Chemistry in Project Amble
All my games have slightly different romance structures behind the scenes.
Blood Money has a base level of romantic eligibility that can be gated first by the PC's orientation (so you can't romance Nico if you're a lesbian, for instance), and then by various actions. There are variables describing being in a committed romance and also being ineligible. (Fun fact, I did this in the same way that Baldur's Gate 2 does its romances, because modding BG2 was where I first wrote interactive romances.)
In Creme de la Creme, there are romance_expressed variables which represent having flirted with someone or having started a romance, then romance_locked which means you're committed to a particular character. Then there are seriousbreakup variables for each character that describe having been committed to someone before breaking up.
In Noblesse Oblige, it's simplified, with a romance variable, a friendship variable, and end-romance variables.
In Royal Affairs, there are romance_expressed variables and slowburn variables. This is the first one where there's a dedicated flirt variable tracked.
In Honor Bound, there's an added complication in which you can discuss romance with someone without officially starting a romance, either because you're keeping things casual or the other character is reluctant for whatever reason (the latter is what can happen if you make a move on one of the slower-burn characters early on). I also separated being interested in a character with flirting, so the PC can silently yearn without showing it if they wanted to. There are also different kinds of breakup, like in Creme, where the NPC is more upset with you afterwards if you've broken up under more fraught circumstances.
In starting Project Amble, I've already planned the different possible shapes of the romances. Each character's romance has distinct tones, but also includes a lot of variety in how you can engage with it. So for example, one character is up for having an early fling. It can be a one-off thing, something that remains emotionally casual throughout, or becomes romantic - slowly or quickly. Or you can not do the fling at all and get to know them over a longer period, becoming romantic later on.
I'm keeping the silent-yearning options from Honor Bound as I know players are into it (so am I!), and the potential fraught-breakup variables from it and the earlier games. Project Amble has the most dramatic breakup possibilities of any of my games.
What I'm adding for this one is a hidden chemistry meter. It's separate to the relationship meter, and it tracks when the PC does something that the NPC thinks is particularly attractive. It likely won't gate off starting a romance, but it'll add flavour, so for example if the PC initiates a romance there might be these sorts of responses:
- "I can't believe I'm actually thinking of romancing you when you're SO frustrating, ugh, I can't stop thinking about you" - low relationship, high chemistry
- "I've been thinking about this but wasn't sure how to say it - yes, I want to be with you!" - high relationship, high chemistry
- "I've been really liking how close we've become and - wow, I never thought of it like that but I'd love to see how we can make it work" - high relationship, low chemistry
- "You're serious about this? Well. Maybe we can try..." -low relationship, low chemistry
The reason I'm doing this is:
- there are characters for whom I want to be able to have more specific interactions based on the sort of things listed above.
- various characters will think the PC is doing something attractive... without necessarily liking the PC more.
- I love the Dragon Age 2 style friendship/rivalry romance structure and while this is a bit different, it means I can stretch some muscles in that direction.
- I want to experiment with NPCs developing crushes on the PC and tweaking if/how/when they initiate or flirt with the PC. I did this a bit in Honor Bound with the more flirty characters and built in responses to the PC overtly flirting, but would like to develop this more for Project Amble.
Some of this was inspired by Michelle Clough's work. I'm not someone who necessarily minds a "do sidequests/bring gifts for NPCs and then they like you more" structure, but I do enjoy different ways of doing things and I especially like when NPCs respond in ways you don't expect (or when they cause trouble for the PC even if they're in a romance). I'd very much recommend watching Clough's Kindness Coins, or Chemistry Casino? video on the GDC vault for a deeper dive on this subject.