How to Make your Dream Game? List of Questions and Queries Thread from a Newbie Game Developer? Appreciate all Help!

[HopesGaming]

Hi there!

First of All, This is Going to be Long, so Thank you for reading and be sure to add in your questions or answer mine for I wanted to create this thread as an advice for Beginners who want to make their own dream game come true.

Thanks for F95 , we've been able to play and experience many amazing games that has just given me so much Lewd fun, entertainment and relaxation! . I've been playing many great games on a binge and many have inspired me. I know game development is not an easy process, and it could years to perfect it, but it all has to start with a dream. I have a bunch of questions and queries (more to come later) about the whole process and thought instead of posting several threads, I just make one big one.

I would really appreciate anyone with any experience to reply, but the replies from game devs would be really helpful.
Okay, So here's what I wanted to ask...

1. How much work and important is the writing component compared to the Visuals and How do you really start on a Story?
Would you work on the worldbuilding first, or the characters or is it borne out of a specific fetish that grows into becoming a plot and you make a story as you go? What in your opinion is easier to code... a Visual novel character focused style of game, vs a sandbox world with rpg elements to roam around (day/schedule) and have a narrative when needed?

2. What in your opinion is harder to make, 2d sprites or 3d models? I am much more inclined towards creating something in 3d but I hear its very advanced and hard and takes years. and I don't know how does one actually draw a character there and have various positions/facial expressions etc. I have heard about 3d modeling in daz3d , is that what what devs mostly use or there are other better alternatives for 3d modeling.
Also, since we are talking about daz, Is it better to actually make the models , clothes, animations yourself or you have to buy them from the daz store for example? Does it require a creative knowhow of how to draw art on like a drawing tablet for example in the 2d games making, or more tech knowledge of 3d model and animation with photoshop/image software knowledge is required for background?

3. How much coding knowledge do you actually need for creating the game? Is it only Python knowledge that is needed or more to it than that? Also is there a resource to learn specifically about ren'py (a ren'py game script) or more trial and error via decompiling? How long does the coding process take in regards to the writing and art?
I know basic python and have been learning advanced but at what level do you think it is enough to start on a game and it not become a whole list of compiling errors that you spend days and weeks fixing.

4. What is the motion animation process like, 'cause that must be a whole different thing from creating models and expressions and positions in various ways . I for one think they are a good bonus but I've heard it takes a long time, and if it takes weeks or months for what lasts like 10 secs, I think I'll commit that much time on the story instead, but again some are looking for straight to sex games , and some are actually hoping for dialogue and writing.

5. Can you use the same facial expression/positions/action for different models or is it all separately one to one. Like for example How do you make a scene where MC gropes a Girl's ass? or a Kissing scene? How long would it be?

6. What are renders? and Why does rendering take so long and how long does it take for a simple scene to render? What if one doesn't have a high end PC with Titan GPUs?

7. Is this Flowchart correct? Story writing -> characters -> dialogues -> 3d model making face expressions and clothing -> other background and asset -> animation for sex -> voice / sound -> music -> coding -> render -> (if )translation -> marketing -> bugtest -> release -> updates. Or what are the key components I'm missing here cause I haven't actually gone through it. What complications usually arise at common during the production of the game?

8. Game Programming Languages one would recommend to learn , from Easier to the Hardest. From the one Used the Least to Most Widely used.
9. With patreons rules against Incest and Rape/Forced , How can you post a project there and not have it immediately violating the rules and removed.
10. (From a Friend) Is there any Discord groups to join for ren'py game development that folks can discuss on things and share knowledge.


I know its a lot , but really would help come one step closer to reaching my goals and I know many others who are hoping to make something out of their imagination. Hope I can as many replies I can get so everyone gets help out of this thread.
Thanks so much for reading!
Please Keep Safe out there

1)For me it is essential. It is the driving force of my game. So the story takes me several a lot more time to write than the average dev uses on his script. But that is just for my game. Other games the script is not that important and for them they aim to improve on the visual as much as possible.
Imo, even then, the script is important. Even on games where the script is only there to drive forth to the next eroge scene - it still needs to be done well.

2) 2d is way harder than 3d to make. (Especially if this is about 2d art vs 3d daz)
3d daz is very easy to learn. You can buy some characters in the shop and some morphs and it is like any other rpg games you played with character customization. Just a bit more indepth.

3) Almost no coding is needed for a simple Visual novel. Ren'py handles most of it. You just need to learn the very very basic of ren'py which takes 1-3 days tops. This is for a simple Visual novel with only choices and branching.

4) Yes it is very time-consuming. And require a good gpu. A game can easily do really well without animations.
With that said. This is only for 3d animations such as daz. If you use honey select etc the challenge is not about hardware and rendering.

5) yes, you can use the same. Sometimes a bit of manual tweaking is required due to morphs and character sizes.
The way I make a grope or kiss is to find a ready-made pose that fits what I want as closely as possible. After that, it is manual posing. I manual poses the majority of my poses. Rarely do I simply use a ready-made pose and render. At the start it can be a bit tough. But you quickly get a hang to it.
This is for daz and 3d.

6) I am not good with the technical part. I haven't read the other people's comments but someone has no doubt given an explanation that is way above what I am capable of, heh.

7) It's a decent chart. Just be careful not to get stuck on the same routine. Sometimes you want to change it up. Making the renders first and then the script and vice versa.

8) Just learn what you need. If you going the 3d route and VN. THan learn Daz and Ren'py. Extra- Photoshop for postwork.

9)I don't do incest or any other content that is against the TOS. But I know people usually have patches to make up for it.

 

[Zippity]

To be fair, it's also a problem with the consumers, but that's why a guy before said you need to find what public you are aiming for, the ones who just want to reach sex as quick as possible or those who are willing to wait a bit longer for a better story. I think that fi you are going to build an ambitious story like that, you should at least develop it until the point of sex but without rushing it. But as you say, most of these are done intentionally to lure people in. I personally prefer to leave a "sneak a peek" of what is going to happen at the end of each version, even my very first one, instead of rushing the story.

I one thousand percent agree... There are plenty of folks out there, especially younger folks or folks fresh to this niche industry, that come across these things and they are just looking for images/animations to get their jollies to... They don't want to spend time reading text, or grinding stats, or clicking all over the screen trying to find adventure items, or navigate through maps to find content... And it is what it is...

I personally believe that the vast majority want some entertainment value along with their need for jollies... Most want good story, others want fun game play, some want short stories, while many others want well developed stories, and the list goes on... Me personally, and I'm sure many others agree, if I wanted to just get some quick visuals to have my jollies, there are literally millions of real porn vids and pictures to go look at for free, or hentai short clips to watch, etc etc etc... I would much more prefer something I can enjoy investing some time into that is both entertaining, fun to read is a big plus, along with all the erotic stuff mixed in...

But finding those diamonds in the ruff is tough... I tend to have to trudge through all the muck in the sea, before I find something rich and highly promising... And do not get me wrong, there are lots of possible gems, but will they truly shine in the long term, or fade and dull over time... Most tend to fade or dull, which is a real shame...

I'm actually finding that the entire gaming industry, and not just the adult/erotic stuff, is beginning to fall into the same rut... There are far too many Early Access Games on the market these days, most of which do not peak my interest at all... Several years back I fell prey to purchasing a bunch of various Survival Early Access games, many of which to this day are still in Early Access... Just makes me sick and uneasy about where the gaming industry is headed for the future, over all...

4. What is the motion animation process like, 'cause that must be a whole different thing from creating models and expressions and positions in various ways . I for one think they are a good bonus but I've heard it takes a long time, and if it takes weeks or months for what lasts like 10 secs, I think I'll commit that much time on the story instead, but again some are looking for straight to sex games , and some are actually hoping for dialogue and writing.

I don't want to say that Animations are a gimmick, but in many cases they tend to be added more as a luring enticement then to add real production/entertainment value to a project... When the animations are robotic looking or extremely short, it almost feels like it would have been better not to have them at all... With some engines, animations are easier to generate then others... It's why you see more use of animations with VN/Game visuals made using Honey Select or Illusion... Because there are default animations built into the software, making them a bit easier to generate... It is kind of a rarity to see lengthy fluid motion animations... Even more rare are ones using more realistic full body movement... Most animations I've run into are either just a quick series of changing images played back to back with very short pauses between them, animations involving two characters barely moving beyond the private parts moving back and forth, or even animations where some body parts move while others never even flinch (which makes them look oddly robotic/animatronic)... And when they are super short or look odd, I really don't get anything out of them at all...

Another issue I see a lot, which is also rather annoying, is body clipping or penises that act like accordions during penetration/BJ animations... Or even worse, hard on's during a BJ where the angle of oral penetration is such that the penis would have had to take a 90 degree turn at it's half way point in order to go down the characters throat... When in reality, if that were to actually take place, either the pain for both parties would be so horribly immense that it would not be possible, or the penis would have broken through the back of the other characters skull in order to make any sense... I'ld rather just not have the animations at all, if I can't believe what I'm seeing... But that's just me...

I have seen some animations that are believable, have fluid motion, and are lengthy enough to create a sense of immersion while seeing what the text is telling you... Therefore add entertainment and production value... But it's not the norm... And I would recommend to any new developer, if you can't do animations justice, then don't even bother, save yourself the trouble and heartache... Trouble though is that some developers are just adding them so they can add an additional search tag, rather then putting in the time and attention needed to be successful...

I'm all for them when done right... And there are some players/readers that voice their need for animations... But if that is all your looking for, then why not just go watch some real porn, or hentai videos... Having them for having them's sake, feels a bit unnecessary to me... But that is just me...

7. Is this Flowchart correct? Story writing -> characters -> dialogues -> 3d model making face expressions and clothing -> other background and asset -> animation for sex -> voice / sound -> music -> coding -> render -> (if )translation -> marketing -> bugtest -> release -> updates. Or what are the key components I'm missing here cause I haven't actually gone through it. What complications usually arise at common during the production of the game?

I don't really have good answers for 5 and 6, because those are more technical questions I don't feel skilled enough to answer... And I apologize if my answers seem/tend to be lengthy... It's just how I am...

I would say stick with what works for you... Keeping in mind all the various elements that need to be accomplished to achieve your end goal/result... Some folks feel better writing out a complete rough draft of the story first, some folks like to make the visuals and then fit the story to the visuals, some folks like to make quick/easy story boards (even if it's just stick figures) to go along with the story prior to actually making the visuals, so they have a game plan for the layout of visual scenes/events, that best follows what the text is saying/describing, and so on... I think that music and sound could be pushed off till the end, just like what you see with movie production... If you even want to add them at all... Marketing is something you can concern yourself with, once you're ready to go public with your first release... Or shortly before your ready to go public... Translation/Interpretation should always be a high level concern once you've created the text, before publishing... Because it it's not done right, it could do harm to your public reputation... Driving people away more then bringing them in... Definitely play test your product, or better yet find a few people other then yourself to play test it, as well as proofread it, prior to any public releases (to include updates)... Nothing is more annoying to the general public, then a broken, bug ridden, and/or hard to read VN/Game... Again, another reputation killer if it seems to be a common occurrence...

I personally never play/read these things with my speakers on anymore, so I never even hear them when they do have sound/music... For some people they find it essential, others like one or the other but not both, for me it's not a necessity... And even on days where I forget to mute my speakers, the music has a tendency not to befit the mood, much of the time any way, so again for me, I don't see it as a necessary element, especially with Visual Novels... I look at it as a trait people are copying from cheap Japanese Visual Novels, where the music rarely matches the mood of the story, it's more or less just white background noise or soothing/jazzy elevator music... Same goes for sound effects... I don't need them if the text is doing it's job of telling me the story and describing what is happening... And especially for the sex noise some developers add, as it just has a tendency to sound like people making fake porn noises, common to most porn movies... Adding no intrinsic value to the scenes in which it is used... But again, that is just me...

Zip

 

[nathanjoneswork2]

When it comes to games in general, regardless of market, that include some narrative and/or story that is told well, I find they are more enjoyable... But I can understand how other gamer's are not really interested in the story aspects, and just want a game with good mechanics and fun times doing stuff... Everyone has different needs and different expectations when it comes to general gaming... If you look at most games out there, yes a vast majority of them are go kill this, go kill that, go rescue this, go fetch that, etc... Mostly because those types of quests and mechanics are just easier to create and produce into a game... Just look at the history of games in general, and you'll see a very common theme that still persists to today... And gamer's are fickle group of people these days, who come from varying backgrounds...

Not like back in the day when we used to go to the local arcade for hours every week, hangin' with your friends, spending quarters/dimes like they were mana from heaven to keep ourselves entertained.. Or computer nerds on our Commodore-64/Vic-20's/TRS-80's/etc playing computer games we bought at our local Target/K-Mart for 5 bucks each... Or even original Nintendo Gaming Consoles our parents bought us for Christmas one year, and launched the console system craze...

Because these days, due to availability, gaming is far more open to the masses... It's not a few small sects of folks anymore... So the diversity of games has to grow and adapt as well, to fill the entertainment needs of varying players...

As to the build up effect, I've always been a big believer that when you build up to an event, it has a tendency to feel much more powerful when the event is finally reached... Problem these days, is that some developers just don't think or care about that, and want to get to the erotic content as quickly as possible... And I think that is more out of sense of enticing initial donations, then to actually tell a good story that just so happens to have some erotic content in it or through out it... You can tell it's an intentional ploy, in most cases, when it appears super early in the story/visuals, and/or is in the initial out the gate release... Mostly because it usually feels forced, rather then truly having meaning in the story... Some developers do better at it then others, without having it feel so forced...




I thing the difficulty depends on the graphics engine your using, available tutorial videos, and your adeptness at learning and experimenting with the software needed... For some folks, if it's 2D, then that usually means using Hand Drawn artwork... So if you have a good 2D artist, whether that is someone who uses a computer drawing pad, or someone who draws on paper/canvas and then scans in the images, then for those folks it is either time consuming or super easy, depending on their talents as artists and the complexity of the artwork... As to what 2D imaging software there might be, outside of hand drawn graphics, I'm not sure...

I can't speak to the skill level needed to use Daz3D or Honey Select or Illusion... I would assume it depends on the experience level of the artist and the complexity of the software... Daz3D, for me, looks very daunting at first impressions... But I think most folks tend to use pre-made models and then just modify them to fit their needs... In that way some of the work is already done, over creating a model entirely from scratch... Where as HS/Illusion probably has more built in functionality and default models to work with, for creating things like posing and animation... How difficult it is, again I could not say... But I do know that Honey Select was never intended to be used outside of Japan, as it is not allowed to be sold outside of Japan... Therefore it's use is usually via a pirated copy of the software... Which entails some possible legal issues when it comes to making money off it's use... Illusion is much newer, and the only thing I really know about it is that anything created with it, is considered the property of the software company that made it, and therefore they own the copyrights to anything generated with it... So, yet another legal hurdle to be concerned with, especially if making money from it's use without written permission... Daz3D has fewer legal restrictions when it comes to free use and/or licensing... Those are just the big 3...

Alas, I can't speak much to the technical usage of those graphics engines...




It depends entirely on the Visual Novel/Game Engine... Ren'py is designed more with Visual Novel creation in mind, and is easier to code with then if you were to use Unreal or Unity... Unity and Unreal require far more coding knowledge, as they are really intended for general game creation... They can be used for Visual Novels as well, but the coding is still far more complex... There a ton of tutorial videos out there for Ren'py... Not quite as many for Unreal and Unity... I can't speak for the more text based engines... The RPGMaker engine is designed for older top down small-sprite based RPG adventure style games of like the 80's and early 90's... And as it is designed for easy of use, so it doesn't require as much coding as you would find with the more modern gaming engines I already mentioned...

Each engine has it's original intentions and limitations... Adding more complex gaming designs into Ren'py, beyond it's basic Visual Novel system, will require more advanced coding knowledge if it is to work as intended... Same goes for most of the other engines as well...

I mentioned this in another thread, but the time involved between visual design, authoring the text, and coding will all depend on your level of experience with the various tools, your skill with each category, and the complexity of what your developing.... But most likely, if it's a Visual Novel, you will spend more time with Visuals the most, then it's a toss up between the coding and story generation, depending on engine used, story complexity, game play mechanic, and your skill... And all of it will definitely depend on your innate creative talent in any/all of those categories... Just remember that a good Visual Novel can not stand strong on it's visuals alone, regardless how many folks may publicly swoon over them initially... And most players/readers in this niche market, never say a darn thing... It's only the minority of players/readers that ever speak up in places like this or even on sites like Patreon... We are but a fraction of the overall player base/readership... That is just a fact of the adult/erotic/porn industry in general, regardless of this distinctive niche of it...

Zip

I agree, everyone has a different taste, but I still believe a great narrative and story has a bigger impact on the whole industry as it sets a quality standard which only furthers others to be more creative with their storytelling and we get good games in general.
I mean, if everyone would just start making jump-to-sexscene1 games, I'd be bored out of my mind.
I understand it is harder to revolutionalize gameplay elements such as fetch quests, but they can be improved upon with flavor, and not be drawn out that it takes ages to finish them and the enjoyment of the game is lost. But since many look for 'Gametime Hours' , making your game stretch to become 10 hours by filling it with grind is the only way if you don't want to work anymore further into it.
Yes, Gaming as an medium has exploded, and I'm happy it has, and I'm very sure we're going to see an evolution in the adult game industry as well with times.
Build up is essentail if you want to give your story a flavor, some sort of structure, if you want the person to relate to MC or the situations, and rushing through it all and just getting to the 'good' stuff, I'd rather just watch a hentai short then.

I see, thank you for enlightening me about that, I see some games which are made in HS but they are low key so I don't think they're going to face any issues unless it gets big.

Yes, been seeing a lot of Unity and Unreal stuff on websites like Udemy, Ren'py is not as popular, but its much easier so balances it out. I think they just announced a new version of RPG Maker , its called MZ or something.

Absolutely agree with your last point, most players are silent majority.
Thank you for that insightful post!

 

[nathanjoneswork2]

1)For me it is essential. It is the driving force of my game. So the story takes me several a lot more time to write than the average dev uses on his script. But that is just for my game. Other games the script is not that important and for them they aim to improve on the visual as much as possible.
Imo, even then, the script is important. Even on games where the script is only there to drive forth to the next eroge scene - it still needs to be done well.

2) 2d is way harder than 3d to make. (Especially if this is about 2d art vs 3d daz)
3d daz is very easy to learn. You can buy some characters in the shop and some morphs and it is like any other rpg games you played with character customization. Just a bit more indepth.

3) Almost no coding is needed for a simple Visual novel. Ren'py handles most of it. You just need to learn the very very basic of ren'py which takes 1-3 days tops. This is for a simple Visual novel with only choices and branching.

4) Yes it is very time-consuming. And require a good gpu. A game can easily do really well without animations.
With that said. This is only for 3d animations such as daz. If you use honey select etc the challenge is not about hardware and rendering.

5) yes, you can use the same. Sometimes a bit of manual tweaking is required due to morphs and character sizes.
The way I make a grope or kiss is to find a ready-made pose that fits what I want as closely as possible. After that, it is manual posing. I manual poses the majority of my poses. Rarely do I simply use a ready-made pose and render. At the start it can be a bit tough. But you quickly get a hang to it.
This is for daz and 3d.

6) I am not good with the technical part. I haven't read the other people's comments but someone has no doubt given an explanation that is way above what I am capable of, heh.

7) It's a decent chart. Just be careful not to get stuck on the same routine. Sometimes you want to change it up. Making the renders first and then the script and vice versa.

8) Just learn what you need. If you going the 3d route and VN. THan learn Daz and Ren'py. Extra- Photoshop for postwork.

9)I don't do incest or any other content that is against the TOS. But I know people usually have patches to make up for it.

Massive Fan of Your Game HopesGaming! Thanks for the reply.

DeLuca family is one of the Prime examples of how a game with on the surface Simplistic gameplay can be so engaging and amazing with the help of Superb Tone and Worldbuilding, Character motivations, Plot Progression and Beautiful Art. I especially love the style of Gameplay you've chosen to marry the two [Straight up Main story + Semi Sandbox Gameplay with Combat and Progression as rank up in status in the mafiaso]

The Main focus is on your script and it truly shows. I am thankful though, that you started with a few characters which get deeper backstory and everyone feels different than to make a game starting with 20 girls MC can bang where one doesn't differ with the other and you soon just forget about it. I guess it goes back to the Quality vs Quantity preferance.

Will start on learning more about Character Morphing and every main character should generally have their own ..style/vibe/energy.
Manual posing alongside that, and putting a ready made pose without tweak would just look lazy and compromise on the quality of the game. I guess it all falls back to how much one truly cares about Immersion.

Been interested in learning more about Photoshop, I've used it in the past casually, but have to get back on it , and use for for art edits and making some backgrounds or such. Its a very useful skill to have anyway.

I guess most of what I believe my effort should go first would be on writing and storytelling, It is evident that without that, no matter how good the renders are, no one would pay attention when the story makes no sense, and there's no connection with any of it, just the sound of four mouse clicks every second to 'get to it'

I especially loved the Isabela update, Absolutely beautiful renders, but the story is what is so gripping. Distinctly remember smiling during the part she kisses the MC again and again, and it just shows there's a lot of heart put into this.
Thanks for the great advice! ♥

 

[nathanjoneswork2]

I one thousand percent agree... There are plenty of folks out there, especially younger folks or folks fresh to this niche industry, that come across these things and they are just looking for images/animations to get their jollies to... They don't want to spend time reading text, or grinding stats, or clicking all over the screen trying to find adventure items, or navigate through maps to find content... And it is what it is...

I personally believe that the vast majority want some entertainment value along with their need for jollies... Most want good story, others want fun game play, some want short stories, while many others want well developed stories, and the list goes on... Me personally, and I'm sure many others agree, if I wanted to just get some quick visuals to have my jollies, there are literally millions of real porn vids and pictures to go look at for free, or hentai short clips to watch, etc etc etc... I would much more prefer something I can enjoy investing some time into that is both entertaining, fun to read is a big plus, along with all the erotic stuff mixed in...

But finding those diamonds in the ruff is tough... I tend to have to trudge through all the muck in the sea, before I find something rich and highly promising... And do not get me wrong, there are lots of possible gems, but will they truly shine in the long term, or fade and dull over time... Most tend to fade or dull, which is a real shame...

I'm actually finding that the entire gaming industry, and not just the adult/erotic stuff, is beginning to fall into the same rut... There are far too many Early Access Games on the market these days, most of which do not peak my interest at all... Several years back I fell prey to purchasing a bunch of various Survival Early Access games, many of which to this day are still in Early Access... Just makes me sick and uneasy about where the gaming industry is headed for the future, over all...




I don't want to say that Animations are a gimmick, but in many cases they tend to be added more as a luring enticement then to add real production/entertainment value to a project... When the animations are robotic looking or extremely short, it almost feels like it would have been better not to have them at all... With some engines, animations are easier to generate then others... It's why you see more use of animations with VN/Game visuals made using Honey Select or Illusion... Because there are default animations built into the software, making them a bit easier to generate... It is kind of a rarity to see lengthy fluid motion animations... Even more rare are ones using more realistic full body movement... Most animations I've run into are either just a quick series of changing images played back to back with very short pauses between them, animations involving two characters barely moving beyond the private parts moving back and forth, or even animations where some body parts move while others never even flinch (which makes them look oddly robotic/animatronic)... And when they are super short or look odd, I really don't get anything out of them at all...

Another issue I see a lot, which is also rather annoying, is body clipping or penises that act like accordions during penetration/BJ animations... Or even worse, hard on's during a BJ where the angle of oral penetration is such that the penis would have had to take a 90 degree turn at it's half way point in order to go down the characters throat... When in reality, if that were to actually take place, either the pain for both parties would be so horribly immense that it would not be possible, or the penis would have broken through the back of the other characters skull in order to make any sense... I'ld rather just not have the animations at all, if I can't believe what I'm seeing... But that's just me...

I have seen some animations that are believable, have fluid motion, and are lengthy enough to create a sense of immersion while seeing what the text is telling you... Therefore add entertainment and production value... But it's not the norm... And I would recommend to any new developer, if you can't do animations justice, then don't even bother, save yourself the trouble and heartache... Trouble though is that some developers are just adding them so they can add an additional search tag, rather then putting in the time and attention needed to be successful...

I'm all for them when done right... And there are some players/readers that voice their need for animations... But if that is all your looking for, then why not just go watch some real porn, or hentai videos... Having them for having them's sake, feels a bit unnecessary to me... But that is just me...




I don't really have good answers for 5 and 6, because those are more technical questions I don't feel skilled enough to answer... And I apologize if my answers seem/tend to be lengthy... It's just how I am...

I would say stick with what works for you... Keeping in mind all the various elements that need to be accomplished to achieve your end goal/result... Some folks feel better writing out a complete rough draft of the story first, some folks like to make the visuals and then fit the story to the visuals, some folks like to make quick/easy story boards (even if it's just stick figures) to go along with the story prior to actually making the visuals, so they have a game plan for the layout of visual scenes/events, that best follows what the text is saying/describing, and so on... I think that music and sound could be pushed off till the end, just like what you see with movie production... If you even want to add them at all... Marketing is something you can concern yourself with, once you're ready to go public with your first release... Or shortly before your ready to go public... Translation/Interpretation should always be a high level concern once you've created the text, before publishing... Because it it's not done right, it could do harm to your public reputation... Driving people away more then bringing them in... Definitely play test your product, or better yet find a few people other then yourself to play test it, as well as proofread it, prior to any public releases (to include updates)... Nothing is more annoying to the general public, then a broken, bug ridden, and/or hard to read VN/Game... Again, another reputation killer if it seems to be a common occurrence...

I personally never play/read these things with my speakers on anymore, so I never even hear them when they do have sound/music... For some people they find it essential, others like one or the other but not both, for me it's not a necessity... And even on days where I forget to mute my speakers, the music has a tendency not to befit the mood, much of the time any way, so again for me, I don't see it as a necessary element, especially with Visual Novels... I look at it as a trait people are copying from cheap Japanese Visual Novels, where the music rarely matches the mood of the story, it's more or less just white background noise or soothing/jazzy elevator music... Same goes for sound effects... I don't need them if the text is doing it's job of telling me the story and describing what is happening... And especially for the sex noise some developers add, as it just has a tendency to sound like people making fake porn noises, common to most porn movies... Adding no intrinsic value to the scenes in which it is used... But again, that is just me...

Zip

I absolutely love that your answers are lengthy, you have a treasure trove of Knowledge and clearly a lot of intelligence and experience when it comes to adult games. I am sure it will help a lot of people and we'd be making so many amazing quality games if we put your advice into proper use. And You are absolutely right, There are far too many Early Access titles and Projects that start with so much aspiration but go nowhere, and then are either rushed or just fall short of their ambition and fill their games with generic crap.
I think it all comes down to the simple philosophy, Do we want MORE games or do we want Better Games, And the perfect dream would be to have More better games all at once, but I'd much rather, some devs should band together and give what they can to a project to create something special, than individually do sub par work and burn themselves out in the process.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, You really have abundance of knowledge and I am glad you visited the forum to share your wisdom!

 

[Zippity]

I agree, everyone has a different taste, but I still believe a great narrative and story has a bigger impact on the whole industry as it sets a quality standard which only furthers others to be more creative with their storytelling and we get good games in general.
I mean, if everyone would just start making jump-to-sexscene1 games, I'd be bored out of my mind.
I understand it is harder to revolutionalize gameplay elements such as fetch quests, but they can be improved upon with flavor, and not be drawn out that it takes ages to finish them and the enjoyment of the game is lost. But since many look for 'Gametime Hours' , making your game stretch to become 10 hours by filling it with grind is the only way if you don't want to work anymore further into it.
Yes, Gaming as an medium has exploded, and I'm happy it has, and I'm very sure we're going to see an evolution in the adult game industry as well with times.
Build up is essentail if you want to give your story a flavor, some sort of structure, if you want the person to relate to MC or the situations, and rushing through it all and just getting to the 'good' stuff, I'd rather just watch a hentai short then.

I see, thank you for enlightening me about that, I see some games which are made in HS but they are low key so I don't think they're going to face any issues unless it gets big.

Yes, been seeing a lot of Unity and Unreal stuff on websites like Udemy, Ren'py is not as popular, but its much easier so balances it out. I think they just announced a new version of RPG Maker , its called MZ or something.

Absolutely agree with your last point, most players are silent majority.
Thank you for that insightful post!

I totally agree, my preferences always lean towards a well told meaningful story with believable characters that I like, over any other inclusion in an adult/erotic VN/Game... As to Ren'py, it is actually the most used Engine for making Visual Novels or VN styled games, even still today... Unity is a more recent happening, that has only been slowly increasing over the past year or so... Personally I'm always a bit leary about using Unity based VN/Games, primarily because when it first began being used, many developers were using the Internet functionality of it, which I'm highly against... In my book, none of the developers in this industry are trust worthy enough(practically none of them are actual businesses let alone have long standing proven track records of public trust and safety to back them up, unlike the normal gaming industry), for me to allow their products to utilize the web while playing their games... Who knows what types of data transfers might be taking place... So, i'm always cautious about Unity, personally...

That being said, I've played a few in the past year using Unity, and they were alright... But you can definitely tell the difference between Unity and Ren'py, as Unity is really meant as a true gaming platform and was not designed with Visual Novels in mind... Even if it can still be modified to serve that purpose... Most folks (including myself) like the control you get with Ren'py (i.e. back, skip, right click to save/load, spacebar or left click to continue, etc.) that you rarely see in their Unity counterparts... Unless the developers went out of their way to code in all the same functionality... Usually in Unity based fair, save/load is difficult to get to, or is limited, and the back function doesn't exist, etc... But game play elements like Management, Navigation, and other more complex gaming structures, are usually done very well in Unity... I see well done versions in Ren'py as well, but I know it took more advanced coding to get it to work right...

Unreal is used far less often, but it's only real claim to fame, that I've really seen, is the First Person/Open World style game design aspects... And most of those have been highly lackluster, both in their character design and resolution, to their erotic content which tends to clip a lot or look somewhat dorky... I've tried a few and was never impressed at all... Unreal also takes far more coding knowledge then most other engines...

And I think I may have already mentioned, that I actively avoid pretty much all RPG Maker based VN/Games... Just not a fan of corny 80's game play in this particular market, or of having to grind out non-sense game elements involving travel time just to get to a small bit of new content... Like old style RPG's... It's just not something I find entertaining anymore... When I was a teenager, and that was what little we had, sure, but it was never something I wished would continue as RPG games became better in their quality... Now, there have been a few games using RPGM that looked absolutely nothing like what most of them look like, where you couldn't even tell it was using RPGM at all, but I've only ever seen those small few, ever... And they began development several years back, with nothing newer coming out that tried doing that... So again, not a fan of RPGM based anything...

I absolutely love that your answers are lengthy, you have a treasure trove of Knowledge and clearly a lot of intelligence and experience when it comes to adult games. I am sure it will help a lot of people and we'd be making so many amazing quality games if we put your advice into proper use. And You are absolutely right, There are far too many Early Access titles and Projects that start with so much aspiration but go nowhere, and then are either rushed or just fall short of their ambition and fill their games with generic crap.
I think it all comes down to the simple philosophy, Do we want MORE games or do we want Better Games, And the perfect dream would be to have More better games all at once, but I'd much rather, some devs should band together and give what they can to a project to create something special, than individually do sub par work and burn themselves out in the process.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, You really have abundance of knowledge and I am glad you visited the forum to share your wisdom!

Totally agree... I think the real trouble we have these days is that some developers, not all, are hoping to make mega bucks like those very few big hitters do... In the end, money is a big motivator with the huge insurgence of new developers over the last few years, ever since Patreon became a thing... Pre-Patreon, I really didn't see this many new projects starting up, and they didn't always takes years to complete... When you hear money is the root of all evil, in the case of amateur/hobby game development, that statement holds true far more often then many of us would like...

In some ways the huge influx of new developers, since Patreon came along, is both a blessing and a curse... Sure, this market is now vast and numerous with new products to try and entertain ourselves, but then again it's also flooded with copy cats, over used themes, stereotyped character personalities, and so forth... Sure, we had that before, but never ever to the extent we've seen in the past few years... It's both daunting and exciting at the same time, because with the ruff, sometimes we get those diamonds as well, and in higher quantities then Pre-Patreon... Biggest trouble I see, is along with the abandonment of lesser quality projects, we also see a lot of high quality projects get dumped as well, or real gems that start bright in the beginning, that over time lose their luster... It's what kind of saddens me the most, about the phenomena we've been seeing over the last few years, post-Patreon...

9. With patreons rules against Incest and Rape/Forced , How can you post a project there and not have it immediately violating the rules and removed.

If you are an honest developer, just don't violate the content rules of the donation host site you go with... Patreon has become more strict with their adult content rules over the past few years, mostly because they have a reputation they want to protect, and they never intended for this niche industry to use their site like it has been used... What I've noticed since the rules changes, is that many developers have adapted their projects... Which had it's bonuses, such as, far more VN/Games these days have the option for naming the protagonist, then before the rules change, along with the options to either re-name the primary characters (especially ones living with the protagonist) and/or re-title their relationship...

Only trouble I've seen, in most cases, that in a developers attempt to comply with the restriction on things like Incest, they still write the story as if the characters were still related, regardless of what the title defaulted to (usually roommate and landlady) or what the reader/player changes them to... And when that occurs, or even when those overused defaults are used, the story telling just sounds weird and bizarre because they wrote the story with the intention of an actual biological relationship in the first place... When ever I see the whole roommate and/or landlady things appear in a story, my first reaction is to cringe... Because I've already seen it dozens upon dozens of times, where, how the story is told doesn't match-up with how an actual Renting Tenant to Roommate/Landlady relationship works... No landlady that I know of, treats a renter/tenant like they grew up with the landlady taking care of them... Or a roommate that treats the tenant/renter like a sibling would... Let's be real, it is just a cheap attempt to hide the incest content, in order to maybe avoid being told they are breaking the rules...

Another ploy I've seen with developers who intended their project to include Incest content, is to just not have the relationship titles be that of family members in their posted releases/updates... But offer up a patch download in an off-site location for changing the titles back to a family relationship... But they just don't mention it at all on Patreons site, in hopes of not getting caught... That, or they just make it very easy for a patch to be made by a 3rd party for re-adding in the family titles... Again, in an attempt to hide their real intentions... Yet their story text still reads like a family dynamic, which is so blatantly obvious, when you read it, that it's ridiculous sounding most of the time...

As to the other forms of content, some developers just add it in and hope they don't get caught... But eventually they do, or they've just been lucky thus far... Patreon doesn't play around when they catch rule breaking... Trouble is that they don't have the manpower to constantly monitor all the pages members have going, or what their projects truly contain, beyond what is mentioned in the site pages communications... It's up to the members themselves (i.e. page owners, donators, and general members) to help self-police rule breakers, reporting violations (hidden or otherwise) when they find em... Adult/Erotic content creators should feel privileged to even be able to use Patreon, and be happy that Patreon hasn't done away with adult content all together.... They didn't go into business with adult/erotic Visual Novel and Game creators in mind at all... Hence why they had to backpedal and change their rules regarding adult content, a few years back...

In essence, sites like Patreon tend to be very restrictive about the more hard core fetish based content... So stuff like Incest, bestiality, rape, non-consenting sexual acts of any kind, sexual torture, and so on are definitely against most of those sites rules... There are a few newer sites, that came into existence around the same time as Patreon updated their rules, who created their companies mostly out of spite... That allow pretty much anything, but they are a bit riskier to use... Being owned by persons unknown in foreign countries, or they've been blocked by the bigger online money handlers like Paypal and so forth... Main stream companies don't even want to be associated at all with them, either because of the content they allow, or due to other skullduggery...

My recommendation is that if you want to honestly use Patreon or other sites like it, stick to their rules... If you want to include content that those sites don't allow, then make your own website and find some online payment systems to use on your website for donations, who don't have a problem with the types of content you want to include... Rather then using any Donation based hosting sites... Be very cautious of donation hosting sites with bad or iffy reputations, more so if it's on public record (i.e. news articles and off-site reviews)...

Zip

 

[Amampathaka]

Really nice advice here, thanks ^^

 

[Catapo]

Apologies if I end up repeating some stuff but here is my take on your questions:

1. The genre is called "Visual Novel", the word novel is half the name so writing is very important. Good writing can save a game without visuals but good visuals will not save a game with bad writing.
I think it is best to start with the general plot and with the characters then expand the world and work in fetishes in relation to your characters.
The easiest to code would be a "Kinetic Novel" (linear story without choices), then a visual novel (story branches based on the choices) and then anything else where content gets triggered based on a number of variables.

2. When it comes to art there are 3 roads you can take(all quite difficult):

- 2D drawn art - you draw everything by yourself using software like: Photoshop, Gimp, Krita.

- custom 3D modeling and rendering (arguably the most difficult) - you make the 3D models by yourself using software like: Autodesk Maya, Blender, ZBrush.
There are 2 approaches to making your models: Box Modelling (you start with basic shapes like cubes, spheres that you expand and build up from that), Sculpting(you start with high-res object and you sculpt the shape and details, like sculpting in clay).

- using existing models - Daz3D is not exactly a modeling software, it is a rendering and animation software. You import existing assets(models, textures, poses, animations), you set the scenes up and you render them.

3. You should know the basics of coding: variables, data structures, if/else statements, while/for loops, functions/procedures, classes and basic OOP.
The basic principles are the same in every programming language(only the syntax might differ) so the language only matters to the specific engine/framework you are using. If you are using Ren'Py then you should know Python. Also IMO Python is one of the most beginner friendly programming languages.
If you know what you're doing then the coding for a visual novel should not take long compared to writing and art but if you're a beginner it could be the most time consuming.
Programming is the most uncertain: In writing you can tell which sentence/paragraph doesn't sound good, in art you can tell what part doesn't look good, in programming you can't often tell what is causing the problems.

4. In general 3D animation is done using something called a "Rig", it is basically an external skeleton attached to a model that you use to control the model into different "Poses"(like playing with a puppet that bends at every joint).
A "Pose" also usually known as a "Key Frame" is the saved data(location, rotation, scale) of all of the bones in the rig at a given time.
By setting multiple key frames at different points in time the software will approximate the values for every frame inbetween the key frames. A basic example: at frame 0 I have the character's arm with a rotation of 0, at frame 10 I set the character's arm to rotate(bend) 45 degrees, the software is going to determine the rotation at each frame: frame 1- 4.5 degrees, frame 2: 9 degrees, frame 3: 13.5 ... frame 10: 45 degrees.
Animations take time because it is difficult to set up the key frames to make an animation look good and it takes a long time to render: for 10 seconds of animation at say 24 frames per second the computer would have to render 240 images that make your animation.

5. I believe Daz has poses and morphs compatible with multiple models. In other software you could use the same rig for multiple similar characters but it would be more difficult with facial expressions.
Anything that you would like to make you'd have to pose it.

6. A render is a 2D projection(image) of a 3D space(scene).
There are 2 main render techniques that software use:
- Rasterization: really fast, not that good looking, difficulties in rendering photorealistic stuff(reflections, refractions). Used a lot in video games.

- Raytracing - used for photorealistic images.
For each pixel of the resulting image a ray is shot from the camera to the scene in order to determine the final color of that pixel.
- Which object does the ray hit?
- What color is that object?
- Does it have a texture on it? If yes what part of the texture is visible at that point ?
- Based on the lights in the scene is that side of the object lit or is it in shadow?
- Is it transparent? If yes shoot another ray through it.
- Is it reflective? Shoot another ray at a reflection angle. Does that ray hit another object?
There are also other settings like for example shooting 4 rays through a pixel instead of one for a more accurate result.
A lot of computations need to be done for A SINGLE PIXEL. In a full HD 1920x1080 image there are around 2 million pixels.
That's why raytracing is so slow but luckily that type of computations are exactly what GPUs are good for so that is why you need a good one to accelerate the process.

7. However you want as long as it gets done honestly.
Writing: story, characters, dialogue
Backgrounds - extract locations from story.
3D character models - rough designed along the story.
Expressions - extracted from the written dialogue.
Animations - designed from writing.
Render - after you made the characters/animations you should get them because they might need adjusting.
Code - you can start coding before art and use placeholder art but that is a matter of preference.
Bugtest - bugtest as you code not at the end.
Sound / music
Marketing
Release
Update - Translation could just be an update.

8. Depends on the engine/framework you plan to use:
Ren'Py - Python
Unity - C# / Javascript
Unreal - Blueprint (Visual programming based on C++)
RPGM - Javascript
Game maker studio - GML (C like language)
SFML - C++
Libgdx - Java

Like I said earlier I believe Python is the most beginner friendly but it makes it difficult to transition to other languages.
On the other hand C++ is difficult to learn but it is easy to transition to other languages once you learn it.
If you want to learn programming start with one of those two.
IMO Java and C# are the worst for beginners.

9. Make sure the game doesn't show signs of any of that and add the content as a patch. Also make sure to have your game in other places just in case.

This is really long but I hope it is helpful to someone.

 

[nathanjoneswork2]

Apologies if I end up repeating some stuff but here is my take on your questions:

1. The genre is called "Visual Novel", the word novel is half the name so writing is very important. Good writing can save a game without visuals but good visuals will not save a game with bad writing.
I think it is best to start with the general plot and with the characters then expand the world and work in fetishes in relation to your characters.
The easiest to code would be a "Kinetic Novel" (linear story without choices), then a visual novel (story branches based on the choices) and then anything else where content gets triggered based on a number of variables.

2. When it comes to art there are 3 roads you can take(all quite difficult):

- 2D drawn art - you draw everything by yourself using software like: Photoshop, Gimp, Krita.

- custom 3D modeling and rendering (arguably the most difficult) - you make the 3D models by yourself using software like: Autodesk Maya, Blender, ZBrush.
There are 2 approaches to making your models: Box Modelling (you start with basic shapes like cubes, spheres that you expand and build up from that), Sculpting(you start with high-res object and you sculpt the shape and details, like sculpting in clay).

- using existing models - Daz3D is not exactly a modeling software, it is a rendering and animation software. You import existing assets(models, textures, poses, animations), you set the scenes up and you render them.

3. You should know the basics of coding: variables, data structures, if/else statements, while/for loops, functions/procedures, classes and basic OOP.
The basic principles are the same in every programming language(only the syntax might differ) so the language only matters to the specific engine/framework you are using. If you are using Ren'Py then you should know Python. Also IMO Python is one of the most beginner friendly programming languages.
If you know what you're doing then the coding for a visual novel should not take long compared to writing and art but if you're a beginner it could be the most time consuming.
Programming is the most uncertain: In writing you can tell which sentence/paragraph doesn't sound good, in art you can tell what part doesn't look good, in programming you can't often tell what is causing the problems.

4. In general 3D animation is done using something called a "Rig", it is basically an external skeleton attached to a model that you use to control the model into different "Poses"(like playing with a puppet that bends at every joint).
A "Pose" also usually known as a "Key Frame" is the saved data(location, rotation, scale) of all of the bones in the rig at a given time.
By setting multiple key frames at different points in time the software will approximate the values for every frame inbetween the key frames. A basic example: at frame 0 I have the character's arm with a rotation of 0, at frame 10 I set the character's arm to rotate(bend) 45 degrees, the software is going to determine the rotation at each frame: frame 1- 4.5 degrees, frame 2: 9 degrees, frame 3: 13.5 ... frame 10: 45 degrees.
Animations take time because it is difficult to set up the key frames to make an animation look good and it takes a long time to render: for 10 seconds of animation at say 24 frames per second the computer would have to render 240 images that make your animation.

5. I believe Daz has poses and morphs compatible with multiple models. In other software you could use the same rig for multiple similar characters but it would be more difficult with facial expressions.
Anything that you would like to make you'd have to pose it.

6. A render is a 2D projection(image) of a 3D space(scene).
There are 2 main render techniques that software use:
- Rasterization: really fast, not that good looking, difficulties in rendering photorealistic stuff(reflections, refractions). Used a lot in video games.

- Raytracing - used for photorealistic images.
For each pixel of the resulting image a ray is shot from the camera to the scene in order to determine the final color of that pixel.
- Which object does the ray hit?
- What color is that object?
- Does it have a texture on it? If yes what part of the texture is visible at that point ?
- Based on the lights in the scene is that side of the object lit or is it in shadow?
- Is it transparent? If yes shoot another ray through it.
- Is it reflective? Shoot another ray at a reflection angle. Does that ray hit another object?
There are also other settings like for example shooting 4 rays through a pixel instead of one for a more accurate result.
A lot of computations need to be done for A SINGLE PIXEL. In a full HD 1920x1080 image there are around 2 million pixels.
That's why raytracing is so slow but luckily that type of computations are exactly what GPUs are good for so that is why you need a good one to accelerate the process.

7. However you want as long as it gets done honestly.
Writing: story, characters, dialogue
Backgrounds - extract locations from story.
3D character models - rough designed along the story.
Expressions - extracted from the written dialogue.
Animations - designed from writing.
Render - after you made the characters/animations you should get them because they might need adjusting.
Code - you can start coding before art and use placeholder art but that is a matter of preference.
Bugtest - bugtest as you code not at the end.
Sound / music
Marketing
Release
Update - Translation could just be an update.

8. Depends on the engine/framework you plan to use:
Ren'Py - Python
Unity - C# / Javascript
Unreal - Blueprint (Visual programming based on C++)
RPGM - Javascript
Game maker studio - GML (C like language)
SFML - C++
Libgdx - Java

Like I said earlier I believe Python is the most beginner friendly but it makes it difficult to transition to other languages.
On the other hand C++ is difficult to learn but it is easy to transition to other languages once you learn it.
If you want to learn programming start with one of those two.
IMO Java and C# are the worst for beginners.

9. Make sure the game doesn't show signs of any of that and add the content as a patch. Also make sure to have your game in other places just in case.

This is really long but I hope it is helpful to someone.

Thank you for such a detailed insightful reply, and I really appreciate you taking the time to write this. No doubt that this will be very helpful for a lot of folks including me. I was hoping to get the overview idea of how a game is made, and from this I could delve deeper into specifics later (coding, writing, art, animation, misc) when the real work in underway.
Though, must say, I am in awe of any Independent game dev out there making good games, who has to take care of each and every aspect, whether it be something creative like writing the story and dialogues, to all the logical analytical stuff like coding.

After reading all the great advice and wisdom, I believe that the actual experience would be the next best teacher, so instead of creating some grand game right now, one could make a small/test game which is short (but not poor), and one can learn how the process is while making it. Creating a team also sounds like a great thought, where everyone can contribute their talents , but just have to find the people who share similar wavelength and ambition for the project.

Thank you for the reply friend!

 

[Amampathaka]

I want a proper open world adult sex like game of thrones game where you fight n have sex and story is awesome, how many years that gonna take hehe

 

[DuniX]

I want a proper open world adult sex like game of thrones game where you fight n have sex and story is awesome, how many years that gonna take hehe

Working on something similar.
Any mechanics in particular you would want to see in game?

 

[Amampathaka]

Working on something similar.
Any mechanics in particular you would want to see in game?

Yea like morality system that influence how good characters treat you vs bad, also sex in brothels, and maybe some force sex would be hot

 

[Zero2HeroGames]

Hey there, great idea for a thread! I'm a new game developer and hopefully I can add on some insights. At least from what I learned from making my first release.

1. I personally started with story. My writing process may be a little unconventional (who knows lol), but I came up the ending of the game, and then the starting. I filled up the middle on the way. I know how the story goes from start to end, but I also know that since it's high-level writing (summaries, story-boarding, etc) it will evolve when I actually type it out (Which is such an amazing experience). I also found that when I wrote out the description of a character, and then actually created them, they evolved as well in terms of what I initially planned (adding more depth). In terms of starting a story, I would recommend this super duper helpful story creation guide that I got from watching Jane the virgin lol.
5 keys to story:
1. Drive
2. Obstacle
3. Complication
4. Resolution
5. Cliffhanger

2. I'm pretty awful with 2d, but 3d was really exciting to learn and get a handle of. There's a lot of tutorials on youtube and plenty of help on forums. Daz3d forum has some super helpful tutorials, you just need to do some digging.

3. If you're just going for a game that's images and some choices, renpy is super easy (barely need to learn python). If you want more out of your game and are willing to learn / occasionally want to smash your keyboard because things don't work, there's plenty of resources out there – especially for renpy. I frequented the lemmasoft forums quite a bit to improve my game.

4. Animation definitely has a learning curve to it, but is SO fulfilling once you get even somewhat of a handle on it. Caveat here is that having a powerful computer makes a big difference.

5. Depends on the models you're using. I've used the same expression on various models, and a lot of times they look wonky as hell. Not even worth the time to make the adjustments. Poses on the other hand, usually only require slight adjustments for the most part.

7. Flowchart looks good, just find what works for you. I personally would put rendering in conjunction with some other parts of the flow chart, depending on your computing power. I usually hit the render button and then either code or do post-work, while something is rendering. Lastly it's always good to have a plan going forward, but assume that anything can change.

I hope this helps even a little. Good luck to you!!!!

 

[nathanjoneswork2]

Hey there, great idea for a thread! I'm a new game developer and hopefully I can add on some insights. At least from what I learned from making my first release.

1. I personally started with story. My writing process may be a little unconventional (who knows lol), but I came up the ending of the game, and then the starting. I filled up the middle on the way. I know how the story goes from start to end, but I also know that since it's high-level writing (summaries, story-boarding, etc) it will evolve when I actually type it out (Which is such an amazing experience). I also found that when I wrote out the description of a character, and then actually created them, they evolved as well in terms of what I initially planned (adding more depth). In terms of starting a story, I would recommend this super duper helpful story creation guide that I got from watching Jane the virgin lol.
5 keys to story:
1. Drive
2. Obstacle
3. Complication
4. Resolution
5. Cliffhanger

2. I'm pretty awful with 2d, but 3d was really exciting to learn and get a handle of. There's a lot of tutorials on youtube and plenty of help on forums. Daz3d forum has some super helpful tutorials, you just need to do some digging.

3. If you're just going for a game that's images and some choices, renpy is super easy (barely need to learn python). If you want more out of your game and are willing to learn / occasionally want to smash your keyboard because things don't work, there's plenty of resources out there – especially for renpy. I frequented the lemmasoft forums quite a bit to improve my game.

4. Animation definitely has a learning curve to it, but is SO fulfilling once you get even somewhat of a handle on it. Caveat here is that having a powerful computer makes a big difference.

5. Depends on the models you're using. I've used the same expression on various models, and a lot of times they look wonky as hell. Not even worth the time to make the adjustments. Poses on the other hand, usually only require slight adjustments for the most part.

7. Flowchart looks good, just find what works for you. I personally would put rendering in conjunction with some other parts of the flow chart, depending on your computing power. I usually hit the render button and then either code or do post-work, while something is rendering. Lastly it's always good to have a plan going forward, but assume that anything can change.

I hope this helps even a little. Good luck to you!!!!

Very insightful reply there friend, Thanks for taking the time to write it. I wish you all the luck for your game and can't wait to play Time for You! It already looks quite amazing and not at all like a newbie game so it shows you put a lot of effort into it.

1. I have actually heard about this "Ending first" advice and it works for many. That way, you don't end up taking your story to ten different branching paths with no conclusion in the end, and you figure it out, sort of going on a journey with the characters as you progress.
Jane the virgin sounds like a good show to watch hahaa, I know the ratings are great and the points you listed are apt for a great story!

2. & 3. Thanks for the info, yes I've been digging into youtube myself and there's lots of good stuff to find. Still got to read up the forums, though. I see that for a ren'py novel not a whole lot of coding is required, but for something more complicated like combat systems, it gets harder. Then again, if one already knows good amount of coding, Unity is more apt to make 'other' kinds of games but for newcomers its going to take a while.

4. Yeah, the Powerful pc sure is a caveat, but I'm sure there will be ways around it to reach a compromise somewhere, and if it can be worthwhile skill for later.

5. That is something I have to see for myself, will only 'get it' when I see it visually haha

And yeah the flowchart was just whatever some spontaneous mind mapping to keep in check I am not forgetting a key area in game development, where I make something and later have the "oh sh*t" moment!

Thanks for the reply and for reaching out!!

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

1. Writing is very important. A story isn't always required to enjoy a game, but it's almost always better to have one, and even moreso in porn games. Worldbuilding is a trap in my opinion in 95% cases, except for some games that tap into the exploration-related emotions (and porn games usually do not do this as it's not the intended focus). So when I say writing is important, I mean having well-written characters is important. It doesn't hurt to have some coherent plot, but a lot of games—some entire subjenres, actually—wing it and no one really cares. For me a game must either have interesting mechanics (think sandbox games or sidescrollers) or a good character-driven story, or both, and some decent art (see 2)

2. 2D is harder to get into and harder to produce in bulk, but I think it pays off. Personally I simply can't play DAZ garbage games, they all dip super hard into the uncanny valley. Creepy is the only word that comes to mind. I see shitty renders, I close the browser tab. It's as simple as that for me, and I know for a fact that I'm not alone in this aversion.

3. Depends on the game genre you're trying to make. VNs can be done using RenPy script alone, no real python coding expertise needed at all. For something more complex with real game mechanics you need some coding.

7. Coding and writing can be very intertwined, depending on the game. And as I said, for a porn game I'd start with characters and dialogues with only a skeleton plot in mind.

 

[Shehreyar111]

Hey there! im planning on starting developing a game myself soon but i wanna ask something. If i get Daz assests from here for free, do i need to buy them to use in my game? (licence trouble etc)

 

[MannBobinson]

I banish thee, Foule Necromancer, and your Demonic Magicks most repudious, back to the deep trench of Hell from which you crawled out! Begone, wicked mage!

 

[anne O'nymous]

Hey there! im planning on starting developing a game myself soon but i wanna ask something. If i get Daz assests from here for free, do i need to buy them to use in my game? (licence trouble etc)

It's a question of moral fairness.

You expect to earn a bit of money with a hobby you have, through the use of assets made by people who too expect to earn a bit of money with a hobby they have. The least you can do is to not deprive them from this bit of money.

It can be expensive, so you can take the (in fact low) risk to use pirated assets at first. But each time you earn enough, buy one of those assets, starting by the ones you use the most.



Also, yeah, necroing a 3 years dead thread is bad.

 

[Shehreyar111]

It's a question of moral fairness.

You expect to earn a bit of money with a hobby you have, through the use of assets made by people who too expect to earn a bit of money with a hobby they have. The least you can do is to not deprive them from this bit of money.

It can be expensive, so you can take the (in fact low) risk to use pirated assets at first. But each time you earn enough, buy one of those assets, starting by the ones you use the most.



Also, yeah, necroing a 3 years dead thread is bad.

I mean thats only viable option, if i earn money from it i should and would pay for it. Also had to ask what came to mind. Ill try to start new thread if i need any info. Thanks btw