Foreword: edited from my Reddit post, apologies in advance for grammatical errors or sentences that may not make sense; please let me know if that is the case.
Good afternoon,
I am working on a series of indie game projects and am looking for suggestions from professionals and victims of trauma alike. The games themselves more or less utilize the same structure, being text-adventure games that are driven by a Dungeons and Dragons style RPG system for player progression and interaction. The games are all born from various places of trauma in my own life, and while I will spare the details, the games will include various elements of NSFW content as a form of having myself work through that stuff. Not sure if needs to be spoiler tagged, but I'll probably elaborate just a bit in this post so I'll add the spoiler (flair? tag? I don't normally use Reddit to post, I'm a lurker so I apologize). Now, there are three distinct games that I'll be working on separately, essentially getting around to each when I feel strong enough to work on whichever one in that moment, and I'll give a basic breakdown of where my thoughts currently are for them:
-The first, and the one I am initially writing a Game Design Doc (GDD for short) that will also shape the other projects, is a high fantasy setting not completely unlike something like The Elder Scrolls. The core writing philosophy for the lore, characters and settings in this world are my own observations and relationships to interpersonal relationships I've experienced with individuals. The player would create their character and be set free in a harsh world, and my hope would be that they feel encouraged to develop a sense of a deeper relationship to any individual character than most other RPGs would allow.
-The second project is a retro-futuristic aesthetic that takes place in a distant future where Earth has been left behind (and subsequently destroyed for raw resources). Without going too much into the details of that game or what I envision for it, the structure of that project's writing is shaped by my own cynical take on social interactions at a wider scale (things like allowing social media giants to enter every facet of our life, or how one might turn a blind eye to human rights or labor violations in service of a package you ordered arriving at their door the same day). This is built off the back of the high fantasy project in the sense that there should still be deeper interpersonal relationships, but the greater focus of the project is the player's relationship to greater communities as a whole.
-Lastly, the final project should have the prior two elements, but is also designed to be deeply personal to the player themselves; it is a psychological horror project that likely will not start life as a text-adventure as with the other two (more on that in a bit). Think Silent Hill monsters, but in a wild-west setting. The player's various actions throughout the game should have deeper consequences than ever before in the prior projects, and the game's horror will revolve around those actions. The hope therein is for the player to ask themselves questions such as "why did I do that?" or "what made me think such a way about this character?" I don't think these kinds of descriptions could be truly realized until the game itself is experienced, unfortunately.
I previously mentioned that these games will have NSFW content. These are never in service of the player fulfilling a fantasy, but rather an excuse for me to start a greater conversation about relationships toward things such as sex or domestic violence. For instance, in a video game like Mass Effect, you can romance a character but it will almost always (I can't actually think of a singular instance otherwise) lead to a sequence in which the player is rewarded with sex, and then the relationship does not develop past that point. Conversely, through my project, I intend that if the player should enter into a consensual relationship with another character, the relationship itself should be an ongoing amount of work with consequences should they take it for granted. Or, perhaps the relationship is not consensual, and the player will find that their reputation in the game world is suddenly dramatically altered. The whole purpose of this type of content is in search of something that I feel is missing in character writing for other RPG games: something that makes the characters, their stories, relationships and plights real.
In service of chasing that "real" sensation in this writing, I would like to incorporate actual stories and experiences into these works. I've been victimized in a number of romantic relationships, and those particular outcomes will appear in the fantasy setting. I have had a pretty jaded outlook on romance, family, and other aspects of life that are "socially acceptable" that I now feel don't properly benefit me (think marriage, having now been divorced and breaking off a second engagement), and those sentiments will appear throughout the retro-future setting. My ex-fiancée watched and laughed while I was molested by our roommate when I was too drunk to fight back or get him to stop, and that has personally affected my life for years since. Those demons will surface in the psychological horror. But, these are just my own experiences, and I'd love nothing more than to pull from others' experiences in the hopes that they too might find something to work through or perhaps find comfort in sharing their struggles or pains with others.
This is where asking psychologists, therapists and victims of trauma or otherwise enjoyers of adult games come in: my projects will always be an open-source work, and I'm looking for contributions that some here might share. I'm looking for things about human nature or stories that you know of or have experienced that you feel are worthy of discussion in a project or concept like this. The things you believe cause some relationships to fail, the learned behaviors that continue a cycle of domestic violence, etc. It also does not need to be a negative feeling contribution either: what are some things you suggest people can do to better themselves that you'd like to see as a gameplay mechanic? What are signs of a healthy relationship, or signs that a couple/family that have been through a lot are growing stronger together? There are no wrong answers here.
As a final note, I am terribly sorry for the length of my post- I have tried to keep it easy to read and digest. If there are any specific answers about any of these settings, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability while also attempting to avoid further NSFW discussion since I know that is not what I am here for to begin with, nor do I wish to make others uncomfortable given some of the subject matter. And, if possible, I'd like to keep any and all discussions on subject; I'm not looking for any responses trying to persuade me from such an ambitious project. I actually do understand what I am setting out to do, and what I have described in this post only just barely scratches the actual magnitude of what is being built.
Good afternoon,
I am working on a series of indie game projects and am looking for suggestions from professionals and victims of trauma alike. The games themselves more or less utilize the same structure, being text-adventure games that are driven by a Dungeons and Dragons style RPG system for player progression and interaction. The games are all born from various places of trauma in my own life, and while I will spare the details, the games will include various elements of NSFW content as a form of having myself work through that stuff. Not sure if needs to be spoiler tagged, but I'll probably elaborate just a bit in this post so I'll add the spoiler (flair? tag? I don't normally use Reddit to post, I'm a lurker so I apologize). Now, there are three distinct games that I'll be working on separately, essentially getting around to each when I feel strong enough to work on whichever one in that moment, and I'll give a basic breakdown of where my thoughts currently are for them:
-The first, and the one I am initially writing a Game Design Doc (GDD for short) that will also shape the other projects, is a high fantasy setting not completely unlike something like The Elder Scrolls. The core writing philosophy for the lore, characters and settings in this world are my own observations and relationships to interpersonal relationships I've experienced with individuals. The player would create their character and be set free in a harsh world, and my hope would be that they feel encouraged to develop a sense of a deeper relationship to any individual character than most other RPGs would allow.
-The second project is a retro-futuristic aesthetic that takes place in a distant future where Earth has been left behind (and subsequently destroyed for raw resources). Without going too much into the details of that game or what I envision for it, the structure of that project's writing is shaped by my own cynical take on social interactions at a wider scale (things like allowing social media giants to enter every facet of our life, or how one might turn a blind eye to human rights or labor violations in service of a package you ordered arriving at their door the same day). This is built off the back of the high fantasy project in the sense that there should still be deeper interpersonal relationships, but the greater focus of the project is the player's relationship to greater communities as a whole.
-Lastly, the final project should have the prior two elements, but is also designed to be deeply personal to the player themselves; it is a psychological horror project that likely will not start life as a text-adventure as with the other two (more on that in a bit). Think Silent Hill monsters, but in a wild-west setting. The player's various actions throughout the game should have deeper consequences than ever before in the prior projects, and the game's horror will revolve around those actions. The hope therein is for the player to ask themselves questions such as "why did I do that?" or "what made me think such a way about this character?" I don't think these kinds of descriptions could be truly realized until the game itself is experienced, unfortunately.
I previously mentioned that these games will have NSFW content. These are never in service of the player fulfilling a fantasy, but rather an excuse for me to start a greater conversation about relationships toward things such as sex or domestic violence. For instance, in a video game like Mass Effect, you can romance a character but it will almost always (I can't actually think of a singular instance otherwise) lead to a sequence in which the player is rewarded with sex, and then the relationship does not develop past that point. Conversely, through my project, I intend that if the player should enter into a consensual relationship with another character, the relationship itself should be an ongoing amount of work with consequences should they take it for granted. Or, perhaps the relationship is not consensual, and the player will find that their reputation in the game world is suddenly dramatically altered. The whole purpose of this type of content is in search of something that I feel is missing in character writing for other RPG games: something that makes the characters, their stories, relationships and plights real.
In service of chasing that "real" sensation in this writing, I would like to incorporate actual stories and experiences into these works. I've been victimized in a number of romantic relationships, and those particular outcomes will appear in the fantasy setting. I have had a pretty jaded outlook on romance, family, and other aspects of life that are "socially acceptable" that I now feel don't properly benefit me (think marriage, having now been divorced and breaking off a second engagement), and those sentiments will appear throughout the retro-future setting. My ex-fiancée watched and laughed while I was molested by our roommate when I was too drunk to fight back or get him to stop, and that has personally affected my life for years since. Those demons will surface in the psychological horror. But, these are just my own experiences, and I'd love nothing more than to pull from others' experiences in the hopes that they too might find something to work through or perhaps find comfort in sharing their struggles or pains with others.
This is where asking psychologists, therapists and victims of trauma or otherwise enjoyers of adult games come in: my projects will always be an open-source work, and I'm looking for contributions that some here might share. I'm looking for things about human nature or stories that you know of or have experienced that you feel are worthy of discussion in a project or concept like this. The things you believe cause some relationships to fail, the learned behaviors that continue a cycle of domestic violence, etc. It also does not need to be a negative feeling contribution either: what are some things you suggest people can do to better themselves that you'd like to see as a gameplay mechanic? What are signs of a healthy relationship, or signs that a couple/family that have been through a lot are growing stronger together? There are no wrong answers here.
As a final note, I am terribly sorry for the length of my post- I have tried to keep it easy to read and digest. If there are any specific answers about any of these settings, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability while also attempting to avoid further NSFW discussion since I know that is not what I am here for to begin with, nor do I wish to make others uncomfortable given some of the subject matter. And, if possible, I'd like to keep any and all discussions on subject; I'm not looking for any responses trying to persuade me from such an ambitious project. I actually do understand what I am setting out to do, and what I have described in this post only just barely scratches the actual magnitude of what is being built.