Overall, much like v0.1, I really enjoyed v0.2.
You're a very talented writer and artist and this game is really really hot and fun to play. With that said, there are some areas where the game could be improved - I want to give some constructive feedback to help with future development.
First - the good!
- New characters
Loving the new characters and really enjoying interactions with them. I'm so excited for a potential romance route (or routes, I'll date them all and all at once). Stardew valley but with weight gain? Fuck yes.
- Crafting system
The ability to craft cards and customise your own deck adds a lot more depth to the gameplay. Cannot overstate how much more interesting this made combat.
- New gameplay systems
Adding the gym, running, fishing minigames really switches things up and prevents the game from feeling too same-y. This does contribute a teeeeny bit to systems overload on the first playthrough, but overall is a good change.
- This game is POLISHED
Once more I want to give major kudos to you as a writer, artist, and game designer. This is really high quality! The descriptions are hot, the art is great, the gameplay for the most part is polished and just really fun. This at its core is an interesting card game first and a really hot TF game second - a really difficult balance to strike. Aspiring game devs take notes.
Now, before I get onto the bad, I want to give a big disclaimer. I realise that a lot of my gripes here are because this is a prototype; you wanted to prevent the game from feeling too quick, and wanted to make sure the player is incentivised to explore and do more things outside of go to the restaurant and pig out. With that said, some of the ways you did this ended up feeling too punishing. The game feeling a little bit too grindy as a result.
With that out of the way, here are the things I didn't enjoy as much, with some suggestions on how to fix them.
- Time walls.
The game is currently full of time walls that artificially slow progression. In a game where the hottest parts and the most interesting gameplay is in sequences where you're being forced to gain weight, having the weight loss process take so long creates an unenjoyable experience. This is made worse due to the month-long deadline to wrap up the current arc - at parts CoG was more tedious time-management sim than fun card game. This was compounded upon by the next issue:
- Lockouts.
Being locked out of locations in the game for a period of several days is frustrating, even moreso with the day/night system. If I pay for a month at the gym, I want to be able to make use of it, dammit, not be locked out of it for 3 days every time. Giving players more ability to lose weight makes it feel so much less punishing to pig out at the restaurant, or spend a day at the barbershop, or fish.
- Currency.
It was a little bit unclear (at least to start) how some materials are obtained. They do make sense once you realise how it's done, but having some sort of hint or even just outright explanation would be great. I'd also love to be able to make money more consistently, because the current amount does leave me feeling a little starved (heh) for resources.
Now for some suggestions. I've done my best to keep 'em realistic, so that they can be implemented with very minimal additional effort or changes to the current code.
Generally speaking, I think that gameplay would be much more streamlined if the player could only really do one activity per day, instead of two. Buffing the rewards from activities and adding some sort of resource/charge system (even as just an integer) would also do wonders to make gameplay much more streamlined. So with that in mind:
1) Have the gym be MUCH more impactful for weight loss (potentially doubling or tripling the current rate) but have it take up a whole day
Having the ability to lose weight faster makes it feel much less punishing to explore the town, talk to NPCs, and pig out at the restaurant
2) Make the amount of fish you can catch reliant on an external resource (e.g. bait) that can be stockpiled, instead of requiring daily fishing
This lets the player schedule fishing days at times where they progress the story, but prevents the feeling of being starved for materials or currency
Optionally, 3) Add some way to earn money at the restaurant (e.g. washing dishes), or make pigging out free after a certain point
Pigging out feels doubly punishing because it feels like wasting money that you're going to need later in the month and also locks you out of the battle content for longer. To me, it would be really hot if pigging out was a very tempting option that challenged the player's self restraint in some way or another. Have an NPC take a shine to the player and attempt to feed them, with the promises of paying for their meal.
All in all, I had a great time playing. The issues I encountered were quite minor and I have faith that they were mainly due to trying to motivate players to explore instead of getting stuck on one thing. I'm very excited to see how the game keeps growing and developing.