I’m having a tough time understanding what a romance game looks like. To further clarify what I mean, I mean a game in which romance is the focus and not a side-plot.
Still, how would you be able to choose who to romance in a romance game if the love interest is different depending on who the player picks? Would a romance game have to have only one love interest then, if they wanted to concentrate on romance between them?
It’s not necessary for a romance game to have only a single love interest; most have about four. It’s a good idea to have your character interact to some extent with all of the ROs before making a choice about which one(s) to pursue.
Probably the best way to see how it’s done in practice is by playing romance games. All Heart’s Choice games published so far have from two to five ROs, so that might be a good place to start if you haven’t already.
You would need to decide how many opinions for romance you are comfortable with vs the nuances of each relationship. A few questions:
Are you allowing for multiple romances to be explored at once or locking in the selected romance early? Are you opting for a specific gender set of player/romance or allowing for one or both to be customised? How are you approaching dates? Are you allowing for platonic relationships to be explored alongside the romance? What are the central themes outside the romance that tie things together?
In an ideal world if you are creating a game without a specific gender and sexuality then you should look to have about three ROs per gender and sexuality. Three to four romances allows each one to feel distinctive and not limited without being overwhelming.
Before you do anything, you need to set your overarching plot to ensure that it is a romance. A romance plot should be about getting(1), staying(2) and growing(3) together. All other considerations have to take a backseat to that focus or it is too easy to sway away from romance into something else. For every challenge, the characters need to have the same motivation (depending on where in the story arc they are) and that motivation needs to be one of points 1, 2 or 3 or something closely associated with it. Conflicts should follow the same loose guidelines/motivations and so should complications. Once you’ve the base plot and it’s inflection points figured out, then you can start building your characters and making decisions about how many are too many for you to write and branch the story for. Your story may not work with more than two options or maybe it won’t work with less than six. Maybe it doesn’t work with certain PC personality types, or only works if PC is the side character/second lead rather than the MC. It’s all got to relate back to that one core concept though, of the romance. The love is what it has to be structured around, everything else is set dressing and fluff.
As someone weaned on visual novels, there is one key ingredient to making a relationship with RO worthwhile, and that is character development. Basically, there’s something afflicting the RO, and you have to deal with it in some way. The way of implementing this can very from game to game, so you might need to play not just romance IFs, but also romance-oriented VNs.
Hi. Heart’s Choice author here. I’m not here to say I’m an expert by any definition, or that I have all the objectively correct answers. But I’ve put out two romance games thus far, so I have some insight, at the very least.
As others have said, every Heart’s Choice title has multiple ROs. The key, in my opinion, is making them unique compared to each other, and giving each of them their own storyline and/or trope to follow. You don’t want two bad boys or two best friends turned lovers. Every RO should stand out, and they should also be reasonably in the MC’s orbit for one reason or another. I’m partial to closing the MC into a situation or an area. Make the MC and the ROs all in the same restaurant, or they’re all part of the same racing league, or all working at the same non-profit. Whatever it is, I like to have an external, non-romance plot that runs concurrent to the romance options. Something that you can lean on to keep things moving and keep the MC and the ROs into contact over and over again.
If you wanted to make a romance game, my suggestion would be having them maybe thematically mirror the protagonist in some way, if that makes any sense. Like @MoonlightBomber mentioned, character development is really key. Seeing how the RO compliments or challenges the MC, in some way fulfills whatever void or struggle they’re facing and how they make each other the best they can be. Or something like that.
If possible, I’d highly recommend reading Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes. It’s a quick read and a great template for what is usually expected in the genre and what tools you can use
Just like with romance games, having diverse options and unique storylines keeps players coming back. In one game I played, the main character was always in a new situation that tied them to the different romance options, which made every choice feel unique.