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Hello and welcome to the first
Black Incense dev diary of 2026! It promises to be quite the year for Molly and all those who are following her story…
I hope you have all had a chance to play Season One Episode One already, if not, you can check out the
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and the
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. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, there were a few awkward bugs that emerged in this release, all part of the learning process for me. I’m pretty sure I’ve squashed them all now but do let me know if you discover any new ones and I’m always happy to fix them.
Thank you again to all those who have signed up to support the game - I continue to be blown away by the response and enthusiasm of the community here, and am as ever incredibly grateful to you all.
This past week, I’ve been working away at some of the retroactive upgrades and enhancements I am adding to the prologue as mentioned in
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. Both my own knowledge and the tools available have improved so much since I made the prologue, and there are definite gaps within the prologue sex scenes especially where some of the images don’t keep up with the text. The prologue is the first part of the game people will encounter and so I want it to impress from the word go, hence my decision to revisit some of these scenes.
The beginning of the new improved scene for if Molly chooses to lose her virginity to Josh
I do think that contrary to my slight over-optimism last week, it will be too much work to revamp every single prologue scene this month, whilst also meeting my target of a late January release for Season One Episode Two.
Therefore I will revamp as many prologue scenes as I can by mid-January, release those as a ‘Season One Episode One Enhanced Edition’ in mid-January, get Season One Episode Two out for the end of January as planned, and then do the same in February, with a mid-February release of an enhanced edition of Season One Episode Two with the rest of the prologue scenes revamped. Sustainable for me, and more to look forward to for all of you!
I have also been working away at Season One Episode Two this week. I have all the scenes and branches mapped out, and have started on the preliminary artwork. As a small sneak peek, here is one of the characters you will meet next release. Depending on your choices in the prologue, you may already know her, either as a friend, or as a rival…
Read what you will into her love of flannel shirts
Anyway, the preamble for this diary has gone on quite long enough, so I think it is high time we start today’s topic, of relationship dynamics in game.
Relationship dynamics
Relationship dynamics are integral to
Black Incense, as they are to most RPGs and adult visual novels. When I talk about relationship dynamics, I am specifically talking about the established ways one (or sometimes more) character interacts with Molly, and perceives Molly.
The most obvious and simple example - often found in similar games - is a numerical tracker that tracks how much another character likes or dislikes your character. Do something to win them over, and the score goes up. Do something to piss them off, and the score goes down. How high your score is with that character might then impact the story going forward - again, the classic example in this space would be that the score for how much a character likes you has to be above a certain level before they will sleep with you.
The like/dislike tracker is simple but effective, and I actually think can do a very good job when implemented well into a game. It is a system I have already started to implement with some characters in
Black Incense from the Season One Episode One release.
However, human relationships are multifaceted things, and don’t simply exist on one binary spectrum from like to dislike. Depending on the character relationship and story arc in game, like and dislike might not even be the most important facet of the relationship dynamic they have with Molly.
Black Incense is more than just a game about sex - it is also a game about power, intrigue, betrayal, plotting, temptation, politics, espionage, and danger, amongst many other things. I want this game to be known for its deep and psychologically grounded storytelling, and I want character and relationship development to be organic, intelligent, and most of all, plausible for that specific character and context. As such, depending on the character in question, there may be a number of other things that are tracked in game and altered depending on your choices, from how much trust Molly has built up with someone, to how competent someone thinks Molly is.
Of course, this
is also a game about sex. Having fluid and changeable sexual relationship dynamics with different characters is something I fully intend to be part of
Black Incense, and will work much the same way as the more safe-for-work dynamics, whether that’s a dominant/submissive element to a relationship, or a spectrum from wholesome to depraved that you can slide along with someone, or something else entirely.
The key to getting this right is to choose the right things to track for each character. Each character is unique, each character’s story is unique, and so it is important to think about the most appropriate things to track with each.
Character Specific Trackers
I think the best way to show you what I mean is to break down one example of a character relationship dynamic and how this will work in game. The example I will use is Molly and Josh’s relationship - both because it is her romantic relationship at the start of the story, and because you will see a few elements of this between them in game in the next release.
So the first thing to note with Molly and Josh, is that they do not have a like/dislike tracker. They are already boyfriend and girlfriend, there isn’t anything all that interesting going on that requires a like/dislike tracker in terms of their story.
When I sat down to think about their relationship dynamics and what might be important for their story, I started with the facts. They are a young couple in a new long distance relationship, living several hours away from each other. They are both aware that relationships like this typically do not survive. They have both decided to give it their best shot anyway. Josh is a sweet and earnest guy who wants to see the best in Molly. As you all can probably guess however, throughout
Black Incense, Molly is going to be faced with quite a lot of temptation, that might test this relationship…
When I put all this together, the two key safe-for-work dynamics that I think are most important to track for the Molly-Josh relationship are:
1) Trust: We start out the game with Josh having a huge amount of trust in Molly. Even if he might sometimes worry about whether the relationship will work out, he still trusts that Molly wouldn’t do anything behind his back. If, however, Josh starts to pick up on signs that something untowards is going on, that might change. A Josh that does not trust Molly may act very differently to a Josh that does trust her. He may become paranoid, or needy. He may start seeking evidence to prove his hunches. Of course, there are going to be a lot of secrets to keep in this story…
2) Josh’s confidence in the relationship: The second thing to track is Josh’s confidence in how the relationship is going. We start the game with Josh committed, he’s all in. If you continue to text lovingly (and lewdly) with him, and ensure you spend quality time with him in and out of the bedroom when you visit him (or when he visits you), then things will likely stay this way. If however, you turn down Josh’s sexual advances, and leave him on read, and generally give him the cold shoulder, he is quickly going to start worrying that the relationship is deteriorating, and again will act accordingly…
I put the same kind of thought into the sexual dynamics between Molly and Josh, and the kind of story I wanted to tell here:
3) Dominance / Deference: I initially gravitated towards a simple dominance/submission tracker for Molly and Josh (where either could be the dominant and either could be the submissive - or they could both remain on an even footing in terms of their sexual power balance).
The system I have chosen is similar, but effectively exists across three spaces:
I) On one side of the spectrum, you have a dominant Josh and a submissive Molly in the bedroom in a way that fits their characters as two young adults in their first relationship - less whips and chains, more discovering this side of themselves together through dirty talk, blindfolds, handcuffs, and taking things from there.
II) In the middle of the spectrum, we have the vanilla but loving relationship they start with, where there is an even balance of power in the bedroom.
III) On the other side of the spectrum, we have a Josh who is deferent and devoted to Molly, and so would be willing to go along with certain things he may never have considered before, in order to make her happy.
Implementing Trackers in Black Incense
When it comes to tracking relationships dynamics in game, there is a more simple approach, and a slightly more complex approach, depending on what we are tracking.
The simple approach is something I have set out at the start of this dev diary when talking about a like/dislike tracker. You start with a score of 0. If you do something that makes a character like you, you add +1 (or more if it is really nice). If you do something that makes a character dislike you, you apply a -1 to the score (or more, if you are really horrible to them). Then at different points of the game I can put certain conditional tests against this score.
Josh’s confidence in his relationship with Molly will work in this way (except we’ll start with a score of 10 to reflect the high confidence he has in it at the start of the game). Certain things you do will increase or decrease that score. If you reject Josh every time he tries to flirt with you over the phone, and end up not sleeping with him when he comes to visit, and reply bluntly to his texts, that score could begin to drop.
Then, as a hypothetical example, if you got to a scene where Josh and Molly are having a phone call, I could put a conditional test into the code, where if Josh’s confidence in the relationship is less than 6, it fires off a branch in the conversation where he nervously seeks reassurance from you that everything is OK (and you can respond accordingly, which would then of course impact the score further).
The slightly more complex approach to trackers is one where, like with the Molly and Josh dominance/deference example above, there are set distinct categories that the dynamic can fall into.
To go back to the Molly and Josh dominance/deference example, we start the game with Molly and Josh in a loving relationship with equal power in the bedroom. We’ll model that with a score on this tracker of 0.
Then, as the game progresses, the player will have the opportunity to do things that push the relationship more towards the dominance category, or more towards the deference category. In other words, whilst Molly and Josh are still in the vanilla category, they can dip their toes in the waters of these alternative ways of being with each other, in a way that does not immediately and fundamentally change the relationship. Maybe Molly chooses to tell Josh she loves it when he is more assertive and it pushes their dynamic one way. Maybe Molly casually mentions a past sexual experience to Josh, just to tease him, and it pushes the dynamic in a different way. But doing both these things won’t lock the player into anything.
The tracker for this element of Molly and Josh’s relationship can be modelled something like this:
Exact values may vary from this example but it is a useful illustration
Whilst Molly and Josh stay in the Vanilla zone, there will still be further opportunities to play around with both possibilities, in a light touch, testing kind of way.
Let’s say, however, that you want to play a version of the story where Josh is sexually dominant and Molly is sexually submissive in the bedroom, and so you select options in game that helps push things this way along the tracker, until the tracker crosses over the line between Vanilla and Dominance.
Once it has done that, at the next appropriate point (which in this case would likely be the next time Josh and Molly are in a sexual situation) the game will run a quick check, and if it sees that Josh and Molly have crossed the threshold into a new category, it will set off a small branch, where the player is offered a choice to affirm this relationship dynamic. So for this example, it might be something like Josh mentioning how much he is enjoying seeing the submissive side to Molly, and you can either respond by confirming that you like this dynamic, or saying you would rather keep things the way they have been between you. I would make sure to make this choice obvious through a tooltip or special icon (TBC). Confirming that you do want the Josh and Molly sexual relationship to have a dom/sub dynamic would then open up different ways of sex scenes playing out between them that lean more into this dynamic, whereas rejecting this dynamic would push you back on the spectrum towards the middle again.
The benefits of doing this is that it is an organic and fluid system, that allows the relationship dynamic to evolve at the pace that you want it to, and does not lock you in to any one relationship dynamic. You can even go into a category and back out of it later if your points change again. I think it’s the best way in this kind of game I can accurately model certain facets of relationships as they change and grow, and can’t wait for you to experience them in the game itself.
Narrative Over Numbers
In terms of how I implement this system in game, there are a few things I wanted to mention here. The first is that most of this will be totally invisible to the player. Whilst behind the scenes I am reducing down trust and love and other elements of the human experience to a set of numbers, my development philosophy is that showing this to the player somewhat cheapens the story and roleplaying experience, and also prompts people to choose options in game because they are watching the numbers go up and down, rather than thinking about their character in the story and how they would respond in the moment.
This isn’t about trying to trip up the player. It will be quite obvious with Josh what will improve or damage his trust in you, or his confidence in the relationship, and my plan is for your experience to be one where you don’t even think about the trackers as you go through the story, you just make your choices and enjoy the story as it evolves with you intuitively.
This ties into another point that I wanted to make, which is that this system isn’t something that you will need to powergame in order to get to where you want to go. I think it can be quite frustrating in games like these where missing even one check can lock you out of a path with a player.
For example, if I have decided that in order to unlock a sexual relationship with a player, you need to have accumulated seven or more points on a like/dislike tracker, I’ll aim to give the player around twelve to fourteen opportunities to accumulate points before that moment. You don't need to hit every single one, you just need to show the game and the story that this is a relationship you are wanting to strengthen and develop, and the game responds accordingly. It goes back to what I have said in many of my other dev diaries, which is that I see my role here to help facilitate the story you want to tell, rather than work against you.
Another personal rule to mention when talking about relationship dynamic trackers like this, is that in
Black Incense, anything impacting the tracker score has to relate back to both people in the relationship. I mention this because a couple of people have asked me whether the porn you choose to watch, or the choice to fantasise about Imogen and Theo when you overhear them in Episode One, will have an impact on paths being unlocked later on.
The answer to that is no - the choices you make that night in Molly’s bed will not unlock or lock any future paths. This is because the choices remain within Molly’s internal experience. Imogen and Theo don’t know whether or not she fantasised about them, no one knows what kind of porn she has watched, so they have no reason to act differently around her, whatever choice she made.
To bring this back to the Josh-Molly example we’ve been talking about, Molly choosing to cheat on Josh does not have to impact their relationship in the slightest. It won’t lock you out of any paths with Josh at all,
as long as Josh remains unaware of what has happened. Because, again, he would have no reason to act differently around you.
Of course, you may wish to roleplay this as something you feel guilty over, or something you enjoy and don't think all that much about. But that choice lies with you.
It goes without saying, that if Josh does find out you are cheating, that would very much have an impact on your relationship dynamic, because at that point, the incident now relates to both Josh and Molly.
Not that Molly will ever cheat in your game, right?
I should also note here that not everything needs to be tracked numerically in game. A lot of interactions are pretty binary - for example (to stick with Josh and Molly since that seems to be today’s theme) if Molly broke up with Josh (or vice versa). No need to quantify that, it would be a fork in the road moment, handled by one variable being recorded in the code that could then be called on repeatedly in any future scenes - the same kind of variables that are already in use in the game to track things like Molly’s socioeconomic class, the school she went to, the university course she is studying, and the many other choices you have made already.
And that brings me to my final point on relationship dynamics, which is that all of the above might sound very complex, and that I am setting myself up for a lot of hard work. But the truth is that the only difficult part of this (and also the most enjoyable part) is working out what to track with each character to really bring their story arcs to life. From that point onwards, adding in a tracker is a very quick bit of coding, and the Ren’Py engine makes it very simple to check these at various points. Overall this approach is something I am very excited for, and think will really enhance the storytelling potential of
Black Incense.
Looking Ahead
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about Molly and Josh this week, but I know a few people now have asked about other relationship paths in game, and when we might expect to see some of them develop further.
I don’t want to spoil the story itself, but I did spend part of last week mapping out all possible sexual encounters and nsfw scenes over the ten episodes of Season One, to ensure a good spread of these across the releases. I can confirm that (with the usual caveat that things may change slightly as the game develops) there will be nine different characters (both men and women) you can potentially have sex with in Season One - most of them more than once if you so choose. Four of these (again, including Josh) will be with major/recurring characters where the sexual encounters can form part of a larger branching story arc. The other five are more minor/transient characters, although that’s not to say their scenes will be any less important to the story as a whole.
Of course, all of these will be optional - it will be perfectly possible to play through Season One (and the whole game) faithful to Josh, or the whole game (minus the prologue scenes with Josh) without having sex at all.
And Season One is only the beginning. Whilst my motto is always to take things one month at a time, Molly’s journey will certainly have the potential to become wilder and wilder the further she descends into this new world, and there will be many more major and minor characters whose relationship arcs will only really kick off in Season Two and beyond.
I think that is as good a place as any to end it for this week. Next week, I plan on talking a little bit more about my writing process, how I have approached planning out the Season One story (whilst keeping things spoiler free), and a little bit more about some of my storytelling influences.
Until then, as always, thank you for your support, and have an excellent week.
Himeros
