For what it is worth I support the linear approach, not because I want a linear game but linked to your point around clothes. I've found Crush can get very focussed on the small details, to the point he added more skills and traits that he could cope with. I'd rather he write a linear story and then create new branches based on certain traits/skills/kinks.he story gets more and more linear and all is forgotten. No more skills, traits, kinks or backstory. At some point there was talk about other people contributing text and story archs. How did that turn out
On the writing contribution side Crush has struggled setting expectations and absorbing content into the game. A coule of life path vignettes were provided by guest writers in 1.6.3. The re-make guest writer work ended in failure when Crush paused the new Lifepath work.