Odd trend I've noticed among weight gain/inflation and expansion games.

Game Design Discussion
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This is probably my first real post here, so ill try and be brief. I’ve noticed an odd trend in weight gain and inflation games… okay mostly inflation, where weight gain/inflation is caused by DAMAGE or is something that in game terms, you would want to avoid, which i find somewhat odd. The main examples i can give are rikis inflation game (a VERRRRYY old game which literally did this, either the sentry turrets did direct damage and thus were satan incarnate, or inflated you which could cause damage at excesses.) and a side scrolling platformer that i cant remember the name of, but it was posted here relatively recently (weight gain/inflation outright IS the damage.) I’m not exactly complaining about these games, but i personally prefer games where expansion is the goal, not, mechanically at least, a punishment. Ive been finding a ROUGHLY 50/50 split, though thats just what ive seen in my rather limited time on the site. Then again, another trend ive seen is the afforementioned mechanical punishment via expansion being mainly in side scroller type games where more detailed systems and such either wouldnt make sense in gameplay (the complexity of the weight may be jarring with simpler stereotypical platformer style graphics, as well as not really meshing, to the point that any real attempt to make it have MECHANICAL significance would really result in it STILL being a punishment (like in a platformer, increased weight making the controls clunkier, for people who are into that level of detail in weight gain its a good thing. for people wanting to see the whole game it’d force them to keep the character thin as a rail.) though still, the more granular games tend to be a bit rarer on this sight as far as i can tell. Less of a real complaint request post, more just something ive noticed.

tldr; Platformers and such tend to have weight gain as a punishment and are more common (being a bit or a lot easier to make) while granular gamess, ie, fetish master either have it as a good thing, or have no real end goal, thus leaving it capable of being good or bad depending on how they play the game.

tldr for the tldr; platformers more simple wg systems, fetish master style=usually more complex.

sorry for any formatting issues or tone issues, just thought id put this out there.

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I think one reason for this is the reality that people that weigh a ton-and-a-half tend not to be very capable of mobility. If the player character gaining weight were the win state in a platformer, the player’s reward essentially becomes the loss of their mobility, which isn’t a great incentive.

Text games can mostly override this, since the visuals are within the player’s mind, making it easier to suspend disbelief that a 3,000 lb person could still walk.

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This is why, when planing such a game, it is required to plan ahead the related mechanics.
Even though aquiring to much mass is a defeat in my game (Feast of the Greedy), i give the options for the player to spec into their own game experience. Also, making sure that a defeat is still rewarding to an extent makes the game nicer.

we need to plan for our characters slow lost of mobility, unless the mechanics open an alternative. Inflation can play a lot with the properties of whatever is used to inflate. I would say, our fetish is more suited for puzzle games maybe XD

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What makes something a game? You need a goal, a set of rules, some degree of agency (interaction), and challenges. Arguably, a “game” with out a challenge is not a game at all.

As these are WG fetish games, it’s probably safe to assume the the player’s goal is to fatten up the characters, often the character the player is controlling - the Player Character (PC).

As there’s often some element of role-play, what are the PC’s goals? He or she may have the same goal as the player, be opposed to it (for some that enhances the fetish), or have some unrelated goal.

The challenge should be that the goal(s) are difficult to accomplish within the rules (sitting in a food warehouse and mashing a button marked “eat” is probably not a game). Where the PC resists the player’s goal this creates it’s own tension - the player must find the path that takes the PC further away from their goal whilst the PC actively works against them.

If the PC is accepting or indifferent then the challenge has to come from the environment and rules. You can probably divide games into two kinds:

Gaining is hard: the player has to direct the PC to perform quests, solve puzzles, collect items/money in order to further the player’s goal. It’s relatively easy to understand the mechanics here. An obvious disadvantage it that the player’s fetish isn’t immediately rewarded, but will play out as the game progresses.

Gaining is easy: too easy. The rules and environment make it difficult for the PC not to gain, and the fail condition is often that the PC gets too big before the game has played out - the player’s goal typically becomes to control the speed of the gain or to make sure various equipment and power-ups are collected in order to maximise the final outcome and allow the PC to achieve their (possibly unrelated) goal. The advantage of this scenario is that the players fetish is immediately rewarded, but they need to delay gratification to reach the best ending. It’s a bit more tricky to signpost what needs to be done though - the player needs to grasp that immobility as fast as possible is not the goal they should be seeking.

The platformers you mention where enemies do fat damage fall into this second category. Becoming immobile isn’t the goal of the game, it might be defeating the final boss and saving the world - with a side order of being as big as you can be at the end of the game.

It’s possible for a game to flip back and forth between these two scenarios.

As @Exas4000 points out these choices need to be made at the outset when planning the game in order to ensure you do actually end up with a game!

When I started Yaffaif I knew I wanted the themes to be WG and transformation with a side of hornyness. I wanted the player to have the agency to embrace or resist these themes (one reason is I’m not a huge fan of content control checkboxes) so the player’s goal is essentially undefined - allowing for role play. The PC’s goal is clear, and is not fetish related, but the path to achieving it can be. Immobility isn’t my thing, but at the same time I am not a fan of a hard game-over; so it is permitted, but will make the PC’s goal more challenging or even impossible until it is resolved.

Also, let’s not forget WG is an umbrella for a number of more nuanced fetishes. Some may prefer it to be consensual (removing an obvious game challege), others non-consensual. Some don’t like immobility (making it a legitimate game over to them), some seek it out.

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This kind of thing is something I’m trying to avoid in the game I’m writing, but in a way that doesn’t make things easy and therefor not-fun. As more of an inflation fan than a weight gain fan, I try to set up the gain as more of a risk-reward thing; you want it, but too much of it equals Bad Times.

Take for instance a turn-based RPG. You could have expansion that raises one stat but lowers another, and risks you getting KO’d if you overdo it. It gives you incentive to get nice and huge but still puts a challenege on you to keep you from overdoing it.

In terms of weight gain exclusively, I agree with Exas4000’s statement that the most immediately obvious application for it would be puzzle games and the like. That being said, we could have ideas put in place to keep the flow going as you put on the pounds.

Like having a platformer where you can raise your mobility after every stage so you can keep moving fast even as you grow fatter, or a fighting game where you gaining weight is the entire goal strictly because you gain more mass and thus more coverage over your opponent, or a shmup where your firepower grows with your waistline.

I concur that having the entire point of the fetish be a punishment in a game is quite frustrating. I just hope we can get a bit more creative!

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Switched to the game design discussion category as the discussion seems to be trending more towards that category.

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Honestly, I would like to implement a system where one could choose how one gains and how it works, like a sort of difficulty system. It would have two parts:
Part 1: Limiter. A choice between a Level based limiter (Much like the SFRPG) or no limits at all.
Part 2: Speed. A choice between getting access to items that can make you gain weight fast (like magic food and such like that) or a slow weight gain system (a sort of realistic take on weight gain).

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Speaking specifically in reference to platformers, people seem to notice immediately when their character looks heavier, but doesn’t feel heavier mechanics-wise. I agree that it’s annoying when the mechanics are at odds with the fetish content in the game though. Trying to come up with ways to keep weightiness to movement while somehow retaining about the same level of mobility is tricky.

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i just want to get on with it already