Log Line: A man finds himself stalked in dreams by an incubus, who exerts an ever-growing influence on the man’s waking life and waistline
Current plan is a core loop of Daytime and Nighttime scenes: Daytime scenes have the main character trying to figure out how to escape the incubus and to navigate normal life in his fattening body, and Nighttime scenes have the player fight the incubus’s temptations. I am considering adding reality shifts as the main character puts on large amounts of weight, but i haven’t deciced.
Mechanically, I am looking at Depression Quest and how it reduces choice, as well as Howling Dogs and how it plays with routine and escape.
My goal is to strike a balance between unnerving and hot. On the unnerving side, “Come Closer” by Sara Gran is a big inspiration, as are demonic possession stories generally.
Concerns:
- While I have made a short game in Twine before, this will be my first sizeable game project, and might be too ambitious to start with
- “Sex demon” plus “genuinely unnerving” pulls toward dubcon, and as I don’t have experience writing that, I am worried about getting into gross tropes and stereotypes
- Demonic posession stories also invite comparisons to mental health, which is another can of worms
- How to hit the fear of your body changing against your will, but avoid perpetuating fatphobia. Can this be done? My best thought as of now is to make the fear not about the weight itself, but about the loss of control. Maybe the main character is already a gainer or thinking about becoming one before the incubus shows up?