I mean, isn't Lovesick technically an asset flip of an asset flip? Hopefully the Lovesick team eventually replaces the Unity store assets (like Ayano, for instance) with original models. Bonus points from me if they manage to do it before Alex even announces that there will be official new models for the characters, school rooms, trees, etc.
Speaking of replacing assets, it's
way too late in the metaphorical game for Alex to replace the game's models in my opinion. It's been
six years since YanSim started development and fans of it have this image burned in their minds of how the "final game" will look like. Chances are, if the models are ever changed, there's gonna be a shitstorm in the community because inevitably there's going to be pockets of fans who hate how the characters, for example, now look and other sets of fans who love the new look of the game. FFS Alex, you've already made merch for your shitty game that features essentially
prototype versions of your characters.
Something else I hope to see from Lovesick is changing some of the shittier character designs, removing characters that only impede the game (looking at you, Raibaru...), and altering the shittier character names to something more authentic to Japanese culture. Some characters are
huge doozies right off the bat, like the motherfucking Mystery Gang, for instance. I recommend that these characters and the photography club as a whole either be altered or scrapped as a whole. Alex obviously has a huge issue with the tone for the game. He constantly flip-flops between serious and humorous, and considering the subject matter of YanSim, I personally feel like approaching the names and designs of the characters more seriously will greatly benefit the game's image.
Going back to the topic of character design, I actually really liked some of the earlier character design concepts for Ayano, like this one for instance:
View attachment 1440933
Here, Ayano looks like much more of a recognizable character! Her present-day design just looks really generic and bland. She only barely stands out amongst the crowd of samefaced, rainbow-haired students. The player character
must stand out in some fashion in order to successfully be able to be appealing, marketable material for the game.
Part of me wants Lovesick to succeed so it can actually pull off YanSim's original concept in a much better fashion, but another part of me feels like the full game is just never meant to be...
I also have another question...will the Lovesick dev team be using the same characters (Ayano, Taro, the rivals, etc.) in the final game, or will they create completely new characters?