Thanks for the review and consideration! And yeah, it can be admittedly difficult to find specific content. I try to be relatively realistic with where certain content can be experienced, but that does mean some kinks don't get a lot of action until I work on areas where they are present.
I don't know if there's a lot I can do to address your critique, but I'll try to learn from it. And thanks for giving it a go!
Don't worry, I totally understand! As I said you really have something amazing going on! I know the intricacies that come with gamedev, especially such a grand project. I also note that you do try to take some anti-frustration methods (The shortcut teleporters for example, Thank heavens for those!)
The scenes you do have are nice, even if not catered to my sexual preferences they are well written and enjoyable to read just for that sake. For the character interactions and the plot. (Yeah, I'm watching this porn for the plot, who'd guess?)
That being said... After having mentioned how you clearly try your best to care for your players... We have to have a serious talk about the trading-hall-from-hell, the part where you have two rooms with nothing but NPCs wanting you to fetch things from all over the world... W-why?... For what reason? Who is this for?
As a game developer and writer you sometimes have to ask yourself "Does this make the game better? Is this fun? Does it add important lore? Does it further character growth? Does it progress the story?" The answer to all of these seems to not just be 'no' but it seems to actively do the opposite for most of them. It...baffles me... don't get me wrong! Part of me thinks the concept is hilarious! But actually having to play through it... not as much.
I kept finding myself coming back to the game because it intrigued me, that was my stopping point... It just felt so pointlessly tedious for the sake of being pointless and tedious. In the end I looked it up on the wiki and decided that, even with that, it was a chore... After having figured everything else up till then out, it wasn't a long-lasting uncomfortable fetish scene that broke me, it was the "trading hall from hell"
So I end with the question, is there a reason it has to be like that? I felt the love and care you put into every facet of the game, how you hook the player and take them on a wild ride... So... why?
Thanks! Glad the QoL stuff is appreciated~. And to be honest, many people have told me they play this mainly for the plot haha XD.
Yeah, I don't think anyone's said that they really enjoyed the trading hall section of the Temple. It's meant to be something you come back to later on if you don't have what's needed to progress, but I understand that it's frustrating to handle. Here's some reasons for it:
1. I try to change the gameplay up and keep things fresh for the player, which leads to some experimental ideas. Some work out, others don't.
2. I only really have one month to both figure out what to build for the next release, and build it. In game development time, that's really not a lot to work with.
3. I don't generally go back and change or revise things once they are done. Usually, I just learned what I can and apply it in the future.
That's an understandable philosophy. And one I can respect and used to ascribe to myself. I also understand the pressure of having to put out content fast, please don't burn yourself out! If you need to take a break your players will understand.
One small thing I could suggest that may help ease confusion is to replace the "Not yet available" messages with "Not yet implemented" as 'available' is quite ambiguous and doesn't tell the player if they are missing something or if it's just not there, where "implemented" is more clear on that end.
For the the trading hall though, that one is harder, right now it is an avoidable example of a "wall" which serves no purpose other than to frustrate players.
What made me turn around and get fix these in my games was watching a video by the youtuber Josh Strife Hayes called "The Quit Moment". While it mostly deals with MMOs, I felt it applies in any game in a broader sense!
Of course, whether you want to go about changing it or not is up to you. An option if you don't want to outright remove it is to just make it feel less overwhelming.
For example by telling the player something like. "This looks like it will be a pain, but you should be able to make a path if you can just convince a few people to move out of the way." when they interact with their first obstacle NPC.
That way the player won't feel like they -have- to satisfy everyone there right away!
Thanks for understanding! Definitely doing what I can to pace myself and not burn out, but it can be tough for sure. I can see about changing the not available message to be more clear. As for the trading section, I'll try implementing a skip for people that get past the initial parts of it, so that they don't have to do the last half.
"The Quit Moment" is pretty interesting! Definitely makes a lot of sense for sure. I'll try to keep watch for avoiding stuff like that.
