Ideas Dump

[Taleweaver]

I have an otome game idea, just right for Halloween:

Romance Is Dead
Story revolves around a young woman who is struggling to get through medical school somewhere in Louisiana. To pay the bills, she works at the university's pathology lab at night and washes corpses. (Yup, she's that desperate, and the pay is rather decent). She doesn't have that many friends among her fellow students; most of the men around her are geeks, and there is one rather creepy stalker guy who constantly lurks around her but who seems less than trustworthy.

One evening in late October, he tries to chat her up on her way to work, and when he gets too annoying, she slaps him. The guy disappears, very angry, and later that night, when our heroine is done with her work, he jumps her from behind, knocks her out and drags her back to the pathology lab. When she awakes, she finds herself tied up in the middle of what seems to be a voodoo ceremony, with the creepy guy performing a ritual to make her fall in love with him. Unfortunately, he doesn't take into account that voodoo doesn't work for white guys...

The ritual goes wrong. Terribly wrong. A ghost appears, a dead body starts to move, and as finally a man in a black cloak appears in a wisp of smoke, the stalker guy runs and leaves our heroine behind. Surprisingly, she doesn't die. Instead, the zombie moves over to her and unties her... and then the three people introduce themselves to her.

The zombie is actually a former member of a motorcycle gang who was sent to the university to steal a dead body as a practical joke... back in the 1950s. He got locked into the freezer chamber and froze to death. After he was discovered and it was found out that all of his family had died in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942, the university staff decided to allow students to embalm his body. The voodoo ritual somehow returned his soul into this world, now he's a walking (though not rotting) corpse who addresses young women as "babydoll" and wants to find out what happened to his motorbike.

The ghost is that of one of the former students of the university who died in an accident in 1920. He's a perfect "Southern Gentleman", mystically bound to the university premises, and until the ritual, he was invisible - somehow, the arcane powers of the voodoo ritual made him stronger. He hopes to be able to either leave this place or even this world, though the zombie assures him that "there's nothing special in the afterlife".

The cloaked man reveals himself as a vampire, a former French captain who fought with the Americans against the British during the American revolution. He was "converted" in 1791 and still has the manners and habits of his era, coming across very much like your traditional swashbuckler. He felt the energy from the failed voodoo ritual and came because he was curious. Our heroine reminds him of the wife he left behind in France back then, though at the same time, he considers humans as food...

The rest of the story should be rather obvious: All three of the guys want something from our heroine, all three are possible love interests, and all three are very dead. And there's also the creepy stalker dude who's still around. How will this play out?

[Liz]

Goodbye

Marissa Summers has always had trouble saying Goodbye.
Her family and her were in a car accident four years ago.
All three members of her family except her died; mother, father and brother.
She never said Goodbye
Now on the junior prom night, supposed to be one of the happiest nights of her life- something goes wrong.
A major freak accident results in the death of a student- Alicia Bourke.
The prom is canceled and the school spends the next few weeks grieving when another event occurs at school, the sudden unexpected death of Brittany Smore- head cheerleader, alpha b*tch, who's body is found in the girls year 10 toilets.
Soon death surrounds the small town of Haddonville and Marissa finds herself saying goodbye to many people; loved and hated. Yet when Marissa starts to get visions and weird signals, she realizes that something is not right, and their deaths seem to undergo a pattern.]

I just felt like writing something short!

- ♥ Liz.

[Colby Alighieri]

I'll be giving another typical one, but best to let it out of my head.

An otome game in a school setting... But wait for it...

Our main heroine is a FLUNKIE. She flunked 6th grade thus, she is retaking it again if she ever wants to graduate or else, they'll move to another city. Of course, heroine doesn't want to move because she loves her hometown, so she decides to turn over a new leaf...

...which turns out to be unbelievably BORING and UNINSPIRING because it's the same subjects, teachers and routine all over again like last year. Our heroine's not the sociable type and prefers to be alone. Unfortunately, her new classmates like to ask her lots of questions because the same old homeroom teacher had told them about how much our heroine failed and what. And she doesn't like people.

Then our heroine's a SHUT-IN. She just goes to school when she feels like it, which rarely happens.

So... Same School + Same Teachers + Same Subjects = New Life

Our heroine decides to research what is missing in her life and finds out that she needs a RELATIONSHIP.

Her "relationship" choices are:

- New Classmate who is actually the cashier guy in the 24/7 Convenience Store near her house.
- The Class Valedictorian from the graduating batch (that she's supposed to belong if only she didn't flunk) who's a bit of a dick.
- The friendly choir boy in the Town's Chapel.
- The mysterious boy who hangs around and naps in the Town's Graveyard.

Her choices determine whether she becomes best friends or lovers with the candidates. But why only guys? Her research shows that opposites attract, that's why! *shot for lame reasoning XP*

Of course there's stat raising!

The heroine has a whole year's chance to make use of her "new life". If she fails again, her parents will move her out of town.

I named this dream Otome "A New Life!" with recycled characters from all of my VNs, though slightly revamped because I'm lazy that way XD

...If I ever finish my Last Order series, I might be able to get back to this one XD

[Cidz]

I have a couple ideas for otome games/dating sims. none of which are fleshed out so it probably wont make perfect sense.

one is about a nerdy girl thats never had a real life boyfriend. but she doesnt need one, who cares about real life boys when you have the most perfect imaginary boyfriend. However one day, something strange happend for some odd reason this girls imaginary bf actually appeared to her in real life form in her bedroom! However he's still not completely real, but he can become real if she falls in love with him. However now it seems that two more love interests have popped up for MC one being her childhood friend the other being a boy in her class she kind of has a crush on. So which one will she choose her imaginery boyfriend, childhood friend, or boy she had a crush on?

another one is a dating sims about a girl who works at a bakery and different boys come into the bakery and she has to bake them certain bake goods to earn points. (i dont know much about renpy so assuming this is possible) you can also combine different baked goods/ingreidents to make new ones. The more you get to know the boys the more you know what kind of food the prefer and you can advance in baking items and winning the love of a love interest and stuff.

[gekiganwing]

The main character is a woman whose job duties involve drawing attractive women. She has always considered her fictional characters to be quite different from herself -- she doesn't think she even resembles a superheroine, or a moe girl, or anything of the sort. And yet, after someone convinces her to dress and act like one of her characters for just an hour or two, her life begins to change. She begins to think of her fictional characters as people she can pretend to be, or even potential alternate identities. From here on, the story follows with what she chooses to do.

...she has to bake them certain bake goods to earn points. (i dont know much about renpy so assuming this is possible)

Yes, it's possible. You can simply create a stat for "baking ability," or multiple stats for different tasks. Be sure to browse the Ren'py tutorials about statistics and variables.

[dollssoulkirie]

Hmm... I guess I'll add a few ideas! These were former dreams of mine that I was planning on writing as a short story but not sure to continue or make it into a VN or otome. XD

Fallen in the Snow (Tentative Title)
The story set in a post-apocalyptic type atmosphere where the sky constantly snows a grey ash all the time. A former prostitute moves to another city with a friend and begins a new life as a mercenary. While at Lathriel (the new city), she meets the Ghalsen Twins, a famous mercenary duo that's invincible around that part of the region. While shopping around for another mission with her partner, she finds out that there's a bounty for a former customer of her's and decides to accept the mission. However, that mission requires four people to complete and the Ghalsen Twins has already accepted it. Now the two teams have to work together on an enormous bounty that's not going to be split between the two teams, but each individual receives the amount of the bounty.

Pandora's Image (Tentative Title)
A once heroic elven sorcerer finds himself the leader of dead angelic women to find the key to the rumored Pandora's Box. According to an ancient script the sorcerer deciphered, an angel with magical abilities is the only person that can open the locked box. And to open that box, she needs a spell created by Pandora herself.

Pandora's Image kinda sounded like LotR type story when I wrote down all the characters and some more details. I also created two races for the story: Vangelions and Lazzanoths.
Vangelions:
A winged female warrior race, specializing in polearm combat. They cannot use magic. Their home is secluded by mountains. The Vangelions have a lifespan similar to elves, but not as long. Once a Vangelion dies, they become a Lazzanoth. The society is governed by 3 ministers, with a congress of 13 specialists.
Lazzanoths:
A winged female race of warriors, filled with malice towards all living things. The Lazzanoths are untamed and has no ruler. Once a Lazzanoth dies (Vanelions can only kill Lazzanoths), it'll take them 30 years to be reborn into a Vangelion.

[Omnificent]

Here's an idea that never seriously got off the ground:

Kaleidoscope: Dokidoki US Presidents

You have been staying up way too late trying to cram everything about early 20th century US presidents into your head before a big test. At 3 AM, you decide to cut your losses and go to sleep.

You dream that you find yourself in a circular room with five doors.

Benjamin Franklin looks up from his desk at the center of the room and is pleasantly surprised to see you. He explains that this is a dream shared by the both of you, him on April 16, 1790, you at the present day, and that within his dream he has invented a device called the kaleidoscope. Except that instead of beads and bits of glass, it takes memories.

Your memories happen to all be of early 20th century US presidents, so that's what you get to deal with.

From there you can enter rooms and chat with Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, and Woodrow Wilson at different points in their lives/presidency. Each talk takes 5 minutes, thus you have 60 tries to pry all the information you can out of them before you wake up at 8 to go to school. How well you do determines how well you end up doing on the test.

Also secret Ben Franklin ending.

[HigurashiKira]

I'll throw in a few more ideas if anyone wants them. Seeing these made would interest me a lot:

Gene Codex: Genesis
The story starts off as what appears a typical BxG slice-of life game as the MC is falsely introduced to a couple of his female classmates and his friends. But after a couple of days, this all changes. Upon heading to school one day, you're swept off your feet and suddenly find yourself in the presense of the Witch of Time. The reason she did this? Your future granchildren are leaders of a rebel group trying to overthrow a totalitarian government. In order to get rid of them, the government has sent assasins back through time to kill off key members of your bloodline to prevent them (and, subsequentally, you) from ever existing. This is where you come in. Since the Witch can't directly manipulate events in time, she needs you to eliminate the assasins to both maintain the stable flow of history and to save yourself from nonexistence.

To aid you on your journey, the Witch give you a special machine she created: the Gene Codex, a time machine capable of sending you back through your family's history without physically being there (Think of it as being a ghost) As you journey through you history, you'll have to sometimes take over your ancestor to prevent an early "retirment" by the assasins. Failure means the end of you, your family, and possibly the universe due to the gaping holes in the space-time continum.

teal dear ver: BCM meets Assasin's Creed meets TimeSplitters
Yes, that's the best that I could describe it.

[gekiganwing]

Gene Codex: Genesis sounds a bit like the slightly obscure Konami game Shadow of Memories (aka Shadow of Destiny). It's a somewhat dark adventure game that's available in English on a few devices.

One idea I've been thinking about lately... what happens when RPG characters become adults? In most of my favorite RPGs from the mid 90s onwards, the featured characters manage to save the world and find true love before they turn age 21. Some of them get to go back home after everything is done, but most of the characters I can think of get good reputations.

So what do they do with the rest of their lives? Do they benefit from their fame, and get opportunities to invest? Do they suffer for their fame -- are they constantly bothered by world leaders, the media, and potential enemies? Do their relationships last, or do time and conflict tear them apart?

These story concepts might work as a visual novel, but they could be explored through a lot of other media forms.

[LVUER]

I don't think Gene Codex: Genesis is similar to Shadow of Destiny... it's more similar to Terminator for sure...

[HigurashiKira]

I don't think Gene Codex: Genesis is similar to Shadow of Destiny... it's more similar to Terminator for sure...

The E.T.G. in Genesis would be like a genre-savvy Skynet. The MC would be Kyle Reese and/or Sarah Connor (except without the Critical Existence Failure) And his granchildren would be John Connor.

All that's missing is an Austrian bodybuilder who has a thing for leather.

[Colby Alighieri]

Well I have no story bunny in mind. But I have a tiny plot-device:

Say you have a character of unknown gender and identity. However, this character can change into any distinct look and personality by wearing the clothes of the person the character wants to change into. In a sense, this ambiguous character is like a sponge (or chameleon...take your pick...).

Nighty-night.

[gekiganwing]

From Sakura River's blog (http://sakurariver.ca/main/dev-blog/109 ... game-ideas ), one of two ideas:

Magical Girl Sentai Drama

Not the official title but the general idea. Five legendary magical knight warriors fight the forces of darkness. These girls protect the people from the forces of darkness. Who do you play as? A guy who found out all the identities of the magical knights. They happen to be his classmates. He also knows the identity of the current agent of darkness they are fighting (also a girl in his class). You have NO powers whatsoever except for maybe a slingshot and being somewhat decent at first person shooters.

The question is "What do you do?" There is some in-fighting among the magical knights. Talking to them and helping them get along may help keep your daily life peaceful a few days longer. Maybe you can do something about about the agent of darkness too.

Here's a somewhat similar idea which I've been thinking about off and on. It's "magical girl love triangle, with conflicts":

* A young woman asks the main character to be her boyfriend. Only after he accepts does he find out her motive. She believes that in order to defeat her rival, she needs to find a romantic partner... and that will amplify her skills. She chooses the main character because he's unattached, and since he meets the fantastic criteria. She's not malicious in wanting to defeat her rival, but she starts out the story believing that this is something she needs to do.

* When the main character meets the rival, he discovers that she's a dark magical girl. She's introverted, depressed, and only malicious when provoked. But she's also being pushed to fight her rival. He starts to wonder if the two of them should be fighting at all.

This idea makes more sense if we assume these are normal people who happen to have fantastic powers. It doesn't matter if they are after some McGuffin, if they are getting instructions from some (non-trustworthy?) mentor, or even if they actually have magic. I think it could become an interesting story if there's quality characterization.

[papillon]

Doctor, Doctor!

Basically just thinking it could be fun to have an all-medical-drama romance game, whether GxB or BxG. Make the protagonist an intern. Make the capturable characters a surgeon, an attending physician, a pediatrician, a dentist, and a nurse.

Needs a lot of research though - because people who really like medical settings are at least well versed in TV medicine and will complain about anything too stupid!

[LVUER]

Add a surgery minigame and you'll get "LifeSigns: Surgical Unit", a NDS game. Try it ^_^