video games are fanfiction's next frontier
If fanfic is the horny nationals, then fan games are the horny Olympics.
welcome to strong feelings! Essays by writers we love, in which they share their most impassioned opinions on a given subject. In today’s strong feelings, writer Ana Diaz explores how fan-made games are pushing the limits of both fanfiction and video games at large.
Satoru Gojo, a 2D heartthrob from the anime Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK), put on his best outfit for me in the game, Teacher’s Pet: Winner Takes It All. He’s wearing black-tinted sunglasses and a button up tucked into his pants. It might sound simple, but the way he’s styled is so clearly slutty — the fit of his shirt accentuates his itty bitty waist just so. All that’s left is to make a decision: Do I kiss or tease him? I can’t help but squeal.
Khywae, the developer behind Teacher’s Pet, has made fanfic-inspired games for pretty much every JJK character, including the aforementioned Gojo, his “friend” Geto, Toji, Choso, and even the show’s main antagonist Sukuna. She told me she has been making these sultry stories for just over a year. Described by her as a erotic fanfiction with an “interactive side of games,” her work allows readers to romance characters popular with fanfiction writers.
The inspiration to create games that incorporate writing from fanfiction came from Khywae’s childhood spent playing otome games. Loosely translated to “maiden game” in English, the definition of an otome game is widely debated but generally refers to narrative-driven games where the player-character romances other characters. Despite the genre’s emphasis on developing relationships, Khywae told me that these games left her feeling “unfulfilled.”
“[The otome games] either weren’t spicy enough, or when they were, the spice was usually aimed at a male audience,” she said. “I wanted to change that and create something new. Something that could leave a legacy for others who feel the same way.”
The marriage of fanfiction and video games seems like a natural next step (Khywae herself has made a number of dating sims inspired by games like Resident Evil and Undertale). Websites like fanfic.net host stories inspired by series like Pokémon published as early as 1999. More recently, games like Genshin Impact and Baldur’s Gate 3 have sparked a flood of newly published works. A ship between Astarion and the protagonist in Baldur’s Gate 3 shot up to the number four spot of AO3’s annual list of most popular ships, and since its release in 2020, fans have published more than 197,000 works on Genshin Impact on AO3 alone.
The trend is so prominent, that other writers have argued that video games and anime — both of which Khywae’s work incorporates — are defining a new era of Archive of Our Own.
Bgtea, a writer who has published a Genshin Impact fanfic that has received over 41,000 kudos on Archive of Our Own, told mixed feelings why games like Genshin Impact appeals to lovers of fanfic.
“Genshin Impact offers an interesting wealth of lore and characters that leave a lot of room for writers to play with.” Bgtea said, “The story is also continuously expanding so it encourages fans to piece together the different lore breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout the game to unearth the mystery behind [the game’s world and story].”
Despite the synergy between video games and fanfiction, creators like Khywae still face a number of barriers when developing games like Teacher’s Pet. The 2010s saw the creation of video game creation tools like Ren’Py and Twine, but the creation of video games never fully democratized in the same way writing and publishing did.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
This is largely because there are more components needed for a functioning interactive work than a written one, like programming knowledge, background art, and music to name a few. Prior to developing games, Khywae was a professional artist who grew up writing fanfic herself. After making an interactive fiction game in university, she later taught herself how to program and use software like RPG Maker and Spine2D. She created her first published game, My Assassin Bodyguard in 2024. Since then, she’s been able to implement some shortcuts when creating games, but she told me that her working hours are “very long” and she usually doesn’t take days off.
According to several game developers I spoke to, it’s not just about the additional workload that can come with games. There are also cultural and societal barriers in the wider video game industry that question the legitimacy of fanwork, and romance writing more broadly.
Xalavier Nelson Jr., is a founder at Strange Scaffold, a game development studio that has developed licensed games for popular franchises like Stranger Things and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I asked him why some in the industry might look down on the work of fanfiction writers, or why fanfiction isn’t more prominent in mainstream game development.
“I think fanfiction is so often associated with femininity as well as marginalization, that it is treated as a sideshow and deprioritized in the way that mainstream gaming culture often already [looks down on] femininity and marginalization while simultaneously benefiting massively from it,” Nelson Jr. told mixed feelings.
Another developer, Dani Lalonders, a fanfiction writer-turned-game developer who worked as the lead producer on a dating sim called ValiDate, echoed this sentiment and told me that some developers look down on fanfiction because of “misogyny” and the commercial priorities of several large game development companies.
Several studios and publishers have increasingly shifted their focus toward live service (games that offer ongoing new features and updates to encourage continued engagement) and other online multiplayer games, which often (but not always), have minimal narrative and little romance. In Fortnite for example, a player can buy a skin and compete as Gojo Satoru, but there aren’t opportunities to roleplay and develop larger stories with the character in the main games developed by Epic Games. According to Lalonders, this has led to a dearth of romance games.
“I think there's a huge drought. I think that because every game is live service now and that makes it harder to actually develop a fandom and for people to care about the characters.” Lalonders said, “I think that the lack of romance and sex in games is going to have a long-lasting effect on people's interests in the games, because if people do not feel like they can connect to the characters or see impactful relationships on screen, then you're kind of losing people.”
But where there is a drought, there can also be a thirst. Take the viral success of Love In Deepspace for example. The mobile-first otome game has earned over $500M through Google and Apple app stores since its launch in January, 2024. And where fan games are concerned, unlike the officially licensed works that shy away from explicitly sexual content, Khywae has more freedom to play. Her works allow players to flirt, kiss, and even have sex with popular anime and video game characters.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
“Fanfiction relies mostly on text to bring sensations to the reader, but with games, you can add other elements — visuals and sound — to enrich the experience,” Khywae said. “I also think that when players can have input on what happens in the story, it feels more immersive.”
Each scene starts with inspiration — sometimes a position, setting, or even a toy. The rest of the sex scene comes later. “I always start by building tension, like a rollercoaster. Small moments — a look, a touch — that slowly build up to the climax, the big moment, like a kiss or their first time sleeping together,” Khywae said. “Then it drops, and the buildup starts all over again. Tension is everything.”
Khywae does all this because she hopes to bring a feminine perspective to video games. At its best, fanfiction can draw out new perspectives in established worlds and hand the pen to anyone who wants to wield it. Stardew Valley fans can add nonbinary characters to its pixelated worlds and lovers of anime can make the horniest, sex-filled game inspired by the 2D boy of their dreams.
“I create these stories with one dream in mind: to bring more of the female gaze to games and animation. For desire to be shown through our eyes, instead of us always being the object of it. I didn’t expect so many people to resonate with that dream, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity.”
welcome to strong feelings! Essays by writers we love, in which they share their most impassioned opinions on a given subject. In today’s strong feelings, writer Ana Diaz explores how fan-made games are pushing the limits of both fanfiction and video games at large.
How awesome of Khywae to create such a unique experience for fans! I was wondering though, does she ever face problems with IP laws?