Plot and Story

I want to put a story to wrap around the Jgame, but it is really difficult.

Last night I thought of a few bonus events that will be unlocked during the game.

Today I watched LocalScriptMan to try get inspiration or understand what I want to put into the story.

Whilst watching it I also thought about Bullet Pass.

In J-game: the player is learning Japanese for a year. I want the game to feel like a grind of trying to learn, being lonely and maybe even failing because they choose the wrong actions.

In Bullet-Pass: the player is trying to travel to as many Shinkansen stations as possible in a week. I want to game to have wonder, and a bit of stress as you try to get to all the stations.

I am thinking J-game should be about someone in their 30s, who at least in the back of their minds (if not outright) believes they have missed the bus - that they should had learnt a language, and went to University earlier. Maybe the reason is because they took care of their terminally ill parents since High School. Now 30, or thirty-something they are too old to get a working holiday visa, so they get a student visa and that gives them 18-24 months to live in Japan on the recent inheritence, or hard earned cash they have scraped together in their twenties.

I have the weekly view available. To explain the homework, they could be standing in a bookstore at the start of the year, and thinking which books they should purchase so they learn better.

Maybe their language school is in Tokyo, so they can get distracted - spent time at shops, or Conbinis and dreaming of being able to communicate. Or it could be lonely in the country side, at a rural university. They will find it easy to get lost in study, but then need to reach out to make friends and have an adventure. Maybe the monotomy will be too close to home, the grind they had in their earlier adult life.

Romance? Will they find love, or even make friends? Will they succeed in learning the language? How will they balance all of that?

It is easy for the player to be focused - it is just a click “study harder”, but what interesting things can I provide or use to entice them otherwise?

I don’t know which game will be easier to write the plot for, and am a little paralysed thinking about both games when I should just pick one and develop that story first.