VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Alive [v1.0] [CSkin Games]

Where's the rug?

Time to be succinct. When I open a book I am at the mercy of the author. After reading 10 pages or 100, I'm following along hoping what I am reading will be intriguing, insightful, entertaining, etc. I don't necessarily mind if what is written doesn't jive with how I think the story should go. But when it comes to playing an interactive game that offers input and guidance from the reader, then I expect my choices to matter and if I make a choice I want it to stick.

But here we have a situation where I have the rug pulled out from under me. I make a choice, only it's not a choice because the author overrides my decision. Why then offer said choice? Why not keep the story linear and lock the reader out? Every time I run into a game such as this I will always put the smack dab on a review.

Pros:

Decent composition. A few misspellings.
Renders are a bit above average.
Addition of a sound track that helps reflect mood.

Cons:

False/faux choices.
Forced sex (Big Negative).

[v0.4]

Not gonna say it's perfect (what game is?), but definitely deserving of the "Excellent" mark.

This is a character driven story with some amazing dialogue writing. It checks all the boxes for convincing dialogues. Distinct personalities and speech patterns, realistic conversation dynamics and topics, and natural flow that resembles spoken dialogue.

It seems like the game length isn't set to be super long, but it makes up for it in width. This is not a harem game. There is a broad path that is shared on most routes, but you gotta pick a girl earlier than what you might be used to. To be frank, most games that let you play the field before settling do it to an unreasonable degree for the sake of porn. This one opts for a more realistic approach to dating.

While you have to pick a girl, the road leading up to it and the myriad of other choices create a whole bunch of variations. Some variations are large, others are flavor texts, but they all work to create a sense that your choices matter quite a lot.

I could talk about other aspects of the game that are good or slightly lacking, but personally, I just found the character interactions and dialogues to be engaging. It's well worth checking out.

An underrated game I think I only even heard of it because the dev told me to try it out. Good looking girls unlike a lot of games I tried they don’t all look the same. It seems obvious where the story is going but since it looks intentional that’s ok the characters are good enough I still want to see where it goes. Main complaint is that sometimes the phone is annoying and you have to click a bunch of times to open it but that was changed so it’s not so bad now.

Alive [v0.2]

Normally, the first time I play these I go contrary to what I'm supposed to do in a porn game and don't go for any girl.

I was supposed to go to the club I declined. I end up in a bar anyway with the MC having at least a BJ without the players consent. BAD.

I didn't "approach" Nikki in the coffee and I end up being forced to date her. BAD.

Could say no to the woman in the club. GOOD.

Girls are different and good looking. GOOD.

There is good music. GOOD.

Renders are decent.

STORY: So far this is another one of those games where, for some unknown reason, every girl/woman wants the MC. In a what, 15-20m of play time, there are 5 woman that want the MC. BAD.
So far nothing new that stands out in this story. Pretty standard.

Thank you and good luck.

P.S. Sex without consent takes one star alone. I'll keep an eye on the next update this review accordingly.

TLDR: in regards to 0.2 if you are in need of a quick fap to some beautiful models go ahead and give it a swing. If you are more of a story kinda guy, maybe wait one or two updates for the main story plot to kick off. 4-stars = boner achived.

Ok this one has some pretty big holes and I hope y'all take this as constructive criticism rather than a rant, ill do my best to throw a little quirk in here and there to make this a little more light hearted but my sense of humour is practically non-existent at my age so don't hold out hope. First off this game needs a better avoidance system if its going to really take off or a lot of people are gonna get upset. e.g... Cant avoid Tonya if you go to the bar... cant avoid Nikki's date on the Mary playthrough. There is no good option whilst talking to Nikki in the changing rooms about Mary, you have to pick between "I'm not interested in her in that way" or "maybe I want to lead her on a bit?" Kind of limits the relationship arch a bit lmao. needs a 3rd option for those who actually want to pursue Mary. This 3rd option could also be the option that AVOIDS the Nikki date all together. Because atm I can not play the Mary route without feeling like a dog and the mc clearly feels it too because he avoids them both that day and refuses to go to the coffee shop. I can almost already see the replies reading "oh its only their first date its not like they are together" bla bla. In my book if you go on a date with someone, you are dating... and that doesn't necessarily mean they are "together" but it does mean they should be exclusive. For example, you shouldn't invite a different girl out to dinner each night of the week then pick whatever one you liked the best come Sunday. You date a girl and if things don't go well you move on to the next. Cant form a bond with someone if you are shopping around like you are in a grocery store. There is a huge difference between dating and dating multiple people and for me that's such a major red flag it makes me want to avoid her route all together despite being the most visually appealing model for me.
REALLY didn't like how the mc didn't say anything about liking Mary to Nikki during their date even though she bought up that Mary looked all bubbly and giddy that day. If I didn't already feel like a dog that definitely strapped the collar around my neck I really hope this isn't a requirement for the storyline because that would be a nail in the coffin for that path.

And secondly... You mentioned not having the "know how" to make a sufficient point/score system. That shouldn't be to much of a problem if/when this game does take off because one of the walkthrough guys will likely pick it up. However that being said, you should definitely code something to keep track of the workout score or change the whole system all together. You mention at the start of the game that it is best to keep a balanced work out yet there is no way to track it. I think the best way to solve this is to just put an option in the preferences(show stats) to toggle a simple text format at the top of the screen. e.g "Strength: 2 Cardio : 4 " keep its small so it doesn't cover up to much of the renders and don't worry about it being half arsed because half arsed feature is always better than an unimplemented one But honestly the whole workout system just seems like a few extra choices to click on and keep you occupied(at least in this version of the game). if its best to keep a balanced workout, why do I have the option to chose otherwise? why doesn't it just alternate between strength and cardio each day and throw us straight into the mini game... Surely if its recommended to be balanced, solo levelling any one of the two skills would be detrimental right?
I mean there has to be some incentives to levelling just strength or just cardio or everyone is just going to pick balanced and the diversity for the whole system is lost. I dunno, I guess the way it is implemented atm just kind of feels like one of those choices that is not really a choice... e.g "pick this or miss out" rather than a "customise your character/playthrough kinda choice"

Really liked most of the models in this game, even the ones that didn't appeal to me still looked great, no ugly face emotions or anything like that. The bodies looked a little "contorted" during the sex scenes(mainly when you are pounding Tonya against the sink) The personalities of the girls are great, got some slutty girls for all you thirsty gents out there as well as some more conservative girls.(Was a little shocked to receive that nude from Mary but I just chalked it up to nervousness and inexperience. we all do something a little "outlandish" from time to time right?)

Story is pretty generic at this point but that's not a bad thing as it means there are many paths that could be taken with a story like this and options are always good, will be interesting to see how this one unfolds. Cant really tell atm weather this is more of a story driven game or a quick fap game as it is a 0.2 but it most definitely has promise!

Overall I think you will do just fine with this one so long as you are not one of those perfectionist devs who spends an extra 4 months re-writing the two months worth of content over and over and before we know it a year has gone by with no update.
I try my best not to mention other games outside of their respected threads but honestly I think the main reason braindrop's "WVM" Took off so quickly was due to diversity in models and consistent small updates. doesn't even need to be a sex scene in each release so long as releases are coming once a month and it doesn't matter if the update ends abruptly or on a cliff hanger people just want some time with their favourite girls eh. Don't be afraid to drop a story heavy update now and again even if the haters come crawling out of their dens.

If you can master that I've no doubt you'll find success and support here.
Ill go ahead and copy this over to the review page also for ya, keep up the good work and good luck ironing everything out.

Good start for a promising VN. The writing and the renders are good, and there seems to be good amount of choices to tailor your play through. The game could use a bit more sex scenes, but this is my only grip.