Overview:
Minotaur Hotel is a romance visual novel about Asterion -- the minotaur from the old greek myth -- and what he's been through over the centuries.
During a trip you acquire the deed for a magical, dilapidated hotel sitting atop a cliff overlooking a valley. There you meet the caretaker -- Asterion. As the new owner you will try to restore the hotel to its former glory and bring in guests. Meanwhile you will learn about Asterion, his crime and the sentence the gods imposed on him.
The valley below contains many secrets which will reveal more about the past and the gods -- but it also houses many threats. Send out exploration teams to scavenge for answers and resources.
Build 0.2.5
Sorry for taking so long! From the get go we wanted Minotaur Hotel to have an unique interface. That means custom screens and modifications to the menus... Which we designed with computer screens in mind. That means a lot of stuff would mess up when we tried porting the game over to Android.
We didn't want this to be a rushjob, so we took our time and reworked the menus, user interface, textboxes, title screen, etc. to accommodate for mobile. This was a good excuse to update our UI. The menu now has subscreens to keep track of items, current guests, and more. The ledger screen is still there on desktop to have quick access to this information as well.
Other new features:
Revamped title screen! Big buttons to make it easier for people playing on mobile.
Added chapter transitions: We added a short screen before a new chapter starts, stating the chapter's number and name. Hopefully this will make time skips and changes in point-of-view more clear. Plus, it gives us the chance to build some tension with each chapter's name.
This also gave us a chance to move around the points where a new chapter starts for better pacing.
Added skip button to certain chapters: Not everyone wants to see content for the guests, now you can skip it.
Save files now display the chapter you're currently in as well as your player's background. Additional information about your save file is available on the save and load screens.
Some people found the scrolling patterns that are all over the UI distracting. We've added the option to disable them, check the Settings.
The help menu, which previously only displayed the controls on the PC and Linux version, will now additionally present information such as an explanation on stats, what your current background does, and more things coming down the line in case players need a reminder.
Speaking of which, we had players complain about not knowing the effects of choosing your player background. We added a new screen to display what each background does when selecting it to help players make a more informed decision.
Much needed refactoring and cleaning up on the backend and frontend to make the game easier to maintain.
Minor updates like increasing text size or adding black background to white text for extra visibility
Modifications to content:
The single most important modification relates to a point a number of players raised. People were asking about how mythical creatures fit in with this setting, pointing out how weird it is for people not minding Kota and Luke while being surprised at Asterion.
So, here's the thing... What we originally had in mind was a kind of urban fantasy where mythical beings are known to exist, yes, but generally kept at the margins of society and seen as an oddity. But after we analyzed the reactions we got from our poll we had to face that I didn't do a very good job on that front. Thanks to everyone who filled the the feedback form, by the way, that was essential for us to improve the game.
While making Build 0.2 we had considered another possibility... That mythical beings use a "charm" to pass off as humans. Coupled with the reaction we gathered, we figured out this would ultimately be the better option, as it would also allow us to more effectively explore a number of themes we wanted to tackle.
I edited the game to account for that. In other words, this is a retcon, yes. Sorry for the trouble, but we figured it's best to address this now instead of letting a troublesome element bog the story down on the long term! If you want the short version of what these changes are about, here it is: mythical creatures use a charm to pass off as humans, and more often than not this charm is a passport.
Now, let's see the changes to content.
Prologue:
We revamped the setting of the prologue. Our original idea for it was not coming through, people were feeling confused, so we changed it. Now the prologue happens on a bus station, instead of the player having a choice on where it happens.
Beyond that, some dialogue was added to the Prologue. It is mostly on world building to clarify a few points people raised -- a brief conversation about the supernatural.
Chapter 1:
When the MC is exploring the room near the reception where he finds the ledger with the guests and their check-in dates, he now also has the option to investigate a safe -- it contains some stuff which relates to world building. That scene has been slightly rewritten.
If you treated Asterion well until the infirmary scene it will change slightly depending on whether or not you were overbearing. This was intended from the start but it got left low on the priority list.
Before accepting Asterion's oath I had added a choice to pry for more information. In keeping in line with the points people raised about the world building not being clear enough I decided to integrate it into the linear narrative. So now everyone will go through that dialogue.
After Asterion wakes from his nap you now have the chance to ask a few questions. They revolve around how the Hotel and contracts work and some world building about the role mythical beings play in society outside the Hotel. This is one of the ways we are addressing some of the criticism we received - first, that the MC wasn't really reacting to the fantastical things happening around him and confusion about how the story's setting works.
Chapter 2:
Modified how the scene at the underground storeroom plays out. Previously you had the choice for touching/not touching anything. This time around you are given the choice to "Examine" which will give out an unique outcome depending on the MC's background.
Chapter 3:
If you decide to hand Asterion over to Argos the story continues from there with different dialogue to account for this. There are a few dialogue variations peppered throughout the rest of the game. Fair warning: this isn't a whole new route by itself. It changes a bit how your relation with Asterion progresses.
Kota and Luke's Chapters
They were slightly edited to account for the change in worldbuilding -- namely, now mythical creatures keep charms that make them pass off as humans. This lead to some small changes peppered over their chapters.
Again, you can skip these scenes if you want.
Others
By extension some of the scenes where Luke and Kota appear (arriving at the Hotel, overhauling the lounge) had slight modifications applied to them to conform to the new worldbuilding format we are going for.
