Very intrigued by the dating reality TV show setting and honestly excited to see where the whole story goes, but I do have a bit of feedback/some thoughts on the demo so far that I hope could be answered? A lil bit?
-I did read in another comment that there are predeterminted pairs planned for the full game, for all the characters not picked by MC, but... It all sort of feels already too rushed in what is esentially supposed to be the prologue/chapter 1. It's totally possible I might be understanding the characters all wrong lol, but if not, then the first pairs just also feel quite strange??? To break it down more (and so sorry for the long ahh text in advance):
-Now this point will only work if the only options at the start will be Dmitry and Kalea even once the full game is released BUUUT I don't see how Makai and Kailee, and then Dmitry and Anjali pick one another so quickly ...? From what I'm gathering, Makai is supposed to be this very closed off guy, who's cautious of everyone and doesn't seem to enjoy socialising all that much (at least with total strangers) so I don't quite get why he's so okay with someone like Kailee immediately attaching herself onto him, ESPECIALLY with her put on behaviour of being besties within seconds, while simultaneously acting weirdly possessive over the guy whenever he's interacting wit MC in literally any sort of way?
-And it's kind of the same deal in my head with Dmitry and Anjali. I get that Dmitry is sort of supposed to be the very kind hearted golden retriever type, but then it's confusing (at least to my super overthinking brain) for him to go for Anjali, of all people, when she's just endlessly rude, condescending or obviously turning her nose up at everyone and only going for Dmitry cause she seems to find him physically attractive. Does he just try and force to see good in people even if he hasn't seen any evidence of it being there? I mean, I honestly don't know if he IS supposed to come off as naive like that or not, but that's what it feels like ngl :')
This all just my own interpretation and reading into things ofc, but I thought I might share this in case it'd be helpful to hear how someone else reads your character's personalities! Hopefully this doesn't come off as like, rude or something cause that's genuinely not the intention here 😭 (english is not my first language and sometimes the intended tone does NOT come through well whatsoever)
Idk how hard this could be to implement, but if possible, it could be nice for the first coupling ceremony to be completely randomised! I feel like that could potentially give it a much more natural feel considering the setting, and the fact that none of the characters know one another at that point
Hiya! First off, thank you for taking the time to write all of this out. I really appreciate you sharing your thought process! Getting to see how players are interpreting the characters this early on is genuinely helpful 😊
A lot of what you brought up (the predetermined pairs, why only Dmitry and Kalea are available initially, how the first Warm Up Ceremony works, and why I chose the pairings I did) are actually questions I've answered in more detail on Tumblr, so rather than make you read another wall of text here, I'll just link those posts:
As for the suggestion about randomizing the first ceremony, it's definitely something I've thought about initially! Ultimately, though, I decided against it because the pairings are tied into the game's overall narrative and character arcs. Some relationships are meant to develop differently depending on the week, so having completely randomized couples would create a huge amount of additional branching and also change the intended progression of several characters' stories.
That said, I completely understand why the initial pairings might feel fast. The characters are making decisions with very little information, just like contestants on real dating shows often do, and first impressions don't always end up reflecting where they eventually end up. Some couples click, some don't, and those early choices aren't necessarily an indication that they're perfect matches.
Thanks again for the thoughtful feedback! I really do appreciate it 💗
Okay, so I read through all the posts you linked once I finally got some free time today! If my mind took in everything correctly, then I'm very excited to see pairs that might seem like they're already being built up potentially break apart once they realise they're actually really incompatible will be great (I live for the drama when the mood strikes). Ngl, I'm probably never gonna be fully objective here, as I've had waaayy too many experiences of IFs or VNs setting up relationships between ROs waaaay too early and/or quickly to the point it felt genuinely icky to try and romance the characters included in those scenarios 😬 and I mostly don't really buy into any "opposties attract" types of tropes (I can't seem to pick a struggle, I know, it's a full on curse)
However I fully understand that there are just things one can't fully judge with an unfinished story and with only about half the cast being barely introduced lmao.
But I'm def gonna stay tuned for any future updates as patiently as my silly brain can manage lol! And if it's not annoying, I either might add onto the feedback or mayhaps sign up for that beta testing... although idk how useful I would truly be as a beta tester, as someone who goes for the masc presenting characters only 😭 but we shall see!
Thanks for taking the time to read through the posts 💗 I'm really glad they helped answer some of your questions!
And don't sell yourself short!! You definitely don't need to romance everyone to be a helpful beta tester. I'm always happy to hear feedback, no matter which routes people gravitate toward.
Also, if you (or anyone else reading this) ever have questions about the game, Tumblr is usually where I answer them in the most detail, so it's a great place to check if you're curious about the mechanics, characters, or my design decisions 😊