NEET Girl Date Night: Development Info (Patreon)

Hello everyone, I wanted to write out a more detailed post on what exactly my plans are for the Kara dating sim, which I’m tentatively calling ‘NEET Girl Date Night’. Interest in an actual dating sim has exploded over the last few weeks, and I've decided to pursue actually making one. I want to go over what you guys will be getting access to, an overview of the gameplay, my goals with the game, some of the potential challenges, and what I’m working on right now.

Patron Exclusives

As patrons I’m gonna make sure you guys really get some bang for your buck. The support is so helpful and I want you to get something in return. You’ll of course be getting access to any behind the scenes content; sketches for visual assets and drawings I’m working on, progress updates, gameplay footage, etc. I’ll be posting some exclusive Kara content, like that cute succubus post yesterday. I was also thinking of doing some ‘lore’ posts for you folks too, little sketches and snippets I can give you to learn more about Kara and her background. I’m also planning, for when this first demo is released, to give you guys a special patrons only version with some extra content.

Goals; Now and in the Future

My eventual goal is to seek funding for a full length Kara dating sim game, but on the way there I’d like to start out by releasing shorter individual experiences. These little demos will be roughly 20-30 minutes in length, with a few different endings and as many fun side paths as I can fit in them, given the release schedule. The episodes will be themed, for instance this first demo will revolve around Kara being lonely during the holidays.

Games are a massive undertaking, and by breaking the project up into smaller pieces, I’ll be better able to release high quality content on a regular basis. I think this is preferable to say, funding it with a kickstarter and having you guys wait five years for the actual game to come out. By growing the features of the game slowly, I can also avoid overextending and delivering a game that’s unpolished.

I’m shooting to finish this first little experience by mid-December. That way we’ll have a little extra time before Christmas to ensure there’s no bugs or major issues. Given the simplicity of this first project, I’m confident it’ll be out by Christmas week.

Gameplay Overview

This very first release will be quite simple; in essence, it’s a visual novel where different dialogue options bring you down different paths. You’re at Kara’s house for a date, you’re hanging out in her room, and you’re trying to see if you can win her over. If you can successfully navigate through conversation, you’ll get to know her better and maybe get a kiss! (maybe more??) The intended path through the game should take you about 15-20 minutes, and you’ll have the option to replay the game and try some of the other paths, unlocking surprises along the way.

In terms of visual style I’d eventually like to go for something like Phoenix Wright; basic animations augmented by audio and visual cues. For now though they’ll likely be more akin to a traditional visual novel; isolated poses for different reactions and emotions.

Some of the features I’d like to implement in future releases are:

An affinity system; Through being a good conversationalist, kind gestures, and gifts, you can build rapport with Kara which opens up more options for dialogue.

Side Characters: Since the game revolves around pursuing Kara, a cast of side characters will be crucial to keep things lively.

Minigames; Room cleaning minigames, a bath minigame, fun little snippets between core gameplay to mix things up.

A Princess Maker style raising system; You help Kara fix her life overtime, watching her grow as a person.

The game is being made in Ren’Py, it can do everything we need it to for now, although in the future we might transition to something more robust.

Challenges Moving Forward

The main challenges going forward will be audio related. I’m capable of handling anything visual for the project, and I have a wealth of designers I can contract work out to if need be. I have a programmer for the project as well. He’s someone I’ve worked with quite a bit over the years, and he’s experienced in developing on python.

Eventually I’d like to find an actual person to work with for the audio, but for now we’ll likely be getting our UI sounds from premade SFX packs. The music is also going to be tricky, I want to find something the player will be comfortable hearing for a while. I’m actively on the lookout for the right music though and I’m confident I can get it all figured out.

My Work So Far

I’m currently finishing up the script, that’s the most important thing right now. I’m currently writing the script in Final Draft using their beat board template. It's pretty neat! I’ll include an image of what it looks like above.

The other major thing on my end is the visual assets, which I’ve already been working on for a few weeks. The basic plan is to use the existing drawings of Kara I’ve made as a base, and generate whatever poses and expressions I need from them. As for backgrounds I think I’ll need in total, 4 backgrounds for this first release.

All of the visual assets will be in 4K, but will be scaled down to 1080p.

In Conclusion

Take this post as an opportunity to ask me any questions you have about the game. I want to make sure you guys are always in the loop on this!