I like the fact you did a huge 'side quest' (kinda) as your most recent update and didn't just focus on the Marak/Main Cyberslayer Story (I am biased because I love fighting/wrestling sex but whatever).
But a lot of times you get games out there who rush the side quests which turn out to be 5-6 photos or even worse completely rushed/unfinished.
You actually took the time to completely develop a side quest which in is around 1-2 hours to get quite far into it (fighting in the ring etc.) and (hopefully) still has some kinda "redemption" where you can fight and win your dignity back one last time (in the new outfits) or choose to lose for good (and then can close this quest I dunno).
This game is going to be huge and like you said you've done the gym route now main focus is back to the main story and developing this. I like the Cyberslayer stuff with Kassiah and Aline and can see where this is going, but I also like things such as the Kassiah side quests.
I even see some comments on other games I'm following where people moan "you're trying to do everything all at once" and in my opinion this doesn't work because you'd end up with maybe 1x more Raph Scene, no Red District info, 1x more Maraak scene and it would just be too little across everything, in my opinion I would rather 1-2 storylines with lots of expansion than trying to expand 7x quests with maybe 10mins on each.
Again, I am biased because I love games like Officer Chloe and Manila Shaw where you play a Policewoman who gets corrupted etc. so I like the police quests and can't wait for the red light district/fight club/maybe more bloody rats. I think people need to appreciate the work and effort you're putting into all of this.
Like lets break it down some of the paths at the moment...
- Cyberslayers main story (Maraak etc.)
- Police main story (Bloody Rats)
- Police Raph/Gym (hopefully not finished for my sanity)
- Ben (I loved his first scene with the dream sequence that outfit is so hot)
- Todd
- Jack
- Alan
- Fred
- Trog (Aline & Kassiah)
- Lucius
- Bolton
- Charlotte
- Kassiah Hunter
- Kassiah Quests
- Modeling/Photoshoot
- Back Alley
- Restaurant/Pub
- Sauna/Massage
- Gym/Fight Club (could bring other slayers to this)
Possible:
- Rogue
- Tammy
There's so much content there to develop and grow, you're doing an amazing job at it all.
Keep it up, it's a masterpiece.
EDIT - The only, only thing I find a bit more 'grindy' about this game is how many times you need to go on the train and stop the pickpocket to advance Charlotte's Bond, Ii counted needing to do this at least 10x+ (I'm not sure how many I stopped counting) and because I like to start from new each time and have tried all routes this part is the only part I don't understand/if there is a quicker way to trigger Charlotte asking you to spar in the gym...
Like does it matter if I 'skip' scenes or do the Kataka exercies? Does it matter if I use the Orb? It just seems this part is always the part where I am like just clicking through it at 100mph, finding the thief on the train etc. etc. and it means like 15 days before you advance. I don't mind it if it was like 10 or so (and I understand it is a great way to build exp) but not knowing how many times it is like a relief when she finally asks to spar lol
Thank you for the feedback and great job on the summary of my to-do list. I thought about doing it for a long time and you did a great job of doing it for me instead, congrats !
Joke aside, there's a lot of content and I'm aware of this. I can understand people being skeptical about updating everything. I'm sure I will...in time.
You have highlighted a very important point : doing everything at once.
It doesn't work for me. It's simple, I learned that with Chronicles of Leridia and now with Cyberslayers.
It's more interesting for me to make a long narrative with an update instead of adding a bit of things there and there...because I think players like immersive story telling and gameplay and they don't like content to be cut too often.
So I decide to take a big part and work on it just like right now with the Noodle Guy part and the Rising Studio. It allows to go deep in details and be focus on every aspect. It has more impact in my opinion.
The downside of this is that I'm so hyped sometimes by what I create that I want to add more...that's where the red district is born (not planned at first) and Trog is born (not planned at the very beginning). That's where the story in the Police station can go when playing dirty with Raph. This npc was just supposed to be a sidekick at first.
To be honest, even the whole cop side content wasn't planned to be that deep. Now look at it in 0.4, I think a lot of players like it because they feel engaged with the characters. If couldn't have been possible by following a roadmap adding 10mn there and there.
It's not perfect but it's the way I design my games. I know I'm adding a lot of things...Every character/place I add is a promise to make content but also a huge task on my to-do list.
Still, the Police Station has now a lore, Cybercorp has a lore...Red District is promising. I'm making this game because I feel people being excited about all this and I'm excited doing it. I just have to take care now not to go too far and not fulfill my roadmap...that's why I decided to cut some content and stop generating npcs/places. I have enough to play with.
The Core of the game : cyberslaying will be back...I'm pretty sure it will be a nice part and feel natural in the final version of the game. I don't want to rush it, I planned summer to do it.
For Charlotte, you're not supposed to do the metro task more than three times. There's a bug with a variable and bonds are patched for 0.4.1. I never intended players to do it 10x times, it's not fun at all. So don't worry, it's a bug, not a feature haha.
Overall, yes, the game project is very demanding but I prefer adding things because I'm excited to do it that way instead of strictly following my roadmap with 2/3 pictures...because that would be sad, because that wouldn't be my game.