I’m currently mapping out a modern day dating sim in which you are a single mid twenties person born into an affluent family who gives you 60 days to find a potential suitor or else they will cut you off financially. I’ve mapped out about 5 potential RO’s - two male, two female, one gender depends on MC. One chapter will be dedicated to each along with three other chapters that aren’t romance related.
There is a surprising lack of dating sims and I would like to bring some in. I know a dating sim set in Colorado is in the works, so it’d be cool to have a HG romance game too. Thoughts? I’m open to anything.
I guess I could make some subplots with romance being a central theme. Maybe you discover your family is actually the ringleader of a Scientology-based pyramid scheme and you’re torn whether or not you should take them down.
I’m rather a large fan of romances in choice games. (Weird because I hate them in most other media.) I think as long as you flesh out your characters and interactions well enough to make the romances feel natural you should be good.
Make your game however you wish; as topic/story whether it interests your or not will come through.
Of course, there can be trade-offs doing so…and the market for a dating sim game written in choicescript might be bigger than I know. I mean, there is big crossover between those who play CoGs/HGs and Visual Novels.
For your first question, yes. The gender depends on MC character is going to be a character that your parents will set you up with, regardless of your sexuality.
would the MC have to spend an entire chapter even on ROs they’re not interested in pursuing?
I’m planning to have *gosub interest checks periodically. The problem with those however is that if you’re not into a RO then you lose out on a chapter of content. But I also want chapters centered on a RO because it’s a romantic game.
I’m still in the planning stages so anything can change.
I guess a problem could be that if this is a romance-focused game, players would probably prefer to be with ROs they like, and I certainly wouldn’t like to have to get through “romance” scenes with three female characters just to get to the two male characters.
I feel you. I could make it possible to get around the scene pretty easily, but the only problem is filling up the lack of an RO scene. The answer will come to light soon. Thanks for your interest!
it doesn’t seem like a terrible idea but I wouldn’t buy it if it was “only” a dating sim. I would need something a little bit more compelling than that even if it is cliche as hell. The more typical VN style “Its a dating sim but X”.
I would literally buy anything with romance in it. I’m also intrigued by a dating SIM type game. I love most romances in COG games but there just isn’t enough for me sometimes
Yeah; I feel that this also applies to the genderflipping RO, too. (I mean, if my parents are happy to set me up with two other guys, why would they not be okay setting me up with a third? )
2 months to find a suitor or lose all your wealth which basically equates to death if you lack any pragmatic skills, sounds like a very Shakespearean conundrum.
Good luck!!
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