Game Link: https://simrant.itch.io/fiximupim-v2 

Overview

As students at Stanford, we’ve encountered a wide range of dating challenges women face in the Silicon Valley. Ferrara and Vergara (2024) describe the emotional labor women often undertake to compensate for men’s thinner social networks and emotional needs. Their research argues that women bear a disproportionate burden in providing emotional support to men. Drawing from our own experiences and the insights from their study, we built Fiximupim, a dating simulation game that aims to explore and challenge these dynamics.

The core premise of the game centers around “fixing” problematic men by guiding them through six key traits: emotional intelligence, responsibility, empathy, and more. Players navigate a dynamic world where their decisions impact their partner’s development, reflecting the real-life challenges many women face when dating. The game addresses these challenges with a playful yet thoughtful approach, offering a cathartic outlet for women to reflect on their experiences and frustrations. At its heart, Fiximupim conveys an optimistic belief in growth and change—suggesting that people, including men, have the potential to evolve with the right support and environment.

History Versions of game

The objective for P4 is to refine P3, the previous version of Fiximupim, focusing on three main areas: aesthetics, storyline, and gameplay mechanics. We followed the rubric which includes:

8% Design Decisions and System Grounding in Research

40% Aesthetics and Theming

7% Learning Outcomes/Catharsis

23% Gameplay Improvement Based on Feedback/Game Balance

22% Story/Content

Playtests & Updates

Playtest 1: Nils, male in his early 20s

• Repetitiveness: Nils found the same choices repetitive after the first playthrough. He suggested adding different choices for each boy to enhance variety.
• Fun Elements: He enjoyed the ridiculous and funky aspects of the game, which he believed could be used to solve the repetitiveness by adding more options with varied results for each boy.
• Character Variety: He felt the boys didn’t feel different enough and suggested increasing character uniqueness.

Playtest 2: Chloe, female in her early 20s

• Frustration with Progression: Chloe felt frustrated with the game due to not knowing how to decrease confidence, and expressed difficulty when the outcome of her choices did not align with her expectations. This led her to randomly pick options in some instances.
• Positive Feedback: Chloe enjoyed the narrative, characters, and dialogue, and expressed a liking for the overall concept of the game.
• Suggestions for Improvement:
  • Choice Variety: Chloe suggested that the choices should be more varied to make the gameplay feel less repetitive.
  • Random Challenges: She recommended adding random challenge cards to further increase unpredictability.
  • Uncertainty at the Start: Chloe found it frustrating that she didn’t know how to choose at the beginning of the game.
  • Increase Unpredictability: She hopes for more unpredictability in the game to keep the experience fresh.

Playtest 3: Haden, female in her early 20s

• Confusion with Game Terminology: Haden was unclear about certain terms, such as “take him,” and didn’t understand the difference between “take him” and “ask him out.” This lack of clarity led to some confusion about the game’s mechanics.
• Visual Appeal: Haden appreciated the cute pictures in the game, which added to the overall charm.
• Repetitive Gameplay: Haden felt that the game became repetitive and could be shorter when focusing on fixing just one character. However, he was still excited to move on to fix other characters.
• Uncertainty about Gameplay Mechanics:
  • Unclear Arrows: Haden was unsure about what the arrows represented, and the tutorial texts did not explain this clearly.
  • Confusion with Trait Fixing: She was unsure about how many traits to fix for each character and whether all traits needed to be addressed. Additionally, she didn’t realize that doing the same actions multiple times could lead to different results.
• Tutorial Repetition: He noted that the tutorial texts were repetitive, which could be frustrating for players who had already progressed past certain points.
• Suggestions for Improvement:
  • Clearer Instructions: Haden would appreciate clearer explanations of in-game terminology, such as the arrows and the different types of actions.
  • Game Length: She suggested that the game could be shorter when focusing on fixing just one character to avoid repetitive gameplay.
  • Feedback on Progression: Haden felt “punished” for not remembering the game’s mechanics and would prefer a smoother learning curve.

Changes We Made Based on Playtest Feedback:

1. Addressing Repetitiveness: We switched from a metric-based dialogue system to a random dialogue model. Previously, the customization model allowed only one of three responses to be seen during a playthrough. To solve this, we assigned an equal percentage chance to each response and stat effect pair, thus increasing unpredictability. This introduces more variety, making each playthrough feel more unique.
2. Character Variety: We revised the characters to give each boy more unique traits, making their personalities more distinct. This enhances engagement by allowing players to experience more varied interactions.
   
   
3. Clarifying Gameplay Mechanics: Based on feedback regarding confusing terminology and unclear gameplay mechanics, we updated the tutorials. Now, the meanings of terms like “take him” and “ask him out” are explained clearly. Additionally, we ensured the arrows and number changes are properly contextualized.
   We made the tutorial clearer by giving a demo chance for the players to learn.
   We updated the stats to make it easy for players to stay on track and not get lost.
4. Dialogue Options: We made the dialogue options visible during date choices and removed the previous bug that was hiding them. We also considered moving the dialogue options to appear below the “man spec” for better tutorial clarity.
   
5. Aesthetic Updates: Initially, we used DALL·E to generate images, but we worked with talented artists Jose and Gracielly to redesign visuals that align with our theme. We decided to stick with a lesbian color palette, possibly adding a darker purple and a new shade between light orange and white, and light purple and white. This visual theme ties into the overall concept of the game.
6. Boy Selection System: We altered the boy selection process, moving from an ordered system to a random selection of boys needing fixing. This method ensures that boys who were not fixed in earlier playthroughs can return, adding more randomness and replay value.

Ferrara, A. P., & Vergara, D. P. (2024). Theorizing mankeeping: The male friendship recession and women’s associated labor as a structural component of gender inequality. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 25(4), 391-401