Mixed Signals by ChelDav
This is one of my first successful solo games, though it's more of a proof of concept than a game at the moment. I haven't used Twine in a few years, but knowing that we're into the final 5 Ludum Dares lit a fire under my tush so I used the best tool I had at my disposal. I hope to have a better understanding of how to work in GameMaker by next jam so I have more media to work with than just the written word.
I've never made a dating sim before- heck, I've never even played one- but I wanted to step outside my comfort zone so I went with something I'd need to research completely and wouldn't have any prior knowledge of, just to see what I was capable of. I read several articles* and asked friends what they liked most about the genre. Admittedly, having only words to paint with (adding different types of media to a Twine story is currently outside my game jam skills as far as time), but I'm proud of what I created.
It's not fancy, but I finished it, and that was my primary goal this jam. Being a creative with ADHD means it can feel pretty impossible to finish a project without help. I want to do ALL THE THINGS and make something MIND-BLOWINGLY AMAZING, but in the end, I often burn myself out from scope creep. This game was a bite sized chunk of a concept I might explore more in the future, and I had to keep the scope small in order to increase my chances of success.
I would love any and all feedback that can help me do a better job next time. Thank you so much for checking my game out and I hope it at least makes you smile as you read it. I definitely had fun with writing this whole thing up.
A special thanks to @MrTroy for his advice and patience with my never ending questions, as well as introducing me to Ludum Dare in the first place!
*https://ihearamurmur.substack.com/p/what-love-and-deepspaces-art-director?r=7w3is3&utmcampaign=post&utmmedium=web&triedRedirect=true This is the article my bestie CoolBeans sent me about a really well made dating sim. It didn't explicitly help me with this game, but it did inspire some of the character design. It's a really fascinating read!
Ratings
| Given | 8🗳️ | 12🗨️ |
I know it's just meant to be a proof of concept, but one thought I had is that this might be stronger _without_ the descriptions of the three candidates at the beginning of the game. In a typical otome/romance game, the art tells you a lot about each LI (love interest) before you even meet them. But with Twine being only text, I think having to guess what the characters are about through the questions would really push your demo toward feeling like _gameplay_. In other words, make it a bit of a mystery. Sort of like Love Is Blind, I guess. At the end, reveal the characters and perhaps surprise the player with who they ended up liking most. :)
@Luumi Good insight, thank you! The article I spent the most time reading in preparation mostly focused on the way the game being discussed had decided on their art styles, so that's what I was thinking of with the descriptions, but I really like your suggestion about leaving the aesthetics to the player's imagination. I *LOVE* your idea about making it a mystery and I'll probably give that a shot in the future, so thank you very much!
@Zoldanka You are clearly my target audience with this one so I really appreciate your input! And I agree with you on the gender thing- I hesitated to include any sort of gendering since it felt limiting to the characters, but I ended up gendering the characters anyway since my brain was still caught up in writing descriptions. I'll definitely keep this in mind for my next project, thank you!
My main feedback would be about the presentation: adding some visual or audio cues would help to break up the long pages of text and make the experience more dynamic.
i think your game has a solid base! it was definitely intriguing to learn about the contestants.
few notes about the gameplay:
- i would probably start with some shorter pieces of text (meaning contestants' descriptions) just to make the player get more immersed at first. like right now you don't know anything about the characters yet but you are expected to read their whole bios already. maybe they can answer some questions and you would learn some info through the dialogues?
- at the beginning i was not sure who is answering the questions, them or me :D i would maybe state that so there was no option to get confused!
- i believe it would be aswesome to have some extra challenge or criteria that would help you choose among the contestants. maybe you could define your own character first? or maybe there could be some situations that you discuss together? everyone is asked about their favorite movies , for example, you answer first and the characters give their answers after hearing yours. it would be really cool to have some communication and dynamic between the main hero and the characters!
overall i think it would be a nice dating sim :) wishing you all the best!