This is a difficult one. If you removed all the effects of sex from western literature, you wouldn't have a whole lot left.
But that's the effects. Less is more here. The number of great, emotionally engaging works of art where sex is depicted literally is very small, because, even among stunningly attractive people, the sexual act is - to an outside observer - often bathetic, disappointing and even comical. And in a written medium, your "throbbing members" get old pretty darn quick.
Watch some great romantic films. You get suggestive camerawork, a lush soundworld paired with vague visuals, fading to black. Watch some tears-and-wheezing-inducing comedies: the number of "literal" sex scenes will be much higher than in serious works. You're going to get well lit, stable camerawork of people getting their pants stuck, women looking shocked and appalled, men with smiley faces sprayed on their chest with whipped cream, Sally faking it in a restaurant. The only literal, warts-and-all depiction you're going to get of sex which isn't comedy, is porn. That doesn't have a whole lot of emotional value.
I have to tell you now that Hazeron's looking towards the latter end of the scale. Cartoon characters going at it with the rhythmic precision of a wind-up jaw-snapping crocodile is going to elicit uncontrollable giggles in Youtube playthroughs, not awed silence like we just watched A Brief Encounter. That's not your fault, it's a programming marvel that you've done this it all - that's just sex in video games, unfortunately.
Violence, another powerful dramatic tool, is abstracted in Hazeron. You don't actually see your knife cut its way through flesh, fat and bone on the way to someone's heart. You swipe and they fall. Sex used to be like that too. I think it still should. If you want to make it more narratively powerful, some kind of fade-to-black with a swell of music might to the trick. But in a game where the narrative never takes control away from the player, even for the tiniest animation like opening a door, I admit that's going to feel cheesed.
So what exactly to do? I don't know yet. This is a pretty cool idea, but I'm afraid it's not going to achieve what you want - not unless your future hired artists can massively outperform the still-90%-hilarious-fail sex scenes we get in AAA games.
But that's the effects. Less is more here. The number of great, emotionally engaging works of art where sex is depicted literally is very small, because, even among stunningly attractive people, the sexual act is - to an outside observer - often bathetic, disappointing and even comical. And in a written medium, your "throbbing members" get old pretty darn quick.
Watch some great romantic films. You get suggestive camerawork, a lush soundworld paired with vague visuals, fading to black. Watch some tears-and-wheezing-inducing comedies: the number of "literal" sex scenes will be much higher than in serious works. You're going to get well lit, stable camerawork of people getting their pants stuck, women looking shocked and appalled, men with smiley faces sprayed on their chest with whipped cream, Sally faking it in a restaurant. The only literal, warts-and-all depiction you're going to get of sex which isn't comedy, is porn. That doesn't have a whole lot of emotional value.
I have to tell you now that Hazeron's looking towards the latter end of the scale. Cartoon characters going at it with the rhythmic precision of a wind-up jaw-snapping crocodile is going to elicit uncontrollable giggles in Youtube playthroughs, not awed silence like we just watched A Brief Encounter. That's not your fault, it's a programming marvel that you've done this it all - that's just sex in video games, unfortunately.
Violence, another powerful dramatic tool, is abstracted in Hazeron. You don't actually see your knife cut its way through flesh, fat and bone on the way to someone's heart. You swipe and they fall. Sex used to be like that too. I think it still should. If you want to make it more narratively powerful, some kind of fade-to-black with a swell of music might to the trick. But in a game where the narrative never takes control away from the player, even for the tiniest animation like opening a door, I admit that's going to feel cheesed.
So what exactly to do? I don't know yet. This is a pretty cool idea, but I'm afraid it's not going to achieve what you want - not unless your future hired artists can massively outperform the still-90%-hilarious-fail sex scenes we get in AAA games.