I don't have any experience in game design, and suddenly I'm thrown into the deep end.
My initial conception was to write a simple visual novel of course, just a story. But then there came Persona and I was like, OMG I want to do something like that! So that's what happened.
The story itself is not too complex. It has its fair share of twists and branches, but it's very clear, and if each route is taken on its own, is very linear. (This is opposed to my Tsukihime project which is the exact opposite).
What I'm finding most difficult is, 'game design'. Persona had social links, choices you make to socialize with various characters in order to power up your magical creatures to fight monsters.
That is... too crazy for me clearly. However, social links without bonuses become just a bunch of choices, and the only difference between one choice or another choice, is the order in which the social links are done. I'm not terrifically excited about that prospect, it doesn't really sound interesting.
One easy solution of course, is to limit the time available and give out more social links. I'm not terribly excited about that either. That just means I would to... write a LOT of social links in order to fill up available time and then some. Or, I can use timeskips to shorten the available time.
Still, in either solution something feels missing. Then there's the way that Persona crafts their 'stats'. I'm talking about things like Academics, Courage, Charm, etc. They intertwine neatly (more so in P4 than P3) into the gameplay to give some sense of progression. The way I have it currently will seem like an open buffet of SLs that you can leisurely pick and do at any time. Something feels missing there. There are other ways, story ways, to spread out the SLs, but I am wondering if anyone views those stats as important.
