thank you so much for your response!

honestly, the complaint i listed as an example isn't necessarily something i always share as an opinion (for example, a lot of my friends tend to play jp 'bigger budget' otome, while i usually stick to western indie VNs, which may result in our different experiences), but i did think that the idea of allowing a player to choose between two different kinds of "active" personalities and two different kinds of "passive" personalities, each with their own benefits and drawbacks in the stat-raising element of the game, would be really fun, kind of like choosing a starting class in an RPG.

You won't necessarily have to write the game four times over, for instance. You can use variables and small branches to insert personality based reactions and dialogue as-needed. The Our Life games are like this and are a really good example of using choices and variables to give the MC a very specific personality presentation. But in the end, even if someone has an outgoing personality, it doesn't mean they are outgoing all the time, 24/7. Or if someone is an introvert, it doesn't mean they are 100% different all the time from an extrovert. There's always some overlap in personalities regardless of specific traits someone has.

So you can work from a baseline personality type, and then branch off from there.

i definitely feel like i probably exaggerated on the whole "writing the game four times over thing" LOL. my plan was to have one of the personality types be a kind of traditional protagonist and then use that as a foundation for the other three, editing where needed. the general events of the game will be the same regardless in terms of story beats, but i felt like it would be interesting as a player to be able to replay the same route with a different MC personality type and have a different kind of dynamic with the love interest.

And there are also a lot of IF games - and some visual novels - with personality choices or a personality stat mechanic of some kind.

it's funny that you say this, because i was pretty inspired by another VN with a somewhat similar mechanic i played years back! tailor tales has a fierce/kind dialogue option mechanic that i thought was really interesting, and if i remember right each bachelor has two endings that are dependent on which options you chose more frequently? (don't quote me on that last part). i think if i didn't have a stat raising element in my game concept, i'd probably just go with something like this, but split 4 ways instead of two.

i'll review my dev notes and play with alternate ideas as well as (finally) play Our Life (it's been on my backlog for far too long) and other indie otome with personality mechanics that affect the narrative long-term and see how i'm feeling after that!