The Sandbox environment makes it easier for me to create, to maintain, to bug fix, and to provide overall support. I am dedicated to fixing the Sandbox for these reasons; it's just better for me overall as a developer. The production issues I am experiencing with the game has nothing to do with the sandbox and everything to do with the amount of time and budget I have at my disposal to work on Superheroes Suck. Those are the things that need to be changed for a more efficient production pipeline. I'm hoping to save up my earnings this year for a beefier computer next year.
moskyx seems to have a good understanding of the game, & explained it pretty well, including the problems. I see the points as well.
Here's how I view it: It's like working on a project(or a movie). I don't do the chapters/scenes linearly, since it's more efficient to break it into individual chapters & work on them as individual projects. This is like the individual event development of the game.
When my friends/peers/colleagues come over to review it, we go over it chapter by chapter, using page numbers & reviewing the latest additions not reviewed yet. This is the current playerbase - beta testers who see a small batch of events every release & can enjoy it.
However I have to put the chapters sequentially when presenting the project, because the chapters only work in a certain sequence.
Similarly how movies shoot scenes non-sequentially but edit it into a linear story before release.
Even if you add a lot of filler to fill in the blank days, the fact won't change that you only ever have a fixed route to play the events like a kinetic novel(you can't even refuse a girl i think since you need to be with all 4 girls in the story) which is dimetrically opposite to a sandbox where the freedom of choice is emphasized.
Anyway,
my advice would be to convert the game into a VN at the final release, since the development of the story(project/movie) would be complete & the VN format would be a much better presentation format for the linear story being told. (Even if it's not a good development format to create, maintain, bugfix, etc.)
Just advice tho. You will be the best judge if that'll be too much work or whatever.
I will say tho, with such a linear story, no matter how much repeatable filler scenes you put in to fill the empty days, it'll just distance the player from the story being told without feeling impactful as a sandbox.
Anyway, the end seems a long way away anyway, can't wait for the story to be completed first