Should I Throw Away the Transformation Elements?

I've been thinking very hard about my game for the past few days. There's something I'd appreciate a bit of input on.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. If something doesn't fulfill my internal quality-control, it's not likely it's going to get done. I get a nagging feeling in my chest, something that tells me that something is wrong. I get that feeling when I work on this game. I think I understand now what is bothering me.

#1: There are people who are more interested in the soccer elements and not at all interested in the TF elements. Others are more interested in the TF elements and not at all interested in the soccer elements. It appears that the latter group is in the minority. It is bad game design to have one half of the game barely tolerable by half the players. There's just very little demand for soccer sims with TF. People just seem much more excited about the soccer and very "meh" about the TF.

#2: There is a debate in AIF as to how much the PC should be a reflection of the player and how much they should be a character in their own right. The former camp says that the protagonist should be basically a nameless shell to allow the player to reflect them as accurately as possible. The latter camp argues that nameless PCs are never practically going to provide a satisfactory level of freedom to players, so you might as well make them interesting characters in their own right. I am in the latter group, but this game would have plowed brave new ground into my side. Ultimately, I was getting uncomfortable with the amount of kinks, neuroses and so forth I was imposing on the player, and that was required to move the story forward.

#3: The scope of the game was too large and varied to accomplish in any sort of timely or quality fashion. There needs to be no contradiction between quality and quantity if one is willing to sacrifice their lives to work on something. I'm not that sort of person. Me wanna haf fun.

What needs to be understood is that I started this game out as a TF game with a soccer mini-game thrown in to add a little interest. Now, the main draw appears to be the soccer mini-game. A soccer management game with sex thrown in hasn't really been done before, and I think that sounds like a lot of fun. And, I might as well add the soccer mini-game is pretty technically sophisticated. It took about a month of (intensive) development to create. You can download it off the AIF Archive.

So, if you haven't guessed already, I'm considering tossing out the TF elements and focusing purely on expanding the soccer management elements. You're a male, from start of game to end of game. I haven't decided if that male character will be named or unnamed; Erin, formerly the PC, will become an NPC. You manage a girl's soccer team. The characters will be the same. You train the girls, you can romance them, you resolve their differences to make them a better team.

So here is the new premise I'm considering:

Erin, star player for the Easton Egrets, has disappeared, leaving her old team in a state of chaos. Interpersonal rivalries have reached a breaking point, and everyone's been neglecting their training. An outsider needs to come in to reform and restore the Easton Egrets to being the greatest soccer team New Suffolk has ever seen.

If I choose to do this, I won't exactly be starting from scratch but I will be basically throwing away months of work. I'm fine with throwing away months of work. God knows I've done it before (...though... I do have plans for saving some of the sex scenes I've already written... B-D ). This will also mean I'm returning to the working title of "Soccer Game", although hopefully I'll come up with something a little more creative soon.

So, if you have any suggestions about what I should do, now is the time to let me know.

Character Profile: Amy

Introducing our first major character...

Amy Ruthers

Height: 5'6"
Weight: 136 lbs.
Skin Tone: Light
Eyes: Green
Hair: Natural blonde, tied back
Birthplace: Richmond, Virginia
Sexuality: Straight
Likes: Animals, cute things, romantic comedies
Dislikes: Crudeness, meanness, scary movies

Hardly anyone could hate Amy, having the reputation of being the sweetest, most innocent person in the entire league. After all, she blushes whenever the subject of sex comes up. Everyone believes she's a virgin but no one has really had the courage to ask, since she tends to make everyone into an older brother or sister, and everyone feels the need to protect Amy... except Captain, who regards Amy as a weak link in an otherwise very strong team.

Out of Amy's many admirers, her most ardent is Erin, who is reduced to a sort of puppy-love every time she sees her. As a result, Erin is often passing the ball to Amy during games and giving Amy credit for wins wherever possible. This has given Amy a reputation of being a better player than she actually is. And something that irritates Captain to no end.

Character Profile: Erin

Introducing our protagonist...

Erin Reilly

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 166 lbs.
Skin Tone: Light
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Shoulder-length brown hair
Birthplace: Easton, New Suffolk
Sexuality: Lesbian
Education: Biology Major
Likes: soccer, girls, comic books
Dislikes: Ricky (captain of Easton University's men's soccer team), studying

Erin has made quite a name for herself recently. She's the champion of the Easton Egrets, having scored the winning goal over their rivals, the Vanderville Valkyries, last season. She's brought an obscure, under-performing team to the pinnacle of college soccer fame. They say Erin is destined for great things in the world of professional woman's soccer. There's just one problem. Erin doesn't want to be a woman. At all.

Erin is sure that his being born into a woman's body is some terrible cosmic mistake. But she's always been too afraid of surgery and hormones, so she accepts it, for now. But things change, and new opportunities arise. When her life as a woman becomes unbearable, she soon receives an offer from an unexpected direction...

Erin's Letter: Progress Update I

ACT STATUS

ACT I: 100% design, 90% written, 0% play-tested.

ACT II: 75% design, 25% written, 0% play-tested.

ACT III: 10% design, 0% written, 0% play-tested.

ACT IV: 10% design, 0% written, 0% play-tested.

CHARACTER STATUS

Major Character I: Path 10%, Sex Scenes 50%

Major Character II: Path 5%, Sex Scenes 0%

Major Character III: Path 5%, Sex Scenes 0%

Minor Character I: Path 75%, Sex Scenes 10%

SEX SCENES

Fully Interactive as Female
Completed: 1 Partial: 0

Partially Interactive as Female
Completed: 0 Partial: 1

Fully Interactive as Male:
Completed: 0 Partial: 2

Partially Interactive as Male
Completed: 0 Partial: 0

SOCCER GAMEPLAY

Tutorial: 90% Complete

Play-offs: 0% Complete

Tournament: 0% Complete

Announcement: Erin's Big Game (Tentative Title)

An AIF Game by Another Wannabe

She's not what you'd call a typical college girl, Erin. She's a champion soccer player, a parentless orphan, and has always, always desperately wished to be a boy. Now, a strange experiment has made Erin's most impossible fantasy finally come true. She, rather, he, returns to her old school under a new identity, Eric, with a second chance to pursue the romance that was out of her reach. And she's got to keep her former friends from realizing her true identity.

It seems like Erin is getting everything she had ever wanted. But as Erin soon finds out, it's not as easy being a boy as she thought, and it's far more difficult keeping things a secret as she imagined...

FEATURES

• Lead the Easton Egrets to victory as their manager in a challenging soccer management game, eventually challenging their greatest rivals, the Vanderville Valkyries.
• Entangle yourself with three major romantic interests, each of whom have complex stories that are connected in some way to the other, or one of many minor ones.
• Not a faceless, nameless player character: make major decisions with a PC that actually has their own thoughts and feelings. 
• Lots of endings, good and bad, easy and hard.
• Sex-positive, lighter tone inspired by more grounded Anime romantic comedies.
• Features many fully interactive sex scenes, both as Erin and Eric, as well as many non-interactive ones.
• Might have images, if someone volunteers to make them.

RELEASE: PC release maybe late next year at the earliest. No word from Steam or XBox Arcade.

PRICE: Zilch dollars and no cents.

EDIT 9/10/2013: Changed title from "Erin's Letter" to "Erin's Big Game".