Any chance you could send me that too? I’ve been trying and honestly this is making me feel a little dumb😂
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To me, this is a big deal because writing this character is all about the character development you see in your vision for your story.
I understand how important it is to give readers everything you can, but in this particular case, I feel you need to listen to your soul and be true to yourself.
Balancing content is often done over time, and you should have multiple passes to do this in.
You already feel this is a “family” situation, so these two or three scenes can easily be structured to be inclusive, with every reader experiencing the development of this character.
There are multiple ways of addressing concerns while staying true to your inner vision.
This here is an example of addressing concerns while staying true to yourself.
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I really agree with this. I remember some authors struggling to please ALL the readers. This is impossible, you can’t please everyone. The better option is to listen to your heart and your own characters. In one way or another, I think your story will be amazing.
The option I chose was the “in all for it” because this isn’t only a development for the story that I would be very interested to see, but because as long as S Ryder is happy, I am happy.
About the steamy scenes, of course, the option I chose was to go more explicit than Blood Moon. What can I say? I’m just like this LOL
But keep in mind, talking about the long run (publishing your game through Hosted Games), that in Germany you can’t buy +18 games on Steam. I remember this happening with Midnight Saga. I don’t know if there are other countries with these restrictions, but I think is worth considering, especially if in your first book there will be only one scene. Maybe you can post this scene after the game release here or on your Patreon?
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Gonna be honest here–were it Lance, instead of Ryder, I’d definitely be voting against it, and probably be a bit irritable. Because…
I want to RP a character romancing a man, and not have to deal with things. I play these to escape, so I want an escape. I get that there’s drama in all of these games, I just prefer not to have it heaped into my romance paths.
That said, if you do go for it with Ryder, I’d like the MC to be able to be a bit clueless. Not rude, not judgy, but just in a, “Okay, that’s fine, but what does it mean?” kind of way. Might be a good opportunity to build friendship between the MC and Ryder, too.
But I want to play it! So maybe a mini-game? Whatever the case, now I want a detailed Carter sex romp!
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Hehe I said “here”, but I was thinking about Dashingdon 
ofc I want to play it too
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I figured you did, which was why I was shocked! Didn’t realize you meant dashingdon. And getting variations for the scene sounds incredible.
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The Polls speak for themselves. People want intimate scenes in a romance story what a surprise haha, also adding a subplot about Ryder discovering their NB identity would have no bearing on the story and yeah people wouldn’t like that as this was originally suppose to be murder mystery romance.
Not surprised tbh, it would be adding in a subplot about the MC suddenly finding a passion for music and deciding to pursue a music side hustle haha
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I kind of agree with Eiwynn. Both these aspects are very personal to whatever you would like to do with the game so I didn’t want to vote for how explicit the scenes should be - that’s very much something I don’t want to decide for someone else to write haha!
Would you consider changing them to nonbinary only? I know that would be a lot of work to sort out the verb agreements if they used they/them pronouns but… If you feel regret, would you be disappointed if you completed it the way the character currently is?
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Thinking about it more, I think it’s probably a bad idea in a game like this where the ROs are such a huge part of it.
I know that I, personally, would be extremely irritated if an RO in a game structured like this dropped something that I considered a dealbreaker on me like that halfway through my playthrough. I mean, by that point I’d have missed a lot of chances to talk to the other ROs and may even be past the point of choosing another RO. It would just straight up ruin the playthrough for me, and I probably wouldn’t be in a huge hurry to consider restarting.
And would I consider this a dealbreaker? I don’t know. Maybe. It depends on exactly what happens. For the most part, I am only interested in female ROs. I wouldn’t mind if she was femme-presenting nonbinary, but if part of their process here involved them leaning more masc or strongly androgynous, then yeah, that could end up being a run ender.
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I think I’d like a gender exploration subplot for Ryder a lot! As for most of the complaints as to how it’d be a deal-breaker, you could just put a little blurb in the bio or whatever.
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At first I wanted to disagree about the NB & all change…but you are absolutely right. I preach the same thing. It is the authors vision, story & work, we are here just for the ride!
But what @nulCat said, it would be great to get a heads up so people could know if they want or don’t to get with them.
I often rely on LIs descriptions before starting, just so I would know what path suits my attractions more & the game would be enjoyable on the first playthrough.
That would be so cool though. I always appreciate a great story with explicit scenes + fade to black for the people that don’t want them. I think scenes like that whether explicit horror or sex scenes, it gives a more mature vibe to the story, the world & a different layer of complexity.
Or maybe it’s just me…but it feels more real I think.
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I believe it’s better for the story to allow characters develop the way you feel, even if it’ll upset some people - myself included, ngl I’ll be less inclined to romance S. Ryder, since I’ve already picked a gender for them :'D
That being said, from gameplay point of view in a romance-oriented game with only 4 ROs imo it’s better to avoid limiting RO to a specific gender or sexuality. For some players it will be a dealbreaker even if they knew about it from the start.
So if it’s actually, like you said, not that big of a deal, it’s probably better to leave things as they are. But if you feel like in the future you’ll have a hard time writing S. Ryder as male/female because you’ll keep seeing them as nb, then by all means go with the transition.
As for intimate scenes, I’m okay with either option as long as we have top/bottom choice, but I picked the most explicit one in the poll. Afaik explicit senes are not too common for Hosted games, so it’ll be good to have more of those. I’m of course assuming you are okay with writing them, since you are considering it) At the end of the day it all comes down to author’s level of personal comfort.
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I’m just gonna say my piece then go back to lurking,
I’m against the whole gender flip, part way into the story. Sorry maybe that’s just me 
. Reason(s).
1.) If Ryder changed gender half way through the story, that’d definitely throw a spanner in the relationship, since A.) I already was romancing them as a set Gender, so it’ll definitely feel weird for me.(Not against it, just want to know what I’m getting into when going into relationship In the beginning. But it’d be completely different story if we were dating a year or 2 and down the line, they changed gender, wouldn’t care at all, because I’ll love them for them. But… unfortunately that’s not what’s happening.
So that’s why I’m going to say yeah…,but no thanks.) And B.) Ryder’s got so much on their poor plate as is, that I feel, that you’re just at this point trying kill the sparks of love, progress is slow with them but that’s what makes them interesting, but adding more to that… well it’ll just become a shackle instead.
But at the end of the day it’s your choice, your story, that’s all I’m gonna say.
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A bit of an update on my thoughts on the polls- well, on the one about S. Ryder’s gender. I’m pretty sure I would want to wait until book two if it ends up happening at all. There’s going to be plenty of time between then and now to think it over, after all! But I’m also wondering, for the people who said they wouldn’t like it due to them choosing a particular gender for them, would you all be more okay with it if they instead went by their chosen gender (‘She’ or ‘He’) and They/Them? So they would go by She/Them or He/Them? I’m wondering if this would be a healthy medium because I can definitely empathize with the people that have grown attached over the past couple of years to this character. Even while saying this, it still doesn’t mean it’s a for sure thing, and I’m still mulling it over in my head. I’m just looking for more input really. @KZV @Anarore_Kriptih @EvilChani (since you had mentioned not liking it for a character you would be actively romancing) @Vasya_Khleb (Since you mentioned the earlier change might upset you) @ChaosBringerXV
As for how it would be handled, I can say with certainty with how Ryder is, they wouldn’t want to make a big deal about it. It would be a thing they would have a small conversation with the MC about (and talk to Jackie about it, so I could definitely see that being a scene with the MC, Jackie and S.) then basically mention to the rest of the team and be like, “By the way, I don’t mind if you call me what you have been… but like… I’m fine with they/them, too…” Then just carry on.
I don’t think it’d be in S’s character to have this big exploration of themselves, but rather just naturally come out and say it as it is, and naturally just ‘be them’ if that makes sense. If anyone has seen Umbrella Academy, kind of like how it was handled with Viktor when he came out to the rest of the family. For anyone that hasn’t seen it, please indulge. "I am Viktor" 🖤 #TheUmbrellaAcademy #ElliotPage - YouTube Pretty much just a scene akin to that with the team, and they move on with whatever it was they were doing.
Again, none of this is set in stone, but this is kind of how I envisioned it for the most part, if it eventually does happen.
I appreciate everyone’s support in completing what I envision for my story, and I will definitely make sure that comes to fruition regardless of where I decide to go with this specific decision! You guys are awesome! 
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I know I said earlier that it would be fun for the character to be always nonbinary, but I am going to veer in the other direction.
With the caveat that there are plenty of people in real life who have multiple pronouns and feel fantastic and fulfilled with them: I feel pretty strongly that if the main reason to have a character use them (as opposed to reflecting experiences of people who love having multiple pronouns) is to make players who aren’t on board with the character transition feel more comfortable about the idea, I’m not convinced that it will feel great.
Basically: It’s OK for a character to be cis and binary. It’s also OK to have a character transition. If you are sort of… ending up doing a lot of work to make a character’s transition more palatable to accommodate players who don’t like it, will that feel good and expansive and fun to write?
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The more I’ve put thought into it over the last few days, the more I think that if it wasn’t romance-subplot bound, more people would probably be okay with it. Personally in my playthroughs, I don’t see SRyder as being in a good place to start a relationship with anyway because of the issues he’s having both with his powers and his unresolved feelings for Kate and how his grief over Kate’s death is presenting. I did go to check on him after the funeral, but see it as more of what the character would do for anyone who was clearly in need of help. The friend or found family aspects (Ryder like MC’s brother if he actually wanted help, maybe?) is what I tend to act on more with him, so if he was also having problems navigating his own personal gender perception outside of a MCromance, I would definitely be more than happy to play that.
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I will now always call a romance with the MC and NPC in these games a McRomance, and pronounce it as if it is something off a McDonald’s menu. Thank you for this. And your input of course, that was not overlooked.
@HarrisPS I think you may be right here. I’m just glad I have a while to figure it out. I do happen to agree with people that, because of everything happening in this book, it would be difficult for anyone in S’s position to make that kind of decision about themselves currently.
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LOL! Not my intention, but it is about time for lunch here! 
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I admit, I voted “no” for the romance reasons, but the healthy medium feels kinda like the offer to just ignore their gender identity, which also feels kinda bad (even if it a solution).
Maybe there can be a choice about that at the beginning? So people who don’t want that can just not see certain scenes, and others who do can get that part of the story in full?
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Well, I said my thoughts above, but now there is a new issue I feel I should touch on.
Hannah has touched on this in their post when they says:
Making character design decisions in an attempt to mollify or accommodate players who don’t like the character’s development is compromising yourself, both as a writer and a game designer.
In the “what romance do you desire to see” thread, I expressed the fact that I desire to see more true lesbian romances, and cited a few games where a true gay characters were written.
It was important that they remain who they were without compromising both the character and the author because they represent characters where their identity and who they are an important part of the story.
I feel this same importance is clear in your own words:
This right here is essential to who Ryder is, and adopting (s)he/they pronouns basically compromises the character to service those who would be otherwise disappointed or angry.
Another thing that bothers me is that this is a work in progress, designed to change and evolve over time to become the best story it can be. So, even though a character was put forth one way for a year or more, if that character is changed to better the story and vision you want to tell … then that is enough to change that character so.
I am very glad that you listen to, and consider, all the different people’s feedback.
This time, I feel your best source for both inspiration and clarity is yourself.
Sorry for the wall of text.
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