Ariane in Paradise Progress Report
It has been a while since I made a progress report on Ariane in Paradise. Last report was that I was a third of the way done, so I can now report that I am now more than a third of the way done.
I am trying to not upload pictures of days 2 and 3 (I’ve actually done work on both) as I consider them spoilers. I’ve already released quite a few from day 1. The photos I am posting here are “placeholder” pictures that are not even used in the game.
Day 2 consists of three paths with 5 events, all having some kind of puzzle aspect. These basically work like the downtown adventures of Date Ariane, or the puzzles from the 4th story of Something’s In The Air.
One path is a hike to a waterfall. I decided I wanted this to be an all day activity, and needed a really special puzzle. My first thought was a classic adventure game where you have to build something to move on, my second was some kind of “escape room” type of puzzle. I felt both were kind of lame, but then found a way to combine the two ideas, to make something really great, and I’ve been working on this path extensively to get it to work the way I want it.
Path two consists of a day on a crowded beach. If your game is set on a tropical paradise vacation, there’s got to be a visit to a crowded beach somewhere.
I haven’t written it yet, but I do have a puzzle figured out which you can succeed or fail at, the thing is I am still thinking about what happens when you succeed and when you fail. Besides swimming, tanning, drinking, and getting sand everywhere, what is there to do on the beach?
Path 3 is a snorkel trip to a coral reef. All I’ve really done on this one is enough set building to make this picture. Not sure what I want to do, yet.
But I’m leaning towards borrowing an idea from Chaotic’s Miranda which involves a game of hide and seek in the coral. Find Ariane before you run out of air. Again, not sure of the rewards and punishments based on success and failure.
Two of these paths, beach and coral, are morning only. I want to create two afternoon activities. One idea is a trip to a casino to play roulette. The twist on this puzzle: You actually play a game of roulette with a number of random success and failure outcomes, again haven’t written them yet.
Anyways, that’s enough updating, I better get back to work.
Date Ariane Games 
Are you reallying asking what people can do at beach? Well, they can do sports or walk on, take ride…
Remember, there’s a naked volleyball competition on SITA. Probably they won’t be naked at paradise island, but beach volleyball and beach soccer are really popular in the world.
Volleyball is a bit cliche, and I have used it before, but since this island is a French territory, it would make sense that “football” would be popular. I’ve seen street games played a lot in Hispanic neighborhoods, using small hockey goals, even 1v1 contests.
I even figured out a way to implement this into a visual novel by using timed choices similar to the swimming race in DA. Example: You are given two moves you can do, move 1 is successful if you click it immediately, move 2 is only successful if you delay before clicking, and if you don’t choose either in a certain time, the ball goes right past you.
Yeah I know, everybody hates “quick time events”, but I’ll experiment and see what I come up with.
LOTS of ideas for you to consider. These are here for potential later enjoyment by me. That’s payment enough. 🙂
I played my first badminton game on a beach when I was younger. And they do play that in Martinique, though it’s not quite the American backyard version. Might be fun to research (just so I don’t spoil all the fun).
There’s also surfing, which is 100% guaranteed to fail your first few times, but only 5% (1 in 20) chance that you get zonked by the board and have to go back to shore. The “swim of shame” isn’t a thing, it’s just the luck of the draw. All the surfers are pretty much willing to help out so nobody dies or has to go to the hospital. But it still occasionally happens (globally speaking, only about 40 people per year, annually, go to the hospital because of first-time surfing accidents–and virtually all of those weren’t listening to someone trying to teach them).
You could also consider sandcastles, and all of the possibilities there (including destructive ones… going all Godzilla on a miniature sandcastle city has a certain wicked pleasure to it).
There’s also looking for shells. It’s a thing! I found a barnacle shell that was just TEH AWSUMZ and took it from Florida to Utah, where someone stole it, lol.
Making a shell necklace for someone is a sweetly romantic move. Unless, you know, they forgot the bug spray. And then there are little bore-ing insects that dig holes into your skin. Very much a buzzkill, that one.
Depending on the island, there’s also a possibility of finding someone’s dog running around, causing trouble and being a happy hound as they do it. It’s annoying, but sometimes just a part of the experience. And to date, when that’s happened, there’s only been one time I could ever find the owner. I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many dogs there have been. USE LEASHES, PEOPLE! Geez.
Another thing about lots of islands: fresh coconuts! Maybe a coconut-breaking contest, since those things are freaking indestructible if you lack the appropriate sharpened surfaces. Or are willing to forego the nutritious coconut milk inside. Or you know, you can hurt yourself trying. Or someone else. Wacky fun. Or maybe that’s “whacky” fun.
Date palms are also found on some islands (most are transplanted there and aren’t naturally-occurring, as they’re considered beautiful for decorative purposes).
Snorkeling, scuba, you listed all that stuff. But I saw a conspicuous absence of actually sailing. Maybe even one-up the mountain lake in DA with a little boating adventure? Maybe a boating tour at different times of day might have differing results, too.
I also once found a shrimp while snorkeling. I never thought of shrimp as particularly interesting before that, but it was kinda defending its territory against another shrimp. Shrimp fight!
Some things that fail on the beach: Marco Polo comes to mind. Games that require agility without a demarcated area to play in (beach tag, for example) fails. Drinking someone else’s drink happens on occasion, and is embarrassing. And sometimes, nobody notices until much later.
Nobody talks about the mosquitoes, which are voracious sometimes. Remember what I said about bug spray? Get a natural-alternative-repellent mfg to sponsor you, lol. (Not that they would, it would just be surprising and funny.)
Fishing is another activity on a beach, though never near a /crowded/ beach. Hooking a person is a mood spoiler, about like you’d imagine.
And you might tie into SITA with running into a certain young lady who models on beaches, running the risk of a triangle. How you handle that complicated situation, I’ll leave up to you.
Puzzles underwater… you know, running out of air and having to go to the surface is a sign of humility. Running out of air and refusing to go to the surface is a sign of stupidity, in spite of the feeling of wanting to be brave and just tough things out. Drowning victims aren’t sexy. Winners are. Everyone else… maybe.
But maybe there’s a treasure box with some gold in it. Suckers give it all to Ariane. Sweethearts split it. Jerks take it all for themselves–but to be fair, it should depend on who finds it.
Hotels are also places to get away from the monotony of the surf.
Don’t forget trips to town, as most resorts have a semi-decent nightlife (with some exceptions… look at the difference between Seychelles and Maldives, and you’ll likely run into some reviews that can lead you to some great ideas).
And, you also have most of the same kinds of things you’d find at home, entertainment-wise: streaming media, movie theaters, dance clubs, night clubs, stripper joints, fast food places, convenience stores, and so on.
And don’t forget: people live there. Mostly, they’re good people.
Sometimes, not-so-scary people who want to pick your pockets without you noticing.
Sometimes, scary people who want to just want to sell you things you can’t use, like rats or chickens. Or those glass beads you can buy in craft stores that live at the bottom of fish tanks–they’re pretty, but not worth the customs scrutiny.
Sometimes, way-scary people who want to enslave or marry you so they can use your citizenship.
And sometimes, way-way-way-scary people who want to beat, rob, kidnap, or murder you for whatever they can take.
But mostly, good people who just want to make a living like everyone else. Seriously, the evil people are like 1% of the whole, at most. But they exist.
Maybe there are “freedom fighters” who make things exciting. Maybe there are “freedom fighters” who make things purely terrifying. And maybe there are possibilities there for White Knight Savior, who is willing to go the distance for his hot date… and find a reward there. But not necessarily a reward that anyone is expecting. Some imagination will give you plenty of directions.
I liked Red Heron’s suggestion on shell collecting enough to use it. There’s a long scene where you walk along the beach, I implemented it by putting tiny images of shells hidden among the beach pictures as you walk. If you find one, it rewards you with some points.
Basically, it works like an easter egg hunt, which is ironic, because I coded it on easter sunday.
You are amazing in the story telling and as artist. Compliments!!
But I’d like really have another date with Ariane, just with her!
Funny, naughtly, horny and who knows what can happen!
This is basically what this game is. I’m trying to do Date Ariane on a tropical island setting.
I hope to enjoy that feeling again: only “you” and Ariane in a night long date.
There were a “main hub” location, Ariane’s house, and some “satellite locations”, but all the focus was on THAT misterious girl.
What she could like? How to get the better look, manner, experience? And, how to get her making sillyness and hornyness deeds?
Sure, it’s very complicated matter, need a lots of work, and a lots of settings and arts. Best regards! Im counting on you!
Good on you!! Looking forward to be able to beta test. Ric
so how do i download
Thank you so much for your hard work on this game and thank you for the update. I’m looking forward to play it. The hike to the waterfall sounds really interesting. And I get the Lara Croft reference (Ariane’s outfit). Very nice! I hope we’ll see it on the final version.
There’s also plenty of sand castle building competitions. As a game, I would imagine that the player and Ariane take turns to decide what they can add to the castle, here making constructions that are too brittle will collapse and lose the game, while other constructs make it a win.
There’s also kite flying, of course. Some combination of light-weight clothing may be tied together to make, or not, a successful kite. Oh, and I’m not sure about this particular tropical island you’re building now, but plenty of beaches across the world allow for partial or full nudity in more secluded spots. Just saying. =)
On the beach, other activities you can do are horseback or ATV riding (race game mechanic?), para-sailing, banana boats, jetskiing, maybe surfing as some French territories are islands with decent surf, or beach sports like volleyball or frisbee.
One afternoon activity that might be fun is to go take a cooking class at a nice French place, or maybe even a wine-tasting.
The hard part is getting 3D models for this stuff. I thought about parasailing, and ran into the illustration problem, so at a ticket counter it mentions parasailing with “Sold Out” written next to it.
Horseback riding is a possibility, I have already established there are horses on the island and hitching posts in town. I already have a volleyball set (see Something’s In The Air),
I’m considering “Soccer” or “Football” — One of the choices you can make for your player character is whether or not you are American like Ariane. I decided not to let you pick which exact country you are from, as that would make things way too complicated, but it’s a choice that only affects a few lines of dialogue. If I add a “Soccer” game, your character insists on calling it “Football” if you chose to be non-American.
Will there be the option to play as the same person from the first two games (and, therefore, have some history with Ariane, as we see in SITA)? It would certainly be an immersive and entertaining path for those of us who played the previous games (and know a few things about Ariane’s character lol). However, I understand it could bring practical difficulties, since a lot of dialogue and sets of choices would have to be constructed to accommodate this.
I can’t wait! Thank you for the update!
When will this game be ready to play do you reckon?
This you capricioused, huh?
Now this makes me want to play Date Ariane and Something’s in the Air with a female protagonist.
I agree
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Sorry if this was answered and I missed it, but will there be major differences in the story if I choose Male or Female?
Major, definitely not. Most of the story differences are pronoun differences.
There’s an optional feature in the game where you can view an avatar of your character when they are speaking. The avatar only shows the head and chest and will change depending on what your character is wearing at the time. If you are playing a female, and you are wearing a “swimsuit”, it shows you in a bikini top, if you are “shirtless” you are in a bra, and if you are “naked”, then it shows your boobs. For the male avatar all three of these are identical.
It is however not completely identical. Both genders have a “bonus” scene not available to the other. There is a scene where you go into a clothing store and buy Ariane a sexy top. If you are playing a female, you can choose to buy two matching tops.
There is another scene where you and Ariane get lost, and meet a local woman who helps you out. If you play as a male, the local woman starts flirting with you.
The fun part is that the way I coded it, you can stop in the middle of the game, save your place, then exit to the main menu, and swap genders, then pick up again where you left off.