README How to make an rpgm game w/o being a cunt

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GuyFreely

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I think a good example is Fashion Business. The game started in RPGM, but the dev listened to people and converted it to Ren'py. There was a lot of things I didn't really like about the game, but foremost was the use of RPGM when it didn't fit. So I'll give him props for switching it.
 
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DarthSeduction

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So, to sum it up. Make your game as convenient as possible.

Well, what if the point of a game is to specifically make the player go through several choices and decisions in a row without letting them save so it wont be like: "oh, what does this option do?" then loads last save, "ok what does this option do?" then loads save, etc etc, then those people figure out what they liked the best.
I mean if you want to know beforehand where every choice leads you, either make a judgement and roll with it or maybe don´t play games and just look at the CGI? How do you expect anything interesting to happen if your mentality is to save before every choice? What about games that dont let you save at all and just save your last checkpoint by default? The developers should also kill themselves?
Sure enough if there is some important event about to happen that may or may not lead to a game over or something, it would suck not to be able to save beforehand, that´s why boss battles are usually quite obvious in every game. But otherwise...
These are porn games, not horror games, not Dark Souls. There's no need for an environment of constant fear or tension in porn. I'm writing a thriller, and there will never be a point where I disable my player's ability to save simply to force an atmosphere. Some people seem to think that if a game has the ability to save wherever it's too easy. Well, I'm not playing porn games to "Git Gud". I'm playing them to get off. I'm the type of person that likes to experience all a game has to give me. No matter what game it is. I'll save before making choices or doing certain quests in Fallout and Skyrim, where the games are almost completely linear. I'll save before making choices in Bioware Games, so that I can play it with the renegade or paragon version of certain events. I like experiencing everything. What I don't often do, is make time to replay games. Some good open world RPGs will get a replay, but I'm less likely to replay Dishonored. Dishonored is a great example of a game that lets you do things differently, make different choices, fluidly, with no interruptions, but it's a very linear story that doesn't change much until the end no matter how you play it, and I can simply look up the alternate ending. With something like Mass Effect, on the other hand, I can affect the outcomes of certain events 3 games from now, I can decide how my interactions with the media will go by knocking out a reporter or not. I can run into a person I saved or sent to their doom. It changes things to play Mass Effect in every way possible. You can look down on people who want to save scum and play through all the options all you want. But in the end, you're creating a false sense of superiority over how you play a fucking game. It is the dev's job to make a game that more people want to play. You can play any game without saving before the options, if that's what you want to do. Me? I don't. Don't decide how I play the game I am paying for.

Do you know why Bethesda RPGs do so well despite being very poorly designed? Because Bethesda realizes that they are making a sandbox. When they release that sandbox to us, we get to play however we want in that sandbox. Of course, I should be clear, when I say sandbox I'm not talking about the "open world" type of sandbox. I'm talking like the little kid, playing in the sandbox, using their imagination to create some awesome adventure. They supply us with the "green army men" and the shovels and buckets, all we have to do is shape it to be how we want it.

When you design a game that limits how your players experience it, you alienate them, you turn them away. Developers goal should not be the alienation of their target audience. I'm not saying that they should compromise on story elements or fetish content to please a subset. I'm talking about the mechanics of their game that can be altered in a way that makes the experience enjoyable no matter how you like to approach playing. Again, these games aren't horror or dark souls, where it makes sense to create an atmosphere of tension and fear, and spacing out saves is the way to accomplish this. This is porn. Many players only have a small amount of time to play porn games. Even if they have time, they're really only looking to spend as much time as it takes to get off once or twice. Don't make your game inaccessible to these people becaues of some misguided attempt at creating a challenging experience.

Wow, you just managed to come up with pure bullshit.
Nobody said the choices should be blank and i dont think there is a single game that would leave them blank, neither will they ever mean the complete opposite of what they say, like you put in examples. Whatever, if you just want to mock anyone who doesn´t completely eat this shit up, go ahead, my mistake for saying anything.
Except the example he gave absolutly exists in a lot of choice based games The Telltale games series will give you nonsense choices like, "shoot or (Hesitate, wait, try to talk, etc)" and then you'll shoot, only to miss and have things get really bad from there. You shot with the intention of saving people, but in doing so made things worse. That's why people like to be able to save before making choices.

A dev can do this in a number of ways. They can autosave for you everytime you reach a major choice, so that at least that way if you forgot to save recently, you can go back. Or, they can warn you that a choice is coming and allow you to save. Again, this is a perfectly valid way to handle it, allowing you to play the game without fear that you'll miss something, or worse, that you'll go down a dark path that you regret.

An example of a game that makes you make a shit choice that you can't do anything about and that if you didn't save at just the right time you're gonna have to go through 15 minutes to a half hour of content to get back to it, is My Girlfriends Amnesia. I stopped playing this game exactly for this reason. Your girlfriend forgets everything everyday 50 first dates style, and so has regular doctors appointments and her sister has come to live with you guys to give her a familiar face every morning, since she doesn't remember you. Her sister is a bit michieveous though, and so the girlfriend doesn't always trust her. At one point he three of you go to the doctor's office, and you can tell your girlfriend is uncomfortable with you waiting alone with her sister. You, making note of that, remember the girl you met in the library the other day who was looking for a friend to show her around town. You doubt your girl would like knowing you spent time with another girl, but she doesn't have to know that, and you don't have ill intentions, so you can choose to either call her up, or hang out with the sister. I decided early on that I wanted to play this game as completely faithful to the girlfriend. It's too much for me to cheat on her in this situation. So wanting to keep her happy, I left to hang out with the other girl.

I figure, that's probably safer, the sister has already come onto me, and ususally games like this use a stairway to heaven, and I just met the other girl, it's probably safe to go. Get there and she forces you to eat her out under the table at the restaurant you meet at. This leads to you two getting caught by the waitress, and having to run away together, at which point you're spotted by one of the cops investigating the accident that caused your girlfriend's amnesia. The officers already appear to suspect you, so now, not only did this one choice you now made 15 minutes ago lead to an unavoidable cheating on your girlfriend scene, but you likely also increased the suspicion of the authorities on you. I hadn't saved on entering the hospital because I simply didn't think about it, and had to replay the last major choice, which was at least another 15 minutes with the scene and all the accompanying dialogue, until I was back at the hospital again, where I saved, because there was stil a chance I'd end up cheating on my girlfriend with the sister right there in the hospital for all I knew, and the other choice might still be preferable.

In short, it's porn, not dark souls, let people experience it how they want to. You don't have to save scum, but I should be able to if I like experiencing games that way.
 
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VNON

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well, with more new devs creating a new game, almost with a same gameplay, same themes, same characters, same patreon, follow the money, etc. i start to think, f95zone's mod doesn't really care about the future of a game porn, just take what ever game they can get, lol, imo

but here i am, reading a list of what i want in all of a porn games, of course that's just as a reminder to devs without restricting their freedom to creating their own game

and today, i just play a Good Game, try it,
 

redknight00

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An example of a game that makes you make a shit choice that you can't do anything about and that if you didn't save at just the right time you're gonna have to go through 15 minutes to a half hour of content to get back to it, is My Girlfriends Amnesia. I stopped playing this game exactly for this reason. Your girlfriend forgets everything everyday 50 first dates style, and so has regular doctors appointments and her sister has come to live with you guys to give her a familiar face every morning, since she doesn't remember you. Her sister is a bit michieveous though, and so the girlfriend doesn't always trust her. At one point he three of you go to the doctor's office, and you can tell your girlfriend is uncomfortable with you waiting alone with her sister. You, making note of that, remember the girl you met in the library the other day who was looking for a friend to show her around town. You doubt your girl would like knowing you spent time with another girl, but she doesn't have to know that, and you don't have ill intentions, so you can choose to either call her up, or hang out with the sister. I decided early on that I wanted to play this game as completely faithful to the girlfriend. It's too much for me to cheat on her in this situation. So wanting to keep her happy, I left to hang out with the other girl.

I figure, that's probably safer, the sister has already come onto me, and ususally games like this use a stairway to heaven, and I just met the other girl, it's probably safe to go. Get there and she forces you to eat her out under the table at the restaurant you meet at. This leads to you two getting caught by the waitress, and having to run away together, at which point you're spotted by one of the cops investigating the accident that caused your girlfriend's amnesia. The officers already appear to suspect you, so now, not only did this one choice you now made 15 minutes ago lead to an unavoidable cheating on your girlfriend scene, but you likely also increased the suspicion of the authorities on you. I hadn't saved on entering the hospital because I simply didn't think about it, and had to replay the last major choice, which was at least another 15 minutes with the scene and all the accompanying dialogue, until I was back at the hospital again, where I saved, because there was stil a chance I'd end up cheating on my girlfriend with the sister right there in the hospital for all I knew, and the other choice might still be preferable.
All of that is not a save or RPG Maker problem, it's just plain old bad game design. More specifically choices that have random results instead of reflecting the actions of the player.

Also, while i'm at it, it sounds like another problem with lack of player agency, in a porn game with choices, every sexy choice should ultimately be in the hands of the player to reject whoever they want and skip sexy bits they feel like.
 
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Catwashere

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Don't make a long ass animation scene without a save point since it eats up ram and causes crashes.
I played a game that you needed at least 16 GB of ram to get past a scene so my 8 GB was not enough good thing they finally patched it.
 

desmosome

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basically... unless your game is deep and immersive enough to rival things like FF6 or chrono trigger, dont try to waste people's time with artificial time sinks.

Unless your game is a roguelike (no, not the xmen game), don't try to prevent save scumming. People WILL save scum. The ones that don't want to can self impose iron man on themselves.
 
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User_897603

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So far Lust Epidemic and Research Into Corruption are the only ones I've played that aren't tedious. Every other one makes me want to commit sebuku.
 

GuyFreely

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basically... unless your game is deep and immersive enough to rival things like FF6 or chrono trigger, dont try to waste people's time with artificial time sinks.

Unless your game is a roguelike (no, not the xmen game), don't try to prevent save scumming. People WILL save scum. The ones that don't want to can self impose iron man on themselves.
Not necessarily. Just because you're not making something on the level of a final fantasy game doesn't mean you can't make something similar but smaller. The main thing to keep in mind is that you are on the player's team. You want the player to have a good time. If they want to save the game, let em save. Making a player redo a 15min section of your game just because you wouldn't let them save is kind of bullshit. If the player doesn't want to be scrambling to win each battle, let them take it easy, who cares?

For people familiar with tabletop RPGs, a good Game Master is there to make sure everyone has a fun time. It's not the goal to beat the players. Challenge them, throw them curve balls, but don't try to get a total party wipe. It is highly advised for a GM/DM to "fudge" things in the name of fun. Maybe the troll just got a huge crit that will certainly murder the wizard. You don't HAVE to kill the wizard, you can say "eh, I'll hit him hard, but there's no point is just killing him here." The porn game version of this is letting people save scum or roll back or use easy mode. I think it's safe to say most people don't want the Dark Souls of porn games. They are there to engage the story, see some sexy times, and have fun. So if a section of your game isn't helping the story, being sexy, or fun, then what's it doing? I realize "fun" is subjective, but at least consider it.
 

randomguy

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Everyone's favorite and simultanioulsy least favorite game, A Wife and Mother, started out in RPGM.

If that thing was in RPGM still it would have been an absolute nightmare to have to play it, now imagine if you were stuck in a 3 minute dialogue and were faced with a choice but you don't know what to choose because you weren't paying that much attention or you were just skipping.

I mean just look at how many games are filled with pages asking for saves or guides on how to get a scene, imagine having to replay an RPGM game, walk around from place to place replaying a ton of old content, and mostly just fetch quests, just becuase you want to get a new scene.

Like GuyFreely says, the game should be an enjoyable experience for the player, there's no reason to try to prevent people from cheating in a porn game, or save scumming or whatever.
 
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DarthSeduction

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All of that is not a save or RPG Maker problem, it's just plain old bad game design. More specifically choices that have random results instead of reflecting the actions of the player.

Also, while i'm at it, it sounds like another problem with lack of player agency, in a porn game with choices, every sexy choice should ultimately be in the hands of the player to reject whoever they want and skip sexy bits they feel like.
Don't get me wrong, one of the biggest selling points, for me, on Coceter Chronicles, is the sheer amount of agency you have with Tabitha, being able to determine everything down to how she thinks about something as seemingly trivial as the taste of cum. It's very refreshing to see that in a game that's all about player choice. But on the other hand, sometimes it's better for a story to have a character who has a more specific thought process, who does things that you might not do not because the Dev is saying fuck you to the player, but because it has everything to do with fleshing out a character. In Seraphim Academy, people don't get why Eve has sex with her childhood friend, especially with the Lesbian tag. The reason has something to do with Eve, and how she sees losing her virginity as important in a way. That sex scene that you say I should let be a complete choice is actually an important part of her character.

Going back to My Girlfriend's Amnesia(MGA), while, as a player it was a lack of agency that forced me to replay, I wasn't exactly disappointed with the scene and how it played out. It was actually definitely a good scene, the only problem was I was trying to experience the game in a certain way and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. MGA also shouldn't have even been an RPGM game. It is 100% a VN with a walking simulator inside of it. The map only exists as a transport between scenes. In fact, if it were made in Ren'Py, it wouldn't even need a map page, because nothing is triggered on the map outside of the main story, which branches and comes back to the main line based on choices, but offers no side content that would constitute a map.

However, I could easily pick any other RPGM that I either finished or quit for other reasons and say, hey, it would have been better if I had a means to save before each decision. I like Zoe's Temptations, but it's a game with binary choices that determine a certain outcome. And while those choices are a little more telegraphed, it could be that I'd prefer to experience one path or the other, hell, it would be nice to experience all the paths available, since I kinda liked that game, but as usual with an RPGm, there was no save during CG scenes, and no guarantee that I'd save before every choice. I think the only reason that game didn't get quit was that it was on a buggier version of RPGm that crashed often enough that I was saving before entering any new cell, so that if it crashed on load, I'd be able to start back where I was.

I also tried a few of those shit retard in lechertown games and the only reason I didn't choose them as my example is that they only have binary choices between game over scenes and scenes where you get molested.

The number one thing I like about Ren'Py over any other platform that I've played on thus far is that you can pause the action and save at any moment. Unity, VNgine, Game Maker, RPGM, on each of these I've played games where saving before a choice wasn't an option. I've also played a Ren'Py game where the dev, for some stupid fucking reason, has disabled the autosave, and the backup save, and you can bet your ass I don't play that game anymore. My being able to save when I need to while playing an adult game is a prerequisite for me enjoying it. If the engine doesn't provide that feature I do expect the Dev to go to the trouble of programming around that limitation if they have a branching story.
 
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GuyFreely

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Can we talk about RPGM "mazes" for a second. I don't mind a bit of exploration or even finding my way through a dungeon, but fuck you sideways if you make me navigate it more than once. I don't care if I already know the way, it's just more pointless walking that RPGM already has enough of. More broadly there is no real need to make maps pointlessly complicated to walk around. Like big long branching roads with no way to get from one to the other besides walking all the way back to the main road and back down the next road. Put all the places I need to go in tight little maps that take minimum walking time. As the OP said, fast travel is a great option.
 
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redknight00

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@DarthSeduction About the saving, that's a slighty limitation of rpgm in saving during certain event processing, or more specifically, a developer would have to actually work to put saves points in the middle of the text or using some plugin to allow quicksaves during those actions. And as you may have noticed, 90% of the rpgm devs don't even change the default UI, they just use what the engine gives.

At the risk of further derailing the thread, one of the things I hate the most in porn games is being forced on a route I don't want (also the reason I skip any game with a true path or a main girl) so I might be biased, but it's my opinion that a porn game should consider the sexual satisfaction of the player above other stuff whenever it appears, and as such being able to avoid relationships with certain character would be ideal.
 
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DarthSeduction

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@DarthSeduction About the saving, that's a slighty limitation of rpgm in saving during certain event processing, or more specifically, a developer would have to actually work to put saves points in the middle of the text or using some plugin to allow quicksaves during those actions. And as you may have noticed, 90% of the rpgm devs don't even change the default UI, they just use what the engine gives.

At the risk of further derailing the thread, one of the things I hate the most in porn games is being forced on a route I don't want (also the reason I skip any game with a true path or a main girl) so I might be biased, but it's my opinion that a porn game should consider the sexual satisfaction of the player above other stuff whenever it appears, and as such being able to avoid relationships with certain character would be ideal.
I've been known to do the same, for instance, I haven't played Lancaster Boarding House for exactly that reason. At the same time, I absolutely loved Acting Lessons, in spite of it pushing you into the Main Girl's arms, it's an amazing game.

As for how to address the issue, I think TCMS is pushing it by requiring it to skip the dialogue and allow you to save right before the choice. It is possible, even normal, for RPGm to open a save window before you walk in a certain room, or have a certain action. If a dialogue/CG scene has a choice in it, force a save window prior to that scene so that the player can go back and isn't wasting their time playing through the entire thing all over again.
 

CavDaKnight

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I couldn't agree more with this. Walking from point A to B than C back to A then D to B by hand is irksome at best. Why I liked how Siren's Domain did the map teleport points with Zombie's Retreat. While walking in this game isn't as bad yet as some I've played, just having the option was great. Also both Siren's games have been the only RPG based games I haven't had crash on my crappy laptop, so bonus points for her there.
 
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