Still trying to figure out the full plot of this IF I want to write, and… most of the relationships are forced to be unconventional solely bc of how singular and complicated the MC’s whole situation is (they got brought back to life dshnkds-) How do you all feel about ROs where the exact nature of your love isn’t clear? (Think QPRs.) What about romance paths that aren’t really romance paths, but more an exploration of your two dynamics, and whether they clash positively or negatively?
ROs where there aren’t really any “relationship checkpoints” (ie; hand-holding, kissing, confession scenes, etc,) or if there are, they don’t really mean what they usually mean (ex; the RO making a move to hold your hand, but not meaning anything by it, or you going in to kiss them and them accepting, but not necessarily assuming that means you’re into them, or a really long and heartfelt confession scene but when you say “you’re singularly important to me, I haven’t felt with anyone else like this” it’s more platonic than romantic.)
Basically, how do you feel about ROs that aren’t really ROs but can be but also. Aren’t. It’s complicated. I know some people get super squicked (for good reason!) at rejection, or instability in choosing to pursue someone, or someone who you don’t want to romance actively pursuing you, etc. so…?
Edit: AHHHHHHHH Okay I clearly didn’t word things correctly here so to clarify: I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT MISUNDERSTANDINGS/LEADING CHARACTERS ON. I’m talking about unconventional relationships in the purest sense of the words. Relationship dynamics outside the norm. Not necessarily toxic or painful, just more complicated than normal ones. A little more nuanced outside of “I love you romantically and desire a romantic relationship with you”. Both parties would eventually come to an understanding, but my intention is to convey that the understanding of their relationship would grow as the relationship itself develops, not that one feels a certain way/wants some kind of relationship while the other doesn’t, and the heartbreak that comes with all of that. The question is whether or not any of you would be comfortable with exploring those unconventional relationships, or if you would prefer they just be clearly romantic ones, with all of the confessions and “datemate/partner/spouse” titles.
How comfortable are you with unconventional RO paths?
I actively seek out explorations of unconventional relationships.
I don’t have enough knowledge about them, but they sound interesting.
Only if I was really interested in the RO.
I feel uncomfortable when their feelings/the progression of the relationship isn’t clear-cut.
I’m not sure where that poll is buried in this thread, but hard sci-fi has never been a popular genre for CSGs. Softer sci-fi can sometimes do better but are still often outliers (like choice of robots).
My answer, which is basically “no thanks”, was based on what I think you were trying to say here, which is that these aren’t romances but may appear to be romances, and will involve a lot of rejection, misunderstanding, not defining things, or no commitment. If that’s not what you meant, I may change my answer.
I would like to clarify that it’s not just self-inserters who dislike rejection and instability, or being jerked around. I RP, but I have to, first, be able to identify with the MC, and, second, find RPing the MC to be fun. RPing someone who is constantly shit on, rejected, or led on is not fun. My MC having no path to a happy ending is also not fun to RP.
That said, a lot of people would love this, because they love angst and pain and misery. So I’m probably in the minority, as usual.
I’m going to be difficult and say that I don’t actively seek them out, I do have knowledge of them, and they do sound interesting in principle, with some caveats. I enjoy when there is some uncertainty and ambiguity; I liked the intense bond between my PC and Tesla in Nikola Tesla: War of the Currents. I am not into rejection though! In that game, I didn’t confess love to him or anything, we just continued having an intense relationship.
I enjoy the dynamic of “we hold hands and lie around hugging each other because we’re friends right? That’s what very good friends do??” that turns romantic. Or a dynamic of a very intense friendship/QPR that includes those things. Or “we are sleeping together with no strings and are happy with that”, or “we are sleeping together and it was supposed to be no strings but we’re realising there are some strings!” But I’m not sure I’d enjoy “we hold hands and lie around hugging each other and one of us thinks it’s romantic and the other one doesn’t, while one of us worries about what’s going on with us”, at least in a long IF, because that just feels sad. The examples also feel quite focused on the PC being the one who misunderstands or is the one having misplaced romantic feelings which again feels lonely and sad. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that I might be in the mood for it - I do play some IF for lonely/sad feelings, but as a rule it’s usually shorter ones. (I am not a self-inserter.)
AHHH I was scared it might come across like I was saying that- curse me for being unable to articulate my ideas properly . I meant more along the lines of “this relationship isn’t exactly conventional, and both participants are okay with it.” I should probably clarify that in my OG post, haha. When I say “aren’t romances but might appear to be” I mean that it might look like a romantic relationship on the outside, however one or both participants doesn’t feel those feelings in a conventional way…? This could be for a variety of reasons, but it isn’t a “will-they-won’t they leading someone on” kind of situation.
Hugging my knees in a pool of tears right now why won’t WORDS WORD CORRECTLYY…
I seriously worded something wrong in my post ahhh! Your earlier examples (especially the one between MC and Tesla) are more what I was trying to get at. My main hang-up is that some players feel more strongly about being clear about what the relationship is, and that case, rejections can happen (because one of the people in the relationship doesn’t necessarily want to put the same labels on the relationship as the other.)
If we’re talking one or two “unconventional” ROs balanced out with “conventional” ROs, then I think it can be an interesting change of pace. But if we’re talking a majority of ROs in the “weird, not quite an RO but they are but they aren’t” camp, then I’m going to have to pass. I’m ok with a change of pace, but I didn’t mean I wanted to run a marathon around this weird group of people who are seemingly incapable of having a normal relationship, you know?
To be honest, I wouldn’t be comfortable playing a game with ROs like this.
If the point was having ROs who didn’t want commitment, I think it would be a little different - well, still a little strange, if all of them have the same mentality. But it seems like you are putting MC’s at fault here. It’s not that they don’t want a relationship, they don’t want a relationship with the MC. Something like “if it were a nice not undead girl it would be ok” (correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what I got from your description)
I mean, if MC was dead and was brought back to life, they were a human being at some point in their life, so I really don’t understand what you are trying to do, or why the ROs wouldn’t understand clearly the MC’s actions.
Now thinking about it, a game where the MC is part of another culture, where the relationship dynamics are completely different (no commitment etc), slowly realizing their feelings for the RO would be really cool. This is the only case I can think where the RO could be “hmm MC kissed me in the mouth, what could that possibly mean?”
Again, my lack of expertise in being able to explain myself strikes again. The situation isn’t at all “RO has an issue with the MC,” It’s more “RO straight up is way less human than the MC is, and doesn’t exactly follow traditional human customs because they don’t exactly understand their own feelings around the matter/they don’t really have experience with being courted, etc, and aren’t sure what constitutes as Friendship Gestures and what constitutes as I Want To Be With You.”
It makes things complicated because the MC doesn’t necessarily remember their life, so that’s a whole issue (the dichotomy between who they were and who they are now, and how they feel about people that used to be close to them now that they don’t remember those years, etc.)
Essentially, the MC is a blank slate of a human being, and some of the ROs are a little hesitant about pursuing one before the MC’s memories are regained (if they ever will be.) Everything they say colors the MC’s newfound perception of the world, and for people that didn’t know them before, it’d be Not Good if something they do/say is at conflict with MC’s previous memories.
YES!!! YES YES YES!! THIS!! Thank you for articulating it better than I can!!! THIS!!!
Well, I personally don’t mind the romantic gestures that are not meant as romantic, as long as all involved parties know what’s going on (would love “flirting” as a form of banter that has nothing to do with romance or sex).
If I’m reading this right, I think what you’re getting at is something where the MC and the RO just kind of have whatever dynamic they happen to have and feel comfortable with, without falling into the idea of “this is what a traditional romance is”. Essentially they just do their thing without having to meet any of the criteria most people see as necessary for a relationship to be considered a romantic/committed one? Because if so, I’d be super down for that. I would honestly probably even prefer it, personally. I like the idea of “we mean something to each other, but we don’t really have to define it because defining it puts expectations on it instead of letting it be its own natural thing”.
Well, this changes everything. As I said in the end of my post, I really think this kind of situation is interesting. I would like a lot to play the MC as the “alien” one, but the inverse it’s ok too. Sorry, but for what you posted I didn’t have any idea it would be that way, you said it would be like this because of the MC
What do you think about optional side-quests in CS games?
Like in non-text-based RPG games. It would be fairly short quests, that can be done at different times, probably initiated from some sort of home-base, and might add lore, or new ways to solve a problem in the future, or give ressources, or just be fun extra adventures to share with your companions.
I was planning to use them pretty extensively in my first ever WIP, and I think a few published games have done something like it, but I’m interested in what people actually think.
Do you think optional quests can work well in CS games?
Hm a while back I played this Novel-card-game-romance, and it had side quest. The only reason I did them is because they really add something to the romance. You get extra scenes. Like the one I was romancing, she had a kid and the Quest was related to her kid. So you kinda bond with her kid and it give more spotlight for the kid, and your relationship with the mother as such.
In most RPG games, it really depends on the game. Some do it right, like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, or Baldur’s Gate to the point where some of those ‘Side content’ feels like an amazing mini-story that is memorable (Jade Empire was perfect on that front). Then you have an open-world shenanigan where the side quests are fillers of ‘Go scan rock for science’ over there which are a bore and mind-numbing.
In CS games? I would say they better add something that is related to either the romances, the NPC, the world, the lore, and stuff like that.
Because I will not go scan JUNK in a text-based game!
I’m going to be a bit biased here because I have a form of side content in my WIP. But I think it can work as long as it thematically fits with the story being told and maybe if theirs an occasional call-back to it so it doesn’t feel like something that doesn’t matter to the main plot or that the cast doesn’t care about. Even if it’s just little references here and there, like the a character reminisces about it or you run into one of the side quest characters later.
If it’s entirely isolated from the plot and never referenced again it could still be fun, but would feel a little awkward to me.
I think it depends on the game, but can work very well for some. (Especially more exploration type games rather than linear storylines.) It’s not so different to the branch off and play a scene then return to the main storyline that is in a lot of games now anyway (except this one sounds like it will be from a selectable hub rather than a storybranch.)
This is something I have used in several of my games. Most notably in Hero or Villain series (where many nights you are offered the opportunity to do something that is outside any of the main story -or substories… There are even series of connected “side quests” that can run in parallel to others and the main story/s, which I think increases repeatability). I also used this mechanism in Raiders of Icepeak Mountains, which is strur RPG (with most (all?) features you expect in such games…
Hi! As per usual, I was thinking about romantic interests options and I wanted to make a poll about gender-selectablecharacters:
What options would you like to have in games where gender-selectable romanceable characters are available?
I like to choose the gender of each RO individually.
I prefer if the gender of the ROs is directly based on the PC’s sexual orientation (example: if PC is bisexual, character X is a man, character Y is a woman; when PC is attracted only to men, all the ROs are male)
I like to have an option to randomize the gender of the ROs.
I’d like an option to directly make all the ROs the same gender.
I’m happy with the different ways of choosing genders that you’ve listed; I’ll use different methods on different playthroughs and enjoy it. (When I sit down and think about it, I’ve used all those methods when playing recently.) If it’s based on PC orientation, I don’t love “bisexual PC sets specific RO genders” and prefer “bisexual PC randomises RO genders” which I think is how Choice of the Deathless does it.
Here are some results from a similar poll that I ran on the Royal Affairs development thread last year which may be of interest! That discussion prompted me to add a “set genders individually at the start” option (before, I’d only had the option to choose individually when meeting them).
. I meant more along the lines of “this relationship isn’t exactly conventional, and both participants are okay with it.” I should probably clarify that in my OG post, haha. When I say “aren’t romances but might appear to be” I mean that it might look like a romantic relationship on the outside, however one or both participants doesn’t feel those feelings in a conventional way…? This could be for a variety of reasons, but it isn’t a “will-they-won’t they leading someone on” kind of situation.
