Apr 10, 2018

[Update] Project Conversation underways!

Okay, so I've been itching to tell about this for weeks. I can't say there's much to see yet, which is the main reason why I've been waiting to make a post in here. But what I can't show yet, I can already tell quite a bit about.

Perhaps you remember me trying my hand at Ren'Py about one year ago, messing around to create a prototype of a conversation simulator. It was a timid attempt at impressing the game-making community, and it didn't work out as well as planned :p, but I wasn't just putting up a style exercise. I was intent on building a whole game out of it.

And that's what's going on in my life right now.

I've paired up with the talented Blueroze, who turned out really enthusiastic at the game I had in mind, and we're in the process of building it as I write this, stone by stone. The programming is actually well ahead, so I'm waiting on my partner to produce a few screenshots (no pressure, mate). :p

So, what's the deal? Project Conversation, as we're uncreatively referring to it, will tell the story of a scout camp taking place on a fictional island, off the shore of Brittany, France. So yeah, you'll get characters with French names, baguettes and cheese, obscure French songs at the campfire. And strange phenomena that might be explained by local folklore. Maybe.

Gameplay-wise, it will revolve around three main concepts:

  1. Topic navigation, where each conversation is essentially a maze you and your partner try to walk by taking turns at submitting conversation topics.
  2. Mood management, where you get to choose your tone at each topic, which in turn influences your partner's mood, and the way she will react.
  3. Memories making, where each conversation goal you manage to achieve lets you bond deeper with each girl, and improves the chance that her artificial intelligence finds you good enough to be her lover.
That's right—you're looking at the early development stage of a next-generation dating sim! Forget the routes, forget the branching plots, forget the hours of reading through hundreds of endless, boring dialogues, just to wake up every now and then for an obvious choice before going back to sleep again. This time around, you will actually be required to think, to feel, to read between the lines, to adapt your decisions to each situation... and to live with them!

No screenshots yet, but you'll be seeing more of Project Conversation very soon! :)

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