Ruin Me 0.21 Preview and 0.20 BTS on Sex Game Design

Hi, perverts! Things are going fine this week. I've been working on the bonus reward game, which involves a bunch of writing; it'll take me a bit to finish. I don't know how many folks are especially interested, but it's fun to work on something a bit different from my usual Ren'Py stuff!

There's one day left on my current Center of Attention patron poll, which is about what sort of costumes should be added for Theresa. Folks seem to want costumes to be period-appropriate, but at the moment the vote is tied between a risqué outfit (e.g. a flapper dress) and a cosplay outfit (like an occult investigator). If you have an opinion, you can weigh in if you're of that tier.

Designing Sex Games

I try to keep up with porn games, and I've recently been playing a bit more than usual. I'm struck by the different perspectives that designers have on them, which seem to reflect differing views of sex and porn.

In the VR space especially, games tend to be of the "customize your perfect partner and scene" type. You adjust every aspect of a partner (usually assumed to be a woman): hair color, skin tone, body type (assumed to be somewhere from super-thin to voluptuous-but-not-fat), and outfit. You then put them in a chosen position and do whatever you want to them.

This isn't how I think about sex. The interesting part of sex to me is meeting someone as they are, finding out about them and what they like, and figuring out how to work together with them to meet each of your needs.

Don't get me wrong; I definitely have a kink about shaping a partner: getting them into filthy things, writing on their body, drawing on them, and so on. But for me that's not about achieving some ideal; it's about the power exchange of them wanting me to have that control over them. And to me, power exchange is interesting because of the personhood and agency of the other person. They must have power in order to lend it out.

I definitely have a queer, intersectional, feminist perspective that shapes what I want to see in sex games, but I think my desire for distinct characters and diverse casts also comes from what I'm interested in regarding sex with another person. I'm pretty sure that comes across in Ruin Me, and I'm glad it's something y'all are interested in as well.

Next Release

I'm in the middle of a watersports (piss) training scene, which was one of the runner-ups in an earlier patron poll and is one of my personal kinks. It's coming along well; it's also a candidate for a bunch of new art. I'm not sure how much new stuff I'll end up drawing, but my intention is to make sure the writing is solid and not let it be held up by the art.

I'd also like to get at least the initial Act III scene for the Reform Institute done; I think it's a bit of a glaring issue that the place is portrayed as so awful and yet once you're in control there's not yet any nod toward improving it. A big chunk of Act III will revolve around this process, so it won't be close to finished, but I want to get that stuff started.

Beyond that, we'll see! As I mentioned above, my attention is a bit divided with the bonus reward for hitting 50 patrons. Thank you all so much for continuing to support me. If you have requests, questions, or suggestions, please reach out, and if there's something you'd like to see added to patron rewards, please let me know.