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Weekly progress log #10 - Sunny's canon romance
🕑 Added 2022-03-22 06:59:59 +0000 UTC
Hey everyone,
Like I said last week, I'd like to dedicate this week's progress log to the topic of Sunny's romance. As you might know, Sunny's romance is mandatory/canon and I would like to discuss a few reasons as to why that is, as well as my thoughts on the potential problems that come with it – and my solutions for them.
To start things off, Sunny as a mandatory romance was not always the plan in the initial stages of Elvensang's development. While working on the prologue, I had every intention to include the possibility of making Sunny's growing affection for the protagonist unrequited. But that's when something occurred to me - what then? Sunny is the secondary main character (or tertiary, some might argue), so she will always have more scenes than any alternatives like Becky, Kara, or even Trisha. Sure, somewhere down the line another character might come up who will rival Sunny's importance in the main story, but that wouldn't be for a while. Essentially, it would have meant providing the options to have a fully developed romance with Sunny - or to have nothing. And I think you would really have to dislike Sunny to choose nothing over romance with her, and considering that she's going to be the secondary (tertiary) main character with a lot of time spent on her growth regardless, I don't think it would alleviate the issue for anyone who dislikes her that much.
On top of this, I suspect that many players who first come across Elvensang don't read any of my notes about the game before playing, let alone follow discussions in my discord. As such, adding the choice to decline Sunny's gestures of affection might lead them to believe that they are simply keeping their prospects open for future alternatives, not realizing that there are none – and that they are choosing nothing over something. And it is similar in the case of declining small gestures of affection even when the romance is mandatory as a whole. You don't really care for Sunny so you wouldn't mind having the option to skip small scenes like hugging her, kissing her on the cheek etc. – but to some, this would create a source of frustration when the romance carries on even though they've repeatedly declined gestures of affection like that.
In that case, why not simply add an alternative, right? Why not flesh out a romance with another character such as Becky, to such extent that she becomes a viable counterpart to Sunny's romance? Sure, but then someone doesn't like Becky too much either. Fine, I'll add another fully fledged out romance, and then another - until I've covered the entire scope of character archetypes who each have the same amount of romantic scenes as Sunny's own romance. And then... that's it. I had turned Elvensang into a dating sim with no time left to work on the actual story.
At the end of the day, time and inspiration are very important factors in the creative process; it's all a matter of getting the right idea and having enough time to execute it properly. Thus, if a character is fitting for the role of a primary romantic interest and I have enough time and inspiration to weave it into the narrative, I am not opposed to having two primary romantic interests, but it has to come organically - not just adding additional main romances for its own sake.
That being said, making Sunny's romance mandatory brings up the question of how to handle the existence of side romances, and I will admit that I do not have a perfect answer to that yet. I am not too interested in derailing Elvensang into a teenage drama, exploring Sunny's anguish as the protagonist endlessly cheats on her - and neither would it be fair for the players to have to eat shit for being unfaithful to Sunny when they never had the option to decline her advances. I am still considering possibilities of how to deal with it, but I am determined to make this aspect of their relationship fully in the player's hands. I think it helps to think of Sunny as more of the protagonist's soulmate rather than his girlfriend - but I also think that using any label is ultimately meaningless, perhaps even detrimental to figuring out their relationship - it should be defined by the nuances of their actions rather than a single word.
It's important to consider the story's longevity as well. Some of the side romances will be longer with potential impact on the main story, while some of them will be nothing more than an occasional fling. But while side romances come and go, Sunny will (almost) always be around - and dealing with her input whenever the protagonist is about to, or already has fornicated with someone other than her might be tedious for me to write, and even more tedious for the player to experience over and over. As such, I think the solution to this "issue" has to be woven into the narrative in the following few episodes in a way that you never really have to deal with it again. Sure, there might be a mention of Sunny not being too thrilled, or maybe she will ask for assurances that she is still your "main girl" after the fact - but I don't want to commit an entire scene to talk about the same thing over and over every time. The key thing here is that even though Sunny is the main romantic interest, side romances are not about her.
So, the issue at hand is creating harmony between Sunny's romance and side romances. This harmony is represented by her general attitude towards the protagonist being romantically/intimately involved with other characters, and it could range from reluctant acceptance to a closeted guilty pleasure (i.e. Sunny as a cuckquean), but it should always be something that the player builds up in their relationship through choices just as other aspects of their relationship (e.g. making Sunny explore bisexuality, and the possibility of a limited polyamory in the case of some girls). One thing I want to avoid is the protagonist keeping his affairs a secret from Sunny, since that's a temporary solution that fails in more ways than one; the protagonist becomes a cheating asshole and at some point down the line, Sunny might find out that he's been lying to her (which would be inevitable unless I took the easy way out and made her conveniently dumb). Either way, writing out the narrative of constant guilt-trips for cheating on Sunny, as well as the teenage drama that would ensue, is not something I want to get into.
One option would have been to tone things down between them – keep them as best friends for a little longer while the protagonist has a chance to fool around with other girls. While it would have been an option, it has its own cons - it dilutes the romance with Sunny while doing nothing but delay the inevitable because the same problem would arise once their relationship is fully ignited. Not to mention that it's a little late for them to slow down with the current state of affairs in the story. That being said, I think one tool that will help steer the narrative towards harmony between Sunny's romance and side romances is Trisha. Considering her growing friendship with Sunny/the MC and the fact that she will be a side romance herself, she is in a great position to serve as a catalyst for helping shape the dynamic of their relationship.
I feel like certain options (like the Sunny cuckquean arc I mentioned above) might require a little suspension of disbelief, and perhaps some who prefer a pure, wholesome romance might be opposed to an idea like that – as well as other things like Sunny becoming bisexual etc. While there's only so much I can do to alleviate the need for suspension of disbelief, I think the key is to make anything out of the ordinary be a result of the protagonist's active choices. From his perspective, it shouldn't be some conscious elaborate scheme to make Sunny into a cuckquean/bisexual, but the players should be in on what's going on while they make choices that have the protagonist put in active effort to make something happen, while having to do nothing if they are opposed to it. The difference between putting in effort to make Sunny a certain way and putting in effort to prevent her from being a certain way is strictly narrative, but I think it is very important nonetheless. If Sunny has lesbian tendencies by default, it might spoil the experience for players who have to actively convince her against it, and the same goes for just about anything else beyond a pure vanilla romance.
Regardless, nothing is set in stone just yet, and it's important to me that the development of Sunny's romance is organic above all else. I do have more thoughts to share, but I think I've been rambling on for long enough - so thank you for reading if you've made it all the way through. As always, if you have any thoughts of your own that you'd like to share, do not hesitate to do so!
Love you all,
Worlaix
Comments
Maj'd
As long as you write your own story, and not other people's half wishes. I've loved every bit of it so far. I'm sure you're a better writer than us readers, so don't listen to us too much =)
Anhel
Happy to read it it will not be turned into a dating sim! 😁 Seriously though, my enjoyment of the game is the natural development of everyone's relationships. I'll stick around till the end. Cheers!
