I think you overestimate the efforts put into this game. It's just your average Honey Select game. You may like the story, but let's be serious, it's not "well written", even for a porn game. Maybe the developpement of this game is chatotic, so the developper take a lot of time, it seems likely that is the case(hat and the recently health issues). And if the developpement takes time, it's more likely that the developper isn't a developer in the first place, and just learnt for this game (RenPy is pretty easy, it's just some Python and this games doesn't do any fancy things)
Really, aside from the "base settings", that may fit to your tasting and that's okay, this game is nothing special to any game on this website
And $20 is a big price, see Paradise Lust who is sold for $10 with live 2D renders. Or just any officially translated eroge.
As far, as I see, the development of Paradise Lust is also financed through Patreon. So, "The Headmaster" might even be finally "cheaper" than Paradise Lust, as the dev gives it away for free 1 month after the beta-release.
Regarding the writing:
Altos makes in my opinion many things well in writing, which I see rarely done well in porn games:
- the characters have interests beyond lusting for the genitals of the MC (I know, this is a low barrier, but there are really games out there, where the girls do at least after some introduction nothing else than lusting for the MCs cock, which I find outright boring)
- the characters have quite different character traits
- the characters are acting plausible according to their character traits
- there is a (nonsexual) main aim, that this game follows and a lot of subplots that all point to this aim and don't go on their own. Even the whole lewdness is part of this aim and doesn't stand for it's own.
- despite the hilarious plot, many things, that the dev writes about seem to be recherched and not pure work of imagination of the dev. I got only recently again aware of this, when the headmaster spoke in the last update not only about the lust that certain BDSM-methods produce, but also about problems in the application.
Regarding images:
Altos uses Illusion-Images for what one can use them in my eyes best, and what I'm also very much interested in:
- showing character traits, emotions and even plot progression through images by showing different postures and facial expressions, basically visual story telling.
I guess, that's way more time-consuming to achieve using DAZ-images or even hand-drawn images but thus also not that often well used in this way. But the pure image quality is for me not that important for me, as long, as the images don't tell at least parts of the story and as long as the story has not that much quality.
I actually look first at the images and then at the plot, but If I don't find the plot interesting, I can also not enjoy the images. Than I really prefer watching porn. That is far more exciting.
I know actually even one dev, who produces tons of well-looking DAZ-Images every month and totally fits my exhibitionism-kink, but which's story is written so blend, that I just can't enjoy it.
There I prefer much more a developer who takes his time for thinking about the plot, the writing and the image producing, maybe trying things out and dismissing them again, but who produces for me after 6 months hours of pure joy.
Regarding the programming:
I know, this is the least time consuming in adult game development, but it still needs to be done.
