Not A Product
The most important thing to be said about Chained Ether is that it isn't a product to be sold. It's a project to bring our vision of a good erotic game to life. It's about creating something genuinely enjoyable, demonstrating that adult games can be more than what they most commonly are, and hopefully inspiring others so that erotic gaming keeps getting better. As with our first project Accidental Woman, Chained Ether will always be free. We offer perks to those who contribute time or money—such as earlier access to new builds—but there is no payment required to enjoy the game.
A Whole World Awaits
Chained Ether is a trade and exploration game with text-based storytelling, erotic content, and art in a format similar to a visual novel. Players control their own ethership, sailing the skies to trade mercury girls and discover new outposts of humanity. Joining them on their voyage will be officers they find and hire aboard, each with their own detailed story, choices, and romantic outcomes. The world of Chained Ether has been crafted to provide an exploratory experience; each location has it's own detailed culture, customs, and history. Furthermore, it has been carefully designed so that a very diverse and interesting content can fit seamlessly as part of the world, without the jarring disconnects commonly found in adult content.
About The Game
Chained Ether is a rather unique game set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world. At it's base, it's a trade and exploration game, where you take on the role of an enterprising young captain sailing his airship between various cities. The world is blossoming in a new era of trade, but each city is an outpost of humanity in a world devastated by the great calamity that occurred over a century ago. Instead of your typical cargo, however, you'll be dealing in a far more valuable commodity: nubile women.
While there will be plenty of opportunities to interact with your cargo--in fact it can be a good way to increase its value--the story will focus far more on the officers you recruit to serve aboard your ship and the relationships you build with them. Each officer will have their own unique personality, backstory, and motivations, and as you progress through the game you'll have the chance to build deeper relationships with them, unlocking new storylines and intimate encounters along the way.
Each character's past shapes who they are, fully fleshing them out so that they can react to the player's choices in a natural way. Each officer you have the chance to recruit comes from a city with it's own unique culture and history, and she will bring that with her aboard your ship. As you get to know her, you'll learn about her past, her dreams, and her desires--and you'll have the chance to help her achieve them... or spurn them. You will help shape who she becomes, as your influence inevitably comes at an important turning point in her life.
Of course, you'll also be exploring the world. The cities you visit will each have their own unique culture, which naturally leads to a variety of sexual proclivities. Decades of isolation in initially harsh survival conditions, combined with the libidinous and mutating influence of the Blight, have led to a wide world of possibilities. From bunny girls to succubi, and from domineering amazons to caring voluptuous mommies, the ether is limitless. In each city you'll meet characters, explore and discover a variety of erotic events, get drawn into local intrigues, and perhaps even find yourself embroiled in larger conflicts that shape the fate of this world. Focus on the cities and eroticism you prefer, or sail the whole world and experience everything it has to offer--the choice is yours.
Connecting all of this together is the core gameplay loop of trading and exploration. Inspired by classic games like Sid Meyer's Pirates and more modern titles like the Sunless series, you'll be discovering new cities in a map that is different each time you play. You'll interact with the world's economy to buy and sell goods and hopefully make a profit while doing it. Cities each have their own unique economies of supply and demand, and prices will fluctuate with time and world events; it'll be up to you to figure out the best trade routes to maximize your profits.
You'll be able to select from a variety of different ships, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Some ships will be faster, allowing you to outrun danger and range farther, while others will be more heavily armed and armored, letting you take on more dangerous routes. Others will have larger cargo holds, letting you transport more goods at once for greater profit. As you progress and succeed, you'll be able to afford larger and better ships, each opening up new opportunities for trade and exploration.
In addition to your basic selection of ship, you'll also be able to customize it with ship modules. Do you want a sensitizing suite or perhaps an industrial milking rig for your cargo hold? Maybe a more efficient engine or reinforced hull plating? Do you favor weapons with long range, more firepower, a higher rate of fire, or perhaps a mix? The choice is yours, and your ship's configuration will impact on your strategy in both combat and trade.
The skies are dangerous, and you'll need to defend your ship and crew from a variety of threats, from sky pirates to monstrous creatures born of the Blight. Combat will be slower and more strategic than your typical action game, focusing on positioning to maintain the upper hand. Lining up for a broadside rocket volley while avoiding a broadside from your opponent, staying at range or getting close. Perhaps your strategy will be to avoid combat altogether by focusing on speed and avoiding the most dangerous--but profitable--routes; it costs money to repair your ship and replace lost crew after all.
The game's story content will be experienced in a hybrid visual novel format that focuses on ease and speed of reading rather than clicking through each and every line of dialog. Our goal is intensely erotic writing with art as a compliment--rather than dialog existing mostly as an excuse to showcase art. Certainly not lines and lines of moaning! If you aren't usually a fan of visual novels, you'll find this format a lot more appealing--while VN fans should find it a refreshing departure from the norm.