@minyan: Thank you!! There are definitely going to be some very awkward first date icebreaker conversations, so hopefully you get what you signed up for haha!
@Shamsia: Thanks so much! We basically structured this whole project around wanting to make a cooking/crafting game, so hopefully we'll manage to pull it off.
@FishyFeathers: Thank you! We'll try to keep this thread updated as we work on it!
@Zelan: Haha thanks, always great to see you every time we've made our annual trip back here! And that's a coincidence -- I hope you find Perry likeable/relatable once the game is out!
@pumpkin spike: Thanks very much!
Update
We started planning a little later than usual for this NaNo (normally we start in early Feb), so we're still in the planning phase in terms of writing & working out recipes!
We're almost done with outlining the VN parts of the game, though, so we should be able to start script writing soon.
In the meantime, I've also been working on the sprites for the characters! Here's a look at short-haired Perry's poses and some expressions.
Question Time
(Please help us)
We're currently also trying to decide on how much guidance we should give players in terms of the crafting/cooking portions of the game, and we'd love some opinions!
In our game, you'll be trying to cook a 3-course meal with a set amount of ingredients that Perry has found in their house. Not all combinations will result in success -- we have specific combinations of items that will result in certain dishes, while any other attempts will end up as "failed dishes" (which you will still be able to serve on your date, to... interesting results).
Perry has never cooked before, so it would make narrative sense for most of their attempts to end up in failure. However, we can understand that as players this would be frustrating, especially as what you cook will impact the story.
So we were wondering:
in a story-focused game with crafting elements, how much guidance do you want? Do you want to try all combinations and see what works, to have some hints like ingredients sorted into categories, or to just have the recipes given to you?