(Crossposted at alexanderfreed.com)
Here's where it gets complicated. Or... well, more so.
This post is a companion to Writing Romance in (non-Romance Games): Linear Romances. You'll find a number of assumptions about our overall topic outlined there; they still hold true, and I encourage folks to start with that post before jumping into this one. Here, we'll cover three overall subjects: branching romance fundamentals, linear techniques in branching games (where we'll revisit some of the approaches discussed in the previous post), and "casting" a variety of romantic interests in a branching game.
Branching Romance Fundamentals
When I talk about "branching narratives" I'm referring to games in which the player can make significant plot choices (whether inside or outside of dialogue) and, in the context of romance, choose whether to pursue a potential partner and how to treat that person during the relationship. Games in which the player has a choice of potential romantic partners but no decisions in the relationship itself fall into a gray area between branching and linear--the posts on both topics should prove applicable. For a more thorough treatment of branching dialogue generally, see this series.
Let's run down some high-level challenges and approaches for branching games.
Is this really a good idea? "Players love romance!" is not a great reason to implement romance subplots in your game. Consider instead questions such as:
Do the overall themes of the game lend themselves to romance (and if so, what kind of romance)? If a subplot doesn't support, subvert, comment upon, or otherwise relate to your game's primary focus, then it's just diluting your strongest element. The answers here might not be obvious--one game about the importance of building relationships and alliances in service of a larger goal might be strengthened by the inclusion of romance, while another similar game might be weakened by losing its laser focus on platonic friendships.
Do the circumstances of the plot support the development of romance? If you've got a game that takes place in (for example) an exceedingly short timeframe, there's probably not a lot of options for naturally developing romance subplots. Look at your pacing, your cast, whether your player character would reasonably get a chance to initiate anything romantic, and judge appropriately. Check, too, whether there are romantic relationships between NPCs of importance--if they're a major part of the story, it may feel tonally strange (in some circumstances) that romance can't play a role in the player character's own life. (The converse is also true--if I don't see any romances in the world, their absence in my life feels less like an omission.)
Does the player character's sexuality matter? While the player character in a branching narrative game may not have a clearly defined personality, his or her character traits still exist within a range defined by the writer (Mass Effect's space marine Commander Shepard is never a pacifist). Regardless of whether you implement romance subplots in your game, know the romantic "range" you want to permit the player based on your range of player character archetypes. A coming-of-age story with a teenage protagonist will lend itself to obvious romantic options more than a military and political story starring a seventy-year-old veteran (which isn't to say you couldn't push either in another direction).
Do you have the resources to do your vision justice? You only have so much time and money, after all. Are romance subplots the best way to spend your resources?
Depending on the answers to these questions, you may find yourself with a game where eschewing romance subplots feels unnatural, even if you don't particularly want to support such stories. (If you're writing a James Bond-style spy in a Bond-style story, it's hard to justify not letting him or her try to seduce an asset.) Or you may discover that, despite the sparks a romance could add, it ultimately drags down your narrative more than building it up.
Give it the weight it deserves. There are lots of different ways to inject romance into your game if you determine it's appropriate. You could allow the player character to casually flirt with dozens of different NPCs but never develop those "romances" any further; you could present a handful of potential love interests but leave the relationships largely subtext; you could present short optional romance subplots serially, in different areas of the game world, none of them lasting beyond the scope of their side quests; you could track long-term relationships with major NPCs, chronicling developing friendships, first kisses, and going all the way to wedding bells and beyond.
Figure out the scope of your romance--whether a line here and there or something hefty and pervasive--and make sure your scope is in line with your vision. It's okay to have a pleasant flirtation that never "goes anywhere" if that's what fits best, so long as you're not promising the player more than you can provide.
A romance subplot's "weight" ought to affect its integration into the overall story structure, too. If you do have a long-running, start-to-finish NPC relationship, try not to sequester the romance content in discrete scenes--weave the romance into the main plotline at appropriate moments. Let the player character talk about his or her love life with platonic buddies. Have decisions unrelated to the romance bring out references and consequences in the romance plot. (That's not to say romance-exclusive scenes are bad--but if you want your romance to be "important" then they shouldn't be the entirety of the subplot.) The more separate the subplot is from the rest of the game, the more players will treat it as a minigame of sorts--a minigame whose themes and expectations may not carry over to the broader narrative.
Know what sort of relationship stories you're telling. Based on the overall themes and sensibilities of your game, do you want operatic romances often doomed to end in tragedy or betrayal? Do you want fantasy fulfillment romances, in which all problems can be eventually overcome through mutual understanding and where blissful coupledom is the natural end? Do you want a naturalistic romance, where problems and misunderstandings accrue, couples can fall apart over time, and the future is always uncertain and relationships always evolving?
You can have some variety, of course, by utilizing different romantic interests and different branches based on player choices. But you'll want to make sure everything fits with your core "feel." You'll want to teach the player what to expect as early as possible (preferably before the relationship even begins), at least in a broad sense--don't let the player go into a romance expecting the love interest's flaws to be treated as charming, romcom-esque fodder when you've written a cerebral exploration of emotional abuse.
How do you indicate to the player what to expect? If your romances are in key with your larger themes, some of the work should be done already. You can also show examples of other characters in relationships to help nail down the tone in the player's mind and use NPCs to call out expectations directly ("Are you sure you want to get involved with him? He seems funny, but also mean.")
I advise against attempting a bait-and-switch to surprise the player regarding the general tone of a romance--rather than being awed at the narrative twist, most players will simply become frustrated with the game (and its writers). That doesn't mean you can't have surprises, but they should be the kind of surprises a player might expect--if my romcom-style love interest turns out to be married and many misunderstandings and hijinks ensue before the happy ending, great; if my apparent fantasy romance involves the slow deterioration of the relationship because the love interest is wrestling with deep-set problems totally beyond my control, then not-so-great. (I discuss player expectations and theme a bit more here.)
Be especially careful with fantasy fulfillment romances, even in games that are, broadly speaking, power fantasies. A romance that comes without sacrifices, that results in what's by most definitions a "better" end for the player character, becomes a sort of trophy--and once you start offering up trophies, it's hard to present not having a trophy as an equally viable option. If your game has the tacit assumption that ending up coupled is always superior, then you're putting yourself in a position where either a) you need to provide a particularly wide variety of romantic interests to accommodate every taste; or b) you end up encouraging players to romance NPCs they don't actually like, just to get the "good" result. "A" is a massive pain for the writer. "B" is awful for the player. This isn't to say that power fantasies are bad--they can, in fact, be empowering--but know what you're getting into.
Allow multiple entry and exit points. One of the joys of branching narrative is that it allows player characters to change over time. In recognition of this, try to give the player multiple chances to begin or end a given relationship.
Entry points are largely a matter of convenience and a means of reassuring the player that, if a given moment doesn't feel like the "right time" to start a romance, it doesn't have to be. Exit points are more important--if the player feels trapped in a romance about which he or she has doubts, that resentment will very likely grow stronger. Simply by presenting an escape route, you acknowledge the player's doubts and misgivings about the relationship and assure the player that, no, the relationship isn't intended to seem perfect--there are real problems here, and it's totally up to the player if he or she wants to try to make it work or to part ways.
Encourage a give-and-take. As with non-romantic relationship-building, make sure that (if your game has branching dialogue) player characters are given opportunities to talk about themselves and their feelings. It's easy to write an NPC who talks at length about his or her background, relationship with the player character, hopes, fears, and so forth--but to help create a real bond, the player character needs to be able to express the same sorts of things and feel heard.
Allowing the player character to express his feelings about the relationship doesn't need to be limited to the relationship itself, either. Why can't the player character's sidekick (or best pal, or therapist) ask how the relationship is going? Let the player complain or not complain; either way, it helps build up the relationship's narrative within the player's mind.
Don't make assumptions about player reactions. The love interest you intend as charming may come across to some players as sleazy; the love interest you wrote to be shy make come across as frustratingly oblivious. That's fine--different players should bring different interpretations of the narrative to the table! But make sure you give the player plenty of options to express dislike, disenchantment, or offense at the actions of (potential or current) romantic partners--limiting a player's options to insist that she like a character tends to change the player's dislike for a character into a dislike for the game in general.
(Allowing the player character to react negatively can also allow you to change course, if need be; maybe the "charming" love interest turns apologetic when called on his sleaziness and tries to mend fences with the player character. Or maybe not.)
Beware the triangles. Are there love triangles in your story? Do NPCs get jealous? Does it only happen if they're actively in a relationship with the player character, or can they get jealous if they're not in a relationship? Does serial monogamy have consequences? Are any of the love interests polyamorous? Are only some of the love interests polyamorous?
Don't let the complexity of your romance subplots dwarf the rest of the game (or just accept that you're writing a romance game, not a game with romantic subplots). Make sure that you've got a plan for dealing with all entanglements that fit the personalities of all characters involved and doesn't leave you overworked. If that means finding ways to geographically separate potential love interests, do it ("My first wife lives in New York; my second lives in Hong Kong. They don't know about each other."); if that means establishing polyamory as universal in your game setting with some quick and awkward exposition, do that; if that means reducing the number of romantic interests so that you can have a branch-heavy, nuanced set of interactions between them, go for it! But have some sort of plan.
Build equally strong non-romance content. The more substantial and pervasive your romance subplots, the more important it is to have equally compelling exclusive content for players who choose not to engage in a romance.
Why? Not out of any sense of "fairness," but because you'll want to persuade players that they don't have to engage in a romance to get the game's full experience. Fail to do so, and you'll get a lot of players angrily taking up romances they don't like. This isn't such an issue if your romance subplots are relegated to small scenes and sidequests here and there, but if they're heavily integrated into your main plot, this is an issue you should consider.
So how do you build compelling non-romance exclusive content? The most obvious way is to find a different tack to approach the relationship with the same NPC--to develop a platonic friendship or rivalry that's interesting and rich in its own right and opens up a side of the NPC the romance-involved player never sees. You could acknowledge the player's choice to not engage in a romance, having other characters
