His Own Being is out now! This is a visual novel with photographic backgrounds, and erotic scenes, but not erotic photographs... unless you download the free external patch. If that’s all you wanna do, go ahead and scroll to the end of this devlog for instructions. For everyone else, I’ll go into more detail on what exactly the patch entails and why I’ve done things in this particular manner.

Background

His Own Being is something I’ve been working on as a side project since the end of 2023. I didn’t know exactly what form it would take when I started it, only that it would be about a gay man whose intense loneliness is eased when a perfect double of himself appears. It’s a product driven primarily by my own passion for the subject matter, drawing on how I felt during my own loneliest periods. In short, it’s a highly vulnerable piece with a lot of my self embedded within, more than I could possibly say here.

I wanted to do as much of this solo as I could, both because it was something I was doing purely on my own time outside of my primary work, but also because it is so personal to me. Therefore, many creative decisions came down to what I was capable of by myself. I can’t draw well, but I can take pictures. I’m not a professional photographer, but I have a nice camera and have spent enough time with it to understand the fundamentals of the craft. The story takes place primarily in one indoor location, so I could take most of the photos I’d need without even leaving my home. But what of the story’s sexual scenes?

I considered just reusing the same photos used elsewhere in the game to mark location and leave it at that—and indeed, that is what I do in the base, unpatched version of the game. That works well enough. But then I got to thinking about what I could do with what I had access to: namely, myself.

Putting It All Out There

I waffled on this decision quite a bit. It would certainly pose some logistical difficulties. I would not be able to host the game with these additional photographs included on itch.io. According to their FAQ, they “don’t allow hosting content that includes pornographic images or videos of real-life humans.” They also state that “[i]f you plan to collect money for your content, then you must adhere to the acceptable use policy of all respective payment processors,” and payment processors aren’t too keen on such content either. (By my interpretation, hosting such content offsite without requiring payment for it clears me on these.)

More significantly to me, I’ve never posted fully nude photos of myself on the internet. Sure, I’ve shared a few slightly suggestive pics, but I’ve never put it all out there. We live in an internet culture where scores of guys share photos of their dicks unselfconsciously every Friday, but I’ve never been that brave.

But, as I’ve said, His Own Being is already an extremely vulnerable work. Through this story’s protagonist, I share some deep, hidden, and unflattering aspects of my psyche. Which kind of exposure should I really be the most worried about: all that stuff, or pictures of my cock?

So I went for it. I jumped through the hoops of setting up a patch and hosting it offsite, and I put it all out there, more or less. These additional photographs adhere to the style of the rest of the work, so they’ve had a Gaussian blur effect applied and are typically obscured by the text box. But they’re in there! This is still more of an artsy personal passion project than a porn game, so there’s no gallery through which you can revisit them, and framing myself in the most attractive light was a lower priority than conveying the mood of each scene. I believe that they enhance the work, that they have artistic merit, that their addition—my vulnerability—was worth it... but if you’d rather not see my genitals, the base version reads just fine. Either way, to anyone who buys the game: thank you. It means more than you know.

One last note: I did a lot of research on photographic depictions of real humans in adult games while weighing my decision. There are games that use licensed (or unlicensed) content from porn studios, and there are games that have had their own such content professionally produced. But I believe what I am doing—a solo dev putting nude photos of himself into his own game—is unprecedented. If I’m wrong, I’d love to hear about it, but as far as I know, I’m the first. So that’s cool.

The Details

The external patch contains eight new, nude photographs, applied across three scenes. (There is one erotic scene that does not have a nude photograph associated with it. This is not in error.) All photographs are taken by, and of, myself. Like all other photographs used in His Own Being, these have a light Gaussian blur effect applied. Unblurred versions are not included. The text of the game is unchanged. The patch is fully optional and not required to enjoy His Own Being. It is also completely free and does not require having made any purchase to download.

Instructions

1. Follow this Proton Drive link: https://drive.proton.me/urls/YA4CH7SMBG#tdjT8U6QfNvb
2. Download the “patch.rpa” file.
3. Drag the “patch.rpa” file into His Own Being’s “game” folder. (This is the folder containing multiple files ending with .rpy and .rpyc.)
4. Launch the game! If done correctly, the text at the bottom right of the title screen should now say “Patched.”