by tlaero » Mon, 09Sep14 11:05
Chaotic, Kelly is your best game yet. Nice work.
(Incidental Spoilers follow.)
I like that there's a path to sex that doesn't involve getting her drunk. I also like that the use for getting her drunk makes her act in character. I especailly like that you can tell when you influence her by the look on her face. I loved that the other girls all played (albiet small) parts in this one. And the tennis scene is the best section in all of your games. Very nice job.
I'm looking forward to your fantasy themed games. They should be a lot of fun.
Here are a few things for you to consider in your future efforts.
Effectively, what you're making are modern day versions of old school graphic adventure games. (That's cool.) However, a large difference between your games and those is that in your games every wrong turn leads to either sudden death, or, worse, definite failure further down the road. You don't have to make the games EASY, but you might make them a little more forgiving. For instance, in Kelly's tennis scene, when you serve wrong, she could put an item of clothing back on and continue rather than stop immediately. Similarly, if you're trying to take her home and you haven't influenced her enough, you could have her say, "I don't think I'm ready to go back to your place yet" and then continue. That way, the player knows there's more to do and doesn't have to start over when he gets her home and she turns him down. You do NOT have to make the game impossible to fail. I like your games much better than the "meet 'n' fuck" games where, when you choose the wrong thing, you just choose again. Part of the fun of your games is figuring things out. But I think you could do well to turn a few of the sudden death dead ends into places where you get a second chance.
Another thing to consider is small hints as you play. I really liked the one you did with Kelly where, when you suggested Tennis, she said, "I'm not dressed for it." That made me say, "Aha! I should have bought the tennis dress!" Back to the previous point, that might have been an opportunity to let the player go buy the dress rather than fail. But to this point, please do more of those sorts of things. For instance, when you go to the leisure center and the two girls are standing there, you could have us overhear a short conversation where one says, "Let's go shopping" to which the other says, "I can't, I'm out of money." That would be a nice hint that we need to get some money from somewhere, which would lead us to the casino. Etc. I love the aspect of your games that, if you have the right object, new options become available. But often it's pretty obtuse that an option would be available if you don't already know about it. A small hint like the above in those sorts of situations would go a long way toward keeping us from reading your source code to find the way through. That would make the games even more rewarding.
All that said, Kelly is a significant improvement over the the first Crystal game (which was good). You're really coming along. Keep at it.
tlaero