Lemma Soft Forums

Thank you for your insight SinaAzad. I think you have a valid point and I do agree with you to some extent. Being too strict can be limiting and might negatively affect creativity. I'm still sticking by my choice though, since I don't think it will majorly affect the story and might make people more comfortable playing my game. I appreciate you wishing me good luck. The project is coming along nicely and I'm very excited to share it once it gets further into development

I'd say do whatever you want as long as it's in a fictional context and within your limitations. There's so many stories out there of children with unusual powers or backstories no actual real children would have, destructive aliens and intangible gods get to exist in the fictional world but not ours, so why cant there be a 22 yr old vampire who looks 15? don't let real life rules restrict your creativity in a fictional sandbox.

Different people have different takes on a character's age based on appearance especially when it comes to character designs and artstyle separating actual personality and background. Coming from a petite but very much adult constantly being mistaken for a teenager (at most 16, in rare cases 13), if i see a short young character i often speculate their age as being older than they look and the opposite for taller older looking characters, bc that's how its been for me (a lot of tall ppl who look my age are far younger than me). Another case is regional differences. Average height and growth rates greatly differs from region to region and circumstances. A 30yr old Asian could look 18 to an American, an 18yr old European could look 20+ to an Asian. A growth stunted 30yr old man would look younger than a 17yr old with a big growth spurt. Even my sister got mistaken for a highschooler by locals and she's in her 30s! Then there's clothing. A 25yr old decked out in harajuku lolita fashion differs from a 16yr old punk rocker with tattoos and multiple piercings. Physical appearance does not always determine a person's actual age and maturity.

I am not saying real minors who look like adults to you are open season, please do not misunderstand me. What im saying is short/baby face adults exist and have our own agency like any adult and want to be treated like one, not as babies just bc we look younger than our age. And in a fictional context, why cant we allow that? Tbh I'd love to see more representation of short/baby face adults in VNs that arent the token cutesy childish loli/shota archetype. I need more cool and mysterious ones. And I wouldnt care if some random stranger who's never spent time with an adult shorter than 5'0 yell at me for depicting a 20+yr old character as like any adult even if said character looks 15 to them, most people wont care as long as they get to know who the character is and their significance. But that's just my opinion.

But if you still want to be on the safer side while keeping what you want, i guess just dont focus too much on her appearance's age? Why do you need to inform your audience that she looks 15 instead of saying "oh she looks young for her age/she never aged since" or letting your audience speculate what her physical age is themselves? Like i said above not everyone will see her as a 15yr old physically unless you explicitly say so constantly. Or alternatively ham up the "im/you're an adult" parts.

Not really relevant since you already made a decision. I think the devil is in the detail or writing in this case. The problem I have with a lot of No-Really-These-Characters-Are-Really-18 things is that they clearly are not. You'd expect a certain level of matureness in the way that character thinks and and speaks. Even a gullible sheltered 22yo should have a certain level of understanding of the world in general and relationships in particular that a 15yo generally would not have (and apparently you are not going for neither gullible or sheltered).
So as long as your writing clearly indicates the character is 18+ I feel you should be quite okay. As Hirago said how old someone looks is quite a difficult topic anyway in real life as well. Estimates being way off from the actual age of a person at times (especially if someone doesn't smoke, exercises, keeps out of the sun and got lucky in the genetic lottery they will look relatively young and vice versa).

Replying to the original post...

If the character is actually over 18, even if she looks like she is younger, I see no problem so long as she really is an adult. I myself am a 27 year old woman, but I've looked the same since I was 14 years old. Despite how young I look, this does not change that I am indeed a 27 year old. Just like if a 14 year old looked like she was an adult, it wouldn't change that she is a minor and is hands off. But since your character IS, in fact, a real 22 year old, but just looks young, there is absolutely no problem whatsoever. Many people like that do exist in the world, and they deserve to be in a relationship with someone within their age group, even if the person their age looks physically older or younger than them. It is not controversial if they are consenting ADULTS. ^^

It's not illegal, but it IS controversial, in the sense that it can create controversy for your game, since some people will object and complain about it.