GDC 2025 Session Viewer
Melting Hearts and Quenching Thirst Roundtables: Romance and Sex in Games Day 1
Michelle Clough (Game Writer / Narrative Designer, Talespinners)
Souha Al-Samkari (Vice-President, Truant Pixel, LLC)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Design
Format: Roundtable
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Whether it’s a favorite romantic interest or a favorite steamy scene, many players are passionate about love, sex, and
intimacy in games. How do developers harness that passion - and their own - to create better romances, sex scenes,
and thirsty content for everyone? Join a diverse community of developers for a two-day roundtable on romance and
sex in games.
Roundtable Day 1: Romance in Games
This session focuses on all things romantic in games, from creating memorable moments to designing swoonworthy
characters to share those moments with. How can games branch out from traditional mechanics and narrative
structures for relationships, and can elements like procedural generation make romance more responsive and
interesting?
Roundtable Day 2: Sex in Games
The second session focuses on crafting sexual content for games. From exploring logistics and implications of
interactivity during sex scenes to considering the future of digital intimacy coordinators and games for sex education,
this roundtable invites informational and sex-positive discussion on where sex in games might go next!
Takeaway
Attendees will learn of current and future trends for romantic/sexual game content. They will develop best practices
for creating compelling relationships and love interests, approaching bespoke vs procedural relationship content, and
incorporating erotic details and intimacy consultants. Attendees will also connect with a community of interested
developers and academics.
Day 1: Attendees will take away a better understanding of current and future trends regarding romantic content in
games, including best practices for compelling relationships and love interests and strategies for creating bespoke
and procedural romantic content. Attendees will also connect with like-minded developers, academics, and critics in
the community.
Day 2: Attendees will take away valuable info on current and future trends for sexual content in AAA games, indie
games, adult games, and games as education (e.g. sex ed), as well as community-sourced ideas and suggestions for
new approaches to such content, best practices for sensory details, etc. Attendees will also connect with like-minded
developers, academics, and critics in the community.
Intended Audience
Developers of romance games, adult games, or any games with romantic or sexual content; academics, critics, and
anyone interested in romance or sex in games will also find this session helpful.
Day 1: Developers of romance games or games with romantic content, as well as academics, critics, and anyone
interested in past, present, and future romances in games.
Day 2: Developers of adult games, erotic romance games, sex education games, or any games with sexual content;
academics and critics who are interested in how games present sex and sexuality are also welcome.
