Lemma Soft Forums

I'm trying to figure out exactly HOW risque to make my game.

What I was initially thinking:

- very tame. Kissing, making out,slightly suggestive, with no direct references to body parts or nudity or *cough* certain activities people do. But then I wondered, does the underage/prurient BL fan even exist?!? What's the point of making it this tame?

I don't want to make it too hardcore, because my art skills and writing skills need some work in that area. Of course my version of hardcore might be somebody's rated G (and vice versa.)

Is there anything in particular that would drive you away from a BL game? What are you expecting? How raunchy or not?

I think a more g rated bl game is a great idea actually. I mean, the ones I know that are commercial are all really hardcore. There aren't really many options if you're looking for a more innocent bl game. You might actually get more people to play it because you'll have the audience that isn't looking for the hardcore stuff and the people who like all the hardcore stuff, but are willing to play your game anyway because bl games are few and far between.

But to reassure you some more, I wouldn't worry about there not being any interest. I haven't finished my game yet, but speaking as an author of bl comics I find that there is actually a full spectrum when it comes to bl fans. I've had people who are all about the smut and people who really just want a good story and aren't at all interested in the sex stuff. And then there are people like me where it just depends on the mood.

So, long story short, do what you'd like to do. I'll definitely play it and I'm sure a bunch of other bl fans will too.

I would actually prefer something more tame, as I'm not into hardcore stuff. I like sweet, innocent love stories (of all romance genres - GL, BL, heterosexual love stories - but we're talking about BL here), which is relatively hard to find with BL, so I would really enjoy something like that.

Ah! Thank you for the rundown, SilverHyena. Not familiar with who the audience is...your breakdown is very helpful.

WatchJessieGo...the innocent-BL-fan I didn't know existed. G rated it probably is then. Well, more like PG-13 with some innuendos thrown in.

For anyone else, I'll hopefully have a more explicit version too, which I can work on at a later date, and release on the Hentai part of the site.

Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric or blood and rhetoric without the love... er, sorry, being silly.

I'm not a big BL fan. I read m/m fanfic primarily for heaploads of angst. I don't really care if there's smut as long as everyone's sufficiently miserable. Other people would prefer less misery and more smoochies

Well, does adding sex scenes add to the story? If not, it's just titillation for the sake of titillation, which isn't necessarily a bad thing unless it actually starts detracting from the story.

I generally prefer the lighter stuff, not because I have an issue with the sex, but because I have issues with the way it's presented. Basically I would like it dealt with the same way any romance would in a general non-hentai VN. Throwing in sex just because it's guy on guy seems a little awkward to me.

I think if you want to attract the female yaoi fanbase you should make it a little risque. I don't think there's a single popular yaoi manga where the seme doesn't get a little steamy with his LI throughout the story- it builds 'will they, won't they' tension too. I'm not talking smut just something like ear teasing or writing a hug in a way that creates sexual tension.

LOL papillon--I think our tastes are like on total opposite ends or something. We should do a collaborative work someday...it would probably cover everything and everyone.

auro--well sex isn't integral but it is a major option. (More for plot's sake than titillation though.) The main character gets...aroused...but I don't even put it in those terms in my current G rated version. Which is harder than I thought it would be. Whoops. No pun intended.

razz-thanks. The poor main character pretty much has OO
the way I'm writing it currently. Not sure if it's tension so much as I'm sadistic. Poor fellow.

For me, BL is best when it's like a pair of fuzzy handcuffs (lolwut?), all precious on the outside, yet there's sexy potential within. This applies to games, webcomics, you name it. I want the best of both worlds lol.

9:19: Fuzzy handcuffs...yum...

How risque should you make your game...?
-- Before you can even approach this question, first you'll need to decide:

WHO is your target audience?
-- What Age bracket are you aiming for: Under 18? Over 21?
-- What Gender: Male? Female? Both?
-- What Type of Gamer: Those who prefer Story over Game-play, or those who prefer Game-play over Story?
-- What kind of Story do they prefer: Angst, Romantic Fluff, Smut, Horror, Psychological, Mystery, Comedy of Errors, Supernatural, Sci-Fi, Steampunk, Fantasy, Slice-of-Life...?

Why do you need to know this?
-- The better you know your Target Audience, the more accurately you can tailor your game for their enjoyment.

Once you know WHO your target audience is, how risque you should make your game depends on these major factors:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Your Target Audience and their Expectations.
-- What level of graphic smut does your target audience prefer?

2) Your Skill Level in Art and/or Writing.
-- Can you draw or write Good smut?

3) The level of smut YOU are comfortable producing.
-- How smutty are you willing to go?

In my case:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) As a professional erotica author, my target audience are my current readers. They expect extremely detailed xXx work from me.
2) I don't have the artistic skills to draw smut well, but I Do have the skill to write very good smut, so I handle my smut scenes with one static R-16 (suggestive) image paired with very detailed R-18 text. This has proved very effective for me because a static image does not distract my audience from the extremely detailed smut they are reading.
3) I'm comfortable with any level, from sweet romance to xXx smut, but my readers expect very detailed R-18 smut scenes.

Because of these three factors, I tend to make R-18 games.
-- However, some of my games are Not R-18. Out of the 6 games I've made, 2 are not because those two games would not have benefited from R-18 material. Which leads to the final factor:

4) The game itself.
-- Would smut ADD to the game, or Detract from it?

Smut is all well and fine, but if your game doesn't need it to get its point across, then a simple kissing scene is good enough.

I don't mind any rating of BL games as long as it shows intimity and emotions not just porn for porn