Give me ideas I can steal >:))))))

[Gou the frog]

So, I see that the 3 days loop plan could work pretty well. It is a good way to set the plot up but as you guys have stated the flair need a bit of support and might be a hassle.

My take on this is to use the "newspaper headlines" from the outside world to set up a story, in this case Ayana. She might use it to create her bull story or it could serve as a "true ending" route style with enough pieces: 

• Extend the endings and add a "twist", "perspective" or whatever you like.
  
• New End Credit Sequence? If you completed the game, but tries to get all the headline rewarding a comic relief dialogue with Aya.
  
• More dialogues with characters who has an interest in the current news: Hatate, Akyuu, Kotohime (Like M3ds mentioned) and the main character or NPCs.
  

The environment: 

If you want get into the pace, settings and the immersion, you need to set a good place up. Since there're going to be branching paths it might be in the green light to use multiple locations. 

Human village: It's a safe Head start since it could be a main focus to gather info and get the story going from there. There's a lot of disguise-kit using yokais whom might be good NPCs and immersion. 

Yokai Mountain: This could also be a story starting point. Lots of flairs here, the kappas, the head Tengu and the rival. 

Moriya & Hakurei Shrine: Side quest-ish but it's interesting to investigate neither last. Assuming you piss both mikos and gods with your bull.  

Suzzan: She is trying get the juice out so, might as well write her story in a demonic book that saves progress. It can be a story item or a save item. To make things consistent, Let's say she took it as reference from Kosuzu telling her "you're going to be famous kid". (Another Character to punish Aya)

SDM: Ohwww..... The meat behind the scarlet mansion: I'm sure Aya would most definitely want it. Chase scenes, puzzles, confronting the mistress, you go wild on that.

Those locations might be interesting to come into play. For the story itself, I would say it's based on your preference. Looping, Waiting, Time based, Visual Novel style, Info trading and the list go on. Go with the one that might suit your ideas.

The Characters: 

We're touching a gold mine here. From the cast of 140+ Characters, go with the one that's natural for the story. You want Aya setting afoot to Pc-98? Join her with the once vengeful sprit to guide the ways to Makai. Wait, you want a scoop from underground? Aye, Unware muscle heads got ya covered. Heaven? Give the celestial a boast and also scoop from her.

The end results would come out something like this: Aya got the scoops and failed to publish 'em on time 'cause a rival of her got the beef first, translating to a bad end. (Aya getting a piece of everyone for her bull) and vice versa. Normal ending might be there's nothing to report as the bubumaru newspaper hit a 0 that day. 

 

[Cosmic]

I have read the replies and while I do like some ideas that you and buskerdog have presented, I feel like the whole 3 day time loop concept does bare some consideration for me, while I do find it interesting I don't know any characters who has the ability to manipulate or control time that isn't Sakuya, sure we could incorporate the idea into the game somehow but wouldn't it be better if the story was told in acts or chapters in the plot rather then have it take place in 3 days? It's up to you.

With that said however, I would like to see more ideas that I've been brainstorming come to fruition, though I'm saying this like I'm some kind of game designer but sadly I'm not, in all honesty I've been having alot of fun coming up with ideas for the game but at the same time having such big ideas usually means there's a chance it might not work depending on one's experience with writing and whatnot, of course I'm still willing to give ideas for the script and events, I would love to see this game come to life somehow. 

As for the true ending idea: I'm sort of on the fence for a "True Ending" since while I love the idea of the game having multiple endings and player choice I feel like it would kinda muddy the waters for what the player believes what choice is right according to their own interpretations, who's to say if there's a right or wrong choice to anything since this is Gensokyo after all, while I'm not heavily against the idea it would be neat if there were a secret ending depending on the players actions but at the same time I don't want it to be too hidden or cryptic, so maybe there's a possibility for that? Will that and Aya's BS will surly be present.

Otherwise, I do the like ideas that everyone has presented so far.

Would love a Touhou story concept that connects the windows era to the PC-98 era, even with certain characters making appearances and some having been completely forgotten by the cast like some Mandela Effect, though I think it might as well be it's own separate thing.

That's a good point about the time loop, actually. After all, if there's only one character who could have created it, then where's the mystery? As for the true route, I don't think you'd have to worry much; I fully intend on making sure the player needs to figure out everything for themselves without being pushed towards the correct path, as opposed to a scripted event where Aya realizes what's going on, and it's all told to the player through her internal monologue. As for using PC-98 characters, I hadn't considered it as I haven't played those games and really don't know a whole lot about their stories, but Kotohime specifically seems like she'd fit really well with my idea, and I'm sure there are others who would too, so I'll try looking into those a bit more. In the meantime, feel free to give me some pointers on characters from that era that might be good to look into.

So, I see that the 3 days loop plan could work pretty well. It is a good way to set the plot up but as you guys have stated the flair need a bit of support and might be a hassle.

My take on this is to use the "newspaper headlines" from the outside world to set up a story, in this case Ayana. She might use it to create her bull story or it could serve as a "true ending" route style with enough pieces: 

• Extend the endings and add a "twist", "perspective" or whatever you like.
  
• New End Credit Sequence? If you completed the game, but tries to get all the headline rewarding a comic relief dialogue with Aya.
  
• More dialogues with characters who has an interest in the current news: Hatate, Akyuu, Kotohime (Like M3ds mentioned) and the main character or NPCs.
  

The environment: 

If you want get into the pace, settings and the immersion, you need to set a good place up. Since there're going to be branching paths it might be in the green light to use multiple locations. 

Human village: It's a safe Head start since it could be a main focus to gather info and get the story going from there. There's a lot of disguise-kit using yokais whom might be good NPCs and immersion. 

Yokai Mountain: This could also be a story starting point. Lots of flairs here, the kappas, the head Tengu and the rival. 

Moriya & Hakurei Shrine: Side quest-ish but it's interesting to investigate neither last. Assuming you piss both mikos and gods with your bull.  

Suzzan: She is trying get the juice out so, might as well write her story in a demonic book that saves progress. It can be a story item or a save item. To make things consistent, Let's say she took it as reference from Kosuzu telling her "you're going to be famous kid". (Another Character to punish Aya)

SDM: Ohwww..... The meat behind the scarlet mansion: I'm sure Aya would most definitely want it. Chase scenes, puzzles, confronting the mistress, you go wild on that.

Those locations might be interesting to come into play. For the story itself, I would say it's based on your preference. Looping, Waiting, Time based, Visual Novel style, Info trading and the list go on. Go with the one that might suit your ideas.

The Characters: 

We're touching a gold mine here. From the cast of 140+ Characters, go with the one that's natural for the story. You want Aya setting afoot to Pc-98? Join her with the once vengeful sprit to guide the ways to Makai. Wait, you want a scoop from underground? Aye, Unware muscle heads got ya covered. Heaven? Give the celestial a boast and also scoop from her.

The end results would come out something like this: Aya got the scoops and failed to publish 'em on time 'cause a rival of her got the beef first, translating to a bad end. (Aya getting a piece of everyone for her bull) and vice versa. Normal ending might be there's nothing to report as the bubumaru newspaper hit a 0 that day. 

I actually quite like these suggestions, as suggesting specific characters/locations that could be used is more in line with what I'd originally intended with my first post. You're also right that I plan on including multiple locations within Gensokyo, as I'd like to use as much of the cast as reasonably possible. Of course, I'm not going to use all of them, that'd be a little much, but I would like to use a lot, particularly ones that are from newer games, or might be a little less well-known. And despite the fact that the SDM characters are the exact opposite of that description, I'm still sure there's a lot I could do with that setting and cast, so I'll definitely include it to some extent.

 

[TheM3ds]

That's a good point about the time loop, actually. After all, if there's only one character who could have created it, then where's the mystery? As for the true route, I don't think you'd have to worry much; I fully intend on making sure the player needs to figure out everything for themselves without being pushed towards the correct path, as opposed to a scripted event where Aya realizes what's going on, and it's all told to the player through her internal monologue. As for using PC-98 characters, I hadn't considered it as I haven't played those games and really don't know a whole lot about their stories, but Kotohime specifically seems like she'd fit really well with my idea, and I'm sure there are others who would too, so I'll try looking into those a bit more. In the meantime, feel free to give me some pointers on characters from that era that might be good to look into.

I actually quite like these suggestions, as suggesting specific characters/locations that could be used is more in line with what I'd originally intended with my first post. You're also right that I plan on including multiple locations within Gensokyo, as I'd like to use as much of the cast as reasonably possible. Of course, I'm not going to use all of them, that'd be a little much, but I would like to use a lot, particularly ones that are from newer games, or might be a little less well-known. And despite the fact that the SDM characters are the exact opposite of that description, I'm still sure there's a lot I could do with that setting and cast, so I'll definitely include it to some extent.

Late reply but at first I was a bit concerned about the true route, but now that has pretty much died down at this point so I'm not worried about it anymore, on another note: we'll talk which PC-98 characters could possibly make an appearance, though not in pubic.

As for the locations of Gensokyo: The only thing I'm concerned about is Makai since if I can recall correctly: only Byakuren, Nue and the Palaquin ship can enter it because of the seal, as for the characters I never really expected ALL of them to appear in the game, I mean RPG maker may have it's limitations but still I don't see a reason to squeeze in every character possible, especially nameless characters. Still, I'd say it's a good call not to include all of them so give where credit is due.

If there's any info you need regarding anything just let me know.

 

[Cosmic]

Late reply but at first I was a bit concerned about the true route, but now that has pretty much died down at this point so I'm not worried about it anymore, on another note: we'll talk which PC-98 characters could possibly make an appearance, though not in pubic.

As for the locations of Gensokyo: The only thing I'm concerned about is Makai since if I can recall correctly: only Byakuren, Nue and the Palaquin ship can enter it because of the seal, as for the characters I never really expected ALL of them to appear in the game, I mean RPG maker may have it's limitations but still I don't see a reason to squeeze in every character possible, especially nameless characters. Still, I'd say it's a good call not to include all of them so give where credit is due.

If there's any info you need regarding anything just let me know.

I'm glad you're not as worried about the true route now, and thanks for the PC-98 character stuff too