Honestly I find the amount of decreased stress being 35 for other activities that yield cash fair, and things like the Yoga dropping the stress by 60 also fair as there should be some downsides. Which is the main reason I didn't look at the amount they were decreasing stress as the issue, but Noe accruing quite a bit during the work period as more of the reason the gameplay gets caught in a cycle. It's the main reason I think having a random event as kinda a reprieve at times to give the player a little breathing room could help. Also just for more clarity, when I say random event I mean more like a repeated event/image that just shows up on occasion. I didn't mean like a host of different event chains, just something simple. So not like the Bank event, more like Noe sips her favorite wine after the shift now she has 20 less stress and that's it with any other occurrence literally just being the same thing.
Yeah, I think it's pretty fair also, but some progress to the relief gained as you follow through on activities might be of some help as I say. We'll have to keep it in mind as we test out the next release's balancing after adding a few more repeatable outcomes there. As you point out, it seems to be more about Noe gaining stress too quickly each work day, which is better addressed by handling the stress elements of the actual management jobs I think. We'll bare that in mind for the next set of tweakings.
I understand what you mean about the quick events, yeah. I do like that idea, and that Noe can show off a little progress in her various relationships through a quick one-shot piece of her doing something nice/relaxing/sexy with various people. What I was saying before was that it might end up feeling more like a pop-up thing that players will come to ignore and skip, which is what I'd like to avoid. I also think that CGs like that might be better spend getting more Outcomes into the Manager and Downtime segments earlier and better balancing the outcomes so flash scenes aren't need you know? That way we don't need the extra CGs either, which is good because my spread sheets tell me we'll be looking at a few shy of 700 Manager+Downtime outcomes when all is done, best not add more if we can help it!
Still, as I mentioned, I do like the idea, so if it comes to that as a solution, I know we can have some fun with it!
So the mini stores thing sounds great! Personally the stuff with Beck has been the most interesting side story stuff, so I wouldn't be mad about more. But the part regarding the Yoga/Park/Tv again I really don't see the amount of stress they relieve during breaks as the issue, but if you went down that road I'd probably cap it at 70 max, cause it'd most likely end up taking away alot of the challenge. At the end there should be some need to continue to try and manage your stress levels, anything more and the player could just abuse it.
Exactly yeah, we don't want the stress management to be so challenging that it causes the player stress, but at the same time we don't want to make it so easy it's more of a bother that feels like we're just weighing the player down. It's all about finding that middleground of moderate challenge. Cheers for helping us find it, really.
Since I mentioned it, the mini-stories should be a nice little way of adding some interest in seeing how the activities escalate as you up your stats/try them more, since why happens escalates too. You can see the start of them as it is. For example, Kriem starts out not knowing who to play poker and her competitive rises because she thinks Noe is teasing her, but as we had more she gets more competitive as they play more. Similarly, Frankie is reluctant to talk about the raunchy/sexy show Witch One with Noe on TV training, but the more Open Mind she has, the more they'll gossip. That sort of stuff is nice to see I think. Beck and the Car Wash will have the same too, as Noe does more to earn more cash each time, since she has less to lose now if you get what I mean.
Using the other girls on a rotation wasn't really much of an issue, I could do what I need them to accomplish then rest them up. I could easily keep them all low stress especially after rotating them on increasing the stores rep or damaging Sals. For Noe it's manageable for the most part if you've at set goal in mind on how to use her. But I just felt more constrained to play around her stress levels, as the current system just doesn't feel like it gives enough of a chance for the player to try different things with her.
Yeah, that might be more of an issue than we've paid attention too, I agree. Noe is usually the one who should be used as Waitress 1 or 2 for the day, since most of the content so far revolves around her debt being lowered, but as we add more content to the Kriem/Frankie/Kelsey arcs, we do want Noe to be useful in helping them make money too. We may have put that off a bit too long now that I think about it (and you point out), so looking at how we can make her more usable in other activities sooner should be good.
That might work with it leveling up on the downtime actives. Again I like that there's some need to manage, so I'm just more hesitant on increasing the numbers for them. As you said earlier there needs to be some downside. I guess it mainly comes down to what the numbers would look like for each level.
In truth I'd rather see that on the work period activities. Like leveling them up would see a small decrease in the amount the girls gained in stress.
Ah, I see what happened here. I didn't follow through the thought on the post as I did in my head. What I meant was that scaling up the stress gained over the levels, would actually help lower the amount of stress currently earned by the girls. Let me explain:
As Noe gains Nerve, new outcome levels in the Manager are unlocked for the jobs (right now just Waitressing/Promote and the waitress Day Offs). These are Lv2 outcomes, they are more sexy/flirty, and they have better stats than the base Lv1s, but right now they all have the same general stress gain for each level. That makes getting a Lv2 better always. What I am suggesting above is maybe making Lv2s have a bit more stress than Lv1s, and Lv3s (when they come) a bit more stress than Lv2s, that way when you get a lower Lv outcome, you'll get less tips (etc), but also less stress so it balances a bit better and higher Lv outcome aren't always better by default. That'll mean in the early stages of the game (as we are now), stress will rise slower, but later when you are making big money/bonuses, you'll be making the kind of stress we have now (or a little more on the top sexy outcomes).
How does that sound as a potential plan, from your experiences playing and dealing with the stress for Noe? It'll be a bigger shift to put in, but if it works it could be quite helpful I believe, so it's something we'll consider seriously with peoples' input.
---
Okay. I've finished the current update. I still think that managing the restaurant is quite easy but finding the exact requirement for the scenes aren't. I've managed to find out all scenes at my 3rd playthrough. Scenes are related so many things like.. how much debt you got? or how many skills do you have? or which day or month are you currently in?
Dev says that don't think about too much , just play but i do want to see scenes instead of just playing. Well in the end, i saw all but after my 3rd playthrough. I know it is not bad since you need at least 2 playthrough to see all of them. Maybe i want things more easier? This is how people are!
just kidding.
I didn't try Becky route while she is in love with Brad. I've choosen to give up from Brad that made sense with Becky route but if it is the same when you are in love with Brad, that route would be really weird. I guess that's why there is a "End Becky Route" before it is too late. I still think that at least conversation while she is on Becky route but at the same time love in with Brad should be different. (I am assuming it is same since i didn't play this way)
Noe is one of the hottest female MCs in adult games. I love her and other characters. Game is 9 out of 10 for me.
Note: Agressive mode is still total garbage except for the promotion job. It always causes to lose star points and doesn't give any points at all.
First up! Thanks muchly for the compliments and for that bit right there about Noe. She is hot, isn't she?
As I am want to do, I'll touch on a few things you've mentioned in case it helps clarify a couple of points:
- You found it easy enough to play the manager sections then? That's good to hear, means we're doing something right. Still, we'll look to see where the problems are to make it better.
- As for unlocking scenes, yes there are a few factors, but it's mainly Noe's debt (or total tips earned for Kriem/Frankie/Kelsey arc scenes in their case). Character arc scenes have some scenes that require 1 stat to be at a certain level (Competitive for Beck, Romance for Brad etc). As of right now, no scene needs points in 2 or more stats.
For pacing, every scene has a minium day before it'll play (so for example, in a Romance story arc, you don't go from friends to dating to fucking to longer term lovers in 2 days, you know?) that way there is some gap between scenes as the stories unfold. After that min day though, the scene is unlockable forever (no max day) so you really don't need to worry about this as a requirement. The latest scene so far has the min day on like Day 87 or something, so you've got nealry 40 days to unlock it and even more as we add versions.
The only other requirements a scene can have is if you need to have seen a scene in another arc (Main Story for example), or if you've made a choice to continue the arc or not (as with Beck).
Hope that helps clarify what you need to unlock stuff. To put it simple. Debt Down, Stat(s) Up and you get all the scenes in an arc eventually.
- No, we don't have scene variants in this game like we do in AoH:MoAR, not yet anyways. That means what you choose in Brad's scenes don't effect Becks directly (Fucking Brad for Love doesn't exclude you from fucking other guys for other reasons if Noe wants!). This is simply because in AoH there are 3 paths with a few branches (so about 9 things to account for long run), but Noe has 9 arcs, each with sub-paths and choices, so it's exponentially more to account for. When we have much more of the game content implemented, we might be able to do variants of scene texts for bigger things (like if you cheet on Brad at all or not) as you point out, but we can't do it for everything. We'll discuss more of that in the later part of development, after we've dealt with bigger things like gameplay first, but good eye for spotting it and starting a discussion.
- Just a heads up on the Proactive (Aggressive) option. Doing so always lowers your Rep, that's the cost of doing it, but it does come with high benefits if you do. Doing so for Waitressing guarantees you the best possible tips right now (better than the Lv2 Good outcomes even). Doing it for Cooking gets you double cooking bonus (Frankie's 5 points normally give you +50% tips, doing it this way gets you +100%). Entertain proactively means more base tips and less stress for other girls than just doing it normally. So yes, it can cost you a fair bit to use, but it can also get you a lot of cash in if you use it at the right times! Hope that helps clarify it for folks!
Now then, cheers again for the heads up and the feedback, and high five for finding Noe super sexy! Oh... wait... digital high five... because of being healthy!
All the best folks, now for another day of making sexy stuff for moi!