Hello Everyone!

My name is Jimmy! I'm a 21-year old working boy. I don't have much background making games. My only completed project was the result of the Winter 2018 "My First Game Jam!" I really loved the experience and wanted to get back to it after struggling to find motivation to make stuff outside of a structured environment. I'm really looking forward to making games in parallel with the folks who join this game jam. It was really fun last time around seeing everyone make stuff!! 

You are Dating Amy - Concept.

My basic pitch and idea for "You are Dating Amy" is a piece of interactive fiction. It borrows elements from dating sims and repetitious play.  At its core it's an exploration of obsessive behaviors in dating relationships through the mechanic of repeated play. In the game you play a person who is going on a date with Amy. Little do you know that she will dump you during this date. You, as the player, have the option to replay the game under the impression that you are able to make choices to prevent the breakup. As you repeatedly play, more options open up showing how desperate the player character is becoming. These options will intentionally be absurd and outrageous given the context of the setting: that is a normal date.  (One example might be that you are able to propose to her in the 3rd or 4th play through as a means of saving the relationship.) You as the player know how things are going to end, but the player character does not. The intent is to show how unhealthy it can become to be unwilling to let things go within relationships and how dangerous it can be to be obsessed over someone. The premise of the game, in many ways, represents lots of things that I have come to learn personally over time.

The game will probably follow a similar format as the game I made for the earlier jam. I will be using twine again and there will be minimal graphics.

Key Inspirations: Save The Date by Paper Dino,  The Stanley Parable, Firewatch. 

Big Goooaaalllss

1) Write a substantial amount of text.
- For this premise to work there needs to be a lot of writing involved. I want the player to be able to play through the game several times over with new options opening up each time.
- Last game jam I underestimated how much writing would be needed to create a substantial game. This time around my aim is to make more game.

2) Develop better structured work. 
- I think last time I did a game jam I sorta worked whenever I could in a willy-nilly fashion. It was fun, free, but not very structured. This time around I want to do a better job of managing my time. 
- As such I'll be setting daily goals for myself as well as committing to daily check ins.  Though they are not always going to be long and extensive.

wow this design definitely hooked me very fast. i love the sort of meta-analysis you have here on dating games! i'm really interested in game design regarding relationships, especially when they're not just "insert coin x number of times to start dating" and even more so when they start to question that kind of design.

im glad you talked about your experiences from last jam and how they will affect your approach this round. narrative games/VNs/twines usually to require a lot more content than gameplay, so it's great that you have a better idea of the type of work you'll need. i think posting daily to your devlog also creates some accountability to yourself and your audience.

Narrative games like this aren't usually my thing, but I love the concept here. I look forward to seeing this evolve!

I really like the idea of this - I think games that kind of 'trick' the player to make a point are really cool. Looking forward to the finished product!

I love the mechanics-as-message here!!! A dating sim where the other person just legitimately doesn't wanna date you is really subversive and neat!! Also: structured work schedules are so difficult, especially when you're working for yourself//have no one to hold you accountable. If you develop any neat tricks to keep yourself focused, I'd love to hear about it in your devlog :^)

Looking forward to seeing where this goes!!!!

interesting idea

Update 2: Fatigue

Short update today. Though I hoped that adding more structure would keep me motivated and allow me to get things done more smoothly, I underestimate how much work can take out of you. Last game jam I was still in college and felt like I had tons of energy. This time around I find myself just drained everyday when I come back from work. 

Work life balance is definitely something that is still a work in progress for me. Regardless here's a short scene that I've written. The rest of today will probably just be more writing.

(also my computer broke. :< I've spent the last half hour downloading new drivers and troubleshooting. )

ohhhh no i'm so sorry to hear that ))))): i think this length of post is actually a pretty good length and very digestible in format. writing round, flawed characters can be a challenge but these are already pretty believable ideas to begin with. this might be a little personal to mention but i don't find it very difficult to think of possible flaws because i just think of some of my friends who got out of bad relationships and how their partners acted toward them haha... i am also very curious where you'll go with amy's character. if players are going to be playing through multiple rejections do you think it's possible they might come to resent amy? (even if the game's design goal is very clearly meant to demonstrate the protag's increasing desperation) obv not saying this will definitely happen--but i think it will be an interesting design challenge.

edit: oops-- i wrote this first part before you just posted the last update. the below is after i read it.

ahh i kind of feel this both ways about college to working life. i actually have a lot more free time now that i'm out of school but i've found that.... in my free time i want to work a lot less and especially on games since.... i do that 8 hours a day already haha. but yeah this snippet looks great so far! it feels like a good amount of exposition. i love also knowing that we're reading an unreliable narrator. i think you could definitely dig in this more with more show and less tell--just describing amy as this perfect beacon of everything good would probably make us, the player, feel how the protag feels about her, and i think in multiple playthroughs we will start to understand how truly unreliable that narrator is.