Thanks for your comment, Zakaries! This is actually amazing feedback. It made me reflect deeply on several aspects of the game, design, and presentation. This is going to become a bit more technical and perhaps boring but I do like to talk about the process and I hope you can even help me further by offering your thoughts on some of these topics.
1) Regarding Generated Images: I initially thought it was clear that I use generative AI for some images because itch.io explicitly asked if I use AI-generated images, and I checked that box, assuming the platform would automatically inform visitors or place my game in a dedicated category (sorry, I'm new to itch.io).
2) The description about how different the game is: Hmm, perhaps you have a point here. Although I've played many visual novels and interactive story-driven games, including mobile "choose your story" types, I don't consider myself an expert. My primary experience is with gay and several otome visual novels, where I often felt my choices had minimal impact beyond providing minor character insights or simple scoring systems.
My goal here and there might indeed be other visual novels that accomplish this, perhaps even better, is to create deeply interconnected narrative elements and information keys. It's challenging to articulate clearly, but perhaps some data can help illustrate this: version 0.1 already contains over 40,000 words that is approximately 166 pages of a book or more than 4 hours of reading. However, I believe the game might feel smaller due to multiple reasons, including hidden or optional content. For instance, you can directly visit Matt and skip everything else, or go to the bar and not ask Lissandra who started the drama, thereby not knowing Adrian was behind it and not being able to choose to go and talk to him immediately (because you don’t know him and no one told you/ren about him), preventing you from assisting him in his revenge against Mafalda. Choices like these significantly influence gameplay and narrative paths. This depth and the interconnectedness of these elements are what I consider the core selling points of the game. Even at this early stage, the code includes 432 lines dedicated solely to tracking these narrative keys (memories of what the player has done or learned), many of which are actively in use or planned for later implementation.
TL;DR: I aim to make a game where your choices truly matter, paths diverge significantly based on your decisions, characters genuinely react to your actions, and there’s a sense of engaging with a social and decision-making puzzle that shapes how the chapter unfolds rather than merely selecting dialogue options that characters prefer. (I also implemented multi-dimensional scoring systems reflecting characters' opinions. I am still experimenting with its effectiveness to decide if it’s worth it or not.) On that note, I'd greatly appreciate recommendations for visual novels heavily driven by player choices, so I can learn from them.
Regarding the uniqueness of the setting, I am happy to hear that and upon reflecting, yes, it is quite distinct from anything else I've encountered. Naturally, there are one or two games and visual novels that inspired this environment, but I firmly believe we create new things by combining inspiration from other people's work with our own creativity and designs.
But Zakaries, truth be told, I’m uncertain whether my approach is right, wrong, new or just the same as other visual novels already did. I'm simply striving to create something distinct based on what feels intuitively correct to me or from my experiences. Perhaps a different approach such as developing a more linear narrative rather than imagining all possible player actions (which I'm forced to admit is practically impossible) might be better. However, I remain adaptable as the project progresses.
3) NSFW/Adult Content: Initially, I planned to include sexual content right from version 0.1. However, the more I wrote, the less I wanted it to be a central focus. Even now, as I write this response, I believe yes, I will ultimately include such content (I already have two completed images ready). Yet, simultaneously, I’m unsure... My focus shifted towards creating a visual novel centered on impactful choices and story depth. Whether I eventually integrate explicit content significantly depends on how the narrative unfolds as development progresses.
In the future, yes, I would like to list the game on steam as well. But for now, I’m focused more on making the game with creative freedom before I make a version that adheres to steam's requirements.
Lastly, thanks again for your comment, and I genuinely hope you have the patience to read through all this. I do tend to get carried away when discussing something I'm passionate about!