Game Mechanics

I'm creating this page so you guys can have an idea of how the inner game mechanics work and such. Also, to discuss and stuff on the talk page. Lawl Kay 03:36, November 9, 2009 (UTC)

General Gameplay
Much of the game will end up being narrative and little dialogue branches that don't really affect anything, but every week or so, depending on what month it is, holidays, etc, the player character gets choices about who to interact with. So say something like:


 * It's Friday afternoon...what should I do today?
 * &gt; Hang out at the mall with Erica and Kaira
 * &gt; Hang out with Albert and Chiyo
 * &gt; Try and find Aeryn

For the first option, you might have a chance to increase your affinity (see below) with either Erica or Kaira. With the second option, you might get information that could be helpful with dealing with another character. The third option is a chance to increase your affinity with Aeryn...provided you can actually find her.

Inversely, it could also be that there's no opportunities to raise affinity today, but you might learn something (or unlock an inside joke) depending on where you go.

Affinity
The way the game will determine who you're the most friendly with is with the affinity variable.

The affinity variable is a value from 1-20 that states how close you are to a person. Some choices in the game will give you the opportunity to increase your affinity with people. Example:


 * Aeryn: "School's so boring though. I don't wanna go."
 * &gt; "But everyone misses you. Especially me. (+1 affinity if affinity is already above 15. Otherwise, no change.)
 * &gt; "Stop complaining." ( -2 affinity)
 * &gt; "Will you go to school if I make you a homemade lunch?" (+3 affinity)

Although of course, we won't necessarily tell the player what each action does. Also, like Persona, we can distinguish between a friendship branch and a lovers branch. I haven't decided whether I'm going to make that another variable, or just a flag, but that's not that important. What I'm getting at is that you can max one person's affinity as a friend, and another as a lover. This has to potential to make some interesting interaction within the game. I just made this one up on the spot, but for example, in Kaira's yandere route, if Aeryn's affinity is maxed out Aeryn will end up having a battle royale-esque fight with Kaira. Albert will probably still die, but it's a fun little extra.

So why do I need to know any of this?
For script writing! In terms of scripts, we need two types:

1) Insignificant: Insignificant here doesn't mean it's not important. It means it doesn't change affinity variables or branch story lines. These are the scripts which have choices that only affect a bit of dialogue, and that's usually it.

2) Significant: Significant here means that it changes affinity variables or branches the story line irreversably. We need scripts where affinity lowers, or raises, or scripts with options depending on how high affinity is.