To round out my suggestions column, here's a listing of potential item/talents (An ability that leads to a unique dialogue option in that playthrough) to go with their hobbies;

Cooking - Always keeps salt/pepper packets on them. When having snacks in private you can stealthily add the salt to their pudding/coffee, forcing them to leave to get  a replacement and giving you time to search/leave. You can fill your hand with pepper when threatened to throw it in the enemies face for a way to escape without injury.

You are able to detect the taste of poison/drugs in food and drink. If being drugged has to happen, you awaken sooner in better shape from only consuming a bit.

Reading -  You start with an ebook reader. It has a document scanner setting you installed but never had a chance to use, which you have the option to employ when finding an incriminating section of a journal or ledger. This way you have documentable evidence of a crime/plan, allowing blackmail or to threaten enemy into letting you go. 

The ability to quickly scan documents gives you the ability to memorize writing in a document when you have but a minute to search a room. 

Gaming - You have a handheld gaming console. During a scene where you have to hide but get captured , you can record yourself with its camera and plant it in a corner of the room in advance. This way, when hiding, you distract the pursuer, allowing you to leave the room behind their back.

During discussions you relate to them by knowing about their games. This calms them and puts them at ease. This could make them hesitate during a crucial moment.

Music - You keep a palm sized synthesizer with you. You are able to use it's record function at a certain point to record incriminating speech. This will allow you to submit it as evidence or try to threaten the enemy. As it has no data backup black mail will not work however, unlike with the ebook reader.

During a scene where you have to play a piano to put the enemy to sleep you can instead play an upbeat melody to dance to. This will boost affinity and get them to open up to you, making a search of their room unnecessary. If you choose to play the piano they will fall asleep for longer, letting you safely search the entire room.

Shopping - You start with that months issue of "Living Large" magazine.

You have the option to recognize the real value of several items you see around the date, such as their car/watch, their tv, and/or their piano. This way, when they tell you the value of their item you can either surprise them by knowing the real value and boost affinity, or you can keep your mouth shut and recognize they are giving you low values because them must be hiding how much they really spend, something you can use as a potential clue.

You have a in depth knowledge  of valuable brands, artists, and companies. For example,  you have the option to recognize that a fabrige egg in their artistic collection is actually a genuine and priceless article, letting you take it easily by rearranging the display. or for example, when you have an option to escape you can recognize which of their cars are the most valuable and which have the best performance, letting you take their fastest car and allowing you to escape them...

Arts and Crafts - You start with a optical shade-alizer, capable of identifying the exact shade of any color, allowing you to memorize/sample upto 5 specific colors, and has a minor but stable internal memory. This allows you to recognize that stains you find are actually blood, potentially taking  a color sample which will contain DNA. You have the option to copy a specific file on their computer, yet because it's such a unique device it doesn't get searched, taken, or disabled. You have an option to build affinity  by helping them with restoring a unique sculpture, something they only do by eye.  By analyzing damaged paint, you realize the true original color was entirely different, but changed over the years from oxidation. 

You have intricate knowledge of paints and their compositions. By recognizing that prussian blue contains cyanide you can use it to try to make a poison. By knowing that black normally uses bone ash, you can take a sample of the paints, when you suspect they used the parents bone for the pigment. You can gain affinity and dialogue when speaking of their paintings if visiting the gallery.

This turned out to be much longer than the simple checklist id intended, apologies.

I know that some examples are needlessly specific, however i hope you can take the idea itself and ignore the specifics.  Iam well aware how complex dialogue trees can be. Equally aware of how difficult seemingly simple mechanics like player affinity  can be during implementation.

If still working on this title I hope that maybe 1-2 ideas will give you some form of creative insight, especially if you happen to be on the fence between 2 equally appealing ideas. This list was sort of like my early morning warm up exercise so think nothing of it if it's too late or the concept does not quite apply, such as if you have already implemented the hobby system in another way.

The opening UI screen is an very big draw, showing excellent effort on your part. The ability to set a name, quote, pronouns, and pick interests went a long way in driving  up my anticipation for expected features.

The fact that you allow more choices than ive seen in any other story in just the opening makes it clear to anyone playing you have the skill and dedication to implement those same options into the final game.

I had no clue about the gender of Pups or the android (Which is possibly genderless, unless it's a future where they are capable of relationships), which considering you could chose you own characters pronouns, became a moot point while fostering my curiosity . It is likely indicated somewhere but, if it is,  i chose to ignore it so I can easily believe them to be any gender i wish, as the player). With as many talking choices as youve included leaving their gender open is a great way to go, giving people who like those characters or do not, equal chance to accept or reject them.

I believe i may have accidentally confused this game with another where you date a monster, and I'am still not entirely sure iam wrong (as it's a demo) lol. However the quality of this is much better than what was shown for that game, which was a maybe, while this game is a definite "will read!".

If you add an extra option to the star menu,  maybe as a second page since the first is done  very well already, it will  serve to make player anticipation rise even higher for the final release.

A somewhat simple option that fits the game already, is for each hobby you select you get a single "starting item", which you can  

A. Show on a second screen right after name selection, letting you add a paragraph to explain both your interest and the item.  This way either the item or hobby talent will be known to them and they will anticipate a moment to use them. This will be the key in allowing multiple playthroughs.

B. You could make their hobby a part of the story,  not mentioned until needed, but changing the outcome of choices or allowing a unique choice.  Such as if choosing ;

"reading",  when finding hidden documents with a mere minute before discovery, you are able to scan and memorize their contents. 

"Music"  you get a chance to play piano for your date which will put them to sleep giving you several minutes to search their room, however if you are capable in music your song puts them into a deep sleep giving you extra time to search. 

"Cooking" There is a scene where they drug your coffee during lunch. However by talking about the food recipes you complement the coffee and, not recognizing the odd aftertaste from your experience with sweeteners, you get an option to not drink it.

C.  For minimal effort, you could simply add I sentence at the beginning saying "You always keep xyz with you from a lifetime spent learning about zyx".

I know you have the dedication to do it and you will enjoy the challenge of implementation. :)

However i also know you are already implementing a hobby mechanic, if you have not done so already.

I believe there will definitely be a body horror element you encounter with the date, one which you can eventually use to save yourself and your heart. Something about needing/being able to take others body parts into yourself, either for strength or out of neccesity. Including the possibility that the parts willingly gave their lives for their one son, so he could survive, in a unique and questionable procedure nobody would understand. Perhaps one the daughter was meant to be a part of, yet with her surviving, the brother still needs something from her to be complete and truly live among society (Such as eyes, a face, or legs for instance...)

Thanks for entertaining my speculations at the end here, and i will be quite embarrassed if it turns out this game really is about him being a bio engineered monster, yet I didn't see it for being a demo. I would be glad to consider volunteering any help if somebody backs out or you have ideas on expanding the title (I spent a lifetime developing my voice and diction for voice over work and have a library of sounds/effects)

Iam taking time away from itch but if you would like to leave a comment the only social thing i use is my reedit as

Delusion Drive or https://www.reddit.com/user/Old_Macaroon_7169/

Oh my, this games art and cover instantly brings to mind Omori, especially by seemingly giving each character a primary color.

I am still downloading it, however I appreaciate the unique and personally developed art style very much.

I will be sure to return and you can believe i owe you a full length review for the effort of the Visual presentation alone.

I'am also pleased to see this title is being listed in the "Reccomended section" for other visual novel style  story games. That indicates it is being looked at and downloaded fairly regularly and I sincerely hope that you get enough downloads and donations to make you feel a proper amount of appreciation for coming up with something this unique on your own time.

Off topic, but I was drawn in when i first spotted this title as the White haired boy instantly reminds me of the main character from the emotional animated drama "Kiesznaiver". About an experiment in a futuristic society that connects 7 strangers and teens. That way anytime one of them suffers any injury their pain is muted to 1/7, however the other 6 feel 1/7 of that pain. Their teachers/researchers monitor them and setup several trials/activities which test how they handle the situations. Eventually they start following and defending one another, since any careless consequence, harassments, fights, etc are suffered by all. However it has a flaw, where with time as their connections deepen, the system starts sharing their emotional pain as well as the physical, forcing these strangers to begin to care for each other.

OMG, the art and UI of this game is stunning.

Iam checking for mainstream games and this was recommended from another visual novel from itch, I clicked and was totally blown away.

Iam downloading it now, and cannot say more, but rest assured i will return and provide a full review.

Though I went ahead and gave it 5 stars already.

Consider it a vote of confidence and a bet, I just know it's gonna be amazing. I'am saying that going in as blind as possible FYI, ha.

Romance games with a horror bend are very rare. 

There are many with brutal, s/m, or gorey themes, but it's rare to find one with personable characters, ones who are monstrous but clearly  feel real.

It is a rare soul who can find beauty in the monstrous, all the more so one who can create beauty and eerie in equal measure with emotions to match.

I very much hope you continue to produce titles and would love to collaborate with you if my own project takes me anywhere near where this is. 

If you need a resource for creating sounds, or ever need a specific sound for a scene or a looped background noise (walking, leaves, outfoors) to set scenes ill be happy to put something together for you.

My last project was a collection of horror FX i never ended up using so ill be happy to send along if you like.

Also, Ill consider, if you ask nicely, recording and sending over voiceover files if you have a character you need to give some lines to.

In addition to a professional mic setup and several custom built server pcs for editing, I have a stable tone that never rises above speaking, being told i have a unique ability to be "yelling" at somebody without ever raising my voice.  Having spent several years as a treated gender neutral person my voice does not carry a gender, though i can lean either way, it is ideal for androgynous characters. 

I have been taking a break from itch this year to peruse a career if medical diagnostics so if you have any time sensitive requests you can reach out through my reedit. (I hate social media, like tumbler and tik tok) My user name was randomly assigned, sigh...

https://www.reddit.com/user/Old_Macaroon_7169/

Also, iam currently playing you r game now, but out of several dozen i have searched through, your is the one i've settled on. 

P.S. I hope to god this comment is cut off, so it doesn't crowd your comments. You can remove it worry free if you read and replied or if it gets in the way of the specifically game oriented comments.

I was instantly drawn in by the dark Hand drawn character art.

Perfectly matching a dark brooding poet game style.

I cannot help but be reminded of Fear and Hunger when i see the art.

I sincerely hope you can reference or tie into the fear and hunger games within.

Still unpacking, but the style and theme alone warrants a five star.

Ill be back to let ya know how it goes, ya!

Cool.

A game where the characters are actually animals, 

I cant help but wonder if me, the main character, is also an animal.

This has great potential, for combining cool animals, explosive colors,

and collectible trading cards all into one.

(Though likely a poor combination in real life:)

Here it works great though.

Stick with it and i see you getting a page on GOG in the near future kiddo.

Wow, another example of an open dialogue between a fan who cared enough to not only make their feelings heard, but put in the care to sound tactful and respectful. It's a real delight to read through and a real  course on "Active development" and "Consumer Feedback" as only software development updates can embody it.

It makes one wonder how much rude and hateful comments are merely people venting because with most other games and products "They know nobody is listening".

Off topic, but it reminds me of the irony of the Mcdonalds Company President. You would think he would eat it every day if he devoted his life to the company, however you know most likely he never set foot into one as a customer with his salary. Or like how the walmart president likely doesn't own a thing from walmart ...

The creator is a person who takes his game seriously and you know nobody has spent more hours playing it than him.

That is true.

You see this one typing detailed answers with bullet points, like it's their job to keep us happy or something, when we have already received something cool for free. 

This is the true wonder of sites like ITch with free distribution.

I feel like the majority of people do not review, or even rate, titles, but it's always important to leave a "Hey, this is cool , and this worked out well" sortof a message.

Surely we can all understand how somebody getting only " suggestions", however well meaning, can be a bit draining. Ironically, this can be doubly true when the suggestions have a true and valid point.

I feel no soft shows remarkable grace, as the commentators show equal restraint (or vice versa?), in hearing out these "suggest-icisms", without bending their creative vision.

On the flip side, no other game or studio has creators actively listening and responding to fans.

When i made a comment about the lighter mechanic and got a response that was the first time I felt my input was directly heard on a project.

That was a founding moment for me in regards to this site, as somebody who stays away from all social media, memes, and podcasts....

It's little tricks like this that are hard to set up with randomized encounters that make a run thankfully easier and make up for runs that are stacked against you from the start.

Once in a while it's refreshing to kick ass.

I dont think the game needs to be any harder per see.

It's already pretty close in terms of learning curve to fear and hunger.

I made sure to reference and link this game on several reedits on game mechanics and rpg design...

In my post i compared how modern horror games with advanced graphics all reach a point where they start looking like each other (The more realistic the graphics the less variety you can put  in, after all, its designed to look REAL)

This was the horror game i referenced when stating that while big budget games can sometimes only hold interest if somebody actually paid a 50$ pricetag and quieting would lose that investment.

However games like this, virtually free, with no advertising or sunk cost, and under 200mb, I will gladly spend 2 - 3 straight days playing... 

Even when in early, or alpha release...

Ill do my part to spread the word. 

Again, Thank you.

Such an innovative use of the computer pixel art format to tell a story, Wow.

I would lament how few comments there are here, but i Know it is simply because Itch is nowhere near as popular as fandom and wiki sites...

Cough Cough (Donation only COntent) Cough! {totally free Distribution without Charge} Cough

As a linear Piece of Fiction this title it would be boring presented as a youtube video, a cartoon, or as a comic or ebook. No Offense. I Love it...

 But by promoting it in the Format of a GAME by letting you pick the answers (even if the game, Like Dr. Kreugar, sometimes doesnt care what they are:) we can have a say in what happens. Through This freedom to interact with the doctor this experience gains a fourth layer of depth (the Fourth Dimension, 4D)

Any game, no matter the length, where upon finishing it your first instinct is suddently "Lets Play again, see what changed, and is there more", deserves 5 stars.

I would love to know what engine made this work, maybe Godot?

BTW, whenever i need music for my stuff i visit

Soundimage.org - they're free, with over 2000 tracks, and really just happy for their music to be incluided. 

Or maybe my own profile for sounds, more than half of which are free of charge.

Hell, if you give me a theme with 2 or 3 examples,  I will gladly put a sound package for your to use, no cost, for the credit alone.

If any packages turn out to be helpful just a rating or comment would mean lots from the founder of a game like this.

Lastly, many user here do search for free or new games, music, or art. When work goes up for a price, without a massive following, it can very often get as many as 0 views for a week, or even a month. On the other hand, a free release can easily cross 250 views a week even on a new unknown account, but even at a 50% download rate (125downloads/250views) they may still only recieve donations at a rate of only 2% i.e. 6 people out of 250 Views.

It's important to keep in mind Itch is relatively new. Many people visting dont even have an account. Those people may view and download content, but would be unable to save, rate, or buy content even if they wanted to. This is more about exposure and about getting as many people as possible to experiance and respond to your creations. 

If those people have little means to purchase digital media, then we can stil help them by making distribution easier.                                                                                   

The Main point...

I was looking up new games and theres gonna be some Market Damage on account of a new game published by Longplay Studios in late August 2024. As it is titled

Terminus: Zombie Survivors ... 

It is Obvious how google, youtube, and steam searches will be diluted because if this titles release. Unfortunate, i know, as hopefully it is early enough that they can change the Terminus part with little effort.

Despite a 2d, simple, procedural generation on the top down style which is inferior to the pixel art of fear and hunger, it has already garnered 2500 positive reviews. It is truly unfortunate how well it performs in just about 2 weeks since release.

However, in other news i 'am mad Excited over the new Pier and boardwalk areas rumored to be upcoming in the new update. Plus randomizing Effigy locations by adding another 3 is a big bonus for replayability... I have always had to psych myself up to enter the apartments as, creepiness aside, entering the rher dimension was risky and somewhat repetitive ... 

No other horror game has so much hinging on your ability to kick the ass of a washing machine, Lol

I was pleased to find out that the washing machine had roughly 3 codes which repeat between playthroughs, if you look it up. 

Though I always wondered if there's any incentive to winning the hangman game. Especially since the first time I picked "Dog", so i thought it was broken as the letters filled in and nothing happened. Kind of like when my first character was Olivia, so when the janitor took her legs i noticed no change.

Well that isn't very nice...

Itch is defiantly one of those 

"If you dont like it, don't get it"

kind of deals.

I mean most of the people are here to share their assets they end up not using themselves, that could go to waste otherwise...

It should be appreciated whenever someone has the drive to get out there and give back to the community...

Especially for (almost) free.

 If only every designer did the same.