For awhile now, I mulled over my creation. Heavy Hearts has been a hit- the amount of support you wonderful people have given me since I launched the first build in the early winter of 2021 has been overwhelming.  I would have never imagined that my tinkering around in PGMMV would have resulted in this kind of success.  Sometimes, I think there is so much amazing talent in the adult gamedev industry that I would never be able to stand among the greats.

Imposter syndrome hit hard. I felt vastly underqualified. In fact, I realized late that I was writing scenarios with a female protagonist.... but,  with the brain housing group of a male. The way females reason decisions and consent to sexual encounters are VASTLY different than how males do. So, how could I ever get it right? My first thought was to consult a female, but, easier said than done. Asking a female directly how they would respond to a sexual encounter involving tentacles/orc/werewolves or other monsters did not translate well into my neanderthal male synapses... So, I had to think outside the box.

I turned to erotic fiction. Books, written by women. I was immediately floored to see how many women wrote about their monster kinks in published literature. I found an entire GENRE of erotic romance fiction entitled Monster Romance, with various distinguished authors writing their sexy kinks onto paper, unlocking the code to the female deductive psyche.

I picked up a copy of "The Dragon's Bride" by Katee Robert [M Dragon / F  Human],   "Ensnared by the Werewolf" by Lillian Lark [M Wolfman / F Human],  and my favorite so far, "Luxuria" by Colette  Rhodes [M Shade Demon / F Human].

I burned through these books with quickness. It seemed appropriate that I was writing a monster romance where Luccia gets into sexual encounters with monsters, and there was a buttload of authors inviting me into the female deductive reasoning path behind their choices to fuck a different species.  KEEP IN MIND - these monsters are mostly humanoid. I have not found anything involving a feral beast. There seems to be a reason for that- it takes some humanity to call it a "romance".

There were some things that I noticed many of these had in common.

1) A slow burn. There was no spontaneous, gratuitous sex. It involved planting a seed, and  narrating the thoughts, decisions, and reactions leading up their most fantastical thoughts on explosive sex.

2) They are reminiscent of "Beauty and the Beast".  A woman, separated from the judging and opinions of other human women, meeting a monstrous male with a high capacity for violence, that slowly gets changed/tamed by the woman in question. The male retains the ability to be absolutely destructive... but is a  softy only for her. 

3) The kinks are related to primal/bestial behavior.. such as Chasing, biting, and knotting. I laughed a bit at the chasing part, because its confusing to men in the realm of consent, and could be considered dubious.  The biting kinks always left some kind of marks, and the knotting was.... well, it was knotting. This coincided with a deeper breeding kink, rather than anything species specific (Luxuria involved a Demon that had a knotted cock, rather than the traditional werewolf).

4) The males got EXTREMELY possessive, to the point where it confused me again. I've always known possessiveness to drive women away... yet, here they were writing about it like it was the hottest thing on the planet. I think its different if they *want* you to be possessive.

All of these things were helpful in understanding kinks, but what I thought was the most valuable was their deductive reasoning.  I wanted to learn what was going through their thoughts as  the encounters progressed, and it seemed to help alot.

As a direct result, HH now has inner monologue for all the characters, which I think enhances the story 10000% and allows better connection with a female protagonist. Luccia's story will be best told like this imo.

Every so often, I think I will write some inner monologues on what I learn about these kinks. I think it is incumbent on the Erotic Game Developer /writer to understand eroticism before they even attempt to write a lewd flick.