So a normal player would have to create their character specficly just to have the right personality and only pick the perfect responses every time. Is dek trying to make a visual novel dating sim, because this feels like something one of those would do. It works in VNs because of it being easy to save at each response and skip through text you have seen. I don't think something this specific should be in an rpg, where each playthrough, without cheating, can take many hours depending on how far the domina you want to romance is in the game.
Getting a bit wall-of-texty and I know I'll be jumped on again anyway for criticizing (hey, at least you guys got spoonfed the variables and switches to change, stop complaining, I could spoonfeed you the code too but nope), but the tl;dr is what you said in your previous post.
The short version is it wasn't tested at all honestly. You can easily see this when you run out of shards, when you get teleported in trees, when you wonder why the stress (or sanity, semantics) gauge doesn't go up (hint: it actually does, you just need to build more than 100 stress, that should hint at what exactly happens and isn't checked - a failed sanity check indeed), when Toilet Lord said stress did nothing for Narcissa when pulling the levers (actually, Toilet Lord, check the code, that's not where the problem is, you get 200 Stress from pulling all levers - I even spoonfed the reason this does nothing).
As for playtesting extras...
If you want to playtest even more, try the following:
- Try refilling your shards in Gladen Lake (you can - the event is still there, you just have to wallhack or move it)
- Press confirm (usually Enter by default on a keyboard) for any scene to break it while standing in front on a Domina; this will trigger her dialogue
- Win any of the unwinnable battles (none are unwinnable even without cheating, and this was a thing even before Domina 5); the developer was told over and over how to fix this in five seconds, and it's been mentioned in the thread... three times in a single day. You can even do it yourself, of course, as it's all JSON.
- Acceed Mary's room without cheating. Go ahead. Remember, no cheating allowed, you are supposed to do it in a normal playthrough. You may use the save provided of course, as it will not affect your Domina progress.
- Don't save a single time then lose to Mary. Don't worry, you'll just get sent to the Grim Reaper as usual.
- Tell the Grim Reaper fuck you twice when he refuses to help you save Llavanya. Again, remember, no more game overs. But there's a catch, and I want you to find out since none of you seem to be eager to take a look at the actual code for the games you play (which allows for more constructive criticism and even more facepalming, even without any code knowledge). This includes any game but remember - Domina here.
- Refuse to break Narcissa's seal (this is the only 'choice' that wasn't removed when it comes to break/don't break, and does nothing special)
- Try to get the "I'm nice so I won't break your seal" version for the Dominas. You are allowed to cheat for this one.
- Repeatedly enter and exit Katrina's realm after beating her, this time with normal stats. You can't miss what's wrong even if you play just for the fights as it will clearly show up on the menu. You must do this before beating Madeline, though.
- Try to cuck Katrina and see if she cares.
- Try to get insane (or 'stressed') on more than just the two maps mentioned. Cheating is allowed (you can, for example, send your stress/insanity to max, which will make you insane, right?) but no code modification is allowed.
- Try a personality build that doesn't break things. No cheating allowed here, and yes, I'm spoonfeeding this time. You should have guessed how to easily fix this by now without touching the code, though that indeed means your initial choices are a waste of time, and you can make a crazy psycho MC or a completely emotionless MC. Even more spoonfeeding to help you get it.
And this is why I'll repeat it: Give progress reports so people know exactly where you stand and what to expect. Release your games when the content is ready, even if it's buggy, as long as it runs. Mention it. All developers suck at bugfixing because of brain bias, none of us are exceptions, we all make mistakes but "I suck, I won't do it again" doesn't work - "how am I supposed to fix this then, smartass" does, if you feel like someone is seriously being a nuisance with their preachy approach. Have the community playtest and report everything they find. Don't wait for RL shit to happen, and if you do it right, the community won't hate you for the bugs. Just state that they are meant to find bugs and report them, and that you are thankful to them for saving everyone time.
And if you revamp, first make sure your game isn't a buggy mess. This isn't a system rewrite, this is a rewrite for something that was already bugged, and broke it way harder. Have the grinders playtest the battles and the explorers playtest the scenes and fully report their findings so you can fix it nice and easy without spending hours playtesting every single situation or going OCD over virtual deadlines.
Never implement too many things in one go or this happens. I apologize if this is offensive, but I have to be honest.
This applies to all games. Even the one the community is trying hard to make it look like it's the best thing since sliced bread, and for a reason.
Edit: Candlejacked.
