Schedule & Voting

I think we might want to discuss ideas rather than just vote on them as is? I can pretty much guess what's funny in the wizard setting but what's with the racing game? (unless it's the one where you date cars...) And it'd be good to have a live chat some time before the beginning of the jam itself to discuss the outline (discussing things kind of helps to think out ideas) and what not (so that everyone knows what they do once the jam starts)

So, about the matchmaking agency idea - originally it was supposed to have card battle style gameplay with skills that you can choose to learn (material like buyig presents, magic like making love potions etc.) to lower the love interest's resistance (it also has its boosts like relatives opposing the suitor). But I guess making fun gameplay is hard and we don't really have time for that. Still, the idea should work just fine without it. Story ideas featured a troll in love with a fairy, a prince in disguise and a returning customer marrying the protagonist in the end. I think it'd be nice if the protgonist gives her clients some really random advice, even better if it's a possible choice - some options might be more reasonable or they all could be pretty nonsensical just varying in the degree of craziness. This actually would work for any idea (if anyone has played Star Project it's a good example of what I'm talking about)

Oooh, I really like the idea of a card-type battle system! But I gotta be honest and agree that it seems like it might be too complex? I would have no idea how to code something like that.

Although, there are a ton of different mini games we could throw in for kicks- pong, jigsaw puzzles, not to mention numbers, memoria, and spot the difference type games. It might be fun to write some of these into the game, especially as there are already people who have implemented the code for us, so I don't think it'll be too hard to figure out if we do decide to have something like that in there.

I LOVE the idea of a troll in love with a fairy, or a return customer marrying the protagonist!!

I remember my boyfriend playing this JRPG one time, and he had to help this "nerd" type character do well on a date with a "popular" girl (so stereotypical and silly). He had the option to tell the "nerd" to wear "cool" clothes, bring a bouquet to their first date, or just be himself. My boyfriend told the guy to just be himself, and the date went horribly! But my bf honestly believed that was the best advice, and went with it, even though he got penalized for it in the game. Heh. I guess my point is, we could really have some fun with this. Instead of getting players to choose the "right" option, maybe just have them choose a tactic they actually believe in? Everyone approaches dating and love differently, which I think could make for a very fun game.



Whoa now, let's not bash each others ideas. I think that with the right approach you could make anything appealing to a specific group of people you are trying to target. Just because it is a dating type game doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to instantly turn people off- especially if we have all these wacky and silly characters and some humorous writing to boot! All ideas are valid and good ones, especially unusual ones like a dating agency. It is beneficial for us to do a visual novel type game, because it is very unlikely that anyone else is going to create another visual novel for this game jam.

I'm still a little fuzzy as to what the news idea is about? So, in your game, are you saying that you'd play as a news anchor? How exactly would it be like a dating sim? How would your character get news reports, exactly? And are you saying that you'd want to include actual news that has happened recently? That could be interesting too, but it also might make the game dated if people played it a few months later. Just something to consider!

I think that either Skype or that chat would be best as they're very accessible and not necessarily tied to personal identities. It's just easier for those of us who are either underage or simply private people. 

Anyways, I think we should focus our game a little--make it simple in themes and premise but put a lot of effort into the major aspects that make a game fun. As such, I'm not sure if a dating sim is the way to go. Perhaps something in the style of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book would be better? That way, we don't have to create a ton of individual states for each romance candidate and we can narrow down the scenario the player is in and give them a lot of options to choose from because of it.

That's just my two cents.

i wasn't bashing at the dating-sim, its just that people will play it quickly then there will be no more stories to show. we need a game that can catch the community long enough to vote for us and not make it look all rushy. the choose-your-own-adventure how are we going to add on to this, do people pick from the menu or does the main character go through a story then must face a choice that might lead him to a different job. i would think that we should first introduce a character or even more characters that are different race (yes humans are there) who wants to do something but later on change there mind on a job. i dont know if we should add a game over thing but then again i dont want it to be too easy.

Ok, I've reached out to the 1 other person in the thread who said they were interested but still hasn't joined yet!

I think we have a lot of great ideas so far, but it's going to take us forever to actually hash out what the game will be like if we keep the discussion limited to the forum.

Would anyone have time tomorrow to chat about it? I'm free all day tomorrow!

If not tomorrow then I can also chat later this week but I will not have as much flexibility as I work Mondays - Fridays, 9am - 5:30PM EST.

So what about the chat?

Ooh, sorry! When's a good day/time for everyone? I'm pretty flexible and will be available any time after 6PM EST
In the mean time I will be hanging out here:

us20.chatzy.com/15124061233246