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There's one thing I'm thinking if to tweak or not: in practice how it is now, you gain relationship points simply playing each love interest scenes. Then, there are two variants each love interest, for example Viktor has "Social" and "Nerd". The choice influence those two values. They're opposites, so if a choice gives +1 Nerd, will also give -1 Social. I did this to avoid the possibility to have same values (must be one or the other at the end of the game). This variable unlock a different epilogue texts (not the CG, just a text) depeding which one is bigger.

Now all of this works fine, however I'm thinking if maybe isn't a bit too simple ? I was considering if to add the relationship value back, and have the gift/dates also increase relationship value. Then, the last few scenes of the story would play only if you have the right amount of relationship. The problem is that the scenes give the cure, so if I stop the scene from playing because you don't have enough relationship = game over

It would be slightly more difficult, and add a secondary use to gifts/dates (gain relationship points) but nothing else. So I'm not sure if it's something worth doing, or I can just keep it as it is?

I don't think I understand how the game works, but...

- If there are gameplay elements that serve no purpose (?), they should either be removed or tweaked.

- If a gameplay element leads to grinding, I'd rather not have it in there.

- I'd prefer not to have to decide my love interest at the start of the game, and be unable to switch along the way because I missed X dates/gifts.

IMO.

No, I mean the gifts/date change the variables associated to the love interest. So that's the main purpose. I was thinking though if have them influence also the relationships, so that you needed to consider how to spend money. It's not really grinding (this game is very different for example from Roommates scheduler, you only need to tweak the work values and nothing else).

Franka wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 7:21 am - I'd prefer not to have to decide my love interest at the start of the game, and be unable to switch along the way because I missed X dates/gifts.

After the intro and the first few weeks, you'll slowly start to reduce the love interests amount, until at week 5-6 (so about halfway to the story) you'll be forced to pick one. So I guess that should be fine

If was a RPG I'm all for more details and complexity but for a dating sim? I am mostly interested in the story and writing quality. Adding extra stuff just to make it longer as Franka said it's poinless. Save your time to work on PS2 instead

But... I want to make even RPGs simpler!!
Jokes apart I get what you mean. In a dating sim without stat raising, the most important thing is story/writing and not "gameplay". So maybe you're right that I should invest my time in PS2 instead, since thos additions won't improve Love Bites much more than it already is

I'm in favor of keeping it simple. I'm also hoping it's a "hidden" stat, so that we don't know which epilogue we're headed for. I like having to figure that sort of thing out through multiple playthroughs. Though I may be unique in that regard.

There's a couple of things like that, yes

Simple is good for a game like this, IMO. I don't mind things getting more complicated if it adds to the fun of playing, but if it's just grinding or giving the player more hoops to jump through, there's not much point adding it in.

Yes I agree. I've learned the lesson after Amber, or even Roommates which overall was very popular, but I got many comments saying that would have been better without the stat raising part at all
I've already coded 99% of the game now, I plan to do some more testing this weekend. Once I get Nadia/Kaitlyn path, it will be all ready!

jack1974 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 30, 2018 9:08 am or even Roommates which overall was very popular...

Largely b/c of the comedy, riiiiiiiiiight?

I know I bring it up a lot, but when will we have another pure comedy game, Jack???