- Sep 29, 2023
- 635
- 950
My first suggestion would be to interact with your Steam audience more. The lack of any helpful replies gives off the impression that the project is abandoned and riddled with bugs.
From our conversation a year ago, I gathered that you primarily communicate through Discord and Patreon. However, Steam customers aren't funneled to your Discord in any obvious way:
In addition, I suggest you create a stickied post on the Steam forum guiding customers to where they can get help, submit bugs, or send praise. Though, keep in mind not everyone uses Discord, and some interaction with your Steam community (through posting news, game updates, and replying to posts) is crucial for long-term sales and your reputation as a developer.
As far as the actual game goes, what I'd love to see is:
- Internal consistency
- Is the MC depressed or not?
I found it strange that someone who's so depressed that he shuts down any social interactions, suddenly becomes a social butterfly after arriving at the island. Even with the motivation of the knee device, people don't usually do a 180 like that. And if they do, it often backfires, causing a worse relapse. I'd love to see the story of the MC healing physically and mentally. - How much does his injury impact his normal movement/physical ability?
From what I remember, this has been very inconsistent. There needs to be some consistency about what he's able to do. If he can climb stairs unassisted, he should be able to walk certain distances unassisted. But this doesn't necessarily mean he can carry loads, or has the range of motion to crouch. - If a player makes all the wrong choices, how does this impact his healing, both mentally and physically?
This is more of an addition to the previous points. It's said that the device will help him heal physically, but as far as I can remember, the MC can always do anything the story requires. The amount of healing or collected points never come into play. Similarly, if the MC doesn't socialize at all, how does this affect his mental state?
- Is the MC depressed or not?
- Choices that matter
- Path-defining choices need to be path defining.
This was the first AVN I played that telegraphed the importance of certain choices, and I loved that. But, this also made me very disappointed when these choices weren't respected. If a path-defining choice means the MC can either do A or B, then you're essentially doubling your workload by creating parallel events. For players, it's not entirely clear which path is defined by these choices either, or how they impact the MC's growth/personality. - Avoidable events
Personally, I love avoidable events, but I also realize they come with a high technical debt. These events and what happened in them weren't tracked well, giving me the impression that the game was developed from an "everyone will play for the lewds"-perspective. While this is an AVN and that's valid, it's equally likely that not every player will love every LI, or want to interact with them for whatever reason. - Follow-up on choices
Whether the player has agreed to or declined a choice, reference it later through dialog. By doing this, the MC will reflect on the player's choices, forming a personality. For instance: I don't like that I'm whored out to fix Stormy's cum-box, and I'd love to be able to tell Layla why.
- Path-defining choices need to be path defining.
- Language
- Idioms are often phrased wrong, or used in the wrong way.
- Unnatural language like "borked"
- Banter is fun, but when dialog is nothing but banter, it gets tiring. It's also very subjective how players experience this constant banter. When it comes across as too much or mean-spirited, it makes the MC seem like a doormat, not able to put up boundaries of behavior he's comfortable with.
While all of this is what I'd love to see, I suspect it'd be too much work. Instead, I suggest implementing some stop-gap measures:
- Rework episodes 1 & 2 to remove the path defining choices, and instead add a lead-up to the events in episode 3 (card game & kayaking)
- Let some time pass between events, so it doesn't seem as if the MC's days are filled to the brim with activities
- There's no shame in offering a more kinetic experience, if this means you'll get to finish the game. One way to do this is to make all events mandatory, but allow players to friend-zone any LI.
- Retcon the MC's depression. He could be single, and have friends, but still decide to go to the island for this revolutionary treatment. Instead of being forced to go, he'd be inspired to go, with the full intent to make the most of it.
- Have (internally) clear end-goals in mind for the MC, and make sure player-choice leads to these outcomes. The premise of the game is "hormones equal healing", so what will happen when players decide to opt-out of hormone-getting events? Look at it from the most extreme perspective. What would a celibate playthrough look like, and end?
