Hi there.
I think there's a lot of good things to be said in favor of meaningful choices in visual novels. There are some very good games where choices impact the outcome of the game. But that is not the path we took for several reasons, mainly:
- Choices that matter would have inevitably required additional artworks (at least the way we imagine them). And given that our game is a 2D one, that would not have been a practical approach.
-When you have to choose between several options, there's always a fear of missing out. And that's how it should be, since a wrong choice might lead to an undesirable outcome. But that is not the feeling we wanted to elicit in the players.
We chose this direction before we started working on 0.1, and we're happy with it. We want the player to relax, enjoy the story (preferably with a smile on his/her face), and when there's a choice, pick whichever sounds more fun to him/her.
The only meaningful choice we plan on adding is for the game's ending. We think it could be cool if the game could have multiple endings depending on your choices in the final releases.
About why there should be options at all when they don't affect the storyline? Here's our reasoning:
-they are logical: (e.g., if you're asked whether you want to marry someone, I bet you give it a moment's thought, at least).
-they are a useful tool for breaking up longer scenes that might be monotonous otherwise.
-they allow the players to make a decision that, although not significant to the final outcome of the game, gives a bit of shape to the main character they play (staying with the marriage example above, an MC that decides to marry Holly 'feels' different from one that doesn't want to limit his options).
Anyhow, thank you for your feedback, and we totally understand that this approach is not everyone's cup of tea.
Cheers!
