I don't like her either but she has a very vocal fandom here so she's been getting a central stage lately.
But we have to understand that the game has an expansive cast. It wouldn't be easy to please everyone every update.
NeonGhosts have you done any polls about your patreon fav characters? Also what's yours?
I will say this -- I don't let the popularity of any of the girls dictate how much screentime they get. If anyone goes back and reads this thread when I first showed Gabby's character design, reviews were
not kind. But, I knew I could make people love her, once they got to know her. I also regularly get excoriated on a few pirate sites for pushing my 'LGBT agenda,' but I think next chapter will show I'm not shying away from things that might piss people off.
The truth is, girls like Nicki, Gabby, and Brittani are well-represented for the moment, because that's where the story's at. Nicki's drama began the story and then came back in force with Chapter 3, but now she's easing into a supporting role. Gabby's story with her dad is a persistent mystery, and MC's pending redesign of the bookstore gives him a lot of reasons to be there, interacting with Gabby and Madison. Gabby's story is directly connected with Brittani, which then feeds into her drama surrounding her and her family.
But, as was teased in the last update, there's something swirling around Ashe that MC needs to investigate, Carolina's constantly in his periphery, and Viola's home situation is due for some attention. Eventually, everyone will get their shine. Some people just need MC more right now. But, once their needs are met, he can move on to helping other people.
Honestly, if I just did what was popular, the menu screen would look like this. :'D
As for polls, I'd like to start polling for popularity once everyone's gotten their fair share of screentime. Right now it'd be really skewed, I think. In the short term, my plan is to do polls for which under-represented character people would like to see a scene with, and then use the winner to decide who gets a date/sex scene, provided it fits into the framework of the chapter.
When it comes to my favorite? Oof! Tough question! I love them all for different reasons. I try to give all of them distinct voices that make them all fun to write dialogue for, and they all serve different interests of mine. Tomboy, brat, bimbo, MILF, goth, Russian, muscles.. The broad descriptors of each girl are basically my PornHub search history. :'D But then I get to subvert those in interesting ways. Nicki's a tomboy who occasionally likes to show her girly side to her crush. Gabby's a brat who's really got a big, sensitive heart. Ashe is a bimbo with some surprising depth and empathy. On and on.
Right now, I'm finding the most fun in combining characters for scenes, letting them riff off each other. I'm in the plotting stage for Chapter 5, and I've been sketching out a dialogue scene between Risa and Maya that I think will be terrific.
Buuuuut, gun to my head, my favorite is probably Nicki. I love her model, and her 'voice' is super comfortable for me to write in. My top three would likely be Nicki, Gabby, and Alex.
But hey, informal poll! Which girl is
your favorite?