Hey there.
Glad to be of some help. A project like this is a huge undertaking, there’s plenty to deal with, loads of moving parts… if I can help shed a different perspective or track down a bug or two, that’s all I’m hoping for. I think that a lot of the time, people end up commenting without having this sort of perspective about an evolving project that’s long and difficult.
As I read the devlog, I got the hint “oh, this resource thing may be in the list already” so it was not unexpected that these would already be outdated impressions by the time I voiced them =P. Again, curious to see how it’ll go
I get your angle with how you tried approaching the girl’s backstories and all. I think one of the strong points is that by relying on well established fantasy and eroge tropes and then giving your own twist as you fleshed out the background of the world made for a consistent foundation on top of which to build. This worked well, none of their stories felt out of place, they all fit in nicely.
I think the way it ended up irking me a bit is because though they have different paths, they end up in similar places. The “innocent and awkward girl” is not really my thing so perhaps this contributed to me getting that impression… I guess a way to more finely deconstruct this is that to me they DO feel like their own distinct characters on their own, but in their relationship with the MC a lot of them seem to fall back into being the same type of girlfriend. As in, Tirria wears her arrogance as a weapon and is a hyper competent person who lives off of a profession expressed primarily through violence while Camilla is a super shy and insecure bookworm who is terrified of crowds and a cute little nerd. These are two very different people. But they both relate to the MC primarily through their perceived bodily inadequacy and nervousness. When it comes time to lewd they’re both just as shy and sheepish, not knowing what to do…. You meet two very different women, but then you date the same girlfriend, if it makes any sense.
Again, this is A point of view and I get how daunting a task it is to manage all these story lines and characters within the constrained context of a porn game. It’s all here in the spirit of “maybe consider this point and, should you agree with it, it’s a thing to have in mind when writing future encounters”. If not, that’s all fine as well. Heck, you can always just double into these themes and go all the way, kind of like Harem Hotel builds up towards turning to the player and “joke’s on you, suckers, this was about systemic oppression all along, it’s the thematic core of this whole thing!”. The themes of discrimination and the effects thereof on actual people are already very present, depends on whether you feel like you want to use it as set dressing or actually, deliberately say something about it.
With the futa content, it’s all early days, it seems so bound to be a lot of rough edges. Perhaps the way to go to achieve what you want, though, is to have the girls initiate it. Right now MC buys a potion, goes “here, try this” and they do. So it’s very passive on their part. One step that could help would be to have one or more of them show interest, or have this whole thing be triggered by a new “main route girl” who just is futa and, as she moves into the hotel, ends up making waves and piquing the curiosity of the other girls. Especially as they get closer to each other, this then could be a catalyst for experimentation on their part. With regards to them feeling different ways about it, I think an easy route to go towards would be something like the old Slave Maker, where the effect is temporary the first few times, so they can have some fun and see how they feel about it. This would give them time to breathe and think, rather than the jump to a permanent change.
Something I remembered now, too. Once Camilla mentioned she lives mostly in the library but also rents a room in a boarding house, it felt weird that the MC didn’t offer her one if his rooms instead. She’s getting some interpersonal contact through Kiara which I guess is part of your plan for her becoming more confident so I would expect the offer to be, at least initially refused, but it could always be a set up for future developments.
Anyway, this is already waaay to long. Just, again, hope I can give you an outsider’s perspective on how things are going, hopefully at least something useful. Can’t wait to see what comes next