Philosophy | The MC

Philosophy | The MC

When I talked about relationships last week, I touched briefly on the MC and his role in all of it. I wanted to expand on that some since it's pretty important. After all, the MC is half of the relationship.

First off, I want you to have control over the MC when it comes to the dialogue. Within reason. When I write everything, I always write what the MC would say based on how the relationship is already established. For example, with Riley, the dialogue is casual because he's known who she is for years. With Vanessa, he's somewhat mocking because of her posh personality is strange to him. With Kate, he shows her respect because she's a college dean and she's twice his age.

When the response isn't so obvious, that's when I decide to give you a choice in what to say. You're the MC. So I want you to pick what you want to say. If you don't want to flirt with a character, you shouldn't be forced to. If you do, you should have that option, too. But just because you flirt with a character shouldn't lock you into a romance. I want you to choose a dialogue option because you wanted to choose it and not because a walkthrough told you to.

As far as the MC himself goes, I'm trying to find that balance between two sides. On the one extreme, he can be the guy who says and does whatever a woman wants him to say and do. On the other hand, he can be a complete alpha male who commands these women, tells them what to do, and makes them fall in line. I haven't been always to hit that balance between the two but I'm attempting to.

My main goal is to shape the MC into someone that the women actually like. All of them have different personalities but if the MC is capable and competent, there's no reason they can't all look up to him. Likeable qualities are generally universal.

The MC is going to accomplish a lot over the game in every story path. He's going to do a lot in all aspects, whether it's fighting at the Proving Grounds or rubbing elbows in Uptown or doing business in Midtown. Your relationship with everybody might seem like a priority but I look at it as a residual from everything else that the MC is doing. Whether you view it one way or another, his priority is the thesis and the coffee shop before everything else.

I want there to be an actual relationship with the MC before something deeper evolves. And that starts with the MC himself striving toward becoming greater. I'm hoping to accomplish that by pushing him through all of these tests all over the city.

I mentioned this last week but I wanted to say it again. The MC is not a jerk. He might be going into wild situations (and you'll see in Episode 6 that the situations he's in are getting even wilder.). But I'll never put him in a situation he can't get his way out of. And I'll never put him in a situation that doesn't prioritize his goals. What are his goals? The thesis and the coffee shop.

We're far away from that point but that's the destination. By the time we get there, you'll be ready and able to choose how much farther your relationship goes. The women will look at you with googly, starstruck love in their eyes. And hopefully, they'll have good reason to.

At this point in the story, I'm assuming there's at least one girl you're interested in. For the others, you're forced to go along with their story. Maybe you'll change your mind about them. Maybe you won't. As you've already seen with Erika and Harlow, you have a choice to turn down pursuing them. You don't have to have sex with Jordan or Marisa. I want you to know that even if you don't like the character or the storyline, the MC will be better off for having known them. The MC at the beginning of the story won't be the same MC at the end of it.

You're the MC. I want you to be someone great. But you can't be great without working for it. I'm doing everything I can to get you there.

Is there an aspect of the MC you're interested in seeing develop? Is there a storyline that has you intrigued? Or are you only focused on the relationships? Let me know what you think if you have an opinion. I'm always listening.

On Episode 6

I'll have the first progress update on the episode next week. I have the biggest scene I've done so far coming up. I plan on building the scene, prepping the characters, and mapping everything out this weekend. I think I'll be able to get some renders done and then spend all week working on it before the first update. It's going to be a fun scene. A LOT of characters are going to show up and lots of stuff happens. I know it's pointless to kind of say things like that when I can't mention any spoilers, but I just wanted to let you all know how things are progressing and I've got a lot of big plans.

As always, thank you for your support. If you have anything to say or have any questions for me, you're always welcome to speak your mind. Take care of yourself and enjoy the weekend. I'll see you all next week.