Is sexual content required to succeed?

[saifmangawy]

I've been a member of this site for quite some time now (This isn't my first account) and I did develop a game that did relatively well, but I was wondering if the only way for a visual novel to do well is by creating/including sexual content? I want to create many great story ideas, but sexual content is not part of the plan or the story. Would that hurt the game? I tried posting on another site but it didn't have anywhere near the same engagement as F95. Are there any people who play visual novels for the story and regard the sexual content as just a bonus?

 

[obibobi]

Of course you don't need it, it would be perfectly viable to create a potentially very popular story without the added appeal of sex, most stories do without it, you just happen to be asking this question on a sex game website.

I want to create many great story ideas

But this is what really matter, is the creator a good writer and committed to actually making it.

 

[Ogrexin]

I've been a member of this site for quite some time now (This isn't my first account) and I did develop a game that did relatively well, but I was wondering if the only way for a visual novel to do well is by creating/including sexual content? I want to create many great story ideas, but sexual content is not part of the plan or the story. Would that hurt the game? I tried posting on another site but it didn't have anywhere near the same engagement as F95. Are there any people who play visual novels for the story and regard the sexual content as just a bonus?

Of course not lol

Visual novels are you know, visual novels
Novels do not require raunchy sex scenes to succeed
Now here's the kicker, this is generally a porn game pirating site, naturally, what people expect would be porn
Sometimes games with no ssexual content are uploaded for pirating puposess (Steins gate and umineko come to mind)
I know what you said about engagement, so i recommend looking at other sources in which you could post your work and ask for feedback

In any case, tell a proper story, no porn required

 

[gostek]

In my opinion, if you're going to make a visual novel with choices that MATTER as for example many Japanese VN, then by all means. If it's going to be a kinetic novel, I'd rather read a book or play a mainstream game.

 

[Akeymu]

Ya there's a pretty good amount of content on here which hold the no sex content tag, and they get a decent following, but it's not gunna be huge probably, where your getting a fan base of 10k or something. Most people on here are her for smut and such, sure there can be games on here with heavy story and realistic sex scenes and such, but they mainly focus on a heavy choice based story driven content where it's literally just like playing a game, and not so much as reading a comic or such, although they do have a large amount of pirated comics on here to

 

[chainedpanda]

A VN, no sex, not Japanese. That's three strikes. I may not be terribly knowledgeable about what you'd be walking into, but I bet most others here aren't either. That said, I suspect that you're player base will be extremely small, and as long as your okay with that, why care about anything else? Just have fun! Who knows, maybe you could break through the market and start a new non-h, non-Japan inspired community because of your work. You never really know until you try.

Just be aware that the F95 community likely won't be very accepting of your project. While you may find some audience here, by and large you will likely receive more hate than praise. Most people would likely try your game, realize there isn't sex and get pissed off.

Now with all of that said, if you wanted to make a game with sex included, but not make it the focus, that's totally acceptable here. There are multiple popular games that do exactly this, and there is a sizable player base that prefer these types of games. While I'm aware this isn't what you described, if you wanted to pivot into a different direction, this one would likely be closer to your comfort zone.

 

[desmosome]

Non-porn VN readers are probably 90% weebs who read anime stuff. If you are doing some DAZ renpy western style VN without lewds of any kind, I suspect your audience will be extremely small.

 

[| Vee |]

I've been a member of this site for quite some time now (This isn't my first account) and I did develop a game that did relatively well, but I was wondering if the only way for a visual novel to do well is by creating/including sexual content? I want to create many great story ideas, but sexual content is not part of the plan or the story. Would that hurt the game? I tried posting on another site but it didn't have anywhere near the same engagement as F95. Are there any people who play visual novels for the story and regard the sexual content as just a bonus?

It depends on your definition of "success".
HUGE IF the story is intriguing enough and you can mesmerize people with your writing, dialogues, story, character personalities, etc.

Possible but a single dev making that level of VN and on top of it MAINTAINING the Quality don't think so. It can succeed if execution is right.

 

[peterppp]

I tried posting on another site but it didn't have anywhere near the same engagement as F95.

if you're thinking of posting the game here, you can't just post any vn. it has to be adult in nature

1. Game Rules

1. The games uploaded to the site must be adult in nature, do not upload games simply because they contain sex scenes or nudity (example: The Witcher). Note that the No-Sex tag refers to softcore porn content, not SFW games.

 

[Deleted member 1017199]

I browse games here specifically looking for sexual content. Otherwise I go to steam or crackwatch.

 

[Deathclaw Cock]

Personally, I am sick of the slop-type games that focus specifically on the sexual component of intimacy. Ren'py is particularly susceptible to vat-grown clones of a really ugly artstyle and a story/worldbuilding-second and sex-first mentality. While it may be an an unbelievably difficult task to find games that have the perfect balance between mind-numbing, primal sexuality and genuine worldbuilding / story with genuine love and passion put into it, I wouldn't be caught dead playing something like "Being A Dik". Not only is it ugly but in my opinion, it is ultimately meaningless. That's a game to play when you want to lobotomize yourself and goon until your heart stops, not nearly tear up over a character you personally love. I hope for a reality when sex, video games and an emotional story that you can connect with can be experienced hand-in-hand. Think Skyrim with sex mods or Cyberpunk with more graphic, personal sex scenes.

While I don't think that a sexual component is absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of a piece of media, particularly video games in this instance, I cannot help but play some games and wish that there was a more intimate, even sexual component to them. Most of the games on this site provide a kind of "false-story" in a way that I cannot properly describe. The game is there, the sex is there... but it's missing something I consider critically important. Now, I am not saying that I can't download a game from this site and spend the next hour just masturbating to it's purely sexual content... but as the inverse to what I said earlier about desiring sexuality and intimacy in games, when I am playing purely sexual games, I occasionally find myself desiring a deeper story or a more thought-out world to play in. It just isn't enough for me for my media to have exclusively one component and not the other.

 

[orellion]

Besides mainstream and Indie dev. games, you're also, to some extent, competing against traditional fiction writers available in print or E-books. Tens of millions of obviously very talented writers. I'd be shocked if you could make any money of a non porn VN

 

[asen-de]

No, sexual content is not required to succeed but it is extremely beneficial. Even if the game is not a porn game. Having beautiful girls, some romance or some other suggestive stuff always helps. Sex sells after all.

And there is no shame in that. A lot of great Mangakas started with doing porn doujin. Sex drive, female beauty, romance is a strong motivator to improve your work. Be it writing, 3d modelling, drawing, animating. There was a good take from Pewdiepie who wanted to improve his drawings and drew anime girls and meant, men can be ugly so there is no motivation to do it pretty.

And not only that, the competition in the porn genre is super weak. You compete in the bronze league when making porn games and you would compete in the super masters league when making non-porn games. Have fun good luck I would say..

 

[Quattro Bajeena]

Type-Moon's Fate series started out as an eroge with the author writing IKEA-tier level of smut that I legitimately doubt anyone would have found to be attractive - it was the CG that carried it. TM today is a multi-billion dollar franchise that's trying very hard to pretend that that part didn't exist.

Obviously the time that we're in are different. It's unlikely that Fate for instance would have been successful (or as successful) as it is in today's environment. Bottom line is that you should balance between reach (some platforms don't allow R18 content) versus niche (people will pay very well if you cater to their interests).

Unfortunately that'll be up to you to decide, since each fandom can be very different - one of my friends IRL is an illustrator that draw furry art for a living; she decided about last year or so to finally swallow her pride and start working on R18 art and to her shock and horror made something like 10x the amount she did in one month than she did in the entirety of 2022.

 

[AlternateDreams]

Sex drive, female beauty, romance is a strong motivator to improve your work. Be it writing, 3d modelling, drawing, animating.

I think it's very relevant.
When I started working with Unreal Engine, I had the same thought: can I use porn to my advantage to stay motivated to work?
I wasn't sure, so I thought I'd give it a go and see what happened, and now, almost 2 years later, I'm still at it. It really helps to stay motivated to progress.

There are some disadvantages though, like the fact that you can't show your work to just anyone (and also that you have to know how to work with one hand, but that's another problem)

 

[Pixieblink]

I thought it would be cool to make a story first game with xxx scenes that fit the story.

Take a look at A Father's Sins (links below).
VERY little porn. As in chapter 27 and counting with nothing but a one HJ, one BJ and a short dyke scene.

I think it CAN work, but the story has to be really good. And even then you won't do even close to the numbers you could have with some fap material.

 

[socom16]

I enjoy a deep story, I would say share some tidbits of the story and characters to get the reader interested.

 

[ZyanZedan]

I've been a member of this site for quite some time now (This isn't my first account) and I did develop a game that did relatively well, but I was wondering if the only way for a visual novel to do well is by creating/including sexual content? I want to create many great story ideas, but sexual content is not part of the plan or the story. Would that hurt the game? I tried posting on another site but it didn't have anywhere near the same engagement as F95. Are there any people who play visual novels for the story and regard the sexual content as just a bonus?

Yes most likely yes if you are developing a game for adults but in the sense where it is some sort of reward for a difficult task or some achievement but to appeal to the masses I can give you some general tips ( Controversial )
Don't hate the messenger.

1: LGBTQ content most people on the website as far as I have seen tolerate or even enjoy trans content and lesbian is almost always fine But male on male is where alot more people here might find it repulsive or not worth checking into

2: Furry Content people whole like or tolerate this type of content will be fine with it but people who don't won't be and are repulsed too much by it ( me including )

3: Violence it is fine where it isn't too involved but if you make too much of game where cutting of humans is your fetish yeah masses don't like that

4: Femdom Or Maledom on a personal level I love femdom and like maledom but alot of people as per the comments on most games I have seen don't want to be inferior to a woman in game and will constantly annoy you on how to avoid getting those scenes but male dom is more widely accepted

5: Ntr ( the one where a love interest of Main Character gets fumbled by another male or trans character not by female Characters for some reason ) Half of this website as per comments I have seen hates Ntr but the other half Loves it but Ntr is always controversial


PS I don't hate anyone or any fetish I am just stating things from my own experience here as a user these here are the golden childs of the comments always being discussed infact I love some of this content ( including LGBTQ ).

 

[ZyanZedan]

Look to make any game here you will need sexual content I am sorry if you don't want to but most people here want sexual games to play and are tired of the way normal censored games aren't perverted in any kind ( Atleast I am ).
In order to develop a successful game here focus on these things

1 Make it Cute And Beautiful The environment must be reeking of Joy

2 The characters go for some busty Milfs and Innocent Love interests

3 Make a game that doesn't have any of the Top 5 things I mentioned like don't give people a reason to hate it

4 Be regular with updates if you are fair to your Patreon subs they most likely won't leak it here too early

5 Incestual Sex scenes attract alot of people for some reason

6 Make it an emotional roller coaster the story people love the drama

 

[ZyanZedan]

This is all my own opinion formed through observation I am open to questions anytime