Taking A Look At The Strawberry Jam 4 (NSFW)
Content Warning: The Strawberry Jam’s participants are a diverse bunch, kinkwise, so monstergirl/boy content, gay sex, dickpics, spanking, tentacles,
I’ve mentioned, in the past, that the newest wave of creators in the NSFW game sphere have been shaking things up. Trying new things, new formulae, new ways of playing with sexual themes and content. As if this month wasn’t good enough for experimental NSFW games, the 4th annual Strawberry Jam, a jam that celebrates sex and sexuality, finished on the 29th , and now… Well, quite a few of the entries caught my eye. So let’s discuss them!
Monster Researcher
Anyone who’s been into monsterfolk, or have played a lot of RPGs, know that monsters have Lore. What’s not covered all too often is learning that lore. And this, essentially, is the goal of Monster Researcher, which comes in two flavours: Husbando Blue, and Waifu Pink. Being a jam game, the only real difference is that the sketches of the monsterfolk are male, or female.
Regardless, it’s a sort of idle game, and I like the concept: Capture monsterfolk, and use various methods, from trying to seduce them, trying to cage or leash them, examining them and taking samples… All in the name of adding to the understanding of this game’s monsterfolk. It’s a concept I’d like to see expanded, or explored more, but right now, we have this.
So, critique. I can’t really say “There’s not a lot to this” for any of the games I’m going to be talking about, because it’s a jam, you’re not going to have deep, long games with really polished graphics. I can, however, talk about balance, and confusion. The late game’s timers are hellishly long, and a good half of the playtime was getting the final options to try out on the monsterfolk. The male sketches are lower quality than the female ones (a shame, because good monster beefcake is relatively harder to find), there’s one place where you actually use an option twice, there’s no save or sound, the bars for emotions could do with a colourblindness pass (a background for the monsterfolk would help with that, for starters)… It’s definitely got its flaws.
However, it’s a rarely explored niche, the UX is mostly solid, the sprites are solid, and I enjoyed my brief time with it overall.
Space Captain and the Vaguely Erotic Space Adventures (In Space)
I have to laugh at the pulpy, overblown title of this one, although I also smile at seeing an old frenemy of days gone by: AGS, a point and click adventure game engine (along the style of 90s point and click games like Space Quest IV and Monkey Island) that I once struggled with, way back in the day. Nowadays, I’ve got things like Game Maker Studio 2 to futz with, but the interface brings me the warm fuzzies, along with knowing it’s an engine specifically tailored to games like this.
In any case, Space Misadventures, to use the much shorter title on the executable, is a short sci-fi adventure game scenario in which you, a lady space captain, must deal with your tentacular cargo. Which has escaped. And you thought was suspicious… But hey, this wouldn’t be a pulp adventure if you didn’t make bad decisions.
Yes, I am aware that some of you associate tentacles entirely with noncon. But no, the protagonist makes it very clear, in a single exchange: This isn’t the best way of distracting a tentacle beast while you try to reach the ray gun it pulled out of your hand… But it is the most fun way to do it.
So yes, your short scenario is: Cargo escaped. Cargo is tentacle. Get fucked by tentacle while trying to subdue tentacle, enjoying every moment, subdue tentacle, ending, question mark?
The sprite work is characterful and nice, the hotspots sensible, the item interactions equally so (damn, space army knives are useful, aren’t they?), and there’s even a few callbacks to ye olde adventure game jokes (Golly gee, it’s almost as if this openable object is meant to be useless, a distraction!) As such… I quite like it.
Text Me Your Kink
Ahh, sexting. Done well, it’s an enjoyable activity. Done badly? That’s extremely shit for everyone involved. And Text Me Your Kink, a short Ren’Py game, sets the mood quite nicely with some light lounge jazz. Mmmm, good vibes for some Male-Male vibe checking and dick-pics.
And oh boy, do you get some interactions. For example, Lin. Sweet boy, into frotting (that’s humping/rubbing against things for pleasure. Obviously, preferably soft for the most part.) I won’t spoil it, because hey, short game, but there’s some unexpected extra steaminess for that boy.
Thankfully, while you can screw things up, you don’t appear to be able to screw things up so badly that you feel like shit, and getting what you want is a matter of mutual communication and that ol’ give and take. Read the room, friend, and you will get your dick pics. Don’t, and they might get excited for a bit, but you don’t get your reward…
Now, are all the situations good ones? Ehhhh, they all have their oddities, like work sexting, or the cute guy experimenting with cross dressing who, nonetheless, is in a relationship with a very possessive bear (so, you know, risky business.)
For all that the art isn’t that good, and the menu feels very cramped on its mobile-like proportions, the writing gets across the sometimes surprising nature of sext interactions, some kink focused character writing… It isn’t bad.
Violet Jam
Short minigames can, done well, make for an interesting experience, as people may have seen with the Warioware games, or, reviewed here on TMW, NSFWare. And Violet Jam, while a jam game, still brings with it a nice aesthetic, even if there are not… A whole lot of minigames in question.
Spank, innuendo, titfuck, barge in. Each is, as with the Warioware minigame formula, pretty simple. Still… It’s a demonstration that you can have lighthearted fun, another demonstration that the minigame formula could work quite well for an NSFW game, and I found myself enchanted by the art style.
Yu Crossing Animals
Yes, this is a furry lewd animal crossing pastiche. And it amuses from the first interaction, even if the mayor kiiiinda skeeves me out from the get go. I trust very few who make oblique statements an then say “he he he.” I’ve learned that from years of video games.
Still, he wasn’t lying about the villagers being close, as every interaction with them, every job, either ends in, or involves some sort of sexual escapade. Which, being a horny new villager… Well, you fit right in.
Prepare for a little disappointment and frustration, sexual or otherwise, however, as… Here be minigames. And minigames can be… A mixed bag. The first one, a timed three button rhythm game, I lost pretty badly, and so… Yu, my poor little villager, didn’t get off on the robo raptor dick they so desired to get off on.
Finis
Adult only games can experiment, and the Strawberry Jam is an excellent example of that. I’ve found something in each of them, whether it’s taking old formulas lewd places, or talking about kink, sex, and sexuality in a different way. Some show the humour. Some show the oddity. Some say “Hey, people like monsterfolk.” And I applaud such experimentation.
Oh, terribly sorry, I swear I’ve never managed not to come to a good concluding paragraph before!