Poll: Don Juan, the Game

[Bara_no_Hime]

Okay, so earlier there was a thread about romance games, and in a moment of frustration at how limited everyone's thoughts on the matter were, I made up a pitch for a fictional video game to demonstrate that romance games didn't need to be dating sims. And... the more I thought about it, the more I thought, "hey, this actually sounds like a really good idea."

So here it is:

Don Juan, the Game.

You play as Don Juan, the Italian Libertine.

The gameplay: an Assassins Creed 2 clone. You run around Italian cities, climbing on buildings and sneaking about trying to avoid detection. The game is heavily stealth based, but you can fight off guards if necessary, and there are places to hide to avoid pursuers.

What makes it different from Assassins Creed? Well, you aren't trying to assassinate anyone - you're pursuing a main romantic plotline while at the same time accomplishing various story missions. Yes, you do that in AC2 as well - shut up, I'm trying to make a point here.

Some of these missions (story and/or side missions) might include duels (rather than assassinations), but others involve seductions. In the seductions, you are given dialogue options and some sort of sensor that allows you to judge the target's emotional state (ripped off of Deus Ex Human Revolution). You then attempt to seduce them. Success results in some PG-13 sex (kissing, fade to black) and then some sort of plot benefit or accomplishment. Maybe seducing the tavern owner's wife allows you to cheat at cards, making winning an important plot card game easier. If you screw up the seduction, you either don't get the benefit or, if you fail badly enough, you might get chased off by her husband and fail the mission.

You have various story and side missions, but aside from the random, the Witcher style sex with various women, you also have the plot, which is a main romantic story line. This, being the main plot, would need to be well written, so you'd probably want to hire some good writers for this part, cause if this writing sucks, then the whole plot is going to suck.

Of course, if you just like climbing about on Italian buildings, you'll probably like the game anyway. There would be collectables scattered about the map, encouraging exploration, and various skill based challenges. Also, since the "hire prostitutes to walk around and give me camouflage while I stalk someone" mechanic in AC2 was really good, it would make sense to use it here as well.

So yeah, there you have it - a romantic game based around climbing on buildings and sneaking. The romance audience gets tons of romance plotlines while the "faffing about" audience gets tons of faffing about on a historic civilization.

So what do people think of this?

Oh, and here's a link to the original thread: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.391124-Romance-game

 

[Fappy]

The concept makes sense and I think it could be molded in millions of different ways to shape different experiences. I'd love to play some kind of rogue or bard in an RPG that flirts and seduces NPCs in order to further their own personal goals. You see a bit of this in other games, but it's rarely fleshed out.

As for romance as the central plot... that's easy to do considering it's at the core of several classic stories (see: Disney movies) where there are other things at play other than romance. You'd have to grab some exceptionally talented writer though, as you said. I don't think many of the writers in the industry would be able to pull it off.

 

[Jandau]

So, we cross AssCreed with Leasure Suit Larry?

Seriously though, sounds cool. I'd definitely be interested in such a game. Granted, this would rely heavily on the romance plot being well written, which is likely to be the main stumbling point for the game (since romance is something gaming writers suck at for the most part). I also like the idea of using established gameplay conventions in a game where killing isn't the point and might even be detrimental.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

As for romance as the central plot... that's easy to do considering it's at the core of several classic stories (see: Disney movies) where there are other things at play other than romance. You'd have to grab some exceptionally talented writer though, as you said. I don't think many of the writers in the industry would be able to pull it off.

I imagine you'd want to hire a team of writers - half seasoned video-game writers, to make sure the game part is addressed, and half romance writers of some sort. I'm not necessarily talking about romance novelists either (although that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing) but fantasy authors, TV authors (from a show with good romance), or similar would be useful to have on hand.

Also, if you know the story of Don Juan, then you know that (at least in some versions) his central romance involves the woman's father trying to kill him - and "bad guy tries to kill good guy" is generally a good driving force in a narrative.

I think I thought of this because, back when I was playing AC2, one of the early missions was climbing along roofs to sneak into a girl's bedroom for some PG sex and I was like "well crap, sign me up for more of this!" And then it never came up again (well, almost) which was rather disappointing.

Also - I love me some parkour games in historical settings. AC2, where there's even a mini game about climbing on particular notable buildings, hit that sweet spot really well. Brotherhood, while awesome, didn't scratch that itch quite as well.

 

[XMark]

Games these days have too much violence and not enough sex. I'm all for this idea! Actually, this could be like an Assassin's creed DLC or something.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Games these days have too much violence and not enough sex. I'm all for this idea! Actually, this could be like an Assassin's creed DLC or something.

Agreed (on the too little sex, too much violence thing).

However, I doubt Ubisoft would want to release DLC for such an old game at this point.

Now, what they COULD do is use the AC2/B/R engine to make this game, the way Valve uses their engine to make L4D and Portal. They might even be able to recycle some of the buildings from the AC series (although hopefully they'd at least change the street layouts a bit for variety). Also, they'd probably want to rethink some of the guard populations when the main character won't be equipped with a massive arsenal of murder tools.

So yeah... hey Ubisoft. Free game idea. The story is public domain, the engine you've already created... all you need to do is make it. If you're worried, why not hold a Kickstarter? Oblivion just raised 3.6 million.

 

[Smooth Operator]

If it's only about a romance then no this is not my kind of thing, but I'd appreciate it's existence.
Unless of course it can teach me to be that smooth with the ladies, then I'll play it every day.

But I would give the guy near no combat capabilities and very limited climbing, so as actually promised for Ass Creed you could not take on mobs but had to get out with trickery.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Well, as I said, it wouldn't be entirely about romance - there'd be sword fighting and gambling and hunting down items in difficult to climb to places.

I wouldn't mind the combat being hard - or at least the guards being better at fighting - but I think the climbing around on buildings quickly would be important. It could be more about evading guards over roof-tops (which is part of the Don Juan legend) rather than throwing guards off to their deaths.

Maybe it could even have a pacifist achievement - don't kill any town guards - to keep people seeking alternative methods of stealthing about. That was actually something I felt AC didn't do very well - Stealth.

 

[Cheesepower5]

Who wouldn't want to play as the Alexander of bitches?

 

[lithiumvocals]

I'd only buy it if there was an unlockable Ricky Ricardo skin.

 

[Kargathia]

This might not be the best time for the gamification of romantic conquest - one misspoken word in a casual interview, and there's an internet shitstorm headed your way.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

This might not be the best time for the gamification of romantic conquest - one misspoken word in a casual interview, and there's an internet shitstorm headed your way.

Hey, I'm a woman writing this - and handsome men seducing beautiful women is the stuff of Romance novels. The trick here is to make Don Juan sexy FOR the female players rather than making him a sexual ideal for the male players - but at the same time allowing him to be a sexual ideal for the male players.

Basically, we need some Female Gaze in this game. It's not like the men-folk will be disappointed with the sexy, awesome results.

Besides, nothing saying you can't make some strong female characters. Or even seducable male characters and have a Bi-Juan.

....

Wow, that was like the worst pun ever. I didn't even mean it.

Anyway, yes, it could be a shit storm. But, with a good writing staff (preferably with a few women on it), it could be the exact opposite - the answer to all those "where are the games targeted to women" question.

 

[Kargathia]

This might not be the best time for the gamification of romantic conquest - one misspoken word in a casual interview, and there's an internet shitstorm headed your way.

Hey, I'm a woman writing this - and handsome men seducing beautiful women is the stuff of Romance novels. The trick here is to make Don Juan sexy FOR the female players rather than making him a sexual ideal for the male players - but at the same time allowing him to be a sexual ideal for the male players.

Basically, we need some Female Gaze in this game. It's not like the men-folk will be disappointed with the sexy, awesome results.

Besides, nothing saying you can't make some strong female characters. Or even seducable male characters and have a Bi-Juan.

....

Wow, that was like the worst pun ever. I didn't even mean it.

Anyway, yes, it could be a shit storm. But, with a good writing staff (preferably with a few women on it), it could be the exact opposite - the answer to all those "where are the games targeted to women" question.

Oh, it certainly could be done right - Katawa Shoujo, for example, managed to deal tastefully with writing romance around heavily disabled people.
The problem is that the moment you start making a game about Don Juan you're going to have an uphill struggle on your hands when it comes to convincing people your game is not, in fact, a tasteless gamification of the most sexist view possible on the already questionable concept of "sexual conquest". A problem further aggravated by multiple PR disasters and total flame fests around gaming sexism still being relatively fresh.

I'd certainly welcome a well-written romance game (and I'm a total sucker for renaissance style), but making it is definitely not going to be easy.

EDIT: I'd also like to note that while your OP mentioned the renaissance, most stories involving Don Juan seem to put him at the tail-end of the Baroque period (late 18th century). Personally I've read stories placing him as early as the 16th century (short story), and as late as the 20th (The Education of Don Juan - one I can fully recommend), so one's at almost limitless choice as to when and where to put him.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Oh, it certainly could be done right - Katawa Shoujo, for example, managed to deal tastefully with writing romance around heavily disabled people.
The problem is that the moment you start making a game about Don Juan you're going to have an uphill struggle on your hands when it comes to convincing people your game is not, in fact, a tasteless gamification of the most sexist view possible on the already questionable concept of "sexual conquest".

I'd certainly welcome a well-written romance game (and I'm a total sucker for renaissance style), but making it is definitely not going to be easy.

Well, I'm not going to be making it! **grin** Unless I actually CAN make good on my joke to call up Ubisoft and talk them into a Kickstarter.

Actually, if they did a Kickstarter, then some media circus might actually help raise the money.

As for what Don Juan represents, well that isn't even consistent - different versions deal with him differently. The creators would have to decide what story they wanted to tell - and what message they wanted to send.

 

[Mr. Underson]

"...a romantic game based around climbing on buildings and sneaking."

Is it just me or does this sound really rapey?

An interesting concept none the less. I do question the whole PG-13 focus though. The whole point of the game is to have sex, but sex won't be part of the game?

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

"...a romantic game based around climbing on buildings and sneaking."

Is it just me or does this sound really rapey?

An interesting concept none the less. I do question the whole PG-13 focus though. The whole point of the game is to have sex, but sex won't be part of the game?

Romance will be point of the game. And I mentioned there would be sex, just not overly graphic. Porn isn't romantic. The weird Bioware Underpants of Doom isn't sexy either. Sometimes being more tasteful is actually sexier - the imagination is a powerful tool.

And the sneaking and climbing wouldn't be for rapeyness - it would be to avoid guards, fathers, and husbands. Don Juan would be invited - how else would he get the mission? Or know which window to go to?

Something like t his. Don Juan is in his home, and he gets a letter that tells him when and where to be somewhere. He then has to get there, avoiding enemies, using stealth and guile to arrive at the appointed place. The woman then converses with him. If he says the right things, romance ensues. If he says the wrong things, he gets slapped, or perhaps just teased.

The important point being that the female character CAN say no, and if she does so, Don Juan leaves peacefully (or being chased by guards, depending on how bad the player screws up). Hence not rapey.