Tips for introducing characters

[FatUnicornGames]

Do any of you guys have any suggestions on how to introduce a big cast (for an otome game) without it being like...and then you meet...and then you meet...and then you meet....etc.

[Gambit74]

Do you mean all the cast at once or individually? Either way, it usually all comes down to the situation or circumstances at hand.

Individually, you can just make your character run into them by chance like how you would in real life. Like say for example, put them in a situation and they will talk to each other about said situation. Then they will proceed to introducing themselves once they start to open up.

Another individual example would be to have the protagonist or the other person comment on something about one another after running into each other. Then they will introduce themselves to each other and they will start to open up. In my line of work, this is how I always approach people .

As for all of them at once, the protagonist should introduce themselves first and everyone else will start one by one.

[gekiganwing]

If your game is slice of life, you can take a bit of time to introduce characters. If it's plot-driven, you will need to integrate them into the overall actions.

Your goal in creating your first scenes should be somewhere between an overly long prologue and a prologue which goes by too quickly. Finding this balance is not easy...

[FatUnicornGames]

I meant meeting the cast individually.

I think what I need to do is put a little more...not necessarily filler...but something between meetings. It is something I can fine tune when I get all of it down. I was just feeling like it was a little convenient, meeting love interest after love interest. I guess I feel that that is a fault of lots of dating sims though, so maybe I shouldn't agonize over it so much.

I am in the rough, rough draft phase so I will just count on it working out in re-writes.

Keep the advice coming, and thanks so much to the people that have chimed in thus far.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Do any of you guys have any suggestions on how to introduce a big cast (for an otome game) without it being like...and then you meet...and then you meet...and then you meet....etc.

Only introduce characters into a narrative as you need them. You're right - meeting the characters in one big bunch, or one after another just doesn't work well, and for a few reasons:

1) Each character will be less memorable. Readers or players won't be able to keep who is who straight.
2) Even if the reader or player CAN keep different characters straight in their head, they won't have the time to become invested or care about each character. A reader's attention is a limited thing that refills slowly - a large cast of characters introduced at once diffuses that attention and means each character gets less.

Battle Royale (the book) had an ENORMOUS cast of characters, but even though they were all present around the main character from the start - first on the bus, then in the classroom - only the ones important for those two scenes were introduced in any detail. What the book did instead is each time the main character encountered one of the students on the island afterward, we got a whole flashback chapter from the student's point of view. The reader could slowly get to know each student's character, then the chapter ends and the student the reader just got to know is in a death match with the main character. It is a beautiful "smash-cut" literary technique that keeps the introductions in order and simultaneously lets us know the tragedy on both sides of a fight.

The important take away lesson is to introduce your characters as late as you possibly can. Feel free to mention them before hand, but don't give us any more details than are necessary to carry the story at that moment. Unnecessary details bog down the story because the reader doesn't know which details are important to remember and assumes they all are. All the details you give SHOULD be important - so make sure the reader doesn't have to carry them in their head any longer than they have to.

This also avoids "info dumps" and keeps the story flowing naturally. It also encourages the proper technique of SHOWING, not telling. If you introduce the character only when they are needed in the story you can show us their traits in action, where as if you introduce them before they have anything do in the story you are likely to be forced into only telling us about their traits. Introducing a character too soon might also encourage the poor practice of writing "fluff" scenes just to give that character something to do, or give them unnecessary dialogue with the protagonist.

True Love '95 does a good job of introducing love interests in an otome - they are slowly doled out over time in their own unique scenes. The "friend next door" is met on the way to school the first morning. The swim team captain is seen, but maybe not met, in the afternoon. The male best friend is introduced in a wonderful short scene that tells the audience everything they need to know about him in about 30 seconds of back and forth banter. The sexy older woman is only met after the player goes to town several times. The young girl is only met during summer and swimming at the beach. The class president is met after the first exam at school. Etc. Etc.

At no time is the player introduced to all their options at once. This actually creates a great dynamic where the player may initially choose one girl, only to find another girl they like better later on, with all the consequences that entails. It also saves the developer a lot of work, since they don't have to create scenes for every girl at every point in the game, only the parts of the game that come after that girl's introduction.

[FatUnicornGames]

@LateWhiteRabbit - That really makes sense. I will not worry about getting the characters out there as much.

I think I was falling into that trap because I wanted people to be able to know who they could woo. I will let the story do the pacing more for me and not worry about laying it out for the players.

[sciencewarrior]

You can always use your promotional material to let your players know who they can woo. Having the dateables on the splash/title screen is also very common.

The order of appearance can be important on the first playthrough, but it quickly loses importance after that. And just as you don't have to start with all characters at once, you don't have to finish with them all. Some can have their plots resolved along the way, depending on the route taken.