I think I would have enjoyed this game if it was more focused. The stories all over the place and some of the characters act a bit too dumb/unrealistic for it to be immersive. Racing, powers, too many characters and a lot of the characters conversations over-stayed their welcome(especially the villains. I was tempted to press the skip button multiple times during their conversations).
Maybe consider having a smaller cast in your next game? Most of the girls didn't get enough screen time for me to become invested in them. There should have also been more sex scenes. It was weird not having any sex scenes after beating victor. Usually there's a reward for beating the last boss lol. I guess you just wanted to end the game at that point?
Older Honey Select art took a little getting used to, but I liked the designs of the girls. I would have went after Leo's mom too if it was possible. Kinda funny that she's more attractive and has more personality than a lot of the other woman in the game.
Wasn't a fan of the MC's personality or appearance. Might want to consider improving both if you plan on using him again. The guy isn't smart or assertive enough as is.
Hopefully, you find something in my long ass message useful.
That's completely fair! This VN was mostly inspired by camp humor, my personal love for dad jokes, and C-List 80s movies (The
really cheesy ones).
"especially the villains. I was tempted to press the skip button multiple times during their conversations"
You mean the parts with Victor and the committee? Ironically those parts were of many favorites of mine to work on lol (I could see where I could've missed the mark there though, will definitely look into that. Thanks!)
Hm. This VN was story-focused with the LI's intent to be written more as characters than something to be conquered. Will take note of the more sex scenes suggestion (I'm still trying to find that balance as I type this). I
did consider adding Quen as a LI's early on (It was between her and Jung, Jung won the dice roll lol. It would also make things unnecessarily weird between Leo and the MC). And yeah, (generally speaking) the vn was already planned to end how it did from a narrative pov.
I'll be honest, I am not too big on how HS design is as far as customizable male characters goes. Ik they made it with horny intent but they had to know VNs would be the outcome
.
Now, MCs development personality-wise is written from the perspective of an MC who doesn't know what's going on, and doesn't want to get to the bottom of it. The primary people I wanted to be smart and/or assertive are Glen Hillrine, Victor (and
that was to a certain degree). If I could sum up MiG, it serves as a "what-if" to a much bigger story. He's 18, of average intelligence, etc (I honestly thought that would bring out the more human side of him in a goofy way to assist the 80s aesthetic I was going for).
I will admit though, Midnights in Gaudium
was originally written with a much darker tone and edgy outcome in mind before I went "Nah, that just feels like shock-value for the sake of shock value", which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it felt like an unnecessary bitter introduction to my VN. Like it would be a story dedicated to catering to what others would want, rather than something that entertained me and was fun to work on.
I'm very grateful for the feedback! I read every word and will definitely keep it mind for future reference!
*Sidenote (I think my personal preferences might've made a super prominent appearance when designing Quen. She's more "developed" per say, because she has a sense of who she is. Every LI is 18-21 and trying to figure things out. She's also
very toxic but dw I ignore that too
)