Sci-fi: Do you want alien dates, or human only?

[scarletshackles]

[Thanks everyone for your input on this! It's greatly appreciated, and I got a lot of insight for my future project, although it's not going to be ready or anywhere anytime soon, since I'm a solo artist in working on my projects. But this will help me move forward with my current and new projects. ]

Good day everyone.

Here I sat thinking that it would be fun to begin my own sci-fi project alongside my other, more standard life project (a project which I shy away to speak of in fear people would expect me to complete it sooner than I expect to be able to, as a completely solo person working on it).

But I found myself questioning two things.

Would you expect to have alien romancables? Would you like to have them? Or would you prefer human only options, as I've often seen in these type of games.

The second question was, do you prefer to have the combat scenes? I found that I do not like battling things when I play a VN. I usually shift the battles to easy and try to power through to get to the next part of the plot. And often it decreases the replay value for me, knowing that hard boss battle is out there.

I'm currently designing alien races (question remains, will they be your enemies, or will they be your partners) for the heck of it and was inspired by playing Rising Angels: Reborn to try my hand at sci-fi. I usually do fantasy, but I've had a successful attempt in writing sci-fi before as well.

In short, this would be a game with a FEMALE protagonist, both human and alien options, with no combat or battles. Combat would be resolved by making choices.

Thoughts?

[MaiMai]

Well, if Mass Effect was any indication, people are more than willing to date aliens.

[scarletshackles]

Well, if Mass Effect was any indication, people are more than willing to date aliens.

Yes, this rings a point~! Although, often in the VN's that I've come across of the sci-fi scene, there are only human options. o___o So I wonder if this is potentially because its easier to design human characters.

[Mad Harlequin]

Would you expect to have alien romancables? Would you like to have them? Or would you prefer human only options, as I've often seen in these type of games.

I think it depends on the setting to some extent---during the very earliest days of space colonization, I imagine it might be difficult for humans and alien species to get along well. (That could even be a plot/character development point.) But you could obviously do what Mass Effect did and shift the action forward in time to the point where more humans and aliens regard each other as neighbors rather than enemies.

The second question was, do you prefer to have the combat scenes? I found that I do not like battling things when I play a VN. I usually shift the battles to easy and try to power through to get to the next part of the plot. And often it decreases the replay value for me, knowing that hard boss battle is out there.

I don't mind combat in a VN as long as it connects smoothly with the narrative.

Yes, this rings a point~! Although, often in the VN's that I've come across of the sci-fi scene, there are only human options. o___o So I wonder if this is potentially because it's easier to design human characters.

That's probably a pretty significant factor.

In short, this would be a game with a FEMALE protagonist, both human and alien options, with no combat or battles. Combat would be resolved by making choices.

Thoughts?

I'm certainly not opposed!

[MaiMai]

Art ability and design decisions aside though, the audience for VNs usually are receptive to unique non-human romantic interests as long as it makes sense with the setting and plot. Another example of this is Hatoful Boyfriend.

[Riverbird]

It depends on how "alien" you want your aliens to be - to some the idea of "romance" might be very different to how we see it, which can lead to an interesting storyline in a VN as these cultural differences are explored and conquered (or not, as the case may be...) One of the things most modern Sci-Fi fails to do is make their Aliens alien enough

As for choice based combat, I think it can work quite well - but you need to make sure there's enough information telegraphed to the player to not feel that it was random when the results come through. Combat, more than other choices has a feeling of failure when it doesn't go well for the player.

But all in all, I'm looking forward to playing this one

[scarletshackles]

Would you expect to have alien romancables? Would you like to have them? Or would you prefer human only options, as I've often seen in these type of games.

I think it depends on the setting to some extent---during the very earliest days of space colonization, I imagine it might be difficult for humans and alien species to get along well. (That could even be a plot/character development point.) But you could obviously do what Mass Effect did and shift the action forward in time to the point where more humans and aliens regard each other as neighbors rather than enemies.

The second question was, do you prefer to have the combat scenes? I found that I do not like battling things when I play a VN. I usually shift the battles to easy and try to power through to get to the next part of the plot. And often it decreases the replay value for me, knowing that hard boss battle is out there.

I don't mind combat in a VN as long as it connects smoothly with the narrative.

Yes, this rings a point~! Although, often in the VN's that I've come across of the sci-fi scene, there are only human options. o___o So I wonder if this is potentially because it's easier to design human characters.

That's probably a pretty significant factor.

In short, this would be a game with a FEMALE protagonist, both human and alien options, with no combat or battles. Combat would be resolved by making choices.

Thoughts?

I'm certainly not opposed!

Thank you for your thoughts. I will take them into consideration. I agree that if humans were to suddenly bump into aliens, there definitely would not be romance - at least in any accepted terms. There would be more probably war, depending on the standings of the alien races. ^^;

[scarletshackles]

Art ability and design decisions aside though, the audience for VNs usually are receptive to unique non-human romantic interests as long as it makes sense with the setting and plot. Another example of this is Hatoful Boyfriend.

Ohhhh, yes, I forgot about that one with the damn birds! I suppose I can stop worrying about the reception of that.

[Mad Harlequin]

Art ability and design decisions aside though, the audience for VNs usually are receptive to unique non-human romantic interests as long as it makes sense with the setting and plot. Another example of this is Hatoful Boyfriend.

Yes, this is true.

It depends on how "alien" you want your aliens to be - to some the idea of "romance" might be very different to how we see it, which can lead to an interesting storyline in a VN as these cultural differences are explored and conquered (or not, as the case may be...) One of the things most modern Sci-Fi fails to do is make their Aliens alien enough

I'm reminded of a few pieces of erotica I've read featuring romance with tentacle monsters . . .

[scarletshackles]

It depends on how "alien" you want your aliens to be - to some the idea of "romance" might be very different to how we see it, which can lead to an interesting storyline in a VN as these cultural differences are explored and conquered (or not, as the case may be...) One of the things most modern Sci-Fi fails to do is make their Aliens alien enough

As for choice based combat, I think it can work quite well - but you need to make sure there's enough information telegraphed to the player to not feel that it was random when the results come through. Combat, more than other choices has a feeling of failure when it doesn't go well for the player.

But all in all, I'm looking forward to playing this one

No worries, I'm a weirdo. I can make my aliens weird as. But alas, should the aliens not be well received, I will also make human options, possibly even a female one.

Yes that's true, I often find myself saving the game before I make a combat choice, as I noted while playing Planet Stronghold. I suppose in this I should look up to the "choose your path" novel Heroes Rise, that rather clearly explained how effective each combat option would prove to be.

Thank you for the premature support! ^^

[SundownKid]

I probably would like a game that had alien dates more than a sci-fi game with just human ones, then again, I am a sci-fi writer so I'm not exactly the average audience. But, I consider part of the fun of a space opera type game that you can interact with alien beings that can be super different than your typical all human cast.

[YonYonYon]

Why stop on aliens? ROMANCE THE SPACESHIP!

[Mad Harlequin]

Why stop on aliens? ROMANCE THE SPACESHIP!

What came to mind immediately: there's EDI, and then there's HAL . . .

"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

[SundownKid]

The ironic thing is that EDI's interactions with Joker in Mass Effect 2 was a sort of parody of all those "ship AIs" in science fiction shows. Then in Mass Effect 3 they made EDI into a full-on fembot and made her and Joker's romance the real deal... and then went even further with the Synthesis ending. I still sort of liked it better when EDI was more of a disembodied voice .

[Dylan_Bain]

From what you have said so far, I would tackle it this way...

You could be the leader of the human race (or representative) and depending on your relationship with the alien forms (love, friend, hate) they decide to battle you or not.