I'm kind of in the middle of developing my own game loosely inspired by Newlife. I do think that this game has a ton of potential, and it's got quite a bit of content, though nowhere near as much as it should have given the 5+ years of dev. I think it's the mixture of both SO's lack of motivation and the technical debt of the code.
With that being said, since my game will likely target the same sort of people who play Newlife, what do you guys think are things that SO does well with Newlife, and what are perhaps things you think are just redundant?
For me personally, I think the customizable NPC system and high-level schedule that leaves a lot to imagination are some of the game's strongest points and are things I'd definitely try to implement in my own way for my game. On the other hand, I really could care less for the clothing system, since after replaying the game for x times (and this is for probably every other game out there), I really stop caring about what my character wears as long as it triggers things that it's supposed to trigger. Any thoughts?
From the position of someone who actually has a clothed sex fetish, I do think the clothing system is too much. There's really no reason why there should be 20 different kinds of bras in a non-visual game. Especially when they all do effectively the exact same thing.
Having just a handful of clothing for each stat in different slots is fine. Like plain bra, sports bra, insert-sexy-lingerie-thing-here for bras. Pants, shorts, pleated skirt, short-shorts, mini-skirt for legwear. Instead of like 4 different kinds of Chinos. You could probably get away with 2-3 options for every slot except the legwear.
Also, please make more things 1-item full outfits like the babydolls/nighties/pajamas. Such as business suits. I've played this game for 2 years and I'm 100% convinced its completely impossible to get both top and bottom business attire that match both style of wear and color unless you want black/grey. There's no reason for the business suit parts to even be sold separately.
I'd rather see more descriptions/customization involving character bodies like height/hair than the current clothing system, but only to the degree I described my preferred height/hair customization in a previous post. Any more than that would become too much.
Similarly, there's even less reason for the list of like 40 different meals you can eat at restaurants/make at home.
The NPC and AI customization are sadly the most intensive parts of this sort of game to develop. However, they really are why I'm here. I love fucking with different kinds of AI through various trait combinations and watching the relationships that play out.
The only H-game that really lets me do that is Artificial Academy 2. As well as the fanmade expansion, Artificial Academy Unlimited. You could play AA2/AAU like it was The Sims. Ai Shoujo was a disappointing return to that type of game for Illusion.
