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The Writing of Third Crisis - Deep Dive
🕑 Added 2020-07-24 16:00:04 +0000 UTCHeya all! Vils here!
It's been a while since we put out a nice little talk. If you were around a couple of years ago, you'd remember that one post we made that went into detail on how the dialogue system worked and what were the thoughts behind the development of it (you can click the 'Deep Dive' tag at the bottom of this post to find it).
It was meant to be an ongoing series of posts, but it can be pretty difficult to find something to talk about in-depth when you could just be working on it instead.
Without further ado, I give you our second deep dive post! Prepare for much rambling as I talk about my experience, self-reflection, and philosophy while writing the story of Third Crisis. Let's get into it.
Fair warning on SPOILERS for everything that's in the game up to 0.25.0 (July 2020's patreon version) and anything that could possibly be in the game in the future since I'll be explaining my mindset.
Inexperience
I have a love, hate relationship with writing the story for Third Crisis. On the one hand, I have all these ideas and moments that I want to share with you, and I love it when I can make you feel the emotion that I want you to feel. On the other hand, the strain of being a programmer that just isn't experienced at crafting good stories, and trying to really push myself to write something more than just a basic porn story can be really stressful, which results in my slow output. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to hammer a nail with a twig.
Writer's block and second-guessing is a common occurrence, mainly due to my trying to fit everything together and thinking "Is this the best way to do it? What would this character really do in this situation? How do I get these characters where I want them to be?"
Moments
It might not be obvious at first glance, but ever since starting work on Third Crisis, I've put a lot of effort into trying to learn how other pieces of media tell their stories and create their characters. Drawing inspiration from outside sources is a regular thing for me, and I've put all kinds of little homages into the game as a result.
I'm very focused on 'moments' when it comes to stories. Big moments are what I remember most from stories. The Warthog Run at the end of Halo 3, when Ryuko finally realizes how to truly sync with Senketsu in Kill la Kill, when Darth Vader says "I am your father", the big awesome ship chase in Pirates of the Caribbean, when Snape kills Dumbledore, the final battle of Undertale, and so on. I call them moments, but really they're just something memorable that stuck with me.
I've tried to include these sorts of moments into Third Crisis. Obviously the big defining moment I feel is the twist when we find out that Wildfire is actually Karen and that she blames Jenna for what happened in an honestly justifiable way. I tried to make this punch as hard as I possibly could by building up the backstory leading up to Karen's disappearance, putting a lot of emphasis on the big reveal by zooming around on the image, using mechanics as a metaphor with the 'Heartbroken' mechanic that makes Jenna unwilling to fight, and twisting the knife by having the happy couple at the end of Sublevel 2. When we first came up with Wildfire, we had this twist in mind. I even wanted her armor to be gender-neutral so that it would make the twist even more difficult to predict if people just assumed she was a guy, but alas, sexy characters in hentai come first!
July's patreon release even had a big moment that I built up to with the Pyra intro scene that plays before doing the dancing. The moment where Pyra kicks the door of the bar in and comes SO close to finding Jenna. I wanted this scene to be really tense, but also low-key hot with the facesitting. I wasn't sure if the sexiness would conflict with the suspense, but I think the mixture makes for an interesting scene. I was inspired by Breaking Bad for this one, where that show loves to let things get so unbelievably close to all crumbling apart for the characters. That's the point I tried to hammer home in this scene, if Pyra finds out that the girl laying right in front of her is Jenna, everything is all over. I'm still kinda kicking myself for falling back on the 'deus ex machina' crutch by having her get randomly called away by Leath so that the tension can be resolved.
There are also cool gameplay moments like when your 2D game suddenly grows a 3D background (try doing that in RPGMaker >:D) during the Horizon battles, or when you're suddenly thrust into a horror section in the forest after an explosive boss fight.
These moments are usually what I come up with first and then try to work backward to figure out how to get the characters there so they can have that moment. This method of writing helps me make more sense of a story because it becomes more like a puzzle that my problem-solving programmer brain can focus on rather than something creative I have no clue where to start on. The problem with this method is when the story has to fit multiple requirements and it fits this thing, but it doesn't make sense because this character did this. For example, right now I have the ending of the game all thought out, but I have only sort of a clue on how I'm going to get the characters there. That's something I still need to think about a lot, and usually, my plans with story tend to change anyways once I start making it and think of something cooler to do or a way to make it all fit better.
Pillars
The story of Third Crisis revolves around a few key pillars:
- Sex
- Characters
- Dramedy
Sex is pretty obvious, we're a hentai game and sex is the main draw that everyone first clicks on us for. If we don't have sex, we're not doing it right. But it goes deeper than that. I think of the story as an exploration of sex where we show the good and bad that can come from it.
We showcase sex as something that can be warm and intimate between friends and lovers, but can also be dark and evil when it's used as a weapon to oppress. It can be used as a tool to heal, or used as a distraction. It can build relationships but also tear them apart. Some people need it, others want it, some are addicted to it.
The characters in the story all have different varied views and opinions on sex. Some see it as a detriment or a waste of time, and others see it as something freeing that can brighten up the dark world for even a little bit.
Characters are utterly important when making something designed to arouse. We started out as an Overwatch fangame back when Overwatch hentai was at an all-time high, and I believe one of the reasons that Overwatch hentai became so popular was because of these really interesting and unique characters that Blizzard had put together for their game. This is something we absolutely do our best to emulate.
Watching someone you know have sex can be much more interesting than just some unknown person you have no clue about. This is why celebrity porn and rule 34 hentai are popular. People like seeing familiar and interesting characters get fucked.
We try to make our characters look interesting and try to make them feel more substantial than just a cardboard cutout designed purely to have sex for our entertainment (even though that's mainly what they're made for).
Dramedy is more how I would describe the tone of the story. Something light-hearted, but not overly silly. Something like Marvel's MCU and how they balance serious moments with jokes and funny circumstances. I wouldn't label TC as a drama or a comedy, but something in between.
The setting of the game is fairly dark if you think about it too much, but the levity of fun jokes and silly names helps to balance that darkness with light. Not everyone wants to fap to sad stuff.
However, there is also definitely that bit of drama that I try to inject into the main story. Going to dark places makes it so that when you come out the other end, you appreciate the bright moments more by contrast.
Characters
Yeah, characters are so important to me that I've got them listed as a talking point twice. I just wanted to talk about a few of them.
I think my favorite character when it comes to writing so far has to be Throb. He has the most well-defined and clean character arc so far. He goes from a big imposing guard to it turns out he's actually a big softy that was faking it the whole time in order to protect himself and fit in. He was being someone he wasn't in an attempt to fit in. That's a pretty relatable thing I feel. I feel somewhat bad about his sexual orientation because I would have liked it if he stayed gay, but since we're a hentai game with a female protagonist, we've gotta bend his sexual orientation a little bit to be more bisexual so we can enjoy scenes with him. Looks like I'm forcing him to be something he's not now. My internal excuse is that he's more demisexual, meaning he's attracted to people that he has an emotional connection to already. This would make it fit that he'd do the sex with the girls, but still be more male-leaning.
I also really like Jewel. She's really useful as a writing crutch for the pure route when I have to figure out a way for Jenna to avoid having sex. There's also more to her than what's on the surface. I love these characters and I see them as more than just sex objects. That's what her arc is about during the dancing sequence. I used the captain to voice the point of view of what people would see when they first saw Jewel. "Okay yeah, she's just the horny one in the hentai game and she's just there to get fucked". I was inspired by Doki Doki Literature Club where those characters are just there to be blind date-game fodder, but end up becoming self-aware, and honestly, it made me feel guilty that I was creating these characters in TC just so they could get fucked over and over and treated like sex objects for people's entertainment. That's why I wanted to rebel against it and point that thought out to challenge it with the dialogue, by showing that she totally loves to fuck, yeah. But also trying to show that sex is not all that defines her, even if she has her own doubts about that. She's someone that's been through trauma and regret, she has talent and passion for dancing, and she's willing to risk herself to protect her friends as she does for Jenna by placing herself firmly between Pyra and our leading lady.
I'm really happy with Wildfire as well. She's very characterized as this person that lives up to her name by being this wild inferno of bottled-up rage and hatred that she's held inside her from all the horrible things that have been done to her by Peitho because of Jenna's actions. I feel that antagonists that have a point are the strongest, and so I tried to make Wildfire be totally justified in her hatred toward Jenna. Leath is more of a functional antagonist that just helps to set the plot in motion, but Wildfire is the true antagonist to the core of the story. She and Jenna are locked in this emotional conflict, and we'll see what happens. I think the situation is also relatable to a degree because sometimes you do things that end up accidentally hurting someone. Sometimes forgiveness never comes. Sometimes you think to yourself that maybe you don't deserve forgiveness. Sometimes you don't even forgive yourself. But the best thing you can do is try to pick up the pieces and continue on, do your best to make amends, and just hope that even if things can't go back to how they were, maybe they can get better than how they are now. Forgiveness is what's really standing between Jenna and Karen, not fire or sex rays.
Floria is another that I love. Originally I was gonna name her Fiola, but facepalmed when I realized how much better and on-theme Floria sounded instead. When we were putting together her visual design, I put forth Sylvari from Guild Wars 2 as the main inspirational design. Her CG was actually the first one that rated drew for us, and she was the first character that was visually concepted by her. I think it's an interesting little twist that she turns out to be Jenna's old friend, because it only cements what Jenna's actions enabled Peitho to do to all her friends. Floria was experimented on until she got amnesia, and was used as a breeding specimen by Peitho to produce the Florians. All the people in the story that Jenna knew previously have been affected in some way. HQ getting dumbed down by the crush waves, Floria getting locked away from the sun and losing her memories, Karen getting mindbroken and turned into an agent for Peitho. Floria is still waiting for her arc, so there's not much to be said for her quite yet, but her main purpose, for now, is to help show what Jenna's actions have caused and be the opposite of Karen when it comes to showing forgiveness.
APRIL is a character that was originally supposed to get more screen time but didn't because of time constraints. We'll eventually get back to her sometime though. She was also inspired by Doki Doki Literature Club in being an overly attached self-aware AI. Her arc is also the most unintentionally tragic. She keeps all the citizens in Horizon and traps them there with sex so they can be satisfied and never leave her alone. Her worst fear is being left alone, so her response is to give them the entertainment they want and never let them free of it. She centers herself around this because she has no self-esteem of her own. She was built to help make people cum, which is a little meta since that's what I made her for too. The thing is when Jenna convinces her to let everyone go, she's left all alone in Horizon and never visited again (because of the time constraint we had). She was (unintentionally) right in the end. The moment she stopped giving people sex, she ended up being cast aside and left all alone both in the story and in the game itself. Man, writing about this makes me feel really bad for her. We really gotta revisit her soon.
Rida is someone that Jenna can empathize with because she too is actively hated by someone she loves. Mina's betrayal was a moment that I hoped would blindside a lot of people who were just fapping and not expecting a big story moment to happen. I tried to make it so that you could tell that Rida was really affected by losing her tribe and all that she had built her self-identity around, but that she still tried to keep her tough persona and so tried to hide just how much the trauma was affecting her. Also, she has a dick, and dicks on girls are hot! So are muscles. Rida is also waiting for the rest of her arc, so there will be more to talk about with her in the future.
Last but not least... Jenna. I think we've made it pretty clear who Jenna's inspiration is. She's basically a knock-off Tracer because of how close we had to keep her powers and personality so that we didn't have to completely redo the 0.1.0 version of the game that we had all complete with Overwatch assets. Honestly, I feel like she's the least interesting one of the cast, which probably isn't good for me to feel about the leading lady. Perhaps that's just because she's based so closely on a much more interesting character, and that I've honestly forgotten about her powers in many scenes. She also has to be less defined than the others so that there is room for choices where the player can affect her personality. I find the duality between the Peitho route and the main story route interesting. It's completely by accident, but when Karen is chewing Jenna out, she talks about how Jenna is only interested in the spotlight, and she's doing everything for herself. In the Peitho route, the corruption storyline focuses on her intense need to be in the spotlight and be the center of attention. Like I said, completely by accident, since bear is the one who writes for the Peitho route, but I still find it to be really interesting that the two routes can complement each other like that. The context of one emphasizes otherwise trivial points in the other. The same can be said for the Wildfire bad-end if you lose to Wildfire during her first boss fight. Knowing that she's Karen and knowing how she feels about Jenna completely changes how you process that scene. Jenna's personality is very inspired by characters like (obviously) Tracer and Spider-Man. How they both goof off and toy with their enemies while fighting, but can still be serious and have dramatic moments. I appreciate Jenna's love for puns, as it's fun coming up with stupid puns for her to spout out.
Conclusion
That's all I can think of for now. Writer's block is at it again. I've put my heart, soul and even some thought into these characters and this story. It might not be the best when measured up against the stories of other games, but I'm really proud of it all the same so far.
If you all have any questions or feedback about the writing, feel free to comment below!
Also make sure to subscribe and hit the bell button and like this and share it on social media and follow me on twitter and follow my cat's twitter.
Comments
Ax
I really enjoyed reading through this, lots of interesting insight about the characters and your thought process. Also, I just wanted to credit you on the game as a whole. This is the first NSFW game that made me feel such a range of emotions. Personally my favourite path so far was the "pure" path. The reveal scene with Karen as well as that scene where they sleep together later that night, just hit me right in the feels. I can't wait to see where you guys/ gals go with it. This is definitely my favourite adult game to date, keep it up!
The Omni Degenerate
Honestly I think you’re being too hard on yourself the fact you double check yourself all the time is probably why the story is so good this might be a hentai game but it’s story is better than most normal games I’ve played. The main issue with the last character you released was the way you handled her powers and you should remember this when you go forward making powers for the characters because of the way you introduced her by showing that she can basically gain all of that Persons knowledge from there cum or something. You could’ve restricted this to only males at this point which would’ve given you an easier and perhaps more fluid out.....but you then proceeded to confirm that it works on females which is what then caused you to be trapped and forced you to either let the situation crumble or pull the deuce ex machina. But honestly I didn’t hate the scene I didn’t think it was terrible it was fine and that power is certainly interesting. And when it comes to the ending issue I’m sure you can already guess this just from the conflicting comments you have here in the section alone.. but the fact of the matter is there is no way in hell you are going to write a single ending that satisfies everyone or even probably most people your only option if you want this game to have a satisfying ending for nearly everyone is to have multiple endings. And just spit balling A few ideas for this a few different endings like were they get back together because Karen finds a way to forgive Jenna. or another ending where Jenna basically becomes Karen’s slave Which Jenna does because of how guilty she feels about what she did to Karen (buying into Karen’s completely fucked logic) And therefore endures many punishments from Karen feeling as though she deserves it. And then maybe a few darker endings one where Karen successfully kills Jenna another one where perhaps if it’s a normal slut route (not pethio but still high perversion) she ends up getting together with Jewel and between the way Karen has been treating her and her high perversion she starts to realize that Jewel and sex are all she really needs now and that Karen will likely never stop coming after them so they decide to kill Karen. And this is just touching on a few possible endings AND this is only touching on their relationship never mind the macro scale of what if pethio wins what if the rebellion wins....what if the rebellion wins but wants to keep the sex crazed world instead of turning things back to normal I mean you have so many things going on in your story right now I don’t see this game having a satisfying ending unless there’s a minimum of like 10 different endings possibly more. So ya ...... good luck with that. Love the game by the way.
possgamer
No problem Glad i Could help. =)
Anduo Games
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy it! ❤
Anduo Games
Thanks you! Lots of good ideas here!
possgamer
I think Your writing is great and I think when it comes to Jenna you characterized her well. She has grown a bit more as the development goes on and even if she is really rooted in the inspirations you mentioned she can be made more into her own character and the options to be pure or more sexual are great ways to expand on the character and her relationship to the other characters. depending on her perversion you should maybe be able to expand on the sertan themes or ideas being pure with her along with throb would see sex more as a special thing to be done with a special person with jewel respecting it and discussing it with other characters and it affecting the relationship possibility's with those who think the same way like with Karen for example and the more perversion Jenna has the more open she is to it and the the outlook on sex being a natural and fun thing to do like jewel. On the far more perverse side she see sex as an empowering thing and doesn't think settling down as a thing for her. jenna has the possiblty to be her own character and still do various things such as be more sexual as long as its believable. the advantage you have here is jenna is a conduit for the player but also her own character so you can set different ways she could develop and the player can chose how they would like her to develop within her pre-established characterization. her spot light searching Brought up by karen could be a good case of development with pure stats she could a part of her was searching for it cuz after being a hero to just be tosed to the side and be then labeld a crimnal for doing the right thing hit her and was more of a push to do what she did than doing the right thing which was still why she did it but admitting her ego overshadowed it saying she should have bin more careful and the only attention she should of needed was Karens. The more pervers saying along the same thing but putting the blame somewhere else. the farthest pervertion being her saying its not her fault there was nothing she could do but fixing the problem at hand and maby they should be apart. Any who sorry for the read keep going strong.
Ethan tulip
Honestly I think you did great story wise I am genuinely interested in karens and jennas relationship and I hope they get back together
Anduo Games
Thank you for the kind words! I personally think the ending is satisfying but I just gotta execute it properly! Yeah the big ol sex waves do help as an excuse for people to fuck when they otherwise wouldn't, that's what they're there for after all!
Anduo Games
He's like Master Chief, there's just another mask under the mask! :P
Anduo Games
Thank you for writing this! Sorry about the spoilers, but I did warn ya! Writing this and reading the responses has made me feel a little better about the things I was doubting myself on like with Jenna's character. I definitely need to have her use her powers in scenes more though!
SodaBoBomb
I also think you're being too hard on yourself when it comes to Jenna. Shes the whole reason I love this game. Her biggest flaw imo is that shes so obsessed with Karen even after Karen is such a massive bitch to her. (Not a Karen fan so far) Jenna stated herself that Karen was her first real relationship. She needs to move on. So personally I'm hoping for an option at the end that's satisfying and doesnt involve them getting back together. Throb is great, I think it makes sense for him to be able to get it up for our girls considering the whole sex mind control waves and the fact that he does have an emotional connection with them.
Spikesagitta
I really like Throb too. Does he even have a face under that mask though?if not I'm just going to imagine him being handsome ;)
Licorice Lain
I actually hadn't progressed to the point of the Wildfire revelation, so this post is a bit spoilery (but I would be lying if that jail cell scene didn't have me already intuiting who she really is). I think you are being too hard on yourself in regards to Jenna. While, yes, when you point out that Tracer was the template for her, it does become clear where the inspiration for her behavior came from, but she feels distinct for me. For one, she is clearly stated in the text to be a lesbian (or lady leaning lady) rather than such information being relegated to throwaway side material. That is big point in Jenna's favor in my book. Beyond that, Jenna strikes me as a dork who tells dad jokes and gets flustered by the implications of her suggestive actions which does not remind me of Tracer. Tracer is a stereotypical brit who spots catchphrases, because that is all the design of Overwatch can allow for. By default, Jenna is more complete than her and it is not as if you are a slouch in characterizing her (in and between the various lewd paths). Take it from a fellow writer, I think what is happening is that you are hitting the same snag every writer hits: you are seeing the flaws in your own work and letting it get to you. It is good to have big ideas and ambitious goals, but you also have to admit to yourself that there isn't enough time in the day to accomplish ALL of them. So what you do is focus on the tastiest, most vital ideas and let the ones that aren't as fully rounded or fleshed go. tldr: I love Jenna and you should, too.
