Romance in a non-romance driven game?

[Vegeluxia]

I had originally planned for my game to be a lot more romantically driven, but I wound up scrapping the idea somewhere along in planning after I took a different direction with the plot. Thing is, now I'm considering bringing that aspect back---but only for one character route, and I was wondering about other's feelings on that?

Like it was originally planned to be, it's just another way of approaching the route and isn't required to get through it. The route could branch off in the platonic direction and have a good and bad end. Or you could choose to become romantically involved with said character, and the route would have a different ending set.

It would be the only instance of romance though, and, in a game not focused on it, I'm not sure if it'll just seem out of place or leave people wondering why I only did one character and not another.

*edit*
Failed to mention that this particular game does revolve around friendship/getting to know people. Or throwing them under a bus. Options, and everything. So romance in a route wouldn't be a huge stretch.

[akareed]

Hmm, I personally think it would be quite out of place if there's more than one approachable character.
If romantic relationship with that certain character is important to the plot, I would say you could make that one couple canon in all routes, just not the main focus. If romance is just a 'bonus' it might even be distracting and drive away from the main plot.

Just my two cents- I hope I'm clear enough!

[SundownKid]

One thing is for sure, no one has ever said "there is too much romance in my VN".

[Vegeluxia]

I would say you could make that one couple canon in all routes, just not the main focus.

I hadn't thought of this, but the way the game is structured wouldn't allow for it, I don't think. Something to consider though.

One thing is for sure, no one has ever said "there is too much romance in my VN".

Beautiful words.

[Mammon]

I see no reason why it wouldn't work, a sudden romance story in a game where the reader has been getting to know the characters but hasn't seen any such dynamic between them might even be a great addition.

[RotGtIE]

One thing is for sure, no one has ever said "there is too much romance in my VN".

This.

[YonYonYon]

I'm kinda torn. Because there's no such thing as too much romance in VNs, but having only one character to be romanceable might feel unfair to other characters, which can be distracting.

My solution would be, obviously, to not advertise the game as a romance game, and either add somewhere in description that you can romance only one character or don't mention romance at all, letting it be an organic flow of the story

[Adventure Cow]

This shouldn't be an issue in a non-romance game. In fact, if the game is about social relationships and interactions in general, it would be rather strange for every single relationship to play out in a romantic way.

You may also want to take into consideration how defined your protagonist is. If the players have a high degree of control over the player's personality (I'm talking DA:O levels here), it may feel strange for them to suddenly not be able to pursue a particular character romantically, if they find that character attractive and the game bills itself as being about freedom in pursuing a variety of relationships. But if the player character is somewhat more defined, which sounds like it's the case, then it makes a lot of sense for only one character to have a romance route, if your PC is only interested in that person. If it's the former situation, you can always have your PC be able to attempt to romance the other characters, but have the other characters rebuff your advances in various ways.

[Vegeluxia]

My solution would be, obviously, to not advertise the game as a romance game, and either add somewhere in description that you can romance only one character or don't mention romance at all, letting it be an organic flow of the story

Wouldn't dream of advertising it as romance, aha. I really do like the idea of not mentioning it in the description at all, too.

Thinking on it more, I also don't really think people would wonder too much about the lack of other romantic routes. Out of the entirety of the cast, there's really only one other character I could imagine being pursuable. The others form different kinds of bonds that would make romantic ones weird (one of them spends a lot of time comparing you to his son, for example.)

You may also want to take into consideration how defined your protagonist is. If the players have a high degree of control over the player's personality (I'm talking DA:O levels here), it may feel strange for them to suddenly not be able to pursue a particular character romantically, if they find that character attractive and the game bills itself as being about freedom in pursuing a variety of relationships. But if the player character is somewhat more defined, which sounds like it's the case, then it makes a lot of sense for only one character to have a romance route, if your PC is only interested in that person. If it's the former situation, you can always have your PC be able to attempt to romance the other characters, but have the other characters rebuff your advances in various ways.

Yeah, this is a well defined character. Even if you decide to play selfishly, he's still inherently the same as he was before and it causes distress rather than a shift in personality.

[TheJerminator15]

It's an idea I'm also doing in mine, so I'm very biased in saying I heavily support the idea. I just think it depends entirely on execution.

[FriendlySenpai]

As a player that enjoys 100%ing VNs, I would drive myself insane trying to figure out how to romance the other characters. It wouldn't make sense that only one character has a romance route, so I would get pretty frustrated trying to replay the game over and over again choosing different options.

If you feel like it's necessary to add the romance, I would suggest making it established canon throughout the game so that it's present in every route. Or, at the very least, add one more romanceable character. It just feels weird and out of place to add that tiny dash of romance and give it its own storyline with multiple endings when you already describe the game as not being romance-driven.