Our Life 2: Relationship Dynamic System!

We've talked about it here and there, but it's time to fully break down the way Our Life: Now & Forever creates customizable connections between the MC and LIs.

As you can probably see from the screenshot, the Interest/Comfort system from the first OL isn't here. The Warm/Moderate/Cold-Sporty/Mixed/Studious system Cove used is gone as well. We, hopefully, made the elements less confusing by putting it all together in one combo feature instead of fully separate ones.

It's called the "Dynamic System". Lately, I've been working on writing out a full tutorial for it that'll be in the game, but it's a little too long for a single post here. These are the main points (which are also kind of long, sorry for that):

Your Dynamics between Tamarack and between Qiu are entirely separate. You can feel/act totally different when it comes to one over the other, or you can also choose to have similar feelings/actions when it comes to both. The Dynamic System has two major parts: Relationship Standing and Expression Elements-

Relationship Standing:

• This is in regards to the info displayed along the top of the screen in that preview image
• There are five main Relationship Standings: Neighbors, Friends, Crushes, Family, and Beloveds
• Your Relationship Standing with the selected character will always be mutual. If it's friends, for example, you and Tamarack/Qiu both agree that you're friends
• Neighbors, Friends, and Crushes have no limitations. You can choose them starting from Step 1, you can switch between them when going into a new Step, in very special cases you can even change your standing in the middle of a Step, and you can use any of these standings with both Tamarack and Qiu at the same time.
• Family and Beloveds are deeper feelings of affection that only unlock in Step 3 and beyond. Family is platonic love and beloveds is distinctly romantic love. You can't change these standings once you've chosen them. They're not feelings that will waver
• You can have both Tamarack and Qiu at Family, you can only have one at Beloveds
• There are three additional, non-main Relationship Standings as well; Partners, Fiancées, and Spouses. Those are used if you get into particular types of romantic relationships. You can only have one of them at those standings
• Basically, you can't date/marry both. You can have crushes on both and never officially become an item with anyone, or you get over your crush on one eventually to get together with the other 
• If you do start going steady with Tamarack or Qiu, you can't break up. That's a permanent relationship change
• And maybe there will be some other possible non-main Relationship Standings you could get into. We'll see how that goes when the development is further along

Expression Elements:

• This is in regards to the info displayed in the middle of the screen in that preview image
• Expression Elements set personality traits, and most especially the kind of person who you are specifically for another person. This doesn't have to be the same for everybody, you can be different with different people based on your feelings/preferences
• There are three Meters you get to set yourself along when it comes to your behavior towards Tamarack/Qiu, and Tamarack/Qiu also have their own settings along the Meters
• None of these settings have to be mutual between you and them. It can all be different, some the same, or all the same
• Meter 1: Deferring - Teamworking - Contesting. Determines if the character acts as a follower, collaborator, or wants to be the decision maker, whether the other is actually following them or not
• Meter 2: Praising – Easygoing - Teasing. Used to set if the character brings up positives or is even flirty, goes with the flow without pushing forward or back, or tends to give the other a hard time or make jokes of things
• Meter 3: Doting – Accepting – Idolizing. Controls how the character thinks of the other. Do they feel like they need to look out for them, or that they’re on the same level as each other, or that they other person is more incredible than others and themselves?
• Yours and their Expression Settings are conveyed in isolation and in combination. If you're both doting it won't be exactly the same than if one is doting and the other is idolizing, for example 
• In Step 1, Tamarack and Qiu don't know the MC that well and so their Expression Elements are always the same. They can't be customized either
• In Steps 2-4, both of their Expression Elements will be determined based on their unique experiences with the MC using your choices throughout the prior Step as the deciding factor. Or you can customize them to your preference 
• You'll get to set your own Expression Elements for both of them at the start of every Step
• And there is one more Meter that unlocks starting in Step 2 if you have a Relationship Standing other than simply Neighbors
• Meter 4: Jealous Of - Not Jealous – Jealous Over. Only exists to add optional elements of drama to your story. Jealous Of means the character is envious of what the other person has, Jealous Over means they're protective/competitive when it comes to the other person's attention
• Qiu and Tamarack will always naturally be set to Not Jealous, which skips all that. You'll have to choose to customize their Expression Elements and intentionally add the jealousy feelings for them and/or yourself
• That's right people who wanted jealousy in OL1 but I didn't want to do it 'cause I prefer to avoid those scenes, I heard you and made a compromise, haha

Relationship Standing and Expression Elements work together to make your unique Dynamic in each Step. And there's still the extra layers in future Steps where your past relationship with the person still has ripples within your current relationship. Being at “Crushes” in Step 3 will be somewhat different if you used to friends than if you were crushing from the start, and so on.

Phew, and that's the longwinded, but ideally not too confusing, system! I think it's gonna be super nifty and way more flexible than our first attempt at making this kind of feature. Hopefully you'll all enjoy it too! If you have questions or there's someway I could explain it better, feel free to comment below.

You’ll also be able to like or dislike side characters, but that’s a much simpler system that’s done through normal choices. And the initiative level feature from the OL1 is still in this game, I’m just not including a description of it here because this is too long already, haha.

(Also, Tamarack's default Step 1 Expression Setting can be seen in the screenshot: Contesting, Praising, and Accepting. If you're wondering, Qiu's Step 1 setting is: Teamworking, Teasing, and Doting.)