Gaming largely focuses on action-packed narratives and level design, but dating sims provide intimate and impactful games. The dating sim genre concentrates on the romance between players and characters. Additionally, the genre offers unique player inclusivity in a sim’s narrative. Since the genre began, dating sims have focused on the player experience and provided player-led stories and dialogue interactions.
For more about what makes a dating sim continue reading.
The Genre’s Inception
Dating sims and their core elements, like mini-games or romance for a specific character, are believed to originate in Japan. Girl’s Garden (1985) is often regarded as one of the first dating sims because of its introduction of core sims elements. Girl’s Garden introduces essential gameplay foundations such as mini-games, time limits, and love triangles.
For example, the protagonist, Papri, collects flowers to give to her boyfriend to prevent him from being interested in different girls. Moreover, earlier dating sims titles were arcade-like because of the 80’s and 90’s time periods, but some elements have remained. The goal of winning a character’s affection remained as well as static cutscenes between characters and more.
What Makes a Dating Sim
Dating sims have continued to evolve since the 80s, but romance and relationships remain the genre’s focus. Polygon, a pop culture website, refers to these games as similar to visual novels. They explain that interactive text adventures with images and animations accompany the genre.
Additionally, players can interact with casts of characters through dialogue prompts that can improve or tarnish their relationships. The player’s choices can change a plot’s course or a character’s outcome. Ultimately, dating sims invite players to form relationships and create a story they actively participate in. Dating sims often encourage players to win a character’s love but can vary in gameplay and scope.
Modern Dating Sims
Since the 80s, dating sims have influenced other gaming genres, while developers have expanded the genre to be more comical and accessible. An example of a more comical dating sim is Hatoful Boyfriend (2011). In this game, the characters are birds rather than humans, which comically encourages players to pursue them. The silliness of the game creates a comedic twist while staying true to the romance aspect of the genre.
Dating sims impacted the narrative gameplay of Western games for its in-depth character interactions. Most notably, developer Telltale Games features core aspects of dating sims, such as romance interactions and dialogue selections. Games such as Tales from the Borderlands (2014) incorporate dialogue selections where the player’s choices progress the plot and character development. This type of gameplay can also be found in modern versions of dating simulators.
Conclusion
The dating sim genre has evolved from single relationships arcade games to experimental and narrative-focused games. There is a wide range of dating sims with unique stories and characters that can appeal to many gamers. Dating sims encourage players to interact with a game’s story and influence the outcomes based on their choices.
Ferry Godmother Productions is also working on its own dating sim! For updates and details, make sure to check back with our site, FerryGodmother.com!