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Penlight

A visual novel where you hypnotize cute girls and feel bad about it (in development) · By Angela DeMille

Some Thoughts

A topic by gigachomp created Jul 06, 2024 Views: 375 Replies: 1
Viewing posts 1 to 2
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Initially, I stumbled upon this game because I'm a fan of Innovator123's work on DeviantArt, and I thought that the premise sounded interesting enough, barring the fact I never played visual novels.

I personally enjoy that the good endings come from when (K)you embark on decisions that come with honest intentions to help and to connect. Perhaps that was your intent all along, but this is a really good example on how socially awkward people can grow in a healthy manner via connection and social engagement. I'd love to see more things like this for Penlight, (or perhaps that's  what I subconsciously want for my own life, as Kyou might say... hohohoho!!!!!!!!!!!)

Likewise, when we indulge in Kyou's impulses, especially with Nozomi, the story always takes a darker turn and there's consequences around nearly every corner.

If I had to ask anything, it would be more chances to engage with the characters of Akiko and even Risa without the three girls overshadowing the situation, even just without having to go through the villainous route. I feel there's more room to grow.

I'd really love to chat this over with you in greater detail to really pick your brain on this!
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(this is all speculation on my part, so don't take it as a slight on your writing abilities)
That being said, it's hard to put a finger on Kyou. His internal dialogue rapidly swings between profane, misogynistic and vindictive to moody and sullen in the beginning. I can't help but wonder if he suffers from antisocial personality disorder or is neurodivergent.  His overwhelming negativity and uhhh creepy tendencies make it a bit hard to connect with a protagonist early, as we are to do in these games.

His problems seem to quickly drop as you embark on the healthier routes almost as if they never existed. I don't know if his character sort of evolved from what he was initially written as, or it's just something that gets muted as you carry on, but it's happened often enough to me that it stood out.

I don't have a solution or suggestion, save for maybe toning down the "urgh this bitch" this or "everything is bad" that, not to the point of erasing the sullen, strange character everyone sees him as, but to offer a bit of a believable transition for his morality and mental state as you reach these decisions.  But again, this is all just my presumption, it isn't to criticize your writing!

I'm sure you have your hands full with life, but I hope to see you offer more and more on this game! There's so much storywriting potential that I see here that I have a feeling you're all too eager to share.

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I agree that I would want to see more of Akiko and Risa, but on the other hand, I disagree with the fact that the mc has to have only 1 way of acting. It's like being in another universe. You start fresh from beginning and have a different run and things change based on the past actions. I like it because it's something different than your average story. There are a very few games what do this well, and this is one of them.