Thanks for making the form! It’s always nice to be able to give that kind of feedback!
I’ll probably be in the minority with my answer, but that’s not so important, I’ll manage with any of the options!
With that being said, once you decide, could you announce the decision here, so we know?
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Absolutely! I like to be transparent with things like this, so I will be sure to update once I go forward with a decision on this. 
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I answered the form, but have one small thing to add;
for the “flirt” options, maybe you can have a “toggle option” where players that want to see qhich options are marked can, and those who don’t, don’t have to?
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I believe you could ask a moderator into making the topic post a wiki so you can edit it
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I decided that I would do this less than five minutes after I posted the form. 
But the responses are still helpful because now I know what the default setting will be.
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An update to yesterday’s poll:
Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out the form I posted yesterday!
It seems like most people agree with what was my personal favorite choice, so I will be going forward with the “Organic Dependency” approach to the romances.
As a reminder, this means that ROs will only express romantic interest in the PC if at least one romance or flirt option has already been made with them, and they will show varying levels of romantic interest depending on how many total romance points have been accrued with them.
I have also decided that I will be adding a setting option at the beginning of Ninelives that allows players to choose right off the bat if they want romance options to be tagged or not. People overwhelmingly responded that they would like tags, so that will be the default setting, but those who do not want them will have the option to turn them off.
I was surprised that a decent number of people were interested in the “No Dependency” option for the romance approach. It could have definitely been a fun option, getting to explore more of the ROs and who they are. Still, I think giving people a way to entirely avoid anything romantic is still the better option. Also, the “Organic Dependency” approach gives people more control to avoid conversations with ROs that might involve jealous feelings, which I’m sure some people would not be comfortable with while others might like the realism.
This is the first IF I’ve ever coded, so I have to find a balance between ambitious but doable decisions and biting off more than I can chew. On future projects, I would like to explore making an option for the romance approach so that people can have more tailored experiences, but for my first project I think that is more coding than I am prepared to do.
Once again, thanks so much for your responses! It was very helpful to see how people are feeling about the approaches I’d like to take. It means a lot to me!
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I think for me, it is okay and valid to post a comment in your thread with an update, telling your wip has an update. Most of the other wip authors are doing the same thing as I what I seen. But just don’t too much spam the thread like answering some questions with lots of replies when you can put it in one reply.
By the way, about the story… haha I am waiting for your update so thanks. Keep it up, can’t wait for more chapters. after I replay again the demo, I’ll leave some feedback in your form pr maybe here.
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Organic dependency is not bad, but I’m a bit scared for people who select only shy options for “flirt” and who don’t flirt at every occasion depending on the context (basically what I do) - won’t it be easy to “miss” possible romantic actions initiated by the ROs if it depends on the amount of flirt options the players selected?
As I said, I’ll manage with any of the options, but I’ll admit this is my least favorite - because of course it is 
Ah but I’m not saying that to try and convince you to do otherwise, especially considering you were asking people overall and that one won - I’m just wondering how it’ll be structured in relation to these worries of mine.
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Yeah, if I did that a little in the beginning, it’s only because I wasn’t used to this particular forum and wasn’t finding the buttons immediately. Sorry about that! And thanks for the kind words, I am glad you are enjoying it so far!
This is a fair concern, and definitely one I’m keeping in mind. I’m a lot like you when I play IFs. I don’t always pick the blatant flirt options if there’s another option that sounds more like my MC. I have a document that helps me keep track of maximum values of everything, including the maximum possible romance points if you pick every available option, so that I can set an achievable threshold that does not require picking every possible option.
Early on some of the choices look like:
- choice
- choice
- romance choice
- romance choice
- choice
But I also plan to have opportunities for the PC to spend time with specific characters, and there will be options like
- I’m hoping to be better friends
- I have romantic interest in this person
In other words, choices kept separate from dialogue and actions that serve to aid the accumulation of romance points without sacrificing the roleplay aspect of the game.
So ultimately these thresholds will be designed to be pretty easy to hit, but not so easy that people are romancing characters on accident. Just as an example, with my current point system, you can actually hit the first threshold with Alex already, even though we haven’t gotten to any scenes where this threshold matters yet.
And of course, once a lock-in scene happens, advancing the romance won’t depend on points, so players will be even more free to choose options without worrying about missing out on the romance content. Hitting these thresholds won’t mean you’re required to lock-in the romance as soon as it becomes available either.
It’s kind of a hybrid of the systems I’ve seen other IFs use (mixed with a little inspiration from a visual novel I’ve played) that I think will add some variety and replayability to the way the romances unfold. Perhaps a bit ambitious and definitely requiring a lot of work on my end, but since this is a character-driven IF before anything else, I’m happy to put the work into it.
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Just to clarify, I know in the demo it’s acknowledged by the MC whenever they’re flirting with two people so you’re saying that it’d be possible for the ROs to notice that too?
Possible, but not a huge focus unless that’s the result the player wants. Ideally, I want players to be able to pick the occasional flirty option or explore romance choices in the early game without being heavily punished by dealing with uncomfortable conversations just because they got 1 romance point with a single RO once upon a time. I myself am very much not a fan of the typical love-triangle dynamic or reading about hugely jealous characters. I’m operating under the assumption that there are people who feel the same way as me, but I also want there to be some level of realism to the way the ROs behave. So a player who has gotten only a couple of romance points with a few ROs but a lot with a single RO shouldn’t encounter this. A player that is blatantly picking every flirt option with multiple ROs might.
Of course, right now that’s all theoretical. Between choosing to spend time with certain characters and picking different narrative branches, it might simply turn out that it’s only possible to accumulate that many romance points with one RO at a time, but we’ll see. I may also end up adding some equalizer choices to bring romance points back down to give players more control in the event that they change their mind about certain ROs partway through. Ultimately, a lot of this is really trial and error until I get further in the story and coding.
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Update 4/28/2021
Total word count: 68k, Average playthrough: 28k
The demo has been updated. It includes the first half of Chapter 5 and some minor edits and revisions throughout. For a full list of changes, please check here.
This chapter has ended up having more content than I anticipated, so I have yet to make it to the much-needed official introduction of the final three ROs. The good news, though, is that all three of them will definitely be in the next update.
I’ve been more focused on writing than I have been on revision, so not all of the revisions on my docket have been made yet. Rest assured, they will be made in the future. For now, I hope you all enjoy the new stuff and continue to provide feedback! Thanks!
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Ah, just as enjoyable as always!
I can’t really give constructive feedback about the new things since the added content was pretty short in terms of progression of the whole plot (though I did love the talk with Ansel and the ability to try and convince him), and I won’t mention again things I had told you about before from the previous chapters since you said you focused on writing.
But with that being said, there IS one thing I would like to adress that is from the previous chapters, because I don't believe it was adressed yet (or well, I didn't notice, if it had).
This time around, I have been looking at the code while playing, and I have noticed something. The MC can be depressed or dislike crowds (the disliking crowds part would fit mine), but both of these personality “traits” are locked behind the MC having been fired from work. If the player doesn’t go that way in chapter 1, then it’s impossible to have a MC who hates crowds, and to start the game with a depressed one (even though for that at least it can go up later too).
Considering the way I play my MC, him being fired isn’t something that fits - only the laid off option is really fitting, and I wouldn’t really want to be forced to go for the fired route.
Wouldn’t it be possible to add the possibility to get these traits even if MC was not fired? Like, adding another question if they were laid off or quit that could also allow to set these things?
One doesn’t necessarily get fired because they have a hard time with crowds or are depressed - it depends on the person of course, but you can still make do.
Heck, I hate crowds AND was depressed for a long time, but still managed to keep my job until the moment I had to quit it for unrelated reasons!
And an actual error!
I did notice Ansel’s relationship screen blurb didn’t update, in regards to his actual power, once MC learned the truth.
I think that’s it for now! Thanks for the update!
Yes, this is a definite issue. In the beginning, I included these things because this is my first time coding and I was sort of playing around with what was possible. Now, however, I’m undecided on how (or if) I even want these elements to fit into the plot. I have some ideas about how I could use them from a mechanical standpoint, but it might be the case that I remove them completely. I will likely leave these alone until I come to a firm decision on that.
Thanks for pointing this out, I will be sure to fix that in the next update!
And I’m glad you are enjoying it!
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this is really good. I like it
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I loved the update!
Just one tiny thing, and it’s really nothing serious and if it’s not possible, then it’s no big deal.
And if it’s possible it’s in no rush.
But could you maybe put in the “old” nickname that Sungjae used as a default option? Or at least tell me what it was. I forgot what it was, but I remember I thought it was so cute😭
That’s all. Looking forward to more. Love Teagan already and can’t wait to get to know him and Ansel more <3
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Hey, looks like there’s a bug with the shy flirt if you had a past crush on Alex
All the other flirts work fine, however (both with past and present crushes), so not sure what the cause is.
Definitely enjoying the update otherwise, though.
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No worries! This has been suggested before and is definitely on the list of things I plan to do. I haven’t gotten back around to revision since I started writing Chapter 5, but I will add a couple of default options for that nickname the next time I do a revision sweep!
I’m sorry about this bug! I think I’ve gotten a report on this one before. There’s no error in the coding here that I can find. It’s actually a *fake_choice statement and shouldn’t be triggering this type of error at all. I can recreate the bug when I play the demo, but I do not get this issue when I test the game from my personal Choice Games folder. I’ve seen other CS writers say that the save plugin can sometimes cause game errors, so maybe that’s why? I can put in additional coding that allows people playing the demo to get through this, just in case, but I honestly don’t know why it is happening in the first place.
I will keep looking into it.
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I played the game from a fresh save so it can’t be that, and coding wise it looks like you did the same thing for the non-past crush flirts (which works fine), so yeah I’m really not sure why either :\
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Wow, I’m in love with this! Was hooked instantly after reading the premise. Also really digging your writing style too… everything flows so smoothly and oozes with personality. OH- and the banter? Chef’s Kiss
Can’t wait to read more!
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