Thoughts and advice on dream sequences.

[IamUnderman]

Hello, I am currently working on a game which I intend to release sometime early next year and I want to ask how people feel about dream sequences as a way to inject early sexual content into a game.

Essentially the game I am working on is intended to something of a slow-burn, not the sort of game that nukes the player with sex after 5 minutes. Its about corruption, deception and manipulation. However I do not want players blue-balled for the game's first update. So my current plan is to include around two hardcore dream sequences to bulk up the teasing and light nudity that makes up the rest of the update's sexual content. To be clear these dreams will not be entirely superfluous and will tie into the MC's development and role in the story, foreshadowing what is to come, but first and foremost their purpose is to add sex to a fairly softcore point in the game.

So what do you think? Are dreams in adult games cheap? Do you zone out and not care about them because they aren't 'real'? Do you like a more slow pace bolstered with dreams?

Please give me whatever thoughts and feelings you have below. As a little treat I have added two renders from one of my planned dream sequences.

Thanks!

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[Winterfire]

They're 100% cheap, and I personally hate them.

If your game is a "slow burn" live with it, it means you have a decent story you want to tell, and the hentai content will occur naturally. Not every adult game has to be mindless porn.

 

[Quintillian]

Tropes are tropes for a reason. That doesn’t make them inherently good or bad. A more poignant question would be to ask yourself why are you making that scene in the first place. If you are saying that, and I quote ‘first and foremost their purpose is to add sex to a fairly softcore point in the game’, then I think you’re going to lose a section of the audience that had already bought into the tone of the game as a slow-build. Remember, the player has no clue where your story is going, and if they are already 10-20 minutes in, they are at least putting their trust in you to keep going from what you have already established. You are worried about blue-balling people? Well, nothing is more frustrating than starting to experience a nice, slow story, and then, bang! Surprise sex just for masturbatory material. That’s okay if you’re writing smut, I guess, I mean that bar is really low there, but it’s no longer a slow-burn erotica.

So, to recap. Ideas are cheap and meaningless. All that matters is their execution. If you want to write a sexy scene and keep the tone of ‘realistic’, slow build story, you’re best thinking how that scene makes sense for establishing worldbuilding, setting, plot, or character’s motivations, etc., rather than being there just as onanistic self-service. And if at the end of this soul-searching exploration you realize that what you really want is to maintain or ramp up the eroticism of the current story, there are other ways to achieve that. In the words of Audrey Hepburn. “There is more to sex appeal than just measurements. I don’t need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal, picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain.”

 

[IamUnderman]

Tropes are tropes for a reason. That doesn’t make them inherently good or bad. A more poignant question would be to ask yourself why are you making that scene in the first place. If you are saying that, and I quote ‘first and foremost their purpose is to add sex to a fairly softcore point in the game’, then I think you’re going to lose a section of the audience that had already bought into the tone of the game as a slow-build. Remember, the player has no clue where your story is going, and if they are already 10-20 minutes in, they are at least putting their trust in you to keep going from what you have already established. You are worried about blue-balling people? Well, nothing is more frustrating than starting to experience a nice, slow story, and then, bang! Surprise sex just for masturbatory material. That’s okay if you’re writing smut, I guess, I mean that bar is really low there, but it’s no longer a slow-burn erotica.

So, to recap. Ideas are cheap and meaningless. All that matters is their execution. If you want to write a sexy scene and keep the tone of ‘realistic’, slow build story, you’re best thinking how that scene makes sense for establishing worldbuilding, setting, plot, or character’s motivations, etc., rather than being there just as onanistic self-service. And if at the end of this soul-searching exploration you realize that what you really want is to maintain or ramp up the eroticism of the current story, there are other ways to achieve that. In the words of Audrey Hepburn. “There is more to sex appeal than just measurements. I don’t need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal, picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain.”

This is exactly the kind of nuanced response I was hoping to recieve. I think where I am right now, one of the dream sequences (the one I have included renders for) feels like it has a significant role to play in the story and its loss would hinder more than help the game. I do maintain that a little taste of what is to come is desirable, proving my ability to create an erotic and intense moment feels like an important part of the equation in earning a player's trust, but I agree that shoving it in for the sake of it (hehe) is shortsighted. The second dream sequence has a flimsier reason to exist and is closer to just mindless porn.

 

[GamesMtP]

I hate'em. They're not in the least interesting or exciting to me in a game. It removes all aspects of story, emotions, consequences, and so on. At that point, it's on the same level as googling random pictures.

 

[Midzay]

Unexpected answers. I, too, thought sleep was a painless way to add as much sex to a novella as I wanted. I think I'm gonna change my mind about that.

 

[simarimas]

I agree about hating them. Especially if they are with an LI who the MC is hoping to get with in the future. It takes away the anticipation of seeing that scene later on, which is a big reason for the slow burn. Once you see that LI naked and have had sex with her, then it becomes much less erotic later on.

Now, if you want to have sex, a dream sequence, make the MC dream about someone he sees on television, or the internet, who is not an LI. That way you have the sex part, but don't ruin the suspense for later on.

 

[TDoddery]

I think they can work but it all depends upon context and execution. An obvious example would be the kind of "magical" story where the MC is visited in his sleep and that's actually an important element of the plot. On the other hand if it feels "just for the sake of it" then it can spoil the build up. A compromise which I think can work quite well is a "day-dream" rather than a dream, where it provides us with a window into the MC's conscious naughty thoughts. As long as it doesn't go too far that can still fit nicely with a slow burn IMO.

 

[Saint_RNG]

Yes, context is key.
For example; If the MC dreams that he's fucking his mother without any reason, it doesn't make sense.
But if he accidentally bumped into her coming out of the shower naked a few hours earlier, then it might make a little more sense (all things considered).
If the MC is a normal being (and not a degenerate as in most of the games here) the first dream should rather be considered a nightmare, with the MC waking up in a sweat wondering why he dreamt that and with confused thoughts (usually you don't choose what you dream about).
And then, if new dreams occur, he gradually comes to accept the idea of having this kind of dream about his mother.