While I have your attention. I would like to answer many of the criticisms. I was planning to release the game here myself,
with some background about the game, but since this was not the case, there was no explanation. Therefore many are jumping the gun. So here goes;
First this game is a WIP.
Origins;
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The original game was called "Stepmother Re-Program", I was not the one that started it. At that time there was 3 fully linear(no shared passage) stories, none of them were complete. The game was abandon for over a year. Since I saw the potential, I decided to take over with the permission of the original author. That said, English was not his first language, and it showed in the text. Therefore first thing I did, is to rewrite everything (that was an ongoing thing for several months). My main focus was the story (and still is), so I completed all 3 stories and added a new one from scratch. Also, there was a lot of negative feedback, that I addressed one by one. Sound/music on videos was removed. Some didn't like the BBC, so I made it optional (yes, it's still there for the ones that said the opposite). Many bugs/typos were fixed. There was no clothes system, so I implemented one from scratch, etc. I reached a point that I hit a wall on what I could do with that linear engine (I was one year in)....
Current;
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So I started V2, the same stories, but with a new game system that I built from scratch; I combine all common passages (sleep, each rooms, stores, etc.). Then I added a time and a money system. Implemented a sleep/dream mechanic, etc.
This was a major rework of the game, and took several months just to get the base done with only one of the story to be functional. Then I added the other stories one by one until all of them were on V2.0.4. That was only the beginning, as many more features were added, and bugs fixed, the new engine was continually updated. That is when I decide to add a 5th story. When completed, I released the game with a new name "Stepmother Effect". One of the main reason for that was the confusion with V1, so I wanted to distance myself with it. A lot more optimization was done on the stories and game.
That is when I decided to integrate an other popular abandon game (Femboy), so in preparation for it, I integrated some of the location like club, dark alley and therapist office, and created a 6th story around it. More of Femboy will be integrated in SME, while continuing on making the game less linear, with each update, the game is improving in that regard... So far, the game as 6 complete stories with 20 different endings. Despite this, the game is far from finished, I listen to all feedback, and make continual changed to the game. Keep in mind, that this is a one man operation, and some changes takes time to implements.(Currently consider the game somewhere in between linear to non-linear).
Future;
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Now you understand why the game feels so linear in a sandbox engine, that's because so far I focus on creating that engine (V2), while keeping the original story (linear). That said, my plan is to focus more on the stories to make them less linear, while keeping the essence of them (easier said then done). I will continue to improve the game, eventually all the stories, will form one big one, fully non linear. So please consider this a WIP. If you have constructive criticism, I will be happy to hear them, and I will use this to improve the game. Thank you.
