctly or could potentially harm users in any way, please show me. That kind of evidence-based feedback would be extremely valuable to me, and I would take it very seriously.
I have spent years building my name and earning the trust of my community. It would make absolutely no sense for me to sabotage everything I have built by releasing something malicious. Some people might believe I should keep the game and the app completely separate, but I disagree. I genuinely created the app as a solution for Android players, or at least that is what I am working hard to make it become.
I understand that the game disappointed you, but I personally believe that if a public comment offers nothing useful to the developer, there is no need to leave it directly on the developer’s own page. I would never go to another creator’s page just to tell them that I think their work is bad. I might discuss my opinion privately with people close to me, but I would not walk into the creator’s space and throw it in their face.
Even criticism that seems minor to you can hurt, because neither you nor anyone else knows everything I had to go through to create this project. I understand that negative reviews will exist elsewhere, but I do not want unsupported security suspicions or comments like this on my itch.io page.
Thank you for explaining your position
I've done some more research, and even though I'm still a bit sceptical overall, I don't think my malware suspicions are as justified as they initially seemed. So, I removed them. As promised, I apologize for denting your reputation with this. I recommend you to make it more transparent that you are the actual developer of the app!
The rest of the review stays up though. I believe that my review IS useful to you, it is feedback from a seasoned AVN enjoyer who values good writing. It's also useful for other players who are trying to decide whether the game is for them. You have the power to enforce permitting only positive comments about your game, but that can eat a lot more trust than what I did. It's up to you.
I understand, and I think this is better.
I know I could have simply deleted your comment, but I waited for you to respond because I didn’t want to be disrespectful. Even though the original review could have given people the wrong impression, I would gain nothing by immediately deleting it and then having others claim that I remove accusations instead of addressing them.
That said, I will eventually remove the unnecessary comments in this discussion because they no longer lead anywhere, including this one. I’ll leave them up for a while so you have time to read my response, and then I’ll delete them.
I also understand that negative feedback can sometimes be helpful. However, I don’t consider every negative opinion to be constructive feedback. Briefly saying that the game looks polished on the surface and then dedicating everything else to criticism is not the kind of feedback I will personally accept as constructive, now or in the future.
I’m not saying that people must only praise my work. If someone genuinely wants their criticism to help me improve as a developer, I expect it to be informed and balanced. They should identify the good aspects with the same specificity they use to identify the flaws. If they are missing important context, they can also ask me questions before reaching conclusions.
Otherwise, it can easily become personal opinions presented as “constructive criticism,” and I don’t consider those two things to be the same
I wrote a review because it'll help players decide whether the game is for them. The review could be worded more nicely, but I wanted to get a point across. It's still constructive though, the key takeaways being:
