In my game, I've wanted to create an encounter with a demonic succubus. I really liked how Dark Messiah played with the idea of a demonic succubus sharing the mind of the protagonist/player. I think there's a lot more landscape to explore, and the topic of demonic possession fascinates me in some ways. I have listed out a bunch of demons and the vices they use to prey on mortals as a means to corrupt and possess their souls. This is partially inspired by Dragon Age : Origins, with their pride demons, lust demons, rage demons, etc. So, I think it would be a really fascinating, interesting exercise to try to use each of the various vices to try to tempt and corrupt the player. The underlying motive is to examine our own susceptibilities to real life vices and get a better understanding of our own human natures. Some people could, feasibly, have their ego and pride stroked in such a way that they become enslaved by their pride. Maybe other players are constantly enraged by troll NPC's, who then become pawns of a rage demon. Also on the list, would be a succubus demon who uses sexual desire and gratification to entice the player into temptation. In each case, demonic domination would be a gradual descent into oblivion rather than something that just happens instantly. I want the player to be a frog which swims in water, but never realizes it's starting to boil. The descent into irreversible demonic possession is gradual and hard to see. I think this deeply speaks to the human condition and the human experience, and if its done right, can become a very powerful take away which causes players to carefully examine their own lives and make more informed decisions about their own actions and how they might affect others. I'm a bit wary about the sexy succubus. In order to do it right, the succubus would have to be legitimately sexy and tempting to the player and be flirtatious and tempting, using every means of seduction available to bring the player under their control. In some ways, the succubus would have a dominatrix style of relationship with a submissive type of player, and that could be a fun way for players to explore their own sexuality and interests. The way I see this gradual demonic possession working (in all cases), is that the player is like a fish and the demons have baited fish hooks, and if the player bites at a baited hook, then the demon slowly starts reeling them in. If you know anything about fishing, you know that you need to play the fish a bit. You need to know when to reel them in and when to release some line, but you're gradually reeling the fish in more than you're giving out line, and eventually, you can lean down and grab the tired out fish. In the case of the succubus, it has to play the player like a fish. To reel in the player, it needs to seduce the player into having sex with the succubus, and the experience the player has needs to be rewarding enough that they want to keep that hook in their mouth, but not so rewarding that they're done -- the succubus has to keep reeling them in, more and more, enticing the player with greater and greater temptations, while also playing the player by slowly asserting dominance and issuing commands. Does the player obey the succubus to get subsequent sexual rewards? Or does the succubus have to release some fishing line to keep its fish thinking its free? The other really interesting area to explore is what happens to the player after they have become fully possessed and dominated by a demon. What happens if the succubus finally catches the player and the player can't escape? The player can't resist coming back for more, over and over again, and can't deny the succubus its demands (ie, "Go kill this priest! For me, baby!"). As you can imagine, there's a lot of darkness to explore, and what kind of scares me about all of it is that it can hit close to home for a lot of people because it exposes their own inner darknesses, possibly stuff they didn't even know existed? This itself could be even more shocking to the audience than the sex acts with the succubus. When it comes to the sex acts, I'm particularly wary about how its presented. What I *don't* want is to have the sex act to be pornographic in nature and style. That would mostly undermine the narrative and philosophical intents and just cause the game to become cheap and seedy, and any deeper value the player gets out of the experience would be lost. And yet, the experience has to be somewhat pornographic at the same time in order to fit the reward of the succubus? It's a very challenging and delicate line to balance. Obviously, there would have to be nudity and a gradual escalation of sexual interactions. But, how do I do this in an artistic way such that the entire game is not seen as just a flimsy pretext for video game porn? And even more concerning, how do I make sure that my game isn't censored from the various online distribution channels such as Steam, GOG, etc just because it has sex acts and nudity in it? Would they be willing to touch a game which helps people discover and explore their inner darknesses, including the vices of sex, even if it informs the human experience and presents a new life perspective for players? Are American's too puritan to even seriously consider it?
The other consideration I'm thinking is that my players may also be female, so if that's the case, then I need to have an equivalent male lust demon to entice the female player into being seduced/tempted. That's particularly challenging because the things which seduce men won't seduce women in the same way or to the same effect, and I am... a bit too clueless on how to effectively seduce women, and any online resources I find lead me to the "pickup artist" bullshit everyone hates.
Anyways, I looked at a the content guidelines for Steam and a few other distribution channels for guidance but it was very vague and unhelpful, so I'm mostly just holding off on this for now. What happens if my game is currently rated for teens, but a few months down the line, I release a content update which causes my game to be rated Mature or Adult? What happens to the teen customers when the rating of the game changes and they (or their parents) would no longer find the game suitable for their age group? Should I rate the game as Mature/Adult, just in case I want to go down this road in the future?
