Thank you so much for your feedback! I’ve never received such detailed feedback on one of my works in my entire life, and I can tell you paid close attention to so many details, I can’t express how much this means to me!!!
I’m fully aware of the flaws you mentioned in your review, I actually realized it myself, while I was writing the story, how much I neglected the secondary characters.
This game was made primarily for the Romance Jam, which only lasted three weeks, and I was alone to write, draw, and code... So the game’s scenario was written in 4 or 5 days. And I mainly focused on Liam and Rayan’s relationship because the game jam’s theme was "romance" and "summer paradise"! That’s why the choices don’t have much variety, aside from giving "points" for the QPR ending or the romantic ending.
This game is mainly a fanservice game related to the main game "what WILL.remain();" and the secondary characters will be better developed in the main story (not yet though, since there’s only an incomplete DEMO that includes just the prologue and Chapter 1).
It wasn’t my intention for the friendship between Helena and Liam to be unbalanced. Originally, I had planned some dialogue about Helena’s ambitions, but I cut it due to time constraints (and also because it will be explored more in the main game).
For Romeo and Diane, the problem is that in the main game, Liam doesn't make a physical appearance, so their relationship with him isn’t fully developed in my mind.
(By the way, Romeo doesn’t work at the coffee shop, he just takes his breaks at Rayan and Diane’s café.)
However, you’re right about Romeo and Diane’s relationship with Rayan. It’s better developed in the main game, so I left out some details due to time constraints. But Holiday Heartbeat is supposed to be understandable even if you haven’t played the main game, so if you felt like it was lacking information, that’s something I need to improve.
I had planned to add a scene where Rayan and Romeo talk to each other alone at the restaurant, and a scene between Liam and Chouchou was also planned, but I didn’t have time to develop those scenes.
As for Diane’s scene: it wasn’t my intention at all for Rayan and Liam to seem nonchalant, and it’s true that, looking back, the scene moves a little too quickly. Because they do be worried, and they do all go back to the hotel with her. I do think that a few clarifications or changes to the dialogue to show that Rayan and Liam care about her would help improve this scene!
I was actually planning to improve the game later on, it’s only been a month since I finished it, and I didn’t have enough perspective on it yet to start a second rewrite.
I’d just thought about adding epilogues or bonus scenes showing what happens after the vacation if the player has unlocked all the routes, as well as the scene where Romeo and Rayan talk to each other.
But thanks to your review, I have a much clearer idea of what I could improve, so thank you so much for taking the time to give me such detailed feedback! Merci beaucoup !