SURREAL NETWORK
Game Details
- Type: Twine Game
- Genre: Abstract, Adventure
- Engine: Twine
- Released: September 18, 2022
Videogames Page
You can always return to videogames when you've had your fill of this page.SURREAL NETWORK
My third game, which features lesbian android Ellie and computer virus Retrograde venturing into a goddess' virtual reality. Log-in and stay awhile, it's only getting weirder from here. Especially since it's my first kind of game that has a massive focus on expansion-related kinks!
This game is set within the Modern Fantasy character universe. You can download this game on its Itch.io page.
Spoilers Beyond this Point
Game Features
Length of 58,347 words written, split between the story, its dialogue, and any descriptions.
9 levels of sorts, each with their own puzzle handled in a choose-your-own adventure style. Each level is based on film genre, affecting each one's simulated story, characters, locations, and general conflict.
2 possible endings to achieve, along with 18 epilogues to view based on whether you beat a level successfully or failed it.
Stat page for tracking what levels are complete, what level epilogues are available for viewing, and whether or not you've seen both final endings.
Kink-focused elements big time, affecting every single level and the final endings. These include the following kinks: weight gaining, air inflation, blueberry inflation, macro, micro, and liquid inflation.
Care put into every single level, even though they're merely simulations! I wanted to player to enjoy each one, feeling a lived in world for each one even if only at a glance.
Even the 'bad' endings don't have to be bad times, so I've allowed good things to still come out of failing to solve a level correctly.
Characters Featured
- Ellie Knokkswitch (Playable Protagonist)
- Her Divine (Major Antagonist)
- Marty O'Possum (Supporting Character)
- Retrograde (Playable Protagonist)
- The Director (Supporting Character)
General Locations Featured
- Nebula Order and Education, Woven Republic (Finale Setting)
- Venetian, Downing (Non-Virtual Main Setting)
Trivia
The cover art for this game is a reference to a movie poster for the movie Johnny Mnemonic.
The title of the game has two reasons as to why I used it. One of them is because the characters are traversing through a virtual network of sorts, and damn with all the kink content things can get pretty surreal! The other reason is because it just sounds perfect to me, especially when written in ALL CAPS.
There was a scrapped level where the protagonists would have to defend themselves in a court room sequence. If you succeeded, you'd be let off the case and later in the epilogue you'd be lawyers helping a client in their case. If you failed, you'd be sentenced to not only prison but also cruel, unusual punishment (of being stuffed with food to the point of immobility). Later, in the bad epilogue you'd see both protagonists as blobs in prison cells. I scrapped this level along with its epilogues purely because it felt way, way too grim and uncomfortable personally.
There was a going to be a cruise ship level, but I could not for the life of me figure a compelling story and conflict for it so it got scrapped VERY early on.
Originally there was only going to be bad epilogues available, without any good ones. I planned for if the player failed a level, they could either return to the main level screen to retry the puzzle or accept their fate and see what happens. This was switched to instead go with a normal level failed / passed sequence to keep things moving and then allow epilogue viewing later on if the player wanted to see 'em.
I was considering having the background colors of the screen change colors, but that would've been a massive pain in the ass to work around while still looking presentable. Having black backgrounds allowed me to really make any text color work, along with keeping them consistent for the protagonists and repeating functions in the simulations.
The good ending was originally planned to have no horny mischief, but I changed that once we actually got to developing it. Now both endings are seen as sort of neutral in my eyes, with varying degrees of horny elements in each.
It is crucial that I say however, that the "let's NOT make the universe entirely super fat" ending is the canon one. Trying to work around either ending being 'canon' would be a bitch to deal with in regards to future stories, games, artwork, etc.
Early rough ideas of the game, had this not be virtual reality focused, but instead fully take place in the real world. Such setting ideas for it included an office space of sorts, featuring my character Elliot Loosie going through security shifts where horny antics could ensue. Another was characters exploring an abandoned factory of sorts. And finally, the elusive cruise ship idea that had zero legs to stand on and was scrapped immediately.
I considered having the game be a dream sequence, but that's too boring for the player! Virtual reality on the other hand strikes a nice balance between that and real life, especially when the former can have its effects bleed into reality. Ellie and Retrograde get fat no matter what, though canonically only temporarily.
I had an idea of triggering a bad ending in the real world setting BEFORE Ellie and Retrograde logged into the device's virtual reality, but felt that was way too cliche for this game. Alas, it was scrapped very early on.
This game IS tied to Kindred Spirit, another game of mine. Whilst in the country of Boreal, fellow wizards Terry and Sigourney found the device Ellie and Retrograde log into. This was done during an assignment exploring a strange abandoned office of sorts that was tipped off to the Nebula Order and Education.
Every level name is based off of the Greek alphabet. This was chosen not only to sound cool, but also go along with the idea that Her Divine (and other gods) have their character inspirations being from Greek gods.
