This game looks very promising, with surprisingly few bugs and typos for a first release. Thanks! I took some notes when I started playing, so that I do not forget about my first-time experiences. So here is my dump of random comments and suggestions:
For new players who do not know the various characters yet, it would be useful if the portraits appearing in the left column could have a tooltip/title showing not only the name of that character but also their role or relationship to the MC (maybe after a line break). After starting the game for the first time, I had 11 portraits with a green frame in the left column and it took me a while to find who is a council member, who is a family member, etc. Even better: show also their current location (maybe on a third line, if possible?).
If the portraits in the left column are not clickable, then the cursor shouldn't change to a pointer/hand.
The introduction to the game encourages the player to take a look at the Journal. This includes a description of the members of the city council, employees, etc. Then we meet Adriana and read several letters that are rather redundant after having read the same information in the journal. It would be better if the information about the city council and employees would only appear in the journal after the player has read the letters. Then it would make sense to have the journal as a reminder, not as the first place where the player learns about the council members.
As suggested here by Draevis a few hours ago, it would be nice if the journal contained two "Go Back" links in every page: one at the top and one at the bottom.
In the office, the description says "During the workday (8:00-17:59) you can undertake most of your official mayoral duties here." It is nice to have the time displayed in the international standard format. However, in the left column the current time is shown as: "5:00 PM" and I could not find any settings allowing me to display the time in standard 24-hours format instead of AM/PM.
The navigation is a bit confusing because there are four different areas with links to other locations:
- The square images in the left column (Bedroom, Home Office, Office, Gym, Mount Pleasant, Neighborhood).
- The square images just above the image of the current location.
- The square images just below the image of the current location.
- The text links at the end of the main page.
Most of the time there are two or more ways to reach the same destination: from a text link, from an image in the left column, or from an image above or below the main location image. The player can get used to one navigation method (e.g., always use the text links) and forget about the other ones... most of the time. Unfortunately, this does always work: sometimes there are no text links, or no shortcut images (for example, from Mount Pleasant Main Street, you can visit the park but there are no text links to move around, only images; or in the Office, there are no shortcuts above the image, only two below it). This inconsistency is a bit confusing. It would be better if the image shortcuts above and below the main image would also always appear as text links at the bottom of the page. For new players who are not used yet to the images of the various locations, the text links are usually easier to follow than the images (even if the images have a tooltip/title, it takes a while for the descriptions to appear). Another option would be to merge the images and text links into the same area: have images with text in a single place in each page.
In the left column, why is there a shortcut to the bedroom instead of the main entrance of the house? Even if most of the actions take place in the bedroom, it would make more sense for the player to always land in the main entrance because it is the natural hub for the house, just like the Main Street is the hub for the city. It feels a bit strange that when Greg is in the office or visiting someone outside, he has to first enter his bedroom through the window before reaching the entrance hall and the rest of the house. I know that the entrance through the window is not what is intended/implied with this shortcut, but this is how it feels to me.
Going back home (bedroom) at 6 PM: the link "Go to work and come home" can be clicked freely and does not seem to do much more than refreshing the page. But it gets more interesting if you go back home after 6 PM and click that link: the time resets back to 6 PM. So you can go to the office, "Do work for 1 hour" until 11 PM, go back to the bedroom, click on "Go to work and come home" and reset the time to 6 PM, then repeat again and again and again... This can be (ab)used for example to meet all three council members on the same day, when discussing the time extension for Cory's bar.
During the weekend, if I go to the office I see the message: "You have already schmoozed a member of the city council today, try again tomorrow." That message appears even though I have not contacted any members of the city council on that day.
On a Monday, if I attend the city council in the morning, then it is past 11:00 and I cannot work from home anymore. But if I work from home first, then the city council is nice enough to wait and it is possible to do both on the same day. This is convenient, but is that intentional?
Meeting with Chanel at the bar about the extension of the nightlife: there are several references to the "waitress" who is clearly identified as a man. I have read some debate about waiter vs. waitress vs. server and gender neutrality, but I get confused when a man is called "waitress".
Overall, I enjoyed very much what I have seen so far. I am a bit concerned about the grind, though. It looks like some characters require a lot of similar actions before they are converted. I hope that the grind will be kept to a minimum as the game evolves.
