Which country do you prefer otome games to take place in?

[2dt]

@MomoiroGirl I don't know anything about Danish living, so I just assumed there would be some prominent myths. If there aren't any worth debunking then that makes your job easier I guess ^^

[Tatty]

@MomoiroGirl: Hey, you managed to lead the Kalmar Union for awhile! That was pretty cool! And we still remember Dyre (or possibly Dir, I have no idea how it would be written in old Norse) who sailed down the river and just declared himself leader of the Kievan Rus! Though I suppose there wasn't really a Denmark as such back then, but the point I'm trying to make still stands. Danes have accomplished a lot, so never fear! Pft, anyway. Sorry for my late response - work kicked the living daylights out of me this week. Moving right along...

Short hair is a good luck for a heroine, especially one that maybe is outwards really confidant but isn't 100% confidant about intimacy? I really like that she's a realist & cunning, characters like that are always my personal favorites. If there's a pragmatist ending that has you manage to make an old-person harem or disregarding gentleman and acquiring currency, I'll earn it even if it's a bad end. I think you can write her slyness rather well - instead of having her think about it as 'I just did something clever' or whatever, show that she's constantly trying to prepare for every situation, and usually has a way to turn a sour situation into something better. On the other hand - the things that throw her off can then stand out more, whether they're intimacy or something else. Contrasts like that usually make characters stronger, IMO.

Excellent, I'm a country mouse myself, so I'm biased but - that means plenty of nature, right? xD I remember reading an author I enjoy talking about how all the great romances of the world are romances not of just humanity, but of nature. I think he was kind of full of it, but at the same time - I think the contrast of a 'normal' high-school setting (and actually, I think the reality is that there is no such thing; we just are more inclined to write about otome-style high-schools since we're now mostly all more familiar with them then the memories of our own!), a rural town, and a capable, fairly popular protaganist is a good combination.

Don't worry about hammering out all the small details instantly. For my work, I generally write down a bunch of characteristics that may or may not change as my characters get me more knowledgeable about who they are. That being said - having her maybe discover more about her friends (like, I see her as being fairly broadly popular... But maybe she doesn't know her friends too well beyond a surface level, and part of the game is her learning more about them as well?)

On that note - here are some *ideas* for protaganist, although I'm going to mention that I'm three-hours away from heading out the door and thus these aren't likely to be my best brainstormers, ahaha!

[*]Protaganist is from a regionally wealthy family. Not stereotypically wealthy, but depending on Denmark and it's laws, wealthy in land, or perhaps status. She doesn't like talking about it, and thus is really outgoing and vivacious to stop people from talking about her - her fear of intimacy is tied directly to mixed feelings about her heritage, her family and/or their business(es) or past, and you could even have some of her relationships be attempts to distract herself/distance herself from them.
[*]Protaganist comes from a loving and supportive family... Who also, unfortunately, want her to do something she has no interest in doing, or possibly is very skilled at but simply doesn't like. She's torn between liking them and feeling constrained by them, and exploring her social relationships and romances is part of her growing up. Some endings might have her doing what her parents suggest, and others might have her striking out on her own - it's all part of her growing up.
[*]If Protaganist is from a broken home, how broken is it? Does she have a relative, say, a grandparent or grandparents she lives with or lived with temporarily? Does she live on her own now? Is visiting her parents (for better or for worse) going to be a key part of most routes (with some guys trying to smooth things over, others being more direct, etc). You could also have them be either really cruel towards her friends - "WE KNEW HE WAS GAY HOW COULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH THAT TYPE" or "YOU NEED TO STOP ASSOCIATING WITH DRUGGIES BEFORE YOU BECOME A DRUGLORD YOURSELF YOU MONSTER" or something, preferably not with that level of cheese - or maybe, and I think I like this more, realizing her friends are struggling too is what causes her family to take first steps towards turning around. (I.e. they really liked guy friend and are struggling with his revelation, but determine to be supportive, they've known girl friend for years and can't just turn her out, even if her own parents do... etc.)
[*]Protaganist is living on her own entirely, possibly homeless. She doesn't let anyone know and her successful outgoing demeanor is largely an attempt to keep up people from looking too closely. No idea what property costs/squatting rights etc are like in Denmark, but you could make this route either funny or incredibly dark, depending on taste. Naturally, someone who's living day to day might not be too certain about intimacy... Key theme in each route could be the discovery that she's surviving on her own.

Never worry about trying to fate the dating-type mold. You might subconsciously, you might not; it doesn't matter. If you write your characters with love, and have fun writing them, they'll turn out well regardless of what your interests are. I'd be interested in seeing what 'stereotypical Danish guys' are like, kind of, but I imagine by this point you've probably got a list of characteristics and ideas you've been playing around with? If not - I'd be glad to throw some more ideas around, hopefully not with quite such a delay in my response. Again, my apologies! Generally, I'm most in favour of not worrying about making them 'specific' types.

You're very welcome. I'm always 150% behind more blood getting into this, and plus I relate a lot to your question/inspirations. Take your time - if you hit a block, try something else, write character scraps, do some research, and come back. Nothing is insurmountable, ahahaha! Anyway, you're very welcome - hope this helped some more, and enjoy fall!!

[MomoiroGirl]

@Tatty: Hey, I don't know if you'll read this hahahah XD But I still feel bad aout there being no response here, so what the hell! I've just taken a bit of a break due to real life stuff, but I've not completely cast aside the idea! It might not be as big as I imagined to begin with though, if it does end up happening, as I've got some hard stuff going on in real life atm.

I think I'll make a topic for it under the "Ideas" forum soon or at a later point, but I probably won't be very active with the project, as I have a lot of other stuff going on atm, as I just stated. I designed a couple of characters and have some general ideas of what could go down in their routes, but I still don't have a clear idea of the MC'S background and motivation (especially 'cause I don't want her to be a self-portrait, which is hard since the things I know the most about are my own problems XD). It will probably end up being very different from my initial idea, but I hope (if you actually do read this), that you'd still be interested! 'Cause right now it's evolved to being about dealing with hard things in life and death and suicide etc., but I don't want it to feel all dark and gloomy either, I just want to feel like, at least somewhat, life. Noot sure how I'd manage that though, since 1. I've never made a game before 2. I haven't actually written a FULL story before, I've always kinda started and then just kinda "forgotten" to finish it. Hopefully I can manage to at least somewhat finish this!

If I do manage to do this I'll post a link here!

[Quelcezot]

If you don't have a reason to set it in a real place then don't. Fantasy or not. That's just my opinion, but just using an imaginary town in an unnamed country for example could be sufficient

[papillon]

If you don't have a reason to set it in a real place then don't. Fantasy or not. That's just my opinion, but just using an imaginary town in an unnamed country for example could be sufficient

While there are times when this is a useful approach, lazy handwaving both means that you miss out on a lot of possibilities for interesting local color, and that you may end up confusing the player when you include something that you take for granted but they don't because they're envisioning a different setting.

[Jate]

If you don't have a reason to set it in a real place then don't. Fantasy or not. That's just my opinion, but just using an imaginary town in an unnamed country for example could be sufficient

If the game takes place in the "real world," (by which I mean to exclude fictional worlds. fantasies, sci-fis, etc) it has to be somewhere on Earth. The names, the mannerisms, the figures of speech, the fashion, the architecture, the customs, the climate, the scenery, etc, etc, will all give hints. The only way to avoid that is to either mesh together different places (which can work) or inventing an entire fake country for your fake town to be in - which is a lot of unnecessary work for a story where the location isn't important. On the town level, sure, I personally rarely use real towns, but they'll be in a real country.

I'm not saying you should specify the country, just that people will decide for themselves which it is if you don't.

[Kailoto]

I'd really like to see an otome game in an unconventional place. Like Antarctica.

If you don't have a reason to set it in a real place then don't. Fantasy or not. That's just my opinion, but just using an imaginary town in an unnamed country for example could be sufficient

While there are times when this is a useful approach, lazy handwaving both means that you miss out on a lot of possibilities for interesting local color, and that you may end up confusing the player when you include something that you take for granted but they don't because they're envisioning a different setting.

At the very least, even if you don't state it in your story, you as the creator should be aware of what the setting is like. That way the content regarding the culture, geography, or whatever stays consistent throughout. I'm not so much worried about whether or not the setting matches up to the real world, I'm more concerned about having a solid grasp on what that fictional world is really like.

And do keep in mind that if you create an entirely original world, either through fantasy or a futuristic setting, you have to spend more time describing the layout and rules of that world. When something is set in the real world, everything we know about how this world works applies to the fictional realm; the further away you get from reality, the more you'll have to explain the differences between the two.

[Quelcezot]

My point is that in my honest opinion, setting isn't something that should be decided lightly. If you don't have a good reason to set your story anywhere in particular then why set it anywhere in particular? It is of course still important to understand your setting enough that the reader won't feel lost, but all you need to explain is what's relevant to the story.

It's only another option, not setting it in a particular place is still possible to do while keeping it grounded in reality. I imagine this being more difficult to accomplish in longer projects unless played specifically for mystery though.

[renoa-heartilly]

i know the topic is kind of old but i hope my process will help anyone who opened the thread looking for ideas!
i live in Saudi Arabia and have never lived anywhere else, but i know a lot about America and japan from watching tv shows haha

1- so when i had the idea for a story that isn't in my country, first i made a checklist of what is absolutely necessary for it to happen and boil it down to just one or two aspects that the story cannot start without.
in my situation there had to be a specific type of architecture, since the main characters start the plot by restoring old buildings of that precise type.
i opened google images and looked around until i learned the name of the type of architecture i need (this could be anything to your story, a kind of school uniform, a certain cultural dress code, a certain food if your character is a baker etc)
once i learned where this kind of building can be found i tried to find a location in reality that fit other aspects of the story (having rivers or big cities, cheap electronics, high taxes, etc, anything that might be worked into the story for the characters to be believable and put them in enough debt to resort to restoring old buildings lol)

2- at this stage i go to google maps and look at different places through Street View (the little orange guy) and find towns that are located within the boundaries of the countries the story might take place in, and when i find a place i like, i adopt it into the story under a fictional name
3- during the drafting process, I add into the location any other things this city doesn't have but the story needs (more diverse population, underground metro system, friendly android police force etc) and make the city as big as i need or as small as a rural village (keeping the locations few forces the focus of story on the main characters all the time)
4- this way you will always have some reference on what your fictional location might have in terms of weather, natural disasters, flora and fauna; but still give yourself some wiggle room if it's not exactly what you need or if you don't want to use a real location by name.

and to answer the question in the title: i don't have a preference, i just like to be informed beforehand if it's not what it appears to be. i get shocked out of immersion in the plot when i read a story (usually in fanfiction) where Japanese characters are introduced in high school, but suddenly they read Hemingway in literature class or are driving their cars to the school's parking lot! like, please! if you're going to write a school with uniforms and teachers, at least read up a little bit on the basics. this applies to harry potter stories where OCs are going to drive back home to California for the weekend or when the characters use american slang, like i know it's a silly pet peeve but pleeeassseee