Regarding VN game flow

[Razka]

I'll start with the question: would you, as a player, like to have a way to do everything right in a single playthrough, with good choices and a bit of luck? Or would you be okay with multiple playthroughs to see everything?

See, in my VN, the player can purchase some items at a store in the very early stages. Some of those items are integral to achieving the true ending, and some are required to build affections with romantic interests (gifts and such). Being the start of the game, some of those item would be impossible to acquire because of limited currency.
Another big problem is that there is another store soon after, but the budget is the same. Basically a player would have no way to know they may want to save money for later.
I've tried not to make obvious traps, like "HAH jokes on you you bought the wrong item", but I'm still struggling with making it as fair as possible.

I was thinking I may give the player the option to get to the true ending in one go, provided he skips the romance options.

Any insights?

[fleet]

I've seen situations where the game creator (or a fan) made a 'walkthru mod' that highlights the choices for the player to make to reach a desired ending. You could include that as an option on the game's opening menu.
As I do not write games in renpy I can't tell you how to do it.

For a VN that has a lot of endings or requiring specific choices to get the 'true' or best ending you should consider implementing such an option.

Another option is to provide a read-me file with a walk-thru

[MapletreePaper]

I'll start with the question: would you, as a player, like to have a way to do everything right in a single playthrough, with good choices and a bit of luck? Or would you be okay with multiple playthroughs to see everything?

When a visual novel has multiple endings, I believe that multiple playthroughs are unavoidable. It's all a matter of how much of the game you force the player to replay/skip. In any case, ideally, I would like it to be possible to get the true ending of my first try. In theory, if I fail to obtain my desired ending, it should be my fault, not the game's design.

See, in my VN, the player can purchase some items at a store in the very early stages. Some of those items are integral to achieving the true ending, and some are required to build affections with romantic interests (gifts and such). Being the start of the game, some of those item would be impossible to acquire because of limited currency.
Another big problem is that there is another store soon after, but the budget is the same. Basically a player would have no way to know they may want to save money for later.

I feel there are a few ways to solve this issue.
Namely:

1) Warn the player that they should save their money. This could be through another character or directly through a pop-up box. That way, if they ignore your advice, it's on them
2) Have limited stock of each item so players can't waste all their money early in the game. Maybe even set this number to never reset and apply it throughout the entire story.
3) Reward the player for saving their money. Perhaps you can implement a banking system with weekly interest or hint at an item or event which only appears if you have a large amount of money on you.

I was thinking I may give the player the option to get to the true ending in one go, provided he skips the romance options.

As stated above, I support this 100%! Unless you have a very good reason, preventing your players from getting the best ending on their first try just seems pointless.

[Razka]

Those are all excellent solutions, each one with its pros and cons. I'll think about it, but I can see the banking system + the highlighted choices working best on my game specifically.
Glad I was on the right track with the "first try completion", so thanks for the very valuable replies. Appreciate it.