“If you introduce characters so far removed from actual life, won’t the overall realism of the game be compromised?”

“It doesn’t matter. Players aren’t looking for realism in erotic games. Even if we stupidly tried to introduce realism, players would just get sick of it, eventually. If someone wanted to fall in love with a realistic character, they could go speak to a real woman and not have to play erotic games.”

“I see.”

“There are still techniques you should use to create characters,” he warned.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you just stick in a regular female character and announce ‘she is a perfectly ideal heroine!’ there’s no ring of truth to that claim. You have to use strategies in terms of situational and character-based set ups to reinforce the fact that your ‘ideal heroine’ is, indeed, ideal.

“For example, one technique is to make her a childhood friend. If you make the main character’s childhood friend into a heroine, you can develop a believable bond, because they’ve been close to each other from youth. From this fantasy, you get a convincing argument for her as a perfectly convenient, ideal heroine.

“The second technique is to make her a maid. If you make a maid your heroine, then, due to the nature of her job, a master-servant relationship develops. From this fantasy, you again get a convincing argument for her as a perfectly convenient, ideal heroine.

“Finally, the third technique is to make her a robot. You make a robot into the heroine. Because robots cannot oppose humans, the sense that she cannot have ulterior motives or that she cannot betray her owner, making a convincing argument for her as a perfectly convenient, ideal—“

“B-by robots, you mean…?” I interrupted.

“I mean a regular robot. You make a robot the heroine of your erotic game.” It was a fairly surreal conversation, but Yamazaki’s expression suggested that this was all completely natural.

“In short, the main goal when creating erotic game characters is to set up a reason why the heroine cannot defy the main character. You do this when you define the initial situation. She must obey any order from the main character, she must listen, and she must love the main character unconditionally. These techniques can help you fulfill these requirements as much as possible.”

I thought it was best not to think too deeply about this.

In utter desperation, I asked, “Well, what about a classmate who is both a childhood friend and a robot maid?”

“That’s a great set up!” Yamazaki answered, a sincere look on his face.

“Well, how about the additional scenario that she was the main character’s lover in her previous life?”

“Th-that’s amazing!”

“On top of that, she’s sickly and blind and can’t speak, either. The only person she can rely on is the main character. How about that?”

“That’s absolutely perfect, isn’t it?!”