Q&A Questions Answered (Patreon)

Danielxcutter asks:

I've noticed that the solutions for your employees tend to be one to directly solve the issue eating away with them, and the other to be doing away with it entirely. One or two characters having that choice of options isn't too abnormal, but each character having them certainly is. How did you come up with the current framework, and how do you like it?

Luciana's Answer: I admit, I mostly follow Cambion's lead on this one. Paradise was/is his vision primarily, so when he decided on "we want two transformations", that's what I went with. As far as how we come up with the transformations and gear them towards solving the core problem: that can get interesting.  It's been surprisingly challenging to come up with believable issues for people which can be solved in two different very distinct but plausible ways. I'd say that's the majority of our character brainstorming time:  debating things like, "but if his basic problem is X, then how would transforming into Batman fix that, even symbolically?"  We also have to make sure that transformations don't overlap too much with pre-existing characters, which adds to the challenge. Not only must the transformations make sense for the character and both answer the core dilemma, but they need to feel unique and special, and also be something that we can write steamy sex scenes about.

 
Cambion's Answer: So the formatting of transformations comes from my original draft. I knew I wanted transformations in the game (that was going to be the main focus). I felt that only having one path would be constricting on two levels. First, it would feel less like a game and more like simply reading a novel of my own personal opinions and desires. Second, it would feel less like the player's own personal tower and more like just unlocking things on a linear path.

That being said, as any game developer will tell you, content forking is a treacherous path. The more different game states you have to account for, the more work you have to do for every future update. Two paths seemed like the best way to do it. Overall, I'm pleased with it. One of the most common threads in Discord is people sharing which form of a character they like most. It gives players the opportunity to avoid fetishes they dislike and emphasize the ones they do. There is extra work involved, but I think it's a sizable component to what people enjoy about the game. 

Danielxcutter also asks:

How did you guys meet and decide to do this game?

Luciana's Answer:  How we met... Lord, that's a story.  Cambion and I have known each other in some form or another since about 2014. We met originally in an MMORPG game called The Secret World, where we roleplayed together. Our characters became romantically involved and had some wonderfully intense storylines together: some erotic, some emotional, some dramatic, and some horrific. It was through roleplay that we became acquainted with each other's writing styles and talents, and through the negotiation of roleplay that we learned more about each other as players behind the keyboard rather than fictional characters in the game.  

We did eventually meet in real life when I was visiting Cambion's area for an unrelated reason, and realized we got along well in real life as well.  As the years went by and the game waned, we chatted more and roleplayed less.  Cambion had already seen my writing style, talents and materials; he was aware of my (in my opinion minor) talents in graphic design and web work from some projects I'd done for the gaming community. When he approached me about Paradise I initially thought he was joking.  If there is one thing that is true about Cam, it is that he is a very logical and sensible person, regardless of whether you are a 'friend' or not (perhaps just a tad like Avery).  He'd never recruit me simply based upon our friendship, if he didn't sincerely believe in my abilities. That was a very... awe-inspiring feeling, when he bluntly told me why he wanted me:  that I was the best writer he knew*, and had the technical skills to go with it.

(* That's how I remember it, and I'm sticking to my story.)

Cambion's Answer: I had just spent a few years writing a novel. Drafting, rewriting, polishing. When it came time to find an agent though...no bites. Not even a nibble. I privately had to concede it wasn't up to snuff and the thought of spending another year or three on it with the possibility it STILL wouldn't be picked up (or if it was, wouldn't sell anywhere) was more than I could bear. It was at that point that I stumbled upon TFGamesite and the many wonderful games there supported by their fans. I loved the games, but couldn't help but notice how often transformation was involuntary and secretive. I thought making a game would at least ensure my work was enjoyed somewhere, if I could finish it.

A year and a half later, I had most of the initial launch content with our first three characters. I'd spent a fair chunk of change on the initial art run, but I still wasn't fully happy with it. The coding was simplistic and it often looked like the amateur project it was. It was at that point when Luciana talked about needing a new project that I kept 'joking' that I would love her help on mine. When that didn't work, I straight offered her the job. A straight partnership. I'd bring in what I had of the initial release, and she'd work her magic on it. Blessedly, she said yes. Within a month or two, systems were cleaned up, pages were edited and tightened, and it suddenly looked like a game you'd actually want to play. We've been working hand in hand ever since, and I have no regrets!

Aleks and Aronpuma ask:

Is there any part of the game you would revisit or rewrite if you could?

Luciana's Answer: Mmm. That's a difficult one.  I would probably revisit Damien-Bull and make him much more minotaur/'furry': a real beastman, instead of a cowboy with some horns. In the beginning we were very delicate about Patreon (and other platforms) potentially reacting badly to adult content, and so we played things very safe.  I'd definitely 'wild' things up a little bit and go for more extreme transformations like beastmen, werewolves, furries, and monsters of various sorts.   We also had some content cut from Inferno that I'd put back in if I could get away with it, that was a little harder/more edgy than our normal.

Cambion's Answer: I think every artist wants to redo everything all of the time. There's a few minor things I'd love to change. A lot of our newer areas are a lot easier to work with due to some fancy coding we've developed and I'd probably make the introduction a bit steamier. I think the top of my list would probably be Jolie's mask form. It's a cool idea, but its one of the few I think panned out better in my head than on the page. I'm not certain every player fully understands what she's doing or how she's working, and the need to pick one of her forms at random whenever she shows up means we don't have 2 versions of Jolie, we have 5 of them to worry about. That makes it difficult to draw her into scenes casually. I think, given the choice, I'd come up with something a little different to give her another shot!

One_Happy_Tanker asks:

Which is the hardest gender mc to write for? Would there ever be any solo scenes?

Luciana's Answer:  For me, it's futa. We had some debate early on about what sort of futa we would be writing. I learned quickly that there's a variety of different 'configurations' for how people envisioned futa anatomy, and it's always challenging to try to keep in my head how exactly everything might work, and what that means for scene variations.  You don't want it to be exactly like the male scene or the female scene, since that robs it of a bit of its own uniqueness, but if you get too into the details of what's where and how many wrinkles it has, someone, somewhere, is going to call you out on getting it incorrect.

I'll toss the 'solo' part of the question to Cambion.

Cambion's Answer: I find female the hardest to write for, personally. I know I have a tendency to make the intimate scenes focus on the penetrative, because it's relatively easy to modify that for males and futas. Generally, when I deviate from that, then the female character needs their own scene. I tend to second guess using toys as a bit of a cop out, so in general, that's the one I do the most thinking and the least writing for!

There are a few solo scenes, especially exploring your tail in your apartment. There could be more. Look for the 'Other Scenes' vote option, which will be focused on things like more bank investments, dreams, solo content, and assort other 'for fun' stuff. 

Valde1223 asks (Paraphrased):

How does Paradise Inc handle what could be problematic fetishes (Amputees, mental regression, weight gain)? Do you have any plans to include more of it in your game?

Luciana's Answer: Every fetish is problematic to someone, somewhere. Some people have genuine issues with bimbofication (overriding someone's autonomy), to hard BDSM (too close to abuse), or to furries (too close to bestiality).  A large part of what we can and can't include is based on our monetization platform. Obviously we don't do Paradise to get rich, but we still need to cover our art costs, hosting fees, etc., and we've all seen how intolerant social media and networking can be against adult content of any stripe. Coloring within the metaphorical lines is a necessary evil.

That said, it also depends on what we ourselves find sexy -- or at least, feel confident we can describe as sexy.  There are some fetishes that even if we had no limitations, we wouldn't know enough about those fetishes to do them justice for the people who love them so much.

 
Cambion's Answer: Every person's line is a little different. For both reasons of remaining on websites like Patreon and because it's part of the ethos of Paradise, we're never going to go too deep. Consent is very important to us, and the game will continue its relatively open and honest view of transformation. Beyond that, it gets tricky. You have to take care when you cater to a very particular niche just because you're leaving everyone else out in the cold, yet we'd rather everyone have one character they REALLY like then be okay but indifferent to all of the characters.

I think the best answer I can give is this. The fetishes we involve aren't only there for the fetishes, but because it makes sense for the character we're making. We aren't afraid to at least touch on some heavy topics (I think the existing content speaks to that) but we'll only pursue if we think we can give things a fair, respectful, and above all sexy outcome.

Daniel03 asks:

Is there any way in future to be together with partner Samantha even though she said she wants someone to sub?

Luciana's Answer: Our lips are sealed...

Cambion's Answer: ...but you should look forward to the preview season for 1.11.0 to see exactly how we're solving Samantha's problem! Join us next week we we announce the content for our upcoming Dealer's Choice update!