Hardcoded (video game)

Hardcoded is a point and click adult dating simulator visual novel game developed and published by Ghosthug Games for Windows. The game follows a droid named HC who runs away from her owners and joins the local trans community.

Hardcoded
Developer(s)Ghosthug Games
Publisher(s)Ghosthug Games
Designer(s)Kenzie Stargrifter, Trix Royale
Platform(s)Windows
Genre(s)Adult, point and click, visual novel
Mode(s)Single-player

Lead developer Kenzie Stargrifter was initially motivated to create Hardcoded to target the cisgender futanari fetish community, and to show them that becoming trans was an option for them. She and her co-developer Trix Royale wanted to create a game that showed positive aspects of the transgender community. Development on Hardcoded is ongoing and supported by Patreon donations.

Hardcoded has been generally well-received, with critics remarking on its positive portrayal of the transgender community and its polished writing.

Gameplay
Hardcoded's dialogue, characters, and positive portrayal of trans women have been praised by critics.[1][2][3][4]

In Hardcoded, the player controls a droid, who goes by "Hard Coded" or HC for short, because her factory-made male deadname is "hardcoded" into her and she is not able to change it.[2] HC ran away from her owners and joins the local trans community in Pira City at the beginning of the game.[3] GelCorp, a massive corporation, is infecting everyone with pollution that makes everyone horny, and HC and her friends resolve to solve the mystery.[3]

The game follows point and click adventure controls, where the player clicks on objects and characters in the game to interact with them. HC is able to build relationships with characters in the game, and it follows dating simulator progression paths.[3] The game includes numerous explicit sexual encounters with other characters throughout its progression. Sexual encounters with men are a toggleable setting, and may be disabled. The player may earn coupons, a form of currency, through various tasks.[3][5] Coupons may be used to buy clothing and furniture.[3][5]

Characters

Hardcoded currently has seven characters which whom the player may have an intimate relationship with: Beryl, Magdalina, Cadence, Decima, Heather, Joi, and Olivia. HC first meets Beryl when she helps HC escape from the police. Beryl is a shy volunteer librarian, and she has a strong maternal instinct.[2] Magdalina is Beryl's girlfriend, and is initially suspicious of HC. Cadence is a goth witch who is close to Decima, and Decima is a droid mechanic with a robotic prosthetic left arm. Heather is HC's next door neighbor, and is an avid cosplayer and anime fan. Joi is a sex droid like HC, but is capable of limited emotion and thought due to programming limitations. Olivia is a hacker.

The player may have intimate relationships with several characters in a single playthrough, with no consequence for doing so. In addendum to one-on-one encounters, the player may also have threesomes with certain characters.

Development
Stargrifter draws artwork by hand, and converts it into pixel form afterwards for the game.[6]

Hardcoded was conceived by American designer Kenzie Stargrifter, who has co-developed it with Trix Royale.[7][5] Stargrifter and Royale initially wanted to develop a video game since when they met in high school.[8] They began development for the game in 2017.[8][1] Stargrifter conceived of the game as a way to make money from cisgender people with a futanari or trans fetish, and hoped that it would make being a girl seem like a "real possibility" to them.[5][6] The game intentionally avoids fetishizing the trans community with slurs, transphobia and other derogatory language and treatment, and Stargrifter wrote Hardcoded to reflect the trans community positively.[6] Stargrifter was cautious of using the acceptance of a trans girl by her community as an emotional payoff, and had the main character be a droid to create an emotional buffer that would feel somewhat similar to the alienation that trans people felt while keeping the overall atmosphere more positive.[6] Stargrifter was initially cautious about what content she added to the game, but has expanded to adding a wider range with support from backers.[8] Her motivations for creating the game has changed with its success, as she passed making over $6,000 per month from the Patreon which supports Hardcoded's development.[1][8]

Hardcoded was created using the Godot game engine.[5] The pixel art of the game is created by Stargrifter. She draws artwork by hand and converts it into pixel form.[6] The cyberpunk setting was inspired by Shadowrun, and Stargrifter decided on a cyberpunk theme for the game because "it felt right for some reason."[6] The developers try to split up work between them evenly. Royale works on background animations and character stories, while Stargrifter focuses on the lewd scenes, animation, and programming.[8] Stargrifter talked about her experience developing the game at a PAX East 2020 panel.[9]

Reception

Hardcoded has been generally well received, with reviewers from the trans community especially praising the game's inclusive writing.[2][3][1] Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Astrid Johnson found the game to be "liberating in its portrayal of trans sexuality" and praised its writing.[3] PC Gamer's Jody Macgregor put Hardcoded on a list of best sex games, noting that it has terrific writing.[4] Daily Dot's Ana Valens praised Hardcoded for embracing “sapphic desire between trans women without shame."[8] Kotaku's Kate Gray echoed this sentiment, feeling that Hardcoded was a sex-positive experience for the trans community.[2]

gollark: Yes.
gollark: Sending money is impossible for those who do not know what the limit of an infinite geometric series is.
gollark: GTech™ Experimental Bank Cuboid 113-τ actually charges 3% fees on transactions, but those are transactions so they also have a 3% fee.
gollark: 1e-999 dollars.
gollark: Enjoy transaction fees!

References
  1. Valens, Ana (2019-06-03). "Hardcoded Has the Trans Representation We Need in Adult Games". Fanbyte. Fanbyte Network. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  2. Gray, Kate (2018-11-19). "A Sexy Cyberpunk Dating Sim About (And By) Trans Folk". Kotaku. G/O Media. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  3. Johnson, Astrid (2018-11-26). "Hardcoded lets trans women be horny without being a fetish". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  4. Macgregor, Jody (2019-10-29). "The best sex games that aren't garbage". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  5. Kaiju, Enby (2018-10-18). "Digital Diversity – Hardcoded (Explicit)". Digital Diversity. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  6. Pfau, Nola (2018-04-16). "Hardcoded For Success: A Chat With Kenzie Stargrifter". Sidequest. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  7. "Kenzie Vermiform Stargrifter". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  8. Valens, Ana (2020-03-09). "Trans porn game Hardcoded is embracing lesbian tentacle sex". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  9. "Schedule - PAX East - Boston, MA - Feb 27 - Mar 1, 2020 - Adult Games: What's Really In The Grind?". east.paxsite.com. Penny Arcade Inc. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
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