Finally, I have played the game to see for myself - without prejudice - whether there is anything to regret or whether it is 'much ado about nothing'. I suspected it might be good (or at least promising), knowing other games from the dev. And this is indeed the case, as I described in more detail in my review. It's a pity that we won't see how the plot develops - although, to be honest, I have some guesses
.
I'd promised to myself not to add anything to this discussion, but as you're obviously looking for a reaction, I wouldn't want to frustrate you
.
You're quite right: "Una moglie bellisima" is indeed the inspiration for this game. When I saw this piece of rubbish - and you'll admit it's a piece of rubbish - I fell head over heels in front of Laura Torrisi's curves, and I thought that if I changed the plot a bit, got rid of the gang of friends and the clergy, and concentrated on the love triangle, I might be able to make a game with some substance. I let the idea mature, and when I had enough material, I put it into a script.
You'll have realised that there would be sex in the game that there isn't on screen, but above all, the main idea was to place much more emphasis on the lure of money and the inevitable temptation. The scene where Laura leaves the door of her hotel room open and says to the handsome guy who snuck in "I knew it would end like this" before kissing him and spending the night with him left me speechless: what a shortcut. That's when I said to myself, we could do a better job
1° by letting her get caught up in the seducer's trap herself and
2° by making the husband even more responsible for what happens to them.
I kept what I thought I could use: fruit and vegetables, the plan to buy the shop, I just put my own spin on it.
I preferred a tv game show to a Pirelli-like calendar and I added the owner of the building as a 'temptress' friend, maybe lesbian too.
I also added the fruit figurines (nicked from the web) to justify an advertising campaign that pays off.
I also left a bit of a mystery as to why Laura and her family arrived in Puglia, just indicating that she was from Naples (La Camorra?), so that I could link Laura and Vincenzo without them knowing.
The game was supposed to have several endings: romantic, villainous, sobbingly sad or tragic...
It could go on for a while, following Laura on the set of the TV series, but not too long; in the long run it just drags on and on...
Should I mention games that never end (unlike mine, which all end very quickly
)?
It's late... I'll stop rambling here...
PS: everywhere on the web I read "Alea jacta est"; but you're right: there's no "j" letter in the latin alphabet