This was a game I never knew I needed!
I made an account just so I could let you know how much I love your game, as an aspiring seamstress this game ticks so many boxes for me.
Drafting your pattern
I adore the drawing style you've used to draft patterns, it's exactly how I would plan out a pattern in real life. I wish there were more style options but I'm sure as the game progresses you'll be adding more.
Fabric and Pattern layout
Needing to budget and be careful with how much fabric you're using and planning out your pattern layout accordingly is incredibly realistic and honestly I have no notes other than please don't change this! 10/10 incredible LOVE LOVE LOVE this part of gameplay
Assembling your creation on the Dress Form
While not the most realistic part of gameplay I did enjoy how simple it was to piece everything together. Pinning pieces to my dress form in real life is probably the most tedious part of dressmaking for me (so much so I tend to not do it and just wing it when I sew parts together and hope it fits me after lol) so I thoroughly enjoyed how quick and easy it was to do in game. Perhaps for the masochists out there you could create a harder mode that also means you have to add the pins in place too (but if you do please make that optional!)
Sewing your dress
Unfortunately this was the worst part of gameplay for me, not necessarily because it was bad, but more because I have a very sensitive (and old) mouse. I liked the mechanics of pushing forward and backwards to speed up and slow down, and I liked that the gauge on the sewing machine gave you an indicator of where you were on the line and when you needed to start turning the fabric, but I also found there was very little room for error. While this again falls under extremely realistic it was also quite frustrating when my mouse isn't the most functional and kept wanting to drift forwards while I'm trying to slow to turn the fabric. I think having an accessibility option to set the speed using either WASD, the directional arrows, or the mouse wheel would be a great idea, not just for the people like me with gammy mice but also for those who may struggle mobility wise in their hands. Honestly though I think if I had a better mouse I'd have enjoyed this aspect of gameplay a lot more as it was very fun to just go ham with the sewing!
The characters
Obviously with there being only two characters to serve there isn't much that I can add in this area, but I would like to give some feedback on all areas of the game. I think the two characters you meet were well fleshed out, I was able to gauge their personalities really well from just a few snippets of conversation and from their art style (which was also very well done btw). I really enjoyed the little article at the end that shows their personalities in a more direct way and also gives you an insight to what people thought about the dresses made, and it made me want to replay to see if I could get a different outcome for the snooty woman.
Overall I think this is a fantastic game and I can't wait to see how it progresses, it has plenty of replayability already but I'd love to see more storylines and characters
Things you could add
- as mentioned above I'd love to see more style options for drafting clothes, maybe the option to create suits, bags, and accessories like belts and suspenders (as an example) could also be added as the story progresses.
- different coloured threads and embroidery could be a really fun addition
- Buttons! Buckles! Zips! All the fastenings!
- I know you have a freeplay mode at the end, but I also think having a semi-freeplay where you create and make designs in your downtime to actually sell in the shop would be a really nice addition. You could set the price and have people come in to ask about having the clothes you make taken in/let out to fit them for an extra fee
- Speaking of clothes being taken in and let out, I think it could also be fun to have people bring in their own clothes to be altered or repaired, from just a quick re-hem to a full blown resize or patching up a hole. This could be toggled on/off as I'm sure this probably wouldn't be gameplay that everyone would enjoy but I certainly would!
- baby, toddler, child, and teenage clothes would all be super fun to make too, with varying amounts of fabric needed to suit the size of the person you're making for
- sewing machine maintenance. If your aim is for super realistic gameplay then I actually kind of feel like this is a must. You could have a small minigame where you have to clean your machine, replace the needles, and rethread (especially rethreading if you do end up doing different coloured threads). Again probably not everyone's cup of tea but I know I'd really enjoy it lol