Postmortem #5: Morality
The Perils of Bianca tries to let the players decide who Bianca is as a person, by how they make Bianca act in the game. Many of the game's events may involve sexual intercourse, which Bianca may avoid completely on the off-chance that the players want to make Bianca sexually demure, or Bianca can happily engage with. And Bianca's engagement may often be consensual or non-consensual.
I personally have no problems with non-consensual sex in games, as games are fantasies. And due to its openness, The Perils of Bianca makes non-consensual sex possible, though it is always an active choice of the player. However, I wanted to make very clear to the player that when they choose to have Bianca submit others to non-consensual sex, that is something that is "not okay." I did that in several ways.
First, immediately after Bianca engages in non-consensual sex (and sometimes also right before), someone in the game will comment on that in a shocked or angry manner (one scene excepted, because there is no one present who could comment). Second, at the end of the missions in Acts IV to VIII, the hand mirror will comment on the missions, and if Bianca engaged in non-consensual sex, it will criticize that act. Third, engaging in non-consensual sex is a big hit on the counter which keeps track of how evil Bianca is, and in several places in the game this affects how she is treated or what options she has. Fourth, any of the fairy tale heroines that Bianca has submitted to her sexual aggression, will be angry with her (as can be seen on the status screen), and will no longer want to support her. And finally, the summary of Bianca's future in the epilogue will clearly reflect her morality.
In my original design for the game I went even a bit further. In the early design a single act of non-consensual engagement would rate Bianca as completely evil, while in the current implementation there is a bit of leeway in this respect. I did that mostly because I didn't want to close off certain options for players too quickly. Moreover, in my original design the fairy tale heroines would not allow Bianca to become queen at the end if they thought she was evil. I rejected that part of the design as it would add a whole new layer of complexity to the game's ending, which is already very complex as it is.
I am reasonably content with how I dealt with non-consensual sex in The Perils of Bianca. It is there as an option, though it is not forced upon the player. And if the player chooses to engage with it, the game's story will basically comment "enjoy the scene, but please realize that what you are doing is not appreciated by your victims." Frankly, I have big problems with games (or other forms of entertainment) which contain non-consensual sex and have the victims be happy about it. Not because "it wouldn't be realistic," but because I loathe the cliché'd non-excuse "it is okay as long as she enjoys it."
Get The Perils of Bianca
The Perils of Bianca
An adult fairy-tale parody
Status | Released |
Author | Red Mackerel |
Genre | Visual Novel |
Tags | Adult, Erotic, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Female Protagonist, futa, Multiple Endings, Ren'Py, Story Rich |
Languages | English |
More posts
- Postmortem #4: Storytelling8 days ago
- "The Perils of Bianca" 1.0.2 released8 days ago
- Postmortem #3: Visualizations9 days ago
- Postmortem #2: Choices that matter11 days ago
- Postmortem #1: Game release12 days ago
- "The Perils of Bianca" 1.0.1 released14 days ago
- Itch.io, payment processors, and the moral minority15 days ago
- "The Perils of Bianca" 1.0 released17 days ago
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