Temporary transformations certainly is a good way to keep the artwork requirement down. Heck, you can have several scenes that have strange things happen to the PC without actually increasing the amount of artwork required if that transformation is the only way to experience that particular sex scene.
That's indeed a good way of having that variable without it killing your timeframes and budget^^
Yron, thanks for everything you've shared with us so far, it's all extremely good. If I could prevail on you to give up a little more, would you be willing to show us or talk about some of the customization options for the PC as she goes along? Or is that something you'd rather keep under wraps?
To explain customisation I think you first need to understand how I intend to set up the plot of the game. A lot of adult games have absurdly silly plots, and I've spent a lot of time coming up with something plausible which still allowed me to work with a ludicrous amount of sexual situations and fetishes. This info is not on the Patreon since I find people respond better to short "this is what you get" pitches with sexy images... I'm happy I can discuss it somewhere.
The reason behind it all
When Yra is captured she's a pretty but non-too-exciting young woman. She doesn't have a kinky bone in her body and could be considered extremely "normal". Yra is offered to the Mistress as a potential concubine by Portaea, who deviously attempts to play into her mother's taste for both frail beauties and the corruption of innocence. The Mistress of Pleasure sees right through this, but nonetheless has to agree that Yra is a delectable specimen. The Mistress immediately bestows Yra with prestigious position of concubine. Quite quickly the Mistress sees that Yra intrigues Her in a unique way and ups the ante - Yra is to be Xara'Vol, roughly translating to "one of the hopeful". In other words, the Mistress wants Yra to become a Succubi, and what the Mistress wants She tends to get.
Xara'Vol
The Mistress explains what being Xara'Vol is to Yra. To become a Succubi means the mind must shift, the nonsensical morals and limitation of mankind must be shed in favor of relentless indulgence and ecstasy. In order to achieve this Yra must have a teacher that will instruct her in the finer elements of pleasure and suffering. Yra learns that being Xara'Vol means you MUST enter apprenticeship under a Succubi, which is extremely intimate. The Mistress is also quick to add that whomever Yra selects, she will still be her concubine (for all pleasure belongs to the Mistress in the end).
The road to corruption
The Mistress makes it very clear that failing her is not an option (the top illustration with the living penis is one of her "making things clear" sessions). Yra has to succeed, but she discovers that while all the Succubi in the game are courteous and respectable towards her, they generally only seem interested in their own pleasure and designs. The more Yra talks to them the more she learns that they she can only capture their interest through depraved and sexual acts.
Stats and your household
Ok so now I can finally explain how stats work and why you modify your household to accommodate specific kinks and cruelties. It all starts with who you decide to have as a teacher, that's the demoness you are going to romance, so you're setup has to impress and seduce that specific Succubi (and in time hopefully an Incubi as well).
Every Succubi has three corruption traits and three regular traits she looks for (please not this is all wip, subject to change). The Mistress for example judges these statistics:
The Mistress of Pleasure
[c] Indulgence
[c] Masochism
[c] Sadism
[r] Obdience
[r] Intellect
[r] Voyeurism
[c] stands for corruption, [r] for regular.
You influence stats in a variety of ways
- Actions in the game
- Reactions during dialogue
- How you set up and manage your household
The first two aren't that hard to imagine of course, the household is the coolest but also the unique one. When you start out you have a luxurious private chambers, but essentially there is not much exciting going on in there beyond the two sensual sisters that are tasked to tending your every need.
Through a means I am still determinging you are able to purchase items for your chambers. Currently these involve: torture & pleasure devices, exotic tools, parasites, and cockslaves and pleasure dolls. Keep in mind all devices are alive, so if you acquire a torture device it is more than a mere construct, it may actually speak to you or influence you in your mind to keep going further and further in your exploration of the pleasures the device allows.
All upgrades will be visible within in the room's art.
The devices influence the game in the following way:
- A device immediately gives you a stat boost (demonic influence)
- Using a device gives you stat boosts (corrupted actions)
You can use a device once per chapter, and doing so leads to an interactive short story about the experience. Using a device of course also affects a few other things, the most obvious one being who you use it on and how that individual feels about that. If your relationship with your servants Mara & Silke is important the best option is to acquire a pleasure doll and have her endure all the abuse the sisters are not interested in (these two have their own kinks).
I'll give two examples of devices I have (roughly) designed:
Stalking mirror
You're romancing Portaea and she's a total fetishist when it comes to seducing and entrapping prey through her inter-dimensional mirrors. To match your interests with her you spend your first option to expand your private chambers with a stalking mirror. Everything in the demonic world is alive (even inanimate objects), and as such using them will level them up. The final level is always a reward, in case of the stalking mirror the final reward leads to you snatching an unlucky (soon to be) slave through the device's dark shiny surface.
level 0 | +1 Voyeurism / +1 Entrapment (passive influence bonus)
level 1 | +1 Voyeurism
level 2 | +1 Entrapment
level 3 | +1 Voyeurism / +1 Entrapment
level 4 | +1 Voyeurism / +1 Entrapment
Writher penis
You're romancing Lushere & Qiranthe who both enjoy the ruination Qiranthe's vagina (ironically enough Succubi heal within days and the whole ordeal can start again from square 1, much to Lushere delight).
The Writher is a tiny phallus with balls with a host of writhing tentacles at its base. It can be used once per chapter on yourself or other victims. The writher is alive and feeds on both the pleasure and pain of its host, which it enhances by ejaculating a milky substance that increases sensitivity. The writher has 4 levels of growth, starting out like a tiny pinky length cock, and ending as the type of monstrosity the Mistress of Pleasure holds in the image with Yra. Upon maximum level it can be offered to Lushere & Qiranthe as a gift.
(haven't thought about stats for this one, but you get the idea).
I'll also give you an example about having slaves:
Cockslave
A cockslave is a much more general possession in the Feast and can be used for a variaty of purposes. You are however limited to one use per chapter, so choice matters. I plan to make cockslaves pretty customizable because their art will not be redrawn much, alternative penis types come to mind, so if you want to punish your household with mean knotted cocks it will be possible, but if you always wanted a male with the face of a boar... well... there is a Succubi that specializes in such modifications (she is aptly named Circerath, of course inspired by the Greek sorceress Circe).
You can use your cockslave for:
- Personal pleasure (indulgence)
- Pleasuring your servants (indulgence)
- Abusing your servants (sadism)
- Abusing yourself (masochism)
- Abusing a pleasure doll (sadism)
- Absusing the cockslave (Sadism & cruelty)
All these options raise specific stats, so you're basically deciding where you want to go as a soon to be Succubi (or you are just pleasing your own insatiable need to read about certain fetishes). In regard to your servants this makes them decide how much they end up loving you or not, and this may have surprising consequences later in the game.
Well, that's a bit of an introduction to how I plan to do both visual customization but also make playthroughs unique and special. Hope it wasn't too much text!