I had this crazy idea for a game. I'm sure everyone starts out their posts like this, but that probably won't stop you from reading this post anyways. There are a variety of games which you could consider to be "non-traditional". Dance Dance Revolution gets people out of their chairs and onto a virtual dance floor. Nintendo Wii games get people to be physically active to a greater degree. This proposed game encourages couples on a date to get intimate. (nerd alert) Sometimes when I manage to pick up girls, I offer to challenge them to a game of Quake III in "Romance style" and make a wager that the loser has to kiss the winner -- That's either incentive for them to lose on purpose or try their hardest to win. That got me thinking though: There are not any games that I can think of which are actually designed to be played by a couple on a date. Maybe there's a good reason for that, but lets put that question aside for now. This game is kind of like "Spin the Bottle" but played between two players on a date (gender ignored). How do you play a game "Romance style"? Let's say you're a man in the scenario where you are dating a beautiful woman and you want to play some casual & fun games together. First you have to teach her how to play, so she's gotta sit in your lap while you hold her hand and show her how the game works. The idea is to be able to cuddle and play games at the same time and build a stronger bond between each other. Basically, you play the game and the game plays you. Beginning of the game: I'm thinking a "get to know the players" survey might be necessary before the game begins. Is this a first date? First time playing the game? how far are the players willing/able to go? Are they shy or outgoing personalities? Have they met before? How interested are they in each other? Based on the answers, the game plays a little bit differently. Maybe a shy couple on their first date would feel a little bit uncomfortable together and this game could help them get to know each other better. (sociological research question: how do you figure out how strongly to play the players with each other based on their answers?) Perhaps a couple who have been dating for years are bored of their dating life and want to find a fun and exciting way to spice things up? who knows, but the game should account for a large variance in dating situations. Game Mechanics: So the game is either played cooperatively or competitively. The game should be designed so that each player understands the rules of the game and how its played, and is willing to play by the rules. There are parts in the game where you can get a bonus where you have to kiss or hug, (or whatever else you can think of) which needs to be redeemed immediately. If you lose the game, you get consolation kisses and if you win, then you get congratulations kisses. Really, the game should be designed so that there are no losers :D Now, the girl I was bouncing this idea off of said that she'd rather skip the game and just kiss and make out. That brings up a really good point which threatens the whole point of the game in the first place. I don't know exactly how to resolve that argument. It's probably why this type of game doesn't exist...or its just not profitable for a developer to make it professionaly. Questions to ask: -What kinds of elements should the game have? (graphically, mechanics, game style, rules, etc) -How far should the game encourage people to go? Kissing and hugging is one thing, going any further in public would be a bit...hmmm...embarrassing? -What is the best casual game type to use? I personally like the "Bust a move" game...simple, yet challenging and fun. Thanks for reading! What do you think?

Honestly it sounds more than a bit creepy.

Well, there *are* games like that sold in sex shops (the analog version at least) so I guess there is a market. This could also be an online game, one you play with ppl you meet on a dating site to get to know them better. You could even license it to dating sites.

I don't think it's creepy, you just have to make sure you don't encourage abusive behavior.

For the gameplay, I think you should go with trivia-ish questions to get to know the person.

Okay here is something to ponder:

You are attending one of those "speed dateing" events. There are 20 women at this event, and you (along with 19 other guys) will get to have a 5 minute date with each. Which of these questions should you be asking, and why?

1) "What do you do for a living?"

2) "What is your favorite animal?"

Bouaahahahahaha

Playing on the computer really isn't something I would consider time well spent with someone you haven't been with for very long. It's about the last thing on my mind personally.

But with that said... How about thinking modular where you can download a 'pack' that has a different theme / gamestyle. One idea could be a section like Trivial Pursuit and the better the score the higher the 'suggested reward' e.g. score affecting time getting a massage. I don't know... my creativity is limited.

Perhaps a quest type game like Leisure Suit Larry (but less crude) where as they figure-out the puzzle of the game they get to key-points where they need to re-enact the situation in the game.

I think you could consider having a user-defined password for each individual, and for the game to continue past the key points (or whatever) both people would need to enter their passwords to acknowledge that whatever the game requested had in-fact been carried-out. This way if say it says 'cook your partner dinner' you can't just dismiss it... your partner has to enter their password to tell the game that you had in fact done this before the game would allow you to keep playing.

I dunno... I really wouldn't consider it something I'd be into personally. I have other things on my mind when I'm with my partner other than a romance game. After being with her for some time now the only games we play on the computer are stepmania, Lego Star Wars (1 & 2), and we also take turns in gridwars... fun crap like that. You don't really want to get into anything too deep, you just want to kill some time together and have fun and laughs doing it. On the other hand if you have a computer addict as a partner chances are you would both rather get into some Deathmatch Quake or something like that, and wouldn't really want to spend time on something trivial like a romance game when you could be fraggin each other.

Maybe that's the answer there. Just think of something fun and arcade-like and perhaps theme it somehow towards love and fun.

...my $2.50

Yeah, I think I'll count this as one of my more whacky ideas which would turn out to be a waste of time and effort to pursue. My goal was as NB said:

Quote:

Just think of something fun and arcade-like and perhaps theme it somehow towards love and fun

back to the drawing board! :)

I think this game would do better in arcades in a more social setting where there are a lot of people and being able to "go out" still applies... versus going into your living room or where ever you keep the PC/console. Presenting it in a fun and cute way would be nice. If it were on the same level as fortune telling machines or purikura then it may attract a good amount of people. Making it a fun social game that doesn't reveal too much private information or make the players feel uncomfortable is something you need to keep in mind. So you would have to find a level of romance that was acceptable to a wide range of people. Make it a cute, fun and innocent arcade game targeted at couples (or close friends perhaps) that respects traditional dating norms. Also, if the game spits out something for the couple to take when its over then they will have something to remember that evening. Unfortunately there aren't so many arcades in America BUT fortunately the ones that are around already have a large social atmosphere catering to not just hardcore gamers but different types of people. Like GameWorks or Dave & Busters. If I was with my girlfriend in an arcade we would probably play this game as long as it didn't offend us or our relationship.

As for the design of a game...
You definitely don't want to bore the player. Answering a survey might not be the best way to go. If the machine needs to know information about it's player then maybe it can gather it in a more fun approach. Maybe a series of mini-games that are fun and quick to play. The player will be distracted with a fun mini game while the game is translating the actions or decisions into data it can use as the game progresses. Replacing the standard control stick and button scheme with a touch screen will allow most player to use it. People will actually interact with the game and they only have to know how to use their hands. I think creating a game that brings to players physically closer but also avoiding direct contact would be good. The girl who told you that if she just wanted to kiss then she would... but she would need a window of opportunity to kiss the guy. Maybe he is shy? Maybe she is shy?

Imagine one of the mini-games being a game where the players have to touch items popping up on a screen to score a point. The idea would be to have the players hands on the screen at all times during this game. It might be a version of twister designed for hands but in any case this interaction will require them to be a little closer than they would in a normal conversation. Also the game doesn't directly force the players to touch. To keep it from being all touch screen games, the machine could use an eye toy device that reacts to their motion.

Kissing, hugging and touching should be up to the couple. The pace of their relationship is their own but there's no problem with presenting them with opportunities to do so. :)

As I mentioned before, giving the couple or friends an item at the completion of the game would be nice. Maybe its a card or a trinket. Perhaps its an item that is collection based which will attract the couple to return and play again or card with previous information. To avoid from repeating the same game over and over again, it could have a DDR set up. The players pick mini games from a pool of different mini games. maybe they only play 5 out of possible 100 and in time the machine could be updated with new mini games. Just a thought!

Anyway I wrote a lot. Thinking about ideas that seem a little out there is good. They may not always work but your brain is getting some creative exercise. It jut comes down to problem solving. Good job. :)

I think that perhaps with the situation you describe of it being a way for new couples to get to know each other and get comfortable with each other is....well... like trying to mix water with oil.

If they are a new couple I can't imagine them playing a romance game (yes there will always be someone who will, but that's the minority). New couples are too busy getting to know each other and trying not to explode from the sexual frustrations, or they are busy not being frustrated (nudge nudge) just like your female friend said she would rather do.

So I think the key problem here is that the target audience is wrong. A game for established couples might be a better target, and with that the problems faced with trying to target a new couple are gone and you are less restricted.

Just a thought.

This inspired me. You could have a group of female singles on one bank of machines, and males on another. They play a kind of dating-sim thing where the information passed back and forth is limited. The fun, of course, is to see whether or not you end up with your actuall girlfriend. Worse yet, why not do kind of a "Second Life" thing, but focused specfically on romance? You create and manage relationships and prospects through an online game.