Grinding is not the best word. It's common problem with most free roaming games. When it's simple VN with some light branching, then you as creator are in control, players can't do anything "wrong". When there's freedom and everything is up to players, you have limited possibilities. You can try to make things obvious, to keep them on the right path. When it succeeds, it's great, because there's enough things happening at a good pace, and they feel like it was all their doing. But people think differently and it's also possible that it will take them longer to find the right path, and it won't feel action-packed at all, quite the opposite.
Thanks. It's very annoying when people keep saying "Too grindy. Too grindy!" without ever offering an explanation of what they mean by that even when asked. Instead they insult or ignore me. I was thinking about it last night because it really confuses me. I think you're saying that when people are saying "grindy" they mean that they are lost, from my perspective, or that the game is poorly paced. They're doing things without progressing or being rewarded. I wish people said this instead.
The storyline/quest system is best thought of as a series of puzzles with the game itself being a collection of things you can do, some of which will complete your current puzzle. It's up to the player to think for a second about what the 'clues' in the diary mean and what they need to do. I always offer you more solutions than you need and I select the numbers in the diary with purpose so you have to think a little, but not too much. Stage progression drip feeds you content to keep you going and enjoying the new things you can do with the girls.
I wonder if some people see a stage telling you to hug Cute and the 3/7 and assume they just have to randomly hug her 7 times. I wonder if they decide to complain before playing and learning how the system really works. Not all players, not even most, but some.
Here's how I design stages. Feel free to skip if you've read my DD on the topic. I usually have around 10 ways to complete a free-roam stage. I'll make 6 of these be simple and obvious. These will occur many times in a week, maybe even every day, and you'll have plenty of opportunity to complete them. The final 4 will be less obvious. They'll require multiple steps (get a drink, then place it beside a bed, then peek when they're washing) or will take place on rare activities such as when Cute watches a film. I'll set in the diary that you have to complete 7 to advance. This way you can easily clean up the easy ones just as you play and then maybe search around a little for the final one you need.
I don't communicate that you have extra options well in-game. I'm reluctant to add things like this to the opening/intro because it's rather jarring to be hit with a bunch of info on mechanics but I think it's best that I add info like this in a tips screen before you begin the game. Some players ask "What's the last thing I need to do?" when in reality there are a bunch of things they could do. They see 6/7 and assume theres one thing left that's really obscure and they can't be bothered trying to find it. I don't blame them for that.
Another problem is that I think players rush into things. They see the game and peek at every opportunity and enter the bathrooms and so on. This takes content you're supposed to play over an hour and crams it into 15 minutes, leaving the next 45 minutes rather barren (times aren't necessarily accurate there). It also gives them really high suspicion which is a hindrance, especially if you don't like being spanked (probably removed in V3). I don't really know how to counter this. No matter how many times you're told to stop doing it, if all you want to do is rush to see all the nudity you can then there isn't much I can do to stop you, even though you're hindering your own enjoyment and progression.
You're supposed to role-play, to take it slow and enjoy peeks and nudity every now and again. I need to get players to know this before evolutions come into play otherwise there will be many complaints about a competent system being incompetent by players who played for the immediate. If you want her to become you pet, then making her try on her new outfit is the correct choice. If you want to be her pet or in an equal loving relationship then this is the wrong thing to do and will hinder you later down the line.
There are certainly pacing issues. Dani's photography is the prime example of this as one of her stages requires 2 shoots to be done, leaving a blank week between them where you've nothing to do to progress. If you do both girls' storylines at the same time then this isn't such an issue as you can just focus on Cute for the week, but not everyone will do that and choosing 1 girl rather than both is meant to be an option, not that I'd currently advise doing that.
Edit: Maybe people don't give me helpful feedback because they'll get replied several-hundred words long. haha
