N_taii
Some your work summary from my POV:
- decent graphics, animated ones
- honest, kind dev (you)
- timely added new content
- quite bug-free
- good story, good mapping, good humor
- well deserved >2.7k/mo
And more.
But, what directions to grow more? To be a better game developer? To make better NTR games?
Well, there are already two WORST things you can do:
- (more) mini-games
- fighting mechanics
I mean it! Minigames are ok if ALL are completely optional and 5y-old difficult. Like lockpicking in TES: Skyrim.
Both fights and mini-games are fucking boring, frustrating, out of the mood, etc. ALL of them should be optional. And are a waste of your resources (exception: some nice minigames, riddles as an option).
Fighting and minigames will ruin the game. BUT! I know what you MAY think. You want some gameplay element, huh?. This is actually progress. But not that way. You can't outsource true game-play making to minigames nor the combat.
You need (IMHO) to build gameplay into the game. Make the gameplay part of the game. At least look at Alicesoft games. Gameplay elements may be:
- impregnation race (impregnation meters)
- virgin hunting
- voyeur mechanic
- dating/relationship growing/winning the girl
- protecting the girl from other males (including parametrization - 1st partner, last partner, the best sex with, etc)
- non-ero concurrent task(s) - example: player builds a house/castle. Other male(s) do(es) it too. the winner will bed the girl. The game will be about building a castle - on a non-ero layer - while in fact it is all about winning the girl.
You may be 1st to add
contradicted goals as ntr mechanic. Example: MC and his GF want to build a castle. If MC wins, he will marry her etc. (if he fails, another male will bang the girl) BUT! If GF becomes too famous (during castle building mechanic), the king will take her as his concubine (which should be revealed later in the game). So MC/player needs to find a method, to both build the castle and save her from the king (or not, then NTR will happen).
Another gameplay mechanic, VERY NTR AND VERY AROUSING, is another (proven) contradicted mechanic:
- make a voyeur mechanic (with mentioned parameters like amount of sex partners etc)
- make a non-ero mechanic (like the mentioned example of castle building)
- make a limited resource consumed by both above activities!
So, if MC checks if GF cheats, he is worse in his main job! If he does his job, he may miss some clues. This solution allows the player to rise the game's difficulty by himself. OFC you could make this solution spicier with
plausible deniability mechanics -example: MC did his job (he did not go to check his GF), he was late to check on GF. There are some clues she had h-things with another male (like her hair disordered, her leaving another male's room at 2 AM etc). GF denies everything. Always.
The second part of my feedback:
Your games are quite similar when considering antagonists. Typical NTR is about an evil man who takes MC's GF (and another girl's too). He (or two of them) fuck all the girls and MC is pathetic. Yup, this is the golden standard.
But, I think this is shallow NTR. You know why? Because the player still has control in his mind. The world is black-white and the situation is clear. The player loses with an overpowering enemy. But how about losing with a common person?
I think that it is time to make good NTR with a "grayscale". This is how I see it:
- make MC quite normal, but in love with GF (so he has reasons to forgive her).
- make GF quite normal, but in love with MC (so she has a reason not to stay with other males).
- make other males quite normal (not (that) evil), but make them wanting sex with GF. For example, another male could really care for GF and/or act with respect and empathy for her. She could have (and tell ) about her pleasant and intimate acts with other males. This could be more NTR-ish for MC/player than r4pe/coercion/blackmail/tricking.
- make other males also (potential) friends of MC
Grayscale NTR is based on being unable to blame GF! Examples:
- she had sex b4 she met MC
- she had sex b4 MC and GF were "official"
- the king/feudal lord ordered her, and nobody can refuse the king (sex under necessity)
- she was in special condition like someone used an aphrodisiac
- she gave herself for the cure for MC or another important person (sex under necessity)
- she thought MC is dead
- they had a "pause" in their relationship
- MC and GF lost the fight with some males, GF had some GOR. This solution always results in uncertain paternity at the end of the game (phase 3, epilogue).
and eventually low-blaming situations:
- she was seduced by an ultra-skilled guy and now she regrets
- she had sex while drunk and now she regrets
- she had a crisis situation, a "friend" "helped" her and now she regrets
So, the game could have two or three phases:
1. Sex/virginity hunting. Dating mechanic, voyeur mechanic. GF is not yet in love with MC. But 1st phase is a story about how MC and GF became a couple and how they fell love in with each-other. OFC gf could have some sex with other males, including ONS. You will have to choose if you depict sex or leave it implied. I vote for all implied in 1st phase! So you make NTR mystery btw, by because some things may surface in later phases.
2. MC and GF are in love. Maybe something forces them not to be (officially) a couple?. Anyway, other males want to impregnate GF, so the race starts. This part is more explicit and adds impregnation mechanics. You could add a lot of options why GF fucked with other males look at greyscale non-blaming or low-blaming situations above).
3. Epilogue - OFC GF gave birth. Question is - who is the father?
For the endings, make sure you cover such situations:
- MC rises someone's child, he either knows or not
- GF has 1st sex with someone else, then she was faithful and gave birth to MC's child. For MC, the GF was his 1st woman. But for she, he wasn't 1st,
- GF cheated for some reason, still, she ended with MC. She is unaware of who the father is.
PS.
A good solution is to make GF 1y older and MC below age of allowed sex (so no sex for him) and GF above this age (she can have sex). So whole 1st phase will be protecting GF from other males w/o ability to have a sex. So all characters are 18+, but some (MC) can't have sex until something happens.