by tlaero » Thu, 11Mar24 07:26
I find it interesting that we're on the fourth page of comments without a single request for a walkthrough (just some perfectly fair game requests for subtle hints). At the same time, we don't have anyone saying the game is too easy.
It looks like we're making progress on finding the right balance with respect to difficulty. I think the score display (which we added about halfway through) helped there. We definitely have work to do still, but I'm glad to see the things we tried had a positive effect on the experience.
I understand the frustration with checkpoints after you had already failed. The sadism (-: wasn't intended. I just hate making one mistake in these games and needing to start over from scratch. I'm sure you prefer the checkpoints as is to none at all. That said, this is definitely a gameplay element I'm planning to focus on for improvement. My current thought is that things would be better if the score said "Your current score is xxx out of yyy" and have yyy increase after every checkpoint. I changed the way I work with variables pretty significantly in this game, but my current method doesn't really support that. I'll work on it more for the next one.
By the way, the max achievable score in the game is 115, but you only need 90 to get to the end. So if you've just squeeking by, you're missing a lot of points.
OchoCinco, I kept saying "Wait, there's MORE?" too. (-: Writing these games is always exhausting, but this one was particularly so.
I see that Christine's characterization really ruffled some feathers. Good. (-: As a storyteller, my goal is to cause an emotional response in you. Even though Keeley is a FAR better person, twenty years from now, none of you are going to remember her. But half of you will still remember Christine (even if it isn't fondly). Dislike is a strong emotion, and, yes, I'm purposely toying with your feelings by subjecting you to it. Guilty as charged, but every storyteller does it.
I won't make it a habit of plucking this string, though. The next game we're planning to do is a Keeley one. She'll be less uncomfortable. But the one after that ... watch out!
Re my personal prefrence in people: I don't talk about my personal life very often, but I will say that, in the real world, I really appreciate competence. Competence with confidence is even better. Competence with confidence that falls short of arrogance is better still. (-:
A good, real-world relationship in my book is one based on mutual respect and admiration. That doesn't stop me from writing about non-ideal relationships though, especially if it serves some other gameplay purpose (in this case, the ability to do some wild scenes).
As for the requests to put more romantic situations in this one, you'll need to wait for Keeley 3. In my mind, there's no romance whatsoever in a threesome or a foursome, so a game with one really can't have the other. Remember this when the next game is romantic, so I refuse to do those kinds of scenes...
Tlaero