I was showing off choice of games to some of my friends who also enjoy Cyoa games, but the majority of them were A: not impressed by the lack of character interactions, or B: only enjoyed ZE bY @JimD because of the fact that you can choose at least 3 characters (at this time for all i know) and it started me thinking, maybe we should make think about putting alittle more romance, of course it‘d be hardwork but it‘d help get more people to like the games made here, anyone agree/disagree?
Well most games have opprtunites for romance sometimes clear , sometimes not. I believe there are a couple of game ideas floating in the air, but I dont no if they will be used.
It’s a lot of work for relationships to be managed through a long story but in the end, people enjoy romantic options. It’s one of the most requested features.
Just today, I spent 2-3 hours working on the relationship aspect of the Mindy storyline.
Yes but i do indeed love it @JimD ^·^
More work probably should be put into the romantic aspect, but not neccasarily so much to make it the focus of the game. The story still needs to be focused on the most heavily, romance is only a sub-plot. That being said, it can only really improve the games replayability and realistic value if you have several romance options with alot of effort put into their characters, so I vote yes. But only if the Author feels like it’s necessary and is willing to do it.
it’s not *as* prevalent in the new Way Walkers game as it will be in it’s sequel, but the overall plan for Way Walkers was to have considerably deeper and more fleshed out character interaction overall through the story arch. As said, the sequel will deal with the deeper aspects of dating, but you might be interested in checking out the first installment to see if that satisfies. 
I personally don’t care much for romance in the modern sense, and quite frankly have no idea how it’s even supposed to happen. It’s easier to write one for a static novel but with an interactive one, I find myself stumped on what’s supposed to trigger romantic feelings and such. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about it for the marriage options in Samurai because people back saw romantic desire and marriage as completely separate things. People in lower classes wouldn’t even bother with the notion of romance.
And my next game is just not going to have it because too busy doing… stuff.
@TDOT, did you happen to show your friends Choice of, oh I don’t know, Romance? 
And assuming you did, what did they make of that?
I really enjoy romantic subplots in games, and I do sometimes wish there were more to it in most of the games I’ve played on this site. I think it’s just tricky to figure out how to trigger such things without it seeming extraneous and tacked on.
I have a side project with a romantic main plotline, but it won’t be done for quite a while. In Resonance, I’m trying to sort it out so that the romantic subplot can actually have a major impact on the main plot, without making the romantic options necessary for anyone who wishes to avoid them. It takes a bit more effort to incorporate things like that and find a good balance, but I consider it worth it.
@CS_Closet agreed. Wait to you see the WW sequel—I just finished the main dating vin and it’s like, over 12,000 words not counting code. And it’s totally worth it–i mean, what’s the point of any good read if there’s no romantic tension to be found in the characters?
It was a friend’s comments about the more than decent gay romance options in many COG games that drew me here in the first place and I must say I’ve generally been pleasantly surprised by the writers efforts here to include same sex romance options in the games that feature romances. It is certainly light years ahead of the mainstream.
I would rather have romance removed all together
@Mardam, why is that?
Personally, I enjoy a well-written romance. It adds to the depth and overall immersiveness of the game. I like the romances in Vendetta and Zombie Exodus a great deal, and have a love/hate relationship with the romances in Choice of Romance. (Let it suffice to say that I don’t think using the exact same text for romances with both male and female versions of the same charaacter is always the best idea.) While in Choice of the Vampire, I very much enjoyed the intimate feeding scene with Estefania, and would have greatly liked the opportunity to expand that particular relationship into something more.
There’s always the risk that the inclusion of romance will become the focal point of the work, or at least one of the main lines of choices, rather than a potential supplement. Anyone including a romance option must be careful to allow the reader to choose their level of involvement, i.e. whether it dominates their decision making or is just an added detail for realism, and must take great care to let the reader decide their own feelings instead of dictating them, allowing them to state whether the romance is sincere or superficial for reasons such as status, manipulation, et cetera.
@Drazen I’m mostly in agreement with you on this one. One of the issues I had with Choice of the Vampire, was being told how I felt about characters like Clotho and, in one particular circumstance, Jesse, when I’d have preferred that the game allow me to decide. While choices to get off the Clotho train were available, I didn’t really want to end it, I just wanted to feel differently about it. It was far worse in Heroes Rise where you had no choice but to be crazy head-over-heels for Black Magic, although to a certain extent this was mitigated by being able to pick what Black Magic looked like. Appearance is only one small part of a person however, and I know lots of players resented being forced into that relationship.
Where I diverge is that if the game is billed as a romance, than I have no issue with romance being the focal point, so long as everyone knows what they’re signing up for from the very beginning.
I have to agree with @JimD in that most readers generally want more romance, not less. Human nature, I guess. When we ran the Vendetta: Rise of a Gangster Survey a few months back (with 47 respondents from this forum) “romance” in one form or another (including, it must be said, the squidgy kind) figured prominently among the most-wanted statistics and seemed dominant in the minds of many.
That said, there’s little I personally find more annoying from a reader’s perspective than being forced into a romantic liaison I neither wanted nor actually indicated any interest in having–not unless that particular scene is supposed to be a necessary and unavoidable part of the protagonist’s story, of course. This pet-hate of mine is admittedly reflected in the design of Vendetta, in that to become romantically involved with another character in the story you have to purposely pursue them. Moreover, you have to do so at the cost of not being able to do something else of possible value or importance to your character, so ensuring that it is indeed the player’s wish to pursue romantic involvement.
While I certainly don’t suggest that other authors should be quite so . . . shall we say, firm . . . on the subject, I do feel it behooves us to always bear in mind the strong feelings of players like @Mardam, just as much as we do the majority view. It’s too personal a subject to treat in a whimsical or off-handed manner.
@Venddeta I quite like the way romance works in you game.
I support Romance completely, I think it’s a very popular and fundamental element of choice games, however like Vendetta above I do think it should be kept optional or one-sided.
I HATE being told how my Character “feels” in a game that’s supposed to be about MY choices, I’m sure that’s how many others feel too.
I really like romance in games, but that doesn’t mean that anyone should add it to their game if they don’t feel enthusiastic about it. Good romance is hard to write.