Get that thing off your chest... Now...

[Sapphi]

Basically, what I'm saying is, I need to learn how to pull off padding.

Careful with padding. Everything should have a purpose in your story. Don't just throw a scene in to make the story longer - accomplish something with every scene, whether it's foreshadowing, characterization, or actual plot developments. If you can take it out with no noticeable difference to the story, there's no point in it being there.

[Victoria Jennings]

Well of course. xD But don't events that still hold significance to the plot, yet aren't readily-apparent as being important still count as padding? I mean, I want to make my game longer, just because the pacing wouldn't be right for all the content I've come up with so far, so wouldn't that be equivalent to padding the length? Or am I using the term incorrectly?

[LVUER]

Arrrgh... All messages in my mobile phone was wiped out clean. I don't know why;
- Is it because of I pass the quota limit (which is 999 messages and it's supposed to delete only the oldest message if quota limit is reached)
- Or is it because the lack of free memory (which should be still 100MB free)...
- Ooooor, a bug in OS, since my mobile phone sometimes crashes for no reason (need to pull out the battery for remedy) and two phones of same brand which two of my family members have also loves to secretly delete their messages.

I don't think there are important messages worth keeping in my phone, but still, I suddenly lost all messages from more than 2 years ago. It hurts. All those wishes in Christmas and New Years celebration which I save in my phones (T__T)

[Sapphi]

I don't think there are important messages worth keeping in my phone, but still, I suddenly lost all messages from more than 2 years ago. It hurts. All those wishes in Christmas and New Years celebration which I save in my phones (T__T)

Awww, that is awful...
And I thought I was having it bad today because my phone decided not to wake me up (to be fair, I *might* have shut it off in my sleep) and I was late for work by an hour and a half - the third time it's happened to me since I started working there. OTL

Sorry about your messages

[SelLi]

Well of course. xD But don't events that still hold significance to the plot, yet aren't readily-apparent as being important still count as padding? I mean, I want to make my game longer, just because the pacing wouldn't be right for all the content I've come up with so far, so wouldn't that be equivalent to padding the length? Or am I using the term incorrectly?

You are using the term incorrectly. Padding is simply fluff used only to make a story longer. If it has significance, it's not padding. What you're saying, I think, is that you're using this (not)padding to blend plot events together to make it natural to read, is that right? That's very important. Without that, things would bounce a lot too much and be a pain to follow or enjoy.
Writing in a way that gives your story good flow is an important part of writing. It's not "padding". Hope that answers your question ^U^

[Victoria Jennings]

You are using the term incorrectly. Padding is simply fluff used only to make a story longer. If it has significance, it's not padding. What you're saying, I think, is that you're using this (not)padding to blend plot events together to make it natural to read, is that right? That's very important. Without that, things would bounce a lot too much and be a pain to follow or enjoy.
Writing in a way that gives your story good flow is an important part of writing. It's not "padding". Hope that answers your question ^U^

Hehe, I already figured that out. Thanks, though. C:

[CheeryMoya]

For crying out loud, I am not letting this go. No one is allowed to drop talent in favor of some generic crap without a good reason. I am going to break my wrists learning how to draw, and afterwards I do not want to hear anything that's going to make me freak out like this ever again.

[SelLi]

After playing a lot of Katawa Shoujo and a bit of RenAi Blogger, I see that I don't like dating games. I don't like the idea of manipulating people to get what you want and having to be a mastermind over the person who you're with. You should both be more or less equal and I love the girl who I'm really with <3
If you get too into these games I think it can me seriously unhealthy.

[Auro-Cyanide]

After playing a lot of Katawa Shoujo and a bit of RenAi Blogger, I see that I don't like dating games. I don't like the idea of manipulating people to get what you want and having to be a mastermind over the person who you're with. You should both be more or less equal and I love the girl who I'm really with <3
If you get too into these games I think it can me seriously unhealthy.

You probably shouldn't judge an entire genre by 2 games. You shouldn't really judge a genre by any games. I don't like the idea of changing yourself to fit with a love interest for example, and while that is common in a lot of dating sims, it doesn't have to be. There is no rule stating that it has to be in there, so people are free to chuck it out if they wanted to. Not saying you CAN'T dislike them, just that some mechanics aren't necessarily inherent to the genre, just that they are used a lot. The point you brought up is a valid criticism after all, and I do agree with it. I would like to see more dating sims where it wasn't so much 'fill this stat and so and so will like you'. I think that would be nice.

[Victoria Jennings]

I would like to see more dating sims where it wasn't so much 'fill this stat and so and so will like you'. I think that would be nice.

In collective, I'm making it so one of the characters starts out with a crush on the MC (childhood friend), and the other develops a crush on the MC after a while. This only happens if you're reasonably nice to them (Grant can fall out of love with the MC) and you flirt with them. If you don't flirt, they'll never act on their feelings (though they can still develop in Maya's case, if you're particularly friendly with her). There's no stat system besides the points that determine how much each of them likes you, and those aren't shown in-game. Pretty much, I want it to feel as natural as possible. ; w ;

So yeah, here's hoping I succeed.

[papillon]

I think some of the unfortunate implications of dating sims are unintentional... kind of. That is, I think the *idea* a lot of the time is "if you are a sporty person the sporty girl will like you", but the way that actually translates into gameplay is "YOU MUST CHANGE YOURSELF TO BE ACCEPTABLE."

At least, it would be unintentional if there weren't so many dating sims that make a big point out of the protagonist being a huge loser at the beginning who frantically 'needs' to shape up.

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

From a game design perspective, IMO, that is similar to how all (console) role-playing games start with your character being a level 1 nobody who needs to grind your way up to become the hero of <insert world here>. Because players want a sense of progress and accomplishment from working their way through the various challenges of the game and becoming increasingly more badass as the game progresses.

However, translating this into a dating sim would imply that the player character is a level 1... in life. The implication of that, my friends, is never pretty, now is it?

[LateWhiteRabbit]

At least, it would be unintentional if there weren't so many dating sims that make a big point out of the protagonist being a huge loser at the beginning who frantically 'needs' to shape up.

Wait - I thought if an anime protagonist (speaking of guys here) wasn't a huge loser who was awkward with girls, they were either a kid out to win it all in a sport or hobby, or a bad-ass loner swordsman.

Don't go telling me there's more complexity than that!

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

You forgot the 4th archetype: A cool, loner high school student who can't stop himself snarking at everything and anything.

[LVUER]

I think every game shouldn't be translated literally/directly into real life (including dating sim). If we take a look at VN, do you think it's possible for a stranger befriend with a girl and within a week or so, close enough to have sexual relationship, and then marry her at the end of the month? Even the developer themselves knows it's almost impossible. Well, it's just a game. Do you want to play a game which spans more than 16 years of protagonist life? Guide him year by year? Even if it only tells about the protagonist major event, it's still a very long time... and when you have to re-start from scratch when want to get the other girls (just like RL, you can't go after several girls at the same time... well, you can, but....) It's boring (and heck expensive).

I agree with it's representing RPG games where you start at Lv.1, even when you shouldn't. Sometimes you start at Lv.7 or 12, but that's not a big deal (like in Ys7 where Adol should start at Lv 999 rather than 1 or FF7 DoC where Vincent should at least start at Lv.60 or else Sephiroth would make him a rag at the final battle). The point is, it's just a game. And at every start of game, player wants the protagonist at Lv.1 (do you really want to play Soul Nomad with protagonist starting out at maxed level of 9.999?).

You can go with player go over the childhood life of protagonist, choosing what he's to become (a little bit like Tokimemo 2, where you can gain a bit of advantage with the girl you like), or simply choosing what he's and his personality like before the game starts with a series of choices. But isn't that would limiting since you can't change your option mid-game (since you still don't know which girls you'll choose if you're just starting).

So at start of every dating-sim game, protagonist is like a blank-slate. You can think that instead protagonist change himself to get a girl, it's more like protagonist is someone like that and so he choose/act like that. Like why the protagonist choose sports club and do sports? Not because he want to pick a girl at sports club, but rather because he likes sports. And there he meets this one girl.

Besides? Isn't it normal in RL to change a bit for someone you love? Like do you ever think to stop smoking for those you love? At least for you baby?

Of course I only talks about dating-sims in general. Not all games like this.