I've noticed that the narrative of games like Milfy City makes more sense when you pursue one girl at a time

[Jack Redd Games]

Yea I am only on the first chapter and I'm already having to do at least 2 versions of every scene...

 

[215303j]

But I bet it makes it a lot harder and more time-consuming to cover all the different branching pathways and possibilities, right? That's presumably why most devs don't bother (or dabble in very light ways, like Man of the House). It seems like having these more realistic options would increase the complexity exponentially.

Whether it increases the complexity much depends on the game design.

Take for instance Our Fate: it has two very different paths (love vs corruption) and within these main paths different goals (love: pursue relationship or just be a good father) as well as smaller, less significant choices (which girls you want to pursue or not).
Yet, the game uses mostly the same renders for all paths. The text however is vastly different.
To me, this solution is not so perfect (e.g. on corruption path, you could expect different clothes and postures), BUT given that most devs have only limited time available for game development, it is a reasonable choice.

The biggest downside to doing a lot of paths is that there is a lot of art that most people will never see.
But in in my opinion, a game without meaningful choices is more like a kinetic novel, and for me it takes a huge part of the enjoyment away. It is what differentiates a game from regular porn.

 

[Jonboy80]

I don't see why he can't like more than one woman, though. But as people have pointed out before, the problem is the free roam aspect of the game. I personally go all the way with one girl before moving to another, and I absolutely hate time constrains and missables because of this.

This is exactly how I play Summertime Saga as wells. One person at a time, only "romancing" characters as needed to continue the line with my main target of affection.

 

[woody554]

I think many creators suffers from this "paint yourself into a corner" problem as time progress.

no, no. as a storyteller you SHOULD always try to paint yourself into a corner! that's exactly what creates suspension, anxiety, real feelings. "oh how is he ever gonna get out of THAT?" -the way out is the moment of katharsis. the payoff. and preferably that way out should cost you dearly.

failing that, your story will be predictable, unengaging, boring. mc gets everything his perverted heart desires at no risk whatsoever, which instantly renders all your choices pointless.

 

[rb813]

no, no. as a storyteller you SHOULD always try to paint yourself into a corner!

Contextually, I think what they were referring to is more about the dev painting themselves into a corner with the game development, not putting the main character in a tense situation that's hard for them to get out of.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

We could use more games where there are consequences for all that casual deception involved in pursuing multiple women. The most logical one is that your "global reputation" goes to shit. You wind up being only able to seduce the "new girl", because everyone else knows you're a lousy cheater.
Alternatively, storylines can become written where harem endings are possible, but the MC has to navigate that much earlier since women are keener observers of body language, interactions between men and women, and so forth, and also friends and family tend to actually talk with each other about intimate matters. The idea that you could simultaneously seduce three women in a household and they'd remain clueless about it for weeks is ludicrous.