gegerlan
commented
12 years ago I agree with your sentiment, but it's really up to Etranz to decide what is needed, and how it's done.
I think your suggestions in their general sense are great, and something you should strive for, but I can't force them as principles upon others. If you work better by following another way, then you're definitely welcome take that path.
Your alarm regarding the size of the work Etranz set out to do, may be right. It will still take a lot of time and effort before it will be a living city by itself, and your fear is well founded given the context of the game's history. Even so, what I'm not willing to try and dictate what Etranz does, on the sole basis of the actions, or inactions, of people in the past. If this is what Etranz wants to do, then this is what Etranz is welcome to do.
If you want to give suggestions or help, then you're probably very welcome to do so. Just tone down the rhetoric, and make it clear that you wish to provide assistance, and not just to butcher something someone has spent time and effort into creating. :)
Tempmania
ghost
The town is designed with too much emphasis on its mapping instead of the content (events) in the game. It also contains more mapping errors than the rest of the game combined (walk through furniture, walls, etc.).
The problem isn't with the design of the village but rather the scale and management of it. Everyone makes errors - but how the hell are you going to find and fix an error in something built so large in the first place. The town also risks ending up dull like Carthage - huge map, few events and incomplete quests.
Suggestion :
Trim the scale of Hikari - possibly get rid of the east and west section. The school and hospital can be included in the main map as 'shop-house' sized buildings. The castle/palace also needs to be scaled down. Also, avoid making buildings with characters that are only going to say something repeatedly like "Hello I am (name) . This is my (house/shop/etc)" forever in the game - this includes the soldiers guarding the castle and nurses in the hospital. This will only make the game extremely huge AND boring.
Note :
Will you enjoy a game where your character has to walk all over a town with almost all the characters saying the same damn thing before finally finding someone that gives you something like a quest or h-event. Play a few professional rpg games like : Shini_g Soul, Final Fant_sy, H_rvest Mo_n, Megam_n N_twork etc. (censored on purpose) - you will never find two different characters that say exactly the same thing.
Build the game with gameplay in mind - not the scale or the amount of eroge. This ensures the success of the game even if the maps and h-events are scarce.
This issue should be assigned to etranz. I apologize if my suggestion and statement seemed offensive - I can't find any better words to get the idea across.