Joshua Romance sneak peek (Planet Stronghold 2)

[jack1974]

Hmm true. Then maybe the male genitals are just "standing inside" and can pop-up at the need (why you ask me such questions!!! my English is not good enough to reply)
What I meant is that from the images it seems more female than male. I think will leave those hard questions to Aleema to solve them

[P_Tigras]

Hmm true. Then maybe the male genitals are just "standing inside" and can pop-up at the need (why you ask me such questions!!! my English is not good enough to reply)

uggh...scary. Popping out at the wrong moment could take out someone's eye. I think I'll pretend I didn't ask.

What I meant is that from the images it seems more female than male. I think will leave those hard questions to Aleema to solve them

lol, I wonder if that's good or bad.

[Sylrissa]

For me personally, If I like the character as a person, doesn't matter if they are male, female or even hermaphroditic, I'd romance them.

[P_Tigras]

For me personally, If I like the character as a person, doesn't matter if they are male, female or even hermaphroditic, I'd romance them.

If I were even slightly bi I'd no doubt feel the same, and I have a close male friend who is and does. He's a smart accomplished guy who I like and admire, and yet while he's made it abundantly clear that he's interested in pursuing something if I am, I have absolutely zero interest in him in that way. And it's not just an issue of my conscious mind. If the hydraulics isn't motivated to work you're not going to accomplish much in that department as a man. And perhaps even more importantly, one thing I've noticed over the years is that I have an instinctive and visceral repugnance to the scent of another man in my personal space, as in a handful of inches or less away. My primitive hind-brain gets its hackles up even when my conscious mind doesn't realize what is going on. (Artificial scents like deodorants and colognes don't trigger this reaction btw.) Thankfully it's uncommon for two men to get so close, and when we do, in this modern age we're generally so well washed and clothed that I don't generally detect much of a scent. Nevertheless, when I do smell another man's natural scent in my personal space I have to grit my teeth and try to pretend that I don't want to immediately shove him into the next time zone. The scent of a woman in my personal space, regardless of whether or not I find her the least bit attractive, doesn't evoke such a strong, instinctive territorial reaction from me.

[abnaxus]

Hmm true. Then maybe the male genitals are just "standing inside" and can pop-up at the need (why you ask me such questions!!! my English is not good enough to reply)
What I meant is that from the images it seems more female than male. I think will leave those hard questions to Aleema to solve them

The easiest explanation perhaps would be it's a gender-shifting alien species?

Kind of like with... eh, the evil nurse from Bible Black

[Sylrissa]

This is sci-fi with possible alien romances here, I'm glad to see that jack and the writers/artists are willing to explore more then the usual gender binary for a character.

[Aleema]

Our concept of male and female is largely human-based. When we perceive animals, we rarely can assign them a sex just on sight. Because of pop culture, we're apt to assign them as male because we view a lack of human female anatomy as always male (thanks to female characters of any race or species always being visualized as very human). I'm exhausted of seeing every female alien or fantasy race being breasted, curvier & smaller than their male counterparts, and wearing lipstick & high heels. I enjoy how Lakadema toys with gender expectations. Laka is not human. You should not feel gay or straight or bi while falling for zir, romantically. It's about two minds.

Of course, should you want to rub genitals with zir, rest assured that you'll be accommodated.

Speaking in terms of balance in the game, Laka is more likely to be pegged as female due to zir looks being traditionally considered feminine. Whether you think ze acts feminine as well is up to you. Even I struggle not to call her a ... her.

[DunKalar]

I think it is possible to tell male and female animals apart if you know the specific features you must look for.

It is the same thing as with people from other nations. If you come from central Europe for example and are in east Asia for the first time in your life, all the Asians look simmilar to you because you are not used to percieve the characteristic features in people's faces. After a while, when you get used to it, it is possible to tell people apart without effort. It's all about experience of your perception.

But it is true, we are used to the fact, that all Sci-Fi-Races we know are bend to the human anatomy, because many customers want to see the esthetic norms they are used to. That's just how humans are but sad at the same time I always like when artists play with your perception of things in good Sci-Fi Media and Art-Works.

So why do you not invent a race based on black widows? There the male is small and slender and the woman is huge and impressive (so typical roles reversed). She also eats her mate after mating would be a funny ending for the game, if you die because you romanced an exotic spider-lady :-D

[Aleema]

I think the problem is a bit deeper than "that's just how humans work." Male characters usually get a strong variety in their appearances, while "female" is usually limited to a very specific thing, all the time. Just listen to the Mass Effect artists struggle wildly to design female Krogan and Turians:

They’re all males in the game. We usually try to avoid the females because what do you do with a female Turian? Do you give her breasts? What do you do? Do you put lipstick on her? There’s actually some of the concept artists will draw lipstick on the male one and they’ll say “Hey, it’s done” and we’ll go “No, can you take this serious?

We're so creative when creating aliens, yet when we think of "female" versions we grind to dead halt. We're all wildly speculating if Krogan and Turians even have sexual dimorphism in their species before we realized that Mass Effect was just another victim of this pitfall.

[jack1974]

Well about that my artist is pretty good she can draw a good variety of females without going with stereotypes