Since this is a concept-demo, rather than a game, you can ignore the rating.
I'm giving feedback on v. 2.1.0.
I played a couple of games, and the feeling I got was that the system was perfectly fine for what it's designed for, which is to support the story of a VN. The more detail, specific moods and emotions you can convey through this card-game, the better it will work. That, of course, might conflict a bit with the generic nature of some of the engine-cards and such, but I'm sure this is the kind of format, where very designed, thematic "gimmick" encounters, especially for the late-game, would be very appropriate.
Some specific stuff I though about during play:
- The discard-pile should be public information. Pretty obvious, and probably just a case of an early version.
- You could probably highlight a little square or space somewhere that you could also drag/flick instant action-cards in, while also keeping the current function of just dragging them to the center of the screen (on top of engines). This is just a small thematic consideration I have. Now that I thought about it, I wonder if it would be better to keep played instant cards "on the board" until end-phase, just to future-proof balance issues...
- Obviously, this game shines through "status-effects" like burnout, which force you to make choices with your plays and deckbuilding, and I hope you design the late-game encounters around that.
- Overall, everyone is going to have their own tolerance of where the line of "not thematic enough" goes, when it comes to card-design. As I said, I prefer very thematic cards, and for me, cards like "Tripod" and "Coffee" went a little bit to the boring side, if you think about actually playing them in the scenario. "Mutual Understanding" and "Encouragement" were the type I liked, in that their theme fit what the card did, and also fit what you would be trying to do in a shoot.
Lastly, the BIGGEST issue I have with the gameplay, is that is literally puts the heroine in the background, when she should be at the front. This is an issue of the visual presentation not quite living up to how you want to convey the "heat" of the shoot rising. The current system of background-images just isn't quite good enough, in my opinion, even if you were to add something like progression to the heroine as the heat rises.
As a kind of minimum, I would hope that the final product would have a more animated heat-gauge, with the Heat-UI refleting more on the level of sexual tension through more evocative visuals, than just the simple, though readable, blue-to-red.
The screen is already quite full, so the space for expressing further mood and escalation is limited, and the game is probably quite far along, but I would still hope to see some kind of small consideration of "focus" on the heroine within the play-screen. It could be as simple as a face-portrait in a corner that changes through the shoot, evocative cut-ins or a sprite. Just something about the focus of the shoot, that is on the foreground.
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I really enjoyed your previous game, so I hope this project does well. This was just my opinion after a very brief time with the game, so you probably disagree with a lot of it. I recon I could be wrong on a lot of things, except for the thing about putting the heroine in the foreground (in more than her cards).
The biggest reason I can't see this system quite standing on it's own, is that you couldn't build very different decks with it. I'm aware that it's just a concept, and that it's bad form to just say "I wish there was more/different content", but this system feels more like one that is better suited to having a core that you tweak for certain scenarios, and not one where you can build many different kinds of ways and express yourself, which is a bit of a shame, but ultimately not a great concern if it's purpose is to support a specific story.
I'm giving feedback on v. 2.1.0.
I played a couple of games, and the feeling I got was that the system was perfectly fine for what it's designed for, which is to support the story of a VN. The more detail, specific moods and emotions you can convey through this card-game, the better it will work. That, of course, might conflict a bit with the generic nature of some of the engine-cards and such, but I'm sure this is the kind of format, where very designed, thematic "gimmick" encounters, especially for the late-game, would be very appropriate.
Some specific stuff I though about during play:
- The discard-pile should be public information. Pretty obvious, and probably just a case of an early version.
- You could probably highlight a little square or space somewhere that you could also drag/flick instant action-cards in, while also keeping the current function of just dragging them to the center of the screen (on top of engines). This is just a small thematic consideration I have. Now that I thought about it, I wonder if it would be better to keep played instant cards "on the board" until end-phase, just to future-proof balance issues...
- Obviously, this game shines through "status-effects" like burnout, which force you to make choices with your plays and deckbuilding, and I hope you design the late-game encounters around that.
- Overall, everyone is going to have their own tolerance of where the line of "not thematic enough" goes, when it comes to card-design. As I said, I prefer very thematic cards, and for me, cards like "Tripod" and "Coffee" went a little bit to the boring side, if you think about actually playing them in the scenario. "Mutual Understanding" and "Encouragement" were the type I liked, in that their theme fit what the card did, and also fit what you would be trying to do in a shoot.
Lastly, the BIGGEST issue I have with the gameplay, is that is literally puts the heroine in the background, when she should be at the front. This is an issue of the visual presentation not quite living up to how you want to convey the "heat" of the shoot rising. The current system of background-images just isn't quite good enough, in my opinion, even if you were to add something like progression to the heroine as the heat rises.
As a kind of minimum, I would hope that the final product would have a more animated heat-gauge, with the Heat-UI refleting more on the level of sexual tension through more evocative visuals, than just the simple, though readable, blue-to-red.
The screen is already quite full, so the space for expressing further mood and escalation is limited, and the game is probably quite far along, but I would still hope to see some kind of small consideration of "focus" on the heroine within the play-screen. It could be as simple as a face-portrait in a corner that changes through the shoot, evocative cut-ins or a sprite. Just something about the focus of the shoot, that is on the foreground.
___
I really enjoyed your previous game, so I hope this project does well. This was just my opinion after a very brief time with the game, so you probably disagree with a lot of it. I recon I could be wrong on a lot of things, except for the thing about putting the heroine in the foreground (in more than her cards).
The biggest reason I can't see this system quite standing on it's own, is that you couldn't build very different decks with it. I'm aware that it's just a concept, and that it's bad form to just say "I wish there was more/different content", but this system feels more like one that is better suited to having a core that you tweak for certain scenarios, and not one where you can build many different kinds of ways and express yourself, which is a bit of a shame, but ultimately not a great concern if it's purpose is to support a specific story.