Interesting concept, it can be fun despite the length!
I for sure would love to see a sequel, with a lesser number of stops, but with each having greater depth, more setup (a story) for each character set we get to decide on haha. I think it'd make the experience much more rewarding!
Once more, as a proof of concept, it shows good potential!
Took this for a spin, and honestly don't regret it. I've seen two other games built around this concept, and yours has nothing to envy, it is a welcome addition to an interesting concept with few entries to its name. I would specially praise the way you handle guest characters, they don't overstate their welcome and are clearly identifiable as such - if there's one thing you do so well others devs could/should learn from you, it's this.
While playing, I detected at least one clear bug, and a couple of others that I'm not certain are bugs, but did trigger a suspicion in me . The former is that, when you sent Esme to clear the toilets after the library rather than punishing her, you still get the punishment scene unlocked in the gallery. As for the latter, when it comes to the principal, if you punish her and bring her to the edge during her speech, without going all the way - I'm talking high 90s - that does not count as a punishment in your record or hers. Finally, I got the sense that the "history" the character pages track is somewhat inconsistent. Sadly I don't recall which ones they are, I believe it was Esme, but sometimes it doesn't track at all if you "turn her down", as opposed to how it does with, say, Nova.
I have a couple of concerns. One of them involves the girls MC lives with. Are both Sofia and Suzie's paths unavoidable? I tried to not gather points with them, yet things escalating (the kiss, the yoga grinding) happen regardless. I found myself wanting an off-ramp from them, and never got it. I personally would like for a chance to not get involved with either to exist.
For the second, it is a general "issue" that I will exemplify with a specific situation. When it comes to Morgana, I didn't fondle her on the swimming lesson, nor did I do anything on the infirmary. Going into the shower scene, I had no track record with her, so to speak. Yet things went from 0 to 100 with only one choice mediating the shift, in a way that wouldn't feel so sudden for players who had seized the previous moments, and who may have felt things were a long thing coming. When it comes to AVNs, I am firm believer that there's levels to the types of acts MC engages with when it comes to love interests; and despite how most developers tackle them, they are not just "indifferent/cold" and "sex". There's (flirtly behaviour, romantic behaviour) erotic behaviour, and sexual behaviour. Now, I can understand if devs don't give the whole range of escalation for each encounter, making players do the step by step checlist first and only then get a sexual reward. But at the very least, I don't like when a dialogue choice to flirt or a dialogue choice to do something only slightly erotic, leads to a full-on sexual scene. Sexual scenes must always be preceded by an unequivocal choice to do a sexual act, is something I firmly believe in. In the case of Morgana in the shower, the choice was to peek on her: something only very mildly erotic in nature. When MC wipes his thing out, that was a proper place to have a second choice (on if to actually do it or leave then), which would have escalated the situation into sexual territory with acceptable input from the player. Lacking that, or even better, alongside it, when she's on top of you, there could have been a second/third choice on if to stop there, or tell her what MC tells her (to grind on him as punishment, after all that nice speech about her that was actually nice to hear.) Now, I get this signifies extra work for you, as a developer. But the reason I think it's worthwhile to pursue tackling scenes in this way, is because it evens the playing field in a way, between players that have done a lot of stuff with the love interest before the scene, and players who have done nothing; no matter how many opportunities for scenes between MC and any particular love interest exist, if you always have 2 or 3 choices between a normal situation turning into a sexual act, it will never feel like things escalated too fast, even if the first time is happening on the 20th opportunity for a given player. Like I said, I had this happen with Morgana, but I can see how the same case can be made for Nova, Esme, and the class skipper girl you meet at the club/train. The option some devs take is to simply end/lock routes if not enough points are collected or if important scenes are not experienced, but since you don't seem to be taking that path, I offer an alternative. The TL;DR would be, if the choice (and/or its preceding dialogue) that leads into a sexual situation doesn't telegraph that you are getting into one such scene, you should always have a second choice - sometimes a third choice, if you want to let playes enjoy a little eroticism without going all the way, something I myself consider exquisite - that serves as an off ramp or that allows the player to confirm he'll get the sexual scene, so he feels it's the result of his agency. I think a big risk for AVNs is when players don't feel a sense of ownership for what's transpiring on-screen, and I did feel that a bit there.
Big text, but I hope the feedback is useful. Best of lucks with the continued development, keep doing great work!
Happy to hear you'll look into that choice!
If you want my suggestion, I think a simple "*Friendly headpat*", paired with the other flirty dialogue option (and the "important choice" red hue), is enough to convey you are choosing if you'll have your relationship with her be friendly or romantic.
Thanks for reading all my other feedback, and best of lucks with development, you've got this!
While playing, I did hit points where I felt "Oh, one of those scenes is starting again...", like when Luther talks with MC in the drive-back (you are given a choice on whether to hear this or not, mind you), when MC and Cymhen are talking about the philosophy behind his efforts at the table, and when MC and the girls' brother are having their heart to heart, and honestly... they are the idiosyncrasy of the game. I wouldn't change a thing - save except maybe adding a choice on whether to hear the story of the brother and just tell him to save it and get the convo done with early.
But if this is a point that sticks out from your game, you shouldn't file it down - it is one of the points that set it apart from the rest, and that is very good, not bad. Your game, as it is now, is not for everyone, and that is good, not bad. Some people will drop it due to that, but others will absolutely love it, finding in it something they can find in no other. I think that is much more valuable than an experience everyone can get through, but that is too vanilla and non-committal to really leave a lasting impression. The long talks help your game not be forgettable, keep them.
I do have some issues with the game, but they lie elsewhere: I feel the game telegraphs and holds you hand too much. For example, being told Bael and Fiadh are a package deal repeatedly since before meeting them, I get that's managing players expectations, but I feel this may have been better made clear for after the heart to heart with Bael, or even for way later - I think it's totally fine for games to lead players on and then disappoint them, and trying to avoid that may be doing you a disservice. That's for the telegraphing part, as for the holding your hand part, you are told "some don't get instant gratification doesn't mean good points for the long term relationship", or something along those lines, very early on, coupled with the fact the wards will try something on you. I got the message loud and clear: "have casual sex early with them at your own risk, or be the bigger man, reject them and build the foundation for the long-term relationship". Well, let me actually do that! Multiple times you are told Bael will try something on you, and then when it happens, MC automatically rejects her! No! Give the player a choice there, one that completely locks out her (and Fiadh) routes - worst case, make it lead to a bad end. On the upcoming ball, we are told MC will say some words so the giant cook stays - actually give players a choice to snub her and praise, say, Leana instead! There are amazing opportunities for players to mess up, and I feel the game makes use of none of them. Again, I get that you can't allow the narrative to branch too much too early on or everything becomes unwieldy, but you also have those lock route/bad end options I mentioned to implement them.
This is a minor point, but I thought it worth mentioning all the same: when the choice on whether to be romantic or not with the younger sister comes, both options are, for lack of a better term, "kind": kiss her, or hug her. Compare this with the options given for the elf girl, after what is a very tame ask for affection on her part: (direct flirtation/innuendo), or "shrug" - the second choice kinda makes you feel like a douche, totally different than picking the "hug her" choice, if you get what I'm saying? Both options should feel affectionate, or it may skewer what is picked.
Despite this, the game was very interesting and showed a lot of potential, these are all suggestions and the personal point of view of one player, please keep in mind that the soul of this game is and will always be what you, the developer/author, likes and would like to see. We don't play AVNs to play experiences made by committee, made by the general consensus of the entire player community, but to play experiences made by specific individuals, - the developers, of whom you are one. I download and play these games to see your opinions, your takes, your preferences, no one else's. It's great when they match with mine, but when they don't, that only means they will match with someone else's, and it'll be great for them. So keep developing, and keep having confidence in what you have to say/show.
A Google Drive link at least will for sure be appreciated! I kid you not, after posting that comment I went to download 0.2, and only just now did the download finish, 16 hours later, because Mega hit me with the "limit exceeded" thing twice. It's that kind of delays that I'd like to prevent my fellow AVN players from suffering in the future!
Congratulations on the release! It was a long time coming haha
When it comes to alternate download methods, I always appreciate to have a Google Drive download option, since Mega download limits and wait times get annoying past a certain size, and Mediafire has bothersome pop-ups. While a launch rush can collapse a Drive link for a bit, I think there's no better option for players who find the game between releases! EDIT: Of course, if you could host the game natively on Itch, that'd be even better!
A great game! I love ero games that have the dichotomy of resisting tempation or succumbing to it, leaving it up to the player, and I have always wanted to see AVNs have NTR as one more element, rather than totally absent or as the full focus!
I also love how the NTR "partners" are treated with respect - specially thinking of Owen here. Kai seems cool and treated more antagonisticaly than warranted by MC, I happily lost points with the gf so he got the moe moe kyun he paid for haha
I feel that due to the known aprehensions involving NTR, this game doesn't fully admit or even realize its own vocation, what it is/has to be: this is a game with two protagonists, a guy and a woman, each with their own set of love interests.
In like with that imo you should have a different set of stats display depending on if you are reading a scene from MC's POV, or from his mother's. For him the girl stats, for her the NTR paths stats.
My main gripes I'd say involve day 6, and how cheating on the girlfriend seems to occur no matter what, even if you do resist the temptation. I don't know if an option to avoid the other girls romantically is the right call, but I would at least like variations where you start kissing those girls, but don't go further into sexual acts with them (so, the romance still happens anyways, but wheter to go sexual remains up to the player). Of course, I understand this would require constant extra work going forward, so don't be forced to add it, it's just something I personally would like to have. Maybe it could something for you to go back and add once you have completed the game?
In any case, once more, this is a great project that I'm glad exists, so keep doing your best, even if loud voices disaprove - there's many others, like me, who are happy such a game exists!
I only played up to the start of day 5 before writing this comment, but I honestly don't need to see more to give you a 5 star rating! This is the type of AVN I always wanted to see, one where NTR is possible but avoidable depending on your choices, one more flavour in the mix, so thanks for making it! Please don't let the haters discourage you, they hate loudly precisely to make you stop, since I guess they are afraid your work will be influential and inspire others! So don't give in, the AVN scene needs brave developers like you!
I saw this game recommended over and over, but I waited until the second part of episode 2 released to play it for the first time... I see the light! It was amazing! The MC may be one of the funniest MCs I've seen, great banter!
I feel sexual games revolving on the conflict between "temptation and restraint" are some of the best, nice to see it's a core theme of your game! I tend to not like unavoidable heroines, but I'm fully on board with the one you have, she and her scenes are used to great effect!
As for the minigame some struggled with - damn, must the lowest common denominator of AVNs players be low! It was as easy as can be! (Nice reference, as well!) imo, going forward you shouldn't dumb down any planned minigames and stick true to your vision, while still providing an skip function for the more intellectually-challenged players, seems like the best of both worlds, an experience for what type of reader each of us is!
Itch is currently hidding adult games from searches and tag-browsing, stablishing higher requirements for NSFW to comply with, and reviewing the existing ones to ensure they don't break them. Once that's done, games should be searchable and tags browsable again, so just waiting may be enough.
If you want to get engaged join the discord of your favorite game and start coordinating with the community of fellow players there, if you have a reddit account the AVN_lovers subreddit is also a good place to coordinate and raise awareness.
A masterpiece in the making without a doubt. Like the game asks of you, just trust it, even if the start seems confusing and like name-dropping too many things and events without explanation, you understand things well enough once you reach the point the game wants you to understand them at.
Keep up the work with the same confidence, dev! Excited to see what comes next!
If you had split the current content between a 0.1 and 0.2 updates, I would have still praised you. For what's called a "prologue", it has a substantial amount of content! The way of speaking MC and his best friend have is for sure idiosyncratic and I found it odd at first, but soon I came to love it, it really sets this game and those characters apart, well done with that bold decision! Love the amount of choices too, as well as the stats, managing them never feels overwhelming. I look forward to future updates/chapters for sure, great first release!
EDIT: Ups, forgot to say this, but if you can please add alternative download links ("mirrors") for your game. Ideally it could be downloaded natively from Itch, but if not, Google Drive works too!
Your game always had potential, and it was always on the higher ends of AVNs to enjoy casually. But with 0.3, it's starting to ascend into that higher level where few, if only one other AVN as far as I'm concerned, has reached: this story has a theme, your Main Character has a Leitmotiv.
I'm talking, of course, about his powerlesness, his inability to save the people he encounters, and he's attempts to overcome that. I think the climax of chapter 3 was rough around the edges, but it had glimpses of genious througout. I think you will be fine going forward, as long as you keep in mind that core conflict the story has revolved around so far: MC wants to protect those he loves or meets, and so far has had as much failures as successes.
Personally, I'd love to see explored how him gaining greater flashy cultivation power doesn't instantly translate into meaningful power to save people.
The dev (one person) making the small effort once, or every player interested in his game having to go dig for updates, one after another? I think it's easy to agree on who should be required to make the effort in these cases, the one whose effort makes the information instantly available to everyone else. Why should players have to join dedicated Discords to get updates? One could even argue funelling people towards Patreon by only giving updates there while abandoning the game page is a dishonest way to go about increasing revenue.
What a lovely and cute-looking game! I got the Forever Alone ending the first time, like everyone I bet, but the second time around I had sucess with Evelyn, what a cutie! Props to the writer for having her be a cute romance, from what I read others had worse luck with their picks haha. Both playthroughs I had the "faint nurse meeting event" after Evelyn had given me her candy on lunch break, at first I thought she had poisoned me haha.
