Hello everyone,
We're super happy to be back with you to share more about Pick Me Pick Me and to answer some of the latest questions we've received from the community!
Pick Me Pick Me prototype was born last summer when we were prototyping another game. Since the spring of last year, as an indie developer, we have been thinking about developing a really cool game utilizing the true potential of AI. With experienced game designers and developers in house, we soon found out that at the current stage, not only is it hard to engage in a prolonged conversation with the AI, but also that talking to AI is not fun enough to be called a “game”. We have to be more creative in terms of game design.
The gameplay was derived from 合コン, a Japanese word for “mixer”. It’s a type of social gathering for young men and women meeting each other and potentially looking for romantic interests. We adored the overall fun, lively and lighthearted atmosphere of this type of social event and wished to create a game that would have the similar vibe to it. In order to better simulate the convos that would incur during a real “date”, AI still became the core part of the characters. We actually ran into quite the challenge of designing a gameplay that differentiates us from other AI games.
We start to think about the player experiences around the gameplay, about how we could switch the role of AI. Instead of having a direct conversation with AI, maybe we could introduce other elements into the game, such as another player. We believed that a game would be more fun when played with friends. And thus the AI characters would have become a moderator for the game, since the gameplay would revolve around the player and their friends, not the AI characters.
So this is where everything comes together: We are making a game where two players are competing with each other to see who can get the AI character’s attention and fondness first. Each character has their own charisma and personality so that the players would need actual strategies to convince them. With all the other game elements like the timer to quicken the pace, skill cards to play the tricks, and cool outfit to choose, it has become a fun and innovative party game to enjoy with friends.
Thank you all for your support!
Feel free to spread the word about PMPM and ask us any questions you have about the game. We’d be more than happy to answer them.
See you soon!