@DreamingGames and @ChristandJackel - Before this goes any further, I apologize for any confusion I brought to the table.
The original poster wants to write a game about exploration of yourself and with regards to romance exclusively - my point that there is a wide-spectrum of people included in “aromantic” categories still stands.
My attempt to show that this non-exclusivity was not unique muddled the point but the point is still the heart of the matter.
Yeah, but that is not the question here. The question here was aros and romance. Aces and sex is relatively irrelevant to the question.
If someone is asking a question about how do I make the gender selection inclusive of trans-gender people only a few would bring up orientation selection.
Aros and aces who are not aroace often find themselves harmed by the fact that most people confuse the two. Aro who are not aces are often portrayed or thought of as sex-monsters for just not connecting with the whole romance thing, and they can be forced to live as aroace even though they might not want to.
There is a lot of in fighting going on between aro, aces and aroaces (not to mention all those in the grey-spectrums), because our representation and the general awareness of us is so poor that we can barely say anything about our own experiences without harming the other aspects of the communities.
And aroaces explaining to someone how they are not really into that kind of relationship and just want good friendship, congratulations now people make assumption of aro and romantics aces. If I want to write a book about my own experiences as a romantic ace and it took of some reason, I would screw over all the aroaces in the same breath because the general understanding of our orientations are just that unknown.
Add in that COG has a very long history of confusing aro, ace, aroace and just not interested in romance subplot (which can be true for people of all orientations, mind you.) and it gets ugly.
OP, going the wayhaven route and being up front about this being a romance game might also be the way to go. The writer of wayhaven have always been open about what she writes. Just maybe not call the self-inspection route the aro route. Call it the MC route instead. (since it is focused on the MC.)
Speaking as an aro/greyish-ace person whose main friend circle ended up with a weird number of grey-spectrum individuals considering we became friends well before realizing… This concept gives me pause for a few reasons.
The most basic one is that if you’re aro and not looking for a romance route, you’re probably not going to pick up a romance game. Having aro routes in games where romance is not the major focus of the plot is another story (as is including specific routes for aroace “friendship”, romantic aces, or sexual aros), but if it’s specifically romance oriented… it’s just not your genre (I mean, usually)
The next reason is the personal one: I wouldn’t read it. I’m a major romance junkie, largely because I’m aro myself. Romance in books, and especially in IF is my way of experiencing romantic attachments, living vicariously through the characters. For me, the fact that I’m playing a character gives me just enough of a degree of separation that I can enjoy the intense emotions that come with a connection I haven’t been able to form in my personal life and that’s what I look for in games. I’d find any non-romance route in a romance game to be empty and hollow and largely uninteresting. I can’t see my also-aro friend picking it up either, simply because, yeah, not her genre.
Which brings me to my last point–I’m not entirely sure what you mean by exploring “your relationship with yourself” but if it’s in any way about being aro… I don’t think you could code enough experiences for it to be a comfortable form of exploration. My experience is intensely personal and very specific to me. And if you mean a largely introspective route beyond that–well, the point still stands, but in addition it’d just be a bit of a jarring shift.
Anyway, I’d rec a friend route if you’re determined–or do as @DreamingGames said and go full Wayhaven. There’s nothing wrong with writing a romance game as a romance game all the way through.
I think the reason I jumped to making it a romance game was because I wanted a focus on exploring your relationship with a specific character - but those of you who suggested a friendship route are right, there’s no reason why that relationship should have to be romantic. So, friendship routes it is! Possibly queerplatonic routes, too, although I’ll have to see how ambitious that is once I start writing.
Which probably means this isn’t a romance game anymore, just a really character-focused one!
I love aromantic routes I games that you’re supposed to Romance in. Basically if you make a game no matter what your intention is. Romance, Friendship, world rescuing, world domination, etc. Give me a route to subvert it and I’m going to love it. I don’t romance in Wayhaven and I love it. I don’t romance in that shitty game I don’t remember what is called but they give you EIGHT different opportunities to romance women or men but since it’s genderlocked male I’m like fuck you you won’t tell me what to do. But then after attempt number EIGHT fails the game says “FUCK YOU ARRANGED MARRIAGE AND YOU HAVE A KID”. So I quit that game and deleted It both from my phone and my memory of the title.
But I digress from the original question. Yes aromantic. And ideally if the game is about socializing let me be antisocial.
In the WIP Donor you can die if you refuse to hunt and be obstinate. I was perfectly happy with that outcome because I’d rather be dead than be a toy and Capri Sun for a couple of vampires. If the route that spits in the theme of the game’s face ends poorly it’s at least better to have it
I think the important question is what are the conflicts the MC faces in the aromantic route? Having another person’s desires is a natural and easy source of conflict to tap into for story arcs. When it’s just one person there’s still plenty of room for conflict however.
Just brainstorming, there can be a exterior physical situation, a mental illness, an ailment, an impairment, a goal they’ve set themselves. Overcoming the conflicts in this situation can push the MC to the limit, forcing them to confront themselves in a way they haven’t before.
I would LOVE an otome with an aromantic route–in fact, I’ve spent countless hours looking for something like that. At least as I’m imagining it, it would somewhat reflect the reality of how, as an aromantic, it sometimes/often feels like the choices I make are chosen as a means of dodging romance, almost like it’s a looming threat (though maybe that’s just me). I also enjoy the option of romance, though–while romance is the last thing I want in real life, I can enjoy a good romance story when I’m in the right mood. Having a game that has both options would be a dream come true.
I’d say more, but it’s after 3 AM now and I’m afraid whatever more I say will come across as rambling. In any case, I’m 100% supportive of the idea.
I would love to see an aromantic route in a romance game. I think it would be an interesting exploration of the romantic interests outside of a romantic setting. As much of a sucker as I am for romance, I feel like in otome games, you can learn a great deal about characters from routes other than their own, as well as how those characters react to each other. When the protagonist is romancing a particular character, that character tends to suddenly revolve solely around their relationship with the protagonist; while relationships with other characters (platonic or otherwise) are occasionally mentioned, I tend to find it difficult to see how that character would react to others in a friendship capacity since people often (although not always) treat friends and lovers very differently.
I think another interesting thing that could be explored through an aromantic/friendship route would be the protagonist rejecting someone (who is a friend) and dealing with the fallout from that. In most romantic paths, it is a given that the protagonist and the romance interest will eventually get together. In choicescript games, that involve the romantic interest initiating the relationship, there tends to be little to no fall out for rejecting them.
Overall, I would love to see an aromantic route because, if done well, it would provide an interesting perspective on the characters that would usually only be seen through a romantic lens or as side characters.
