So I’ve been working on this game for about a month now, and it’s starting to get serious, so I wanted to ask all of you for your opinions on a few things before it’s too late. But first, let me tell you about the game.
The game takes place in a fictional small town in Georgia in the United States, midways between Atlanta and Athens. The player is a recent high school graduate who has gotten a job at the local theater, Murray Hall. They then make friends with their seven other co-workers in a dating sim type structure. After seven “days,” things take a turn (which I refuse to spoil), and the script takes on a more mission based form in which the player can choose the order in which they want to do things, which carries the game to its conclusion. The decisions made in the relationship building stage of the game will have direct repercussions in the mission stage, mostly relating to how the other characters act.
One important thing about the game: the player can have some pretty massive variation, which results in some pretty massive story branching. Apart from the seven major skills, the player can choose one of SIX gender options (male/female/trans(pre/post op)), one of FIVE races (white, black, asian, latin@, or middle eastern), and one of FOUR optional disabilities (bad vision, a half amputated arm, paralysis of the legs, and arrhythmia). And not one of these is purely visual. Each of the other characters will react differently depending on your specific player’s combination. For example, one of the character’s brother was killed in Iraq and so they will (perhaps irrationally) despise a middle eastern player, a transwoman might have a hard time finding a date if she’s attracted to a bigot, and a wheelchair bound player might have a hard time participating in an optional soccer game. ALSO each race has a different family/housing situation, and a history that is split depending on gender.) This variation is a VERY important part of the game, and one of the primary injectors of conflict. If you expect to be able to woo everyone in every playthrough, you better be really good at manipulating others, or dealing with racism, sexism, and ableism.
Lastly, there are SEVEN normal romance options, two straight, two gay, and three bisexual. That means there are FIVE romance options for each gender (an even if they won’t date you, I’ve still written in the awkward scenes where you find that out!). Yes I do hate myself, why do you ask? Also, characters who are not the player’s chosen romance are not just relegated to background characters, like in most games. They can, and will, become jealous, try to start love triangles, start relationships with each other, and just generally remain active players in the story. Romances are tracked independently of the character’s approval scores as well, so you can be in a love/hate relationship if you want, or you can be best friends with a character without necessarily wanting to bone them. Finally, each character’s personality can change if the player helps them work through their personal issues. All of this adds up to an incredibly diverse cast that can change drastically in each playthrough.
Lastly, just a quick listing of the main characters (AKA romances) to get you losers excited.
James David : A well mannered (and well built) Black man, almost too well mannered, if you ask me. He runs camera one.
Karen Ferreira : A sheepish and strange Latina (Brazilian) who seems to be holding in a dark past. She is the janitor.
Molly Yu : A hilarious and up-beat Asian woman who loves old sci-fi movies. She works at the food stand.
Nicole Shafer : The (White) daughter of the hotel’s owner, who also happens to be a nationally famous pop star. What.
Ryan Walker : An incredibly handsome white man with an artistic mind just itching to break free. He runs the ticket booth.
Sam Blake : A mysterious white man with an abrasive attitude. But hey, he’s hot. He works at the food stand.
Zoe Mendes : An absurdly tall Latina (Argentinian) with an agreeable demeanor. What’s she hiding? She works camera two.
Just FYI, there are a few more characters that play major roles in the story. These are mostly the player’s parents, which vary with race, other character’s parents, a couple townsfolk, and one SECRET CHARACTER who is the sassiest mofo this side of the Mississippi.
Anyway yeah. If you’re looking for genre, I’d say romance/mystery, with heavy emphasis on character interaction so get excited if that’s your cup of tea. I am working a demo, which will encompass the entire first day (which currently has 20000 lines (4/5ths done), so keep your eyeballs open and your ears tuned in. It should be up in AT MOST a couple weeks, but I have an unstable living situation, so we’ll see.
This was kind of a brute force description and I’m really tired, so I probably missed a lot. If you people have questions, fire away.
lol) And, I love that you have so many character options. Especially the races, because I have a Middle Eastern/Egyptian heritage and of course most games don’t have that option.