Awesome idea...unlikely to get off the ground...

Just something that came to me earlier today or yesterday.


http://thrythlind.deviantart.com/journal/44336954/

however, as the link suggests, the amount of resources I'd need is immense, especially for a poor freelancer/self-published writer/substitute teacher.

it would probably also only appeal to a small segment of the population, even if I took out the idea of making the dating-sim aspects kid-safe

I'm sure a few people in the yuri and Transformation interest communities would be interested, but it's not a general populace thing....


so, unless I suddenly find myself with people interested in doing this just to do it, in their free times and hope for payback later...it remains just an ambitious idea

What?

No, catgirls are a definite possibility.

Here is a version edited for size by me:


...
Premise of the game: your character is preparing to face a prophecy in the coming future when something of great evil and destructive power will appear to destroy the earth.

Your character is collecting "seeds" (By this the author means young girls with special powers or occult knowledge) to try and recover humanities old secrets or grant them enough power to stand in for those non-human beings that once lived alongside them.

The game would be played in three or four stages of different time periods. The main character would be either an immortal/ageless girl or the repeat descendents of the same family on the same task.

To begin with, the player would choose one of a list of "seeds" for their own character's powers as well as a personality type that would lend toward some uses of power being easier than others.

Flavor: My current thoughts run toward a mildly ecchi and yuri/lesbian/bisexual undertones because, well, I like cute monster girls and empowering transformations.

The first stage is a prologue where your character in an ancient world setting stumbles over the plans/prophecy of a coming monstrous invasion. This will be short and mostly RP and at the end, the character will choose a seed for their own powers and how they use them.

After the prologue and a seed is chosen and a "class" develops out of development choices in the prologue.

For example, a "chi master" seed with a "warrior" class would be like an anime martial artist. The "mage" class would make it more of feng shui geomancer and such. Classes are easy, they're just differing ways to use the same basic powers, probably split into three types: Warrior/Rogue/Mage. There could be innumerable "seeds"

In addition, the main character would choose one of a set of characters as a significant other.

After the seed is chosen the prologue ends and the next phase would begin. This would be a middle ages/renaissance sort of era.

At this time, your character, the "seed" still appears as a teenager like when she first took on her power, however she has family around her who have the same sort of powers she does. Depending on how well the prologue was completed, the family will be more or less powerful.

Each phase allows for three new seeds to be given/placed and probably to find a new husband. And the phase ends in a major incident that would have to be faced and defeated.

The next phase would be more colonial 1700s/1800s century setting. The character's family and the three seeds she'd chosen from the last would each be at the center of their own powerful families. Depending on how well they passed the previous stage, they would have more resources for setting their initial situation at the beginning of the game. And they would look for another three people to give "seeds" to.

The third phase is going to be 20th century, maybe 1960s and 1970s or later. And another three seeds are chosen before the final battle happens in a near-future setting.
...


So an RPG with multi-generational Dating Sim aspects, and possibly some Real Time Strategy for epic battles as well. At the end you could have up to 15 or so Seeds (presumably as generals/heroes of various RTS units).

Could be cool.

someone was suggesting a visual novel style as well....the 16 bit RPG maker would seem to work as well...which would be your Shining Force suggestion

Visual Novel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel
RPG Maker: http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/

over all, the RTS stuff seems unfeasible for doing as a project

and yeah, art is the killer...

I was thinking the following:

7 "bloodline" and 7 "forgotten lore" seeds, 5 starter and 2 unlockable each

9 potential "seeds" each generation (6 that are clear and obvious and 3 that look like background characters or have to be unlocked by side quests)

only get to choose 3 of those to empower

would make your party at the end 10 - yourself (multi-thousand years old), 3 thousand-year olds, 3 centuries old, 3 decades old with which to fight the oncoming horde

making it less yuri-ish and ecchi would broaden the audience, but I have to admit, I like yuri-ish and ecchi as long as there's good plot and the interactions are more empowering than debasing

for seeds, right now thinking:

bloodline:
gorgon(snake girl), kitsune/gumiho(fox girl), tengu (bird girl/harpy), oni (monster/ogre/orc girl), shadow (goth/vampire/ghost girl)

demon and angel unlockable

forgotten lore:
chi master, mage, psychic, alchemy, beast-master

technologist and geomancy unlockable


Note, don't own a phone, so not sure how to do that...though, I guess I wouldn't be the programmer anyway...^_^;;;


characters can be recruited by appealing to love (always the most work and most rewarding) or by one of the following three: duty, power, fun/glory (which is most successful is different for each character and will result in possibly higher specialized stats, but less overall power than the "love" option)

for example: Maki the free-spirited peasant girl from the middle-ages period can best be appealed via suggesting the "fun" factor of having super powers....a miko girl: duty and the princess that feels hemmed in by rules: power. Or you can make one or more of them love you.

if I want to make a darker game, the "force" option might be there, but I must admit, I'd never play that path myself....if so, it would result in a dark and bitter twisted version of the character, and probably involve an ending scenario where they turned against you once the world is saved

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the main appeal for me is the multi-generational, transformation and cute monster girls

I suppose I could stretch the number of seeds for more monster types too....especially if I use unused seeds to supply enemy-monsters

on a side note to any artists...currently running a contest for choosing a novel cover artist, contest has about 20+ days left...not going to do more than put a link here since Zwillinger and other mods haven't answered my notes about whether I can post a thread about it or not:

http://thrythlind.deviantart.com/journal/43948856/

yeah, thinking this through, there are too many mythical creatures out there that I like

Definitely some cool ideas here.

I haven't managed to find a lot of actual games with Dating Sim elements that are any good apart from Thousand Arms and the Persona series. Any recommends?