it feels like that exercise (for you) the player ought to be more impactful just so you don't wind up too big if you don't wanna.
I was about to comment on this subject after having a brief run up to immobility last night. I think exercise/fitness for the player might need some balancing so that it's both (1) harder to build fitness and (2) easier to lose weight.
I wanted to bring up (1) because it felt like even when I would exercise maybe three times a week, and then only two times, I was gaining fitness very consistently up to the point of immobility. I don't know what the best way to approach it is, or if it should count as a problem. Maybe there are diminishing marginal returns above "base" fitness? Maybe the decay back to base should be stronger based on BMI? I'm just ideas-guying.
After checking the code I found a bug that meant exercise wasn't causing as much weight loss as it should (which is now fixed). As I was changing this code, I decided to buff the calories burned when exercising alone as it was the quickest, easiest solution to help players manage their weight until something better can be added.
I think your idea about options in the leveling system might be on the right track. Part of the problem is that the calorie counts of all the food gets massively increased from all the upgrades you can unlock, but the exercise calories remain static (although I do have it so that the larger you are the more calories you burn from exercising).
Maybe make it so that: The player character does NOT have to always order the same food as the girlfriend characters but can choose his/her diet independently?
Would that solve the problem?
Ps.: Generally i enjoy the whole fitness and weightloss struggle, so more of it in the game, not only for the player character, is always welcome!
Maybe even some upgrades that help with fitenss, like "fitness instructor"?
(i like to play with player wg off btw.)
I think having independent ordering as an option is a good idea. With player WG at least, I could see maybe not eating the same as whatever girl you're dating could make her less open to over-indulging for herself or something like that, while it could be easier for her to eat more if you're also eating a lot. It's a rough balance because I do like that the player WG is a hard mode that would force any player that doesn't want to get too fat too fast to take it slow.
Maybe different workout options? One that adds more fitness but isn't quite as powerful for calorie loss and another that is a lot of calorie loss but adds only a little fitness. Maybe a treadmill or aerobics class with a fitness instructor. It's not how IRL diet and exercise work, but it's close enough.
Thanks everyone for your feedback & ideas, it's really useful. :)
The four exercise options in town provide different bonuses, although I should probably communicate that better to the player as I'm not sure the differences are large enough to be noticed. The gym action increases fitness by 2, swimming & jogging add 1 fitness and the walk action gives no increase. All four burn calories, but swimming and jogging burn the most.
I've been thinking things over and here's my rough improvement plan, let me know what you think:
- Players order food independently on dates, but persuading the girl to eat larger meals or extra dishes becomes much harder if the player doesn't follow suit.
- Display the calories burned, fitness increase & weight changes achieved from an exercise action. This should make these actions feel more rewarding and show the differences between them.
- Increase calories burned for cardio, decrease for gym.
- Add diminishing returns for fitness gains, such that the higher the stat is, the more exercise is required to increase it further.
- Scale calories burned from exercise with fitness. This adds a positive feedback loop as the more you exercise, the more effective it becomes for weight loss. It also makes fitness more useful.
- Add high intensity exercise actions that are unlocked once your fitness reaches a certain threshold, say 70. A high intensity jog or swim would burn a lot more calories.