I also know there are visual novels that forgo points entirely and just have all content available, however that does remove some of the 'game' aspect. There's strengths and weaknesses to both styles..
I myself feel in the case of Visual novels where no choices matter at all.... It might as well just be a story. And I already write stories, the Visual Novel 'Game' aspect and letting players make choices makes it seem... More interactive? More immersive? But maybe I'm overthinking the whole thing... D will probably throw his own two cents in and he and I will probably talk a lot about all of this over the coming weeks and months of the project.
I don't think you're overthinking it, and having some gameplay in your game can certainly be a good thing. But that should also be balanced with having the gameplay make sense, be fun (something a shocking number of devs forget to have in their games (fun)), and rewarding.
Points are a tricky thing in general, and (as I said) often end up being more of a negative (or a hassle (for me)) in most games I play (erotic or otherwise). It doesn't mean they have to be, they just usually are. Again, the main issue being the locking off of content due to answering 1 or 2 past choices imperfectly.
As a gameplay mechanic, consider what the system is adding to the experience. Ask what the gameplay benefit is, and is that benefit fun for the player? How does it add to the enjoyment of the game, or take away from it. A good test is to "turn off" points, play the game, and see if it feels any different with them off. If it feels pretty much the same, then the question is what are they adding?
In an open world game, points are a gating system, to make sure the player has done enough things before they can do the next (have enough experience points to fight a boss, have enough money to buy and item, have enough love point to romance a character, etc... ). The process of collecting points in those sorts of games (well, in good ones) is in addition to the gameplay, not in place of it. In bad games, players waste hours grinding for arbitrary points they don't care about.
In a liner story, points can't be ground (grinded? (whatever...)). Usually there is no way to get more points if a player missed them, making it possible to lose out on content without knowing that's the case. This problem only becomes more pronounced the deeper into the game a player gets as there is usually no way to catch up. (and, again, bad games solve this by replaying scenes to grind points)
Speaking purely from a player standpoint, I don't care about points, I care about rewards and consequences. If I choose to hold someone's hand, the reward is seeing the art holding her hand, and the consequence is positive dialogue around the action (and maybe a future call back to it). If I choose not to hold her hand, there is a punishment of her looking sad (which could be a reward if someone is into that), and the consequence is her disappointed dialogue (and again, maybe a future call back to it).
And this (at long last (holy shit I can't write anything short to save my life)) is my main issue,
points are not a choice. They are an illusion of choice at best. There is a single correct path for the user to pick where their points add up to the right number, and they may have picked incorrectly fifty choices ago and not know it. Then their punishment for not picking what the game wanted them to, is to miss out on the content they are playing the game for.
The main alternative for this (in visual novels) is branched content. Having the choice show the player something different (immediately) and possibly impact future story. This is by no means the only way to do it, but for me at least, is less frustrating than being 1 point short to share a kiss with a girl because I didn't say I liked her hair two chapters ago.
(sorry that got so long, I did cut a lot out...)
Now on the subject of Lucy...
D doesn't want to give away too many spoilers, but I'll just say this... Lucy is *Unique* in terms of her other sisters.
We do want this story to not just be, "And every girl fell before the might of the Log and they mindlessly fucked him" there has to be reasons and 'romance' behind it.... Lucy falls into a category that is separate from the one all her others fall into. You'll see more in Chapter 2.
Yeah, I don't want any spoilers, I very much want to be surprised by story. If that is a trait unique (or mostly unique) to her, then that is certainly fine (as it is an aspect of her story and character). Again, too many stories where every girl throws themselves at the MC.
And yeah we also don't want to make it seem like the other sisters just 'go away' from chapter to chapter. We might restrict some of them if it makes sense for the plot of the story.... Remember this is taking place over the 'summer' and so there's a larger plot going between each chapter.... Chapter 3 right now is Tentatively going to be mainly set in Great Lakes City... obviously ONE sister will be more available because of that then the others..
But Lynn has scenes in Chapter 2... Scenes for her and Lincoln to spend time with one another (And do one another) even if the main romantic focus will be Lucy.
Always hard to really judge anything based on the first update (second update? first chapter (whatever...)). This is more a thing I wanted to point out both because I see it happen so, so often, the forgotten character(s). But also immersion breaking when a character starts with "I love you" and then you never see her again, or go right onto the next conquest. So glad to hear that you'll work to keep them relevant in the game (as the story permits).
Anyhow, thanks for responding, and again, great work on this game! I am very much looking forward to more of it!