I'm trying to find the right balance between "difficult enough to be rewarding" and "frustrating."

In GtkC I added the current score to the bottom of the page. In LwK, I added the ability to save and restore. I know these cut down on the frustration, but I'm wondering if they made the games too easy. Save and Restore are here to stay. Without them, people would just cheat to do the same thing. I'm sure the net good outweighs the net bad there. But I'm wondering about the score.

In these games, you get points for making the right choices and you advance if your score is high enough. Does seeing the score update instantly make it too easy to figure out what to do?

Would it be better if I hid the score and only showed it at scene boundaries?
Or what if I put it on a separate page you have to click to see? You could go there whenever you want, but you probably wouldn't go there after every choice unless you were stuck.
Or what if I hid the score behind generalities? "You've earned over 30," instead of "You've earned 33."
Or do you folks like things the way they are, where you always see the score?

Tlaero

This wouldn't happen to have been motivated by another collab project between you and phreaky, would it?

Anyway, I agree with you about Saving and restoring. I know I kept opening new tabs so I wouldn't have to replay the game, so might as well jsut keep it

I wouldn't have another page unless you had other variables that you kept track of, like scores for multiple girls or money or special items or whatever. Which could be nice, but still.

I don't think hiding it behind generalities would be good... if you give us the score, I think you should give us it and not hide it before a blanket "it's over than". Then again, I have no real reason to say that.

So in conclusion, I guess I have no real opinion. Having a score was nice, so I guess I'd vote to keep it.

In general I'd err on the side of making the game more difficult. If a game is too difficult, the player can always get a walkthrough (or just look at the HTML in this case). If the game is too easy, nothing can help the player. I think that part of what made GtKC and LwK 'easier' was good writing, in that both characters were written in a consistent manner and once you understood their personalities picking the right option was generally straightforward (as opposed to presenting the player with a number of indistinguishable choices, as another author tends to do).

As regards having the score visible, I prefer it since it gives the player feedback about whether their choices were good or bad. In a more text-heavy game, that kind of feedback can be provided via description. But in an HTML game you're much more reliant on visual cues, and it can be difficult to distinguish between an acceptable choice (ie a choice that doesn't lower your score) and a good choice (one that raises your score). I wouldn't necessarily want the score to be visible at all times, but you should be able to tell when your score has increased.

Save and restore are a must, but please be careful that one game's save point doesn't overwrite another's. I think one of the Keeley games overwrites Christine's savepoint.

Dificulty selection is also nice so you can learn as you go, and have more playthroughs to look forward to after you find endings on easy.

I like the idea of having a separate page to check the score. However, when playing through Christine (for the first few times, at least) I always had trouble realizing where exactly I may have missed the points. Assuming a similar structure to Christine, you might go with something like: "This Scene: 10/15" and "Total score: 30/45". If you make a separate page, might as well give people a little more information.

I haven't check all ways on this kinds of games, but you can also give more point after a player made a bad choice (i.e. you have to prove your sincerity / make a real apologize).
Using some risky path, the "optimal" way can be something else than always get the most points possible.

If you want to keep score, I think neon is right. If you're going to have multiple dates for the same person, it would be nice to get separate score for each date.

You can also make the player decide if (s)he wants to display the score using JS confirm() function.

Life with Keeley handled it perfectly, in my opinion.

The save feature got rid of some of the frustration I encountered in GtkC, but the game didn't become all that much easier because of it. It also encouraged repeat playthroughs more so than GtkC.

I vote for the score to be displayed

But maybe yes, it will make the game easier. Don't know, but even as one of the creator, some time ago I played GtKC and even I got stuck in some of the scenarios

So it's not easy anyway to finish the game even with the score all there to be seen

Tlaero, you're thinking of changing the scoring system in CfK ?

And, yes, I'd vote to keep the scoring system. It's a good way to mark your progress.
I also don't believe that it makes the game easier. I don't think it made GtkC any easier. in fact, It might be their toughest game.

Also: "CfK"....? I won't press you on that. I'd much rather be surprised!

Cooking for Keisha? Cookies from Keisa?

Anyway, I agree with the notion that keeping the score visible won't really make it "easier".

Well, the code is certainly easier if the score is always shown. If you folks don't think it makes the game too easy, I'll keep things the way they are.

Oh, and it's "Coffee."

Tlaero

Ah, so Keisha is a morning person!

Morning people don't need coffee.

Tlaero

Very true, i'm not much of a coffee person (anytime), so I always just think of it in the context of breakfast.

But I guess she will need something to get her through the nights!

So... Coffee for Keisha?

... Hot Coffee? :3

Well at any rate, guess this topic was answered, so I just have to say I can't wait for your game. I can only hope I can get Aaron's life to be somewhat similar in quality