Thanks for trying out the game! The game is actually complete, but I’m still open to adding more content and polishing things based on player feedback. I really appreciate your thoughts, and I’ll keep working to make the experience even better.
P.S. If you have any ideas for items, skills, or features you’d like to see, I’d love to hear them – I’m always open to cooking up new ideas!
Well, for me the meat of a game like this would be bonding with the characters. Character interaction and their reactions to the player's actions. New scenes, new interactions, and new art (the art is great!) unlocked as you progress with the characters.
Right now at least Yui seems like nothing more than a stat check. You increase affection by mechanically repeating the same few actions every day to increase it, and the end result is that some new actions will become accepted. Apart from that, there are no events or dialogue or reactions to convey the growth of the two's relationship. No surprise, no rejection, no regret, no embarrassment, no acceptance, no excitement. No real sense of interpersonal story arc or character growth. Apparently you can go from talking to her every day, to having a bath with her a few times, to fxxing her at night and her reaction is .. no reaction. No words whatsoever. Like all that just happened was entirely normal, as if it had been going on for a long time already?
I am sure that you are familiar with Monochrome Fantasy and the way the character responds to the player. She's not going to be automatically happy about everything you do, and she may certainly have a negative or surprised reaction to some things. That is why you can also sense that things change as you progress. Not only that, but new scenes become unlocked (e.g. in the bathroom or toilet). Monochrome Fantasy is pretty good, but you could certainly go a lot further with this idea, and I would love to see it.
I don't care too much about specific skills or items per se, but I see them as a feature that gives the game some variety and progression, something to look forward to (while also looking forward to new scenes and character interactions). Usually things that either unlock new abilities (whether in combat or in home; preferrably in home!) or that enhance the characters abilities (ability to earn more, rest better, cook better?) make for more interesting level progression than stat growth alone.
I don't actually know how many skills there are in the game right now; I think I saw about half a dozen, by which time the books became unreadable. I never got around to unlocking any of these skills, because I got bored with the apparent lack of character interaction. It felt as if I'd already seen everything there is to see at home, and the rest is just repetition of the same.
Thank you for your insight! Living With Sister: Monochrome Fantasy and the simulation genre are some of my main inspirations for this game.
I’ve tried to spread character interactions across multiple characters not just the little sister, but you’re right – there’s still a lot of room for deeper relationship growth (As you know, you spend 5 days with the little sister, but only 2 days to meet the other friends, so it can feel a bit repetitive before you find the next scene and story. I’ll try to improve this.)
Thank you for mentioning this – I’ll work on adding more features to make the characters feel more alive and their relationships more meaningful.
Thanks again for your honest feedback – I really appreciate it!
Thanks. After some contemplation, I now realize that the previous post heavily emphasized response and reaction to player's actions. If you do that right, you could be on par with Monochrome Fantasy.
But if you want to take it a step further, there's another dimension you could think along: proaction and npc initiative.
What do I mean? Well, depending on their mood, how they feel about you, what their wants and desires are, the characters could take the initiative to do things (or ask you to do things), rather than merely reacting to the player's actions.
Just a few concrete examples of something that Yui for example could do out of her own initiative:
1. If she's happy and energetic and at least somewhat affectionate, she could ask to cook together with you. This could increase the amount stamina restored and/or increase affection? Of course cooking together could be the stage for additional events to unfold!
2. She could inquire about how your day went. If you lost in battle, she could offer consolation, care, or encouragement. If you spent the day with the other girls, the reaction could be anywhere from indifferent, happy (that you have friends), teasing, or even jealous, depending on her mood and/or your relationship with her.
3. If she's feeling down or lonely, she could ask you to spend time together with her. Various options, some of which might depend on status of relationship. Playing together, chatting, giving an embrace, giving a massage, consoling her until she falls asleep, going to bath together, how about going for a walk together...
4. She could ask you to go shopping togehter, or ask for you to bring a specific item (food, gift, treat, clothes, book?).
5. She could give you a gift or a surprise hug...
6. Obviously there's plenty of things she could initiate when her lust is high...
Some of these initiatives and events could be used to create a chain of actions that make the characters and their interaction more believable and lively. For example, instead of flat out asking you to go shopping together right on a random Saturday morning, she could instead present the request earlier during the week and ask you to promise to go shopping next weekend. If you keep the promise and make her happy, she could take the initiative to thank you sometime later. It's always more interesting if these events aren't just random one-offs that are instantly dismissed, but rather lead to new actions and interactions & positive results somewhere down the line.
In general, having characters take the initiative would break up the monotony of the player always being the only one to take an action and observe the reaction. It gives the sense that the world isn't entirely passive.
