We are looking for a game designer to help us create the MVP of our story-driven visual novel NSFW.
The MVP includes daily schedules/routines for NPCs + quests/branching choices. We need help defining and setting up the "rules of the game" to keep the player engaged in progressing through the story, planning their day, and feeling meaningful progress.
What needs to be done for MVP (2 hours of gameplay):
- Define the core loop (location → action → resources/stats → time of day → progress)
- Describe and balance a simple economy/stats/time cost (minimal, without complications)
- Design the quest structure and 2-3 branches with different outcomes
- Prepare clear documents/tables for the writer and programmer
Project description (summary / logline)
A story-driven NSFW visual novel with life-sim elements set in a small modern city where the player plans their day, visits locations, earns money, and progresses quests.
The main character (MC) is a student who returns to their parents' home after a fire in their rented apartment and has to pay off a debt while studying and working part-time.
Core gameplay: map → location → action → stats/money/reputation → time of day shift → new events
MVP: available locations include the parental home, work, gym, park, grocery store, and forest
(shopping mall, construction site, and business center - locked)
Stats: INT/STR/CHA, global reputation, money + weekly debt payment.
Story (short)
The MC returns to their parents' home after a fire in their rented apartment. Now they have to rebuild their life, figure out what really happened, and pay off their debt while studying and working part-time.
Engine and implementation approach
The project is being developed on Ren’Py (Python). From the very start, we are establishing a clear separation:
- narrative layer (scenes, dialogues, events)
- logic/systems (time of day, stats, money, NPC schedules, quest states)
We are looking for a game designer who can help describe the systems in a way that makes them easy to implement in Ren’Py (through simple states, flags, condition checks, and managers)
Systems already laid out in MVP
- Day cycle: 4 phases (morning / day / evening / night). Significant actions shift time by 1 phase.
- NPC schedules: simple routines at "points of interest" (home / work / gym / city locations) depending on the time of day.
- Quests: main mini-arc + side quests, with 2-3 branches and at least 2 endings for the main arc.
- Economy: earnings + expenses + weekly mandatory payment (debt/rent)
- Stats: INT/STR/CHA, money, global reputation. Stats affect dialogues, access to activities, and gameplay options.
- Mini-games: as part of progress (earnings/stats/quest advancement). Architecturally, we want them to be easy to add
Thank you for taking the time to read this)
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