Ruin Me 0.13 Preview and 0.12 BTS on Content Warnings

Happy Monday, perverts! I still have a cough. A humidifier is helping. I feel like I'm trapped in a pocket of stuck time. More on that in the preview!

The Center of Attention patron vote for the next NPC scene was split between Arthur and Pappy! I'm doing Arthur first, mostly because I have my idea for him more fleshed-out. The current poll is for the next Theresa play scenes!

Here's some thoughts on update 12 and content warnings, followed by a preview of update 13!

Content Warnings

The game has a blanket content warning up front, but I still try to highlight specific stuff that the player might not expect or be ready for, as well as stuff that they might want to avoid. Some folks have concerns that, in horror as well as in sex, warnings can spoil the shock, surprise, and delight of reveals. Personally, I'm willing to accept that risk in order to help people avoid bad experiences playing my stuff.

A caveat here, though: I've received exactly one piece of feedback expressing dismay that, during Meg's first sex scene, the player learns she's trans without an in-game way to back out. It would go against the queerness that I'm pushing in the game to give warnings about characters' orientations, identities, and lived experiences. I realize that's potentially hypocritical of me, but I'm okay with that.

One thing I'm still thinking about, though, is the avoidability of the stuff I'm warning about. Before update 12, all content warnings had an alternate path that let you avoid the material or opt out of a scene entirely. However, the recent sequence getting you into the Reform Institute has a warning (for "discussion of medical abuse") but can't be skipped if you want to proceed in the game.

I considered including an alternate set of interview questions that would let players avoid this stuff, but ended up deciding to leave it. The methods used in this time period to control peoples' bodies were shocking and abhorrent, and I want to use them to characterize Dr. Harvey. 

Again, this is probably hypocritical. I may go back and revise this section after more thought, but for now it's in the game as an exception to my general intention that all content warnings be skippable.

Next Update

On the topic of content warnings: the new horror expedition I'm working on for update 13 might be unpleasantly real for players who, like me, are in social isolation. The Momentary Cabin will have you visiting a reclusive woman growing terribly strange over time. It might just be me feeling sentimental, but I think this one might be the saddest thing I've written for this game so far.

I'm also going to do the scene with Arthur I mentioned above! You can choose for this to be a friendly reading of erotic poetry or something saucier, and it will include revised artwork for Mr. Hitchup.

Anything that I include beyond those bits will be a bonus! If you have suggestions or feedback, you can comment here, PM me, or write: phanes@phanes.me

Consider having an extra orgasm for me this week! I'll write to you again soon.