I am torn between 2 and 4 stars, so have settled on 3. If this game was marked as 'complete' I would rate it as 2 stars, but I think it could grow into a 4 star rating.
My main criticism with the game as it is that it's either too much game and not enough porn, and too much porn and not enough game. I think that the game needs to head more strongly in one direction or another, because I have seen few examples of games managing to achieve both.
The sex scenes aren't repetitive, as they are with many visual novels that include a game loop, but they are incredibly scarce and while the artwork is fantastic, I personally felt that the sex scenes were unimaginative and minimally interactive.
On the game side:
- Matching puzzles are only fun and interesting a couple of times. I am not all the way finished with the current version, but some of the first ways to spend materials should be into the mining and forestry areas so that they produce income on a daily basis to make playing the game repeatedly unnecessary. (This could also be tied in with other characters as the game progresses to improve efficiency or whatnot, but you can't wait hours into gameplay to allow players to bypass repetitive content. I am not all the way finished with the current version so it's possible that at some point you can send students to do this, but it really can't wait for that if so.)
- The other worlds CCG stuff is cool, but needs a lot more development and testing to maximize fun if you go with the game route. If you go with the porn route, I don't know, I have rarely seen combat be integrated into a sex game and have the game survive as a sex game. This is true in this, as well, a sex scene at the end of spending an hour playing cards is fine if you want to make a game that has sex in it, but it's not a sex game anymore.
Anyhow, really cool concepts and I hope this develops in one direction or another into its full potential. For what little it is worth: my personal recommendation is to remove all the porn, and scale it back to PG13 sexy, and then focus on story/gameplay and I think that it works as a slightly lewd Harry Potter parody game. I think that's the easier sacrifice to make given that the game
orn ratio currently significantly favors the game side.
My main criticism with the game as it is that it's either too much game and not enough porn, and too much porn and not enough game. I think that the game needs to head more strongly in one direction or another, because I have seen few examples of games managing to achieve both.
The sex scenes aren't repetitive, as they are with many visual novels that include a game loop, but they are incredibly scarce and while the artwork is fantastic, I personally felt that the sex scenes were unimaginative and minimally interactive.
On the game side:
- Matching puzzles are only fun and interesting a couple of times. I am not all the way finished with the current version, but some of the first ways to spend materials should be into the mining and forestry areas so that they produce income on a daily basis to make playing the game repeatedly unnecessary. (This could also be tied in with other characters as the game progresses to improve efficiency or whatnot, but you can't wait hours into gameplay to allow players to bypass repetitive content. I am not all the way finished with the current version so it's possible that at some point you can send students to do this, but it really can't wait for that if so.)
- The other worlds CCG stuff is cool, but needs a lot more development and testing to maximize fun if you go with the game route. If you go with the porn route, I don't know, I have rarely seen combat be integrated into a sex game and have the game survive as a sex game. This is true in this, as well, a sex scene at the end of spending an hour playing cards is fine if you want to make a game that has sex in it, but it's not a sex game anymore.
Anyhow, really cool concepts and I hope this develops in one direction or another into its full potential. For what little it is worth: my personal recommendation is to remove all the porn, and scale it back to PG13 sexy, and then focus on story/gameplay and I think that it works as a slightly lewd Harry Potter parody game. I think that's the easier sacrifice to make given that the game