In Photo Genic the player controls a young boy that got a job as a photographer. The main goal of the game is to improve the boy stats and photograph skills to make him win the heart of one of the girls of the town.

During the game the player makes decisions about what his character will do each week (gymnastics, study, take another job, etc) to improve his stats. He also can walk around the town to talk to the people and the girls, the more in touch that he is with them the more possibilities to take a better photograph and date them. After taking the photographs the player can view them in the photo gallery.