Thank you for taking the time to reply.
I get that you want to make it hard in the beginning with Kara being all stuck up. But this is really not conveyed well to the player. I don't now why I get punished for missing a single course - I did not get the idea at all. The system needs more transparency so the player know what is going on. Maybe the tokens could appear as the work is done and not the following morning? That at least would make it easier to understand what is working and what is not.
I get the colour hints but it is not obvious - to me at least. Especially when you are stuck and seemingly getting no clues or hints from the game. Also the paperwork - my own and Yukis - does not seem to affect my income at all.
All in all it makes sense when you explain the thoughts behind it know - but it should not be needed for the player to come on a message board to learn how stuff should be percieved. This information should be present in the game itself. I can see I'm not the only one struggling with the money mechanic and it's just sad. A great game should not be encumbered by a frustrating and almost game breaking complex income system. If you really think the current one is the way to go then at least make it more transparent and easier to comprehend. I fear you may loose new players simply because the game seems broken or poorly thought through - which clearly not is the case!
When making the income system I had two possible choices either explain it or not.
I went for not explaining it because it allowed me to gather data to better explain it in the future. A second reason why I didn't explained it is because I had no clue of how I was going to do such thing.
I don't implement anything without a quite lengthy thought process behind. The time it takes me from the initial idea to a first implementation would be at least around 4-5 months.
I'm not proficient with GUI, and Ren'Py is really bad on that end, so that makes it a little more restrictive.
Anyway, for me the gameplay should match the story (in a finished state, not necessarily in a experimental state). So when I design something related to the GUI I add that extra difficulty of not having it clash with the story.
I'm not either really keen to add a tutorial, not necessarily because I don't like those, but because I really don't want to bother with making one on Ren'Py (it is really bad for making GUI). Plus I would prefer not having the need for it.
So yeah, the goal was to let you in the dark and see where and which the info was most needed.
First time playing this since v0.39 and I went from being a huge fan of the game to not even really being interested in playing it after 10 minutes or so. It initially had such a simple and open narrative that it gave you the freedom to play the game without wondering too hard about what you needed to do next to trigger the next scene or event. The makeshift hint system currently in-game is not enough. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what I needed to do "allow" me to use the paddle and continue the game, I lost all interest, not even interested in searching the forums for an answer. If I have to jump through hoops (which as far as I noticed were never explained) just to use a paddle to start Chrystal's events what will I have to do to use the other 100 (exaggeration I know) sex toys or scenes in-game? I'm not interested enough to find out. And to me that says a lot, considering this was one of my favorite games. Not sure what the dev's plan is but imho the game seems to have become a chore just to play, at least in comparison to what it was.
Well what I can tell you is that we don't plan to add any more mandatory core mechanic to the game.
And that for now it is on its most heavy form. We have yet to trim the edges and iron the kinks.