Let's MEAT Adam [BxB, Bara, Thriller, Mystery] FULL GAME OUT

[illuminate001]

Np! Psychology is fascinating to me as well! When writing you inevitably have to start putting yourself in your characters shoes and psyche. When writing the villain dialog, it certainly helped to listen to dark and/or cold music. Also writing, reading over, rewriting, analyzing then re-reading the dialog helps you express their mentalities and emotions without putting too much of yourself in it.

My goal was always to have the characters write themselves.

Thank you so much for your comments and hope to see you around the forums more! There are some great BxB VN's all over these parts.

[blackcross12]

Okay, I think I finally have my thoughts together, so feedback!

First off, I enjoyed the puzzles (some of them were hard, but that made it all the more challenging) and I felt it was interesting how the game raised some of the issues being faced in the gay community at this time. I also liked the art style - some of the backgrounds reminded me of the film 'Neon Demon', and they had a disconcerting, almost oppressive feel which helped with setting the tone. The characters all had distinctive voices and I felt the rising tensions in the group as the game continued were well-written. I'm going to spoiler the rest of my feedback, just in case.

Looking back, it was actually quite funny how it panned out.

I started the game with an 'All right, I'm a ripped dude and I'm going to get to bang some sexy men - bring it on!'

But the three guys I actually fancied (Earl, Lucky and Vince despite his body type - I'm not really into more muscular guys), turned out to be the three super-evil masterminds who had planned this murder house to get back at the gay community because no one fancied them. I wouldn't say this robbed the ending of its impact for me, but I suppose it brought up an interesting conflict for me about games in general regarding main characters and how much influence you can expect to have on them/their personality as a player. That's no criticism of this work, just something that struck me as I played.

Until the end, I was still wondering if the whole game wasn't going to turn out to have been faked to highlight to Adam the damage this kind of discrimination is having in the gay community and, through his change of heart, get this same message of acceptance his followers. Obviously, I was wrong. ^_^

As for the ending, it felt a little… unconcluded (okay, that’s not a word).

Like I didn’t find the conclusion particularly satisfying after such a build-up. The Chimera are so crazy they set up a blood hot tub, but Adam manages to convince them to just let him go?

The Chimera raise some important points about the exclusion of certain members in gay society, but then are so over-the-top evil about it that it kind of draws me to the feeling that even if someone had given them the chance before all this, they wouldn’t have been great boyfriend material in the first place.

And the ‘best’ ending the game gives you is one where you escape the evil marginalise members of society to run away with your super-muscular, not fat, not femme and not Asian boyfriend.

I think it is my confusion with the ending is what led to me feeling unsatisfied with it. I've seen you mention several times the game was never written to have a message, so it's not like it is any fault in the writing that the ending doesn't just all tie off neatly - I suppose it reflects real life in that sense.

It was nice seeing a better kind of Adam after his ordeal, but I felt he could have easily gone the other way, too. I think it could have been interesting, perhaps if you had leaned toward 'romancing' Pierce (since he seemed very vehement in his discrimination) and then managed to escape that the conclusion sees Adam changed into someone even more actively bigoted towards these members of society due to his experiences.

But, overall, I did enjoy the game. I definitely believe it was more interesting than most, in both gameplay and the wider themes it presented, and I’m looking forward to seeing more from your studio.

[NoJoker]

Hello illuminate001,
I wondered whether you got my message about a possible German translation of the game?
I can't seem to reach you in a different way.

[viktorokiro]

I liked all the images you shared with us.

[Helyees]

Enjoyed the demo a lot. Very polished from every angle!

Say, why not put Adam on Steam store?

[illuminate001]

Hey BlackCross! Thanks for the reply, you said you would and here you are! lol. It's great.

Sorry about the late reply, things have been kinda nuts on my end. I'm toying with the idea of a new VN, and have been drawing up some sketches but who knows how it'll end up. If it even ends up as anything. :p

Anyways I appreciate the feedback, YES I love The NeonDemon, and seriously on some points I had never really thought about (I'll go into spoilers now):

Like especially the dating Pierce part. It would have been really interesting as you said if going after Pierce led you to a bigoted route with Adam being even more awful than he already was. People would of course hate on it, and probably say I'm promoting hate somehow (I've realized LMA is such a sensitive topic that you can't make everyone happy) but it would be poignant in it's own way. At least thought provoking.

1 thing I want to address (as others have mentioned it before) is how people say the perfect ending feels flat because in a VN stressing inclusion, that white adam ends up with white Bart and so...WTF?! Well, imo it's not about being white, or built or masculine...that was the whole point! lol. You should be able to like who you like but be inclusive and open to all options. Also Bart was an activist and maybe I didn't write it up enough ingame but he was one of the men who WASN"T bigoted at all. He loves working with people and those in the gay community of all "types". So what's wrong with ending up with a decent good hearted man? Is it bad because he's white? I don't feel that.

Yeah Chimera did end up being super evil (did you see the Bad Ending?) and actually I toned them down, they were much more cartoonishly evil before. Perhaps I could've muted them down alittle more.

Anyways thank you for your kind words and I love creating VN's so you'll definitely see more from SoulSoft EA in future!

[illuminate001]

Hi NoJoker!

You can always reach us at soulsoftea@gmail.com if you had any requests or in this case propositions.

I did however receive your PM and I was wondering how the translation process works? I've never actually done it before and so I have no clue what the process is. Also, do you do the translation for free or is there a fee?

Atm tbh, I'm pretty hands off LMA so I wouldn't be able to put alot more work into it. I'm working on other projects at this time and work has got me slammed. lol

[illuminate001]

@Viktorokiro - Why thank you!

@Helyees - Aw thank you (btw I only just got what your UN means right now haha), actually I had considered putting it up on Steam but there's just too much censorship for adult content on there. I'd have to probably censor alot of the game and I just don't feel that LMA needs that. That's why I even declined to add a mature filter in the options menu. The game is what it is, take it or leave it. Admittedly, it would be nice for LMA to be on Steam and be able to reach a much larger audience possibly.

Also I just checked out your game Panzer Hearts! The thread on LSF anyways. Your description of it is well thought out and usually I'm not into war period stories, however this looks very interesting.

[Helyees]

That is true with the Steam censorship - it kinda feels they are making a statement that games still are only for kids Nevertheless, awesome job with your game!

All the best for you and your game!

[illuminate001]

Why thank you Helyees! And good luck to you too!

I guess I should mention that for any dev here looking to upload their VN that contains X-rated adult content, that Steam isn't a viable (or at least easy) option. Itch seems to be the go to, but if you want to expand I hear that Gamejolt is also a decent option on top of Itch.

Personally I will not be uploading LMA to Gamejolt, as I'm quite satisfied with the services Itch provides.

[atd27]

I would like to congratulate you guys for a fresh new concept of an erotic horror/puzzle game the overall gameplay was enjoyable in the escape room style. I have nothing but praises for the style and concept of the game HOWEVER, the plot structure of the game poorly handles LGBT issues and is actually doing the more vulnerable parts of the community a disservice than helping it.

SPOILERS

I understand one of the charms of the game was to use the stereotypes of the LGBT community to create a horror erotic game, but in the end it plays right into those stereotypes without knowing it. It’s really pointless in the current plot structure to even include a trans/femme/minority/old representation when the game is better off just changing all the characters to sexualized fantasy idols and have players go down a character’s route only to find that the person they picked is a psycho. As we know the LGBT community tends to reject trans/femme/minorities/old, one of the ways of rejecting this group is that they a desexualized, they aren’t objects of our desires or gaze. The casting of Lucky, Earl, and Vince as the psychotic villains of the story is damaging because it plays into the stereotype that these types of people are not desirable, what is worse is that these three characters are worse than undesirable they are literally cannibalistic psychos. As someone who plays the game I am looking at representations of these vulnerable groups and going “oh yeah, they’re disgusting” and reaffirming a stereotype. In terms of the old group, Steve is portrayed as a sexual predator and abandoned so that the more desirable characters can progress and get their sex scenes. While you have a choice to not leave anyone behind, the choice is an illusion because it does not in any way affect the outcome of the fate of the minority groups. In the first few minutes the game removes a heavy chunk of the vulnerable group as viable route options, Kang, Steve, and Earl. The game literally introduces these vulnerable characters and then cuts them off from Adam. As we progress further into the game, the way to convince the trio to set you free is victim blaming which goes something like this:

A: I know the community is shallow and mean but have you ever thought it’s your fault for letting them get to you?

E: Yes, you’re right it’s our fault. Let’s set ourselves on fire.

The psychos and undesirable people of the community decided to kill themselves and everyone is happy. This is even more problematic when you consider that you can take your leather daddy Bart with you. The arc of the story removes the trans/femme/minority from the player perspective in order to achieve a happy ending. This is not to mention that Adam is a desirable type in the community. You can argue that Adam could die, but even if he dies, he gets murdered by the trio who are seeing by the player to be even worse than before since they killed the player. Furthermore the assigning of the three with a deadly sin adds to the stigma of these representations. You can see how the game separates the characters:

Desirable:
Adam (hot muscle dude)
Bart (Hot muscle leather daddy)
Pierce (Hot muscle asshole)
Vince (Hot muscle friend, sticks with you because he’s hot but never has a viable route hmm, then you find out he’s psycho)

Undesirable:
Steve (old, sexual predator, dead)
Earl (pacific islander twink, removed because he “dies”)
Lucky (trans, fat, no viable route)
Kang (dead asian, conveniently disappears and no one really cares)

You can argue that Bronson’s death is a desirable character’s death, but he was killed so early he might as well not have been in the game. More so the perfect ending can be easily misinterpreted as white boy escapes with hot leather daddy while psycho trans/femme/minority kill themselves. Is it a perfect world at the end because the white protagonist got what he wanted and the world has no more trans/femme/minority psychos to bother him? Isn’t it great that the white handsome protagonists benefited from this life changing experience while everyone else dies? It’s pointless to include these representations if they aren’t going to break out of their already assigned stereotypes. You might as well replace them with hot buff psychos.

This is not a criticism of the gameplay which is enjoyable but just the representations in the game.

[illuminate001]

Hi atd27!

Welcome to the forums. Wow I apologize so much for taking this long to reply back to you, but I wanted to make sure I did considering how much feedback you left. Thank you so very much! Unfortunately I was super busy with work, another Soulsoft EA VN that I'm working on called SexyLitter and now a team collaboration for YaoiJam2018.

Anyways, what I wanted to say is I totally understand your viewpoint. Actually LMA has been very polarizing in the sense that it has been lauded for bringing a sensitive issue to light and praised for the way it handled it. And then on the other half, people took issue with it for the very same points you mentioned. It's about 50/50.

It's alot to write out and I have replied to these very same gripes you had in previous posts, that other posters shared. So I encourage you to go back and read some of my previous posts and hopefully it will help clarify what I intended. =)

Also, I want to assure anyone if I haven't mentioned it...that I am a minority member in the gay community as well, and so it wasn't and never will it be my intention to purposefully put minorities in a negative light.

Once again, thank you so much for your response!