Routes or no routes

[Saica]

Hello!

I hope this is the right section of the forum... I'm making an Otome Game, with several love interests (everyone has one good ending and one bad ending)
But I can't figure out if I should make it so that everyone has routes or not.
By this I mean, if they have routes, the player will decide in the beginning who to pursue and the game will revolve around that guy,
If not, the game won't have a special route and can basically go all directions and see scenes with other guys, but you will of course see more from the character you're gaining more love points with.

I'm sorry I'm not that great at explaining... =.= ' I can try to be more specific if you don't understand my english isn't the best.
I'm just wondering what you all prefer!

/Saica

[SundownKid]

Standard fare with dating games is, you choose someone early on and each of them has their own route. If you have a more fleshed out story in the background, like an adventure or mystery, then maybe having one route with points would be a better idea. But with a game really focused around the romance, having routes seems like the better way to go.

[Katta]

I prefer not having routes, that's because Im not the person to follow all the guys in the game, so I want to see as much as possible in one play. And routes make the game from a VN into the set of KNs (even though you have bad and good endings for each guy, if the events in the route are the same except the ending, its still closer to a KN for me). I think most otome games out there are done with routes just to sell them separately.

[Destiny]

Well, if you are good with variables, then you can actually give the opportunity to "switch" at/until one point.
The variables could then define how the next lover would feel about being "second" and how the old love would feel (if your first route was already quite deep, then both will be quite mistrusting and uncomfortable [at first], if the route just barely started, then the new one will only be a bit irritated and the old one maybe a bit disappointed).
You could play around with that.
Depends on how comfortable you are with having bad parts of romance in your game. If you want it to be a sweet game, then having fixed routes might be better.

[Saica]

Thank you for the opinions and ideas! It's very helpful!

/Saica

[Kate]

I think a recent Voltage game addressed that in a unique way, Kiss of Revenge- you can branch off to a "different" story based upon a choice the mc makes. I, personally, am planning on having the potential for one love interest's tsundere cousin to steal her away if the MC makes choices that favor the cousin. (Will probably put an inner-dialogue note "I've fallen for ....." to let the player know, and potentially jump back if they don't want to start that route.) However, that character is not immediately available in the beginning, he's a branch-off character. I think this option makes it a little more fun (and kind of funny if the original love interest doesn't like it..!)

[Ferdokki]

I have played multiple otome (and whatever the opposite is for males pursuing females) games, and I personally prefer non-specific routes. I like to get to know characters, and after the first few encounters with each character, I may choose to pursue one over the others.
In this way, I still have fun learning about the other characters' personalities/stories, and can also pursue a direct romance with a character I prefer. I dislike otome (and whatever the opposite is for males pursuing females) games that are linear and make you choose early on which character you want to be with.

A good example comes from a VN game I once played. You played as a boy who was interested in 2 or 3 girls. It had specific routes and was linear, in that you were expected to pick who you wanted to be with early on in the game. For one of the girls, she seemed cool at first, but as the story progressed, the player found how flawed her character was, but at this point in the game, you couldn't change your mind/pursue other characters. And so at the end of the game, that girl's route felt like a waste of time.