I kinda agree, that being able to reduce the grinding is definitely by using your brain is a good thing, but the game has the one flaw which I see in most grindy games, which is a lack of payoff.
The intervals of actually getting rewarded for grinding are too long in my opinion. If you have to grind for 10-20 minutes to get a new scene, chances are your boner will be gone by then.
One way to fix this is to insert random events in certain everyday-actions. For example in the beginning talking to aurora might trigger a scene randomly where you can spy on her getting changed.
Reducing the Kingdoms influence may trigger a scene of a girl in the stocks, or some tightly clad hookers (just need a standing picture and there you go. More content inbetween the grind) to spread false rumors about the kingdom.
Going hunting you may encounter a couple having some fun in the forest, or maybe even a collecting berries. Stuff like that makes a grindfest way more enjoyable imho.
Don't just make us watch one scene 10 times, until we get to the next one. Give us at least some variety in the scenes we have to repeat to get further.
Yeah, I agree with all of this. Every bit of it.
If I keep this sort of set-up with this level, I'll definitely look into the every-day actions. I've got a project scope rule where we're trying to make each episode have about five images, with whatever variants. So maybe I should aim to make the levels quicker, reduce the amount of time you're spending not making progress, and I should come up with a new rule for myself to not show the same picture over and over from now on, only once(unless it was something like seeing a girl in the stocks, it's okay to see a random event again)
I know there's no part of the board game gameplay in this demo, but I can already see a problem with my initial idea of having some levels have no boards and some having them. I'm actually working on a prototype alternate level to see if having a board will make this level more fun and give you a better objective to work towards and at a better pace than this.
Oh, and I'm still not sure whether the player character should have the role they have now. I'm starting to plan episodes to not include "you", but maybe the host girl as the main character recruiting girls. For this episode I'm thinking of changing it so the "Club Host" girl is helping Aurora sleep with Philip, but brings "you" along for "sex practice", so basically just a win-win for you. That way it's not a story of "I'm going to help this girl sleep with someone else, then MAYBE get a piece of the action", I'm not happy with the direction I went when trying to keep "you" involved. Because I cared more about Philip and Aurora and keeping that relationship. Instead, in the future, girls will have a personal relationship with you at the club and their character level milestones will give you the ability to meet them in their room for private, POV sex.
I'm glad I made this level public now, cause it definitely needs some changes. No one should be frustrated while playing. Expect it to be pretty different next update.