Dating Ariane FAQ

How did you come up with this?

I was involved in the AI Beast game, the first "virtual reality" game, and was thinking of creating something similar (but smaller), but did not have the time. Then I thought of doing a desktop avatar character like this one or this one or this one or this one, only not as erotic and more useful, but did not have the money.

Then I was working on a project for someone else, a web "picture book" with text and pictures where you click next to turn a page, and came up with an idea: How about a web based "choose your own adventure picture book"? Then the little bit I did on the first two projects got merged together into something no where near as ambitious that I did have the time and money to do.

How big is this game?

There are over 1000 pictures, and over 1200 html pages.

I do not think I have seen that many pictures, have I missed something?

Probably, there are areas of this game no one ever goes to. Here is a list of locations: House (living room, kitchen/dining, bedroom, bathroom) Backyard (Pool, hot tub, stargazing bench, barbecue), Drive (gas/convenience store, cabaret, lookout point, lake, amusement park), Downtown (restaurant, museum, night club, lingerie shop, dress shop, home furnishings store)

Why do some of the pictures look so cheesy?

From the get go, I decided that trying to create great works of art for each picture would be way too time consuming. And unfortunately, anything bigger than 800x500 jpgs would take up way too much web space. So in creating the pictures, "fast" and "cheap" became the mantras.

I have taken shortcuts wherever possible.  I could have ray trace renderings, and I have tools for more realistic hair and skin, but decided that if I use them in one picture, I would have to use them in all pictures. The "low rez" look means I can get away with using game screenshots as backgrounds (that and the fact that this is purely a non-commercial enterprise).

What did you use to make the pictures?

The model is Victoria 3 from DAZ 3D, hair from Digital Babes 2, the renderer is Poser 7 from Smith Micro, the apartment is Poser Luxury Apartment I found at Renderosity, also the Hot Tub. Backyard and stores backgrounds are screenshots from Sims 2, and all the street scene backdrops are from Need for Speed Underground 2.

What has changed?

The original concept was to make a maze, with a lot of dead ends. Here is the original script, but don't try and follow it, it is completely wrong now. The "patio bench" make out location has been dropped (silly ending), and the theater has been dropped (dumb idea).

Version 1 consisted only of the house and backyard. Version 2 added downtown and the restaurant. Version 3 added some locations but also includes major changes to the story flow. Hard endings have been dropped in some cases to be replaced with story loops. Version 4 simplified some of the rules of the game, making some parts harder and some parts easier. There are some new scenarios, and some locations that were bugged (home furnishings store) or tacky (the lingerie store) or unrealistic (the whiskey bottle) have radically changed.  In version 5, I made the house more versatile, changed the couch make out sessions, added more park scenarios, and two more dinner scenarios. The club bar and lingerie store are a little more challenging now too. Going from Version 5 to 6 I rewrote almost every location, enhancing and/or fixing almost every location. It was in version 6.1 that I added response text. Every version since has mostly been about bug fixing as the game has reached a point where new additions only sprout more bugs.

Will there be a version 7?

As an exercise in learning HTML5, I may rewrite the current version to that, but probably for online purposes only, and with no significant changes to the story lines.

Is the live version the same as the download version?

Mostly. Any updates will be snuck into the online version before they show up on the download version.

What are the rules to the game?

Yes, every game has rules, and while the detailed rules are complicated, the basics are pretty simple. The general objective for most players I assume is nudity and sex, which Ariane is willing to do but you have to make a good impression.

Nudity

To enable partial nudity, you have to do two things: Win a game, and drink alcohol at least 3 times. Because drinking three times on an empty stomach makes her too drunk to go on, you need to feed her too. Therefore, nudity before food is forbidden as well.

To enable full nudity, you have to do the above plus: For full nudity at home you must have "made out" (necked, reached second base, given a shoulder massage) at least once. To enable full nudity in a public place, you have to win at least two games from the list below.

What game do you need to win? Any. But be warned, losing any non random game turns nudity off for the rest of the date.
1. Rock Scissors Paper - Random, losing means Ariane controls the early part of the date. A loss does not permanently disable nudity.
2. Playground - Objective: Play. The other choice is watching her play which permanently disables nudity.
3. Stargaze - Objective: Knowledge. Point to the right thing, nudity on. Failure permanently disables nudity.
4. Basketball - Beating or tying Ariane's total turns on nudity, missing at least twice permanently disables nudity.
5. Underwater Swim Race - Objective: Timing. The game allows racing twice. Win either time nudity on. Lose both, nudity off.
6. Spin the bottle - Random, lose control of the game, but nudity turned on.
7. Truth or Dare - Nudity turned on from beginning, but must finish game for date to continue.
8. Dress Shop - Find matching top and skirt before finding two tops or two skirts which permanently disables nudity.
9. Home Store - Objective: Observation. Find pictures that match her wall's decor. Two right turns on. Failure permanently disables nudity.
10. Art Museum - Objective: Knowledge. Answer questions about art. Two right turns on. Failure permanently disables nudity.
11. Night Club - Objective: Decorum. Don't get drunk, or let her get drunk, or start any fights. You win. Failure permanently disables nudity.
12. Bar Trivia - More hits than misses turns on nudity. Too many misses permanently disables nudity.
13. Lingerie - There are four qualities. Ariane will pick 3. Each bra has two, each panties has one. Get all 3 within 3 tries wins access to Rebecca.

Besides winning a game, spending money on her, or doing things she likes to do may enable nudity as well.

The Amusement Park, only shows up if nudity is disabled on the drive home from downtown or the outskirts. Parcheesi shows up easily if nudity is disabled and you go to the kitchen after dessert.

Other rules involving nudity:
Any nudity at her house (other than game rewards) disables the ability to go downtown or to the outskirts, but does not rule out convenience store.
Ariane can change her clothes twice between casual, swim, and black dress. Partial nudity at home takes one change of clothes away. Full nudity at home takes both away (meaning she is nude the remainder of the game).
Besides home, Ariane is open to nudity in the outskirts locations: strip club, viewpoint, lake beach, or the ski boat. Nudity must already be enabled though.

Sex

Nudity is a requirement for sex. There are 3 kinds of sex:
Casual (home) sex requires a balance of three kinds of foreplay: Kissing, massaging, and dancing, and can be achieved on the couch or in the hot tub.
Sleep over sex requires foreplay, as well as activity participation. Failure to take her out and show her a good time, often means sleeping on the couch.
Daring sex in public places requires multiple "turn on nudity" achievements, plus participation in a daring public nudity stunt. Available at viewpoint or the strip club.

And that's the game!