There are plenty of RPGM games with patterns and intent systems for learning "what a girl likes" or her weaknesses, like Welcome to Monmusu Park or Monstergirl Dreams, like oh she has big/puffy nips, probably sensitive, or she's wiggling her ass, maybe I should hit it. I get that the arrow-battle tempo system is supposed to make it so you have to think faster and get the patterns down quicker, but in reality all it does is compound your confusion and lead you down a slippery slope of death.
I actually wrote in my original post how I feel about that.
That's partially where this game's design challenge stemmed from. As I was designing all I could think about was that girls irl have their tastes. Some girls like some movements and some girls don't. Some girls enjoy certain acts while others don't. If you want to please a girl as a man you'll have to be aware of their unique traits. Now how do you express that in a game? Well.... you could have status effects. I guess... Like some girls are weak to paralysis. Some girls are weak to burn... but you know... that really doesn't reverberate throughout the entire experience. So that's where my "learning" the girls "habits" system came in.
Basically, the simplicity, of element matching to me is very common, but that's not what I want people to feel when they actually get good at fighting a girl.
Anyways I guess my point is, it sounds like you're going for some really in depth personification with this arrow system for the girls, and honestly I think it's just lost on most players at this point. Arrows are a very abstract and awkward way to show emotions/preference, like maybe if up arrow was kiss, L/R was left boob/right boob, and down was fuck or something it'd make a bit more sense, but trying to remember on the fly "Oh she's gonna lose her mind when I up up left left the fuck outta her", just doesn't really make sense. Anyways like I said this game is looking great so far, I've lurked on this site for years and this is one of the only things that has made me break that and comment, so keep it up, no matter what you do!
Yeah the abstraction takes the player out of a bit. I won't disagree with that.
I do think it lowers the eroticism when you
aren't choosing erotic actions like
"Suck her nipple"
"Stroke her hips"
But at the same time... If those actions exist, people will expect for those actions to be visible. If you have a "rub tits" action you'll want to see those boobs be rubbed. If you have a "hard piston" action you'll want to see Igrec push up into the girl.
If the game was 3D which allows for a faster animation pipeline and all that, those types of actions wouldn't be hard to do, but I don't want to overburden Uramomo with all those actions in our game.
Not only that but technically if I take that action based approach, it weakens all other sexual actions you could do to the girl so even if you like an action it might not be the most optimal decision.
I sidestepped all these issues by making the game focused on reverse rape. That's the content that will be the primary focus in the game, and all actions you take in battle at least will serve that thematic.
Glad to see you care about where the game's going. Thanks for taking the time to post
If you want to talk more at your leisure, I do recommend joining the discord. Both Uramomo and I are there, and we respond regularly. Doesn't have to be a serious discussion either
