The Art of Delaying Consequences — The Memory System
The emotion system (three layers), the context system (scene conditions). We built two. The third and final core system remains. The memory system. One of the problems with traditional visual novels is that "results are immediate." Make a good choice and you get an instant positive reaction; make a bad choice and you get an instant negative reaction. This turns choices into a quiz. In real relationships, the results of a choice do not come immediately. Something you said today can come back a month later. An act you thought was considerate can later be interpreted as hurtful. This "delay" is what gives a relationship its weight. Accumulating Flags The basic unit of the memory system is the flag. Variables that record the player's choices. default flags = { "did_not_ask" : 0 , # Times you didn't ask at a crucial moment "avoided_confession" : 0 , # Times you postponed a confession "missed_timing...