by Assimilation » Mon Feb 28, 2022 3:49 am
Hey, great work on this game so far. I'm a serial-pred guy and I understand this game is built for a mixed bag where the prey is almost always willing, so no worries if this isn't in the direction you'd go.
1. The game's parts feel very disconnected. I know that it's not a story-based game, but since it's also not a mechanics-based game (no skills, no combat, no puzzles), that ultimately means it's a collection of scenes and the thing I'd at least expect to tie those scenes together is your player's progression. As a pred, the only thing that tracks my decisions is the weight gain system (I figure its effects aren't implemented yet) and that digested NPCs are removed from the map. I've seen that some people like the fact that content isn't gated behind doing other things first, but I can say for myself that I'd prefer the pred content would be unlocked as my character gets thiccer or just a higher level (which is effectively prey count). It might be the most immersive way to turn player-prey encounters into reversals where the player seduces that NPC.
2. I learn I can press T to talk to my prey, and then I get to use it on like 3 people because all other player-pred scenes (6 others, I believe?) force the passage of time. I have mashed T so many times in preparation for the good stuff, only to find that the narration instead continues and hours pass by as I wait or sleep my prey off. I felt like there was a lot of potential with that as a scene-based game, so I felt a little let down here. Even without the dialogue aspect, the fact that I had to digest people in their homes ("I can't go outside with a belly like this!") meant that I couldn't spend any time parading it around, interacting with others as a tease. Related to the forced-digestion, it means I can't ever try to fill up that Fullness bar, and feeling stuffed is something that some pred people love to chase in their fantasy.
3. Luna has opinions on things before she makes a decision to give in as prey, pred, or to leave. Since this isn't a story-based game, and scenes both prey and pred are around, it really makes sense to describe her feelings towards wanting to get-in-that-belly or oh-she-looks-delicious for *after* the Yes/No is pressed.
4. I did read earlier in this thread that mechanics like Willpower were being put in before discovering that Struggling wasn't great fun, so I totally get these artefacts in a WIP game, but I can't... imagine them being a hassle unless they were like spamming keys against a timer. The game is very much a walking simulator (not a bad thing) and it's once again something that I think pred-players would want to use to escape/reverse an NPC-pred scene, while it could also be something that prey-players would use to stimulate their captors' internals, while trying not to accidentally have the pred regurgitate them. I wonder if you have any intent on using the timer mechanic for anything in the future either, since I think there was the magic shop vendor and maybe one other interaction that used it?
I know this can feel like you're making something you're proud of and I'm just wishing it were something more, so I'd like to reiterate that I really did enjoy the game despite being a predator vorarephile. You've got a lot of fun stuff already implemented, and that's why I felt the desire to give you my 2 cents—something about it did click with me and I'll be checking back for the next update, whenever that would be. Thanks!