.

If I were to play a BJD based game, I think I'd like something like a fantasy open world RPG. Instead of weapons, armor and items, it could be basic supplies (like extra string, if there was an activity in the game that could cause loose or broken strings, faceup supplies if the faceup or blushing could get damaged in game, etc), clothing, wigs, accessories, eyes.

A game that plays through the stages of BJD could be cool too---start with ordering, then play through the steps all the way from casting to shipping to faceup artist to new owner dressing them, picking wig and eyes! Bonus content after 100% completion: When the doll gets sold secondhand to a new owner who heavily mods them.

 

That would be pretty cool. Take it apart, clean it, suede, restring, restoration mods, dye to fix yellowing, new faceup.

 

If it's any consolation (?), BJD dolls show up in Kingdom Hearts!

In Kingdom Hearts III, the game takes you to a toy store. And one of the bosses is Angelic Amber, a BJD possessed by a Heartless Marionette. If you squint really hard, you can see the other dolls alongside Amber (Elegant Emerald, Mysterious Onyx and Sweet Ruby). Rumour has it that there are 5 of these dolls in total. There's also a white and an amethyst one. But I can't find any other details on them.

https://pm1.aminoapps.com/7729/18da21b0ec3a9946ef64f0c2a18b42edd1ae274br1-1945-1110v2_hq.jpg
File:Angelic Amber (Art) KHIII.png

 

There is an otome game that was created based on Crobidoll's dolls! I've never played it but I think if anything can claim to be a BJD videogame, it's that.
Nameless ~The one thing you must recall~ on Steam

 

Woah..! That's crazy! I don't know if I think it's really cool or really weird..!

 

The character Herta in Honkai Star Rail is a bjd!

It would be cool to have a game that uses bjds as a mechanic rather than just aesthetics, of course.

 

This could be a dificulty setting. Like, in some games you set dificulty by funds/debt at the beginning of the game. There could be an easy mode that starts out with a pristine doll just out of the box and having progressivly more challenging starting conditions with a second hand doll in various stages of neglect or damage.

 

Tbh, I feel like tons of rpg games at their core, have the same appeal as dolls.

Look at baldurs gate 3 out now. From what I've heard, you can make any one you want, dress them how you want, give them whatever personality you want. Is that not essentially how we play with our bjd's? Like an irl rpg

 

Nameless ~The one thing you must recall~ on Steam

Of course it's horror. XD

I'm not bothered because it's my genre of choice, but I know a lot of people feel hurt by a lot of the tactless ways people treat a perfectly healthy hobby, "creepy" being a specific word weirdos use.

It has a high rating even as old as it is, but thought I'd share it in case any one wanted to look into it. I didn't look too far in the synopsis cause I think I might actually play it and didn't wanna spoil it for myself, but it does specifically feature ball jointed dolls, but not as the main character.

 

*looks at her doll collection, in their fancy outfits with their tiny weapons and props, fox ears, wings and such*

*looks at her collection of Onmyoji shikigami*

I.... think I may have accidentally found my version of that. It's just a little gacha game, but the character designs do remind me of the general look of my gang in a lot of ways. (One of the doll companies, Loongsoul, even did an official BJD version of one of the Onmyoji shikigami, a fellow named Onikiri. I didn't end up buying one, though. I'm not a fan of Loongsoul's big-guy bods-) And, yeah. It's all about collecting said interesting-looking folk. There are something around 200 of them now. And one of the fun things that show up frequently as purchasables and prizes? New cosmetics. The devs know good and well that they can get us players to jump through any number of grindy hoops to get a nice new skin for a favorite.

As for an actual game ABOUT dolls rather than things that sort of look like them? I'm not sure what kind of gameplay would work there. Gacha-style collecting is probably a given. "Loot" in the form of new outfits and props would probably be an obvious direction to go, too. Beyond that? I have no clue...

 

One game series that sort of scratches my bjd itch is the Style Savvy games on the Nintendo ds/3ds. The newest one for the switch coming in November, Fashion Dreamer, looks great imo where there’s a lot of online and community options as well.

The series focuses on dressing yourself and other characters in different styles and allows for makeup and hair customization as well as some customization for designing your own clothes. It’s tons of fun.

 

Hm... So I don't play a lot of games but I love some types. I feel like on principle a game about bjd that is going to be similar to actually doing the hobby is just completely tedious and unappealing to me. However I could see a lighthearted and a bit rude tongue-in-cheek version of that could be silly and fun. I think I would want something simple like for a handheld system (Nintendo 3DS or something) and it would be competitive obviously. Maybe kind of like pokemon? you wander around trying to collect rare or powerful dolls and then you meet other collectors who maybe you could team up with to battle "boss" collectors or just petty battles with caricatures of the snobby unlikeable collectors archetype. I think I feel like the bjd theme is only amusing if it can joke about itself. So maybe anything with humor.
Dolls do come up a lot in horror, which I find delightful and hilarious. I am not a Horror person, even less than ever these days because I find pretty much everything upsetting, but doll horror will always make me laugh so I enjoy it.
In actual practice I extend my doll characters into games sometimes because the character aspect is the big appeal for me, I'm very invested in them. So any simulation game works I guess. Right now I'm playing the clunky weird Tomodachi Life 3DS game that I like for some reason and all the characters I put in it are my doll characters. It's a really barebones game where I feel like you pretty much just feed them and buy them outfits with fake money but it's worth it to see them randomly marry each other and have children (a non heteronormative version of this game would be so much better though... Nintendo is definitely extremely closed minded on that )

 

Okay this is the coolest idea EVER, especially in an RPG setting. I would totally play something like this!

(Ps love your username. Go Zexion)

 

There is a game app for android that is about restoring dolls is of a bit goth aesthetic and has a plushie doll , a blythe looking doll , a marionette many more and one that looks like bjd , I know it's not exactly a bjd game but it includes bjd and is a simple but enjoyable game I'll check later and post the name of it