#cheritz team

[viosolei]

The Ssum: Forbidden Lab Discord Server!

Cheritz new game (2022) for the community all around the world! Made by the fans for the fans!

︵︵﹕୨・ᗢ ഒ ₊˚‧Ꮚ・ꈊ・Ꮚ﹕︵︵

We have lots of activities and giveaways for anyone! ✩‧₊˚ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧₊˚

Feel free to check it out!

※Art

※Cosplay

※Memes

※Writing

※Problem tech

※Chit chat and more!

Everyone is welcome to The Ssum family!

and Have fun in it MC's! -----------

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.------------------------

[keii]

I still can't believe how much more appealing Yoosung is in everyone else's route besides his own LOL. Tho' one thing remains is that no matter what, Yoosung really is a ride or die for mc. Like... he will NOT care if he gets the shit beaten out of him if it's for mc's sake, he will do crime and trust that it's for a good reason (and that Seven and Jumin would bail him out LMAO). Even tho' he's a crybaby, he will let anyone know EXACTLY how he feels, doesn't care if everyone doesn't agree. He's extremely loyal, honest, and open to whatever if that means it would make mc happy. His innocent nature allows others to let their guard down around him and pamper him, but deep inside he's obsessive, possessive, and pretty scary-- And so I love him.

[foxstens]

love when the concept of gameplay in otome games comes up on reddit

[cheritzteam]

[Cheritz] Answering Customer Questions regarding the use of A.I. in <The Ssum> Season 2 and More

Hello, this is Cheritz.

Some of the photos of our newest Ssumone, June, have not been polished enough to the game standard, and we will be updating them as soon as possible. We apologize for the disappointment caused by this issue.

On that note, we would like to clarify the topic on the use of A.I. in art in June’s photos.

First of all, we express our sympathies to the fan base who have been worried about the recent issue over the use of A.I. in games and movies, as it has been linked to copyright issues, job security, and more.

As you may have already been aware, <The Ssum> had to showcase an unparalleled amount of text and images to create a long-term romantic experience for you, and in Season 1, we used real-world images and free stock images to achieve the goal. While keeping the subscription price as low as possible in relation to production costs, our team have been working on the game with a limited number of staff to make <The Ssum> viable in the gaming market on its own.

In Season 2, we decided to apply the 2D art style to meet the feedback received by the fan base, we used retouched images sourced by A.I. which got data exclusively from a commercially available sources of packs to avoid any conflict with copyright issues for the art work that do not involve characters’ faces.

It was never the case for our team to replace the art staff with machines, but rather because most illustrators in the game industry have preferences on drawing main character illustrations over backgrounds or objects. For that reason, the art team was more focused on drawing 2023 commemorative artwork for <Mystic Messenger> and SD images on social media. Also, because Cheritz has been running four-day work weeks since the start of 2023, there was an internal consensus to tap into A.I. to balance work and life for staff. There were no cuts or layoffs of art staff for Season 2 projects.

The team feel terrible about unpleasant surprises some of you may have gone through by us not announcing this before the release.

Additionally, we have learned that some of the users feel disappointed that the new character in <The Ssum> has a connection to one of the main characters of <Mystic Messenger>.

The team has been constantly getting requests for 2D-art style images and involvements of <Mystic Messenger> characters, and more text content to <The Ssum> since its release. Our team is aware of the users’ support for <The Ssum>, however, we did not expect the new change would sadden some of our loyal fan base.

We will do our best to make it obvious that the launch of June is not an extension of <Mystic Messenger>, but rather as an extension of the launch of <The Ssum>, where the games from the same company share a universe but are on their own game systems and charms.

In addition to the currently released June, we have a new character currently under development, and we plan to release the rest of Season 1 in 2024 with some of the improvements applied.

We understand this clarification would not satisfy everyone, and we feel awful that these changes made some of you feel disappointed. We will pay close attention to the negative impact that the A.I. has brought to the gaming industry, and we would like to find a viable way to reach out to you through our games.

The team would like to thank you for your continued support of <The Ssum> and other Cheritz games, and we truly appreciate our fans’ feedback.

We hope this announcement has made your heart a little lighter and given you clarity.

 *To clarify rumors about the author of <Mystic Messenger>, please let us address it as well here. The main writer of <Mystic Messenger> is Ms. Ri, the founder of Cheritz, as revealed in the Otakon video. Ms. Ri is also the writer of <Dandelion>, <Nameless>, and is the main writer of <The Ssum> Season 2.

Thank you.

-Cheritz Team

[hyobros]

Cheritz's changes in staff over the lifetime of The Ssum

I wanted to write a post about this because it was the nail in the coffin convincing me that The Ssum won't get better. I really want to be optimistic, I was for the first year of the game's release. But with how hard they're fumbling June's route, and having some context by seeing the dramatic changes that happen behind the scenes, I don't have any hope for the game's future in its original concept.

So here's a big fat list of credits, comparison of them, and my own stupid commentary.

A comparison of the beta OPs credits (2018) vs the new OP credits (April 2022)

Project Directed by-

Sujin Ri (this stays constant)

Project Managed by-

Heinrich Dortmann (this stays constant during the time periods I'm comparing- we'll come back to this later)

Character Model by-

Yuseung An (this credit never appears again so uhhhh)

Game Designed by-

Yoonji Shin, Haeyoung Go (this credit also never appears again)

Project Assisted by-

2018:

Youngtak Lee, Heetae Lee, Yeonwoo Jung, Kyungha Kim, Kyungho Kim, Jihyun Jang, Hyejin Hong, Daniel Hong, Seungiim(?) Hwang, Dakyoung Lee

April 2022:

Heetae Lee, Junghee Choi

Art illustrated by-

2018:

Ilbo Sim, Jinhee Lee, Jihyeon Choi, Hyunju Na, Juhul Kim, Jaehee Hwang, Mirae Kang

April 2022:

Ilbo Sim, Jihyeon Choi, Minji Kim, Mirae Kang, Youngjoo You, Yura Lee

Programmed by-

2018:

Mansu Park, Marcos Arroyo, Rachel Tay, Soonyong Hong, Seungjin Lee, Myungjun Choi

April 2022:

Gunsoo Lee, Kukhwa Park, Moonhyuk Jang, Myungjun Choi, Seungjin Lee, Wonbok Lee, Youngkwon Jeon

Scenario Written by-

2018:

Jinseo Park, Minjeong Kim, E Hyun Kim, Eunchong Jang

April 2022:

Jinseo Park, Lilly Hwang, Minjung Kim, Saerom Shin, Summer Yoon, Youngran Moon

Language Localized by-

2018:

Sunhee Moon, Minkyung Chi, Sungjae Choi, Junhee Kim

April 2022:

Minkyung Chi, Pilhwa Hong, Saenanseul Kim, Sorim Byeon

Sound Resourced by-

2018:

(N/A)

April 2022:

Songhee Kim

Customer Service/Communication with Users by-

2018:

Sunkyeong Yun, Hyeseon Yang

April 2022:

Donghee Yoon, Joyce Hong, Sanghee An, Subin Kim

Credits from 2019

These are in the lyric booklet included in the Teo Love Bundle. Strangely enough, I'm already seeing differences between the 2018 credits and 2019. Uh oh?

As of release + a few months

These screenshots don't feature all the credits, unfortunately. I'm relying on screenshots someone else took because I'm not proactive but hindsight is 20/20.

Changes: Project is no longer managed by Heinrich Dortmann, instead by Juho Woo. Scenario team cut down to 2 people, one of which is a new name (Jooyoung Lim). Art team also cut down to 2 people. Sound is no longer resourced by Songhee Kim, but Jaeryeon Park and ROGIA. All new team of directing assistants as well, it expanded to 4 people but they're all new names. 2 fewer programmers, only one of the listed names was already working.

October 2023 (June's release)

Here's where it somehow gets worse lol.

Changes: A lot. Directing assisted by 1 person. They were not a part of the team credited in the OP. Down to 3 programmers, only 1 being in the OP. Entirely new art team! It's up to 4 people, but all of them are new, even compared to only a few months prior. Down to 1 scenario writer pobrecita (but we're coming back to that). Since I don't have screenshots of the project assistant credits from launch, can't say anything for that, except that Gui Zhenghao is new compared to the OP but the number of staff there remained the same. Flaming Heart is gone for the BGM! He's been working with Cheritz for forever but is gone now. One person from the communication team left, so they're down to 2. That would explain why emails have been slower since October. Only 1 translator, though Cheritz is now looking to recruit new ones.

Important note:

According to Cheritz's post acknowledging their use of gAI, Sujin Ri was not involved in writing season 1 of the game, but IS the main writer for season 2. I won't make a rant about how much I hate what she's writing cuz this isn't the post for that, but it explains why season 2 is so vastly different.

The fact that only a few people (like, in the lower single digits) remain even from 2019/early 2022, let alone who's still around from 2018, is really frustrating for the game. The game started with one vision, but now it's being turned into something completely different. Even the app's functions are inconsistant between season 1 and 2 (and a little so between Harry and Teo). According to an email I got from Cheritz, season 2 takes place a few years before season 1. Just sit with that knowledge for a bit :P. It's like the current people in charge of The Ssum (*cough Sujiin Ri*) couldn't be bothered to keep the original concept in mind, let alone how the timeline would work.

This post was a long time coming, I was caught up in just how bizarre this all is and finding tons of stuff that I haven't even included in the post. Writing this has taken about 3 hours (including the time I spent on a post ONLY FOR TUMBLR TO NOT WANNA WORK PROPERLY WHEN I TRIED TO POST IT SO IT GOT DELETED) and uhhh yeah. Now I gotta wait a few years to ask former staff if their NDAs are expired yet LOL

[gamercats-fight]

Pixel from Scarlet Hollow vs 707's robot cat from Mystic Messenger. Vote for your fav!!

Need help picking? Check down here!

Pixel - Black Tabby Games - 2021 - Black short-hair cat:

Lives in the library, everyone loves him despite his habit of scratching books Teams up with a pack of dogs to hunt monsters

707's Robot cat - Cheritz - 2016 - Robot:

707 builds this fire-breathing robot cat because he loves MC when he SHOULD be working. It's a really cool robot cat! 

[marshmallowprotection]

Its an honest to god tragedy that cg of Saeray is tied to one of his most heartbreaking bad ends bc real talk? Easily my favorite look on him. The light pink waistcoat and pants, the black rose, buttons, and glove details, the swept bangs? God tier.

Actually if you let him undo the collar on that shirt and move the rose corsage (The shirt collar is tight with the rose right at his neck, because he's trapped all over again. Clever, Cheritz. Heartwrenching, but clever) I can imagine it being a formal outfit he wears to future RFA fundraisers?

Or maybe im just desperate to have this outfit in a positive light bc im weak for light colored suits lmao

This is one the worst endings you can give Saeran Choi. Why? Because unlike in Ray Route when you team up with Rika to create a Puppet Savior, you're well aware of what Saeran wants and needs after a long two months and some change of knowing him and loving him as a free man. Yet, you throw his life and needs out the window the second Rika offers a reality where you're not separated from Saeran and he gets to live with you. You don't care about what he wants in this timeline. You care about what you want and the easiest way to get it.

You go and subjugate him to a living hell as a love puppet since you know he'll do whatever you think is right even if it's wrong for him. The worst part in all that? Saeran will burn and suffer for you if this is what makes you happy. He's dead inside. That's the reason why there is a black rose on his collar. It is a significant mark of death. He is dead inside and will only live to please you. He's not happy and he won't ever be happy in this timeline.

He is, for all intents and purposes, dead and numb to what's happening to him... for the sake of giving you what you want.

You trade what he wants away for a fantasy life Rika sold you and the worst part about that is you knew him so deeply and truly and that didn't even matter anymore. That's what makes this worse to me. You didn't know him that well when it came to the path you can take to make him the False Savior. You had no idea of what life he wanted apart from the mess you heard from Ray and Suit Saeran's lips. But, this path right here?

You knew him and you damned him to this horrible fate despite everything he dreamed of. You helped remove the chains from his throat in Magenta only to put them back on in V's mountainside villa.

[brighteststar707]

So, apparently Cheritz are allegedly (although it seems pretty damn convincing) using AI for backgrounds now? Here's a thread on that: https://twitter.com/HaiHaina/status/1714748018103058876

Big yikes 😬

It looks like they're really pushing with mm narrative story wise as well: Jumin's family are directly involved further down the line, Chairman Han and all. June also gets compared to Ray a whole lot in terms of his personality and behavior, but I can't say much on that bc I am not directly playing through his route. I might wanna try it out just to see what's up with all of that, though, and how much of it is actually true. Overall, concerning stuff 😐

I am deeply disappointed about the AI art thing. It's enough to put me off opening up the app and playing June's route all together (though he wasn't my type to begin with so his chances of that were low). I know the art style was suffering before but to be honest, I'd rather they stuck to it rather than turn to AI, or even reduce the number of CGs (from what I remember when I was playing Harry's route, more than half of them weren't useful or interesting anyway).

I'm also annoyed that they're leaning so heavily on Jumin's storyline to push June's forward. I wish they'd stick that energy into writing new original characters instead. With the mysme writers rejoining the team, they had the perfect opportunity to give us new compelling storylines rather than dig up and ruin the lore of pre-existing (and very loved) characters. At this rate, I feel like it would be more profitable for them to return to making Mysme DLC.

Overall, I'm not thrilled about these updates, and my chances of returning to the Ssum are slim to none.

[uri59]

I'm watching this kdrama called "Crazy Love" (I was looking for something to watch while I do other things, nothing that demands my full attention like Good Omens for example) and it's very funny to me because it's about this terrible boss who is an absolute piece of 💩 to his employees, but specially to his secretaries (none of them surpasses the 3 months) and the ex secretaries actually team up to seek revenge and one of them works at a coffee shop 🤭 (which I heard is like the salvation to those who want to escape from work exploitation... That and fleeing the country)

Also I'm sorry but Jaehee, you complain too much!

I find very interesting that Cheritz kind of flipped this trope of "the terrible boss" on its own head and with Jumin is actually the secretaries who are no good people and the reason why they leave it's because they are goldiggers who try to bed their way to the top of the company... Instead of Jumin being the one who scares them away

It reminds me of the commentary on that art book where Cheritz said that "corporate heirs" characters are quite common, so they added this and that to make Jumin stand out from the rest, and at the same time I think the contrast highlights that in Jaehee's route is Jaehee her worse enemy, and not so much Jumin...

[cloudcountry]

no. no you guys dont understand NOBODY DOES jihyun says mc should stay away from him because she has a bright future and shouldn't be involved in his darkness. so does yoshimoto.

jihyun doesn't believe he can free himself from the chains of the past because of childhood trauma. so does yoshimoto.

jihyun wishes he'd met the mc sooner and frequently wonders how much different his life would have been if he'd had her support and unconditional love sooner. SO DOES YOSHITMOTO.

WHAT THE FUCK CHERITZ AND CYBIRD. YOU BOTH HATE ME. YOU TEAMED UP TO CONSPIRE AGAINST ME.

[viosolei]

A Mysterious Invitation to... come join our The Ssum Discord Server!

Hey my fellow MCs!

I'm Violet, and the largest discord server for The Ssum: Forbidden Labs has now reached over 587 members and counting! We have such a lovely, funny, and supportive community and we'd love for you to join us! ପ(๑•ᴗ•๑)ଓ ♡

✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:* Here's an update on what we've been up to: - We now have a channel that doubles as an album for all of Teo's CGs till the current moment in the game! We currently have all CGs (yes, all including paid ones!) up until the end of Day 7 and we will update the album as time goes. - We also have a cute and wise PIU-PIU discord bot that brings us announcements and does other cool things for us! If you wanna meet it, feel free to join us ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

In our server we not only discuss The Ssum but we also: - Have a comprehensive game guide for everyone confused by the game - Have a designated spoiler channel - Discuss theories - Answer any and all questions about the game - Share The Ssum memes as well as video, book, and music recommendations (and more!) - Talk about other games we enjoy (they're very often other otome games or Genshin!)

We invite you join us and become a Ssumie at https://discord.gg/K5N4SCeyNW We hope to see you there!

^ Here's a preview of our server!

[worldismyne]

Seeing people in the comment's of cheritz's statement demanding more characters, more cgs, faster updates, more content...

THAT'S THE PROBLEM!!!!

The reason the art quality of this game is suffering in comparison to it's predesesors is the project is too big for the small team to keep up at the pace they're going.

To demand more content of a small team at whatever cost is a reciepe for disaster.

Also.

Any long time fan would know all games in the Cheritz-verse make mentions of the games that came before it and they're in the same world. Nameless had Dandelion references. MM had Nameless and Dandelion refs throughout. The Ssum would naturally have refs to all 3 and MM was a 3 year long story. For goodness sake Saeran, Rika and V were all recycled character designs from Nameless.

That's always been part of the brand. Anyone who's mad about that, there are other Otome game brands that don't do that. If there's a game after the Ssum, it'll do the same thing.

One more thing.

We didn't know people would be mad we used AI. "We will pay close attention to the negative impact that the A.I. has brought to the gaming industry."

Isn't addressing this issue. It's not even saying they'll stop using AI or disclose which images are AI generated. I'm glad they didn't lie about it, but they didn't offer a solution.

The most obviously solution, scaling down the scope of content and releasing less frequently, will probably make people even more mad.

I'm really worried this game is going to kill the company :/

[flicswiss]

I stay loyal to Teo. I stay single for 200 days for Teo. Teo makes me swing my little feetsies back and fourth while giggling like he’s chasing me on the beach in slow motion. Teo aside, the ssum is a very unique and entertaining game to enjoy on my days off. Now while I fucking loved mystic messenger, I am totally a slow burn fan; if it’s done right that is. This game relieves my stress of coming home from AP classes I decided to take because of my high ambitions. Coming home to Teo is such a dream and is nice to have someone care for me, even if he is fictional, my heart skips the same way. Love you Cheritz team! :) <3

[cheritzteam]

[The Ssum] Happy One Year Anniversary to <The Ssum>!

Hello, dear lab participant!

Thank you so much for joining us for the first anniversary of <The Ssum: The Forbidden Lab>. We couldn't have reached our first birthday without your support.

Thanks to your love and support, the past 365 days have been very meaningful for the development team at the Lab.

The one-year anniversary illustration that was revealed in-game on your August 17th! Check out your cute Ssumones in suits in a larger size♡

Can you recognize the people behind the two Ssumones? Hint: They've already appeared several times in conversations with your Ssumones! (Their identities will be revealed in an upcoming feature update, but until then, try guessing who they are >.0)

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for spending 200 days with Teo and Harry. We're sure the two Ssumones are very fond of and cherish the time they spent with you.

Prior to the completion update of Season 1 of <The Ssum>, <Forbidden Lab>, this fall and winter <The Ssum> will be revamped and rebranded as Season 2, <Love from Today>.

*Stay tuned for updates this fall and winter! *Seasonal content updates for Season 1 characters will continue.

Here are the highlights of the update of Season 2 <~Love from Today~>.

Addition of New Characters In Season 2, a new Ssumone (or Ssumones!) will come to you. What kind of Ssumone will be the first to visit you in Season 2?

Change in App Theme Season 2, <~Love from Today~>, will offer short but powerful scenarios to immerse you in a more romantic atmosphere, and will feature video calling. *Some UI changes will only be applied when you are matched with a Season 2 Ssumone.

Change in Art Style Season 2 will feature a more casual illustrative style!

Return of the <Mystic Messenger> Writing Team Starting from Season 2, the story will be written by the same team that wrote <Mystic Messenger>. Expect a fuller story. Some researchers may even recognize some familiar faces.

Change in Update Interval Starting in Season 2, we won't be providing more updates than the number of days after launch. We will be updating every 30 days, so stay tuned for a short but rich experience with your Ssumone.

Visit the homepage now to check out the silhouette and BGM of Season 2's (first) Ssumone.

We're also upgrading our existing Season 1 Ssumones Teo and Harry, and will come back with more good news.

We hope you're excited to see what's new, dear lab participant. Here's to your happy and love-ssum fall and winter this year!

Thank you!

-Cheritz-

[hyobros]

Cheritz keeps finding ways to piss me off!!

I may be stupid and didn't read the banner when June was first released, but someone just showed it to me and I'm just kinda sick.

Way to downplay the work a team did for the better part of 5 years!!!

I was already feeling alienated by cheritz's choices, but this is the nail in the coffin.

"If you're new to the game, this is the guy for you!"

What a slap in the face. Telling people to ignore Teo and Harry who got backlash for not being the perfect mysme copies and shamelessly forcing a game that's supposed to be defunct into a project that people put years of work, love and passion into.

I'll be making a post about the extent of The Ssum's team changes. Honestly, I'm turning my essay about my grievances into a whole series. Stay tuned!

[gureshinlover]

I'm thankful to cheritz team for letting us be a fujoshi in Another Story