To everybody who is worried about the potion puzzles being too hard. I will in the future, make a version where they are either skippable or some other way to get the points without doing them. But I refuse to make a game that has no game aspects to it. I know that it’s a visual novel but for me personally I like playing games with these types of mini games so I’m making a game for me so I’m not gonna ever get rid of them, but I might make, you can skip them or avoid them all together.
Also, the advantage of releasing this game in stages is to get feedback like this and make adjustments on future releases. So thank you all for your feedback. I will definitely take it into consideration.
This stuff about the minigames brings up what I've always thought of as a critical question/issue in adult games: What is the best way to make game elements that are immersive and add to sexual tension, rather than cripple any sort of sexual buildup. In general, I do think some kind of grind is much better than none whatsoever; with no grind and thus no sense of reward, even the best animations will feel hollow. Case in point, anyone could download these games and simply comb through the animations in the game folder, rather than play the game. But I bet most people actually play the games, because any sort of grind begins to add more depth to the scenes. Even skipping through huge swaths of dialogue to get to the sex scenes is something of a grind.
All that being said, a grind shouldn't actually feel like a grind. The grind should be an exciting buildup. (I'm saying this just as a general principle; I don't think this update was overly grindy.)
I think most of adult games fall into one of three categories: pure story (the game is a linear novel with no choices), multiple routes (the player navigates a series of choices and thereby achieves different outcomes/scenes), and mini-quests or mini-games. I think pure stories are fine, but the risk is that the story has to be excellent, or the player will likely just skip through all the dialogue. Multiple routes is the most atrocious of the three, and I could go on describing the pitfalls of this structure. I'd rather focus on addressing mini-games or mini-quests, since Ace's current update implies the game is heading in that direction.
I think mini-games are a solid choice. When done right, they can add the right amount of grind at the sweet spot--not too little, not too much. But the real question is, How the hell are they done right? It's a simple question but hard to answer, the more I think of it.
I'd say (and this is entirely my opinion or gut feeling) they are done right when the difficulty is just right and when the mini-games are
story relevant. The difficulty aspect is easy to explain: a minigame shouldn't be so complicated that it takes the player forever to beat. If a mini-game is too hard, too much blood will start flowing to the player's pre-frontal cortex when it should be, ahem, flowing a little more south of the equator. I think Val's last potion-mixing minigame is an example of a mini-game being a bit too hard. But also the reverse can be true: mini-games shouldn't be so simple that the player thinks "Why the heck is this even in the game?"
Story relevance is the much more challenging aspect. In essence, a quest or game should be connected to the game world and its story developments. That is, a game should feel logical and connected to the story world, and the outcome of the game should matter beyond "if you complete this task, you'll get a sex scene." In other words, completing a series of minigames should affect plot, character relationships, etc., because such story elements can add dramatically to sexual tension.
I think the potion-mixing game with Val is an excellent example of a somewhat story relevant minigame. It is certainly believable and possible within the story's universe. It has a bit of character. The potion brewing also opens potential for all sorts of interesting scenes. For example, what if a potion goes wrong and Val's body changes to a much darker, dangerous type of succubi? Or even the reverse, like into some angel? The possibilities in that regard are endless.
However, the potion brewing's connection to plot development and character relationships is just not fleshed out, which is understandable, since this game is in its infancy. But going forward, and if you want to use the potion-brewing more, I would ask questions like "How should this potion making affect the MC's relationship with Val? With Ivy? How about with the MC's outlook?" Giving any minigame such relevance to such questions would add value and meaning to the minigames. They would gain significance, rather than seem like busywork.
What I guess I'm trying to get at is that having minigames would be best served if they are closely intertwined with a game's plot, character relationships, and story world, rather than be instances of fast-clicking or random memory tasks. For your game, Ace, I think you have a fundamentally great and interesting story: a man is imprisoned by several hot succubi and starts with almost no agency/authority. His life is on the line. What sort of route will he choose? The succubi can be lethal; they can also be sweet. If I added some type of game to this story, I would somehow structure it in a way that plays upon this initial setup. For example, the more the MC plays the game and gets better at it, the more he gains power over the succubi and slowly reverses the power dynamic . . . and unlocks sex scenes that reflect this change. Like using their own magic against them or something.
Anyway, I thought this was a great update, and I'll say more when I get a chance.
