Dating sim games- how many romantic interests do you like?

[Elemental-Butterfly]

I don't really care how much is it (one, three, five, or even eleven so you could make a soccer team out of it), as long as each girl promise different and enough personality, story/problem/conflict/ending, and events.

that would be awesome.

[gundestiny]

More characters = more CG's
And I looove CGs
But I wouldn't trade it for a good storyline :<

[broken_angel]

More characters = more CG's
And I looove CGs
But I wouldn't trade it for a good storyline :<

Actually, more characters is more likely to result in less CGs due to budget limitations.
Rather than being able to pour all of your resources into making lots of CGs for just a couple of characters, you have to instead spread out those resources over many characters, which means fewer CGs per character. And then there's also the issue of having to make sure that every character gets the same number of CGs so that the players don't complain about the game favoring just one or two characters, so then you're limited to multiples of however many characters you have. If this is a large number, then it can add up quickly.

...I learned this the hard way. xD I have ten datable characters in the game I'm currently working on (five boys and five girls). So I can only commission CGs in multiples of ten...which is ridiculous. When it's $20-40 a piece, and it's either 10 CGs (one each), 20, or 30...it's obvious which one I'm going to choose (i.e. one CG each 'cause I'm poor), whereas if I only had two or three characters, I could pay the same amount (or something in between) for what would be more CGs per character.
[/rant]

As for the actual topic on hand...
Personally, I don't care how many datable characters there are as long as there's at least one that I like. xD I'm not a completionist or anything, so I'll usually just go through one character's route and be satisfied...but whether I'll even finish the route or not depends on how much I like the guy in question. If none of the choices appeal to me, I won't get very far (at least in dating sims...with other games where there are romantic elements on the side, it's a little different).

[sayuri]

6-8, since that's basically how many character types there are. Not to say I like stereotypical characters but romantically it's just better that way. I mean, it's not like you can actually get to know the character so having a base makes things a bit easier.

[Elemental-Butterfly]

6-8, since that's basically how many character types there are. Not to say I like stereotypical characters but romantically it's just better that way. I mean, it's not like you can actually get to know the character so having a base makes things a bit easier.

steriotype?

[flowerthief]

Lots! At least 6, and any more is welcome. My favorites have often had 8-12 or so.
I'm all for the harem setting as well

Incidentally, I'm in the middle of authoring a game that allows for the addition of extra characters, whether created by me or by others, so I'll be finding out how well a large, variable cast actually works.

[LVUER]

@Elemental-Butterfly:
Stereotype means common or overused. So stereotype personality mean overused personality that you could see in most anime/manga. Like tsundere or yandere.

You could search in wikipedia for "anime personality".

[sayuri]

Or character archetypes or just troll TVtropes .

As for what Breaking Angel said, that is the sad truth. I may be spoiled since my first commercial otome game was YoJinBo but I like plenty of CGs per path. And, truth be told, three is about my limit when it comes to favorite paths and most of the CGs end up being just progress to me. The trouble is when you have just a small selection of characters they seem to be even more unoriginal. You'd think the opposite but it's because these characters need to cover a wider spectrum when it comes to personality. If I like tsunderes, a game with three obtainables may have one. In a game with more options there might be a violent type, a sarcastic type, an antisocial type, ect. Side note, you're seriously commissioning $200+ worth of art?! Not even including character art. Honestly when I hear stuff like that I wish the game was commercial. I have a rough idea how much Rock Robin costs to make. I feel obligated to give something back. I mean there's always donations I suppose. But if the artist would get a percentage of the profits or something... I need to start drawing better or else I'll have to save up for years to make a large-scale VN .

[LVUER]

TV Tropes. A good source of information for any writers or artist... unfortunately, for some unknown reasons, the site is blocked in my country.

Damn! I'm very angry with this... the RAGE!!!

[Elemental-Butterfly]

@Elemental-Butterfly:
Stereotype means common or overused. So stereotype personality mean overused personality that you could see in most anime/manga. Like tsundere or yandere.

You could search in wikipedia for "anime personality".

oh...those... wakarimashta

[Elemental-Butterfly]

Or character archetypes or just troll TVtropes .

As for what Breaking Angel said, that is the sad truth. I may be spoiled since my first commercial otome game was YoJinBo but I like plenty of CGs per path. And, truth be told, three is about my limit when it comes to favorite paths and most of the CGs end up being just progress to me. The trouble is when you have just a small selection of characters they seem to be even more unoriginal. You'd think the opposite but it's because these characters need to cover a wider spectrum when it comes to personality. If I like tsunderes, a game with three obtainables may have one. In a game with more options there might be a violent type, a sarcastic type, an antisocial type, ect. Side note, you're seriously commissioning $200+ worth of art?! Not even including character art. Honestly when I hear stuff like that I wish the game was commercial. I have a rough idea how much Rock Robin costs to make. I feel obligated to give something back. I mean there's always donations I suppose. But if the artist would get a percentage of the profits or something... I need to start drawing better or else I'll have to save up for years to make a large-scale VN .

200 dollars... seriously! O_O

[sayuri]

TV Tropes. A good source of information for any writers or artist... unfortunately, for some unknown reasons, the site is blocked in my country.

Damn! I'm very angry with this... the RAGE!!!
[\spoiler]

You poor thing . Wait, don't you live in Indonesia? Azure does too and Fantasia has a tropes page. Unless she can't visit the site herself...

/spam

[EwanG]

At least 2 (or what's the point), but beyond that it depends on how much story you're willing to tell. I'd rather have two or three fully fleshed out characters than six or seven where there are really only two stories unless you bump into someone at the wrong time and then have a couple quick screens and suddenly are with them instead. On the other hand, to a point, having the ability to tell the story from multiple points of view can add flavor to even a story with just two or three "main" routes. Of course the IDEAL is something like a Kanon or a Clannad where you have five or six truly deep stories, and there is plenty to explore in each. Good luck programming something like that all by yourself though.

[LVUER]

@sayuri:
Yes, I live in Indonesia. And Azure too. I think I must PM her, asking whether she could open TV Tropes sites or not. Since whenever and wherever I tried, I always get the forbidden 404 message.

[Robert Kirkland]

@sayuri:
Yes, I live in Indonesia. And Azure too. I think I must PM her, asking whether she could open TV Tropes sites or not. Since whenever and wherever I tried, I always get the forbidden 404 message.

There are plenty of

proxy sites you can use to access banned websites

though I can't think of any exact ones right now.

On topic - I agree with EwanG. Having five or six deep characters - with stories to go along with them - are probably the best. It's also nice, on another note, to have different endings for the same characters. IIRC Clannad didn't do this, there was only

the Sunohara ending

and the endings for everyone else. There were no alternate routes, and sadly, I forget if there was a neutral or bad end.