So this game was really awesome to stumble upon. Zion, I know you read this thread, so thanks for the game so far. The artwork is top-notch, I mean grades above a large majority of the other porn projects out there, mad props to Kain for their talent. And the fact that it is 'animated', really does just take it to the next level. Ignoring even that, the actual lore the game brings to the table alone is a lot of fun too, and has strong Star Ocean and Agarest War vibes which is really cool. You can already see how ambitious the story will be, what with the space travel prologue, the animus plot device, the Void Demons hook, the Architect/Original Sin behind those, the mystery of the Wandering Gods, etc etc. The framework is already all there for an epic. The fact that it belongs to a porn game is comical, but also something that SC really has going for it to make it stand out. Really ambitious stuff.
Which is why I'm making this post. I always thought what kind of person posts on a porn forum...yet here I am. And I have to say...I originally thought, wow, they're already about done with Ch 3 and starting Ch 4? They might actually finish Gen 1 by 2021, this project could actually be finished! But then I just saw your post that no...the 5 Chapters of JUST Game 1 OF Generation 1 is almost finished. That we have 3 more Games (15 more Chapters) after Game 1 just to finish Gen 1, with a total of 100 Chapters for the series (20 Chs>4 Games>1 Gen). And I could no longer stand idly by. Ignore the time constraints. Ignore the amount of work and effort needed to engineer that much content. Let's just look at the literal constraints of the game engine's disk size. 2 Chs of this 100 Ch series is already 1.3 gb. Ignoring that anything else is added to the engine. No other voice files. No other complex mechanics. No randomized loot system. That's 0.65 gb per Ch. If the game stays literally as it is, with the same combat system, animated stills, and linear dungeons made in RPGmaker, you're looking at a 65 gb game by its finish. IF nothing else crazy is added. A comparable epic of an eroge visual novel, Monster Girl Quest, is only 2.5 gb total. If you look at SC before v0.5.2 was released, you can already see the scale creep of the project.
I think that's one of the reasons you removed the lesser succubi encounters. Because their animation hooks took up so much memory space that the game size would be ridiculous? I mean if you implemented a recollection room, there shouldn't be any technical issues that prevents succubus animations from just being normal encounters right? And speaking of succubus, the sheer amount of them. Now I'm not complaining. In fact, it's amazing. We already have 13 succubi scenes in the game (ignoring Iole, Damia, and Succubus Queen). That makes it look like we'll average 6.5 sex scenes per Chapter. Mind-boggling. Now you see where I'm going with this. We'll have 130 succubus at that rate in Gen 1 alone. Barring special art for the main character and supporting cast too (like all the future moms), it's just not going to happen. An artist simply cannot produce that much work (without even addressing artistic boredom). Literally the worst fear of every eroge producer has already come true for you, as Kain got injured. We're not even done with the 1st Game. If they hurt their wrist, they will most likely hurt it again, and to be honest, for porn games, the art is everything. Unless you pull a MMQ with different styles, it simply cannot happen. Kain being unable to sustain their work ethic over the span of this game is inevitable.
And let's address time now that I mention it, though I know you've addressed this before. That now that you've gotten into the swing of things, established lore and characters, chapters should start going quick. Being extremely liberal, let's just say it takes three months to write/code every Ch from now on. That would be 1.25 years for every Game. Which would mean 5 years for one Generation. 25 years in total if you work at an unprecedented pace and don't succumb to GRRM story creep by adding elements to pad the story that end up spiraling out of control. And that's if you don't encounter the same exposition problems with every new Generation that comes along as you introduce the geography, planets, politics, races, new supporting characters, etc. You just can't do it!
And ignoring all that, there's still some pretty major kinks to work out. The merchants. No selling weapons (because story granted runes are the only equipment). No party system yet despite Iole already being able to help. What are the succubus gonna do to her? Seduce her??? And the RPG combat system. It needs to be revamped. 100%. Iron Will having to be spammed before every fight, as just a single turn is a super precious resource in a fight. The succubus all doing roughly 25 damage to your health so you have 3 turns (if they don't use a spell) to attack before healing. But after that fourth heal, you then have to reset Iron Will. The healing also maxes out at 50 hp (if you use max HP restore) so you basically have to burn through one turn of healing just to gain one to do something else (they attack the same turn so you basically only gain 25 hp). So then you have two free turns that's not Iron Will or Healing. You'll likely want to use one of the myriad buffs you get though so there's another turn used, so you end up basically having 1 attack per cycle if the succubus doesn't waste a move on Temptation. Some have very obvious patterns like tempting after every attack buff(wasting it???), or using it right as your Iron Will ends. But it just makes every fight monotonous, and extremely obnoxious as it becomes straight RNG if you land a crit or don't miss every attack. The lack of grinding to overcome this (though I hate grinding), as your stats are railroaded, is painful. Not to mention, if you ignore all the darouh herbs in the first area, you'll just straight up run out of healing items (maybe even money???) to even last through a single fight, and then you basically just game over forever lol. The fighting system needs more mechanics to make it less infuriating, or needs to be overhauled completely, so it's not actually damage based. Though I don't even like it that much, once again, maybe look to MMQ to model a choreographed fight scene so it's more a choose your action instead of a bog-standard RPG fight? Though no one comes to a porn game for the combat system, the fact you have to get through it to access the porn makes one painfully aware of just how bad it is.
And your method of transfer for future stories since SC will have a Mass Effect like save state thing? Like is every game in a generation gonna be it's own separate client? Or are they all gonna be in the same application? Are all 5 generations gonna be in one client? If not, how do you carry over information? Will choosing Iole over Atessatia impact the look of the next kid (if the Generations are even right after one another?), and if so, how could that be implemented? Why would it even matter if we don't have stats that can be customized during the course of a game. I also saw lore on a new Archon ushering in a golden age if they don't focus on one city. Aeolos happens this chapter to find a cave that's could be built into a 'new city'. So you telegraphed that you'll even be able to build your own base/city based on choices over the game?! The sheer scale and implementation of that shows how ambitious this series is, and also how wild it can spiral out of control as we're not even a 3/20 of the way through the First Generation.
This critique is way beyond anything a sane person would write in regards to a porn game. But this is how much I care bro. I REALLY don't want this project to be abandoned because let's face it, 25 years (which is a ludicrously optimistic time frame) is a lot for any man to devote to a project, let alone an eroge. I dig the lore, I do want to see where this story is going, and I love the art. I do like SC, despite every criticism I shared. Which is why I want to share all this in hopes that you'll see reason, and SCALE BACK. I know there's an epic you want to write, a masterpiece in the making that could change the scene of eroge VN's for years to come. But it's not sustainable. I'm telling you straight up you can't do it. I'm not being a hater. I genuinely want to be your call to reality and say please, please dear god, please, reassess. I imagine the other Generation story-boards aren't as clear-cut as Gen 1. If you want Gen 1 to go exactly as envisioned, fine do it. But cut the others down to 10 chapters each. Or edit some other chaff, lose everything not absolutely necessary to the story. Ignore any more sidebars like the Witch Hunters or other races. I know you want to visit the Elf World in like the next Game. Then free the enslaved planet for the next. Probably invade Hell for the last. But you won't be able to finish your story with how you're going. ESPECIALLY since I heard the word SIDE PROJECT somewhere in this thread.
Though Ch 1 had the Jaw tribe recruitment, Ch 2 did nothing story-wise. We had like three more misc. Hunter scenes, and took down one more random general. We did get a glimpse of the Succubus Queen (which is important), but if she's defeated at the end of the Generation, she ABSOLUTELY did not need screen-time in just the Second Chapter of a Twenty Chapter Generation. We didn't even recruit Hammerfall in Ch 2, and I'm pretty sure we still have like two more Kastalim tribes to go. I mentioned I thought Generation 1 could actually end in just three more chapters. I could honestly see (and be perfectly okay with) your three hunter pals just recruiting their city-states on their own devices without any help needed from you whatsoever. Regardless, for the love of god, I beg you, please scale down your game's scope, and really ask yourself how much is feasible to accomplish, and how much of my life do I want to devote to this. A 65 gb game, with over 650 sex scenes and succubi designs, that takes 25 years to develop, with just one programmer and one artist, is not possible. I really want to see Ani's children be the Zeppelli's to Aeolos' future Joestars. I want to see how the White Demon and Drita become the dark horse Dio of each generation. I want to know how the story will end with all its plot hooks. But this will never happen once the boredom and your enthusiasm for the project inevitably wane once the sheer weight of your Sisyphus task hits you. Just stop. Get help. Please rewrite your storyboard to scale the project down. Literally everyone would understand, and in fact, encourage you to.
TL;DR: Please do less.
