Ideas Dump

[Shinoki]

Yea~! That's true. Thanks. It'd be pretty awesome if I could write something like that~

[gekiganwing]

Some bxb game about a high school guy who wants to be popular with the girls. He decides to take a mysterious phermone potion created by his science teacher and ends up attracting boys instead.

What if the potion's effects are only temporary? How will the main character react if it subsides after a couple of days?

I remember a free VN (Witch Spell, I think) in which the main plot twist was that the love potion wasn't real. So if you want to avoid that sort of plot development, consider what would happen if the main character is creating placebo love potions. We only have a few examples of matchmaker protagonists.

...how the heck would such a tower even be built and work if the bottom structure is torn apart and flooded... and the fact that the whole world flooding is basically impossible.

There's a recent movie called Snowpiercer, in which the basic premise is that the world was almost entirely destroyed through a desperate attempt to undo global warming. The few remaining people live on a train that has to constantly move through frozen places. From there, the story is a conflict between rich and poor. In other words, the premise is absurd, but the writers take it seriously. It's kind of like a massive flood but colder. The characters are stuck in one place and the plot is less likely to wander.

For what it's worth, one of the events that occurs in Dragon Quest 7 is a world-scale flood. The game's world is full of magic and supernatural creatures. If you ask me, that makes it easier to justify a plot development in which there's suddenly enough water to cover nearly all of the world.

[Rara]

Hmm.. confused.

[curry nochi rice]

>My Periodic Lover, Episode 1:

Salty Lovers, Ms. Sodium and Ms. Chlorine

Tags:
[Yuri] [Chemistry] [Comedy] [A Trainwreck of Coding]

[Mad Harlequin]

>My Periodic Lover, Episode 1:

Salty Lovers, Ms. Sodium and Ms. Chlorine

Tags:
[Yuri] [Chemistry] [Comedy] [A Trainwreck of Coding]

I would support this.

[Laniessa]

>My Periodic Lover, Episode 1:

Salty Lovers, Ms. Sodium and Ms. Chlorine

Tags:
[Yuri] [Chemistry] [Comedy] [A Trainwreck of Coding]

If this does not have a plethora of chemistry puns thrown into the story, I will be severely disappointed.

[renoa-heartilly]

For the fujoshi out there... you play as a girl who tries to pair guys up with each other.. as for how that'll work, I don't have a clue, but the bad end could be them falling for you XD

there is a manga of the same premise called "what use is me becoming popular?" or "watashi ga motete dosun da"
about a chubby girl who looses weight after grieving her dead (fictional) boyfriend so her thin body attracts the guys she secretly ships together at school, and she's trying to keep her shipping goggles off while they try to woo her into dating them xD
it would be a pretty hilarious VN even if i'm not into it, just thought you'd like some research in case someone wants to pick it up XD

VN idea: an MC who would rather stay at home and watch anime is suddenly offered a nice job in an office, so she takes it for the salary but ends up having to deal with her fellow colleagues, the charm point is that everything makes her nervous (even going to the coffee machine to get a cup of coffee) so the 'stress' bar keeps building up for every activity you do no matter how mundane
turned on the work PC? stress
someone gives you an assignment? STRESS
co workers chatting in the next cubicle? ENDLESS STRESSSSS
how to relieve stress? maybe play something silly on the smartphone, watch cat videos, or go to the bathroom to cry, or leave work early to go home and listen to drama CD
you can spice it up however you want (and maybe be a little more attentive to the feelings of people with actual stress issues) the idea is to make stress at the office humorous to those with a spirit animal of a NEET

[Mad Harlequin]

VN idea: an MC who would rather stay at home and watch anime is suddenly offered a nice job in an office, so she takes it for the salary but ends up having to deal with her fellow colleagues, the charm point is that everything makes her nervous (even going to the coffee machine to get a cup of coffee) so the 'stress' bar keeps building up for every activity you do no matter how mundane
turned on the work PC? stress
someone gives you an assignment? STRESS
co workers chatting in the next cubicle? ENDLESS STRESSSSS

This reminds me of the game Smoking Simulator. Everything increases the stress meter, and the only way to decrease it is to smoke. But you can't get caught smoking anywhere but the designated area adjacent to the player character's office. When stressed enough, you go absolutely insane . . .

[gekiganwing]

...the charm point is that everything makes her nervous (even going to the coffee machine to get a cup of coffee) so the 'stress' bar keeps building up for every activity you do no matter how mundane...

What happens if you take one statistic in a romance game and dial it up to eleven? Stress is just an ordinary thing to deal with in the Tokimeki Memorial franchise, as well as a lot of similar simulation games. But if the main character's stress level increased two or three times faster, then you're suddenly dealing with quite a different game.

One of the amusing things about Hatoful Boyfriend is that the main character "...starts off with 1 wisdom, 800 vitality, and 5 charisma..." (source: its walkthrough on GameFAQs). It's about 95% story and maybe 5% stats. The player doesn't need to worry about stats deteriorating or becoming even more lopsided.

Other stats could be interesting to exaggerate and distort. This can be humorous or experimental. Also, if you're trying to convey a message with your story, then it might be story-relevant to include unusual statistics.

* Art: what happens when your main character needs to boost that Art stat, and it never seems to change? In other words, a sort of simulation game about creative struggles.
* Style: what does your character gain from having an exceptionally high Style or Fashion stat?
* Social: here's an opportunity to use an amusing game to tell a not-so-fun story. Your main character is really struggling to find and maintain friends. It won't be easy, since they also have to do all sorts of real life tasks...

[Mad Harlequin]

* Style: what does your character gain from having an exceptionally high Style or Fashion stat?

Narcissism, perhaps?

[noeinan]

So, I've been thinking a lot about relationships in visual novels-- generally there is only one track, and you either are or are not with them by the end. I think the whole "one romantic track with good/bad/special endings" is somewhat limited.

I started researching various methods of making this more interesting to me, and found the Triangle Theory of Love! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_theory_of_love

After tweaking it a bit, I ended up with three "relationship stats" for each character-- Plantonic, Romantic, and Communication! Platonic is your trust with that character, how much your relationship builds, and this is mostly what most routes do (only they make it a romantic route.) Basic relationship building. Next, you have Romantic-- this will be limited by several factors.

A) the love interests orientation-- maybe they're not into girls, so if you're a girl this route is closed off.

B) events get triggered based on what the love interest is attracted to. Ex. maybe you have several different styles of clothing, and that person is *really* into one sort of style (formal clothes, punk rock, super girly, whatever.) You catch their eye! Maybe they have a fetish for something (glasses, animal ears, swimsuits) and depending on your choices in game these get triggered (doing an animal cafe for a festival, being a part of the swim club, etc.)

C) Of course, dialogue choices-- there would be some dialogue choices that would make them think of you in a romantic way rather than just as a friend.

The communication stat would come up during dialogue-- there will be an opportunity for you to talk to the love interest about your relationship, and define what kind of relationship that is. You get communication points for openly and honestly discussing what you want, and asking what they want-- you lose points for dodging the subject or giving ambiguous answers.

I think this kind of mechanic could be really cool-- there was also a thread a while back about romance games being manipulative and I think this might give some opportunity for alleviating that. You can become anyone's friend by talking to them the right way, treating them how they like, and presenting yourself as interesting-- but for romance, they notice *you* for your traits-- you, the player, get to pick what traits you have, but if you are not the right kind of person or are not attractive to that love interest you just can't have a romance with them because they don't feel attracted to you in that way. The communication bit I like because come on-- how can you even have a healthy relationship without it.

For any character, your ending with them is based on your relationship status-- acquaintances won't get you anywhere, but you could be friends, or best friends, or in a relationship, or even in an open relationship (might get complex!)-- and each ending could go better or worse depending on your communication skills. (You could get a friend ending, but with poor communication you eventually drift a part. In a relationship, things are good with high communication, but you break up in an ugly way with low communication, etc.)

Anywho, I plan to work this kind of mechanic into my future games, but if anyone else likes it they are also free to use it. I think it would be really cool to see games develop a more thoughtful approach, mechanically, towards relationships.

[Morhighan]

So, I've been thinking a lot about relationships in visual novels-- generally there is only one track, and you either are or are not with them by the end. I think the whole "one romantic track with good/bad/special endings" is somewhat limited.

I started researching various methods of making this more interesting to me, and found the Triangle Theory of Love! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_theory_of_love

After tweaking it a bit, I ended up with three "relationship stats" for each character-- Plantonic, Romantic, and Communication! Platonic is your trust with that character, how much your relationship builds, and this is mostly what most routes do (only they make it a romantic route.) Basic relationship building. Next, you have Romantic-- this will be limited by several factors.

A) the love interests orientation-- maybe they're not into girls, so if you're a girl this route is closed off.

B) events get triggered based on what the love interest is attracted to. Ex. maybe you have several different styles of clothing, and that person is *really* into one sort of style (formal clothes, punk rock, super girly, whatever.) You catch their eye! Maybe they have a fetish for something (glasses, animal ears, swimsuits) and depending on your choices in game these get triggered (doing an animal cafe for a festival, being a part of the swim club, etc.)

C) Of course, dialogue choices-- there would be some dialogue choices that would make them think of you in a romantic way rather than just as a friend.

The communication stat would come up during dialogue-- there will be an opportunity for you to talk to the love interest about your relationship, and define what kind of relationship that is. You get communication points for openly and honestly discussing what you want, and asking what they want-- you lose points for dodging the subject or giving ambiguous answers.

I think this kind of mechanic could be really cool-- there was also a thread a while back about romance games being manipulative and I think this might give some opportunity for alleviating that. You can become anyone's friend by talking to them the right way, treating them how they like, and presenting yourself as interesting-- but for romance, they notice *you* for your traits-- you, the player, get to pick what traits you have, but if you are not the right kind of person or are not attractive to that love interest you just can't have a romance with them because they don't feel attracted to you in that way. The communication bit I like because come on-- how can you even have a healthy relationship without it.

For any character, your ending with them is based on your relationship status-- acquaintances won't get you anywhere, but you could be friends, or best friends, or in a relationship, or even in an open relationship (might get complex!)-- and each ending could go better or worse depending on your communication skills. (You could get a friend ending, but with poor communication you eventually drift a part. In a relationship, things are good with high communication, but you break up in an ugly way with low communication, etc.)

Anywho, I plan to work this kind of mechanic into my future games, but if anyone else likes it they are also free to use it. I think it would be really cool to see games develop a more thoughtful approach, mechanically, towards relationships.

This is fantastic!

[Shinoki]

A chaotic take on a bunch of classic fairy tales where all the characters are weirdos beyond weirdos rather than cool bishies that you get to chase after.

The reason is kind of a spoiler for an one-shot manga...

(Because I read a weird manga where Lil Red Riding Hood was a girl who only wore a hood and nothing else... She saw her granny making out with the wolf who was on the bottom... And then later her mom started to flirt with the hunter who killed granny and wolf. And in the end, she took the hunter's gun, shot her mom and the hunter. And the ending was that she stopped wearing the hood and started wearing panties.)

[Apius]

An idea I'm working on now is a type of text-based choose-your-own-adventure style game.

It takes place in a fantasy world that is divided up into large square plots of land, like a checkerboard. Each plot of land has it's own "Lord", who is immortal and rules over it. The player takes on the role of one of these Lords.

The player starts off by designing what their plot of land should be like. For instance the player might make the world a series of labyrinthine caverns and strong defenses as a deterrent to invaders. Or the player might choose a flat plain that is open to all of it's neighbors, to increase trade with other lands.

Then the game follows a period of a few years, stopping to give the player input on important decisions.

I hope it's doable and I'm not being too ambitious

[renoa-heartilly]

An idea I'm working on now is a type of text-based choose-your-own-adventure style game.

It takes place in a fantasy world that is divided up into large square plots of land, like a checkerboard. Each plot of land has it's own "Lord", who is immortal and rules over it. The player takes on the role of one of these Lords...

sounds like the kind of game that would attract board-game players, but i guess you'll need some kind of story to revolve around the main character if you don't want it to go on endlessly XD
good luck!

I started researching various methods of making this more interesting to me, and found the Triangle Theory of Love! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_theory_of_love

this actually solves a big problem i had while planning out my first novel (it's BB in my signature, long since planned to rewrite it but hadn't gotten around to it because of all the kinks i needed to iron out)
the story involves a lot of characters that you interact with but not all of them can be romanced, and i was wondering how i'd write it so that it's natural and makes sense instead of the usual good ending bad ending situation.
i guess you can even write it so that the ending scenes correspond to every point in the storyline by separating it into chunks in between face outs, for example:
congratulations you finished the game! call label ending:
a scene where the main character talks about what happened at the end. and depending on the points it features the person she ended up with, or how she liked being on her own without a significant other in case the points were all equal
then fade out to CGs of other characters you interacted with:
you spoke often with character 1 (communication points high) but rejected their romantic advances (romance points low): call label character1_rejected (they remember you fondly but have found themselves their true love)
you repeatedly spoke harshly to character 2 and they walk out halfway through the story: show no ending for this character
you spoke little to character 3 but they were not available for romance: call label character3_friendship

and so on, which is great and varied! ( a hell to code, probably, but realistic)
thank you very much ^^ i'm glad i found this thread!