Body Types

10. Why Are There Not More Body Types?

It’s an important question, so thanks for asking.

I started this project with the intent of making something very different from the existing yaoi and bara games I saw from Japan.

This meant 1) not having the seme/uke relationships that are prevalent in yaoi (it’s cool if others like them, I just don’t find them personally very hot), and 2) not having the very slim guys that are in Yaoi and the bigger guys you see in Bara.   In other words, as crazy as it sounds, I didn’t see a whole of guys who actually look like Mark, Ian, etc.

My actual mindset at the time was “Who the hell’s going to want to play this when they’ve already got Yaoi/Bara?  I’m just going to make the kind of guys I want to see, that I don’t see represented.”

Unfortunately, I had no clue this game would attract as many players as it has, with a such a wide diversity of tastes.

At this point I feel really odd about changing any of the main guys dramatically.  I’ve put an insane amount of work into their characters and story.  When someone asks “can’t you just add a ___ guy?”, it’s actually a huge deal for me to be able to do so.  Each main character gets the equivalent of a movie-script worth of dialogue, and because the quality of the writing is so important to me, I refuse to whip up a half-baked plot just to add another guy or two who has a particular body shape.  I need a lot of time to make sure his story is engaging, as entertaining, and as sexy as the others.  (Truth be told, there IS a secret route in the game with a guy who doesn’t look like the other guys, but I certainly don’t expect people to buy the game for a mystery man!)

What I’ve decided to do instead is introduce new dateable guys through future add-ons.  Even though they won’t be full-fledged relationships, there should be a lot more variety, and if the game does well enough, I’ll consider making a full sequel, giving them (or a similar kind of guy) an entire story-line.

But yes, in terms of the existing core game, I concur it’s unable to cater to specific demographics.