Sensual Action concepts (Patreon)

One of my pet peeves with adult games is that they never seem to include the adult part into their gameplay loops. At best its just pointless animations or other background imagery, at worst its an animated sequence between two character that's triggered on player's defeat, counter-intuitively asking you to play badly in order to be rewarded with lewds.

What I want is a game where lewds are integrated into the core experience. But it's easier said than done.

If we look at combat for example, and how its been gamified since the inception of pen-and-paper games. It has been streamlined into numerical abstractions - "health", "damage", "action points". Combat is always a highly repeatable, often polished for satisfaction process, no matter if its action-packed or tactical.

Can we do something similar but lewd, and not involve killing or hurting sexy creatures?

💭️ SIDE THOUGHTS
I had ideas for turn-based games: it is relatively straightforward to design a Final Fantasy or Pokemon-like combat with lewd moves instead. It would look like this: plenty of skills involving teasing, squirting fluids, spraying pheromones, swallowing, sitting, inserting bodyparts and objects into their targets. And when the creature's Horny Points eventually build up, they would be unable to act anymore - too lustful to move! But that's good for turn-based games, and we're not interested in that for this project.

I have sketched and written down some ideas that I think are worth trying out in prototypes. I can't promise that all (or any) those abilities will be included in the game - it's just for us to be inspired by, for us to know what to try out building, and then see what sticks!

SENSUAL COMBAT

First of all, an important statement: enemies are not the living creatures, Dragonkin are all friends.

The enemies, the antagonists are the Shadows - incorporeal entities from the darkest parts of Astral.

They latch themselves onto Dragonkin like barnacles onto a ship, then they start influencing their thoughts with anger, darkness, despair, ultimately taking control over Dragonkin body. It spreads like a disease, but a well known one - there are treatments available.

Protagonists must use special tools, together with Essence (and various techniques of taming it) to banish those Shadows back into their realms, while not inflicting any additional harm to the Dragonkin.

After the kin is free again, they might need comforting: hugs, kisses, or a portion of fresh Essence delivered directly into one of their orifices of choice. Doing that is technically optional, but it rewards the player with a nice, sexy animation, and gives various gameplay benefits (can be more essence, consumable items, ammo, health, progression towards permanent unlocks, etc.).

The process of interfacing with a creature is akin to looting, and perhaps we can even make it so you need reach inside their throat or tailhole to grab some items as gifts for their rescue.

❓️DID YOU KNOW?
Dragonkin's body is spacious on the inside, their throat and tailhole are directly connected by a direct, all-purpose tube that is often used by them as item storage. Other organs are connected to that tube in parallel.

There can be different shadow types and forms, therefore the treatment can vary. Aura Visor equipment helps to locate such problems and gives hints on how to deal with them.

Now, with the basics out of the way, let's talk about one specific case...

EXAMPLE OF SHADOW TREATMENT

CONTROL POSSESSION
Symptoms: shadowy growth covering the head, red glowing eyes.
Behavior: a Shadow possession forces the dragonkin to mindlessly patrol an area. If they spot a healthy kin, they will be forced to charge at them, using their horns and/or teeth to spread the corruption into their victim.
Treatment: Administer one dose of Essence internally.

STEP-BY-STEP:

1. Diagnose and determine the problem, either visually or by using a tool like Astral Visor (FIG. 1).

2. If the possessed dragonkin sees you, they will charge at you. Dodge or leap over the possessed. Once you are behind they will lose a line of sight and will not be able to attack (FIG. 2).

3. Controlled kin still retains basic interfacing desires. Therefore caressing their sensitive areas, such as their interface or their rear, will temporarily loosen the Shadow influence. This is an appropriate way to establish communication, making the following procedures easier and safer to perform for both kin involved (FIG. 3).

4. Watch out for the patient's body language though (especially ears and tail). Doing anything unpleasant to the kin might trigger the Shadow's defense mechanism! (FIG. 4).

5. Once patient is ready for interfacing, do so, and administer one dose of Essence. Energy released during climax amplifies the effectiveness of the Essence, which banishes the Shadow to its realm (FIG. 5).

6. Comfort the patient, always provide more essence if asked. Being possessed by Control for long time leaves the body exhausted and in need of prolonged recovery (FIG. 6).

7. Sometimes, help of a friend is required to temporarily blindfold the possessed kin, this way the Shadow can not act. (FIG. 7)

SPECIAL MOVES

So now, let's move on and talk about how do you fight the stabby and tentacly kind of Shadows...

💭️ SIDE THOUGHTS
Are you familiar with water-bending? Yes? Good. Keep that image in mind.

REGULAR MOVES

The characters quickly pleasure themselves before they expel some of their Essence. Then they "tame" it - making it levitate by their will. When attacking, they can slash with it, or throw it as a projectile. It does no harm to Dragonkin (rather, the opposite) but for Shadows it's tuned to be very damaging.

🛠️ MECHANICS
Essence is spent as ammo and energy for various abilities.
Protagonists can collect more Essence splattered around the level, by plugging a recharge station hose into their tailholes, or by interfacing with other Dragonkin.

The slash attack is infinite, doesn't consume Essence.

The throw move has three projectiles (perhaps upgradeable later), then it needs to be reloaded. And with new portion of Essence expelled by the character, it is deducted from the Essence counter.

POWER MOVES

Sometimes it's worth to spend extra time charging up your interface, all to unleash a lightning-bolt-like climax. Dispels shadows effectively and makes a big mess. Everyone loves it.

Same move but for YoYo. They massage that cloaca for a powerful outburst! That move might be more powerful than Knott's.

Maybe sometimes its easier to spit, rather than swallow? Perhaps this could be a powerful, arching projectile that coats surfaces with essence, making them either slippery or sticky. Similar to how Spitter works for Knott.

Tools, Gadgets, Upgrades

TUNNELER

I started this one as a badass pickaxe, but then I thought about how it can be used in sensual ways also. What came into my mind surprised me.

Upgrade levels:
0. None (not acquired)
1. Pickaxe (mirror of YoYo's claws starting ability, can clear cave-ins. Important when two characters are separated)
2. Vibropick (a pleasurable insertable and can clear advanced blockages)
3. Spatial Compressor (can shrink down and squeeze through rat-tunnels and enter other creature's insides)

INTERFACE

Interface is extremely important bodypart, it facilitates proper connections to other Dragonkin, exchange information and Essence. However some higher-level kin can only be pleasured by more sophisticated interfaces.

Upgrade levels:
0. Prehensility (starting)
1. Ribbed spikes
2. Knot (yes, Knott will have a knot)
3. Inflarable tip

WINGS

Aura-field wingpack.

Upgrade levels:
0. None (not acquired)
1. Double-jump
2. Gliding
3. Jet-boost

SPITTER

Spitter is a living arm-cannon, where the arm goes into the tailhole.
Spitter sometimes asks to be detached though, after that he happily sits on Knott's shoulder, kisses him and begs for some interface-time together.

Upgrade levels:
0. None (not acquired)
1. Spitter (sticky or slippery mucus)
2. Foaming ammo (like Gloo-Gun from Prey game)
3. Increased range/ammo (or another type of ammo)

ESSENCE SHELLS

Grenade-like throwables. They splat explosively and shadows don't like that.

Upgrade levels:
0. None (not acquired)
1. Living shell bag
2. More shells
3. More shells

Conclusion

Well, that's all, folks! I think it's enough concepts for now, the direction is clear, the sails are set. The only thing that remains is to build and prototype. But happily, we're on it already!

Hope you like the ideas on display here. Things will likely change multiple times, but again - concept sketches are done just for inspiration and future reference. I'm happy I don't have to hold all of this in my head now, I can just look at the pictures and remember what I wanted to do, while having my head free for other tasks.

With lots of Dragon Love,
Salireths.