Erotic Game Tip: Adult Interactive Fiction

Having designed erotic games ourselves, some of us at the office have a healthy interest in erotic game design.

In this biweekly column, we will show a selection of what we pass around at the office – adult games that are interesting, hilarious, or arousing. If you in any way feel offended by erotic images or text, you may not want to read these posts.

>ask veronica about herself

You gape at her in astonishment. “Surely, it isn’t so bad. You’re beautiful and wealthy, what do you have to want for?”

“And what have they gotten for me? A decrepit old husband and a life of needlepoint. If I am lucky, Lorenzo will manage enough stamina for me to give him an heir to raise.” Veronica sighs. “Do not envy my life.”

>ask veronica about lorenzo

“How did a beautiful woman like you get married to an old fossil like Lorenzo Gritti?” you ask.

Lady Veronica sighs. “This is Venice, and for a woman of my status, marriage is a matter of state. My parents were wealthy enough to give me a large dowry, so I had to get married to a man of similar wealth … regardless of his age.”

The game I will write about today is a short piece of adult interactive fiction called A Lady in Waiting, by Knight Errant. Set in renaissance Venice, the game tells the story of a humble merchant seducing Lord Lorenzo’s beautiful wife, Veronica.

Contrary to many genres of erotic games, adult interactive fiction often manages to make the “non sexual” parts of the game interesting, tying them properly to an erotic narrative arc. In a typical game like strip poker, the strip and the poker are often pretty isolated experiences, but the narrative expressive power of interactive fiction often establishes meaningful pre-sex challenges and sets an atmosphere tense with possible future intimate actions. The brain is the biggest erogenous zone, and sex without desire, imagination, and challenges is, well, just plain sex.

>eat oyster

You catch Lady Veronica’s eye, making sure she’s looking at you. Holding the oyster up to your lips, you spread the shell open with your fingers. You lick and suck the fleshy body of the oyster, pulling it into your mouth as if you were going down on a woman. Lady Veronica flushes, obviously aroused.

Lady Veronica takes a sprig of asparagus from the table, holding it from the base. She tilts her head back and slowly lowers the sprig into her mouth. You feel your cock twitch as she takes almost the entire sprig down her throat at once. She finishes eating the asparagus, giving you a seductive smile.

A Lady in Waiting is pulls this off in exemplary fashion. The first scene is a flirtatious conversation with Lady Veronica at the Lord’s party, featuring oyster eating and wine offering. We get a good introduction to the object of our desire, but right after the conversation starts getting really interesting, she vanishes to her private room. The second act of the game involves scaling the manor walls to enter Veronica’s balcony. This sequence gives us an almost old-school IF puzzle centered around the picking up and manipulation of objects. The struggles are completely non-sexual, but the titillating events predating the puzzle, and the anticipation of the prize on the top of the balcony, create a nice moment of desire.

>s

You leave the ballroom and walk to the front of the house.

Outside the Villa

The sounds of the party are quite faint, but still audible. The wine-dark water of the canal laps softly against the gondolas hitched to the bank. The entrance to the manor is to your north, and a wing of bedrooms lies to the west. Clinging to the western wall are some grape vines, supported by a wooden trellis. Above the vines is a balcony.

A small pebble lies on the ground near the wall.

>climb vines

They’re too flimsy to support your weight.

>climb trellis

You take hold of the trellis and pull yourself up. The wood planks groan under your feet as you climb. You make it about halfway up when suddenly they snap, sending you tumbling back to the ground.

>look around

Outside the Villa

The sounds of the party are quite faint, but still audible. The wine-dark water of the canal laps softly against the gondolas hitched to the bank. The entrance to the manor is to your north, and a wing of bedrooms lies to the west. Clinging to the western wall are some grape vines, supported by a wooden trellis. Above the vines is a balcony.

A small pebble lies on the ground near the wall.

You see some planks here.

>take gondola

It’s a little too big to carry.

The puzzle is pretty simple, but the break is long enough to make the final encounter with Veronica so much more rewarding. It is a simple trick but it works. Everything is un-sexy if we get it too fast  A Lady in Waiting shows us the value of proper pacing in game design.

>kiss veronica

You pull Lady Veronica close to you, pressing her body against yours. You nip at her lip, your kisses becoming more passionate. “You are incredibly sexy,” you breathe into her ear. Your kisses trail down to her neck, and she hums softly in pleasure.

>stroke veronica’s breasts

Your fingers gently caress her neck and shoulders, then trace the dress’s ornate straps downward towards the swells of her breasts.

>rub veronica’s ass

You grab her ass through the dress.

>look at veronica

Lady Veronica is a stunning young woman with milky white skin and hair like spun copper. Her pale blue dress is held up by jeweled straps that neatly frame her smooth shoulders. The bodice is finely embroidered, below which volumous skirts fall to the ground. She’s enjoying being alone with you.

>remove veronica’s bodice

You slowly remove the lacing from Lady Veronica’s bodice, gradually revealing more of her pale skin. You kiss her neck as you remove the top of her dress, eliciting a breathy moan from her. Finally, you slide the skirts off of her hips and drop them to the floor.

>fuck veronica

Your clothes are in the way.

>strip

You take off your clothes.

>fuck veronica

Lady Veronica gently stops you. “There’s no need to rush.”

>lick veronica’s breasts

You tenderly kiss the soft flesh of Veronica’s breast, teasing her by carefully avoiding the nipple. Her breathing grows ragged and she bites her lip in anticipation.

[…]

>fuck veronica

Lady Veronica is lying at the edge of the large bed, her breathing ragged with need. Her passion draws her hand down to rub her wet pussy. “Open your eyes,” you tell her, “I want to see your eyes when I slide this into you.” Veronica whimpers softly when your cock touches her sensitive pussy lips, gasping as you slide it into her hungry pussy. “Oh my God,” she whispers as you slowly stroke her pussy with your cock. “Yes yes yes.”

A Lady in Waiting was a part of the 2008 AIF Mini-comp, hosted by the lively adult interactive fiction community on www.aifgames.com.