Me too unless I’m playing a gender locked male game and not just in CYOA games. Bioware, stardew valley, the Sims, group Role-playing, etc.
As a wannabe writer, I’d recommend that if you’re not confident writing romance scenes, then don’t.
Yes, no romance is sucks, but bad romance is worse. Instead, try to put something different to compensate the lack of romance (should you choose to go this path)
4 Likes
Romance is very important, just as important as plot and length, for me. I’ll still play a game without, provided the rewiews are good or if someope whose taste I trust recommends it, or if the writer peppers it with ship tease and promises development in future sequels… Or all 3 reasons combined)
However, for different authors “romance” apparently means different things. Which leads to a ton of disappointment for me on that front in a number of HG and CoG titles that I’ve played so far.
- “Romance” isn’t just an opportunity for the MC to have sex with someone of their preferred gender and never speak of it again.
- “Romance” isn’t something that should only appear at the very end of the game and seemingly out of nowhere. (“So, guys and gals, we’ve had quite an adventure and I’m feeling very close to you right now… let’s date!” “Sure, okay… why not”)
- “Romance” means “for every sexual preference”, not just het and not just for the male PC, if there is no genderlock. It also means equal opportunity, not “2-3 RO’s for het guy or gay girl vs 1 RO for het girl, or gay guy… probably. And if you’re a guy he dumps you at the end” kind of thing.
- It also means being woven into the story and not existing apart from it. At least there must be some flavour text to acknowledge it’s existance, at best - extra opportunities when it comes to story-related choices.
- And don’t forget options. A game with no choice available (at least between 2 RO’s of one sex) feels limiting. And as if the whole romance subplot was an afterthought.
That’s the short of what I’ve been trying to say here, pretty much)
12 Likes
I see romance as being the main incentive to buy a game, maybe it’s my deep-rooted fangirling ways towards fictional character over the years, or maybe I just really like the format.(IDK) The games that have a tacked on romance I readily avoid, however you won’t be able to shut me up from reccomending it to people if it’s really good.
4 Likes
I should just say on the subject .
Pricefield Yes!
Amberprice No!
That wasn’t on the subject at all. I wasn’t asking what peoples favorite ships are.
3 Likes
Part of why I was suggesting that you could just start writing, and put romance in there if your readers seem attached to a particular character is, well… that’s something that happens a lot with fans 
seeing someone we’re interested in, and start shipping, or having ideas… and that could give you the idea of where you want to go with that, where you might not have thought of it before.
Yeah, this is very important. If a game does have romance, but doesn’t include an option for my male MC to romance another male, I won’t bother with the game and it’s also pretty offputting if the romance options are fewer, or get less content, or are less important to the plot, or less pleasant, etc… it’s not nice feeling like an afterthought.
But of course sometimes it’s balanced and I just don’t go for any of the ROs provided, and that’s okay 
2 Likes
My WIP game originally had no romance what-so but the demands of my interested reader/player were romance! Egads! I had to include romance for them and as sort of a personal challenge in writing romance for me. I had to balance romance with the game’s plot making it not that big of a deal, but making it also give an impact to the player character.
Having romance or no romance at is not a big deal to me. What matters is if the story will captivate me to play the game 
3 Likes
I personalty think romance flavors work well in my game. As does not choosing one at all, which I’m also adding in as a possibility.
The main plot is war. (Fantasy-like-war, against occultists/magic users/witches and wizards)
As for feeling pressured…
It seemed like people here really do enjoy a romance story (which is great!), but some expect you to add a bunch more RO’s so that there’s an equal number for male lovers, female lovers or non binary lovers etc…As well as that you add in something that fits their type…
That been said, I was kind of a pushover with it + I invented the whole romance, so I admit it WAS indeed my fault for most of the questions/concerns being about romance etc.
Best decision I made that pleased both me and my followers (I hope), was removing the gender locks on the characters I already had planned would be romancable for a certain gender. This was great because 1. the story won’t be crowded mess, as only the pre-made characters will be inside, 2. It includes at least one of each of the preferences. 3. And hopefully, since there’s fewer of RO, I can pull them off a lot better. They’ll have their chance to display depth, to properly develop through the game etc. 
As for my own preference: I like romance! And I like to be able to chose my preference as well! However, I don’t think I’d ever enjoy a game/movie etc where romance is the main plot. Have nothing against it, it’s just not my thing.
For an idea of how far I like the romance to go, I gesture you towards the 2004’s movie named ‘Troy’, which was also an inspiration for my own game: Legends of Ophelius.
1 Like
I have to disagree with this…If the main plot isn’t romance, writers have some pre-made characters that are either male, female, nonB etc…and adding in a bunch of more of them so that you have an equal preference, does more harm then good to the tale. (Though, there should be at least 1 option for all, I agree.)
Would you rather (for example) have 1. male option that displays depth and has a chance of progression etc, then 5 that are just …there for whatever reason? With little character, no time for development etc…?
Besides point 3 though, I agree with you. But again - if the main plot is not romance, you’ll have to understand characters aren’t just there to …well…romance! They’re there because they actually FIT into the setting, because they have something to offer besides it etc…
Just my opinion, anyways. 
1 Like
The development of some sort of relational interest is mandatory, while romantic interest can be developed as warranted.
The audience would be ok not developing romantic connections where it would not make sense but they still would like to develop friendships, rivalries, etc. Sometimes, when your story sets up the non-romantic connections, they will naturally lead to romantic connections in sequels or further development.
With my opinion stated above, I’d like to switch to a couple of thoughts I have regarding your particular project. My first thought is the following: there have been successful romances written into various spy works, even some that are dealing with being burned … so the examples for study are out there. The first recommendation I would give you is a USA t.v. series called: Burn Notice and the second would be the Thomas Crown affair movies, both the 1960’s original and the 1990’s remake.
My second thought is to start with your project how you see it and develop it as you go. There will come a time for you to explore your character relations and at that time you can take extra development to explore just how far you wish to go with it all.
When I am a reader, I enjoy relations outside of romance more than the romances themselves in most CoG and HG games. Guenevere and others of its ilk are the exceptions but most of these titles don’t go into the depth I prefer to end up really enjoying it.
7 Likes
I think for me, it’s not necessarily a romantic interest that is needed, it is good npc characters.
I mean, I don’t follow many game/WIP threads on here due to time constraint, but the ones I have been reading are filled with people talking about characters. A game can have a cool plot, some awesome scenes, but in the end, what tends to stick with me is the interaction with the characters. It doesn’t have to be a romance involved, but for me, people are essential.
To bring up an example that often gets brought up: I really liked my interactions with Jury in the Heroes Rise trilogy, But, I actually liked my interactions with him more before he was romanceable, because the romance was so obviously just tacked on because people asked for it.
13 Likes
Honestly? I wouldn’t have either. If it can’t be pulled off without depriving a good portion of the players of the romance subplot that other players will be able to enjoy, then there is no point in adding it at all. It wouldn’t be fair.
3 Likes
Honestly I’m - kind of compelled to disagree with you there. But more on a matter of preference than anything else if I’m being honest.
I tend to set my own sexuality aside when I play these games. Its just something I’ve found comes rather easily to me. So if you tell me that in the literary universe you’ve created, men don’t generally have open relationships with other men? I can slip into that role well enough for the duration of the story. Not to mention I’m actually fine with gender-locks. People who are exclusively straight or gay exist in the real world. So why shouldn’t they in fiction as well?
I’m very much a “love is love” type and I love reading a good romance regardless of who’s involved.
2 Likes
What I meant is (not just one male option, but one option for each preference.) Let me explain:
The way I see it, too many characters (or RO’s) crowd a story. They can make a real mess of things. And due to the game’s certain length, they probably won’t all have a chance to display themselves or progress properly. And if they would - it would again - be a crowd. And the main plot would get lost. This is all if romance is not the main plot though, - as I already stated.
…And if romance is a subplot, you shouldn’t add it…?
What?
I’m sorry, but can you explain how adding romance into a game where the first plot revolves around war/tech/magic or whatever else…how is it NOT fair to add in romance flavors to those…?
There are lots of really great games/books/movies out there (besides choice script ones) that have a completely different main plot, yet the romance (which is optional) is done way too well…I’m not really sure what to tell you then, except - to each their own.
It’s actually how I personally prefer a game/book/movie to be. I (for whatever reason) dislike the main plot being romance, YET, I absolutely love it when it’s added into certain genres.
That’s my POV. If you have an argument agains’t it, I’m open to debates.
4 Likes
My above post had been in reference to @Ekaterina, not to you @Tanja.K. If anything I was agreeing with you.
As for my story: I’m not saying that romance can’t fit in the context of war/troubles. If anything they can add great flavor and back-drop to what would otherwise be an “okay” story. Its just that in mine the pacing has you sprinting madly all up and down eastern Europe trying to potentially prevent a nuclear war between world super-powers while trying to figure out what people did while they were mucking around in your brain.
1 Like
While I certainly prefer romance to its lack, if you don’t want to add it, don’t. No romance is worse than one the author doesn’t want to write.
I disagree: if there’s only one RO of a particular gender (or sexuality), then it’s not really an option. Either you romance them, or you don’t romance anyone at all. I’ve always felt that unless you have more than three ROs for any player, you should make things as balanced as possible.
While I certainly agree that ROs shouldn’t just exist for romance, if you’ve only got one male RO and three female ones, and no other plot characters to make romanceable, then maybe you should consider making a couple of the girls genderflippable. 
Okay, that’s more balanced, but even here, it’s not really an “option”. It would probably be better if all of the characters were genderflippable in this scenario.
3 Likes
I don’t like genderflipping…because it completely destroys the image I had for certain characters. And a lot of times, I doubt it even ‘works’…
In games/stories, we go with what we believe works best, right? (Gender/race/personality/background etc included.)
I think I get what you mean though. One option for each, isn’t really an option…It’s kinda true, if you look at it a certain way - I mean, it is true, lol. 
Unless if you can - as someone above stated - push your preference aside and enjoy either one of the characters. (Which, I’ll admit - I don’t even do often myself. There have been really rare cases where I enjoyed playing a female while romancing a male for an example - One example where I did enjoy it being in DAI, where you romance Solas.
But…at least one ‘option’ for each is still better then none. And unless the story’s main plot is romance, I think it’s good enough, as long as they’re well-written. Because I don’t see genderflipping as being a solution, most of the time.
1 Like
Well, I think it depends on the fictional culture, really. In a world without gender roles, where nothing’s wrong with having a more masculine girl or more feminine guy, I don’t see how letting characters genderflip would affect the player’s experience (although I do agree it could be difficult for the author). I think Psy High is a good example of this. However, in a world with very defined gender roles, having characters switch gender without any other changes can lead to the setting feeling very disjointed (e.g. Affairs of the Court…) and this should certainly be avoided.
Eh, I’ve done that in a lot of non-CoG games, and I’m not really a fan. 
5 Likes