HTML Heroine Addict [Development Thread]

[Affogado]

I've been working on a text-only Twine fangame set in the Marvel Universe, tentatively titled Heroine Addict. The player takes on the role of a high-school senior with the mutant power to siphon small amounts of energy from others with a touch - not a lot, it's more like a hit of caffeine for the player, and makes the target slightly drowsy. A minor ability they've been using without really realizing - until a sexual encounter shows them that an orgasm increases the effects dramatically. Getting a girl off gives them nearly superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and the kind of euphoric confidence you might associate with a much stronger upper, while the woman who the energy is drawn from is similarly affected as if under the influence of a powerful narcotic.

Hence the game's title, "Heroine Addict." Play on words, get it?

Anyway, while the game is contemporary it's also set at the formative moments of the Marvel Universe's silver age. The Fantastic Four have just - about a month before the game starts - gone off into space and come back with powers... the first people to do so since World War II. While the game is set in the 2020s, it'll follow - to a degree - the course of Marvel Comics history with regards to major events and characters, from the perspective of a character more interested in getting laid than being a superhero or villain. The ability to siphon small amounts of energy and the requirement to get someone off for a bigger temporary boost don't necessarily lend themselves to a career in spandex, though the player will have the option to get mixed up in that kind of shit after the game goes on.

The plan is for a serial context similar in scope to comic book issues - somewhat linear in nature in that Issue 2 will follow Issue 1, but the player's choices will have an impact on how relationships develop and the character's attitudes - you can play as a generally good guy with a strong libido, or a horny bastard who tries every trick in the book to get what he wants, or somewhere in between. Focus on the girl you like. Try and build a harem. Within a given issue you can make other choices that impact the story, but this is not a sandbox game.

That's the aspiration. I've got a few seasons' worth of game planned in the abstract, two seasons (about 15 episodes) broken down, and the first implemented in Twine. Not sure if it's enough content for a first release (again, each episode is scoped to encompass the action you might see in a comic book issue), or if I should finish out the first 8 episode season before that. I'm not sure exactly where I'll be posting it; I might set up an itch.io account. It's not the kind of thing I'll be charging for, it's a fan work.

 

[Affogado]

Work continues. I'm implementing characters and events from more modern comics set in the silver age - Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Classic Avengers back up stories, etc. I'm also trying to nail down a strong focus for what the game is about beyond hooking up - most importantly, what degree of choice the player has.

Each "episode" occurs against the backdrop of the events of the comics coming out at the time, but you're not a superhero; your powers are - to begin with - relatively minor and fairly situational, and you don't have the kind of training to be a vigilante. But that's fine, it's not a game about fighting crime, it's a game about having sex with superheroines.

This doesn't mean there isn't action and that you won't get into fights - just that it isn't the central focus of the game. The action plot is tertiary at best; you want to seduce women, you want to learn to control your powers. So the primary story is the romantic paths with each potential love-interest. Those are the choices that matter - how well your approach works with each character and what kind of relationship you're building.

So that's where the game branches - the nature of your relationship with each NPC, tracked separately. This is where I'll want to be careful about scope creep... say in the early game potential love interests are Susan Storm, Janet van Dyne, Liz Allen, Jean Grey, and the Scarlet Witch. The two base states are you either having a sexual relationship, or not. It might be different for each character - maybe you're openly their boyfriend in the case of Liz or Jean, maybe you're a side-piece for Janet, maybe you're a hate-fuck-buddy for Sue.

Is that sufficient? Or do I want more options depending on player choice - maybe you're either Liz's boyfriend OR the guy she cheats on Flash with, or you're Sue's secret lover or the guy she reluctantly bangs but can't help herself.

In an effort to avoid combinatorial explosion I'm thinking I'll just have one positive path per potential love interest; player choice comes down to *who* they want to woo, and whether or not they're successful in doing so.

The big advantage here is that this game is purely textual; I don't need to worry about alternate art assets, and can use relatively minor choices to create cumulative changes to the way scenes play out.

 

[Affogado]

Before I get too deep in this project I might as well release the first episode to gauge reactions as to whether it's worth continuing. I set up an Itch.io page to host the game

You must be registered to see the links

if you want to check it out, or you can just download the attachment.

Be advised that this is only a single episode, mostly set-up, and for the love of god I cannot stress this enough: There are no visuals. It is a pure text game. Written interactive erotica. Don't go in expecting anything else.

Thanks for taking a look, and feedback is welcome. I won't bother submitting a game thread until I know I'm on the right track with it.

 

[Affogado]

A comment I received on the itch.io page was a request that I allow a selection of gender, allowing the player to play a male or female (or shemale) character. This isn't too far fetched a request, as without the complication of visuals to worry about the only major implementation would be tokenizing pronouns and writing new versions of the sex scenes.

I could do it without too much extra effort. The real question is, should I allow players to attempt to seduce male characters if I do, or should I force female characters down the path of lesbianism? And if I let the female protagonist seduce men, then why not let male characters do so?

That's a bit more effort, as it increases the number of potential love interests, even if I keep things on a parity with the female love interests instead of *everybody.* I know there's demand for it, but I hate the idea of creating so much content that many (probably a majority) of players would avoid.

Okay, given sufficient demand I'll allow for female character options, but I'm not going to go through the effort of including male love interests for a game I'm giving away free.

 

[Affogado]

I've also started messing with the CSS. Normally I prefer to fiddle with the visuals later on in the development process - after all the mechanics are solidified - but implementing the right tags and such *now* helps keep saves compatible. I'm not going to spend a lot of time designing and perfecting and tweaking, but I will lay down the architecture as I go.

I've also replaced the health and energy numbers in the sidebar with meters. Again, I might tweak the UI, but the placeholders I have work for now.

I considered briefly - but rejected - hovertext that could provide details on what issues of the comics different elements were drawn from. It's distracting, time-consuming to implement, and didn't add much to the experience. I might eventually add a codex or something detailing what the player knows about the different characters we encounter, if it becomes necessary.


Episode 2 contains more sexual activity (that is, any at all) than episode 1 did, so I'm thinking that when I finish it I'll create the thread for it and open a ticket. Might be this weekend, if I can spend enough time working on it.

Continuity-wise, Episode 1 occurs between the events of Fantastic Four #3 and #4. Marvel Characters appearing in Episode 1:
* Cindy Moon (the future Silk, though this is before she gets tossed into a weird bunker for a decade, and in fact before the events of Amazing Fantasy #15)
* Susan Storm
* Johnny Storm
* Ben Grimm
* Reed Richards

 

[Affogado]

Implementing that character codex, inspired by fighting game select screens. These will likely be the only images in the game.

 

[Affogado]

Thread for the game itself: https://f95zone.to/threads/heroine-addict-v0-2-affogado.185955/

Episode 2 is complete. On to episode 3, though I'm probably going to do a revision pass on the text for episodes 1 & 2 while I'm at it. This will probably take around a month; I work on Heroine Addict nights and weekends, weekdays I'm working on a Ren'Py game that I'll probably make a development thread for eventually.