Bisexuality in VNs

[JudokaLilly]

So I'm writing an otome-style visual novel called Convention Kiss, and I had it suggested to me that one of the female characters should be romancable. It wouldn't be THAT much more work (one more path to add to the 4+1 I've already got going on), but I'm a bit uneasy. I'm bisexual myself, so I have no moral objection to it, but will my game be looked down on because of this choice? I would love Convention Kiss to be the first game of many from my company, but I don't want to ruffle any feathers and turn people off. What do you guys think?

[Meneil]

Depends on a few factors, but I'd generally say go for it, as long as it makes sense for your game. Just make sure that you clearly advertise the romance as bi, some people will look forward to it, or others avoid it. Also since some people would specifically look forward to it, you don't want it to feel tacked on as an additional option; it should be full like the rest of the game. In general the audience playing an otome game will be fine with it, you just don't want to surprise anyone by making it think that it's something else. "Ruffling people's feathers" actually tends to be good in the game world... it makes people curious. "Scandalous" games like Dragon Age, Bully, and Grand Theft Auto did quite well. (Which btw, from your description, doesn't sound like it would cause a stir.)

Unless you're talking about members of your own team, which is a different matter. That wouldn't be good.

[JudokaLilly]

Thanks for the insight :3 When I said it wouldn't be that hard, that was probably an understatement lol. The char in question is already in the game, but the artist will have to make her more expressions, and I'll have to add more interaction with her, more scenes, and thus the artist will also have to draw more CGs featuring MC and her. Of course, this WAS his idea... lol so he'll probably be fine with it. It's not an 18+ VN, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?

Do you think it's cool to have the game demo come out with the original intended 4 characters and then for the big release have her in there as well as sort of a 'bonus'? Or is that disingenuous?

[Nekobiker]

Like Meneil said, making the gay option feel "tacked on" will disappoint people who were specifically looking forward to it. If you plan to include it, it should feel as important and wholesome as every other route. That's my opinion anyway.

[JudokaLilly]

I was thinking more of a 'bonus character' type thing, not just 'tacking her on.' Like I said, I know it's gonna take some work to get it to feel right with her in it, but I also still want to meet my deadline.

[gekiganwing]

Would friendship routes be equally acceptable? Think about it.

Also, I know this is fiction, but let's be honest: no matter what your sexuality is, you can't assume that most of the people that you meet could be your potential significant other. Your fictional character, whether she's bi or hetero, will probably have many more casual acquaintances, friends, rivals, coworkers, and bosses than boyfriends/girlfriends.

[JudokaLilly]

As it stands now, there is one route with each male character and then if the player doesn't romance any of the male characters, there's a sort of "Partying with my friends anyway" ending where they girls all go to the dance together. Is that what you had in mind?

That is something to think about also. There is so far only about 3 people in the game that are not romancable, but those don't have sprites to them because one's an announcer, one's a shop keep, and one's a guy who's trying to flirt with the MC in a sorta skeezy way (enter boy to save the day lol). Other than that, there are the 2 female characters who act as 'friends' and who are not romancable.

[pineapplepocky]

I don't see a problem, but I think it would be wise to make sure it's obvious that it's happening. You can always flat out state that there is that possibility, just to inform people.

[JudokaLilly]

That's kinda what I was thinking, pocky - state in the thread and kickstarter and demo that she will become reomancable in the full version of the game just so everyone knows it's coming, and then people who don't like ti don't have to romance her because there are 4 very pretty boys to choose from :3

[Deji]

I've read that there are a lot of otome fans out there that are bothered by the inclusion of female love interests in their games along with the boys. I've also read *a lot* of otome fans that *love* the inclusion on girls and other non-binary characters to be romanceable (:

If you feel like adding the girl love interest, please do! I'm bisexual myself, so I'm all for bisexual main characters.
Like others have mentioned before, make sure it doesn't feel like an afterthought or "tacked on" and it feels as natural, romantic and important as the boys routes ^^

Good luck! ^o^

[Biomass]

Is an explicit warning really necessary? If you're playing a girl protagonist and you select choices that pursue an obviously female character (no traps), then what did you think was going to happen?

As a gamer, I can see people trying it just to see what happens. If they subsequently get disturbed by the result, well... no one had a gun to their head. I think VN players are -generally- more open minded about these things though. No soccer moms policing their gaming habits.

[Katta]

Is an explicit warning really necessary? If you're playing a girl protagonist and you select choices that pursue an obviously female character (no traps), then what did you think was going to happen?

Usually it leads to a friendship route.

Personally I don't like GxG routes in otomes because they're usually quite boring or seem forced or unnatural. I've always thought it's more of an option for guys, like yaoi is for girls, but I guess that may be different.

You can also have an option to switch off the GxG route, as in Spirited Hearts, though if you have only one such route it'd be overkill.

[JudokaLilly]

Thanks everyone for the input! I didn't expect this much of a discussion, but I'm really enjoying reading everyone's opinions on the subject!

I thought about having a sort of option to switch on/off the girl ending, but more incorporating it into the story - my idea was to have the female character in question ask you during a conversation. Something to the effect of, "You didn't have a date all through high school. Is there a reason why? There were some pretty boys, that's for sure. And some pretty girls, too! I mean, if you're into that! Are you into that?" And then have the options be 'I like girls,' 'I like boys,' or 'I like boys and girls.' and depending on how you answer, scenes with just the girl or just the guys would be available, or both. Unfortuantely that means I'd have to have at least one more female character to romance (in case the player chose they liked girls only), and that would still feel like too little to me, which means I'd want to have probably at least 3-4 girls to romance (same as the guys) which would be a HUGE rewrite of a lot of the game... Decisions decisions!

[Katta]

I think it'll be fine to have this dialog when you're already on her route, the results being a frienship ending or a romance ending.

[buttdumpling]

Honestly, as someone who IDs as pansexual, if somebody told me that they weren't gonna play my game cause there was one homosexual romance in it I'd be really angry. Like, what? Why would someone care about that?
I just feel like you shouldn't have to worry about people disliking your game because you put a part of your identity into it, you know?

Also, I'm about a million times more likely to play a game if there are non-hetero options - and so are most of my friends. There are a lot of LGBT fans of otome out there, and very few games featuring LGBT romance. And a lot of the GxG / BxB games are eroge, which gets kind of depressing, cause I don't want to only be represented in porn

(sorry, this got personal really fast!! I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS)