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"Meet Relay 1.1" Some changes of plans.
🕑 Added 2023-08-27 18:10:35 +0000 UTC
I decided to completely remake my "Meet Relay" mini-game from last month, because I have new plans for it.
I got rid of any mention of "Hopepunk City". I'm leaving the possibility that the two games are related, but I want them as independent as possible until I have to connect them. "Maya" still makes a cameo, but is no longer voiced, or talking about the history of Artema. She appears in one frame as a college professor talking about Mayan civilization.
Where "Hopepunk City" was about the aftermath of a politically driven "Second Civil War", this next game will have global climate change as a background setting. The game is not actually about climate change, it's a romantic dating sim, but climate change is obvious in the background and will come up from time to time in conversations.
This is a futuristic story, and futuristic stories demand some world building, and my world building is dealing with global climate change.
The player and Relay are students taking a world history class together, and Mayan history was the last lecture. The Mayan are one of many famous isolated civilizations that destroyed their own environment. (see also Rapa-Nui, Angkor Wat, Greenland, and possibly a cause of the great bronze-age collapse.)
This serves as an introduction to the game's setting: Why there is a big housing shortage, why clothing and food is simple, etc.
Like HC, language is gender neutral, all housing is public with basic income stipends, and there seems to be a lack of morality based rules in society. Unlike HC, there are no explanations given as to why, and there likely won't be this time.
Changes to the look
I redid all the pictures since the July release. Relay is now using the "curvier" normal looking body, and now wears simple jewelry (two earrings, two necklaces, two wrist bands, all obviously hand made. Got rid of the voice bubbles (too much work) and went with upper left yellow text, in Franklin Medium font, like every other game of mine.
The sky outside is a bright orange instead of blue. Sunset? Dust storm? Wildfire smoke? Some new technical process designed to reverse climate change? I haven't decided. I got the idea from orange skies this summer due to Canadian wildfire smoke blowing my direction, and thought it looked both scary and cool.
The beginning of "the game"
Also as you talk and get to know Relay, you might notice similar messages in the lower left corner about "Relay thinks you are smart" etc. That's because this serves as the introduction to the larger game, like the pre-dinner on Date Ariane. Depending on your responses, you can demonstrate smart, nice, and funny. Since this is a study session, "sexy" is replaced by expressing interest in Relay's life.
If you manage to demonstrate all 4 before the end of the demo, Relay will ask you on an actual date. I have not balanced this very well, so treat it as a demo of sorts. If it seems shorter than the last game, it is because I split up several discussions. The personal AI discussion (scores a "smart" point) is mutually exclusive to her talking about the origin of her name (scores an "interest" point).
Edited
I updated the demo once again, see the Dec 24th post.
