I played this WIP when it was first posted, I was initially a bit overwhelmed with all the tennis/competition explanation during the training week (I played a tiny bit of tennis as a small kid but I’m more of a casually watch Wimbledon every few summers kind of person so I didn’t know terms like junk baller). But playing through the whole current demo I think the tennis matches are one of my favourite parts! They’re exciting to play through, although I have a feeling I haven’t optimised my MC the best…lol (I have 2 high stats), so she may start to struggle soon. Even though the MC has played several matches now, they don’t feel repetitive at all and I’m anticipating them every time (and pumped when my MC wins)! And I love the doubles matches too, getting to play both regular doubles and mixed.
Of course the characters are great, the hall friendships (the hallmates showing up to support MC’s first match with their scary sign 
) & tennis team (the camaraderie, banter, nicknames, general jockiness…I was on a uni sports team, although more as a hobby, and it feels familiar to me but more cosy as it’s minus the more negative aspects like hazing, pressure to drink heavily, cliques, etc. romantic drama between the girls and boys teams was real tho lol). Romance wise I think I’m going to go for Sam, their friendship is so cute 
, although of course it’s painful being on opposite ends of the country. Naturally my MC is being a bit messy…so they’re doing the open relationship, fwb with G, and kissing Felix. (Ngl I’m highkey obsessed with Felix ).
lol, I loved the moment when they said they wanted to try out doubles with the MC & everyone was like 
I’m also really curious about the MC’s mother and finding out more about her…the little hints MC mentions are poignant (like them spending quiet time together developing her photos). I wonder what she’s like now and how she feels about the MC. It’s interesting how completely absent she is in their life. Not even texts, phone calls or a yearly visit or anything like that, just a postcard on their birthday. Does she at least pay child support?? The situation is just unusual since you tend to see a lot more absent fathers. Idk if this is within the scope of the game, but I headcanon that my MC’s parental issues (divorced parents plus absent mother plus distant father) have probably given her some relationship/commitment/attachment issues (or at least that’s my excuse for giving her a messy freshman year lol).
Picrew of my MC (although I imagine her dye job looking more homemade!)
Link to the picrew if anyone wants to make their own
Feedback/ideas/suggestions (no pressure to include any of these though, the game is already huge!):
- Like I mentioned before when I first played the game I found the info about tennis & the championships a bit overwhelming at the beginning of training week, it was a lot of info at once to digest and I think that’s the only point where I felt tempted to skip ahead (answering the Q in the first post). Maybe it’s possible to space some of it out?
- Does Sam reply if you text them for the truth or dare at the first hall party? I thought they’d reply the next day but I didn’t see anything, not sure if I just missed it though, if it’s a bug, or if it’s intentional. I think their reaction would be fun to see though!
- I was thinking about the Sam romance, my MC was brave and took the first step (kissing Sam) and wanted to make a go of things before she left but Sam turned her down/didn’t think long distance is a good idea. I know that we as the reader then get a couple of Sam POVs showing that they regret that because they’ve been into the MC for a long time, but the MC doesn’t know any of that. As far as they know from their end, Sam just wants to remain friends. So for my MC in that situation I can see her still being friendly of course, but more cautious about her feelings when Sam comes to visit (like it might be more internal/yearning). And she would be blind sided & confused by Sam’s confession, because in her mind Sam had already said no and just wanted to be friends. My MC also started something with G, but at least part of that was because she wasn’t with Sam.
- It could be specified the first time MC sleeps with someone if they’ve slept with anyone before or not, since they’re at an age where it’s fairly common to not have any or much experience. They could even mention it to the RO.
- My MC is doing the Sam open relationship + G fwb route. But if you tell Sam about sleeping with G, they ask if the MC has feelings for G and the options to say no were greyed out for me. I checked the code and it’s based on the G romance stat, but I think options that aren’t necessarily romantic in nature increase that stat (like casual flirting, kissing, sex, etc. could all happen on the fwb route without having romantic feelings involved).
- An option to text Sam a selfie or group pic from Halloween night could be fun
mainly because I want to see their reaction to the vampire slayer costume lol. - When G doesn’t want to share a bed with the MC after sex, there could be an option for the MC to outwardly pretend they’re fine with it but internally be a bit disappointed? I just think at that age it’s common to not be comfortable expressing negative feelings in a relationship, especially if it’s casual and you don’t want to come across as too attached
- I’d love to see more phone calls with the MC’s dad! Building the relationship back up after he was distant during their childhood. Unless I’ve missed it I can’t remember there being any conversations with him after the first week? Would he call before or during the doubles championship? Or before the MC’s first game? He was there at the game at the beginning of the prologue, so it sounded like he went to MC’s matches.
Bugs/typos (screenshots)
These are from a new save starting from the beginning, although I played a few weeks ago so some might be fixed now:
Chapter 1
unless
This is just something I noticed in the code, but unless I’m misreading it, this choice is only available if you have charisma>19 anyway, so the text for anyone with charisma less than that won’t get seen.
This is a bit pedantic, but it’s technically the MC’s 2nd day/training at this point.
The text is repeated here
millennial (I also was not expecting the cast to be millennials!! I guess that means this is taking place in the 2000s or early 2010s?)
Unsurprisingly
millennial
juicier
I think this is meant to be increasing Rayyan’s romantic stat
raucous
Chapter 2
I’d’ve
I wasn’t sure if this was a typo or just D pronouncing it in a silly way lol.
intends
Space needed here
I think this choice is meant to increase the cocky stat
I think there might be a sentence missing here, or they’re out of order. Also this directly follows on from a choice where either the MC or G tastes the spicy food.
For the “Tobin sweet” text, MC references this weird look but it wasn’t mentioned before in this scene. I think there might be a mix up because in the dialogue for the flirty text Emerson says out loud that Tobin has a weird look on their face, but they say something different for the sweet text.
guarantee
hers
Tactics
Chapter 3
breakfast
This scene starts with Sam ending their call/video call with the MC, and in the scene before it said that they introduced Robin to the MC, so to Robin they wouldn’t just be someone Sam has mentioned, they’d know who MC is.
Chapter 4
Wouldn’t
guarantee
This might be intentional, but if you have the coach discussion about the doubles pairing then when you get to class G doesn’t use MC’s nickname like they do here for the other version of the scene.
- my MC is female & uses she/her, 2) off, 3) sympathetically
hers or her own. Also I know Sam is obviously just joking around, but I feel like the joke about Sam “knocking sense” into Rayyan and physically fighting them comes off differently when they’re different genders, especially when Sam is a guy and Rayyan is a woman.
Chapter 5
I think this is after returning from the party, but it first mentions that D is in the room & falling asleep in their bed, then on the next screen it acts like they’ve left the room.
Italics coding is visible
little
- extra space, 2+3) my MC and Sam slept in the bed on the first night (Friday) but not the 2nd night (Saturday) because she brought up the idea of an open relationship. But here the last part makes it sound like they didn’t share a bed at all.
- I’d’ve, 2) I don’t think this part accurately explains what happened if the MC brings up the idea of the open relationship on Saturday night, because in that case feelings are confessed and discussed, it just wasn’t decided until the train station since Sam said they wanted to think about it. And in my MC’s case they also kissed in the pub/bar.
Should be MC’s name here
Chapter 6
the class
I’m not sure about this one, if Tobin is always meant to say this or only when MC is their doubles partner? Rayyan is my MC’s doubles partner here.
I think these words are a bit jumbled or something is missing here
marked
- nearby, 2) missing word: a?
establish
Repeated dialogue
- word missing/jumbled, I think it should be something like “If I go pro, small town life wouldn’t exactly be possible, would it?”, 2) had
Should be Felix here - my MC is doing mixed doubles at the championship, but Rayyan is her normal doubles partner
I’m not sure if it was intended, but if the MC wins their match then the game skips the weekend and the opportunity to boost their stats. You only get this weekend if you lose the game. Even though a MC that loses the game might need more of a boost tennis-wise, a MC who wins might still need a boost in terms of academics, rest, friendships, charisma, etc., and the weekend would still happen for them anyway.
- I noticed this was the only option that didn’t affect relationship stats, maybe it could increase the hallmates & G’s friendship? 2) opportunity
Missing words: want to
Duplicate text
Duplicate text
Missing word: off?
Repeated text
- that had, 2) throat
Chapter 7
Rayyan shouldn’t be here for me, because my MC is doing mixed doubles with Felix (but Rayyan is her normal doubles partner).
scoffing? Although I think that’s more British English, so maybe scarfing?
Not sure which word this is meant to be: tramp, tread, trudge, trek, traipse? (There are surprisingly a lot of words beginning with T that can be used to describe walking down stairs…
)
- they (unless Felix’s pronouns are meant to be they/he, he/they or they/she, she/they? I wasn’t sure because it’s not listed on the stats screen. But if it’s meant to be variable then in my game they play on the men’s team.), 2) possess
Just wanted to show that Felix’s section in the stats screen doesn’t include pronouns, I wasn’t sure if it was intentional because they’re the only student that doesn’t have it.
Really appreciate it. Will work through them and possibly follow-up with some replies/changes to the code/writing in the upcoming update.
