I was thinking of what others would think about some romance aspects that I typically don’t see in games that much. The top aspects being (1) an LI having a crush on someone else as you try to pursue them and they slowly begin to have feelings for you instead and (2) having an LI question their sexuality because of the MC showing interest. Now when I say this I mean bi-curious thoughts, not trying to say that an LI that is gay begins to think they’re straight or vice-verse . . . though I guess that happens often to . . .
And then I’m curious about any other romance aspects that we’d be interested in seeing in games.
I think both ideas are very interesting, particularly the idea of having the love interest be interested, or already in a relationship with someone else. This could be interesting as, presumably, the jilted love interest would probably become extremely jealous of the protagonist.
Another idea that could be interesting to see (and that I hope to eventually include in at least one of my games) is some sort of consequence for persuing more than one love interest at a time. For instance, having one or both of your love interests confront you and give you an ultimatum, causing the rejected love interest to become very bitter towards you… Or possibly even convincing them to try a polygamous relationship. I suppose the only issue is that all this would take a considerable amount of time and effort to code.
I’ve always wanted to see more consequence for that type of behavior, as well as wishing more games allowed you to go after more than one person at the time. I love the love triangle Wayhaven allows.
I think the only time I have seen this, is in Tin Star. If you go for more than one romance, they will eventually confront you about it (men didn’t that hurt), but you also can have a poly relationship with two of them if some stats are high enough.
I don’t have the heart to do this one… I will feel like shit when eventually you have to choose one of them and then
Now, regardless this thread, I think something I would like to see more, is to see relationships develop in a more natural way and not stat based. It really makes me cringe when I am playing a game, and then I go above certain percentage of the relation stat, and out of the blue, that person just appears there and asks my MC to go on a date. So, what I would like is to see more games where the romances are more choice based and not stat based. That would be great
I also dislike how sometimes the ROs I like require my MC to act a certain way to get them. I would love to be able to disagree with an RO without worrying if that’s going to lock me out of the romance.
I’m actually planning to have both of those aspects in my WIP. Certain ROs will have a crush on someone else (instead of you) if you don’t meet their stat requirements, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pursue them still. You can even try to pair them up if you want them and their crush to be together.
The second one was more accidental. Two of the ROs are supposed to be straight and two more that are gay, but I was convinced that maybe I’ll explore the possibility of them being bi instead. It will be a bit more difficult to romance them that way, and it will have a slightly different progression.
I’m considering something like this too and even having an achievement for trying to romance everyone It’s not much of an issue for me since they’re just crushes so far, not actual relationships.
Coding-wise I’m planning to have a confrontation scene in the midpoint where all your crushes want to spend time with you, but you can only pick one you want to be “serious” with, or none. So hopefully that cuts down the amount of conditionals because I won’t have to deal with it the whole story.
I think it’s a good way to show some hidden character development too you won’t otherwise see.
I also totally agree with that, and I’m trying to explore this relationship aspect too. The relationship will be much stronger if you can endure fighting/disagreeing with each other.
I think this is more of a coding/writing problem though, since it’s much easier to just lock out someone. Less work that way.
This is s probably the aspect of game design that I’ve been thinking about the most lately, but I keep running into the brick wall of how to even code a relationship metric in a way that didn’t require the MC to act in a certain way in order to build a positive relationship with a character. Or do you just not code in a metric for affection at all? Should it be as easy as:
This person is my:
Friend
Significant Other
Mortal enemy
There’s not much game there, but is that really a bad thing? There’s something kind of gross about picking the choices you know a character will want just to earn enough points to be rewarded with the prize. I don’t know, I have a lot of thoughts. I would love to hear people’s ideas on alternate ways to handle relationships.
Also what does one look for in a rival-mance? I’m, uh, asking for a friend…
Well, I can put in my two cents but, for me, the best part of rival-mances is that rivalries kind of imply that two parties are equals going in. These two characters see each other and see something in them at they must admire in some way and they have to be equally skilled or have different but equally good skills. Sure there are one-sides rivalries were its one person looking at another and thinking “I want to be better than them” which could lead to some cute romances as well but, for me, a true rival-mance should have a mutual rivalry.
I mean, in a rivalry you both have something in common, like a shared interest or career, that you both care enough about that you want to be the best at. You care about the other person’s opinion since you’re often trying to out-do and impress them. You notice things they are good at which is what pushes you to be better. And when the romance part comes into play there can be some cuteness and humor in the rivalry continuing but in a more fun, playful, or flirty way.
I want a rival RO to be on the MC’s level, to be a driving force that makes my MC want to be not only better than them but the best ever. I want them to be fun and teasing, clearly they know the MC is good too but they also want to be better. And if they could have a healthy dose of romantic tension than that its just perfect.
You know, I was planning something in own WIP where one of the supposedly hetro characters would be romance able by a male MC, slowly. But now, I have to debate against bothering because I’m not sure how COG or it’s users would react to it.
Personally, I always found it really weird that concept of every character in universe being conveniently the proper leaning to be attracted to a main character. Like even if it’s meant for playability it’s a weird thing to think about. Basically, that character’s existence has reality warping powers to their entire world.
Ok, yeah, now I want a whole game just around this premise. I think we get a taste of it in Choice of the Deathless with Wakefield, but I would totally play a game with that kind of rivalry as the central focus. I don’t know if something like this would fit in my current project, but I’ll have to keep it on the back burner for the future…
Ohhh I love Wakefield! I agree, they were a pretty good rival-mance. I think Mecha Ace had a few ROs who could also be played like a rival-mance, and my Bae, Jury from Heroes Rise, is a pretty good one, at least I think so. I’m sure theres more I’m not thinking of or haven’t played but… Yes, I would love more of those kinds of romances in games.
@SirEdmund The way I have planned it is to separate friendship, impression and affection stats for each character.
Details
You gain a small amount of affection every time you show interest, so if you have enough, that probably means you’re interested in them, which is the requirement to start the romance. There’s the friendship stats to see if they actually like you, and your personality stat will determine if you are their “type”.
From then on, as long as you keep the affection stat high enough (I use it more as a romance progress bar than “compatibility with each other”), having a lower relationship wouldn’t necessarily end the relationship.
Then, on an appropriate point in the story, their personality flaws will show / they’ll get angry with things they don’t like about you, and then you have several options on how to deal with it. (Break up, compromise, adapt, try to understand each other, etc.)
The rest of the story will deal with that, and when it’s successful, you go back to the lovey-dovey stuff. Rinse and repeat according to how you planned the progression.
@Mewsly Oh! I’ll keep this in mind. Those are good points! I’m not exactly… fond of rivalries.
I haven’t played Mecha Ace or Jury’s romance (mostly because I didn’t realize he was going to be an option until the very end), but the give and take of that kind of relationship would be fun. Though I think the stakes would have to be lower than those in the Heroes Rise series for me to not completely stress out over losing, haha.
Multiple vectors like this seems like the smart way to go to create a more multidimensional relationship. And it could still leave room for some healthy rivalries. I like it.
Having some kind of confrontation like this is a cool idea,I like that it gives the opportunity to handle the situation in a couple different ways. Lots for me to think about!
That’s why I’m still wondering if I want to do it but I also find it a bit realistic, especially for someone who’s straight to start questioning. It could also make for really interesting character development.
Preston from Tin Star has a sort of rival-mance dynamic with the MC. I mean, depending on your playthrough, he can be anywhere from simply disliking you to outright hatred and I’ve managed to get a somewhat low relationship stat with him before while still being in a relationship with him. Plus the only way to start a romance with Preston is by arguing with him, which I thought was fun.
I’ve been really interested in seeing more proper rivalmances. If I ever get around to my pipe dream game there’s going to be rivalmances for sure…
I’d like to see more rivalmances where the LI and PC are equals and treated as such, as well as a “realistic” level of relationship development (I’m not a fan of the thing where they hook up based off of one or two choices and then act like nothing happened save for a line or two). Id like to see more rivalmances built off of mutual respect as well? Like maybe they disagree on methods a lot but they can respect each other’s results and capabilities, etc
It’s not much of an issue for me since they’re just crushes so far, not actual relationships.
