Research for Game Making - What Do You Guys Enjoy about Otome Games?

[VoltageIncEnthusiast]

Hello everyone, so as asked, I'm trying to gain insight from the community about what they enjoy/like and look for when they play games (otome, visual novels, and interactive fiction (text-based or otherwise)).

I've been playing otome games and interactive games for years now, and it's inspired me to try my hand at creating games. What I personally enjoy about otome games and games in general is the ability to customise the MC (physically and personality-wise). What are things that you guys like about otome games? What do you dislike (or wish could be improved) about otome games? And lastly, what would you guys want to see more of in these games? This would help me out in considering what I should do when I create my own.

All responses are welcome, I'd just like to hear from the public what they look for when playing otome games

 

[ninnikuryona]

i like seeing cute girls in romantic situations with handsome boys! i love it when boys pamper the heroine and shower her with affection. but throwing her around and trying to kill her (affectionately) works too:D i just love this dokidoki sensation that otome games provide!! and i like seeing girls being happy..........
i dont seek out selfinserting, so i think customizable mcs in otome are not for me. rpgs are fine, but otome are ehhhhh. im okay with having an established design! im just gonna treat her as her own separate character for the most part anyway w, though i like dressups in games like degrees of lewdity, mainly because of how detailed it is. making up your own characters and roleplaying as them is very fun sometimes ! but i feel like it would be pretty hard to do in otome.. so having an established heroine is good^^

what i dont really like is when love interests interact with each other or side characters too much. some absolutely necessary plot-related interactions are fine, but id like them to be kept to a minimum! yes im petty. i just dont see much point in this stuff, you know? especially considering how the genre is treated by outsiders.. and even insiders sometimes D:!
also, i dont like it when there are some baity side characters that dont have their own endings. like, im not asking for dedicated routes, but at least a couple of fanservice scenes or even fanservicey endings should be fine, right? otherwise, why make them hot? at least kill them off if youre not gonna use them for romance:"3

good luck with your development! its so fun to experiment with stuff^^

 

[VoltageIncEnthusiast]

i like seeing cute girls in romantic situations with handsome boys! i love it when boys pamper the heroine and shower her with affection. but throwing her around and trying to kill her (affectionately) works too:D i just love this dokidoki sensation that otome games provide!! and i like seeing girls being happy..........
i dont seek out selfinserting, so i think customizable mcs in otome are not for me. rpgs are fine, but otome are ehhhhh. im okay with having an established design! im just gonna treat her as her own separate character for the most part anyway w, though i like dressups in games like degrees of lewdity, mainly because of how detailed it is. making up your own characters and roleplaying as them is very fun sometimes ! but i feel like it would be pretty hard to do in otome.. so having an established heroine is good^^

what i dont really like is when love interests interact with each other or side characters too much. some absolutely necessary plot-related interactions are fine, but id like them to be kept to a minimum! yes im petty. i just dont see much point in this stuff, you know? especially considering how the genre is treated by outsiders.. and even insiders sometimes D:!
also, i dont like it when there are some baity side characters that dont have their own endings. like, im not asking for dedicated routes, but at least a couple of fanservice scenes or even fanservicey endings should be fine, right? otherwise, why make them hot? at least kill them off if youre not gonna use them for romance:"3

good luck with your development! its so fun to experiment with stuff^^

Thank you so much for responding!

Okay for established heroines, do you have set personality traits that you prefer? Like do you want to be able to dictate how the mc responds to situations (friendly, intimidating, scared etc) or would you rather the mc has a set personality but different options of actions and dialogue to choose from but still within that set personality?


I'm thinking that for the mc appearance I might give the player an option to use a preset character (name and face decided already) and then also have the option for character customisation for those who want to choose a different name or appearance. It's going to be a lot of work but I think it will be worth it