Bonus points for putting themselves on harm’s way to protect each other at the same time, and then mutually yelling about the partner needlessly endangering themself, yes?
…I want to see this now.
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Yes!! You’ve got my favorite thing down pat. 
Geez, I wouldn’t want them to be carbon copies of me. In these games, most times, they’d snark at what’s going on, get bored or annoyed, and leave. “I’m out, suckers!” That’d make for a boring game, lol.
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My contribution to this thread is to stress that when you write material outside your comfort zone, the best thing you can do for yourself is to get feedback from readers that are a part of your target audience.
These readers are sometimes called sensitivity readers, and they can often point out problematic issues in your writing.
Since romance is the subject you feel you need the most help in, after you write a gay romance scene (for example), have readers of that orientation read your scene and give you pointed feedback on how it reads to them.
Ask them: Did you like the scene? If so, what did you like about it? If not, what did you not like about the scene?
Pay attention to what your readers tell you is or is not critical to make such a scene work.
The first step in this process is to write the scene to the best of your ability.
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Use your imagination. Don’t rely on ‘My experience’ because you cannot experience everyone else life. Thats when your imagination come to life.
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Ha! I meant a game where every character is the same. Literally. Including their appearance. (But still different characters, in the sense there would be more than one character. They would probably have different names.) It’d be bizarre.
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It kinda-sorta reminds me of the movie Men…
not really…coughImakeduplicatesalldaylongcough
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This sums up what building a character should be done. Take into account their strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, fears and emotions. What causes them to feel said emotion and why? What do your ROs wish they could? For example, take Sera from Keeper. Her tragic backstory has a huge impact on what and why the PC could do certain things.
This should be the priority. Creating a good RO is built on top of creating a good and relatable character.
It is a good idea to unravel the romance bit by bit.
Don’t include romance for the sake of including romance.
These are all misunderstood stereotying.
To do this, it is best to go beyond the stereotypical (see above). Classic masculine hero stuff is fine, but it has to be done “deep”.
The first sentence is key to what makes your story appealing and firmly founded. Everyone is different. We can’t compare against one another all the time. Conflict is bound to happen when two parties don’t see eye to eye. The challenge is to write anything under the sun for any kind of person.
For example, in my CDLC project Maverick Hunter, say the PC’s RO is one that I would say has depth. At first the PC looked up to them as a role model, but the two grew close through their time as Maverick Hunters together. The PC admires their cool temperament and unbreakable will, while they admire the PC’s passion and pure heart. Upon gaining hints of the RO’s troubled past, the PC began to worry that they may have to fight them someday, which eventually would come true. Though they are the child/greatest creation of some villain, they choose to fight for what they believe in rather than letting the circumstances of their creation/background determine their destiny.
Conversely, the PC initially dismissed another of my ROs as a troublemaker, seeing too much eager violence in them that they once practiced as well. Over time he came to respect them by witnessing their strong moral compass, and realizing that their courage to fight even in the face of hardships is one of their greatest strengths.
Enough said.
This perhaps is very needed for evaluation and refinement of your story. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the romantic scene? Can it work with both a realistic backdrop and something that can appeal to male/female/gender-flippable/nonbinary ROs?
And make sure to include what’s in the PC’s head as well! Emphasis on diverse, their own goals and personalities.
Put yourself in the shoes of the PC and the RO! Don’t make things boring and one-dimensional. Interesting characters make for interesting ROs.
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Wait @RockmanX are you doing a Mega Man X wip? That’s something I didn’t know I needed until now 
My advice is, instead of trying to think of what kinds of characters people might want to romance, just write a good, diverse cast of characters that work well for your story. Make them full, interesting characters with rich inner lives and their own motivations and personalities.
Then, make some or all of them romanceable. Take your characterization one step further to think about how each character would behave in a relationship, how they’d respond to someone they’re interested in.
Don’t worry about what’s in the player’s head, that’s not your territory. Just focus on what’s in each character’s head.
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This is really good advice! It would be really strange for players to talk about a romance like “they’re really boring, unrealistic and one-dimensional… but they’re great as a romantic partner”. If a character is interesting in themselves, they’ll likely be an interesting relationship prospect.
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This is maybe not going to be a well liked answer but… if what you’re looking for is a “popular” RO targeted specifically towards female readers who are interested in male characters, you could probably just go through a bunch of otome visual novels, write down the most popular character archetypes and just write those.
A number of choicescript WIP are popular almost solely because their ROs are copy pastes of the 4-7 most popular visual novel archetypes. A lot of people on the forum want deep, complex characters as ROs that they can pick apart as they play, but I think there is a benefit to more simple characters, especially among more casual readers.
Many choicescript games punish a player if they don’t immediately show interest in a particular character as a RO. For this its important for a character to make a strong first impression and for the reader to be able to, at a glace, have an idea of what they’re about. The archetypes serve as a sort of easy shorthand for a character thats kind of useful for this.
Can going off a basic template be boring to some people? Yes, but there’s a reason that those types of characters keep appearing in media that sells.
Idk on one hand, having complex romances is nice, on the other, depending on the story, sometimes I just want to turn my brain off end enjoy a trashy cliche. Reading romances is a guilty pleasure and I know what I like.
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And sometimes who your readers want to romance can be a complete surprise! I know a number of popular ROs (like Dove from Night Road) started off as just interesting, non-RO characters with strong personalities, and enough beta testers or early players said “omg, I need to romance this character!” and, okay! We can do that!
Also, even in romance-focused games, if players have a choice of whom to romance, some characters will inevitably NOT be chosen. It’s important that they all have lives to get on with, parts to play in the story, and maybe their own separate romantic lives, so that it doesn’t feel like they’re just dolls sitting in a box hoping the PC will pick them.
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In my experience, the most compelling ROs to read about are the ones who are most compelling as characters, even if they’re not what I would personally have picked out of the dream-partner catalog. Some of my favorite ROs in games I’ve played have been people I wouldn’t want to be with in the real world in a million years, not because they’re toxic or abusive, but just because we wouldn’t be even slightly compatible - but they’re written with enough warmth and depth that I’m fascinated to see what happens when I step into the shoes of a character who is compatible.
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Right? Regardless of my personal tastes in RL partners, a character can be so fun and interesting that you just want to learn everything about them, spend the game time getting to know them and being best buds. Sometimes I can view my PC from a remove and be like, well clearly, this is the only suitable RO for this PC, or this would be an interesting combination, or I wonder how these two characters could ever get along. So many different motivations for choosing an RO, it seems not even worth concerning yourself with as an author.
Just write interesting people, and have them go on dates 
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You can check the March Writer’s Support Thread for some information and a sneak preview! 
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Yes, that’s a good way to approach writing an RO. You should think of each character as an individual with their own unique qualities, experiences, backgrounds, and motivations. Give them the freedom to choose who they want to spend their time with, and let their relationship evolve organically as the storyline progresses. It’s also a good idea to consider how the two characters’ different traits could bring tension and conflict into the relationship, making it more dynamic and interesting.
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I’m currently brainstorming for my story’s friends/romances so I’m going through some of the same issues. I’ll go through some of my thought processes and see if they help.
I’m currently planning on 4 (and that’s already 4 too ambitious I think). Both in my real life experiences and in my logic of writing, you need to be friends first and foremost, then boyfriend/girlfriend. You wouldn’t want to get saddled with someone who you feel like can’t even be interesting/fitting enough to be a friend. You get together, you enjoy each other’s presence and you ask them out on a date eventually. In this sense, I feel like you have to flesh out their personalities first, make them interesting people first and foremost so you/your readers would like them, then give the option for a romance. I’m planning to make it so either you ask them out on a date actively (which they can turn down), or if you don’t ask them out actively, are single, and they like you enough, they will ask you out on a date eventually (which you can turn down), this is my way of making it sound natural, so no “are you interested in this person?” kinda questions like some books.
As for characterization, I’m planning to give each of them an agenda which they will pursue and which you, the MC, can help them. If you don’t help them, you can’t be friends and no romance either. I don’t want friendships and romances to be so objective oriented, but I feel like I don’t want characters to go into a friendship/romance without knowing the person well. Then they will each have a secret, which will be revealed through said agenda. These will serve as their character establishment moments. Aside from these, they will have their own flaws and quirks which will add to it.
As for the romance part, I don’t want it to be just “choose-this-to-bump-uglies” kinda thing, but I do want readers to feel “accomplished”. Out of the 4 planned ROs, one will be a slow-burn kinda thing due to the character’s background while the other three will be decently paced. The dates will be settings that are outside the main plot, so a bit of reprieve for all parties.
Back to your question, you can look around you for inspiration. Look for people you find interesting, not necessarily as in you are romantically interested in them, but more like they are an interesting person and you’d like to know more about them. Gather up their interesting attributes and see if you can fit them into your characters and make sense that way.
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True enough in real life, but not true for writing romance.
Romance is more than just courting someone you like, more than getting a partner you could see yourself marrying, it can take many shapes.
What romance should never be is boring. That takes precedence over everything else.
Romance is often about the fantasy of falling in love, about passion more than it is about the realities of love.
“The very essence of romance is uncertainty.” I believe you should always keep the audience on their toes, one way or another, they shouldn’t expect a first kiss before it happens. Even if they are sure of a happy ending and the LI is perfect and loving there should be conflict and tension.
Otherwise words like “forgettable” start getting thrown around, and you can be bad but you should never be that.
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To address your points:
“What romance should never be is boring. That takes precedence over everything else.”
Yes, the first and foremost thing in writing is that it has to service the audience. It needs to be a good read. While romance in our daily lives can be very normal actions such as getting groceries for your loved ones, mos people probably won’t really want to read these.
“I believe you should always keep the audience on their toes, one way or another, they shouldn’t expect a first kiss before it happens.”
I’d like to think that it’s a preference kinda thing. Just like how some people prefer to take things slow and some people like to go fast. Not everybody has the same pace and that’s what differentiates people from people.
And yes, I absolutely agree with you when it comes to being “forgettable”. I’d rather people remember the characters by their names and actions, instead of say “that moody guy” or “that quirky girl”.
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