I've said this before, and I'll say it again, this is a slow burn story. It might not fit everyone's speed regardless, but we're trying our best to pace the story that feels natural.Just started this one.. I think after the pancake delivery I'd be pinning her up against the door and asking her why such a sexy woman doesn't wear a wedding ring, that might be dangerous!!
Rasturac, this might not be the game for you. If you want to come back 5 or so updates for more, it's all good.
I'll explain why the pacing is this way, and I hope people can refer people to this post when someone else makes a similar comment.
First off, this game is a lot about anxiety and trauma. Not drama for the sake of drama like assault or novela stuff like that. These traumas are more internal dilemas like Imposter Syndrome, Body Dismorphia and Depression. It WON'T be too depressing, just that it highlights other problems people have. When I was making the story rewrite, I really wanted something that felt more slow paced. Something more akin to the courting process. Not casual dating, which is like 95% of games on this site. While there's NOTHING wrong with that, this game isn't that. All the love interests have their reasons for NOT being so forward as does the MC. MC has an anxiety of losing control because the last time he did, he embarrassed himself. And you might not think that it's that embarrassing, but to him, it's deep and for better or worse, it define him.
He shares different aspects of himself - his flaws - with some of the other love interests that compliment him. For example, MC feels he lucked out in getting his ex girlfriend Rachel because he tends to reject all things in front of him, but he thinks it's because he's not very special (some might argue this is true
) but he'll learn through Taylor that he IS desirable. He'll learn about confidence through helping Emily with her own issues. He'll learn through his Ex girlfriend that sometimes you must confront the truth even if it's terrifying. Each character fills a place in his flaws. Second, all the girls at this stage are his FRIENDS. They've all been introduced since last update and now we can move forward deeper into their stories. My favorite kind of romance is the "fall in love on the way" kind of interactions. It's not realistic with ALL girls in the world, but to some it works. It's like you wake up one day and they are all you can think about. This the type I typically want with at about 3 of them. The other 2 of them are/will be smitten (though one has a massive roadblock). And the other is hard work. and one might even surprise you
To the pacing, if you're not casually dating, then most of these relationships take months if not years to develop naturally, so as a developer Sweetychily and I have to balance out how we can incorporate them faster without breaking the cadence of the storytelling. So we've used the passage of times for MC to develop skills in his work. We've had Frank and Lisa start treating him like a close friend/neighbor. MC even gave them his key just in case, as was confirmed last chapter. We will also use time soon as well to skip forward in time to help bridge the Western Visual Novel trope where people fall in love with their family members or hated rivals in the span of 5 or 6 days...
Anyway, there are gains being made on all fronts, just not the way you expect a sex game to go. I will once again say, this is a slow paced game. It's NOT a sex game. Sex WILL happen, but it will as it fits. That said, we're getting closer than before.
Lastly, The next update is shorter, but has the party scene where MC lets lose a little. He's been too much of a stick in the mud. A real SQUARE. He needs to have more fun. So we'll let him! There will be some fun back and forth between MC and the girls. After that, the next full update will have him dipping his toes into some real stuff.
We won't satisfy everyone, but the people that are, will hopefully feel that connection we've been trying to make with the characters.
