why do i have to be straight in this game
Unlike my other work, Nowhere Girl, Lucy (or however you decide to name her) is a defined character within Animal Lover with attributes and traits outside of the decisions of the player. Considering the extremely gendered nature of the narrative of Animal Lover, extending into America's history of gender relations, I did not feel as though these characters would have achieved the same narrative were the main character to be male, much less so had the same kind of incidental dialogue.
Granted, Nowhere Girl has a female protagonist, so in terms of great non-straight VNs with male love interests, I recommend Hustle Cat. The writing is cute, I'm a big fan of the art, it's a good time all around. 2064: Read Only Memories also has a plethora of gender and romance options and a pretty stellar writer at the helm. It's not a VN per se, but it's still a fun point and click.
Normally I would, and I have, but the concept being that these characters are from different parts of (mostly) American history means that they come packaged with extremely gendered ideas. Take Frankie's freakout at the coffee shop, Miguel's unique perspective on his own bisexuality and the ways in which each separate boy interacts with Aadara.
Animal Lover is a uniquely gendered story. It's a concept we discussed when beginning the development, to make the character genderless, but Lucy had come into her own as a character during the outlining process and we decided to follow her story to the end. I think, as a result, the women playing it have managed to find something particularly relatable or intimate about it.
Just as Coming Out On Top would not be the same without being a story particularly about non-straight relationships, Animal Lover is distinctly about women's interaction with men and vice versa.