Hi everyone,
For those of you who don't know me, I'm the writer for the game.
I just wanted to make a short announcement regarding Caroline.
*There are some minor spoilers for 0.4 included within this post, so I would urge you to read at your own caution.*
I've been given some leeway to write scenes as I see fit based upon the images provided. In some instances, this has allowed me to develop characters' backstories beyond what ICSTOR had originally designed or envisioned.
In this instance I chose for Caroline to have several ex-boyfriends given that she's a young woman in her mid-twenties. It only seemed natural that she would have had some previous relationships by that age. I didn't anticipate that it would lead to a backlash in any way. I strongly disagree with some individuals' claims that she is "the town bicycle" or a "slut," but I'm not here to start an argument.
One of the purposes of Caroline's exes was to provide a sharp contrast of how they treated her, compared with how the player treats her. The nightclub scene served as an example of such. Gradually, as Caroline and the player do more together she realises that nothing is the same as it was with her exes. She gets butterflies in her belly with every kiss, she experiences pleasure that past partners never gave to her, and she learns that she might be able to have a healthy romantic relationship with the player.
Another reason I chose this is because I felt it fitted well with her character. Caroline is a character who strives for maturity and independence (Granted, she can't always achieve her goals on her own). It made sense for her to be proactive in her social life, as well as her work life. This is why I wrote her character as having multiple previous relationships.
The final reason is that Caroline is a character who enjoys sex. She's more than happy to use it as a reward for the player when they assist her in her shop. Why would such a character who is both fiercely independent and
positive about sex choose NOT to date and try to find a boyfriend?
I do apologise if you are unhappy with how Caroline's backstory has developed. Any blame for that lies entirely with myself, and not with ICSTOR. At present, I am working with ICSTOR to make small alterations, including editing away references to multiple previous partners. Thankfully, in this medium of art, nothing is set in stone and adjustments can quickly and easily be made to resolve potential issues.
The most productive conversation that can probably be had regarding this is: Are you happy with any of the women having former partners? (Obviously some like Linda require at least one former partner for logic's sake.)
If the answer is a resolute 'no', then I know I can irk away from it during future versions of this game.
I'll remain around for the next hour or so to answer questions - but it's an extremely active thread, so if I don't get back to you I'm probably swamped replying to other users.
To be honest Caroline came annoying to an extreme sometimes in this updates because of the boyfriends talk. Till this update Caroline was my clear favorite with Linda a close second (but second nonetheless),in some scenes she made me pause for moments because of the things she was saying during sexual scenes. I remember in particular one at the bedroom telling us " how lucky we are that we have her because other guys want her" and was like that's mood kills comments during sex and almost reason for an argument (might be something that's sensitive to me, don't know honestly).
I think the you changed her too much in this update and she came us obnoxious, meaning in previous update the where comments that showed she was "experienced" like that she never brought boys home (or she didn't remember sorry) and was okay about, it because it was a simple comment that showed she had experience without coming out as obnoxious with her previous relationships.
I think should re-write a lot of ex dialogue in the update imho, but to be clear the ex-boyfriend in the club was okay to me because it showed how different we are with them. Also the dialogue about the her going bareback when too horny at her store with her first and Violet and us with her after the shoot should be more that is what violet does cuz she get's super horny and Caroline making a comparison, that she almost has done that and make apart of her next update and that it happens her to her for the first time with us. It will make a more controlled individual then she has written in 0.4.
What makes her story my favorite is that is shows two individuals finding their soul-mates and their struggle that they can't actually be together, i honestly love their arc because it's the most believable and original in some parts and the last update made me think you (plural) ruined the trueness and the hopeless romantic vibe it had. Also the start of this update was very cringy for me, in the last scene in 0.2 with Caroline it showed she was starting to care for us truly and i was expecting that she would shy away out of fear or cut it off completely. I was kinda right about it but she come out in the break up really mean and unnecessarily looking like she did for her self and not for (which is true but till that moment she was caring very much and had the protective big sis vibe and it did a 180 on us there).
Also the last two updates (0.3 and 0.4) made the Mc look like a sex-obsessed, self-interested and cruel guy. with Sara at one moment he was like let's take it slow and the next is we aren't couple because i haven't fucked you yet, i was like what happened to the kid that was horny starting something with a virgin girl like him, but pushing her a bit more then necessary because he is horny?. Also i think when Caroline broke the deal with him his first thought shouldn't only sexual because, the previous night we had the choice to tell her that we love her and someone that is in love doesn't think about sex (only...). Also i thought the roles should be a bit opposite with not talking to Caroline because we are heartbroken and not wanting to talk with her and she trying to restore things to their pre-deal relationship (or both not wanting to talk, don't know) but not only talking to her because we want sex, it felt dishonest and emotionless.
To conclude, just re-write (if possible) the constant dialogue about her exes in the sex scenes especially, let the club scenes intact it was fine, the comparisons that we are better then her exes are ego boosters about a young or any guy and some simple lines about her past sexual life are fine that are not speaking in specifics (specifics about exes are mood killers). Make the MC genuine again, meaning a kid that is horny and is looking for sex but most important to him are his relationships and their feelings (with Linda, Sara and Caroline) then just that he can have sex with them, a great example of him caring about her mind-state was in the photo-shoot with Caroline when he apologized to her about selfish he was (and it almost felt ooc then, because there was no showing of him caring about her feelings in any thoughts or dialogue till that point).
P.m if you want me to talk about specifics in dialogue, i care about this game a lot because i think it can be the best one around... but the constant changes of the characters is making it worse then i ever expected (like the last to updates with the Mc in 0.3 and 0.4 in his sudden sex above feelings treatment with Sara and Caroline and what i wrote in this essay(jesus...) about Caroline's ex talk.
Fin
; about Caroline I can only repeat what others have said: there is nothing wrong with her having had boyfriends (it would be odd if she didn't considering her age and personality) however her mentioning them and what she did with them so often WHILE fooling around with the MC felt rather weird; of course it's not such a big deal (for me anyway) but it's something you may want to consider for future updates.
