Making Asexual Video Games (Finished May 2)

[WinterM]

Games List

Ace Party
Windows Download

Mac Download

Linux Download
Can you survive a sexually-charged party and make a real connection with anyone? This is the artsy game I mentioned, putting players in the shoes of a specific asexual. This game is designed to either be finished in one sitting, giving a general experience, or played several times to unlock some more gameplay depth and new endings.

The Kingdom of Avenon
Windows Download*
The peaceful kingdom of Avenon won't remain peaceful for long... because otherwise the game would be pretty boring. This is the first chapter of the game; I plan to produce a handful of updates turning this into a short but complete RPG. Asexuality plays a fairly major role in the plot, but it's just one plot element among many others.

*The engine is Windows-only, sorry, but the game should run perfectly in Wine and equivalents.

Original Post

Based on past threads, there's significant interest in an asexual video game. I like games and I'm very interested in seeing this come to pass. This thread is to get feedback from the community, both in terms of ideas and to gauge actual interest.

My plan is to create some exploratory game projects on my own. I'm not a famous or full time game designer, but I've worked professionally in the field. In my experience, the more people are involved in a project, the more difficult it is to actually complete something, especially over forums. So at the moment I'm planning games that I can complete solo while I have some time off from work this month.

What would all of you like to see in an asexual game? I have ideas, but I'm open to more. Putting aside story and genre, there are still several very different types of games we could create. Here's how I see the categories:

- Games about the asexual experience: Trying to get across a message, asexuality education, etc. Games with this goal are more serious and will have a much smaller audience, but might make a difference for that audience.

- Games for asexuals: Not trying to educate, just making a fun game in assumed asexual space. Probably the easiest and most fun to organize communally.

- Games that include asexuality: Making a normal game that includes asexuality in significant but not overbearing ways. This might not have the depth of the first category, but would be the most likely to actually be played by a large audience.

Those aren't mutually exclusive and there's room for all three approaches, obviously. I plan to try my hand with each and see what I feel works best. Let me know if you have thoughts for each or if you think there's a major angle on this that I'm missing.

This thread is partially to see how many people care about this, but I plan to finish some short projects regardless so that we'll have something to show for our discussion. This will be a good change of pace for at least a while. As for where this goes overall or whether we'd eventually move to something larger or more collaborative, I plan to leave that discussion until after I've produced something.

[nerdperson777]

I personally prefer the second and the third option. I'm not sure even with a game where someone plays as ace, will they really get it. There's going to be some allo person who's going to say, "I want to bang this person" but the game doesn't have that. For the third option, I'm thinking a character that's kinda like me (not in a bad way). Just someone who isn't pressured by relationships and concentrates on the task at hand in order to help the player get things done.

[EmotionalAndroid]

Cool! I think it is really important to have diversity in characters, and asexuality is not something explicitly included in many games. In truth, many games don't even get into the concept of sexuality at all, so one is free to believe many characters are asexual. Still, having explicit asexual heroes is always a good thing.

[FabulFuz]

I honestly prefer the concept of a game that hosts a variety of orientations, rather than focusing specifically on asexuals, though perhaps with an ace main or protagonist's right-hand man sort of character. While all the other characters are getting all lovey dovey you've got that one super-androgynous person off to the side, that has the audience tilting their heads trying to decide; "Is that a boy or a girl?"

While there's a dramatic romantic plot unfolding, you've got that one character that happens to be so completely obsessed with a particular topic/subject, that has nothing to do with sexuality, but their passion for it is so intense it's analogous to the love and lust that sexual people go through....just some ideas.

[Ricki]

If a game is made for an assumed asexual, it limits the enjoyment and any chance of spreading the idea of asexuality. So don't do option 2 as a focus point.

Having asexuality involved without it being so in your face is the best way, such as a side character or even the protagonist pointing out they don't want sex.

And there's a loooot of games where romance and/or sex isn't involved, people only expect it as a thing if you suggest it to them as a possibility.

[Perseus]

I like the second and the third option. I am a big fan of video games and this would be cool.

[SithLord]

I like the third option best, though you'd have to specifically say asexuality since not all games have romance and/or sex in them.

[ThaHoward]

The last option. But only as a sidenote, someone mentioning they are asexual or a roleplaying game where you can get a wife etc like in Skyrim, Mass Effect and so on. In games like that asexuality could be nice if done properly.

[WinterM]

Lots of support for the latter two options - that's fine, those are my general preference anyway. I figured there would be more for the first, and I still plan to create something along those lines since I think it could be a unique art game, if nothing else.

More opinions/discussion welcome.

[Ricki]

I believe that the 1st option is a good idea. It's just theres so many peoples experiences and very few have exactly the same, then it would be hard to portray it in a fair open way that everyone would be happy with.

Not to mention the amount of labels there are. It would be hard to explain everything in a Educational way that represents everyone but also lets all the Allosexuals understand the layers that have been squashed in, without boring and/or confusing them.

[WinterM]

It would probably be impossible to create something that everyone would be happy with. In an ideal world, we'd have lots of people making games that express their personal opinions, so people would have a variety of conflicting perspectives. Since I don't think I can create something that represents everyone, I plan to focus on capturing one common experience . People won't come out of it with a comprehensive understanding of asexual lingo, but hopefully they'll acquire a tiny bit of empathy.

PROGRESS UPDATE: I am working on two different games in two different engines. One will be a short art game meant to be accessible and played in a single sitting, the second a quick but full RPG with asexuality included along the lines of options #2 and #3.

[WinterM]

Alright, I've finished the first step of my plan. I have two games, one complete and one with a 30 minute demo.

Ace Party
Windows Download

Mac Download

Linux Download
Can you survive a sexually-charged party and make a real connection with anyone? This is the artsy game I mentioned, putting players in the shoes of a specific asexual. This game is designed to either be finished in one sitting, giving a general experience, or played several times to unlock some more gameplay depth and new endings.

The Kingdom of Avenon
Windows Download*
The peaceful kingdom of Avenon won't remain peaceful for long... because otherwise the game would be pretty boring. This is the first chapter of the game; I plan to produce a handful of updates turning this into a short but complete RPG. Asexuality plays a fairly major role in the plot, but it's just one plot element among many others.

*The engine is Windows-only, sorry, but the game should run perfectly in Wine and equivalents.

These are my initial offerings - play them and let me know what you think. At minimum, I'll be back with a few updates to complete TKoA. If people aren't interested, well, at least AVEN will have two completed games for the reference of anyone in the future who wants to try something different.

On the other hand, if people like what they see, there are a variety of options for going forward. Indie games can bring a large amount of exposure to uncommon perspectives, but for Ace Party to compete it would need slicker presentation (stylized art, for example, is the norm for indie games).

In a completely different direction, it's possible to create a high quality retro game with a fairly small team. The RPG I made uses a lot of default music and sprites, which will get it rejected from serious audiences. Remaking all these resources is more than I can do right now, but it's definitely within the realm of possibility.

That's all I'll write for now. Let me know what you think.

[eched]

Well, I played AceParty. Here is some constructive feed back! ^_^

The character's gender should be established. About midway through I realized I was playing a woman. Should have known that sooner. Also, in a few spots it would say, "the characters seemed alright and they were cool with your asexuality." I think you meant they didn't come onto you or anything. Other wise it seems like your going room to room telling people flat out your asexual. I also wish there was shots from the party instead of just a still shot of a house.(would have been great if you had a character you could move around and actually walk up to people with to talk to them)

It also oddly felt more like a game made by feminists about why not to sexually harass women. Of course, this IS how college parties are like, so you can't be blamed for this. Boy am I glad to be out of college.

The idea though and some of the dialog was great. I also love that cake is needed as a power source. :D

[WinterM]

Constructive feedback is welcome, thanks.

If you weren't sure about your character's gender until half way through the game, then I did half my job well. Nothing about the character other than asexuality is specified by design, and I tried to keep negative and sexual interactions balanced between genders. There are a few more men hitting on you, because I feel like a few archetypes are far more commonly male, but I've experienced them from gay men as well so I hoped it was neutral.

Right now the game is purely text-based because those are the resources I have. If we wanted it to compete with other indie games, some stylized shots of the party could be an effective addition.

[RK800]

Ooo, I'm glad I found this thread!

I'll have to play those game, heck maybe I'll post them on my channel. :)

I think I like the second and third best.

[Artistofnoname]

Gotta say that sounds really cool!

[gileon]

What about a game called "dodge the innuendo"

It has fictional conversations either via characters talking (like an adventure game) or via dating site and the trick is to keep the conversation away from sex talk as long as possible due to multiple choice answers.

[WinterM]

Thanks for the encouragement, HiddenAngel and nijikazegirl.

What about a game called "dodge the innuendo"
It has fictional conversations either via characters talking (like an adventure game) or via dating site and the trick is to keep the conversation away from sex talk as long as possible due to multiple choice answers.

That'd be easy to do in multiple systems, and it has real potential as a quick little art game. I'd like to see it, but don't know if I'd make it myself, since I'd need to think through some things about how it would work.

[hekky1]

(Let's make the next Ludum Dare theme "asexuality" xD)
Will download Ace Party (since it's for ux) and will edit with comment ;3

@edit:

10/10 "Delicious, delicious cake" ~AVEN Forums

[nerdperson777]

I decided to wait until after finals to play. So Ace party. I lost by clicking on cake, thinking that cake couldn't be bad! No...the cake is a lie.

[WinterM]

Despite more support for the latter two concepts, I note that more people are playing Ace Party than the RPG. Is it the the Mac/Linux compatibility, the smaller size, or something else I'm missing?

(Let's make the next Ludum Dare theme "asexuality" xD)
Will download Ace Party (since it's for ux) and will edit with comment ;3

@edit:

10/10 "Delicious, delicious cake" ~AVEN Forums

Obviously Ludum Dare isn't likely to do that, but in all seriousness it would be great to see some kind of equivalent that would get some more variety out there.

I decided to wait until after finals to play. So Ace party. I lost by clicking on cake, thinking that cake couldn't be bad! No...the cake is a lie.

Treasure is frequently trapped or guarded...

[nerdperson777]

I really like the Kingdom of Avenon. For a moment I thought I was going to get addicted to it, and then it ended. Don't care that it's made more simply than other games out there. I think it'd be nice to put some hints throughout the game, like piles of bones contain upgraded items. Maybe farther down, we can choose what gender we want to be, or leave it up to the player's imagination, but I guess it'd make a difference where the main character sleeps...

I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I have to battle 5 bats, it's really OP. When I've found out one of those were 5 bats, I avoid them. In the entire game so far, I've killed everything but the two battles that had 5 bats.

But overall, very good game. Story's good, just a few minor issues. Can't wait for the finished product.

[Oddball-Meo]

I played both games that are available for download. I like both of them. Aven Party had waay more options to choose from, then what I expected and that was a nice surprise. As for kingdom of Avenon, I liked that it had a "older" RPG feel to it adn the battle system was simple while not being overly easy.

Keep up the good work! :D

[WinterM]

I really like the Kingdom of Avenon. For a moment I thought I was going to get addicted to it, and then it ended. Don't care that it's made more simply than other games out there. I think it'd be nice to put some hints throughout the game, like piles of bones contain upgraded items. Maybe farther down, we can choose what gender we want to be, or leave it up to the player's imagination, but I guess it'd make a difference where the main character sleeps...

I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I have to battle 5 bats, it's really OP. When I've found out one of those were 5 bats, I avoid them. In the entire game so far, I've killed everything but the two battles that had 5 bats.

But overall, very good game. Story's good, just a few minor issues. Can't wait for the finished product.

Glad to hear you liked it. As for the bats, I felt the last dungeon was a little too easy and raised their attack at the last second - that might have made the battles against five too difficult. That's the kind of thing I hope to tweak during testing so the final product is fully balanced.

I played both games that are available for download. I like both of them. Aven Party had waay more options to choose from, then what I expected and that was a nice surprise. As for kingdom of Avenon, I liked that it had a "older" RPG feel to it adn the battle system was simple while not being overly easy.

Keep up the good work! :D

Thanks, I tried to take a middle path on these. For example, Ace Party could go in either direction: fewer options for a more narrative experience, or even more in a longer or more complex game. As for RPGs, while obviously AAA games are outside my reach, within the older style I can actually do a lot to make it more complex and nuanced. If we go forward with this, there are definitely options.

[jimerman]

though i get what you are saying, i don't necessarily care. most video games don't have a love in them (although you do see it occasionally) and the protagonists never seam to care which is how i vue asexuality and aromatics. it may be nice to play as a strong anti relationship/ sex protagonist, but the fact that they don't care is what makes me like there sexuality. my sexuality is not my defining characteristic, i don't care about it, instead i would like it to be my wit, courage, and intelligence which are common characteristics in games.

[nerdperson777]

Glad to hear you liked it. As for the bats, I felt the last dungeon was a little too easy and raised their attack at the last second - that might have made the battles against five too difficult. That's the kind of thing I hope to tweak during testing so the final product is fully balanced.

My biggest problem was having 5 bats do 300+ damage consecutively which left me using a turn to heal which isn't enough to take them down no matter what I do.

(I feel like allosexuals would looks at this game and wonder what's happening. Oh no! Everyone's horny and disappearing! Totally how society works. Reminds me of that one post in the ace jokes thread.)

[WinterM]

Busy at work now, but I should be able to devote more time to Kingdom of Avenon soon.

Glad to hear you liked it. As for the bats, I felt the last dungeon was a little too easy and raised their attack at the last second - that might have made the battles against five too difficult. That's the kind of thing I hope to tweak during testing so the final product is fully balanced.

My biggest problem was having 5 bats do 300+ damage consecutively which left me using a turn to heal which isn't enough to take them down no matter what I do.

(I feel like allosexuals would looks at this game and wonder what's happening. Oh no! Everyone's horny and disappearing! Totally how society works. Reminds me of that one post in the ace jokes thread.)

Tested the bats, and they need to be nerfed next version. Trying to out-heal them doesn't work, though, you have to hit harder in the first round.

[WinterM]

I've finished the second update for Kingdom of Avenon. This is the middle third of the game, with a significant added chunk of gameplay. It won't be finished immediately, but I'll definitely get it done.

Windows Download

(Anyone who played the first version, move your save files from the old folder to the new one and the game should resume smoothly.)

Meanwhile, I'm considering the future of this thread and my work on these games. I would love to be able to spend some of my time on games that include asexuality, but sadly I'm at a point where I can't afford to work on whatever I want - I need to be able to justify time spent on one project over another.

Let me pitch a project I think has longer term potential:

STZ Pitch

That's "sexually transmitted zombification" for those who haven't read the previous threads on an asexual movie studio. It's an idea for a game in the third category: it would be a major case of asexual representation, but the game itself is just trying to be a good game and asexuals wouldn't be that overrepresented among the characters.

The premise is that civilization was wiped out by a zombie apocalypse, and before turning virulent, the zombie virus was transmitted sexually. That gives us a good reason to have more asexuals than demographics would suggest, but it's not meant to imply asexuals are superior: survivors also include couples, celibate people, and some who just got lucky. You actually won't find out about the main character's asexuality until a ways into the plot.

Our story begins months after the apocalypse, after the survivors have banded together and tried to build a new society. Since the population is dangerously close to the lower limit, breeding programs are instituted. That's what prompts our lead asexual (plus non-heterosexuals and people just opposed to the idea on moral grounds) to leave safety and try to form a new society in a zombie-filled wasteland.

Hence the game is a mix of combat, social interaction, and society-building. I think our plot would naturally include characters outside asexuality, therefore I don't think the project would be limited to just support from the asexual community.

I could go into more detail, but I think that's enough for now. I hope I've made it clear that this isn't a vague aspiration: this is a project I'd really like to pursue. But to do this professionally enough to reach a broader audience, I can't do it alone. Would people be willing to support a project like this? This thread probably isn't the best place, so where should I go to get a more realistic sense for the level of support actually available?

I'm glad for the support I've gotten here and I'm happy a few people enjoyed the games. I might be looking at the limit of what I can do, however, unless the community is really interested in more. I think we could create something really good that would get asexuality before a wider audience, but we'd need either a creative team or a budget.

If the interest isn't there, I'll finish Kingdom of Avenon and be satisfied with a completed project.

[DiEvAl]

I'd like to complain that there isn't enough cake in the second part of KoA :P

I liked the foreshadowing of Ashteron's nature. First we find an ace in the town of Ciset (as in cis-het), which means he isn't local. Then we find the Incubus Hammer that only he can carry...

I think you could move the inn to that empty house on the right, and put a bakery called "Ace Cakes" where the inn is now. This'd give you an excuse to add more cake (yay!), and also it'd be a reference to Minority Mosters and even more foreshadowing.

Oh, and is anyone else QP-shipping Ashterona? :D

[WinterM]

Heh, I wouldn't rule out adding some cake. Thanks for the link to Minority Monsters; I wasn't aware of that one.