Devlog #6 or a rant about adult content in video games and what that means for our game

One of our earliest discussions about how we would promote the visual novel was regarding the subject of tags. Ah, how I loathe that word. It made me cringe every time we brought up the subject. Sure, tags are important, but have you considered the different styles of cursors we could be using? Or changing the font from regular to bold? Now those are matters of uttermost urgency we should be devoting all of our energy and time to.

We knew for sure the story would involve adult themes and situations, which is why we figured a first baby step to put this game out here in the world could be to timidly present it in an adult content website. And it’s not like we ignored the fact that doing that comes with a lot of specific expectations, especially when your novel is listed below that other novel in development that promises great representation of fetishes such as impregnation, corruption, bestiality. And I don’t mean that in a negative way at all - in the words of the Sex Positive Gaming channel on Youtube, “No shaming, just gaming”. It’s just one of those things that make you go “huh, pears and apples?”

Truth be told, I’m happy to see the adult community has such a wide range of flavors in games and content to choose from. Well, “happy” might be a stretch, but, you know, it’s kinda fascinating. It’s such a big market, such a big part of the internet (of our lives? am I going too far?), yet one that can be indeed easily shamed, dismissed, or simply regarded as less than other forms of entertainment. There’s this general agreement of what things are socially acceptable to talk about publicly, and those that should be kept in the dark and out of reach, next to the cookie jar on top of the cupboards. Even if it’s a whole fucking candy store you find up there.

So tags don’t sound like such a terrible thing in and out of themselves, especially considering that context. They organize things, manage your expectations, help filter the type of audience, etcetera. They keep you from jumping into a bag of jelly beans just to make you cough out a soap-flavored one, leaving you with an odd flavor in your mouth just because Bertie Bott wasn’t specific enough about their product. They’re great. Awesome, really.

Except for the fact that I just can’t seem to tag “Strangers on Paper”. When I “pitched” the story to Grogu, we both had this very clear idea: It’s simple, it’s straightforward, it’s “porn with a little plot”, as the kids would say. Then I started developing Amy. And Becca. And Elizabeth, RIP. And Tony. And our main character. And shit, these were almost real people now who had a lot more to say beyond wanting to bang. We slowly, almost inevitably came to the agreement that we would work towards something a bit different. The “p” in “plot” became a bit more capitalized than that in “porn”.

Then, how do we tag it? If your so-called adult game does not revolve solely around sex, is it really worth it to tag it in the same way as those which do? Would soft-core describe it more accurately?

No, no tags, I said. People will take a look at it and figure out it’s a bit of a different genre. It’s, uhm, an unbranded cookie. It’s got visibly less chocolate chips than the others. Some pieces of nuts and oats… Okay, I’ll drop the metaphor. It’s different, that was clear enough, and the lack of tags sort of emphasized that.

Of course, within the first 24 hours of posting about our game we got a message asking about NTR content or futa characters. I guess I get it.

Nevertheless, ever since we got that message I’ve been more motivated than ever to find games that belong to the same… color as this one. It’s kinda hard when every shelf seems to indicate dark chocolate bars are the “it” thing - yeah, like hell I’m dropping the candy store metaphor -, yet it’s been not only enjoyable but also quite an educational journey. When embarking yourself in a project, looking at what others have done with similar products is a no-brainer, but the specifics of what you can learn from them can still come as a surprise.

Which brings me down to a phrase I used earlier, when referring to a Youtube channel we encountered in the midst of this search.

“Sex Positive”. Those same words were used by another developer of what I’m guessing will be a similarly flavored game.

They did have a specific charm that resonated with me. It brought that whole stigma about sex-related things back to mind. You want to go to the cinema and watch that movie about creatures with decaying flesh devouring human beings as they dread their impending demise? Sure, no one will bat an eye when you discuss how gratifying it was to  watch that particularly annoying character get shred to bits. Oh, you want to play that video game in which you stab people or take pleasure in stalking them? Dude, make a career out of it! However, I can’t really imagine someone sitting at a dinner table discussing how they’ve accomplished great things with their milf-centered visual novel - although they probably have - without making it at least a bit awkward for the rest of the party to maintain eye contact.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not like we sat down to create a game with the specific intention of opening up a whole discussion about what it means to be sex positive - or any of the other “serious?” subjects we tap on, such as mental health issues or addiction. Did we even have a clear goal? We just wanted to create something, to have fun with it, to share it with others who might appreciate it - that is part of every creative’s basic needs, right above “bladder”.

But the more I think about it, the more of a responsibility I feel to represent it in a way that feels like a bridge. It’s nice to think about the fact that it may attract people from both spheres - people who come for different Ps - and that it could make them go “hey, you got more where that came from?”, kinda in the same way people will watch a fairly “tame” anime before going into a full-fledged action-packed mecha.

Hold on a minute, you mean to tell me you wrote this longass rant just to get to talk about porn games?

I said “sex positive”, dammit!

Yeah, this turned more into an opinion piece rather than a devlog, but I JUST HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ON THIS, you can’t shut me down.