Additional Follow Ups that have been on the to-do-list:
I had a thing with knuckles earlier in my play through and now he won't?come visit?
So, a thing with Knuckles is not meant to be the focus of the core game. In fact, what has been added is arguably above and beyond the original creator's intention...(which is something that those who are working on things now have tried to use as a maintaining mantra, the original intention...) so even what you have experienced is above what would likely be in the game if it was being finished over a decade ago. Now, that said...I have reviewed the code and can explain what is going on. There are two things that could have happened. If you botched the interaction, (tried to do x and did not have the stats/energy for it) then you pissed Knuckles off, and he doesn't want to come back. That's option one. Option two, you had a successful interaction with him to the "extreme" of that part of the content, and the way the character is being "written" is such that his intent is not to have that kind of relationship with Sonic...so you had your fling, but that's all. Again, the focus of the game is Sonic/Cream, and the Knuckles thing was an expansion of a 4th wall break indicating that the old BSC community had an issue with too much homoerotic emphasis, but it was either there before or planned to be added back in...it was opted to add it back in. Also...statistically speaking, for a game that is not meant to be homoerotic specifically, too much focus on that is likely to be more of a negative over all. If it were Babysitting Tails, or Bro times with Knuckles, then it would be a very different story.
I decided to give the 0.7 remake a go and see how things go. Right off the bat after the first scene in the living room I had to stop and do this post. For some reason things do not add up. It appears even if you open your mouth you get charged a energy deduction for talking. You can however go to the garage and find stuff then go to the foyer and find stuff and then go to the kitchen and find stuff without using the slightest amount of energy. Go to the mall for ice cream. After you summon Cream who should all ready be by you side cost energy. Choosing the Ice Cream cost $10 and the Icream another $10 but the math doesn not add up. SO you drop the first 10 and the second shows up as 10 buy you are deducted $5. If you watch the display on the left side of screen and watch the figures change you can see what's happening. Example go to move you 500 minus 10 for the bus then 30 for the movie leaving you with 460. Ice cream -10 = 450 then Cream's ice cream is -10 = 440. But NO! in fact according to the game it says -10 for Creams Ice Cream but deducts only $5 leaving you with 445.
All I'm saying is that I know what is involved in programming. I majored in COmputer Science and took ever codeing language and wrote programs with each one. Coding in time consuming, but you must check your program as you go for errors and workable. Common mistakes take place when you try to go to fast. It is very hard to go back on large anount of code to try and find a mistake or mistakes. Right now, the math does not add up. The other side of the coin is you'll get credit for Cream touch on one scene but then not on another. Example: Living room start you hug Cream you get touch other times you don't. In the movie you put Cream in you lap and sooth her tears. No points for touch.
Thing is in my opinion, energy should be deducted only from any activity, like sex playing games swiming etc. not from simply talking. Anyway, as I said, it's my opinion. At 77, I may be old, but my eyes and brain are very good.
If the rings numbers and energy numbers don't match, that will be something we can fix the code for. The more you let us know, the easier it is to find them. As for the energy to summon vs doing basic things, that is again a vestige of the original programmers decision for the game, and there is not intention to change that basic principle. (Anyone else on it can correct me if I am wrong on that.) Perhaps think of it as primarily as a remaster, but since the core game was not finished all those years ago...it is, at the same time, being updated/completed as those willing to work on it see fit, with the new content we had reference to from back then, or have reason to believe to have been part of the creator's original intent. As for the additional stats, there has been a lot of discussion about those and the new content we are making can pay more attention to them, and so a "cleanup" run through for missing stat increases is likely before an official 1.0 release. From where I am now, I do not see adding all of them to all interactions, even some that would make sense. Like the first time you go all the way...wont add touch and lust and so on, what it is doing behind the scenes is setting other things that allow other changes throughout the game, "more important" than just adding to those stats.