Post by AstrellaLunari in Initial Thoughts!

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Oh great, thanks! So yes, I did talk to him after the planet visit, so I guess I'm just not at the highest point with him. Since the flowchart called it "route division" on the left side, and I ended up on the right side (still in Yren's scene though,) I figured I missed the boat, but based on what you said, probably not! When I went back through to try with all the "right" choices, I did end up getting some more interactions with him, but maybe still not as many as I'd expect before kissing someone, so maybe I'm fine with my original save, haha. xD

Thanks, having a blast!

Steamberry Studio135 days ago (1 edit)

Ah yeah - the tricky thing with the flowchart is that sometimes with the more complicated splits, I need little placeholder modules to make the connecting lines behave properly. The "route division" module is one of these. There's a lot of complicated branching happening in that section that the flowchart can't represent with 100% accuracy due to limitations.

Also the first kiss is really just an acknowledgement of attraction. I don't view it as a big deal. Some people kiss on a first date even when they barely know each other or have only talked online, for instance. For me, the first kiss isn't necessarily a big confession. The characters have known each other a few weeks, have had a few nice chats, and feel an attraction to each other. I'm assuming that there are also off-screen interactions because we aren't seeing every single day and it's been around 3 weeks (not including the time they miss due to the dimensional loop, which puts it around a month).

The reason the kiss is described as very quick and not that heated or intense is because it's kind of a "kiss-after-the-first-date" thing. A signifier that yes, they want to pursue something deeper but aren't exactly deeply in love just yet.

I know in a lot of romance games, the first kiss is given a lot of significance for the relationship. But in this one, the kiss was just Wil's way of saying "Hey, I think you're kinda cute" - not a way of saying "I think I'm in love." That is yet to come.

AstrellaLunari134 days ago

Yeah, haha, we probably get in a lot of bad habits with romance novels- thinking we have to get everything "perfect" or we'll miss out. xD You know, even after having gotten all the "passionate" routes in Gilded Shadows, and I was just rereading for fun this time, I still felt stressed like I had to choose the "right" things this time around, too. Maybe it's part of it being a game? Or the way we see it? Not sure.

Interesting! I hadn't thought of it that way (probably because I was stuck worried about not getting the "best" ending,) but I'm also the weirdo who married her first boyfriend, so this kind of more causal romantic exploration is a bit of a mystery to me. xD I definitely did get the vibe after the kiss that it wasn't huge or anything, but it did give me that romance novel sense of being "locked in," maybe just due to my own biases of how these things normally work in games. Like you have to get all the points or something- rather than just be a person.

Very cool, thanks for your insights! Hope you're having a great weekend.~

Steamberry Studio134 days ago

Honestly, because I really love game design topics and have a lot of curiosity about how choices are both used by developers and perceived by players, I've spent a lot (far too much) time exploring the idea of "right choices" in VNs. It's not a subject anyone in their right mind should get me talking about. People on the Discord server know....( •̀ ω •́ )✧

(Though I guess this is me *any time* I start trying to explain why I make certain decisions. Rofl)

But honestly I get where you're coming from. Kisses and other relationship milestones are often very, very elevated in romance stories. Sometimes I make a deliberate choice to treat them casually specifically to break away from the moulds that treat them like the holy grail. But I think in both GS and WSC the main issue is that the bigger milestone in the relationship is the love scene so it feels strange to treat the first kiss with the same gravitas. There still has to be room to build up to that bigger romantic moment, which means the first kiss gets treated a little more casually.

The structure of WSC in particular needed a "lock-in" moment. It needed to happen somewhat early but not too early which meant it needed to be somewhat significant but also not too significant but also not too casual. So, more significant than holding hands but less significant than a love confession. So I landed on this somewhat casual kiss and spark of interest.

I'm stopping myself here and deleting the three paragraphs of rambling about point systems because I can tell I'm going into text-wall mode. 🤣

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