Tinkalila

hey everyone! it's been a few months since princessnile or i have posted here, we've been very busy with our senior year of highschool and college applications. although we didn't have the chance to work on The Melting Pot very much these past few months, i do have some aspects of the game that i'd like to share with you! in this post, i will be discussing the unique layout of the game and the gameplay we anticipate.

The Layout: The layout of The Melting Pot is unique in that it uses different sections of the screen for different purposes. The largest portion of the screen, which is in the top left, is characters and backgrounds will appear. This is the primary place you'll be looking while you play, along with the portion right below it, which is the text box. The top left is just The Melting Pot's shop sign, for flair. The bottom right portion of the screen is the particularly unique part! We've been calling this the "action screen" during development. Reminiscent of the Nintendo DS, this is a separate screen for performing actions. During the morning phase of the game, this screen shows your calendar, which tells you what day it is in-game. During the daytime phase, you'll make choices and pick items using this screen. And during the evening/nighttime phase, your phone will be shown on this screen, which you can use to make one phonecall per night before you go to sleep.

The Gameplay: The gameplay will revolve around making decisions based on dialogue. In The Melting Pot, you'll be constantly balancing your karma, your money, and your friendships. If you take a look at the screenshots attached to this post, you can see the icons for these stats along the bottom left of the screen. Karma will affect the ending you get, as well as the people you see in the shop. You need to earn enough money to pay your rent each month, or it's a game over. Advancing your friendships allows you to see different scenes within the game, as well as additions to the ending you get.

I hope you've all enjoyed this look at the thought behind the layout, as well as our plans for the gameplay! Thank you for reading!

PrincessNile

Hey guys! It’s princessnile here and I guess I’m gonna do a little blurb on some of how the story is impacted by how you play the game. Basically, everyday you’re going to be interacting with characters (re-occurring and otherwise) selling them things as shopkeepers do. Most of the customers have the potential to be your friends, enemies, romantic partners, and the worst thing that ever happened to you. All of these things are of course decided by how you choose to run your shop. Are you only interested in profit? Do you want to immerse yourself in the community? Looking for a hot date? Do you want to be potentially invited to a wedding? Maybe you’d like to be the reason a murder takes place. Maybe you want to watch the entire town burn!! Completely up to you. Just know that almost everything you do affects the longevity of the shop, the town, and its inhabitants. It’s not just about you (but you can play as if it is anyway). I wanted to give the player the freedom to choose! Have fun!!