How do I level skills like "Crochet" (lock picking) or Spying? Where do I get swords and armor?
The game is still insanely grindy and poorly designed. At the very start of the game it takes three hits to kill a bat, and the bat gives 1 drop and 5 xp. As you need 100 to go to level 2 (which is not really that big of an increase, but we'll get to that), that's an effective 15 xp if you burn the drop to get XP.
Note: most new players won't know to do that, because the interface suggests it isn't possible. The same with the bag. This is bad UI design - all good games do hint the player towards certain actions. For example, cracked walls in Zelda can be bombed. However, if you want to show that not every interactable will have a flashing light - which I think is foolish, but you do you Riddler - then prevent the player from leaving the glade until they've picked up their bag. The one thing you must NOT DO is allow the player to leave the bag and the menu behind. This is your first massive, major mistake.
The second is the xp thing. Due to low xp drops and the high damage of early enemies, getting to level two takes 8-9 trips to the dungeon before you hit level two. That's absurd. The player is going to get quite bored of getting their ass kicked by bats and slimes by the fifth identical battle. And they will be identical, because the player at this juncture has no other options besides whack the bat or run.
The random spawning isn't helping with this. I understand it's an RPGmaker default, but it's a fucking terrible system and generally disliked even in games that are popular that use it. Even Pokemon is moving away from it, which should be your big sign that maybe there's better options.
The story is also a bit jank. It might be the translation, but it feels like it somehow drags on, and also doesn't give enough insight into who Harold is or why we should care. He wakes up, gets bullied, and accidentally vanishes all the men on the island. There's very little personality there, and perhaps more importantly, very little to get people hooked. Especially since this is a porn game, that's needed.
Suggestions:
Combat
- New entry level enemies. Move the bat and slime deeper into the cave, and have Harold fight something a bit silly. Dust bunnies, maybe. Or shadows. Whatever you choose, make sure they do low damage, somewhere in the range of 20-30 HP per hit or lower. But they should drop 5 xp a pop, and possibly a droplet. Never potion ingredients. This makes them good initial enemies, because it gives Harold staying power. Now each visit to the dungeon sees Harold kill 2 or 3 foes, and recieve between 15 xp (what you currently get every time) and 45 xp (if the player is very lucky). This makes the dungeon part of the game more enticing and desirable.
- Try to move away from the random encounter mechanic. The most common solution is to show the enemy on the overworld. They chase the player and when they touch, combat begins. You might also look at Pokemon's "Long Grass" situation, and provide shadowed parts of the cave which are a bit darker and have the random encounters happen only there.
~Why
- Currently combat is a slog and is unfun to play. Harold is extremely fragile and remains so for several levels, each of which are reached slowly and only after a great many fights. This is terrible for the beginning of the game. The beginning of any game should move swiftly and reward the player for damn near everything.
- The current system is also not rewarding skill. For one, until Harold has a companion, the player has at most four options: Attack, Run, Use Item, and Attack Twice at the cost of mana. Combat right now is basically an auto-battler, where the player holds down the enter key because there just isn't a reason not to repeat the current move. They are not making interesting choices. What you as a developer must do to fix this is to present the player with interesting choices.
- The goal is that the combat system relies on the players skill to be used quickly and effectively. It does not currently accomplish this. You require more actions which can change the battle. You want a skilled player to be able to fight less fights they do not want to. You want a skilled player to win fights they do decide to fight. Currently, nobody is deciding to fight, and if Harold is surprised, there is no way to win the fight. There is no reason to get better at the game.
User Interface (UI)
- I would advise you to star anything interact-able. I do not understand the logic behind not doing this. RPGmaker games are very low detail and it can be quite difficult to tell what is background vs foreground, much less what is important and what is just someone's lamp. Small tokens which show what can be interacted with are standard for a reason.
- However, if you refuse to do the above, I would advise you to make your tutorial better. Make absolutely sure that the player knows that not all interactables are starred. Make sure that the player is incentivized to spam spacebar next to everything. You should do so with the tutorial, by forcing the player through the actions once. Do not allow them to leave the glade until they have picked up their bag. Perhaps you should let them go to school and find some money in potted plants for a student, that they get to keep. Anything beyond just saying so, because the player might be holding enter out of boredom trying to skip to the sex.
Story
- The player will be trying to skip to the sex. This is a sex game. The player does not wear pants and one hand is occupied. Controls should be simple, and the story should be lewd. I would advise that you include a small, sexy scene very very very early on, before the player has full access to the town. Even if it's just some flashing, a bit of nipple or buttcheek, anything to show the viewer what to expect from the porn is a good idea.
- The player needs to hate the bullies. Currently they knock Harold over and take his bag. This is obviously not good person behavior, but the player is not attached to Harold. Instead, you should have the bullies do something that anyone would hate. Perhaps they kick a random dog during the bullying scene. Maybe it's Harold's dog. Or perhaps they molest one of the female characters. That would be best served by making that female character more important before the bullying. Perhaps Harolds sister, who's a sweetheart. Do not tell the player that these men are loathesome. Show them.
- Sweetie's relationship to the magic crystal is not very clear. She just kind of exists near it. I would advise that you make her react more strongly to Harold accidentally draining the crystal, or otherwise use the chance to show her relationship to the crystal, and her personality. Sweetie is very important, because she is the only magical girl initially available. The player will naturally gravitate towards her. She is a good vehicle through which to tell the player lore about the world Harold lives in, and to make the player care about bringing all the men back to the island.
= tying the three above together, I see a simple solution. If I were developing the game, I would make Sweetie have a human guise, who Harold has a crush on. When he goes to school the first day, he sees the bullies molesting Sweetie. Harold jumps in to stop them. They beat him up, and take his things, but Sweetie escapes in the distraction. Harold, thinking she just abandoned him, goes to the forest and accidentally wishes. Sweetie appears partway through in human form, yells at him to stop, but he does not stop. Poof, all the men are gone, and so is Sweetie's disguise. Sweetie angrily explains about the crystal and demands Harold make things right.