IF Seal: What if my MC ends up hostile to all their romantic interests?
hi if seal! I'm writing a short little romance if, and I sort of have the assumption that, since it's so short, the player has to buy in to liking at least one of the ros. but I also want to give the option of being hostile with one and friendly with the other. unfortunately, the way I've done this has ended up with the possibility of being hostile to both. I don't consider or intend for the story to be really fulfilling without liking one of them, and I don't want to accidentally imply to the reader that that is the case. do you have any suggestions for how to safeguard against this, or properly signpost to the player in advance? thank you, and have a nice swim!
Dear Friend In A Romantic Tangle,
Did you know that grey seals return to the same place each year to breed, and usually even return to the same spot in their colony?
Which is not to say that we are talking about breeding, per se, but I thought it was at least tenuously related to your question.
This sounds like a fun game! I am sending you all of the good wishes and kudos about it, and about the fact that you are making a short game - short can most certainly be very sweet!
A brief Devil's Advocate moment (sometimes I can be a mischievous seal): would the game work with a path where the PC can be hostile to both? Is there room for that?
If the answer is yes, then there's some work to be done around fleshing out that potential path and making it fulfilling to play.
But I will go ahead and answer assuming that the answer is no!
I wonder if there is a way of setting the two characters against each other so that being hostile to both becomes mutually exclusive. For instance:
Gertie the grey seal: "Ugh, Harry, stop eating all the bananas or I'm not being your roommate anymore."
Harry the harbour seal: "You can't talk, you're the one who traipses water all through the house."
Gertie: "The PC agrees with me, don't you, PC?"
This means the PC is put in a position to choose between the two, and it nudges the PC into being active. You don't have to include an option that's "I hate both of you and I'm going off to be a lonely seal with no connections" but you can include one that's "I want to be friends with you both, can we mediate this?"
You may also benefit from a mutually exclusive time or energy pressure. One romance interest might need the PC's help or attention for something at a particular time which coincides with the other one. Or it could be as simple as both characters asking you to go to a party together and choosing which of them you'd like to go with. You can make it clear in the narrative that this will mean you're prioritising one character over another; this could also serve to show that you're giving one of them support and are therefore setting your relationship to a positive one.
As for signposting, your first port of call is to make it clear in the game's description. If your description says "this is a romance game about finding love with your best friend or your coworker", or even simply something like "this is a romance game about finding a connection in a troubling world" if you don't want to get specific about the characters, that will put players in the zone of understanding what the game is about.
There is also room within the narrative to show that the PC is hoping for connection. There are lots of differing opinions about whether a PC should have feelings imposed upon them, but if your PC is not framed as a blank slate figure, this will be more enjoyable. Even if the PC is not very defined, it is OK to include elements in their internal thoughts about yearning for romance, reflecting on loneliness, that they have had a bad breakup, or similar. Leaning into what makes the characters appealing to the PC, and showing the PC's response (both pickable by the player and in the text) will help too.
It can be helpful to taking some time to consider the PC in more detail, thinking about what's brought them to this point where they want a connection with one of these characters. Is it a prior connection with the character? Chemistry with a stranger? Going through an intense emotional experience with one or both of them? With a strong inner voice and desires, you will find it feels more natural for them not to alienate both characters.
All of this may involve some reshuffling of your scenes or code, but it is better to do that work now than to spend lots of time writing a path that you don't really want to include and maybe wouldn't be fun to play anyway.
There is sometimes a mismatch of expectations around the scope of a game: we see it in big games and small ones alike, and around options provided to players. Sometimes it can be tricky to see players saying "my character wouldn't want to bother lighting the lighthouse at this point because the weather is too bad" when the premise is about being a competent lighthouse-keeper, or "my character wouldn't romance these folks" when the premise is about a character looking for romance.
In case you need it, I am giving you warm permission to include the paths that feel right to you, and not to include an alone/purely hostile route if it doesn't feel right.
Good luck with your game and I hope you enjoy making it!