What’s In a Genre?

Not much in development news to share for Arcade Spirits; we’re grinding out minor fixes, content updates, and finalization of the dating scenes in 05 for the March Patreon milestone. It’s funny, when you play it it’ll feel like maybe a third of a chapter, but that third had to be written eight times over. One date per major character, plus an option to just chill by yourself if you’re not in the mood for lovin’. So it’s a ton of work for not much payout… but that payout is unique to you and your path through the game.

So, in lieu of some major content drop this week, let’s philosophize:

Is our game a visual novel?

We’re certainly using the visual novel style — character art, dialogue box, click through, pick stuff off choice menus. We’re using a visual novel engine, too. But we’ve got a few key differences which nudge us towards one subgenre, away from another, then down a different road entirely.

First of all, we’re using “date sim” style game mechanics, where your interactions are scored and can be tracked. Not just flags, but a numerical score based on how well you’re getting on with someone, and how your personality’s shaping up. I’ve heard some VN veterans say “date sims are not visual novels” so… apparently we’re not a VN? Sure feels like a VN, though.

Second, we have tons of interactivity. You’re constantly deciding how your character reacts to what’s going on around you… deciding who to spend time with, how to solve problems, even just what words you want to use in an otherwise trivial little conversation and what those words say about you as a person. Many VNs offer little or even no choices whatsoever; we’re going the Bioware/Telltale route instead.

Lastly, no routes. Many VNs will have few choices, but those choices send you down wildly different branching paths… often with no visible signposting. Picking “eat waffles for breakfast” could, for no logical reason, mean suddenly you can’t date Hiroko-chan anymore because you aren’t on her “route.” Our game has a lot of leeway for screwing up, saying the wrong thing, picking different options and still arriving at your chosen romance. You can’t accidentally step off the route. You can completely alienate someone and have no chance with them, sure, but you almost have to work at it to do that.

So, if we’ve got some actual game mechanics, lots of roleplaying, and no hard-set routes… what are we? A visual novel? A narrative roleplaying game? An interactive comedy? An eggplant? I don’t know. But I gotta figure this out because, uh, PAX is coming and I need an elevator pitch which isn’t soaked in too many genre buzzwords. Yikes.