Intro:

Hello my gamer friends, or really anyone with even a passing interest in gaming. Or reading. C’mon, it’s not like I think I’m that popular. I’m a guy pretending to be a werewolf, on an adult game site. I write stories of the same vein, and I think pretty well… but that’s up to my almost non-existent and never likely to appear fan-base to decide. If and/or when I’m wrong about that last point, but I digress. These are just going to be a few things I think Developers might want to consider implementing into their games as good practice overall. Whether you agree or not, is a coin tossed…

Mandatory/Quality of Life:

• No point systems. Or if you do have a point system; no unreachable bars to the sex scenes. (The entire point and premise of games on this or any site like this is the sex scenes. That’s what most players are here for. Making a system to bar that is frustrating and counter intuitive. Implementing one poorly that you mean to fix later is not going to go over well at any rate)
• All quests need proper logs. Journal entries; objective markers and or a hint system. ANY of the above needs to be clear to read. (It doesn’t matter which you choose, or how you mean to put them in the game; we as players are not in your mind when you design these things. We also cannot read yours. At least in some cases, I hope not o. o … Gah! There is a difference between “hand holding” and sharing with players the necessary steps to get to the end of the game)
• Economy NEVER needs to feel punitive. (Money is not easy to manage in RL. It is far too much a part of relationship chasing overall. We all know this. We all have mixed feelings about it. Creating obstacles to the fun part of the game that way is not going to win points with your fans. Either by making girl characters too merc-like, or making items too expensive for random reasons)
• If Magic exists, there should always be a viable healing option available. VIABLE. Which does not mean I get hit for half my health and heal for only a fourth of it back, and that wastes my whole damn turn.

Secondary/Utility Or Otherwise Less Headache Inducing:

• IF a pregnancy/breeding system is in place; allow it to happen easier. Do not make contraceptive items insanely expensive, or ones that enhance fertility the same. Especially if the game centers around combat. (Also ties to Breeding should ALWAYS be player choice. If you’re going to bring contraceptives up, allow that to be PLAYER’S choice. Call it a fetish, and I don’t, but it’s still a draw to a certain crowd. This IS NOT RL. The girl doesn’t need to react like it is. It also kills immersion in her investment earned if she suddenly freaks about that when you’ve been building her up in game for an hour or more.)
• In sim style dating games; do not make an energy bar that is also tied to the ability to have sex. At all. (I don’t care about the hygiene bars, the do chores bar, the schooling requirements or the work that gives you peanuts because Devs want to be “meta” about how much their job sucks. We know. Making the player work to earn the girl’s affections that hard, and then tying the “reward” to some arbitrary energy limit is not going to end well ninety percent of the time.)
• On that note; Too much Micro-Management. It’s a no-no. (I can deal with mutli choice dialogues, though with my problem in RL I’m a bit vexed on the whole with that, but if I’ve got to do that alongside keeping track of more than maybe three other factors, I’ll almost always say forget this in about a half hour of trying. Try juggling devs. Not metaphorically. Go on, try it… more than two things gets insanely hard. Remember; this is a game. Not a gauntlet thrown.)
• Stop “trying” to be “Meta” It’s like Irony.

General Help To Ease Frustrations/Encourage Play or Re-Plays:

• Make sure the writing makes sense. It doesn’t have to be the great American/Canadian – insert country here – Novel, but it should be competent. (If a character is hostile to me; I’m not automatically going to expect she drop to her knees because I insult her back, and start sucking my dick… but I don’t chase females that insult for no reason. It’s not cool, it’s not edgy or at all empowering. For her as a character, or the player. It actually shows her as distinctly weak, which is counter to how most want those characters to seem when writing them)
• Stop insinuating violence against males without consequence because Oooh, tits. (Even if you want to mark her a fem dom, or him a “beta to start” male. It’s not okay, and it only incites the same reaction mentally for most players. It’s not romantic, or a good way to mark her out as someone to chase that way. Unless you know, the main character is Deadpool. Then, well…)
• Stop insinuating every male that wants sex from any girl is automatically a pervert. (Or judging the fact it’s wanted in general. It means he finds the girl attractive enough to want that with. Which should be flattering at least to the barest, or secret degree if done well. You offer choices that are innately creepy to see if a guy will take them to chance sex, and make the characters incorrectly and overuse a word that doesn’t mean what most think. Look it up in the dictionary. Jesus. It’s not going to help you gain fans of your game.)

Annoyances That Are Detrimental To Fun/Contrary to Game’s Point:

• Come up with viable NON sexual jobs for a female character to undertake to gain money. (It’s fine if it’s a bad girl play-through option; but that is all such things should be)
• Stop making the most attractive/charismatic females the town bicycles by either practice or implication (The most attractive/charming ones are meant to be the ones MC is supposed to want to chase. Ask any sane guy in RL if he wants to go after any girl; even Cindy friggin Crawford in the late eighties, if she’s known to be an easy lay for EVERYONE. No Bueno Devs)
• Punitive loss of romance system points for “bad choices” in dialogues. (Or in general. Again, to some players who may well have my problem or worse, this multi choice where two answers are wrong and one is only really half right anyway is a bit of a bitch to navigate by itself. There is no need to compound that. At all)
• As to the above: The “Back” button is KING. (As much as save files properly working and NOT NAMED EVERY TIME I SAVE; are your best friend. Implement both. All of the time. Especially for games that have “re-play” value as a selling point.)
• Personal Preference here but – Tsundere characters; they need to go, or be capable of being quickly thawed.(As much as Trans inclusion can be a good thing, Futas are not necessary and should be player choice. Any Trans content should also be. If there is a character added who is, then they should at least in a “harem” game be willing to cede to MC’s sexual preference. Else be able to be outright ignored. Playing “straight” should be allowed to stay that way. Politics can be incredibly divisive, and is best left to another arena entirely)

Conclusion:

As mentioned before, this is a list of things I think, for myself would help players enjoy games more. I’m by no means the be all and end all, and I don’t really expect the devs will listen to my complaints. Or at least if they take them into account at all, they’ll do it their own way – yes Good Girl Gone Bad, I’ve played past the time I reviewed you, and I know about the pregnancy with Dad char option : / At any rate; if you guys can think of others that’d help you out, I invite anyone to add to the list in comments. Or berate me, or agree with me and say cheers. Whatever floats your boat.

I hope you all enjoy playing as much as I have. Remember Devs, I couldn’t be frustrated at all with the games, if I wasn’t invested enough in their quality to love them.