Re: Getting to Know Christine

by **Arnulf** » Sat, 11Mar26 08:45

Hi, phreaky, what's up with your avatar?? If you need help, mainly to put it on a webspace, which makes no problems, call me by PM and I'll take your avatar to my web-site( and give you the link. Ask tlaero).

by **VRaptorX** » Sat, 11Mar26 09:04

finally beat it...and i got the foursome. Now....for the secret ending....do I need to be in a specific difficulty or can I just go with easy?

by **MisterPoe** » Sat, 11Mar26 10:09

The term is anal retentive btw. Saying anal is completely inaccurate. English majors FTW!

by **ssb1021** » Sat, 11Mar26 12:54

guys i have to say great job with christine not to hard yet not to easy to play. the name says it all, not only did the character adrian get to know her i did to that how i knew what to answer when in order to advance and take hard in once shot. great job again

by **Greebo** » Sat, 11Mar26 14:49

MisterPoe wrote : The term is anal retentive btw. Saying anal is completely inaccurate. English majors FTW!

"The term anal retentive (also anally retentive), commonly abbreviated to anal, is used conversationally to describe a person who pays such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others" (Wikipedia)
Have you considered that your post could be interpreted as being not only inaccurate, but also providing an example of anal retentiveness?

by **Salamandastron** » Sat, 11Mar26 15:08

@Tlaero/phreaky: Yeah, that is a major problem with using the 2nd person perspective (as an author) in these kind of games - the player tries to put himself into the mold created for the protagonist and tries to shape him in his image, if you will. As a player, I'd want my character to have some connection to me.

That's why I like morally ambiguous games like a lot of modern RPGs because you can choose to do things one way or another (I usually choose good, but here the existence of choice is important, since it makes my decision more significant). In other cases, I've actually stopped playing games where the characters went ahead and did things I didn't want to do.

So yes, third-person might be helpful in maintaining a distance between the player and the player character, but then you need to come up with a way to provide incentive/motivation for the player to continue caring about the player character, even when he realises they are not made in the same mold. It's a tough balancing act, but game design ain't all that easy. But it's great that you guys care enough to take the feedback - I'm sure your games will just keep on improving at this rate.

P.S - As a justification for this mechanic, off the top of my head, consider a scenario where the player plays as Cupid, an otherworldly being with limited magical powers. Cupid's job is to get a girl to return the affections of a guy who is infatuated with her. But Cupid can't control the girl, and has only limited control over the guy. That way, as an author, you have the freedom to give the guy any behaviour/demeanour you want. But at the same time, the player ALWAYS feels like he's in control of his character, which is Cupid. The challenge for him is figuring out how to influence the guy's character just enough for him to achieve his goal. I think that might work out decently.

by **lucky loser** » Sat, 11Mar26 19:15

T & P- Excellent game. I am very happy with the built-in characters- as someone else just wrote, it adds another layer of difficulty for the player. We have to get into the mindset of the protagonist AS WELL AS navigate the game & Christine's character.

Seriously impressive! Congrats!

by **tlaero** » Sat, 11Mar26 20:17

Salamandastron, the Cupid suggestion is an interesting one. Even when making Christine, we were talking about what would happen in the next game, so the mechanics of that one are pretty worked out. It's a Keeley game, so more in line with what people expect. But for the uncharted game that comes after that, the Cupid idea is very interesting. But, maybe it'll be a demon instead. (-:

Tlaero

by **dryheave** » Sat, 11Mar26 22:30

One reason I like this game is that it is like role playing and one can step outside of who they really are. That to me is the whole point of it and I think many are missing it. Yeah, it's not how you would act, but HEY, it's not you. You step into another role and play them. Sometimes you relate better to some than others, but hey, that's life and the way the world is.

by **Boldguy** » Sat, 11Mar26 22:32

First off, wow, Christine is pretty amazing in a lot of regards. The length truly is epic, the challenge level seems fair, and Christine herself is lovely.

The first two dates in particular obviously were extensively thought out and tested. The writing and character motivations generally made sense, especially in the first couple dates. The spycam date in particular really struck me as working on an erotic level while maintaining the tension you clearly wanted to sustain.

The "point" system is obviously a little clunky, but I can see where you used it to prevent user frustration. Perhaps a growing colored bar rather than a straight number would have been slightly more aesthetically pleasing, but I don't see easy ways to get around the need to help the player know why what he did was wrong or right.

The secondary female characters did feel very... secondary. It's good that they were all physically distinct, because their personalities didn't really shine through. In particular I felt the lesbian encounter felt really weird. The seduction was really easy and narratively it seemed odd to me that Christine would so eagerly go at it with another woman with the protagonist watching before going too far with him. I understand at some level she is "testing" him, but I had a hard time believing that given how much she seemed to like him at that point she wouldn't just go all the way.

I did enjoy how the "bonus" scene essentially critiqued Christine's inconsistencies. Very nice little tongue-in-cheek addition.

So yeah, overall, great game.

by **Salamandastron** » Sat, 11Mar26 22:37

@Tlaero: Heheh, a demon works just as well. Looking forward to your future games!

by **ExLibris** » Sun, 11Mar27 01:59

tlaero wrote : Salamandastron, the Cupid suggestion is an interesting one. Even when making Christine, we were talking about what would happen in the next game, so the mechanics of that one are pretty worked out. It's a Keeley game, so more in line with what people expect. But for the uncharted game that comes after that, the Cupid idea is very interesting. But, maybe it'll be a demon instead. (-:

Tlaero

Another possibility could making the main character a ghost. That would 'humanise' him a bit while still meaning he was unable to physically take part in the action. Perhaps he's doomed to roam the Earth until he's helped a couple find true love (with a few lust-based misfires along the way). He'd have to nudge things along with a little bit of poltergeistism or possession.

Of course it depends on the flavour of game you want to create. For certain flavours I can see a demon working much better...

by **johnboy1950** » Sun, 11Mar27 02:03

tlaero wrote : I'm taking the feedback to heart and will reflect on it. I think the problem is that you folks are trying to play a game I didn't write. You want to be Adrian and have him act like you. I wanted to tell a story about a character that wasn't you.
...

Maybe the problem is the first person viewpoint. Maybe if I'm going to tell a story about characters the player doesn't want to associate with himself, we should do 3rd person images and I should go out of my way to never say "you," etc.

For what it's worth, I don't think you should spend too much time worrying about this. I think your first characterization of the problem is right (that people were trying to play a different style of game), and I think the only solution to that is to show what can be done with a different style of gaming.

And, while I like branching paths (and am currently getting frustrated trying to get the bonus ending), I also wouldn't take too seriously the game vs interactive-story worries in this regard. Computer games have long had different mixes of story and game play, and branching choices is not the only way to make a story into a game. "Christine" has goals, obstacles, and a clues for what choices to make to overcome those obstacles. It perfectly well qualifies as a game, whatever other features we might like to see in it.

by **Condorman** » Sun, 11Mar27 03:22

Awesome game Phreaky and Tlaero, one of the best yet. But where was the anal??

by **Ripe** » Sun, 11Mar27 06:16

Great game... made it to 95 on hard... so I guess there's place for improvement on my part.

It turns out it's actually possible to 117 points

First date (bar) - 20
Second date (gym) - 18
Third date (webcam) - 23
Fourth date (gun range) - 21
Fifth date (nightclub) - 8
Sixth date (the deed) - 0
Seventh date (pool) - 19
Eighth date (restaurant) - 8
Ninth date (beach) - 0

Just a question: does 20 points for First Date include 2 points you can get at ally before you get to bar or not?

Because so far my best for ending Bar date is 19 points...

Also, someone on Leonizers site claim he ended the game with 134 points [and another claim he ended it with 126].

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