I would definitely opt to adjust the rewards depending on the content in place. But, once again, I've never looked Ren'Py under the hood so it might be unfeasible here, I speak from the perspective of someone who dabbled in C++, C# and is a PowerShell scripter.
Assuming Ren'Py is capable of handling global variables, I would most definitely try adjusting the game per release, to ensure a smooth progression feeling instead of having players mindlessly grind early game for money (by clicking "Wait" a million times and then "clean pool"
once per week) to get to the later stages of the test build.[\quote]
With this, you're looking only at a small part of the much larger picture, but also you seem to be focused far more on content rather than what the dev himself said he was focusing on right now which was working on the engine/framework. Don't get me wrong, I get where you're coming from but the fact remains that neither you nor I are the developer for this project/game and neither of us knows what he has planned.
I'm fairly confident that Ren'Py can handle global variables, however (again) I'm not entirely sure as to exactly how that works. To be bluntly honest, this game isn't really in an actual "playable" state simply due to lack of content which in turn means that anything that has to do with content directly isn't really important (which is what your argument is actually focused on when you look at it objectively). It IS playable in the sense that the game can boot up, there are mechanics in place, and you are able to do a few things... But the amount of things you can actually do is incredibly minimal at this time. I get the feeling that there will be a bit of a content influx within an update or 2 as it seems (to me) like many of the more important mechanics are in place and just needs to be expanded upon... However I can't say for sure as I'm not the developer and I don't know exactly what his plan is or what other mechanics he plans to add/include. If the lack of content is causing you issues and preventing you from enjoying the game then I'd say come back in 2-3 months and check out how things are going then as there MAY be enough content added that would ease your concerns.
Well, you must have god-like planning powers then, seriously. If you're able to plan everything out, then implement that 1:1 and have a perfectly working project, then I am blown away. The projects I saw so far (be it professional, real world projects, or these adult games here) always had to adjust both expectations and implementation during and after development.
Not at all, not even close to having "god-like planning powers". I just look at things from as many perspectives as I can and take my time in thinking everything I can out while keeping expectations to a realistic level. Almost every plan will always require adjustments but here's the clincher... The AMOUNT of adjustments needed can vary but an incredibly large margin depending on just how much you account for in your planning. If you go in with a base plan of "I'm going to make x" then you're going to have issues, roadblocks, setbacks, etc. However if you go in with a detailed plan of "I'm wanting to make x by including a, b, d, e, f, and g. I want a to be this complex, b to be this simple, c to be a variable for a, e, and f, while having d affect this, e taking advantage of b and d mechanics....." and so on then you'll fair much better as you'll have a relatively solid plan. It's like planning for a vacation to a distant place: You can either just pack your stuff and go with a simple plan of "I'm going to go to x and simply enjoy myself" or you can make a detailed plan of "I'm going to go to x and try to enjoy myself, but I should take y in case z happens. I should also take this map in case I get lost, this extra phone and these numbers in case mine dies, gets lost, or stolen. I should also take x amount of extra cash in case I end up with extra expenses" and so on.
Basically a good plan with contingencies, alternatives, and accounting for some "what if's" will actually save yourself a LOT of issues and trouble. If you run into none of those then great, but if you do then you're prepared. Though I may have a slightly unfair advantage as I have an atypical form of Aspergers which (in my case) directly contributes to being able to see many things from a staggering number of different perspectives. Where most people will see 1, 2, or even 3 possible perspectives/possibilities/solutions, I can usually see dozens which in turn can easily lead to being able to make plans and think ahead while accounting for a large number of things.
Again, in my opinion, that's poor planning but I might be super wrong, depending on how flexible Ren'Py is. If it requires editing half the code whenever you want to change how much money the player earns from cleaning the pool, then you're obviously 100% right and I'm 100% wrong when I say that currently, at this stage, early game should be much quicker.
It shouldn't take that much at all (you'd have to be REALLY bad at coding if it requires that much work to change just the amount you get for cleaning the pool). It would just be a matter of finding the right line (or variable) and changing it in order to get more money out of cleaning the pool. If you got the impression that I was saying you're 100% wrong about everything then my apologies as that's definitely not what I was trying to say and I was only saying you were wrong about one aspect (the part in which I said you were incorrect). The big issue here (from what I gather of your criticisms) is actually almost entirely related to content. If you think about your complaints from an objective view, you will notice that almost every one of your issues stems from a simple lack of content which in turn means a simple lack of options and thus the game feels overwhelmingly "empty" which is why you have to wait so much, so often... There's simply not enough to do at this point in time. The complaint you had about the looking around mechanic stems from there not being any content yet implemented for that function. The complaint you have for having to wait so much before you can do anything stems from there not being enough content in the game yet to actually have anything to do at this time. Your complaint about the money issue also stems from an issue with lack of content simply because the only ways to earn money (currently) is by cleaning the pool and the farming but the farming requires an (somewhat expensive considering how long it takes to get the amount needed for the) investment to start. I could go on but I assume you get what I'm saying by now.
I'm actually wondering if you have realized that almost every one of the issues/critiques/complaints you have are actually (almost) all content related rather than engine/game related. I agree that some elements of the game really suck right now (such as the waiting, how hard it is to earn money, etc) but it ALL still boils down to the same root issue which is simply nothing more than a lack of content at the current stage of the game.
As a side-note - I hope I'm not coming off as overly critical. I really hope the project takes off as it seems to be MUCH more ambitious than 99% of the adult games genre. And not only in the renders quality, but the story too.
You are and aren't coming off as overly critical. By that I mean one the one hand you are trying to provide some constructive criticisms (which is a really good thing), yet it appears (to me) like you've yet to realize that most of your criticisms have their roots (and solutions) on the content side which is what the developer is not yet focusing on. Personally I actually appreciate you sharing your views and opinions and I take no offense of any kind from it (rather the opposite as it pleases me that you have apparently thought a bit about several of these things). It's nice to see someone that thinks quite a bit about what's going in with/in the game and sharing their views/thoughts.
I agree that yes, it is (definitely) far more ambitious than the vast majority of adult games which is all the more reason why it's very important to get as much of the framework/engine work done first because trying to add in a core/big mechanic later down the line will just cause issues. Personally, the way he's tackling this game reminds me of how the dev of Man of the House tackled his game which was he focused almost entirely on the engine first with very little content and now it has a very solid framework that he can easily expand upon in many ways in many different directions without it causing any major issues/problems with previous content/mechanics. He's still doing a bit of work on the engine but it is mostly minimal work (such as bug fixes) or it's adding a new branching content path (such as adding new locations/characters). The games that tried to do both engine and content work at the same time while trying to add more mechanics/framework later have a tendency to fail or require a complete rebuild and starting back from square one (or more often, simply getting completely abandoned). All of those are exactly why I'm engaging directly with you as I'm trying to get you to see that your criticisms are content focused and while they are valid, I would prefer he finish his work on the engine itself before he adds a lot of content so that his focus/time isn't split in a way that would lead to problems later down the line.
Extra note here: The vast majority of games (especially triple AAA games) all have the majority of their framework/engine work done long before they start adding actual content to it because they've discovered that it's easier (and faster) when one doesn't have to constantly go back and change a lot of data to accommodate new random mechanics which in turn can easily lead to having to go back and change how quite a bit of content is accessed/displayed (such as new directories/paths, appending mechanic x and y to mechanic z, or having to go through thousands of assets in order for a new mechanic to be able to utilize it, etc). The more of the framework you get done ahead of time means less time you have to mess with it later overall which in turn leads to more time to spend on creating content that can be added.
I hope you don't take my messages as being critical of you, rude, etc. Just sharing my personal views, opinions, and thoughts. I also would like you to know that I really desire more content as well, the only difference between our views seems to be that I'm willing to put aside that desire and wait as patiently as I can for the engine/framework to get where the dev wants it as I believe that it would be better for the game overall in the long run.
