Do you think this would be OK?

[Pace675]

I will have to agree with Aleema. The shy book girl is kind of trope/mime when it comes to character portrayals. But I also tip my head in acknowledgement to the writer for (s)he is the one that envisions the character concept and storyline, which would ask the question is it cliche or is it correct character representation? Since you mention that there is character development in this game, which bodes well, one can hope for this game to break free for this stereotype.

[jack1974]

I just read the Thanksgiving/Winter Break scenes and I really think it won't be a problem, I mean Anne (the female protagonist) is shy but as the game goes on she changes a lot and it's not like "OMG this guy is nearby what I'll do!!" things for example, in a scene she invites Max to her house:

"I came to this city to break out of my shell. And if my parents want a chance to see my new life, I don't think anybody represents that better than Max."
"As long as I can get him to promise to be on good behavior, I think he and my parents will do fine."
"I try knocking on his door once, but he's playing his electric guitar, so I have to really bang a few times to get through."

so I think is definitely not the stereotype of "the shy-geek-weirdo-girl who never speaks to anyone and runs away from any embarrassing situation"

[thesleepykitten]

I do like the character development. Reminds me of Steve in Flower Shop who was a slacker but improved during his stay in Fairbrook. I used to be the super shy bookworm as well, and it wasn't until university that I was more outgoing.

So I'm interested to see how Anne grows as a person, and Max. :D

[reader]

I was talking with the writer about the gameplay of the game that must be reflected in writing. In summary: Anne has very good grades, while Max isn't really a great student. I was thinking, for gameplay reasons only, to have each character have some kind of bonus:
- Anne would be able to study faster or get higher grades without much rest, but would get tired quicker than Max while doing the jobs (there will be several part time jobs)
- Max would be the opposite: have more resistance while doing the jobs, but get tired much faster while studying

I was wondering if that could raise complaints from players (because makes a difference based on gender) or it would be fine? I think it would be fine since it's not something due to the gender but of the character personalities, but you never know

The way I've usually seen this done is that say a smart character is able to raise the knowledge stat faster because of this trait. Only if they are weak in strength will they conversely have a harder time with physical activities. Would prefer to have these as two different stat traits instead of bundled together as it seems to be suggested here.

[jack1974]

Well nothing of the simulation is done yet, but as I imagine is just a sort of bonus, but not an absolute value. I mean if we talk in skills we could say that Max starts at Physical 25 while Anne is 1 while the opposite is true for Discipline (I wouldn't use the term smart because Max is just lazy, not stupid). BUT along the game you could still manage to raise Anne's Physical stats higher than Max and vice versa. Anyway, still long time to go before I decide to code the simulation part

[MrEnvy8]

I kind of feel like my thoughts have been expressed here already. Suffice it to say if the writing conveys their personalities correctly, the gameplay bonuses should feel natural. It should feel like- "Oh, of course Max got tired after studying. I just got done reading about how he spent three hours working on one problem, threw his book down and decided to build a playing card fort instead. These elements gel in my head in a consistent narrative format. I don't know why I talk to myself like this..."

or something like that.

[thesleepykitten]

"Oh, of course Max got tired after studying. I just got done reading about how he spent three hours working on one problem, threw his book down and decided to build a playing card fort instead."

Giving me flashbacks when I took statistics. =,) Card house included.

[tnek89]

Are academics and the endurance of part-time jobs both equally important?

[jack1974]

Well I guess so - right now I haven't done much at all about the gameplay coding/design so hard to reply to this question, but I'll try to make them equally important