Anime game with some sexy images, wouldn't be good for casual games?

[Jack Norton]

I had in mind since a long time to make a anime game. Not those sim-dating games, but more like a story with anime pictures.
However would be present all the classic romantic situation, and I thought about including some "spicy" situations.
The pictures wouldn't show anything, not even a topless. Just sexy pictures like could be a girl wearing lingerie and so.
I remember that in princess maker 2 there were such pictures (or even worse if I remember well).
My question is, the world is so absurd that I should warn people about "explicit sex reference" or something like that when releasing the game?
I would get ton of email of angry parents because that game turned their son into a serial killers?

BTW I am watching here in italy the movie "Original Sin" with A.Jolie, available to anyone even child of 8 years old. Some situation are like those in top XXX movies... but you know, if is a computer game, is devil otherwise is ok :D

[papillon]

Yes, and Princess Maker 2 was never *released* in English, either. :) They did indeed censor some of the pictures in the beta translation but hadn't quite gotten through all of them - you can still get a nipple in at least one spot without cheating. Had the deal not collapsed, I expect those last bits would have been cleaned up. (Surely you know you didn't *buy* that game...)

You can't prevent nuts from being nuts any more than you can prevent scumbags from being scumbags - just mark it Teen (or equivalent) and get on with life.

[DGuy]

Your maybe, might, maybe have difficulty getting some portals/publishers to carry it (if that is in anyway your intention.) Reading the Indie White Paper, I recall seeing a phrase like "no mature games" in the publishers section a few times.

[Jack Norton]

Well no, I was aware of the impossibility to put such a game into portals :)
Ok I guess I'll have to mark it teen+ even if is ridiculous ;)

[Frozen In Ice]

Yep. Sure strange isn't it Jack. If it's as mild as you say the graphics would be, it makes you wonder who would be offended. Sexual overtones are used in everything now. From movies,comedies,dramas,cartoons to commercials. Almost all contain some visual or verbal attempt to utilize a sexual suggestion. I agree with rating the game you are considering designing, but with all the latest hoopla, my opinion would be "M" for mature. Just keeps you out of hot water. Mind you I just saw a commercial on tv about a motorcross movie that probably contains more in it than your game and they rated it PG-13..... go figure.

[Jack Norton]

Yes, I understand what you mean. The gfx would be absolutely NO NUDITY at all, but being a romance game there would be at least a minimum of glamour :D
Bah maybe is because living in Italy you're used to see naked girls everywhere from newspaper to discos... :cool:

[Ska Software]

I'd go out on a limb and say that, at least as far as American audiences go, the "adult situations" stamp crosses the proverbial line.

It all depends on what your target market is I suppose.

[Jack Norton]

I've eliminated all the "too hot for americans" situations, except a very few sexy stuff (I hope that a girl wearing miniskirt and sexy collants wouldn't be too much!).
I'll just put it Teen rating, I think that a 14+ years old usually has seen at least some girls dressed like that in his life unless is an heremite... :D

[destron]

is there a reason why we can't just get rid of sex in computer games!? I'm really tired of it. If you're going to make this game, then don't post it here.

[Jack Norton]

You can be sure of that.

[Ricardo C]

is there a reason why we can't just get rid of sex in computer games!? I'm really tired of it. If you're going to make this game, then don't post it here.

If you're tired of it, don't buy games with sex in them. I'm not crazy about sex-themed games, but if we censored everything everyone finds distaseful, we'd have no games at all.

[jankoM]

is there a reason why we can't just get rid of sex in computer games!? I'm really tired of it. If you're going to make this game, then don't post it here.

Believe it or not - sex is a part of life - so once in a while game can come out that has word sexy (not even sex) in it's description. I would understand you more if you said >>is there a reason why we can't just get rid of shooting aliens in computer games!? I'm really tired of it. If you're going to make this game, then please don't post it here.<<. I must admit I had sex but I hadn't yet shoot an alien in my life, but that's just me :).

Sorry, I have nothing against you... I just wanted to show that some of us look different at this.

Janko M.

[vjvj]

I worked on a game that had some women in lingerie (port of a Japanese game), and the lingerie images we taken out before U.S. release. This was several years ago, but I would still tread lightly :)

is there a reason why we can't just get rid of sex in computer games!? I'm really tired of it. If you're going to make this game, then don't post it here.

When I think of "problems with games these days", sexual content doesn't come anywhere near the top of the list. I personally hope Jack and others will continue to post about any and all games they work on.

[Sol_HSA]

For those interested what exactly happened with the english princess maker 2:
http://www.softegg.com/products/pm2/index.html

Basically bad timing and a couple of bad business choises were the demise of the project, and the bad press didn't help either..

It's a pity that a lot of those "weird japanese games" never make it to western mainstream. I know that a lot of girls love to play games like princess maker 2, and I ran through it myself a couple of times as well.

As to the current owners of princess maker 2 rights outside japan.. http://www.ninelives.co.jp/exc.html

[Anthony Flack]

Note: Princess Maker 2 is not, nor has it ever been, freeware, abandonware, or shareware. The rights to the game still belong to NineLives, Gainax, and their licensees. SoftEgg is no longer in a position to grant publication rights to anyone, but still retains the rights to its English language translation (without the source code and art). So please stop pirating the game! Thank you.


"You can't buy this game legitimately, and it's unlikely you ever will be able to. But don't pirate it!"

[whisperstorm]

I doubt if it's as suggestive as say Betty from Betty's Beer Bar, or the dancing girls in Duke Nukem, so given that, and given that many casual gamers are in fact women - you may find that you indeed have an audience for a game of this type. So far, no one's hit on the "Harlequin Romance" for casual games, so I'd say give it a shot.

[rioka]

- given that many casual gamers are in fact women - you may find that you indeed have an audience for a game of this type. So far, no one's hit on the "Harlequin Romance" for casual games, so I'd say give it a shot. True but then the gender of the characters have to be changed from lingerie-wearing-females to boxer/brief-wearing-males. ;)

But anyways, slightly related, Darkhorse Comics and Harlequin made a deal: "Dark Horse Manga and Harlequin Books are delighted to present a shining new line of books that marry two of the most successful phenomena to hit bookstores—best-selling Harlequin romance fiction and female-friendly Japanese manga! These sparkling manga adaptations of Harlequin’s best-selling titles are a romantic step above much of the cookie-cutter manga hitting the shelves today. (coolstreak cartoons (http://comicbookbin.com/darkhorsepreview009.html))"

If it's a success, there may be room for interactive fiction and related genres for women... 8)