Post by FreshmenVN in One Year Anniversary comments

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Completely fair on Matt! The relationship with him has the potential to get pretty complicated, in part because what Connor/the player might want from him isn't something he can give. In this case, sharing your firsts. It's possible Matt also wishes they could have had mutual discovery instead of how things actually went down...

As for the story, I'm not planning to lock anyone into a romance early on. If you want to focus in on just one guy, you can, or if you want to play the field, you can do that, too. About 2/3 of the way through the full game is when the first "defining the relationship" convos will start, but that doesn't mean every guy will want to keep things monogamous, if they even want to date... or that Connor has to stay faithful if he does enter a monogamous relationship. There will be some paths permanently closed off by that point of the game, but it won't be impossible to switch from pursuing one guy to someone else.

Merman Supporter1 year ago

Welp. I guess I can start over and pursue Riley now, lol. It was between him and Matt, but I share a similar sentiment to the poster you replied to. That said, it's also realistic, and it makes for a more interesting story where, like in real life, not everything is perfect. In fact, maybe some of the ones we typically assume are the unfaithful types might surprise us, much like the opposite with Matt.

Though, I hope we can at least have the option for an "almost perfect" romance later down the line, even if it's closer to the end. Sex is hot and all, and I'll try every single route available for completionism's sake, but at the end of the day, romance is more my thing, which I'm so glad this story offers. I look forward to how the rest of the story unfolds.

Anyway, keep up the fantastic work! Now that you're seemingly far from ever giving up on this project and willing to complete it, I just may subscribe to your Patreon. (I've been burned before, hence my initial reluctance.)

FreshmenVN1 year ago(+1)

Thanks, I'm glad you've been enjoying it! And I completely understand being wary of and in-development game from someone with no previous track record - I've been burned a bunch, too. I kind of get why some people ultimately give up, it's a lot of exhausting work to create a game solo, but the way some people just disappear is wildly unprofessional.

Anyway, about romances - every romanceable guy definitely has the possibility for a happy ending, but it'll really come down to if your Connor is on the same page as the other guy. That's why I'm not locking you into a romance path early, so you can shift your focus if it seems you're growing at odds with a character.

Riley is a great choice for a full romance if you already feel in sync with his character. He's been very upfront and open about who he is.

It's interesting how revelations about Matt are being taken, but I 100% get it - in fact, one of the romanceable guys has the exact same turnoff. There's definitely reasons for how Matt's been living - his feelings about Connor contributed to how he developed when away from home for the first time. Their story is really about re-discovering each other as friends, whether that leads to sex/romance or not.

Basically I'm trying to cover a gamut of how gay relationships can develop and how to navigate them, and Matt's choices are part of that. If anyone reading this is interested in what his and some other stories are exploring, there's a book called The Velvet Rage that goes into how the experiences of gay men can lead to a need for a certain kind of validation. It's an older book and it assumes the reader is a middle-aged, well-to-do white man, but if you can get past that, there's some interesting stuff.

So to sum it up - my hope is to take existing tropes like "the best friend" and put a little bit of a uniquely gay spin on them. It's been pretty cool to see how many people look beyond the sex and engage with the characters as people 🙂

Merman Supporter1 year ago

Thanks for the reply and for your understanding. I'm glad you're committed to this project. :)

Regarding the characters, yeah, that sounds about right, and it's great to know how they're developed. A porn VN is so boring to me, so I appreciate the fact that yours isn't one, and that we get to really connect with these characters that are 3D both physically and emotionally, all while having the bonus of hot sex scenes. And that book recommendation sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out sometime. Thanks again!

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