Game version
This feedback applies to House Chores version 1.2.1.
I'll try to keep this original post up to date and announce changes in subsequent posts.
Disclaimer
I feel like before I get into feedback concerning technical and / or design decision issues I ran into, I first want to make clear that I love the game to bits so far. If I didn't I wouldn't get through the hassle to write this post. I tend to criticise the things I dislike without ever praising the things I actually enjoy. So keep that in mind reading this feedback, knowing I find the game very much enjoyable.
Issues
Continuity
- Characters not responding to the current state of story progression in certain places.
- v0.20: While events of v0.20 are still progressing, Emily during nighttime gives her normal pyjama dialogue instead of being worried about having been caught.
- "Voices" for the three women are inconsistent. A voice pack that’s used primarily for a specific character is sometimes used for another character in other scenes.
Interaction & Transitions
- At the very start oft he game, you are asked twice in a row to give Linda a name.
- Playing the v1.2 epilogue scene in the PC’s bedroom advances the time of day. Playing it in any other place doesn’t.
Graphics / Display
- During the day in the dining room when Linda is in her maid outfit, when you finish the "admiration" scene with "f*ck", location changes to the living room.
- When picking up Linda’s clothes in her bedroom at night, Julie’s training set isn’t there.
- When interacting with Julie in the morning to arrange a date night, there is no text box around the text.
- In the pool party screen, the back half of the floatie Emily sits on is missing.
Text
- At the very start of the game, before Julie and Emily arrive, Emily is repeatedly referred to as the PC’s "sister".
- Instead of trying to explain the occasions, I’ll reference the line and column of the json files as displayed when opening them with Notepad++.
- Map007.json: Ln 10, Col 1,007
- CommonEvent.json: Ln 17, Col 57,724
- Typos
- Emily dialogue (CommonEvents.json: Ln 19, Col 44,335): "peaks" -> "peeks"
- Julie dialogue (CommonEvents.json: Ln 18, Col 41,163; Ln 21, Col 31,903): "Goddess" -> "Goodness"
- Emily’s v0.13 scene (spring)(Map006.json: Ln 27, Col 10,453; Ln 27, Col 24,093): -> Either add an exclamation mark or "with" / "with your".
- Julie dialogue at the end of the v1.2 epilogue scene (pool at night)(Map006.json: Ln 44, Col 46,540): "win" -> "wine"
- The player can’t give input for the variables n[11] up to n[13]. Since those apparently are nicknames for the women‘s relations to the main character, this feels kind of off on some occasions.
- Linda is referred to with n[11].
- This seems to be set to "me".
- Occasions where "me" doesn’t make sense:
- CommonEvents.json: Ln 17, Col 4,941; Ln 22, Col 4,941
- Map002.json: Ln 8, Col 1,026; Ln 8, Col 2,873; Ln 8, Col 8,214; Ln 8, Col 10,061
- Map006.json: Ln 38, Col 8,736; Ln 38, Col 21,425; Ln 38, Col 33,532; Ln 38, Col 45,430
- Map042.json: Ln 9, Col 1,620
- Julie is referred to with n[12].
- This seems to be set to "Auntie" when her relation to the PC is called "Aunt". Otherwise it seems to be set to "me".
- Occasions where "me" doesn’t make sense:
- CommonEvents.json: Ln 18, Col 766; Ln 18, Col 23,843; Ln18, Col 38,869; Ln 21, Col 494; Ln 21, Col 22,440; Ln 32, Col 9,803
- Map002.json: Ln 20, Col 5,103
- Map006.json: Ln 18, Col 11,336; Ln 18, Col 11,573; Ln 18, Col 24,043; Ln 18, Col 24,280; Ln 18, Col 39,383; Ln 18, Col 39,620; Ln 19, Col 11,049; Ln 19, Col 11,286; Ln 19, Col 23,241; Ln 19, Col 23,478; Ln 28, Col 5,913; Ln 28, Col 19,614
- Linda is referred to with n[11].
Suggestions for future content
- Zoom in option for all "in screen" scenes
- Implement a chance or an option for characters to walk in on scenes again after the first time (e. g. Julie during the scene with Linda in the player’s bedroom; Linda after the nighttime scene with Emily in Emily’s bedroom; Emily during the scene with Linda on the cabinet in the living room).
- "Continue" option for Emily’s visit scene in PC’s bedroom (and the same scene in her bedroom at night)
- Either clean up the n[11] and n[12] references, or let the player type in nicknames for the women.
- Overview / counter for "passion" and different mechanics per woman. Maybe a short indicator or hint for what to do next for any of the women. (Maybe add all this to the character info / profiles?)
- Solo TJ scene with Emily. Maybe a night scene? Either PC sitting on her bed or her gaming chair and her kneeling; or her being kind of tired, lying on the bed just holding her shapes and PC doing the work.
- Something with Emily in the evening. Maybe BJ under the table or HJ or FJ with her sitting next to you. If someone walks in, Emily can stop quickly for the moment (HJ or FJ) or PC explains she’s searching for a dropped miniature and told PC to not move in fear he or his chair could accidentally break it (BJ).
- Since it was kind of suggested by Linda in update 0.14: A picknick in the park with Julie and Emily. I didn’t come up with anything more detailed yet. Let’s just say they have quite a pleasant time.
- To be repeatable, maybe implement it in a similar way to Julie’s date night?
