Pausing billing again!
Added 2025-01-29 06:59:24 +0000 UTCI just came up with a way to overhaul the game and make it more engaging and interesting, but 3 days isn't enough time to redo everything, so I'll be pausing billing once again.
A lot of new ideas, mainly on the organisation side of things.
Player stats will be reworked from the pointlessly complicated system they currently have to a more streamlined system, where the player's actions and dialogue will either be "empathetic" or "selfish" and these "stats" will unlock unique dialogue, storylines and wg scenarios.
This new format also lets me fold in scenarios that I would feel kind of uncomfortable putting in normally, because it effectively allows for a "villain" playthrough type of thing.
Looking at the "skills" system, it did nothing useful or interesting, but I plan on making it a bit more interesting now, with more synergy, mostly centered on the cooking system. So the player can spend time gardening, or fishing etc, and it will provide ingredients for cooking, which can be used to make recipes once the "main" storyline with a character gets going, which will focus on a more dedicated weight gain mechanic instead of it being entirely story based.
So the game's format will be a little less freeform than before, but hopefully much more focused. I'm aiming for the stories to be much more variable rather than having a vague sort of "freedom" to travel places that does nothing.
I've also decided to remove any real "pass/fail" mechanics from the dates. I want the dates to be more about getting to know the character rather than just clicking the "correct" option to "win" the date. This way repeat playthroughs with the same character can be more interesting, hopefully, as it allows you to make different choices in the dialogue.
So each character will have 3-5 initial dates, followed by the game "opening up" with that character and unlocking various wg storylines with them.
The player will then have the option to start the "official" storyline at any time, or they can continue exploring various wg storylines. There'll be some kind of Mcguffin that the player can use to reset back to normal at the end of storylines I think. Trying to write every storyline with a "return to the status quo" ending is a bit dull, and I like the idea of some being a little more open ended with the player getting to spend more time within the story, with no clear "ending" to it.
All of this won't exist within the next update of course, but I'm planning on focusing on at least a couple of dates for most characters, and the new format to be properly set up and functional.
I'll also be trying to give more progress updates, so please ask about them on the discord if a week has gone past without any going forwards, it helps keep me focused and accountable!
