So my intention was to take a day or two off after releasing c5m2 to
cycle down, but that isn't how my brain works. So instead of working on
Harem, I've been thinking about it. And I'd like your feedback on these.
First is on combat: I really don't enjoy the way that most RPG maker games do combat, so I've kept Harem intentionally easy on that front. Do a bit of gearing and you should be able to put combat on auto and get through 99% of the events without a single loss. But I've tossed enough different skills into the characters that it could be more interesting. Question is two parts,
A1. What do you think of the combat in the game? Should it be harder, easier, or is it about right? This some something that's very hard for me to figure as the developer as I know how it should be played, and thus it's always easy for me.
A2. I'm considering working with Hunter to get a difficulty setting. An easy/medium/hard mode, probably chosen at the beginning of the game. Which all sounds good, but the concern is that it feels like hard mode would demand special rewards. And since Harem is porn, that would mean unique scenes. Which then makes it required for a completionist to play on hard to get all the scenes, even if they hate the mode. So, what do you think? Is it worth the effort and should there be unique scenes for collecting your harem... while hard? :)
Second is on Rhea/Alena and ethos flipping. How the game is currently set up, it forces you to choose one of the two. Rhea is supposed to be the light path character, Alena the dark path. There is a plan to get them off-path somewhere between chapter 6 and 7, but in-between it causes a bug. If you flip after capturing them, they act out of character. Since their route bound, the only get content for that path. And will likely just disappear in chapter 6. It's a bug, but one without an easy solution. And I'd like ideas on how to fix it. A few ideas I've thought of:
B1: The best option isn't practical. Ideally the game would respond to that switch and reconcile their behavior to the main character's ethos, but that would require a lot of development to address a situation that very few players run into. And since it would be unique scenes, it would also cause problems for completionists. So just not an option.
B2: They ‘run away’ after the events in Corsix if they don’t agree with your ethos. Fairly easy to write up a small event which justifies it, just a slight twist on something I’m already doing. It wouldn’t be particularly great content, but it’d make the event work from a narrative sense. When they get captured on the opposite path 6-7, I can also right a single reconciliation scene to get them back into the party (probably).
B3: They ‘Run away’ as in B2, but there’s no reconciliation event. If you flipped at the wrong time, they’re just gone for good. While this seems harsh, it would take the least amount of time. And time equals content. That reconciliation event would be another scene or quest that doesn’t get done because I’m working to solve an issue that’s experienced by very few players.
So if you haven’t noticed by now, I’m rambling a bit. Mostly because I don’t have a firm grasp of this yet, and still trying to figure out the exact questions to ask. But I’ve gotten to the point where I’d like some feedback. Likely I’d decide this using a $2+ patron poll, but at the moment I’d just like to collect generalized feedback.
