I'm going to assume, that your going solo here.
I'm not even
going yet. If I ever come up with something tangible, that is yet to be seen.
But to answer your question: yea, going solo. Either that, or teaming up with a capable dude would be an option ( a lot of incompetents out there, though - may not be worth the headache).
Back when I was getting into drawing, I did some search on the following tags through youtube and google,
perspective drawing, sketching, coloring, color theory, grayscale to color, shading.
Regarding fundamentals,
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is good resource to get started. Then, if you are into piracy, there are professional training videos to be torrented out there (Gnomon, Udemy, Digital Tutors, and others).
I did some artistry a while back, so I kind of know what's up. For me, it was mostly landscape paining - some fun past-time that allowed for expressing creativity while also being permissive to messing up. This contrasts with paining hot sluts: with those sluts, you have to nail the appearance, as there is a very narrow definition of beautiful there (symmetrical faces, good ratios, bone/shape locations, emotions). So yeah, as I said, I'm worried there.
My advice is don't try to replicate how one artist draws, but pick up on their techniques, and apply those techniques in a way that's comfortable for you.
Oh, I'm looking for a standardized character workflow/stylization - one that would look good and contrasty on those backgrounds, one that would be relatively fast and fool-proof to produce.
I was doing it with a mouse
Ouch! For most of digital painting, a tablet is really a must. It has accuracy, pressure, tilt (only some models).
If you decide to go for a tablet sometime in the future, the classic Intous tablets are relatively cheap to get, at least used (Intuos 3/4/5, that has to be dirt cheap by now - and yet, totally sufficient).
The ultimate artist's tablet? I'd say forget Cintiq (or look for an older model), as they are overpriced. The ultimate artist's tablet, IMHO, is the M$ Surface Pro (again, getting, like the second/third generation should go easier on your wallet).
Either that... or if you stick with mouse, you can still do decent vector art. This stuff takes time, though.
Here, have an example of an artist working with vectors (it is girls getting it on with all sorts of disgusting aliens, lol):
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,
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.
Is it going to be heavily story driven?
Hmm. Not particularly (I hate those visual novels - talking, and talking, and you have to click through endless walls of text to get exactly nowhere). Still, having some kind of backstory, with emotions and all that, it would help a game move from bland to engaging. This, along with a well-crafted art style...
I guess that...
Harkin gets fired from C-sec, and then he turns to a life a pimping and crime. Gradually, he gets all the Mass Effect girls on his side; the girls would perform a lot of mental gymnastics ("he's such a scumbag, but he's so hot..."); in the end, Harkin saves the day - like a true antihero.
Something like sneaking around knocking your targets unconscious and taking them back to your cell. Or tricking your target into taking certain liquid that renders them unconscious.
Sounds like some good minigame/passtime! Harkin goes into a club where he uses his charms to hook up some slut; he roofies her and/or gives her coke, has his way with her, and then he sells her to Vorcha, for profit, lol.
Don't make players go from point A to B just to trigger a certain event. Offer branching paths, give player choices/consequences (consequences shouldn't hard lock out any events, but have a soft lock where the player has to work harder for their mistakes)
Yeah. The way I'm thinking about it, it would be pimping in the universe. At some point, the player would be allowed to travel freely across space stations; also, if the player's shady business blows up in one place, they would have to lay low elsewhere for a while.
That, and an illegal market for drugs and enslaved sluts (some places would pay higher rates for some goods, etc.).
By leveling, do you mean the training they undergo to unlock certain poses? if so I'd personally wouldn't set it up like that, as it'll start to feel like a grind. Spamming the training button, day in and out just to receive a certain sex pose does not sound fun. How I would approach this, if that's what you intended, have a NPC that players hire/recuite and leave it to the NPC, Once the leveling/training is done give the player a notification.
I'm thinking, like, having some 70:30 unlocked:locked scenes ratio, at the beginning, to give a reasonable incentive for leveling up. That, or certain girls being willing to do certain scenes...
To spark things up, I guess there may be different types of sex scenes with different purpose. A training scene, where Harkin fucks his sluts to gain pimp respect. A standard scene, where a slut satisfies a client for a payoff and service reputation boost. A club scene, where the purpose is to give the best show...
Making some of those scenes optional (as in happening in the background while the players either goes on with other errands or decides to intervene) might aid in dealing with potential repetitiveness. That, along with a fuss-free UI.
As far as character leveling goes, the direction of your game, I don't see much use for it. Maybe building/structure levels? but characters? Unless you have the MC engaging in fights or mini games that requires a certain stats, then again that goes back to that grind aspect.
Well, two things: 1) look up simbro (not the awfulness that is going on these days, but, say, version 2.3, or 2.4), and 2), here is a
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.
Now, what about it? In Simbro, by having sex, these sluts gain experience. Then, they can level up - which allows them to have more sex per day, to charge extra, to satisfy more demanding clients (beautiful girls, muscle girls, smart girls etc.)
As for Harkin, well, he could do more than that. He could charm sluts, negotiate better deals, build those structures, etc.
Bear with me: I'm thinking about separating the game into multiple layers:
- Space travel layer (your own ship, going from one space station to another). If ambitious, this could be extended by space smuggling and encounters.
- Space station layer: isometric camera, grid layout, walking around the actual levels. Here, Harkin would cut deals with various low-lifes, enter shops, buy/sell stuff, pimp his hos. If ambitious, a simple (turn-based?) combat system could be attached to this.
- Fucking layer: where the bangin' happens.
So if there is such a thing as the space station layer, there would be quite some use for leveling/skills. E.g. some sort of lockpicking/ breaking into places, a speech skill, and, if implemented, combat HP/shields (+ inventory/crafting system). If the design of this is done right, there you have some non-linear progression to boot.
You did mention the grind aspect, as if leveling up were a bad thing. Sure, it might. But then, have you considered the use of this as a choke point for story progression? A total wimp can't do heroic deeds, and a sense of accomplishment can be interpreted as a positive reinforcement to play/enjoy the game. If that makes sense....
As far as animation goes, I'm not too familiar with 2D animation, from my knowledge it should be a lot easier than 3D animation. I think (correct me if i'm wrong) is a copy/paste of the image and repositioning the pose.
Sure, more or less. You'd draw the character from a certain angle (usually front, side, 45 degrees to the side), in Photoshop, using layers - one layer per body part. Then you'd grab all the parts, assemble them in Unity, connect them through a bone structure, define the deformers, and animate the stuff. Any clothing or whathever, that would be appended on the body parts.
If you have a good animation going on, they you can reuse it while swapping body parts/characters/clothing (within reason, of course).
Doing and learning as I move forward in my project, this includes everything from learning how to program, modeling, snipping sounds together, texturing, environment design. Do I regret it, absolutely not, because I enjoy what I'm investing my time into.
Ah, cool. I think I'm in for the same thing (that, and I also wound't mind making some extra cash out of it on the side).
