Ramble - The kinds of stories I want to tell, and don't want to tell

I played a sexy-fun visual novel recently, and it got me thinking about the kinds of stories I enjoy reading/watching/experiencing, and the kinds of stories I don't.

So I wanna ramble about that, and hey: maybe we'll even learn about the kinds of stories Hushberry Games might tell, and the kinds of stories it won't (as much).

The game I played

I don't want to say what game it was, because I'm going to talk about the things I didn't like a lot, and I don't want to leave what could be easily interpreted as a negative review about a game that I otherwise quite enjoyed!

The art was unique in a delightful way, the story was overall a story I enjoyed, and it was even a little hot!

So with that out of the way:

The things I didn't like; the things that drove me crazy (but not in a hot way)

I suck at words, but it's some kind of blend of:

• "I hate you, get away, perv, don't touch me." (Tsundere/ice queen-adjacent?)
• She tells him to stop, but she's also blushing and smiling and teasing about it.
• There's various contrived reasons where they have to spend time together, or she has to "deal with" being touched by him
  • Her: "Oh no, my ankle is sprained, you have to give me a piggy back ride."
  • Both, but for different reasons: "Oh, gosh, this is soooo embarrassing!"

And it didn't happen in this particular visual novel, but I also don't like:

• The guy being all "oh no, I shouldn't be thinking about how hot she is and that I wanna bang her, but oh god, I am anyway - what do I doooo??"
  • And I'm sitting here, like, "omg, dude, these thoughts are totally normal - you're making them weird by reacting this way! get over yourself!"
• Various contrived reasons (sometimes straight-up magic) where the guy "can't help himself" and forces himself on her in one way or another.
• RIDICULOUS proportions. Like, big butts and boobs, sure, but each boob weighing about as much as the human carrying it? That's just too distractingly bizarre for me to get into. I dunno.

But these are just preferences - everyone likes different stuff

These are works of fiction. The people writing these stories, like me, have an end-goal in mind: we're gonna write a story about some sexy-fun times! And you're reading these stories with the expectation that we're gonna get to those sexy-fun times! And we all know that somehow we have to get from point A (the beginning of the story) to point B (the sexy-fun times), and it's probably going to be "fake" on some level or another, and that's fine!

The "I shouldn't, but I want to" trope I'm sure comes from the variety of societal norms in our world, and while "but I shouldn't" might feel silly to some people, I'm sure it 100% connects, and is real and relevant and important to others.

And I know "I couldn't control myself, because magic" is totally hot for some people, and that the line between "hot" and "horrible and gross" will vary from person to person.

For my stories, personally, I want characters to be open, comfortable, and just having fun. Maybe the characters' boundaries will be pushed a little, but they're being pushed because the characters want them pushed, for themselves, not because someone else does.

Consistency hobgoblins

I heard a term once that I love: "consistency hobgoblins", meant to refer to this idea we humans tend to have that everyone is consistent in their beliefs, and preferences, and actions while in reality no one is consistent, and so this consistency we're looking for, in ourselves and in others (and mostly in others >_>), is like a hobgoblin - a trickster creature that isn't real.

And I've totally made characters in For One Year that do the things I just said I don't like!

Effie, the Historian

Effie starts out distrusting you, but by your second meeting, you're banging!

I'm okay with this character because the distrust was based on a mistaken identity (and doesn't involve any "ew, perv!") but, hey: it's still following the trope, and all I can say about that is "yeah, you're right."

Dang consistency hobgoblins!

Gris(elda), the Thief

Gris frames you for theft, threatens your life (or at threatens to give you a stabbing), and steals bread which you then feel like you should pay for? What? There's even a scene where your character is freaked out and can't sleep because of their encounter with Gris!

What is this story, even?!

I kind of like that the trope is inverted - that the protagonist is given every reason to dislike the dateable character, instead of the other way around - but that said, I don't really like this relationship arc!

"Why did you write a thing you didn't like?"

As I mentioned in a previous post, For One Year has this problem that we need excuses for why the traveler meets the same character over and over. A thief on the run felt like a good excuse, so I went with it.

And the more I write a story, the fewer and fewer options I find I have. I can't contradict things I already wrote, so if I find myself in a situation where it feels like the only natural thing for a character to do is something I don't want to have happen in the story, then either I have to go back and change previous things (which will probably require rewriting even more things), or I just have to accept it and let it play out and maybe steer things a different direction later.

Many times in For One Year I did go back and rewrite large parts of stories in order to make them play out as I wanted. (I even threw out an entire game, once, because I felt like the premise had to lead to a place I didn't want to go, no matter what I did!)

For Gris... I can't remember exactly why I made all the choices I did - why I didn't rewrite more, or scrap her entirely. I do like thinking about the story from her point of view, though - I think she'd be an interesting protagonist in a game or story of her own - but in that story, I'm pretty sure the traveler from For One Year would become a rival, not a lover!

Anika, the Ghost

I also have mixed feelings about Anika. Less mixed than Gris, but for some reason I coded up a dialog option that allows players to not have sex with Anika... so why didn't I do this for Gris??

Dang consistency hobgoblins!

Maybe that's something I can "fix" for Gris' storyline in a future update.

But again: these are just preferences - everyone likes different stuff

Gris is one of my least-favorite For One Year characters to bang, but maybe she's one of your faves! There are no right or wrong choices - you do you!

I can say that For One Year's upcoming character, Sylvie, gives players the option to bang or not.

And for Hushberry Games' upcoming game, the stories will probably be similar in tone to For One Year: silly, sexy, unbridled romps where everyone's having a good time... (plus probably a couple more-complicated characters, because consistency hobgoblins.)

Closing/bonus thoughts

I talked about For One Year characters I like less; which do I like most?

In no particular order:

• Effie, despite what I said earlier, I really like. She's just so excited about history and archaeology, and the two of you just... get along! You hit it off, and it feels effortless, and I love that!
• Oinoie is similar to Effie, in my mind, in terms of the effortlessness and joy with which she pursues sex, and again: that works for me. I could understand finding her interest in the traveler a little problematic - she is fetishizing you for being human - but again, in the end, she's just here to have fun 👩‍🍳👌 Yes, please.
  • I'm a little less into Leucosia, but there's some similarities to Kitka's story which I'm into, and speaking of Kitka...
• Kitka, and her story, I also really like! She's a person who's exploring what kinds of relationships she wants, and is embarrassed, self-conscious, and hesitant, but wants to explore and try new things, and is doing it! She'd do it even if the traveler wasn't there - we see evidence of that. She has a goal for herself, and she's making it happen. Also: I find all the characters in For One Year physically attractive, but something about Kitka extra works for me. I dunno.
• Nora is another favorite. She reminds me a bit of Niss, in that she doesn't have time for a relationship, but wants sex, so sex for her is more functional than emotional. Unlike Niss, though, we get to learn a lot about Nora, and, like Effie, Nora's a huge nerd who's devoted to doing her own thing, even if most people in the game world probably think she's an eccentric weirdo. (Maybe most people in the real world, too?)

I talked about a game I like less; which do I like most?

In no particular order:

• Space Rescue: Code Pink is way up there. Like For One Year, most of the characters in Space Rescue are there for a good time, and I am all over that.
• 8th Heaven, like Space Rescue and For One Year, is mostly just about havin' a good time. I also like the unique art style.
• Kindred Spirits on the Roof is also very good (though if you're looking for lots of sexy pictures, this game will disappoint - it has very few). From a game design point of view, I also found the game so interesting: most VNs I've played are just simple VNs - read through it, that's it, you're done - but Kindred Spirits has this calendar, and other features that I'm sure hardcore VN fans will be like "um, that's actually super-common", but Kindred Spirits was the first (and one of a few) I happened to play with all that extra stuff, and I just found that so interesting and fascinating!
• The Good Time Garden is just so fucking weird, I have to mention it. It's so weird. And it's not even hot! It's just weird.
• Genital Jousting, for the lols.
• Triad, a funny little 1-puzzle puzzle game (find it on itch.io).
• The Sims 3? Does that count? What if I use mods to get rid of the censor pixels and make everyone poly - does it count, then?
  • Oh, god, does Skyrim, count, then?? I haven't tried those mods out, but... I mean, I probably should, right??

👋 Thanks for reading!