Published: October 28th 2023, 5:06:11 pm
Hey all! The past weeks have been slow because I just haven't been having a lot of alone time to work on the game. I've been swamped but I've been mentally very well. I got a few hours tonight and life should be slowing down now all the birthdays and other social obligations are over for a bit :)
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So I'm working on the dating & inviting mechanics. I'm gonna run through the ideas and ask for some feedback on what you'd want it to be.
First of all, everything from now on should be going through the new conversation/phonecall system. If you want to invite a girl over or plan a date you'll call her up and ask her. I've built a system that shóuld keep responses varied enough to hopefully not make this repetitive. It checks the girl's character traits, her job, the relationship stats and even things like the time of day to make her respond to your request. It will also track the conversation so far. So for most girls, a bit of small talk will increase your chances instead of just going straight for the question of dating/hookups.
I plan to have a few options eventually, but I have to pick for now and will be focusing on dates and hangouts at the player's home with a single girl. Someday I want to add more options like hangouts with multiple girls, (sex/pool/kink) parties, taking the girls shopping, going to their homes etc. But first the basics: regular dates (coffee, movies, etc.) and chilling at home with the potential for fucking.
So, here's how these are currently planned, but before I start putting big hours in, I figured it'd be good to check if anyone has good ideas or feedback.
Dating
You call a girl up and after some small talk you ask her on a date. Depending on multiple factors, she'll agree or not. If she agrees, you pick a time and you meet her there. From here a location-specific event starts. I'm currently starting with a simple starbucks scene to test the waters. You meet up and from there I'm trying to make a mix of location-specific choices (small choices like: do you buy the coffee or split the bill?) and possible events (fans bothering the girl, papparazzi coming in etc.) plus randomized conversations with the girl, which in itself will consist of two parts: you picking topics and her picking topics. The topics are picked from a pool that is decided based on the previously mentioned factors (character traits, relationship status etc). With all these factors, I'm hoping the dates will become quite unique and not as repetitive and grindy as they were in MAiH1. At the end there will be goodbyes or continuation into a second part (a walk on the beach after a nice dinner) or at home (and if you're lucky... in bed).
Invitations
You call up a girl and ask her to hang out. She comes over and now you're not alone in your house anymore. You now have options for interaction with your guest. You can just talk and a semi-randomized conversation starts where you and your guest both pick topics to talk about, creating the closest thing to a real conversation I can get. You can also do other things: have drinks, smoke weed, fuck (obviously), take a dip in the pool (as soon as I got houses sorted), have breakfast/lunch/dinner together etc.
Feedback?
So, what do I want from you? Mostly just some general idea of what you're expecting from these mechanics. What locations are most important to you when it comes to dating? Have any good ideas for events/conversations/choices during dates? What actions would you want to be available when having a guest over at your home? What features are important to you? I want to get a general idea of what people are wanting and expecting from this.