Regarding Romance

The thing with CoG vs. HG is that there’s no deadlines (other than self-imposed) for HG games. For ZE, I can spend months tweaking a chapter, where CoG games really need steady progress and meeting time points. So romances in CoG’s tend to be simpler code-wise though by no means offer less in the story (e.g. Slammed!)

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I agree @FairyGodfeather about characters sharing the same dialogue. I understood why the writer did that because of dead lines and they may didn’t want to change the story’s plot but it would’ve been more interesting to see different situations with other characters.

Way Walkers was more creative when you had to choose between the many love interests. During the Winter Ball the two of you engaged an romantic scene with a different atmosphere, Shelley’s make out scene was in the library and Kess was behind the curtains near the dead body.

It just gave you available options to change your story every play-through. Especially how you build your MC can change your relationship with the characters.

I love how a writer shows their creativity by changing the story when you choice to be with a current character even change the plot as well.

@SpaceLesbian Yes! Agreed! That is a major problem, where things are the same with every character. This thread is giving me so many ideas.

In regards to Jimd (HEY JIM 0/ ) I took a look at his coding to help me learn coding, and yeah, it was craz-eh, but I really understood it. I tend to understand spastic things. It was my go-to game to learn difficult codes, including the inventory system which I found the thread on.

@Enigma_Nova Yes, personally, I find the extra work of doing romance scenes and events in a game/book is probably the most fun for me. I like the idea of making something with just enough subtle changes that it feels the world reacts and understands the MC, not just pretends to understand the MC.

@FoxalypticWorld Absolutely! Its a must for us readers to understand the MC connecting with them emotional and the characters!

BTW Are you a writer?

@JimD, avoiding subplots is the main reason my zombie survival plan is to head to the Winchester, have a pint, and wait for all this to blow over…

@Enigma_Nova I’ve written things on wattpad and other sites, I’ve never released a game even on the forum, but I am currently trying my hand at writing one.

I really like romances, though I don’t know if I’d call myself a hopeless romantic. I mostly agree with your OP @FoxalypticWorld minus the squealing.

My favorite Gundam show is 8th MS team. And one of my favorite shows ever is Eureka Seven.

While I like romantic plots I can also enjoy stories where it’s not so much romance as manipulation, though most likely I’m going to want to go soft at some point and actually get attached…

I dunno, I guess I’m probably pretty weird among straight males for this but I actually like “bad-girls” a lot and always feel like I want to help them change, which probably just completely lost my all my “dude credentials.” Really though. Faith in Buffy, Jilly in Torchwood: Miracle Day. I was really glad they didn’t die. Heck, I even feel kinda bad killing female mooks in video games. I found Madame Vice from Heroes Rise way more attractive than Black Magic, and was really bothered by how she basically just falls into a plot hole and dies. For some reason I never really found Prodigal appealing at all, but I think that’s got a lot to do with how she is basically completely batshit mass murdery and IMO badly written, and so my repulsion outweighed any possible attraction or even sympathy. Also… possibly the fact that Black Magic was “a dead ringer for a Pomeranian” made her a little less attractive.

Then again I can pretty much end up being attracted to almost any female character. But as others have said, making the romance part of the story goes a long way towards helping that.

Of course, making the possibility of a romance unexpected makes it much more interesting. Sparking a mutual attraction that turns into a romance with a hostile character is really cool, and was one of the main reasons I actually enjoyed playing Broadsides again as a woman just as much even though there aren’t any actual changes besides switching the sexual pronouns.

I also really thought it would have been cool in Choice of the Dragon to take a human form and go wue some human damsels! :smiley:

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Something important to remember is to never underestimate the power of the bad guy/girl. I was surprised during the making of Unnatural that people wanted to romance Victor (who is an a$$hole - which is how I wrote him) and Denise (who was a lycanthrope). I made both of them LIs and they both turned out to be quite popular choices for people)

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Very true, never underestimate the appeal of a cute bad guy (or gal). Of course the relative appeal of the bad guy, as usually the bad guys are the ones that ultimately move the story by their actions while the forces of “good” are most often reactionary in nature.
Add to that that very often the bad guy is the most complex and detailed character in the series and it’s hard not to develop some sort of feelings for them that can easily extend to the romantic especially when the bad guy in question is any combination of handsome, smart and snarky.
I must confess I did like it very much that the villain in Apex patrol could be your former lover.

Furthermore I agree with @FairyGodFeather that I like romances that aren’t smooth sailing all the way through. I also ten to like it when my in game lovers have their own personalities, goals and agenda’s and aren’t afraid to call me out when my actions conflict with their views and goals. In that regard I can see definite possibilities for the Helot Mc and Simon romance in Choice of Rebels.

My favourite CoG romance so far though is definitely the Semryu romance in Waywalkers.

@Shoelip i don’t think anything of what you’ve said is particularly weird, though I’m not a straight male myself, of course, but I do remember on of my first geeky crushes was the evil prince in a silly cartoon show that I often had on in the background whilst doing my homework, back in the day.

@Nocturnal_Stillness Lol. Denise is a bad girl the way Bruce Banner is a bad boy. Except her wolf isn’t nearly as dangerous as The Hulk. You know, is it ever explicitly stated that werewolves and lycanthropes automatically have their constitutional rights revoked? Because they’re not dead. Just infected with a dangerous illness. People in the US get very serious about white people’s human rights being violated.

Stephanie fits the bad girl archetype much better.

@idontlikeusernames I liked that the bad guy in Apex could be your former lover and that you could redeem them with the power of love™.

@Shoelip

That’s a good point. RE: constitutional rights; Being a known werewolf requires comitting yourself to a secure facility for your “safety” and that of others. (this was going to be explained in better detail in season one but the case around it was dropped. I was considering adding it to season two.)

Yeah… As it stands it seems like Denise’s situation constitutes a massive violation of her basic human rights. They basically took no precautions for her safety, and not even very good ones for their own… “Well, these chains are crap and won’t hold her if the cure doesn’t kill her, but we can shoot her to death if we have the right ammo loaded, so there’s nothing to worry about!” :-\

@Shoelip the bad boy/girl has always been something people like, I myself have mentioned loving bad boys a little too much for my own good, I don’t find you weird at all for saying it, my brother was just like you lool.

I’ve always been partial to hot headed girls with a heart of gold. You know, the ones who could kick your butt in a fist fight, but could be outwitted by a brick with alzheimer’s. I tend to play physically weak but crafty characters so they end up serving as the perfect foil.

Chie Satonaka

@From_Beginnings I take it you’ve played Fatehaven then?

I suppose marking the whole thing yellow wasn’t enough to catch anyone’s attention…So I’ll try asking again then;

Just pondering here. What was it that made you like a character?

An open question to all of you. Could it be as little as the descriptive text?

@Shoelip

Of course not Shoelip, and I most certainly do not have the date of August 8th circled, checked, starred, and stamped with the words ‘must buy Fatehaven’.

On an unrelated topic, have you read the tv tropes article on suspiciously specific denial? :wink:

@MutonElite

It is hard to say exactly what makes me like characters. As a general rule of thumb, character development is good. Unless the character’s name is Anders. Bioware…

3 dimensional characters are easier to like and it makes it less likely that your readers will label the as 2 dimensional cliches. If you have a trouble maker/bad guy then give him a sod story so people can sympathize. If you have a saintly character then steer them away from the land of mary sue with a few flaws and maybe a skeleton in the closet.

Oh, and a character that makes readers laugh always wins hearts.

@From_Beginings You are right about the laughable part . i loved alistair since the first scene with the grumpy mage also swooping is bad

@Shoelip, @From_Beginnings Fatehaven some kinda anime or something? Hard to keep up you kids and your crazy cartoons! :wink:

I love relationships in fiction that introduce drama in ways that just aren’t possible in real life. This can vary from simple stuff to something very involved. There’s no cell phones or facebook in a fantasy world, so just reuniting with an old childhood friend becomes such a bigger deal then it is today (for example).

Or maybe you’re out in the middle of the fields with your love interest, and it suddenly starts storming and there’s heavy rainfall. You have keep cover beneath a tree, and have to stick close to preserve body heat. Boom! This is a very commonly-used drama moment, but it’s still effective because we just don’t get moments like that in real life.

Or maybe your love interest is a vampire hunter, wanting to be one all her/his life after bloodsuckers killed teh parents. You’ve hidden the fact that you are a vampire, so there’s this ever-present tension and drama that any writer worth their ink can make into a very climactic moment!