ExLibris wrote : I found the story to be interesting without ever really being involving. I think that's mostly because the PC is consistently passive. He never actively pursues his own goals, he just does what other people tell him. That subordinate position is reinforced by things like it being apparently acceptable for people indirectly employed by the PC's parents to break into his apartment and take his property, or drug his food without his knowledge.
He also doesn't get to make any real choices. Adisa says several times that he's going to have decide whether or not he wants to lose his virginity to her, but when the time comes there's no choice at all (unless he can just choose to go to sleep instead, which I didn't try). I would have preferred it if he had the opportunity to pursue someone he was personally interested in, rather than just Adisa & co (who, when all is said and done, are being paid to be interested in him). After all, they are supposed to be teaching him how to form relationships with the opposite sex, so it would be nice to see him actually put those skills into practice (beyond getting Ando and Saran together).
My opinion of the artwork is pretty subjective. I thought the backgrounds were very good, but the proportions of the faces seemed a bit strange to me (especially with some of the expressions they're contorted into). I was also a bit disappointed that all four of the girls seemed to have more or less exactly the same body type.
The implementation of the gadgets was one of the highlights for me, as they gave the game a bit more depth than if the puzzles had all been of the simple key & lock variety.
The humor... well the only thing I really found amusing was what happens when you use the smoke on the bees. But I agree that the game would have been less enjoyable if there had been no attempts at humour.
Overall, it's certainly one of the best made RAGS games I've played, but I can think of others that I enjoyed more.
Thank you for your always frank comments and critical analysis.
I only have a couple of rebuttals and clarifications, and one admission of ignorance, which is where I'll start. Since I don't know the acronym or code PC (Personal Computer in my little world) I have to assume based on context that it means the player in the game.
[*]Nobody broke into anybody's apartment in the game, Adisa employs a hacker to remotely disable digital images in the players residence which she explains later is part of her teaching strategy. The parental permission was for access to biometric data, which the player admits in the dialog is "...weird...".
[*]Regarding the choices the player has, there is a scenario in the game you may not have come across where the player can choose to lose their virginity to someone else which changes the conditions when they visit Adisa on day 6.
[*]I'm not sure you could design this type of game without getting and completing tasks, and in this game most of those tasks are indeed assigned by the authority figure, the mentor.
[*]I agree it would have been much better if the player was developing a new relationship in parallel with the lessons, and that was in my original design, but got cut in order to avoid additional complexity and work.
[*]The only reason I did the "Nano Serum" thing was trying to explain multiple male orgasms, which in many AIF game are epic in quantity and quality. I regret the decision of having it done surreptitiously. It could have been up front and part of the game, or left out. The player does comment on it at the end of the last scene, but that could be removed too.
[*]I also agree with the comments you and others have made about the facial expressions. Sometimes the problem is lighting, shadows and makeup (Kylie especially in this project). I have a library of expressions and their effect changes from one character facial type to another, but if I was to form them myself, I would have to tweak one or more of 70 individual controls and probably lose my fragile grip on reality ;-)
[*]I did vary the body types, just not a lot. It is a male fantasy after all.
Take care,