Hello!
I’ve played some great visual novels in the past and I’d like to try my hand at making one! I’m still very much in the idea phase, and haven’t really started working on anything besides the sketches I’ve included. Please, take a look and tell me how you like them!
In the game, You’d play as a barista at a fancy coffee shop. You’d meet a number of customers, each with their own personality, likes, dislikes, etc. Your job would be to befriend them, learn their tastes and interests, and use this knowledge to sell them the more expensive menu items in larger quantities! The more they spend, the bigger your bonus! Not to mention, the bigger your customers!
Here are some sketches I’ve been working on these past few days. I don’t know much about the characters yet, so lets brainstorm! What do these drawings say to you? What are their names? How do they speak? How big will they get?
I’d love to hear whatever feedback you can give me! Besides that, what would you like to see in a game like this? A specific type of character? A plot element or story beat? Perhaps some Transformation or Inflation content? Let me know!
I love this tipe of game concept, and I really like the art maybe the last one don’t convince me but this is my opinion, the gameplay will be similar to a visual novel? Hope the best
Character ideas:
If it is a shop that sells doughnuts, a police officer could be a good character.
You could have a character who is a secretary and does coffee runs for her office.
You could have a character who works a stressful job and always acts stressed out and in a hurry.
Maybe a character that is basically a soccer mom.
You could have another barista at the company be a characters who gains.
Also random idea but maybe the secretary works for the same company as one of the other characters so you can influence her to buy donuts and coffee that either cause her or the other character to gain. A thought I had was the stressed out girl could be the secretary’s boss, but this idea could work for anyone.
Tagged with inflation, huh? Better actually MEAN inflation this time. Seems like a lot of people use “inflation” as a way to describe bellies stuffed with food.
I love your art style - quick and simple, but you obviously have a good sense of form and line, and the gain is subtle and realistic. Really nice, and makes me curious to see what the faces will look like!
I got some ideas for names if we’re going right to left (1-4) i would say the first one should be name Cindy but prefers to be called Cid for short. Cid seems like she would be the most out going of the bunch as well as the most active, probably taking part in marathons and such. Cid seems like she would be in a field of Second one should be name Yazmin (Yazzy for short once relationship has progressed). Yazzy would be your typical career woman with a A type personality with a bit of Latin flare. Third lady i envision would be named Lucy. I see Lucy being a stay at home mother with a little one right beside her. In regards to her character i can see her being shy and timid most the time but becoming more outspoken when it comes to family and children. Finally the last of the beauties i would name Zoe. Zoe seems to be an aloof student of the arts. She also maybe looking to work part time at a certain shop :).
Alright, let’s use this as a platform to jump off of. First, I think you should decide if you want weight gain to be the objective of the game (or a necessary byproduct) or an optional goal to pursue. If you’re specifically trying to make the customers fat, that’ll result in a different game than just trying to make bank. And if you are supposed to make money, what do you do with it? I can envision a gameplay loop where you make money, use that money to buy better stuff to meet customers’ needs, which gets you more cash, etc. Like you said, more spending = more gains, so this is probably most compatible with trying to get the characters fat.
Let’s talk characters: different customers will have different reactions to weight gain. Most will likely be averse to it, but a couple may be apathetic or even gainers themselves. What you say to customers will probably influence their dieting decisions, which affects their purchases. So, let’s say character A doesn’t wanna get fat. To keep her gaining, you’ll have to appeal to her sensitivities and personality by complimenting her and such. By contrast, character B might be easier to fatten up because she’s specifically trying to gain weight. Some may have a weight problem by default and start out fat/get fat up to a certain point no matter what; in which case, adding to their weight will probably piss them off, but you could also appeal to their self-esteem by telling them you like fat fucks.
Now let’s think about resources. Upgrades are the most straightforward way to meet customer demands and fatten them up, but you can make a more challenging game if they’re not permanent upgrades, but more expensive consumables you need to stock up on every few days. Buy better coffee/snacks/etc. and more specific stuff to this end, that kinda thing. It could also be interesting if you could spike a customer’s order with something to make them gain weight. Abuse this, and they’ll find out and have varied reactions to it; get their consent to do it, and they may even pay you extra for it.
If you want to add romance options, this can be tied to the gaining aspect. If a character wants to gain, you can help them; if they don’t, you have to make them okay with it or just give up in that department. Whether or not they let you help them gain, however, should probably depend on whether you can actually win them over on the idea, and may even be limited by whether or not you’ve romanced them. So, for example, character A needs to get to like you first, and then she’ll let you fatten her; character B will be the opposite and like you if you help her get fat.
I think it’d be good to hear what ideas you’ve already had and what you already like; this’ll give you something more concrete to start with.
