Hello Runey, thanks for the Diary and the Promised Infoblasts, very much appreciated!
However, I would scale back the frequency to bi-weekly or even monthly, otherwise, I fear it would be too timeconsuming - it probably will be timeconsuming anyways. My concerns overall are twofold. One, you might be biting off more than you can chew, get overwhelmed and the project dies, I have seen this numerous times with similar projects, NSFW Porn games that is, developed by one person or a very small team. Two, you might run into the whirlpool of ideas and can't get out. Ideas thrown around are good, but in the end you have to get to the point where you declare an idea as "good enough" and get to doing, or nothing will get done.
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Plans for v0.17 and beyond
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increasing the available choices
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I get it, believe me, I do. The Idea is absolutely AWESOMESAUCE! And now we come back to reality where, even if everything else would not be, time IS always a limited resource. I would like to bring up the Mass Effect trilogy here and point out how big decisions were handled there and how much impact they had on the story. To simplify, there were many "bubbles" that could influence the story but to a limited degree only, as the overarcing story is the same, with few details different based on decisions made.
Designing and fully fleshing out different paths that are mutually exclusive is awesome on paper only.
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Farmable Garden
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stat crops [...] XP multiplier
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So far, the universe you created is grounded in a reality fairly similar to ours, so to implement food crops as a bonus you would first have to implement consumption and generate a budget there, also, how does plantlife work? Are there seasons like there are on earth, or is their rotational axis more aligned with the orbital plane and so on and so forth? How long until a particular plant can be harvested? Not that I want to throw a wrench into your ideas, but if you go that route, there might be a bit more info-fluff required around all that. So far you have gone that "extra mile" with the elves to some degree and I feel there is more coming, it would feel "off" if you skimped on the details in the garden - so... more planning required I guess?
As for the XP multiplier beans... I throw out the reverse idea and by that, I mean that each of your potential "main" lovers has her own preferences. Lets take Ashley, I can see her "vaginal" bar be lower than the other girls' thanks to her breeding fetish, same for her "cumdump" trait. Hell, I think giving the girls some agency and particular kinks and fetishes that resonate with their personalities would be really awesome. Ashley for instance could sometimes scream "Oh no, you don't" when you try to pull out and cum on her tits and instead slams herself down on you, forcing you to creampie her - chances she'll do this inscrease with complete traits of "cumdump" and "lustful" (or other traits), pretty much what you did with the "overflowing lust" events, but on a smaller, more day-to-day basis and with an element of randomisation.
For Maria, I can see her needing slow-super-cuddly-sex with a cuddle-sleepover in her bed. Ok, maybe that's something for all the girls.
You could make "stepping-stone" traits for some acts and girls. I can see that with Lin and Anal, yes, we all like the Porn-version where you can just take your dick out of her vagina and shove it down her hershey-highway no problem but reality begs to differ, so why not have an experimental play phases with different sized toys before the great event? Side note: penetrating your partners' pussy while she has a nice sized plug in her asshole is also very enjoyable.
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Mobile Phone
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Mhhh... I get where you're coming from, but I can tell you from other games which have something along this line, it gets rather boring quickly unless you're willing to invest a good amount of time and make more than 1-3 pics per girl.
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Making Sex Completely Optional
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Uhm... yeah, like others have said, stupid idea.
And I freely admit that I played the game more for the story at some points than the sex-scenes but I see them as an integral part and as the second prime motivator to come back to the game.
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Expanding the "How are you?" Dialogue
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I like the idea and would even so far as that characters seek you out actively and wish to talk to you. You could use Ellen as a go-between. Girl leaves message with Ellen, Ellen informes you that X wants to talk so you can drag the talk out if you choose to.
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Adding Themed Music
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Liking the idea of location based themes, but other than the free audio archives, no idea. If you find someone willing to donate, make sure to settle the licensing to avoid potential headaches later.
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Remakes, Remakes, Remakes
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Ah, the curse of the perfectionist. While I get the idea, especially whith improving skills, there comes a point where you have to declare something "good enough", otherwise, you can get stuck in a treadmill of ever improving aspects. To keep yourself from getting trapped there impose a "only every x-th update will be an overhaul of something old(er)" rule on yourself, or you might never see the game finished.
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Side Character Content
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Love the idea to get more "playtime" with Ellen, Jin, Hana, Lucia and all the others.
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More Explore Content
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Phew, while I enjoyed the content, at the moment, I see the "explore" content as a dessert and I'd like to have some more meat & potatoes first, please.
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Holidays
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Oh boy... this sounds awesome and while I expect similarities with western culture holidays to some extent, I advocate against overdoing and/or simplifying it too much. You know, like so many others do a Halloween special, or Christmas Special that are most often sorely disappointing and completely disconnected from the game itself. Definitely not a fan of stuff like that. Your idea sounds exceptional, though I fear for the needed time investment to get this "done right", again, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew and personally, you don't have to match certain holidays IG with any of the real world holidays in my opinion. So if you'd release a winter-y themed holiday update in the middle of next summer, I'd be fine with that.