Romance in a game?

[Alecain]

I've been working on this romance system for a bit. In every town there are at least two potential girlfriends for the head character, Alecain, to have a relationship with. Relationships can be started by talking with the girls and must be progressed by a number of means (careful dialogue choices, bringing them items, etc.) As the relationships become stronger, the girlfriends can give him a kiss, which grants a full HP/MP restoration to Alecain.

Eventually, if the correct dialogue choices are made, or the right things are done or whatever, they can engage in...umm... coitus.  This grants Alecain a free level up. So there is a reward to this and not just thrown in the game for kicks.  Yes, I've made animations. 

Of course, what good is a romance system without a cheating system? To address this issue, once Alecain makes one his girlfriend (a message confirms this), she will give him a unique accessory to wear. Each accessory given by a girlfriend does something different, like poison protection or what not. If he approaches one girlfriend while equipped with another one's accessory, they will know and the relationship will be broken forever.

[greenraven]

You have my undivided attention. Let me know when your game is 100% complete and I'll be the first to beta test it.

[Prpl_Mage]

Interesting, not sure why you made animations for it though. I would just go with the GTA style and show the house / car while shaking the screen.

How does it work with the cheating btw? Can you get away with it if you aren't wearing the accessory while shagging up a new one. And if a relationship ends, can you start a new one? And if so, Can I just lvl grind by breaking womens' heart over and over?

[Alecain]

Interesting, not sure why you made animations for it though. I would just go with the GTA style and show the house / car while shaking the screen.

How does it work with the cheating btw? Can you get away with it if you aren't wearing the accessory while shagging up a new one. And if a relationship ends, can you start a new one? And if so, Can I just lvl grind by breaking womens' heart over and over?

If you're not wearing the accessory a girlfriend gave him and you approach another girlfriend, she won't notice anything our of the ordinary and will continue with the normal dialogue. You can pretty much have ALL of the girlfriends in the game, except for a few that only appear under certain circumstances, as long as he's not wearing the wrong accessory when he approaches one.

In short, you must be careful to unequip any other girlfriends' accessories before talking to one he's cheating on. Immoral, I know... 

In answer to the level grinding thing... no. At the point of development I'm in now, he can only have sex with a girlfriend once. I'm going to add the possibility to be able to do it more than once, but the free level up will only occur the first time.

As for the animations... yeah, it is a little embarassing, and immediately knocks my game with an M rating. I've pondered the idea of having a seperate version without the romance system. I've been careful not to tie it in with the story flow so it wouldn't hurt anything should I decide to take it out.

[greenraven]

As for the animations... yeah, it is a little embarassing, and immediately knocks my game with an M rating. I've pondered the idea of having a seperate version without the romance system. I've been careful not to tie it in with the story flow so it wouldn't hurt anything should I decide to take it out.

I don't see anything embarrassing about it. Personally I don't think there's enough mature games out there.

[Moosetroop11]

Romance in games can be cool, but doing it Fable style like this often ends up feeling kinda... Empty. Try and put a lot of personality into the girls and give them stuff to say AFTER you've gotten together with them. Nothing worse than striving to get a videogame girlfriend or wife only for her to basically become another generic NPC with just one or two things to say.

[Cerebus]

I don't see anything embarrassing about it. Personally I don't think there's enough mature games out there.

If the only "Mature" part of the game is a love-making animation, then it completely pointless, and seems more like free porn with the only intent of attracting people to it.

To be honest, the animation is completely unnecessary, as it brings nothing to the game. If you really want to put your pixelated fantasies in it, then yes, having two versions would probably be best.

Also, I do agree with Moosetroop here.

But I do find the idea interesting. The unique gift and free level are pretty neat. The "finding out you cheated on them" part is also quite interesting.

[Alecain]

Thanks for the criticism, guys. I've put a huge amount of thought into the whole thing, especially the girls themselves. They're not just toys to Alecain, but friends as well. Some can give information that leads to secrets or items of great value. Their personalities are all unique, and each one requires a different approach to pick up. For example, to pick up one girl, all you must do is sit through her seemingly endless dialogue (she's a talker!) and then tell her you don't mind her talking so much. There's another that requires aggressive dialogue choices, as well as a previous encounter in an earlier town.

On the subject of the animations, they're very simple and shouldn't convey anything more than physical contact. I guess it works better as a shock factor, because anyone who's test played it all like   

[Prpl_Mage]

Try and put a lot of personality into the girls and give them stuff to say AFTER you've gotten together with them. Nothing worse than striving to get a videogame girlfriend or wife only for her to basically become another generic NPC with just one or two things to say.

Yeah this, one of the thing that bothers me a lot with romancing options in later games is that it's not so much about romance but rather "sex them up". You do a lot of stuff to get them to like you, then as a reward you get a sex scene. And then it's over, maybe a slight change in the ending dialogue or something. Romance is a lot more than sex which developers seem to have forgotten in their dark damp dungeons.

[Alecain]

I agree 110%. That's why I've made my romance system more about the friendship and care for one another, even though it's possible to betray the girlfriend(s).

One of the things I try to do with my game is make everything dynamic. For example, at the very beginning when Alecain and Lellianna return from a hunt in the forest, people in the town are doing different things, sitting in different places, etc. The girlfriends are just as dynamic. When Alecain has to go on a dangerous mission, hunt or whatever, the girlfriend will express that she's worried about him.

I mentioned before that it will be possible to have sex with a girlfriend multiple times, and right now I'm thinking about how to do this without making it something that could be abused and done repetitiously.

[Fisherson]

If you're not wearing the accessory a girlfriend gave him and you approach another girlfriend, she won't notice anything our of the ordinary and will continue with the normal dialogue. You can pretty much have ALL of the girlfriends in the game, except for a few that only appear under certain circumstances, as long as he's not wearing the wrong accessory when he approaches one.

In short, you must be careful to unequip any other girlfriends' accessories before talking to one he's cheating on. Immoral, I know... 

In answer to the level grinding thing... no. At the point of development I'm in now, he can only have sex with a girlfriend once. I'm going to add the possibility to be able to do it more than once, but the free level up will only occur the first time.

As for the animations... yeah, it is a little embarassing, and immediately knocks my game with an M rating. I've pondered the idea of having a seperate version without the romance system. I've been careful not to tie it in with the story flow so it wouldn't hurt anything should I decide to take it out.

Okay firstly this is the most well thought out romance system I've ever seen. O.o In all my time working on games made with RPG maker and all the times I've played games, I have never seen one that makes this much sense and looks fun!
Secondly I love the graphics you choose. Good smooth and I don't reconize the tile set. Custom mixed with RPG maker 2000 graphics and some RM2003? Either way very nice. On to your system itself. I liek the fact you have a way tokeep the character from
freely pressuing multiple relationships and how it gives the player alot of options dating wise, but what about the gals? Are they varied by challenge level and personality?