I don’t know how to program a game and have very little desire to learn. I just don’t have the time to invest into it.
With that said, I love storytelling and liked Big Brother. I have played most of them with my favorite being the remake that expanded on Eric content.
I am obviously very pro Eric, but here are my initial thoughts. Feel free to use any, or none, of them.
My first thought is that I would ditch Patreon. You are making a game that has content they won’t approve meaning they can pull the rug out from under your feet at any time.
Regarding Max:
I would maintain the same tone as previous games with him. He is a horny teenage pervert who is as manipulative as Eric in his own way.
Regarding the women:
They should resist advances from Max and Eric (with the exception of Ann for Eric obviously).
I would make the story focus on their manipulation through flaws/desires. For example Alice is a bit vain and greedy. Lisa fears letting down her family and Ann feels completely alone. This would be why Ann allows Eric to be so rough with her during sex acts, not because she likes it but because she fears he will leave her. For Max to have success he would need to get rid of Eric and then play on those fears.
Even after having some success the women should act like real women and show regret for what happened. Alice gets tricked to pimp herself out on camera…well the next time she tries to reestablish control. Only when Max, or Eric, cause her webcam business to become less profitable does she begin to acquiesce once more to their advances.
Paths/Choices:
If I was making the game, I would make a path that is relatively easy for Max to win. I would keep Eric around for some time as a threat because he makes a great antagonist, but ultimately if the player doesn’t want him to be successful it should be straightforward to eliminate him before he touches anyone other than Ann.
I would also allow for two paths with Eric as others have suggested. One the first, you are trying to secretly get rid of him much like the initial game but he keeps being one step ahead of you. In the second, Max has no qualms about having a partner to manipulate the women…just as long as they are bouncing in his cock as well.
Other minor tidbits:
I would keep the cams but allow access to them. If I did pursue the hacker idea I would make it straightforward on how to gain access back and allow it to happen much sooner.
If you go with the sex education method, don’t have Eric back out because of Lisa’s age (she has to be 18 anyway). If you want Max to take back control find a different reason.
I would get rid of the Alice smoking plot. Smoking is a huge turnoff.
we need much less silly massage sessions. They can be there but they shouldn’t be possible to fail if you have already done the proper research. I assume you are already on this track though when you said you want the game to be less grindy.