Let's talk stats.

Affinity

Affinity is the primary stat for tracking a woman's interest in the player.

I implemented this as a percentage system to give the player more flexibility in how to play the game. A rigid point system would have meant carefully tracking the points available and potentially locking players out of later game content if they missed points for a particular girl earlier in the game.

A percentage system has other issues when the player accumulates a high volume of points, as the percentage will move very little. If a player has enough points, they could change their attitude toward a woman and not see any change in the woman's attitude toward the player.

One option to combat that is resetting the points, potentially at the end of each playable week. They wouldn't be reset to zero but instead maintain the player's affinity percentage, just with a lower point amount. For example, if a player has 90% affinity (90 points out of 100), this could be set to 18 out of 20 (still 90%).

I'm interested in hearing player feedback on this.

Persona

Persona is the other system for tracking a player's attitude toward a woman. This is tracked as a Nice Guy vs Bad Boy and is limited to 5 points to ensure a change of attitude is quickly reflected.

This system seems to cause some confusion as it's not often a black-and-white choice of which side a woman prefers and what one woman views as a 'bad boy' another might view as a 'nice guy.'

I've mentioned that it may help to think of it as putting her interests first (nice guy) or your, the player's interests first (bad boy).

If we look at Maria. She's a married woman, so being a nice guy (i.e., respecting her marriage) doesn't get you anywhere. But, being a bad boy (i.e., ignoring her marriage and pushing ahead anyway) does get you somewhere.

Another married woman might prefer the nice guy approach, as by being respectful, you're providing something she's missing out on in her marriage, and she finds comfort in you.

Kimberley

Now, onto Kimberley's two paths, Nice Guy and Bad Boy, as this has been another point of confusion.

I've stated that Kimberley's Bad Boy path is her solo route, whereas the Nice Guy is a group/harem route. That has led to some discussion, as players say they consider chasing multiple women as a 'Bad Boy' trait.

As mentioned, Persona isn't black and white and isn't necessarily about 'traits.'

As one of the main love interests, Kimberley is happy to fool around with Max regardless of whether he is a bad boy or a nice guy. The difference is in how she views a potential relationship with Max. As a bad boy, Max is not shy in letting Kimberley know he wants to fuck her. She is fine with this as she is equally horny, but not without teasing him first. Seeing Max exhibit interest in other women will make her jealous as she realizes he's only interested in sex and nothing else. This can cause her to reconsider fooling around with him.

As a nice guy, Max still shows interest in Kimberley, but he's respectful of her feelings and is trying to show he isn't just a horny virgin. Kimberley appreciates this attitude and is willing to open up to him and reveal parts of her life she'd otherwise keep secret, such as her relationship with Patricia. She also considers that his respectful nature makes him perfect to help Patricia, who's inexperienced with men.

Trusting Max in this way can also lead to her wanting to experience more with him, such as group/harem.

There may become a point where the player needs to switch between being a nice guy or a bad boy with Kimberley. Her horny nature may only lead so far as she considers if Max is suitable relationship material.

Conversely, as the group/harem grows, Kimberley may be more interested in the experience and less in a relationship with Max. As such, he may need to be more aggressive in his approach to keep her interested.

Prerequisite not met

Lastly, I'd like to address the "Prerequisite not met" option in player choices.

Early in the game's development, the game would automatically skip a scene if the player did not have the relevant prerequisite, such as waiting outside when Keira or Kimberley gets changed.

While replayability meant players could view these scenes, many players wanted to 'know' that another scene was possible. This is where the "Prerequisite not met" option was introduced.

Note: If you don't like seeing this, you can disable it in the game settings, and the original behavior will take over.

The reason I didn't give players the option to, as in the example, watch Keira or Kimberley get changed regardless of any prerequisites is because I'd have to make additional scenes for the girl being unhappy with the player choosing to proceed and the negative stats that would have to result from those actions.

There are instances in the game where a player can choose the option regardless of prerequisites, such as Max getting changed in front of Kimberley during the pool event. On the nice guy route, Kimberley reveals her opinion of Max doing this to help inform the player of what her expectations are on this route.

Player feedback is important to me, and how you perceive certain events vs. how I envision them can help shape the game's future development.