Things I never seem to see in any of these games

I haven’t played a whole lot of these games, but I’ve still played a bunch, and these are things I never see/ do want to see.

  1. Overprotective Love Intrests
    So this may seem silly, but I never see any love interest like this. What I mean is love interests that are overly caring or protective of the MC. I don’treally know how else say it.

  2. The Ability To Make Your MC Cute As Heck
    There are a lot of personalities and MC can have, but no stories seem to let my character be cute and naive and adorable (This can also be a fatal flaw of the MC) And when I say I want to make my character cute, I meant i want to make them CUTE. Like:

    THIS level of cuteness. Or more. (I’m rambling, I’m sorry)

  3. Overly Cartoony Characters
    I mean characters that just have like big and hilarious personalities that are just awesome to be around. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Sorry if this is silly, it’s just something that’s been on my mind for a while.

13 Likes
18 Likes

Ewww >w<
I wonder if somebody puts “minna daijobu” choice on their WIP after they see this.

But it’s interesting nevertheless.

Most of these games aren’t usually centered on romance and are more about making your protag the hero (or villain in some cases), so overprotective love interests and really naive MCs probably aren’t going to be super popular with the target audience

Though if you haven’t already seen it, I think you might like The Wayhaven Chronicles. It’s pretty early in development so there’s no romance scenes just yet, and while I don’t know if any of the ROs will be overprotective, they are your MC’s bodyguards which I guess is kind of similar(?) and there will be the option to let your MC be rather clueless

Also as for #3, I think Sydney (who I LOVE) from So You’re Possessed seems to fit the bill

7 Likes

I’d actually like to see this as well, especially if it was an obsession thing (like Jun/Junko from Samurai of Hyuga). I think it makes for very interesting interactions (think: Yuno Gasai).

I am aware however that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea so while I’d like to see more of that, many authors wouldn’t have a big enough audience for this type of content so I accept it and move on :unamused:. Amelia from “A Witch’s Path” looks promising though (at least regarding a female MC).

8 Likes

Yeah, I guess I am kind of a big anime fan.

1 Like

I’m going to guess you’re a fan of visual novels. (Sorry about the ridiculously long rant. I started this off in the morning and got pretty instrospective about style)

I’m a fan of both, but the style of visual novels/anime and Choice of Games tend to be pretty different. CoG makes most romances optional, and keep the plot centralized while VNs tend to require you to pick a character’s route, with the plot focus changing based on who you’re with. And the plots themselves don’t often coincide.

You’re always welcome to try your own hand at it. Write what you want, y’know? If it’s good enough more people will try the style variation. I’m using elements I like from these games-- the character generation and personality variations-- as inspiration for a non-CoG. The melding is weird and tricky, but it’s definitely more satisfying than sticking to form.

But initiative needs to be taken. I’m trying to imagine the current lineup as having the things you listed, and it doesn’t mesh well with the setups you see in these games.

There are traces of everything you listed somewhere. A love interest in Ratings War has botched a few of my more volatile interviews in an attempt to keep me safe (they might get interrupted anyway, but not with the same priorities in mind). Anything more from the CoG lineup would be… tricky though. For one, soldiers and assassins and other such professionals common to these games should not prioritize one life over their duty, especially one they’ve known for a handful of days/weeks/months, and making it convincing requires some literary bending. For another, you’re writing a main character with a different set of priorities than they’d have normally which can have a pretty big snowball effect on the plot.

There are a few games on site that have idealism, if not naivete. Sixth Grade Detective lets you play a twelve year old and thus, you really are cutesy and childish (it’s a sweet little game). Others let you be idealistic, successfully or not (the Zombie Exodus games are good for it). Not over the top cutesy, but definitely not cynical.

I don’t think you’d see more of this without going into a project with the option in mind. A cutesy and naive character is not going to be treated the same as a more serious protag; you can’t just shift a few lines around and expect me to believe it. Most of the casts on this site would write such a character off as a liability and leave them at home. And in your position in most of them, you’re not likely to be naive in any case.

And I’m seconding Sydney and the cast of So You’re Possessed. The characters and behavior there tends to be more cartoony. The dry humor of the narrative brings it back down to earth so it’s not quite the same over the top feel you want, I’m guessing, but it’s definitely got a comical element to it. You get some goofy stuff in Choice of Robots as well, depending on how you build your robot. The overarching plot gets serious, but you get your moments.

5 Likes

I wonder what a naive character would look like, main character any who. Modern wise, I could see you coming out with a character like that. But most of the games I’ve read so far always have some sort of life threatening element, I guess a naive character would be marked out really quick in that case.

I was thinking of that example as well. Though I guess I agree with OP in a way. I would love to see one of the romance options who are really overly protective. I know not everyone likes that, but I guess that what makes choosing who you’re with so great.

4 Likes

How about having the main character start out as an inexperienced high school teacher?

1 Like

I’m glad you agree! :3

That sounds like a fun idea!

1 Like

Just thought of one more thing I never see.
Polymorous relationships.
I don’t go for this type of relationship, but other people do (and my mom recently), and I never see it in things like this (though there might be a good reason that I don’t know).

2 Likes

There are at least a few games that include polyamorous relationships; I know @AllenGies’s Tin Star is one.

2 Likes

Fiogan is, of course, right. One caveat though; that part of Tin Star came about because it would have required a lot more coding to do otherwise. Tracking the various stages of a PC’s romantic interests, let alone change options based on how far they were along with the others, proved too onerous. Also, it muddled the rhythm of the story.

Eventually there are specific scenes because of having more than one love, but that could be condensed into a single interstitial that was more easily written for solid emotional impact.

As for things I haven’t seen in games… the concept of a character’s beauty as an overpowering virtue is an interesting one. Can’t think of a choice game that uses a comeliness stat.

For a while I was considering writing a game where the PC would be a trusted adviser to the British Prime Minister from 1936 to 1945. You wouldn’t be able to make decisions, only influence a single decision-maker who was himself just one among many drivers of the story. However, that felt too removed from the fun part of these games (I also got bogged down in historical detail) and I dropped the idea of merely being an aide…

10 Likes

Some games use the idea of “charisma” as the overwhelming or overpowering attribute. @Cataphrak’s Infinity series has that attribute as a main focus but the idea of “comeliness” is very intriguing because it implies a different approach to arrive at the same “overpowering” conclusion.

A character like @Sashira succubus uses multiple attributes to achieve “overpowering virtue” and it is all based on attraction in her WiP but she still has not named any attribute “comeliness”.

And now my thoughts are churning about my own project… thank you for bringing this up.

1 Like

I seem to remember reading on this forum about a game that was going to have an attractiveness stat but decided it was a bad idea. I want to say Orpheus Ruse?

Edit: Aha, it’s here: Do you like character descriptions (for NPCs or the MC)? - #11 by PaulGresty

@Eiwynn - You’ve been thinking about this, Charisma is definitely superior to Comeliness in terms of depiction. As @Scribblesome noted, in the link to the Orpheus Ruse, everyone has a different standard of beauty but charisma is the ability to appeal to everyone on an almost divine level.

The closest I appear to be getting to using Comeliness is something I’m playing around with using a stat called ‘Form’ to depict a golem-like character. The better your form, the better you are put together with fewer cracks or flaws. But that doesn’t feel like beauty, just a kind of function.

I hope your project bears fruit.

3 Likes

Would the main love interest in Second Chances - [WIP] count? You’re like a little duckling to his Mama Grump (I can’t think of a good nickname too early).

1 Like