"Cafe Crush" dating / mini-game VN

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thirstyoctopus
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"Cafe Crush" dating / mini-game VN

#1 Post by thirstyoctopus »

So, this will be my first Visual Novel (well the first I'm actually working on and not just an idea) and I'd like to get comments on my ideas, script and characters etc.

Synopsis

You are a bit of a nerdy guy, looking for part time work to get money to pay the rent and to hopefully meet new people as he spends most of his time indoors playing video games. On his search for work, he comes across a place called Kitty Cafe run by three girls, each with their own individual personality, attitude and opinions. The idea is to work with the girls in the cafe and eventually gain enough kudos with the one you'd like to date in order to be able to get that date.

The game will work with a hidden points system which will assess your success rate with each of the girls.

Mini games

The game will feature mini-games, which are different for each girl in the story, which will help you gain (or lose) points with them. My aim is to make it more interactable with the player and a bit more interesting than just a standard click-to-move-on story.

Characters (the girls):


Josie The Barista
Quite a standoffish character, the most difficult to impress, and easy to lose kudos with. Josie's mini-game is a coffee-based quiz, which the player must answer correctly in order to gain points. The more the player fails, the more likely Josie will lose interest in you.
josie normal.png
Lily the Waitress
Lily is a cute cat maid / waitress who will greet the player upon first discovering the cafe. She's a little ditzy, and loves cats and manga. She's almost the opposite of Josie. Lily's mini-game will be taking customer orders and then reciting them back to her, with a choice of three options after reading the customer's order. Again, as with Josie, getting the orders wrong constantly will drop points with Lily, where getting them right will increase. You will also get the opportunity to do a hidden object game with Lily, if you gain enough points - where you must find the customer's ordered items in a time limit.

Concept art of Lily:
mjemerson_waitress_sketch.jpg
Emilia The Baker
Emilia is a shy, clumsy and geeky girl who works in the cafe kitchen, baking cakes and treats. She's into video games, like the protagonist, and also enjoys cosplaying. When she cosplays she comes out of her shell a little as she feels it's easier when she's being someone else. Emilia's mini-games are different each time, one being a cake quiz, one is a memory match game with cards featuring cakes / cooking utensils. [There is currently no concept art for Emilia yet]

The VN will be party voiced (by Michaela Laws and Michelle Marie) and there will be one-to-one scenes with the girl you want to date, where you can invite her back to yours to find out more about them, and finally buy a gift, and ask her out. Successful response will result in a final CG for the girl and a "Good ending" opposed to the bad ending where the protagonist gets rejected.

Here are a couple of CGs drawn up for the game which may or may not be used (character art is still in progress):
mjemerson_6.jpg
mjemerson_4.jpg

It's my first game, and I think it will be shorter than other games of this ilk, but hopefully the incorporation of varied mini-games and voiced dialogue it will gain some interest.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this, and perhaps any suggestions. The script is pretty much written and the art is almost there. The voice recordings will be done next month and I'm currently designing the GUI. With any luck, I could get this completed within a couple months so I'm quite excited.

Thanks all for reading!!
Michael

Mr. Clarke
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Re: "Cafe Crush" dating / mini-game VN

#2 Post by Mr. Clarke »

Looks cool, the art is nice and that's always what people are gonna see first. Hope you nail it!

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thirstyoctopus
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Re: "Cafe Crush" dating / mini-game VN

#3 Post by thirstyoctopus »

Mr. Clarke wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:53 am Looks cool, the art is nice and that's always what people are gonna see first. Hope you nail it!
Thank you! Also it'll be fully voiced which I hope will help it stand out.

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alphawolf
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Re: "Cafe Crush" dating / mini-game VN

#4 Post by alphawolf »

hi...

this game sounds like fun.
that girl with the beach ball is super cute too.

heres a couple of ideas that come to mind.
3 girls in the cafe.
each one a harder catch ie...
waitress...easy
baker...moderate
barista...hard
so you work your way up, learning as you go.
if its [18+] then double dates could occur too.

with mini games im thinking they have to really advance the story.
ive noticed with most game mods you can skip the mini games to keep going in the actual game.
especially if they dont make sense.
so your idea of advancing the love meter with them is good.
maybe thru errands and things like assembling a jigsaw of oven pieces would get points with the baker.
or remembering each girls favorite color for later tasks.
you could even start the game pre cafe opening and help each get prepared for opening day...winning points as you go.

the main question that comes to mind is how 'date' is defined.
just winning their heart...or more involved?

hope that helps in some way
...ciao

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thirstyoctopus
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Re: "Cafe Crush" dating / mini-game VN

#5 Post by thirstyoctopus »

Hi alphawolf.

Actually, you kinda nailed it there with the difficulty levels of each character! The Barista is the most difficult to woo as she is very opinionated and needs very specific choices made by the player to gain favour. If you slip up too many times, it's not gonna happen even if you impress them further down the line. The mini games are part of each "day" of work, and successfully completing these will increase your friendship points. Also, the remembering favourite things is also something you've got right - there will be a scene where you can have a chat with a girl to find out more about them so you know what gift to get them. If you get the wrong gift, they'll not be impressed so you might lose points causing you to fail when asking the girl out.

The 'date' itself will literally be a 'good ending' CG piece opposed to just being rejected, classed as the 'bad' ending. So, in all, there are 6 possible endings, 3 bad and 3 good. But you will unlock CGs as you play through.

There will be 18+ content in the form of a specific game mode that will be unlocked after a first successful play-through where you can play over but see the girls in underwear and more provocative situations.

Thanks for your input!

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