A question about social relations systems in video games

[SignedA]

Is it difficult to create a social relationship system? And at the same time a small dating simulator.

I'm trying to create a video game that takes place in a universe that I've imagined for a long time, and I'm thinking about what gameplay it might adopt.

While doing some research, like the first time I tried to conceptualize this game, I felt the need to incorporate a social relationship system.

Because as for the original idea, the main character finds himself stuck in an environment which is unknown to him, and in this place, he finds other living beings with whom he or she will have to coexist, and especially sympathized in order to be able to return home. him. On the other hand, this time the player has the choice between wanting to escape or to stay, in order to make his character start his new life.

[DiegoPalacios]

It depends of how sophisticated you want the system to be.

If you want something that just measures how well the character gets along with the protagonist, is just a matter of defining the actions and choices that will increase or decrease a "relationship" score with certain characters and how much do they affect said variable.

You can set the option of dating certain characters when the relationship score is high enough. (and make them hostile towards the main character if the score is low enough )

Now, if you want to add more variables to the relationship system, like respect, trust, friendship, etc.. and if you have lots of characters, it may become more complex.

[domisotto]

Basically, from what I remember from the older gaming systems, you could set up factions, that were hostile, neutral or friendly to one another.

The belonging to each faction is reflected in a character sheet for each character, basically like a data file when you create a creature.

Now, your protagonist can align with one of the factions, that will automatic.aly determine his relationship with other factions as a whole, like if they attack him on sight or reduce prices in their shops.

Personal relationships progressions are normally tracked through a variable. Say, your character did a personal quest that benefitted the romanced character.

Their love index skyrocketed.

To fix a problem, many games employ a system of gifts, so shopping for specific items in stores and giving them to a character will fix a drop in love index if the protagonist did something to upset a character, or accidentally picked a wrong option.

The greeting line and soundset assigned to the character often changes when you are in romance with them, so they will greet you as someone they like instead of a friend.

In most games I played, advancing to a specific stage of a romance with one character killed all other romances.

When we coded romantic relationships, we distinguished between:

protagonist initiated:

banter—the new conversations that appear and does not repeat, and advances the relationship. They are timered or wait for a specific event in the game
repeat flirts that are the same, but generate different random response

Npc initiated:

Npc either starts a conversation when they hit a trigger (came to a special area usually) or timered in older games
Or random banters on a global timer/trigger

things players hate with a passion are:

‘Auto romance’ when you just complimented the character or was nice to them, and they suddenly lock you in romance, or, worse, you get fade to black without clear indication that it is what you are about to do.

‘Rude’ breaks—come on, lets break their hopes gently. Yeah, they are pixels, but still! We care!

No ‘rekindle’ option if you cut off the romance, particularly when break-up was not spelled out. Like you said something friendly instead of something even friendlier.

Anyway, romance writing and coding is fun!

[DiegoPalacios]

‘Rude’ breaks—come on, lets break their hopes gently. Yeah, they are pixels, but still! We care!

Something i would like to add, is that failure can be as entertaining as success. For example, one can make rejections more comedic to mitigate the harnesh.

[domisotto]

It depends on the character you are romancing. If they are lighthearted, they will laugh you off, and no biggie.

Another thing, they can also move on, and strike a romance with another NPC once the protagonist rejects them.

[allenT]

It's nice to see another creator keen to making games! You say you want to make dating sim yes? Do you have experience on your prefered game engine? If you don't have any coding background you can look into visual novel engine like Ren'Py is a good start. It's the most popular engine for making visual novels/dating sims.

I remember forum member @Hazumirein has a project as visual novel too. it's better if you can asked him technical questions. (i don't see him being active in forum lately but give it a try )

[SignedA]

So to start, thank you for all your answers!

[SignedA]

Yes indeed, it can become more complex if there are more parameters to take into account.

But maybe I should better start with a very simple system like the one you suggested to me in the first place, as I am far from very experienced in video game development.

[skicoak]

Of the ones I've played, the most unrealistic part is nobody questions your dating history when you start up a new relationship.

Total immersion breaker.

[SignedA]

Oh I see ! The faction system is very similar to what I have seen or heard regarding Mass Effect and other role playing games that allow romantic relationships.

Pour résoudre un problème, de nombreux jeux utilisent un système de cadeaux, donc acheter des articles spécifiques dans les magasins et les donner à un personnage corrigera une baisse de l'indice d'amour si le protagoniste a fait quelque chose pour contrarier un personnage ou a accidentellement choisi une mauvaise option.

Yes, it reminds me of the stardew valley gift system, and animal crossing.

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And if not, thanks for the advice. I will try to try to be careful of the mistake not to make.

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Des pauses «grossières» - allez, brisons doucement leurs espoirs. Ouais, ce sont des pixels, mais quand même! Nous nous soucions!

I'm not sure what you mean by rude break, but sure my game won't rank mature. At worst teen, but no more. And it won't be because of sexually explicit content.

[SignedA]

No, there will be no harem. Unless infidelity counts, don't stop my idea of having a harem, with lots of girls.

The player will be more confined to a romantic relationship, if he tries to be smart, he will fall into the unfaithful box.

[SignedA]

Autre chose, ils peuvent également passer à autre chose et créer une relation amoureuse avec un autre PNJ une fois que le protagoniste les rejette.

Maybe like that, It's would possible.

[domisotto]

No, I didn’t mean sexually explicit. Some older games required you to say something unfriendly to the character, like “Keep your stupid problems to yourself!” to break romance, instead of something like, “hey, you are a nice guy, but I just don’t like you that way.”

Also, the way NPCs reacted, because some became surprisingly acrimonious at the breakup, because they were too lazy to add additional responses, and the response for a mild, friendly break up was the same as for being mean. Or they reused a response for both early in romance and late in romance, so the NPC acted like you were almost married, and you maybe flirted with them once.

[SignedA]

C'est agréable de voir un autre créateur désireux de créer des jeux! Vous dites que vous voulez faire des rencontres avec sim oui? Avez-vous de l'expérience sur votre moteur de jeu préféré? Si vous n'avez aucune expérience en codage, vous pouvez vous pencher sur le moteur de roman visuel comme Ren'Py est un bon début. C'est le moteur le plus populaire pour créer des romans visuels / des simulations de rencontres.

No, actually I don't have a lot of experience with my current game engine, or coding for that matter. It's kind of a dream project that won't be coming out anytime soon or not at all. Maybe I would do other creations before, just to be more comfortable.

On the other hand, I do not intend to change the game engine because the dating sim part is only part of the gameplay that I want to incorporate into my game. See you, I need a more generic engine to program the games. More action-adventure and action-rpg oriented game mechanics.

But thanks anyway ! And I already knew Ren'py, I downloaded it but I didn't use it because I didn't know how to design a video game. Clearly, I had restrictions on ideas but none were perfectly structured.

Je me souviens que le membre du forum @Hazumirein a également un projet de roman visuel. c'est mieux si vous pouvez lui poser des questions techniques. (Je ne le vois pas être actif sur le forum ces derniers temps mais essayez-le : léger_sourire:)

And okay, I'll try to go see this person.

[Hazumirein]

You rang, @allenT? (Haha no really thanks for the tag, I've just been tied up with other stuff lately and haven't been around the forums much)

ANYWAY, I don't know how much help I would be since the games I'm making are very narrative driven visual novels, to the point where they're basically just multimedia comics haha. The only engine I could even speak about is Ren'Py, though I will say that one is way, way more versatile than you'd think at first and I've seen some truly unique games come out of it. If you're already working in another engine that's more suited to your game's core mechanics though, I'd stick with that.

That aside, if you're looking for game dev advice, I'd check out the communities on places like itch.io, and I'm betting whatever engine you're using has dedicated forums or a Discord somewhere. I've also found that indie dev community on Twitter is pretty cool, but that may just be because it's my preferred social media site haha. Good luck!

[allenT]

Thanks for your advice! I hope @SignedA finds what he's looking for.