Vinegar: Core Gameplay Loop (Patreon)

I've been developing the idea for Vinegar for about two years now, and besides the dating/ relationship portion the original concept relies on the feeling the pressure of working a retail job that's barely enough to pay for living expenses and isn't leading anywhere with more to offer-- and the escapism through movies that starts to seriously affect the way the player character sees and interacts with the world.

I've experimented with a few variations of gameplay that checks these marks-- a store management sim that involves assigning chores and other tasks to gain various romantic benefits, and an end of day reward that ltes you pick a different "movie" to "watch" for powerups and modifiers-- as well as others.

recently I've been getting inspired by escape room-type stories and simple whodunnits like "Scooby-Doo" and "Clue" and I kinda stumbled upon this idea of having the mundance store-wide tasks transport you into this semi-dreamlike black and white movie version of the video store.

so say the task is something like "Pest Control: Some customers have been complaining about seeing animal droppings under some of the shelves." and you have to start off by inspecting the shelves and talking to witnesses, trying to figure out the source of the pests. sometimes you'll have to make hard decisions like delaying your investigation in order to avoid engaging with the animals (who are larger-than-life thanks to hollywood magic). Finally you deduce that one of the customers is bringing all the rats into the store, and when you confront him he throws off his disguise, revealing that he's actually a Rat-Man! He pounces away, steals Val from behind the register and escapes into the backroom storage for a final, dramatic confrontation. All complete with homages to classic Wolf Man scenes and everything.

i can keep to the plot beats of "Little Red Riding Hood" (hear about the task/ dangers, interrogate customers, learn about the crime, and unmask the villain) and take elements from "Twenty Questions" and "Mafia/Werewolf" to give it a puzzle/ brain-teaser aspect for the players.

Finally you wake back up at work the next day, having completed the tasks but feeling like most of it was a dream (I've had days like that scooping ice cream come to think of it) and you can go back to trying your luck with Val while trying to avoid doing your job.

This so far is the first solution that fully demonstrates the psychological aspects that are in play, and actually gives a real impact to when Val asks you "so are you going to watch more movies tonight?"