Traps And Reverse Traps [BXG][BXB]

[Lord Dragon]

I'm sure this idea has been thought of before but I fell in love with the idea I needed to start putting it to work. Although this might end up a 6 am daydream.

First of all, you play as a Customisable Male Character who has recently moved to the 'big city' so that it's easier to commute to University. You begin to meet various interesting personalities in a cheesey and cliche VN sequence whilst you are on the street or finding a job.


That's it that's the entire premise unless I decide to add anything, that is.

Who I will/might need
I will need a UI artist and a Background Artist, I can do neither, unless I start learning real quick
I might need a programmer
I might might a co-writer/idea bouncer, I dunno mang I'm not a writer

Question time, This section will be regularly updated as I continue to add to this topic)
1 - Given the VERY limited information I have provided, who would you pursue?
2 - Have you seen this premise before of traps/Reverse traps? What did/do you think of such a Premise?
3 - What do you think Of Character Customisation? Have you played/developed a game with such a feature? What did it add to Your experience?
4 - Other questions?

Here follows the Romanceable Characters. I have four Planned, none of which are named. Two male and two Female.

[gekiganwing]

You begin to meet various interesting personalities in a cheesy and cliche VN sequence whilst you are on the street or finding a job.

Think about how you want to write meeting the main characters. How will you give the reader an impression of who they are and what they want? Do you want to hint at complex aspects of the characters early on?

The next male will be more traditionally an 'anime trap' and I'm still toying with ideas for the second female

Trivia:

Main characters who often cross-dress started appearing in shoujo demographic manga in the 1970s -- Rose of Versailles and From Eroica with Love come to mind. During the 1980s, they started appearing in shounen demographic series such as Urusei Yatsura and F. Compo.

Have you seen this premise before of traps/Reverse traps? What did/do you think of such a Premise?

I'm familiar with reverse trap heroines, protagonists, and support characters. They are just girls who wear masculine clothes and act in boyish ways. For instance, Ouran Host Club features one as a main character. Fans like her because of her complex characterization (background, weaknesses, attitudes regarding others).

I am a bit more familiar with trap heroes, etc. They are guys who wear feminine clothes and act like girls. I know there is published fiction which addresses this topic in both serious and humorous ways. In terms of comics and animation, Tokyo Godfathers is a well-regarded story which somewhat discusses this topic.

[Zelan]

Hey, you're back!! ^_^ I was wondering where you'd gotten to.

Have you seen this premise before of traps/Reverse traps? What did/do you think of such a Premise?
It's my understanding that this premise is common in Japanese media, which I'm really not familiar with (I got into VNs from the EVN side), so pretty much all I know about traps is from what I've read on this site. It's definitely an interesting concept, and I would wonder about the backstories of each character and why they all choose to present more like the opposite gender.

What do you think Of Character Customisation? Have you played/developed a game with such a feature?
As a player, I appreciate the feature very much. From what I've seen on these forums, though, it takes a LOT of work to develop a VN with a customizable character, since the sprite and all CGs will need multiple versions to account for the customization.

(Also, it wouldn't be an otome game since the protagonist is male. c:)

[Lord Dragon]

Hey, you're back!! ^_^ I was wondering where you'd gotten to.

Have you seen this premise before of traps/Reverse traps? What did/do you think of such a Premise?
It's my understanding that this premise is common in Japanese media, which I'm really not familiar with (I got into VNs from the EVN side), so pretty much all I know about traps is from what I've read on this site. It's definitely an interesting concept, and I would wonder about the backstories of each character and why they all choose to present more like the opposite gender.

What do you think Of Character Customisation? Have you played/developed a game with such a feature?
As a player, I appreciate the feature very much. From what I've seen on these forums, though, it takes a LOT of work to develop a VN with a customizable character, since the sprite and all CGs will need multiple versions to account for the customization.

(Also, it wouldn't be an otome game since the protagonist is male. c:)

Yea mainly a Japanese media/anime term which is just basically 'crossdressers' but it's hard to generalise, I have some of their backstory dot-pointed out and I now generally where I want to go with each of them, but nothing has been settled enough for me to confidently put up here, even for general review.

Personally, I think customisable characters are top on my list when I look for things, and I know it's a lot of work but GOSH DARN, they are just to draw.

[Lord Dragon]

You begin to meet various interesting personalities in a cheesy and cliche VN sequence whilst you are on the street or finding a job.

Think about how you want to write meeting the main characters. How will you give the reader an impression of who they are and what they want? Do you want to hint at complex aspects of the characters early on?

The next male will be more traditionally an 'anime trap' and I'm still toying with ideas for the second female

Trivia:

Main characters who often cross-dress started appearing in shoujo demographic manga in the 1970s -- Rose of Versailles and From Eroica with Love come to mind. During the 1980s, they started appearing in shounen demographic series such as Urusei Yatsura and F. Compo.

Have you seen this premise before of traps/Reverse traps? What did/do you think of such a Premise?

I'm familiar with reverse trap heroines, protagonists, and support characters. They are just girls who wear masculine clothes and act in boyish ways. For instance, Ouran Host Club features one as a main character. Fans like her because of her complex characterization (background, weaknesses, attitudes regarding others).

I am a bit more familiar with trap heroes, etc. They are guys who wear feminine clothes and act like girls. I know there is published fiction which addresses this topic in both serious and humorous ways. In terms of comics and animation, Tokyo Godfathers is a well-regarded story which somewhat discusses this topic.

My main worry is definitely not giving the Protagonist a good enough voice. It's sometimes a little hard to relate to the protagonist because your personality may be extremely different from them, and I want to be able to overcome that obstacle, possibly with the illusion of choice during unimportant parts of the story. But at the same time like Haruhi from Ouran, I could have a really interesting unique character, but perspective changes from Shows and Games. It's difficult.

Making the backgrounds is definitely going to be the most interesting and fun parts of making the game, balancing flaws and everything else is always tough and interesting. I'll deffinitely be updating more about them soon as I have ideas, but then again only soo much I can reveal.

[Lord Dragon]

Outfit for my fave, I've also named 3/4 of them, this lovely lad is Arren

[Lord Dragon]

Finally colouring

[Lord Dragon]

His Base is Done, I have a coat to draw for him but this is base

[Lord Dragon]

MC's Hairstyles I'll probably add one or two more
Edit: Skin tones

[Zelan]

Looks like you're going through with the customization. ^_^ Good luck with it! I appreciate the effort that you're putting in.

[Lord Dragon]

Drawing the menu screen, well sketching it



EDIT: Arren also got a sprite update (??) There are still things I'd like to fix but it's definitely better

[CosmicFan]

I have two question and an observation:

1 - Is this game adult? I have mostly seen traps in works of that nature.

2 - Is this game commercial?


My observation is that you should probably make it explicit somewhere in the game that the characters are crossdressers, and not transgendered, especially if the game is commercial. It only takes one person misunderstanding what the game is about for it to be hated on Tumblr and you to get a lot of hate mail.

[Lord Dragon]

I have two question and an observation:

1 - Is this game adult? I have mostly seen traps in works of that nature.

2 - Is this game commercial?


My observation is that you should probably make it explicit somewhere in the game that the characters are crossdressers, and not transgendered, especially if the game is commercial. It only takes one person misunderstanding what the game is about for it to be hated on Tumblr and you to get a lot of hate mail.

1- Nope, at this point it's not an adult game.

2- Currently I'm unsure if it will be commercial, if it will be commercial I will most likely need to crowd fund.

3- I understand that sentiment, the topic of gender is barely brought up in the game. How ever I have made sure that who they are have been made clear.

[CosmicFan]

I have two question and an observation:

1 - Is this game adult? I have mostly seen traps in works of that nature.

2 - Is this game commercial?


My observation is that you should probably make it explicit somewhere in the game that the characters are crossdressers, and not transgendered, especially if the game is commercial. It only takes one person misunderstanding what the game is about for it to be hated on Tumblr and you to get a lot of hate mail.

1- Nope, at this point it's not an adult game.

2- Currently I'm unsure if it will be commercial, if it will be commercial I will most likely need to crowd fund.

3- I understand that sentiment, the topic of gender is barely brought up in the game. How ever I have made sure that who they are have been made clear.

Thanks for replying. I brought the "trans issue" up is not because it's something I'm personally invested in, but out of concern the game would get undeserved hate. It sucks when you're looking forward to something (movie, book, game, etc...) and they get bad press.

Now to answer the questions in your original post:

1 - Given the VERY limited information I have provided, who would you pursue?

Arren. I like his angular, elegant face; how his eyes and hair match in color. He looks like he would have a lot of personality.


2 - Have you seen this premise before of traps/Reverse traps? What did/do you think of such a Premise?

Mainly seen traps in pornographic manga. I've seen a few animes where characters crossdress for one episode episode as a gag, but not where the is a character who is a full time crossdresser.
I'm very neutral about traps. It's not something that particularly appeals to me, but it's not something I dislike.


3 - What do you think Of Character Customisation? Have you played/developed a game with such a feature? What did it add to Your experience?

I've mostly seen in big AAA games, like Bioware's or The Sims. In smaller games, I think I've only seen it in dress-up flash games, where you can drag and drop hair and clothes on top of a static naked character. I've never played a visual novel/dating sim that allowed for character customization.
I'm big games they usually allow for you to change a lot of the face structure (cheekbones, lips, nose length,...) along with a ton of other things, to the point where all those options actually make it difficult to create a good looking characters.
I'm guessing customization in this game will not be that expansive and will be more focused. Mostly about the hair styles, eye color, skin color and perhaps clothes.
It's not a deal breaker for me, but if it's something you really want to implement it in your game, I say go for it. But keep it in the back of your mind that if your game includes CGs in which the main character appears, you would have to create a CG for each possible version of the character. That would be a ton of work.



Looking forward to the game. XOXO