Let's Sperg APAMG: Dream Daddy - A dating sim with surprising moments, but save your $15

[The real Sinterklaas]

This game is so Tumblr, the art being the most obvious thing.

Its Writing and its humor are very Tumblr, Box (or just mc in general) is written less like an adult with a child and more like how Tumblr teens imagine parenthood.

 

[Honeybunny]

To the surprise of nobody all the coffee and banana bread names are incredibly milquetoast references to different bands:

Godspeed You! Black Coffee = Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Iced Teagan & Sara = Teagan & Sara
Chai Antwoord = Die Antwoord
Banana Bread Kennedys = Dead Kennedys
Grateful Bread = Grateful Dead
Right Said Banana Bread = Right Said Fred

That's today's scheduled musical :autism:

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

To the surprise of nobody all the coffee and banana bread names are incredibly milquetoast references to different bands:

Godspeed You! Black Coffee = Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Iced Teagan & Sara = Teagan & Sara
Chai Antwoord = Die Antwoord
Banana Bread Kennedys = Dead Kennedys
Grateful Bread = Grateful Dead
Right Said Banana Bread = Right Said Fred

That's today's scheduled musical :autism:

Hate to dump on your autism, mate, but after you pick in the coffee house they immediately talk about the reference. Which of course falls flat because you're not supposed to explain the fucking joke. So not only are the references paper thin, but any chuckle worthy moments are immediately driven away by the dialogue patting itself on the fucking back.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

I looked over the achievements and apparently there's one for getting 18 holes in one in mini-golf. I think even @Jaimas would say "FUCK THAT!"

Question 1. I decide to go with tormenting kids with dad puns.

Somewhere previously, Box had mentioned being a grill lover. So I pick 'trusty grill'. I have a severe doubt that any of this will actually influence the dates later.

Excuse me, what? Is this Fauxbook or a dating site?

None of these are actual responses I would give, as my turn-ons are large tits, an active imagination, and French kissing. I decide to pick comfortable with crying because fuck it.

The President of Space is a good pick.

The only thing on this list I would actually watch is Sean Connery's filmography. I will also note that there's only two actual genres here and the rest are stupid old person jokes.

None of these are dates any sane person would consider ideal. That said, a couple of them are ideal white cards for your next game of CAH. I decide Arson.

I'm pretty sure you can point each of these answers to an aspect of Tumblr. I choose the "sensible human" option, which is the one at the bottom.

My actual thought would be "games I'd rather be playing then this shit", but I end up picking Potential Ends of the world.

We're finally able to pick who we want to talk to after all those questions. Also, this screen opens with "You've got Dads!", a reference so old and dated I'm not even going to bother explaining it to you people.

We're able to look over everyone's profile before messaging anyone. I make one more save here, and I'm going to reload THAT save when I decide to go through everything, in case I get an ending after completing a route. Let's see what happens!

I'm cutting this update here so I don't make any more walls, like the last one I did. At least now we'll have some clear stopping points with the date scenes, which is all I wanted.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

To the surprise of nobody all the coffee and banana bread names are incredibly milquetoast references to different bands:

Godspeed You! Black Coffee = Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Iced Teagan & Sara = Teagan & Sara
Chai Antwoord = Die Antwoord
Banana Bread Kennedys = Dead Kennedys
Grateful Bread = Grateful Dead
Right Said Banana Bread = Right Said Fred

That's today's scheduled musical :autism:

Hate to dump on your autism, mate, but after you pick in the coffee house they immediately talk about the reference. Which of course falls flat because you're not supposed to explain the fucking joke. So not only are the references paper thin, but any chuckle worthy moments are immediately driven away by the dialogue patting itself on the fucking back.

Coffee Shop Dad(forgot his name) is the route that has the streamer safe mode put in for, so it makes sense he'd be super into music to the point of explaining all the the references in his coffee shop, I suppose.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

I've already decided to do Damien first. And he's one of THOSE people. You know, the ones that type a fucking novel in response. He invites us over for tea and a stroll 'round the garden. Sure, why not?

Amanda is called in to help us, and she compares it to writing a letter from the 1800s. She asks us to find our pen and quill, so we can properly address the nobleman for our debate at the debutante ball.

While I like you, Amanda, don't remind me of InCase comics I could be jerking off to right now. (Insert Deviant rating here)

I refuse to believe this is actually on our cul-de-sac. Unless we have the TARDIS-sac, there's no way this fits in the limited space available. But whatever, I have a goth dude to meet.

Our entrance into the house is classic Castlevania, complete with the door opening and closing on its own. Sorry game, but I'm not buying the existence of supernatural elements because none have come up yet. And if there are, why can't I be a motherfucking Sorcerer then?

Damien finally arrives and explains the "supernatural" elements as door being unlocked, draft slamming it shut, and liking oil paintings that seem to stare at you. We get a tour of the place, and head to the library for a choice. I pick up a book, and this causes a heart fart.

Historical spergs, can you confirm?

Also, we find Damien's Naruto slashfic.

I reloaded a previous save and soiled this Let's Sperg to get this shot. So in conclusion, Tumblr can die.

This is what Damien considers a joke. I consider it bullshit.

I also look at the butterflies, and after that, we go for tea. Doing anything in this room causes heart farts, so if you want Damien to like you, do everything and let him suggest the tea at the end.

During tea time, I choose to compliment his house and well, there's a massive particle explosion. Does honey just drip from Box's mouth every time Box speaks? That's all I can figure for why everything he does causes happy little explosions.

Box asks why he's so interested in goth stuff. Damien barely has the words "my father" out of his mouth before Box launches into The Black Parade references. Jesus Christ Box, that's just impolite.

We get another choice when it comes to hobbies, after Damien explains that he appreciates the flaws of the Victorian era while also enjoying the beauty of it. We need to sound sophisticated. I choose word jumbles, and this SOMEHOW causes yet another heart fart.

The Garden is where it all gets really bullshit. How does Damien have this garden without it bumping into everyone else's backyards? Or front yards for that matter? Did the artists not understand spacial reality?

Damien discusses flower symbolism and picks an orange flower, a lily to be precise. I cheat and look it up, it means Confidence, pride, and wealth. Those are nowhere near the choices we get, though since two of them are both sexual related (My Loins are Ablaze and Thou Art the Tightest) I go for the odd man out, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.

Bullshit, I just looked it up! But it caused another heart fart so I'm not complaining. We get asked our favorite kind of flower, and I decide Snapdragons are a good pick. Another heartfart.

Through total coincidence, we knock over a gargoyle and are given a minute to fix it. I get stuck on placing the second piece, and completely fail.

Damien is called away by Lucien's teacher, and is a little angry at our gargoyle breaking. There's a small cloud of blackness, and I feel like I've just undone a lot of work. Not my fault the game was calling for pixel perfect precision in 60 seconds. I'm starting to feel like Jaimas did in his playthrough of Night in the Woods, where the game would randomly throw a new set of rules at him and call him a dunce for fucking it all up.

Box offers to go with Damien as moral support, and considering this screen, I'm glad we get to go along. Remember the rules, the more the characters are out of the house, the better.

Has no one read the Cask of Amontillado? Cause I'm pretty sure that counts as killing. And knowing what I know about cellphones, getting reception in a basement surrounded by brick is hard.

This is the literal next screen. Jesus Christ game, stop reminding me of better shit.

Hugo just did an entire two week unit on the story and is a little amazed it took Ernest 20 minutes to figure it out. Both kids are suspended for a week. Lucian and Damien talk about therapy, while we listen in. Damien keeps it cool, and Lucian is thankful for it.

Back at Damien's house, I inquire further about Lucian's troublemaking. He says it happens once in a blue moon, and after a little more chatting, the date concludes.

We come home and have a chat with Amanda, and I will give this game points for not taking place in a vacumn-the characters have lives and relationships and so far we've stayed pretty true to them.

Also, how the hell does Lucien walk without a wheelbarrow to carry his giant, pendulous balls?

We get rated after the date, and I got an A ranking, probably because of the gargoyle thing. Again, thank you Human Revolution for preparing me.

So, remember that all important pacing? It gets piledrived again as we have a scene with Amanda. She gets an acceptance letter from the Home Institute for the Arts, and then we treat her to whatever she wants for dinner.

Girl has a thing for food trucks.

Box gives her a little pep talk about nailing the last bit of her classes, and we chat a bit about the 14 hour drive to come home. Amanda says it'll be worth it to see Dad. I'm feeling a tiny pang of guilt for making Box so nasty looking. It's clear the relationship was written with all the love in the world in mind, so the Tumblr outfit is pretty heavily out of place.

After this scene, we get back to Dadbook. Time for Damien Round 2!

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

In Good Omens, the Apocalypse was scheduled for next Saturday. Every Saturday, I'm disappointed. This Saturday most of all.

For Damien's second date, he beats us to the punch. We get a letter from him before we can send him a message.

Man, they actually put effort into this one. I'm impressed.

We get a chance to build the letter we send in response, like we're Celes in the opera sce-HACKKKK! Sorry, my throat just turned inward on itself for even trying to make that comparison. Anyway, letter. I choose sensible options that fit with Damien's tone without being too try-hardy, and while Amanda criticizes my use of the phrase "I must confess to my limited control of the written word", we do well.

Damien meets us at the cinema for a showing of Vampire Crusade 2: Evil Never Dies, which supposedly has lots of blood and tits. We're going to see none of it.

Inside the theater I accidentally tick him off by noticing that Damien is sweaty and saying the movie hasn't even started. Damn, this isn't going well.

Does that movie even exist?

Damien is slowly revealed to be outright terrified of horror movies. Granted, this movie was picked by the plot, so I assume this is going to work out in some "wacky", "zany" fashion.

At one moment, during a scene where someone's throat is slashed and blood splatters the camera, Damien grabs out hand.

We're offered to do something to calm him down, with the idea of talking being hit upon. We get a few choices, and I decide to do what I'm already doing in this Let's Sperg, pointing out plot holes! How meta.

While I get that this movie was written to be shitty in terms of the game's plot, goddamn that's so cheesy I just shat Pepperjack.

When the movie ends, we decide to take a stroll.

Okay, I need to give you the full conversation so you guys have context for what I'm about to say:
Box: "Lovely night, isn't it?"
Damien: "As lovely as the company, yes."
Box's Inner Monologue: "..."

Did I ever tell you guys about voice? "Voice" is very important in writing. Voice is the specific style in which a piece is written, but what no one tells you is that each character should have a distinct "voice" of their own, one that matches the characters. Many writers will give all their characters the same voice, so let's imagine a bit: Let's take Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Even if you've never seen it, the characters are all different, let's boil them down to the core archetypes, "Explorer", "Little Asian Kid", and "Love Interest". Now imagine instead of all having their own verbal tics and speech patterns, they all talked like a guy in his 30s from Nebraska. It would sound completely wrong, right?

The same holds true for inner monologue. We all 'think' in different ways, and our thoughts have speech patterns. Fiction must reflect this. Box Spooner's inner monologue does not match a single dad on planet Earth, it matches a 15 year old girl. It's such a tonal disconnect that I just can't get into the part I'm trying to roleplay.

After this, Damien treats us to a picnic in a graveyard. The music even swells a bit. Damien talks about how he doesn't like horror movies, but likes graveyards and finds that being alive in the middle of death brings a form of serenity, and I think I described it in one sentence better then the game did in a whole paragraph, beat that.

Oh, and we see a shape in the trees.

This is going to be really stupid, isn't it?

Just about.

It turns out Robert is the doggy's "owner", and they're out hunting cryptids. Damien produces a dog treat, from the same place he was carrying a blanket and a pic-a-nic basket in his cloak. Yes, that's the answer the game gives us, no I don't know how it makes any goddamn sense.

Damien walks us home and gives us a lovely little handkerchief. Having played Final Fantasy 12 and seen Baltheir give one to Penelo, I say that I will use it to dry my tears over the ones I've lost, which does wonders for Damien's mood. Looks like another A rating, boys!

After the rating screen, Box passes by Amanda's room and hears her crying. We get the option to push her for what's going on, and I push once but then decide to back off instead of pressing again. I'm sure we'll learn it before long.

In fact we learn before the next date selection. Basically what's been happening is that Amanda's friends have been slowly drifting away from her, and her best friend Emma R. has more or less stolen her crush out from under her.

We leave her with this piece of solid advice at the end of it all, which took more clicking then I care to remember. I choose to give her the piece of advice that high school sucks, and that in college she'll make more friends that actually 'get' her, which works pretty well because of Box and Craig's relationship.

After that, we get back to date selection. Hope you're ready to conclude our Interview with the Vampire, which is the name of the chievo for dating Damien.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I've already decided to do Damien first. And he's one of THOSE people. You know, the ones that type a fucking novel in response. He invites us over for tea and a stroll 'round the garden. Sure, why not?

Amanda is called in to help us, and she compares it to writing a letter from the 1800s. She asks us to find our pen and quill, so we can properly address the nobleman for our debate at the debutante ball.

While I like you, Amanda, don't remind me of InCase comics I could be jerking off to right now. (Insert Deviant rating here)

I refuse to believe this is actually on our cul-de-sac. Unless we have the TARDIS-sac, there's no way this fits in the limited space available. But whatever, I have a goth dude to meet.

Our entrance into the house is classic Castlevania, complete with the door opening and closing on its own. Sorry game, but I'm not buying the existence of supernatural elements because none have come up yet. And if there are, why can't I be a motherfucking Sorcerer then?

Damien finally arrives and explains the "supernatural" elements as door being unlocked, draft slamming it shut, and liking oil paintings that seem to stare at you. We get a tour of the place, and head to the library for a choice. I pick up a book, and this causes a heart fart.

Historical spergs, can you confirm?

Also, we find Damien's Naruto slashfic.

I reloaded a previous save and soiled this Let's Sperg to get this shot. So in conclusion, Tumblr can die.

This is what Damien considers a joke. I consider it bullshit.

I also look at the butterflies, and after that, we go for tea. Doing anything in this room causes heart farts, so if you want Damien to like you, do everything and let him suggest the tea at the end.

During tea time, I choose to compliment his house and well, there's a massive particle explosion. Does honey just drip from Box's mouth every time Box speaks? That's all I can figure for why everything he does causes happy little explosions.

Box asks why he's so interested in goth stuff. Damien barely has the words "my father" out of his mouth before Box launches into The Black Parade references. Jesus Christ Box, that's just impolite.

We get another choice when it comes to hobbies, after Damien explains that he appreciates the flaws of the Victorian era while also enjoying the beauty of it. We need to sound sophisticated. I choose word jumbles, and this SOMEHOW causes yet another heart fart.

The Garden is where it all gets really bullshit. How does Damien have this garden without it bumping into everyone else's backyards? Or front yards for that matter? Did the artists not understand spacial reality?

Damien discusses flower symbolism and picks an orange flower, a lily to be precise. I cheat and look it up, it means Confidence, pride, and wealth. Those are nowhere near the choices we get, though since two of them are both sexual related (My Loins are Ablaze and Thou Art the Tightest) I go for the odd man out, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.

Bullshit, I just looked it up! But it caused another heart fart so I'm not complaining. We get asked our favorite kind of flower, and I decide Snapdragons are a good pick. Another heartfart.

Through total coincidence, we knock over a gargoyle and are given a minute to fix it. I get stuck on placing the second piece, and completely fail.

Damien is called away by Lucien's teacher, and is a little angry at our gargoyle breaking. There's a small cloud of blackness, and I feel like I've just undone a lot of work. Not my fault the game was calling for pixel perfect precision in 60 seconds. I'm starting to feel like Jaimas did in his playthrough of Night in the Woods, where the game would randomly throw a new set of rules at him and call him a dunce for fucking it all up.

Box offers to go with Damien as moral support, and considering this screen, I'm glad we get to go along. Remember the rules, the more the characters are out of the house, the better.

Has no one read the Cask of Amontillado? Cause I'm pretty sure that counts as killing. And knowing what I know about cellphones, getting reception in a basement surrounded by brick is hard.

This is the literal next screen. Jesus Christ game, stop reminding me of better shit.

Hugo just did an entire two week unit on the story and is a little amazed it took Ernest 20 minutes to figure it out. Both kids are suspended for a week. Lucian and Damien talk about therapy, while we listen in. Damien keeps it cool, and Lucian is thankful for it.

Back at Damien's house, I inquire further about Lucian's troublemaking. He says it happens once in a blue moon, and after a little more chatting, the date concludes.

We come home and have a chat with Amanda, and I will give this game points for not taking place in a vacumn-the characters have lives and relationships and so far we've stayed pretty true to them.

Also, how the hell does Lucien walk without a wheelbarrow to carry his giant, pendulous balls?

We get rated after the date, and I got an A ranking, probably because of the gargoyle thing. Again, thank you Human Revolution for preparing me.

So, remember that all important pacing? It gets piledrived again as we have a scene with Amanda. She gets an acceptance letter from the Home Institute for the Arts, and then we treat her to whatever she wants for dinner.

Girl has a thing for food trucks.

Box gives her a little pep talk about nailing the last bit of her classes, and we chat a bit about the 14 hour drive to come home. Amanda says it'll be worth it to see Dad. I'm feeling a tiny pang of guilt for making Box so nasty looking. It's clear the relationship was written with all the love in the world in mind, so the Tumblr outfit is pretty heavily out of place.

After this scene, we get back to Dadbook. Time for Damien Round 2!

You seem to be enjoying the game at times despite also hating it. It's pretty entertaining to watch.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

You seem to be enjoying the game at times despite also hating it. It's pretty entertaining to watch.

I have at least mentioned that this game has moments. And I am being fair to this game, there are at least a few good scenes, and I feel like the one good writer on the team handled just about everything related to Protagonist and Amanda's connection. Does that excuse the incredible amount of flaws, plus the insane length of time required to get things going? No. So let me make this abundantly clear: Are the good moments worth 15 American Dollars, translate it into your local currency? Absolutely not. There are many more games that are cheaper and filled with more entertainment value, you throw me a genre I can probably recommend one in my personal library.

@krautkid , I hope this thread was worth whatever 15 dollars is in British pounds. If so, I am glad to be of service. If not, I have done my best and I have no regrets.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

The game is polite enough to warn us that this is a point of no return. I feel like I'm rushing to an ending here, but I've committed to this route. We'll see what happens, depending on what goes down. Nevertheless, I make a save here so I can scum my way through the rest of the dates.

The third date is a bit of a time skip. We get a mention of how Damien and Box have been spending a lot of time together, and after Amanda and Box have a chat over whether or not Damien (and then Box himself) are vampires, we head off for a romantic waterfront stroll.

Okay, which writer was responsible for Damien? Is it the same one who did Protagonist and Amanda? Damien could literally have been written by my College English Professor, especially his views on death. As Damien himself puts it, "I believe it is a waste of your life to dread the ending of it".

An emergency comes up, and we drive off together. Luckily, it isn't Lucien this time.

We end up in an animal pound or veterinarian clinic, I think, and the lights suddenly shut off on us.

Turns out the place is an animal shelter in a slightly run down building. And Mary's here!

Also, we find out what Damien does for a living. He works in IT. You know what, I'm letting the rest of this scene pass without comment. The game certainly has been giving me no choices, so this must be an ending.

Damien finally confides that the whole Goth thing isn't his only thing, and we're sent on an adventure to find a dog that managed to get out.

We're "nerd's house", in case you're wondering. Damien is "dames". Coffee Dad is obviously Mat, Kale must be Craig, smalls has to be Robert with that boost bottle, I'm guessing Mario Batali is Brian, so that leaves Hugo as Other Nerd.

After checking everywhere, I decide to return to the cul-de-sac and we find the dog in Hugo's house.

After giving her a pizza roll, Ernest, who spotted us trespassing in a way, really wants to keep Duchess. Hugo is amazed that Ernest calls him "Dad", and we seem to have brightened Ernest's day immensely.

Back at the shelter, Damien is all set to call things off because we know his Flaw: Dark Secret: Not Actually A Goth (-2 points). Box and Damien agree to be boring together. We get the kiss of success, and then we head home.

Anyway, welcome to Amanda's graduation party. We got her not only a 19 DVD box set of the awesome show Long Haul Paranormal Ice Road Truckers, but we're throwing a party. Insert your own gangbang joke here.

We have a little chat with everyone at the party, and I think the ending may be slightly personalized depending on how much you've done. So don't expect me to run through every difference the ending has, just know that in this one, Duchess exists.

At the end of it all, Amanda gives us a signed picture of her and us together. This scores us the "World's Best Dad" achievement, and that makes me happy.

After one final conversation and kiss with Damien, the ending credits roll.

We get the Damien picture! *Blows noisemaker*

Alright, so, I'll be honest: The dates are interesting, but as I've already stated, it takes so long getting there that it's simply not worth it. I stuck through and was rewarded, but I've never been a fan of the "it gets better later" thing. Couple that with just how much our Protagonist's inner monologue does NOT match any of the personalities we can show, and the whole thing feels messy and unfocused. A shorter chapter 1 with a bit better pacing would have done this game wonders, and made it far more worth the price tag. In the end, the game understands what a dating sim is all about: The characters. And for what it's worth, it at least nails the heart of the matter.

So I guess I have to amend this thread's title to "Angelo Plays a Mediocre Game", because "Terrible" no longer describes it. Ah well. I did say I was open to being pleasantly surprised, and pleasantly surprised I am. But maybe I went on the best route? Maybe I went on the one that was the easiest to defy stereotypes with?

We aren't done, ladies and gentlemen. We have six more routes to get through before we can call this one over. Send me more booze, I'm going back in.

 

[UnderwaterUnderworld]

If only I had a Semper Fidelis for you. I'm actually interested in seeing how this goes, considering I had no interest in this game whatsoever before this thread.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

A note: Dream Daddy just had a 6.4 MB update. I can't find any information about it on the steam page, does anyone have any idea what just hit me?

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

No idea. Patches for broken parts of the game?

Also Damien's end picture is super badly drawn in comparison to the character art. Why use the B team for it when that's the lasting end impression of the game.

And I'm convinced he was not trans to start tbh. I think the creators went "how can we tard cum this more" and decided that the vaguely girly looking one was originally a woman. Which, in my mind doesn't make much sense. Most transmen start out super butch to begin with and transition to almost stereotypical masculine men. If Damien wanted to wear silk and lace and puffy shirts, (s)he could have easily stayed a woman and just been androgynous which is pretty acceptable amongst goths, right? Just feels...weird.

Not only that, but whatever I did, I didn't hit the line of dialogue about binders.

I'm also going to say it, the ending of Damien's route actually reminds me of motherfucking UNDERTALE. Let me make the comparison before Toby Fox hunts me down and kills me: During the Alphys date, Undyne eventually appears, and through a series of coincidences, Alphys reveals her feelings. Undyne says she doesn't care what Alphys is in to, she likes that Alphys is passionate about her hobbies.

That is the exact same tone Box Spooner had towards Damien near the end. I remember him saying "I like you because you're passionate about what you like". So we can add "ripping off Undertale" to this game's list. I feel like I should have brought this up earlier, but the comparison didn't hit me until just now.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I vote for Hugo or Joseph next.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

I vote for Hugo or Joseph next.

There's a poll up for voting. Probably won't start a new route for a couple days, and I'll either continue on from "dated Damien twice" or from my fresh start one.

 

[Cyber Bowling]

This game is so Tumblr, the art being the most obvious thing.

Its Writing and its humor are very Tumblr, Box (or just mc in general) is written less like an adult with a child and more like how Tumblr teens imagine parenthood.

My only experience with the game is seeing part of it on stream and this thread, but based on that experience, it definitely feels like only one writer is actually a father. Or over the age of 25. I also got the impression that the writing team were on very different pages in terms of tone. One writer seemed to be treating it as a serious game with light hearted moments, while the other was treating it more like a comedy/parody game, with said comedy being written for college age tumblr users. On the one hand, okay, you're aiming at your target audience, seems legit. But on the other hand, it's an LGBT game, meaning you've already won over that audience already, so there's no need to keep pandering to them.

 

[The real Sinterklaas]

My only experience with the game is seeing part of it on stream and this thread, but based on that experience, it definitely feels like only one writer is actually a father. Or over the age of 25. I also got the impression that the writing team were on very different pages in terms of tone. One writer seemed to be treating it as a serious game with light hearted moments, while the other was treating it more like a comedy/parody game, with said comedy being written for college age tumblr users. On the one hand, okay, you're aiming at your target audience, seems legit. But on the other hand, it's an LGBT game, meaning you've already won over that audience already, so there's no need to keep pandering to them.

I played one route myself (Hugo's route), before deciding the game just wasn't meant for me. You're right in that the game is very tone blind. While can accept that the tone might be different if you play a different route, when in one route the tone is all over the place there might be a problem with your writing. To be fair the Amanda stuff happens in any route, but it can be very jarring when you just finished a funny date in the zoo and the game suddenly shifts to Amanda being depressed.

In my honest opinion the story would be much better if the whole "Dating hot single dads" thing was removed and it was about a single father having to deal with his daughter growing up and getting ready for college. Amanda's subplot was I believe the best part of what. But it wouldn't be dating sim without actual dating so...

 

[Lackadaisy]

Coming Out On Top is legitimately better written than this, and it has an ending where you may or may not fuck an anthropomorphized fish. So, that's 2 things that it has over this game.

 

[Cyber Bowling]

In my honest opinion the story would be much better if the whole "Dating hot single dads" thing was removed and it was about a single father having to deal with his daughter growing up and getting ready for college. Amanda's subplot was I believe the best part of what. But it wouldn't be dating sim without actual dating so...

Agreed, the father/Amanda moments seem like the most compelling parts. In reality it was probably because of the writer, but I think it also helped that those parts are universal to the game. With the dating part, it's written with specific people in mind, since you're catering to someone that would be interested in that specific character. Sure, other people will see it, but that has to do with completionist mentality more than anything else. But the father/Amanda stuff is always present to everyone, no matter which route they go down. It ultimately means they had to focus on making those parts good and appealing to everyone, but that also means they're making a dating sim where the main focus and quality isn't on the dating aspect.

If they wanted to make a good dating game, they should have bumped Amanda up a few years in age and had her already be attending college. That could be the motivation for the MC going out and meeting new people, because he realizes that his life had basically revolved around taking care of his daughter, and now that she's away in college he needs to find new people to introduce in his life. They could still have a few scenes together talking on the phone or whatever, but she'd basically exist to move the plot forward. Hell, you could even have these conversations replace a lot of the inner monologue segments to make it a little more authentic to get into the headspace of the MC.

Basically, it could have made for a decent visual novel in it's current form as opposed to straight up dating sim. And honestly, I think part of the problem was that it was never really meant to be a dating sim. I didn't really follow development of the game or anything, so this is just pure speculation, but when it was initially announced, it seemed like it was a joke product. I mean, just look at the name and the proposed content. When it isn't being treated as a fucked up sexual kink, the whole "Daddy" thing is an online joke, with things like Dad rock, Dad jeans, and various dad related projects. Dream Daddy seems like a continuation of that, and a lot of the attempts at humor in the game (at least that I have seen) are definitely aimed at that crowd. Add in the fact that a lot of the production/testing stuff is done by internet "comedians", it really felt like the final product should have been a parody or straight up joke game. I mean, up until it came out the only thing I heard was "it's the Game Grumps game" despite the fact that they just backed it. And I think that's a large reason why people bought it, because it is associated with the Grumps, and since they like the Grumps, they feel like they have to enjoy the game. The other groups buying it are LGBT tumblrites, with basically the same logic. It's an LGBT game, so they feel like they have to enjoy the game.

I think it was made even further with the Trans confirmation from the developer or whoever. Like Angelo said, there is no indication that Damian is actually trans, and the one supposed line of evidence is optional. But like the tumblr crowd usually does, they saw the slightest shred of evidence, blatantly misinterpreted it to fit their own needs, and then presented the "theory" to the developer. And to their credit, it was definitely the right move from a marketing standpoint to agree, because you're widening your reach in the tumblr community. I'm definitely starting to understand the complaints those (possible?) beta testers have about the game largely being pandering as opposed to being genuinely well written. The final product definitely shows that there were two competing forces, quality vs. pandering going on, and it largely feels like the pandering side won out.

 

[The real Sinterklaas]

I think it was made even further with the Trans confirmation from the developer or whoever. Like Angelo said, there is no indication that Damian is actually trans, and the one supposed line of evidence is optional. But like the tumblr crowd usually does, they saw the slightest shred of evidence, blatantly misinterpreted it to fit their own needs, and then presented the "theory" to the developer. And to their credit, it was definitely the right move from a marketing standpoint to agree, because you're widening your reach in the tumblr community. I'm definitely starting to understand the complaints those (possible?) beta testers have about the game largely being pandering as opposed to being genuinely well written. The final product definitely shows that there were two competing forces, quality vs. pandering going on, and it largely feels like the pandering side won out.

It's very much pandering, I doubt Damien was initially intended to be trans. They could have thrown in binder line just for the sake of pandering. Damien's design doesn't look like he was intended to be trans, he looks like all the other dads. Not saying that there is a distinct "trans-look". But I definitely feel that Damien being trans was a last minute decision. A smart one since it gets the game more recognition for being "diverse". It doesn't really hurt anyone aside from cementing the game as a 'Tumblr game".