A Game About Solving A Mystery with a "Girl Game" Website [Early 2000s Nostalgia]

Ideas and games that are not yet publicly in production. This forum also contains the pre-2012 archives of the Works in Progress forum.
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verysunshine
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A Game About Solving A Mystery with a "Girl Game" Website [Early 2000s Nostalgia]

#1 Post by verysunshine »

The Setup:
The year is 2005. You’re a police officer in the cyber-crimes unit. A young girl has committed a terrible crime. You have to go through her accounts to see what information is in there.
Well, the one account she has. It’s for an incredibly popular game for girls, where they interact with three “Digital BFFs” and other users. Explore the website to find what clues might be in the account.

A few screenshots:
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What’s in the game now?
At the time of writing, two e-mails, two chat messages, and two conversations with each of the three girls. I know that’s not much, but it is in an early stage of development.

What will the final product be like?
I’m aiming to imitate the look and feel of “girl” brands from the early 2000s, mostly Bratz, Barbie, and My Scene, but I am taking influences from other brands too. I’m also modifying some of the common features of these brand identities: fashion will not be a primary focus, the girls will have more personality, and if there are male characters on the site at all, dating drama will not be a focus. I’m not promising a full feature set yet.

Why is this in Ideas?
The game doesn’t have a proper name yet, and I am concerned that there may be holes in my research.

Build the basics first, then add all the fun bits.

Please check out my games on my itch.io page!

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wulfmune
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Re: A Game About Solving A Mystery with a "Girl Game" Website [Early 2000s Nostalgia]

#2 Post by wulfmune »

As someone who vaguely remembers being a girl online in 2005, I'm curious about this project but I cringe a little when I read, Bratz, Barbie and my scene. I usually loathe most 'girly' toy and game marketing and art style >_<; I'm not a tomboy by any stretch. The content just tends to be pandering in a condescending way. I think it would be good for something to have that aesthetic with some actual characters and story that flesh out the female characters in meaningful, compelling ways.

verysunshine
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Re: A Game About Solving A Mystery with a "Girl Game" Website [Early 2000s Nostalgia]

#3 Post by verysunshine »

wulfmune wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:51 pm As someone who vaguely remembers being a girl online in 2005, I'm curious about this project but I cringe a little when I read, Bratz, Barbie and my scene. I usually loathe most 'girly' toy and game marketing and art style >_<; I'm not a tomboy by any stretch. The content just tends to be pandering in a condescending way. I think it would be good for something to have that aesthetic with some actual characters and story that flesh out the female characters in meaningful, compelling ways.
Thank you for the comments! I am putting a much bigger emphasis on fleshing out the characters than any of the characters actually had. The extant characters walked an unusual line between creating relatable figures and leaving them blank slates, resulting in boring stories. You could replace the enthusiastic go-getter with the wallflower and nothing would feel out of place.

Oh, and unless I feel I can write it really well, there will be no dating because dating never seems to work.

Build the basics first, then add all the fun bits.

Please check out my games on my itch.io page!

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