So I may have gotten momentarily distracted about The Dating Sim
Honestly most of this is UI design and thinking around the mechanics of how a Dating Sim could be made with some spoilery(???) uses of said mechanics; I am completely enamoured by game design and player accessibility but it can be kind of a weird niche lol ♪
Starting off with text boxes!
Tried out a design with yarn acting as the entire border and bows tied throughout. The little scribbles of red in the lower left corner were supposed to be stitched/knitted heart patterns to represent Edgar’s Affection Points, but I still haven’t settled on a design I’m happy with |P
This is probably the closest, but it’s also the most simple - nothing wrong with simple! But I still feel like I can do better. 10 stitches for 10 possible Affection Points ♪
A slightly more refined take on the text box(es), especially to do with how Scriabin and Edgar’s complement each other - both sides of the yarn would go offscreen for either of them, but it’s mean to look like if you could zoom out the screen they would be tied to each other. The three bows are a bit much for such a confined space lol, but maybe if they were a bit more spread out. And giving each of them a directional border on the side the yarn ties in as well, I like that it’s more subtle :)
Still working on Edgar’s Affection display, I just can’t find a good balance of simple and thematic >:/ I do like the knitted text box tho, if it was subtle enough and I could get it to look right, I wouldn’t mind certain threads turning from a light grey to red ♪ I just worry that might be too much yarn, if such a thing exists haha
Down to just one loop-de-loop - it could reasonably show for both of them, cut off just after it on each side to indicate they share the one ♥
All menus all the time!
The buttons at the bottom of the text boxes would open up three different overlays with either a darkened BG or see-through screened effect, I’d have to test them digitally to see which is the most readable :P But they open to LOG (this screen: The current scene’s dialogue in case you clicked too fast or forgot a detail) - MENU - and a gear that opens OPTIONS
The aforementioned OPTIONS; mostly the basics for now, Text and Size, Music volume (I’d probably change it to overall volume and/or SFX specific) - I did forget one option here, toggling Adult Content since y’know, Vargas can get kind of A Lot sometimes haha ♪
A potential MENU layout, though I also like the SAVE/LOAD/TITLE/EXIT options being at the bottom of the screen, decisions decisions. I think leaving them to the side to allow the saves to have a multiple page listing at the bottom and keeps it all pretty clean and readable tho, hmm. Both OPTIONS and MENU would have the same overlay as LOG from earlier as well ♪ Unified design!
Me, just completely lost in the sauce: What is the most organic/non-utilitarian but still readable layout I can make so that the options are integrated but not a clusterfuck hmmmmmmmmm. Lol, it’s important to me! Depending on how tall and centralized the splash art is, either a stack would be too dividing or would cover up details - but it could also be used as an intentional divider! You can see I tried separating the buttons to each take a corner and hated that lol (which sucks ‘cause that would allow the art to be very centralized lol), and my notes from the OPTIONS spilling over haha
Next up: Endings Chart! Edgar’s on the left, Scriabin on the right; an ↑ indicates high Affection (7+), a - means mid-range Affection (~5), and a ↓ means low Affection (3-)
I actually forgot about the Neutral Ending, but that’s ‘cause it’s the Neutral Ending lol - it’s basically what happens if you get to the end without raising either of their affection high or low enough to get any other ending - basically if you start ignoring them and run out the days as normal. Technically the lowest one could be considered the Worst Ending, but it’s meant to be a joke ending lol :P
And finally thinking about a secret on the Title Screen, if I could figure out how to do it lol - since there’s like seven endings, it could be a pain to see how many you’ve gotten up to this point/how many are left, and how to get the last one(s), so why not a handy flow chart? But just leaving that out in the open feels like spoilers to new players and cheating for those who haven’t gotten at least one ending yet, so I liked the idea of hiding it in the yarn tied to their hands; on a first boot-up, the cursor wouldn’t react to it and the image wouldn’t look like something that can be clicked on, but if you did, it could still take you to the chart, but the intended route is to complete the game at least once, and then once the cursor is hovered over the yarn it would glow and change from a regular cursor to a clickable indicator, so anyone who got curious would get a bigger hint ♪ Still hidden, but easy to access :D
Those are most of my design notes and ideas for an over-excited first run lol, all the rest of my ideas were dialogue- and scenario-based :3c
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I am also blown away by people Just Saying Things. I could never. But I've followed you for years and I have no plans to stop. We don't have much overlap in interests right now but I still like seeing you on my dash, and I look forward to the chance we'll maybe have a shared Thing in the future.
(I completely understand the reluctance to update, the only things always up-to-date on my phone are my games and only because it wouldn't let me play them otherwise. Though imo it would be better to do it soon-ish and maybe keep a relatively functional form of tumblr for a while longer, rather than the "forced to update at gunpoint" moment coming after they've made some of the lovely (sarcasm) changes they seem to be planning. Also polls really are fun. I wanna make one but I haven't been able to think of a good one yet and I have like no followers so it wouldn't get votes, lol)
I’m happy you accept me for my myriad of interests, maybe someday we shall meet again. Thank you for your service.
Back in the distant past when I did try saying things I was always devastated if no one interacted and bewildered and overwhelmed if someone did, so I think I stopped maybe bc of how much I put myself out there only for nothing to come of it a majority of the time. But like I’m much older now and on meds actually and tumblr is different than in my sordid ancient past so I might be able to just yell into the void and say fuck it and only obsess about it a little. Still unsure.
Also just the thought of, does anyone read my tag rants on reblogs? Bc like I have a feeling that’s what my fucking posts would be like and idk if ppl even get through all that nonsense. Except, like, curated, and hopefully funnier. Also my posts would have fucking spellcheck so my too fast brain-to-type wouldn’t be so overwhelmingly fast that I don’t stop to check until it’s too late and the tag is just useless with half the words typos or spelled wrong, making me look a fool.
I’m so scared of updating tumblr like I don’t want to relearn what tumblr is after so long living this way, but also I have zero clue what my posts or blog actually look like anymore, the one it shows me I know is a lie, an echo of the past trapped in real time. I have noticed things like the ability to pin posts and turn off reblogs and like bitch I’m jealous I can’t do that you got me there.
Maybe I’ll actually finish my updated icon and that will usher in the new tumblr era of Caff Makes an Attempt.
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