I have a big problem to write romance, first, I just hate writing about romance in general. For me, it is basically a chore. And then the fact You are supposed to have happy endings as a player agency.
As a writer, I am not interested in starting a relationship as a plot I found it banal and uninteresting.
Funny thing is I am all contrary as a reader. Even if I know that the only way of having a chance is at least using 6 or 7 romances.
If you asking me why after all practice in contest jams etc, Why I donāt have a serious wip The main reason nowadays, It is thinking about having to implement all that romance I donāt want to write and expand in scenes for it I donāt care in the slightest.
And probably you all will say that āI donāt have toā. But We can be 100 per cent honest, no 5 or 6 romances or your wip game is doomed to failure no matter anything else.
So basically Now I am looking at the planning process and closing it due for all I canāt gathering forces to create flat characters to follow the anime tropes and all that stuff I donāt like or care.
I think 80% of comments in the wip threads can be summerized in āWhy Jimmy/Jenny is not a RO?ā or āMorgan is just for straght/gay mc?! Then Iām out!ā
About the only thing you can do as a writer is just carry on with your vision. It wonāt do you any good writing by committee.
Iād still suggest to Mara that if she doesnāt want to write romance, then she shouldnāt and not give up on writing something regardless of the results.
Yeah, That is very cool to say End. And it is what I do with all my projects. Donāt plan to be published That is the point, a wip is done with the main reason of being published. Aka commercial distribution and sales we all should be honest at this.
So, even if I will still do what I want in a contest and my Cys games. I canāt have that naive approach to something that I want to do from a commercial standpoint. Not for the money, but more for exposure and adquire a fan base.
So romance it has to be implemented and be core to the experience and all of the game. The reason why I am stuck with the planning about stuff I donāt give a crap about.
Maybe thatās the part to give to a collaborator, if a compatible one is found.
plot plot plot -> blackbox of stuff-I-don't-care-about to hand over to collaborator who will write nothing else -> plot plot plot, then make blackbox route optional in the code
I just HATE romances as a planning device, variables, plot structure. The fact to have based the story and character in the base who the player want top bang is just boring and weak from my point as a writer. I can do it, it is simply something i despise and I will do just for commercial reasons. I could hide that and say something popular and how I love the characters. But I will just copy paste basic name tropes and call it a day. Only the planning of characters as meat grinder is weird me out. Eventually, I will end with the plane obvious shoehorned commercial husbandos wifus and call it a day. I am burned at this point after an entire week of thinking about something I hate with plots I hate even more.
Edit: Thank you all, I just prefer write games with no more 3 or four characters, with more deep interactions and a past together. That doesnāt go well with th eblamkl state teen high school drama. I will end up or with really flat characters or focusing on two RO that nobody will like as I am 33 not a teen otaku. oh, no please not slow burn romancesā¦
On a different note - apologies for steering it in a different direction - but I have hit a snag in my WIP - Iāve much of the story all planned and plotted. But what I canāt reconcile with is, which point in this entire journey is a good place to start.
Iāll try to summarize it without giving away too much plot that would spoil the fun!
Idea 1: the story begins with the MC in a village with their friends. When a Nightwalker appears in their village, they manage to repel it successfully. After which, they receive a letter offering them an opportunity to join the Riders - professionals based in the capital city, whose duty is to eliminate this Nightwalker threat. In this route, the MC meets the ROs along the way - there arenāt any prior relationships - and will explore the capital city together with the Reader.
Idea 2: the MC is already a Rider, and has been for some time. This route begins with the MC having lived in the city for a time, and a premise is set that they are already friends with two potential ROs. The same mission in the village will take place, albeit with a more experienced and trained MC.
/Edit I forgot to add - the first idea was the initial one I had. But then, i got stuck wondering why canāt an MC simply just refuse the offer and stay in their little villageā¦
Thank you all for offering to help so readily :ā) you guys are awesome
I have the romanticism of a rock inside a taxation office. I donāt understand shy, or angstā¦ If I like someone I just go and say it directly. I guess I will just copy the otome style tropes and call it a day. So it is not something I can ask help about.
@Ellery two different opinions one as a writer and other mine as a reader roleplayer
As a writer, I think go for the first one. It is more practical and commercial and opens you a bunch of friends that could be easily shipped as romances without much fuss. That will make your wip commercial and attract a fan base.
As reader I will totally skip reading all that friendship part because I play evil selfish characters so all friendship and all forced hero content is something I donāt like. I would have prefer the second with several origins selectable like in mass effect one start.
If thereās not much flashbacks in the story (Iām assuming here that the Idea 1 would serve as a flashback if you go with Idea 2?), and you want the MCās past to be a mystery at first, I think Iād prefer Idea 2.
But if you want to give the reader the details about the MC immediately, then go with the first.
Too many flashbacks might irritate readers, but it can still be a useful tool.
@poison_mara
I understand this. I donāt hate romance in games, in fact, I can actually be quite a sucker for it. What I donāt enjoy is writing it, at least not in choice games. I find the fact that you have to hand agency over to the player makes writing any sort of deep relationship (not restricted to romance) really tricky. Remember, youāre trying to write about why these two characters are so compatible, and how they connect and work together. But you donāt know anything about your player. Sure, we can fudge it by assuming certain archetypes, backgrounds and restricting the choice options. But it all still feels a bit weird to me.
So Iām actually struggling with a similar dilemma: do I include romance or not? Maybe I just write the whole thing and add romance retrospectively, if it makes sense to do soā¦ I have the same thoughts as well: but will any read it without romance? I donāt know. But I know Iām here and wanting to write for a reason, and that reason isnāt to become rich or create the most popular WIP of all timeā¦ Itās to tell a story, and whilst stories naturally evolve, I think we have to take great care to not be coerced into creating something that doesnāt satisfy our original vision.
Ooh wow, thank you @poison_mara@Shai_Manahan@Beth for sharing your opinions in such detail! Actually Iāve an entire flashback written prior to all these taking place, but it looks like Iāll have to shift it somewhere else - or find a way to lead it in more seamlessly to idea 2.
Back to the planning board, I guess! And thank you all again for the wonderful feedback! Itās really helpful!
Just maraās advice if you go for one, you can always add choices where character is more renegade than paragon and just help to gain money or popularity to become a raider/ in contrast, with all the protect family friends route. But remember paragon is 80% of your audience, but just the fact add another smaller route will help replay value without changing too much the plot.
That is an awesome quote from Mamet. It reminds me of the all-time greatest story of why two people who were attracted to each other could never get together - Legend of the Seeker (TV show and book).
They mustāve gone through 20 different completely plausible reasons why the two leads couldnāt get romantic. It was beautiful!
Iāve been thinking about this a bit too, and while Iām absolutely not sure this is either the best or most lucrative answer, what Iām trying to shoot for is to write ROs that have wants and needs, both personally and from A Relationshipā¢, and essentially giving the player a chance to decide if theyāre willing to meet those wants and needs or not, to give the ROs a sort of āagencyā to at least kinda sorta vaguely balance them with the player. In other words, theyāre willing to compromise some, and maybe you will have to as well, but thereās also limits that they just wonāt move past, and thatās okay.
For example, Iām writing a character whoās constantly projecting what he thinks people want to see and burying his ārealā self. He wants a partner who stays true to themself instead of saying what they think others want to hear, and needs a partner who will encourage him to do the same. A partner who plays along with his act doesnāt interest him, so doing that too much will cause him to lose interest (or never gain interest in the first place). And thatās before getting into what he or other ROs would want from the more specific romantic/sexual side of things.
Iām still kind of nervous about doing things this way, because it will make getting together with the ROs more of a challenge, especially since my ROs are also gender/sexuality locked to begin with. But I also feel like it will make them more interesting and the relationships more meaningful, at least if I can manage the writing chops to actually realize that.
I think thatās a very good approach to a character.
For instance, Iāve been pondering the boundaries of an RO in a spin off story of mine and Iāve been thinking about having him be very reluctant to get with an MC who has a fear of snakes, since he can turn into a snake. He wouldnāt want to make them uncomfortable but also wouldnāt want to make himself uncomfortable, hence why heās reluctant to get with someone who is afraid of snakes.
I have the same apprehension as you do since my ROs (barring one) will be set characters, including their sexualities. I know it wonāt be as popular as player-sexual ROs, but I want to treat my characters as characters instead of ROs.
