Ren'Py - Starstruck City [v0.2] [Desire Dice Games]

The game doesn't ahve much to offer. You get a bj out of nowhere and then the girl acts like a virgin, you walk arounf the block and you see a super popular pop star who just happens to cry on the stairs and then she diceds to live with you.That is just glimpse of how childlish this game really is, which is a pity, because then LIs are good looking, but the story is poor and the dialogues are shallow

overall storytelling is pretty well written out, minus some grammar here and there but overall pretty good. renders overall are pretty good. story definitely has potential for greatness. I look forward to the development of this game.

Starstruck City (v0.2)

Heading for university is a life-changing period. More so when you are burdened with all kinds of friends, especially famous ones. Who will you attract and help through uni? And will you become starstruck along the way?

STORY
James is a regular out-of-town young adult that goes from Mom’s house to living with her twin sister Hailey for university. He rekindles a bond with his niece Emily, before entering a world of women and temptation. A world that is arguably very standard and shallow, but can be a fun vibe.

Let’s say this: the online ‘Being a DIK’ comparisons make sense, in story and gameplay. College boy, frat parties, sexy shenanigans. But the main thread of SC is actually Jenny, a globally famous singer that just so happens to also be your schoolmate. You catch her in peril and immediately bond her to your household.

This is the writing of Starstruck City - fun, positive, but also unrealistic. The focus on nice interactions with people from university is nice, but with 20+ people to remember, it’s also chaos. Writing is pretty coherent and dialogs are bubbly, sometimes getting emotional but mostly aimed at driving the story forward.

James is a bit of a blank slate, and user choice gets to decide whether he appeases a woman or not. Emily could get jealous if you neglect her, while other women lust at James’s body. It’s a teen boy fantasy, through and through.

Worldbuilding is pretty good, if you can forgive the disbelief and main superstar plot that just wouldn't work on a regular university. Making Jenny a local popular music star instead of a global one would help, although even the marketing shows Jenny might be the story character here.

The game doesn’t let you pick which character you want to enjoy the story with, rather giving you a tiny slice of experience with all available women within every round of the sandbox, before shoehorning some women onto you. If you dislike Jenny or Isabella, you might as well skip the first two chapters and some people will hate that.

Each character has their own mini-backstory that you must learn about. Yerin is your nerd anime waifu, Chloe the daughter of a strict and wealthy father. Popular Sophie shines in arrogance, while ex-girlfriend Heather can’t wait to meet again. This translates into sexual interactions as well. Koharu & Isabella are out to openly seduce James, while Emily & Jade are nowhere near romance-able at this point.

Starstruck is a lot. Unrealistic, but positive. Chaotic, but varied. Coherently written, but shallow at times. It’s like a sugar snack that is best enjoyed without much realistic thought. If you can manage chewing on that, this game will be a great time for you. Just know that the main plot - about an idol living on a university - is also the most unrealistic part of the story.

PRESENTATION
Starstruck City looks great. There’s a soft, play doll look to the characters and the variety is amazing, in both men and women. From brunettes to blondes and Asian to African, there’s a rich vibrant cast to the game. Locations are a little sterile, but easily recognizable and serve their purpose, although the size of the university looks unrealistic.

The women all look amazing. Hailey & Jade are the older eye candy, while Chloe and Yerin are introverted cuties. Rendering scenes are often easily recognizable and the cinematic style that became popular in these games is adopted by the developer. It just looks like a good game, although sometimes a little sterile.

Taking a page out of other college VN’s, the developer hits us with animations, music and collages, together with unlockable gallery images and wallpapers. It’s a lot, but having a good UI that tells you whether you unlocked things or any points have changed goes a long way.

Highlights are the gallery unlocks, which show wallpapers of all the female characters in a sexualized manner. Easy way to give people fapping material early and they look great. There are several sexual scenes in the game for now, and you can tell a lot more will be added in the future.

Overall, presentation is a big win for Starstruck. The render amount is very high, while keeping the quality above average. There are so many women around James that I'm forgetting names and need the character bios to keep up. As far as presentation goes, this game is great.

GAMEPLAY
SC is not for everyone. It’s a ride-along visual novel, but with sandbox elements inside. You have to complete all stories, so your only choice is to pick the order before you continue the main story. Like The Inn or BaDIK, it’s a faux sandbox.

Those sandboxes do allow you to hunt for hidden gallery stars, which will give you the aforementioned unlocks. They can be hard to spot, but are worth it. There’s a fighting tap minigame that can be skipped and hasn’t returned, but for the most part it’s just a visual novel.

That same sandbox does give you a good feeling for world building, with each character having their own spot within the space. Having to find and tap them individually is cumbersome, however. You get to see how many unlocks there still are per scene, so you’re never in the dark while looking.

Having a phone UI for the unlocks and stats is a welcome addition, because you will want to read up and recap on things with 15+ girls. Intimate scenes can be replayed and explored and you can rollback for easy unlocks. You can even change wallpapers on your phone, even if the buttons overlay most of it.

All that interaction doesn't change the fact that SC is still mostly a linear visual novel, with points attributed through choices. Yes, the game could have done without the sandbox mode. But it does deepen the idea of actually being in a world, without getting to freeroam explore it.

OVERALL
Starstuck City is a lot and doesn't really allow players to diversify their experience. If you're in for a chaotic, fun college ride that occasionally gets sexual, this is your game. It looks great, it's coherently written and has more than enough renders for you to explore. Who says university can't be fun?

Rating: 8/10
Developer:

v0.2
A disappointing VN, that looks really beautiful with a great selection of LI's and side girls but the dialogue is really slow and generic. It has the potential to be so much better, as it promises so much but just doesn't deliver.

Writing quality - The MC feels so lethargic with everything happening so slowly around him, he always seems shocked and surprised at what's going on. While chapter 2 is better than 1, the dialogue never feels like a natural conversation and seems stilted. The sandbox adds to this problem. Was this written in part by AI or is this made by someone who is a great with the visuals but doesn't know how to write a half-decent story? It's a typical college VN except for the aunt and cousin homelife. I'm not sure what they really bring but I hope if it's a relationship, its optional. The sandbox feels straight from BaDIK with the stars in hidden locations. The fight scene minigame is just a lot of clicking without any fun! What's the point? All both do is further slow down the pace of the story. The cliff hangers at the end of both chapters. Was anyone surprised with the earlier set ups? The writing is just disappointing with no surprises in it; you can get through but there's no pleasure in the reading.

Missed opportunities - The party scene has lots of possibilities but they all seem to be missed, even the good blindfold scene is really short. Why are there so few people there in the background? it's a college party. I don't understand why you don't have the choice to not go in the room in the blindfold scene. No way would I go in blindfolded with someone I don't know. She pulls his pants down and the MC doesn't even have the option to peek? A bad outcome depending on previous choices, nope. Something to overcome later? Nah. The cute girl on the stairs, could you go somewhere with her and call it a night? No. Hmmm... three chairs on a stage with women performing on men with the MC one of them. Where have I seen that before? Sadly it's a terrible copy of the scene. You win the admiration of the room? WTF! The conversation with Sarah, understandable but could have been more. The final nail in the coffin. Bella in the bathroom. Hi. Bye, I'm off home. So many opportunities not taken. The blindfold scene is full on and the rest is like a retirement party at office where you don't know half the people! You think of the drama that could have unfolded from a blind invite to a college party. It feels like a really missed opportunity for something interesting to go good or bad, depending on your choices but nothing really happens. An obligatory yoga scene where she needs your help. I am I going to complain... no, I love them every time. She looks great. It's just a shame that the dev has chosen such a beautiful model for the cousin.

Oddities & Confusion - As you go on you realise there's very little basic intimacy in the story. No touching, shaking hands, fist bumps, hugs to meet greet (Jenny needs a hug), kissing platonic or otherwise so far. It seems really strange but more importantly it doesn't give you any sense of if you are growing closer with friends or LI's. The MC gets hearts for interactions with the LI's but as you progress nothing in future scenes suggests anything is starting to happen between you and any of the LI's with hearts, no indication that you are getting closer with any of them. Who will be LI's, the side girls, just friends or no relationship? Its really not obvious. Why not show the number of points on the character profile in the phone at least and indicate their current status to help the reader if the visuals are giving no clues? It's meant to be a harem, so why I'm I already having to choose to give points to one girl over another. Why choose? Why cant I have both? Is it a proper harem or can I only be part of harem with a small group and you have to choose your group?

Strange responses by the MC & Lack of choices - I don't understand the outrage the MC has over a singer in a band's situation with her group and manager he's never heard of. I don't really care about getting involved or whether the manager touches their asses. Why is this not a choice so you can react differently or even ignore it? The stalker storyline makes more sense but I don't understand why they don't report it to the police. The MC says that he doesn't think she's in danger. It's annoying, as I do but I have to go along with it. Why can't I have a choice of opinions here? How is it possible for a supposed massive singer to be at college and yet she's never mobbed fans or by paparazzi when she's the music story of the moment. The whole Jenny storyline doesn't really make sense. Maybe if it was a few years after her fame. The MC is an adult. Why would he react angrily to questions about being in an adult store. Its perfectly normal to visit one and to use toys with a healthy sex life but not here? A growing theme of odd responses for the MC by the dev, where you the reader don't get any input. Why are you caught going into the ladies toilets by the Dean when no context is given. What is happening there?

It's like the dev read BaDIK and thought I can do that and then completely missed why the story is so fun and entertaining. I hope the story gets better soon, as it looks fantastic but come on dev, stop copying so much, bring your own ideas, put in less free roams and liven it up please. A 2 star story with 1 star added on for the beautiful LI's.

Very pretty girls, a quite intriguing story.

The MC looks good, which is rare especially in college-based games. He seems to be a grounded guy and with choices you make he handles himself well.

The negatives start when it comes to said choices and the freeroam aspect of the game.

First: the freeroam is completely useless and just filler to bloat the game time. You have to do everything, find every interaction, to progress. The story is completely kinetic with no variation from your choices, so every mechanic outside of the core VN is meaningless.

Second: some choices matter (I think), you collect points with girls depending on them. Most of them force you to choose between LIs, so you're unable to gather points with everyone. How important that will be going forward is uncertain, but it is the worst system for a harem game there is.
A lot of interactions, including multiple sex scenes, are without any player input and are forced onto the player. So far it is concentrated on a certain 3-girls friend group, which I despise. You have 0 control about any of this. I chose any negative/neutral option and still landed in a blowjob, handjob, and shower scene with them.
Clearly a sign that the dev is unable to write choice-based stories and/or doesn't give a f.

It is somewhat early in development, so a proper rewrite with choices is possible. Hard to say what to do with the freeroam, because at this point it is completely useless. Maybe giving and endpoint that you can use before going through every scene makes it meaningful?

There is also a certain undertone in some scenes where some people suspect future NTR. So far I doubt it'll go in that direction.

All in all a massive letdown.

Very typical College AVN clone complete with free roam. Inspiration is obvious.

AVN is not bad at all however it feels like dev cycle is already far too long for only 2nd episode in

Very typical free roam/college AVN where MC has every girl throwing themselves at him including some girls playing hard to get and maybe even a teacher too. The AVN is pretty decent but its not top tier 3.5 is what I'd like to rate but there is no half star rating

This honestly is probably a four-star game; there are plenty of grammatical mistakes, and the plot and story aren't really anything to write home about, and the MC is kind of a wuss sometimes, even if you make him make the more charismatic choices. That being said, the models of the girls are great, the girls have fairly unique personalities, and the free-roam sections are pretty simple, definitely inspired by Being A Dik.

I'm giving it five stars for potential. Jenny and Isabella are great potential love interests, and I enjoy games that focus less on the "step-family" and more on the outside characters.

This one in its initial release is looking good (0.1), not game changing but definitely above average. The story has nothing special, but it's told well and the events and characters are relatively believable and have personalities of their own. There are choices with clear outcomes in points you gain or lose and things like that, and for the open exploration parts there is a counter with how many secrets you have left to find and so on, which is nice.

Characters are looking good, render quality is pretty nice and all that. There are a few sounds which add to the atmosphere, not sure about the music though since either I turned it off or there was none. And at least in my playthrough there were no bugs.

So, all in all, definitely worth playing, it's a good solid experience on this initial release, let's see how it all evolves.

The Pros:

- Renders
- Some of the models
- Free roam was simple enough
- Bj scene looked well made
- A lot of content for a first release


The Cons:

- Dialogue
- Had some overdone cliché moments
- Some of the models weren't attractive to me


I honestly think this has potential to be a good AVN. I would first address the dialogue and try and smooth it over. Then make a separate path for players that loathe forced content. Some of the Gen 9 out just don't look attractive to me, some have the same exact face only different mats. That's just not realistic to me. There are some beauties like Yerin, Haru, Emily, Sophie and even Sarah. But I wasn't head over hills for the others.

Then you have to wonder how all of these ladies will get decent screen time but I guess I'll let the devs figure that one out.

Please try give the MC more of a personality will you?

Good luck

Not much to say, I liked the first release, but one things that bothers me about a huge cast is a a lack of relationship map.

The developer has provided great biographies of each female cast, but considering the size of character introduced in the first release it might help provide a relationship map of students, musicians, co-workers, sororities, influential, school club members and other clicks to manage the relationship dynamics as the story progresses.

Review as of version V0.1

Not bad but not amazing kind of average. Girls are pretty renders and animations are good so far. Not much to really say about the story as of yet. Other than there are alot of girls out of the 12 or so girls so far only 2 of them made an impression on me.

The only negative I have so far is sometimes the pacing feels a bit to fast. Instead of inserting some dialogue to get to know the characters more , the conversations end rather quickly and move on to the next. I will say it isn't like this for all the conversation but a decent amount it's why the pacing feels a bit to quick to me.

But overall I like what I see but it's a case of let it cook more to see how it turns out.

VERSION: 0.1 - Re-Review 0.2
SUMMARY: Good looking models, simple story that has been done before a few times, with poorly written dialogue.

PROS:

1. Good looking models, almost too nice (if you know what I mean)
2. Premise and story is simple and filled with things we seen before, but things that work also.
3. Not a sandbox in the traditional sense, thank goodness.
4. Choices are nice, however (see CONS)

CONS:

1. While some choices exist, there aren't many yet. Stats however don't make much sense right now, maybe in later updates.
2. Much of the dialogue is kinda cheesy and not exactly how conversations happen naturally, which sometimes reminds me of amateur acting. Too many cliche moments and unnatural driving of certain plot points. "e.g. I'll leave you guys alone now. I'm gonna take a shower." I strongly suggest the dev get a skilled writer to proof read if not simply redo all dialogue before going any further.
3. Game does feel a bit pointless, story is really not there, its just hormones, humour and drunker debauchery (typical college scene) Been done too many times IMO and here is nothing of substance in terms of that.
4. Lewds are very limited, but we can forgive that depending on the next updates. Will this game be a slow paced or fast? Peek of Aunt in shower shows she has no vagina?
5. Indication of what TAGS can be expected would be nice, as always, I am a big fan of more kinks, keeps it interesting. Case and point, there seems to be stats with the Aunt and Cousin? Will there be incest?

TLDR: Decent start with good looking models. Story is non-existent and looks to be like every other college bound young adult story. Lets hope it becomes more interesting.
This AVN does not really deserve 4 stars for its current form, the main reason for that is the writing and dialogue being very unpolished and unnatural.

This is a very good first chapter. The renders are great, the university vibe is right on, the girls are hot. I mean, this game is obviously highly inspired by Being a DIK, but if you're gonna be inspired by a game, what better choice?

I'm really looking forward to the next update. This is near the top of my watchlist now. Keep it up, dev!

enjoying the game so far
all female characters look smokin hot , the renders are also really amazing ,
the free roam, mini game and stuffs are all well-made , overall an 8/10 AVN. The game still at the very beginning so not thing to say about the story , im looking forward to see how the story will go, so far the prolouge is okay