Tropes, Characters and Circumstances in Incest games: Suggestions ad Favourites

[megaplayboy10k]

Some ideas for things that would be a change of pace even with the same basic setup:
1. Shota MC who's an evil genius megalomaniac(rather than innocent inexperienced child)
2. Extended family--MC has a mom, aunt, grandma, sisters(let's try 3 or more)...and a step-family too.
3. Or shrink the family down to 1--a single object of desire, with greater attention to characterization and motives
4. The fucking happens early, the rest of the game deals with the consequences and figuring out what the MC's actual goal is
5. The women have real personalities(non-cliché), the MC has positive qualities(a reason why they like/trust him, are attracted), and things develop more naturally(so to speak)
6. If there's a mind control or magic corruption element, it's more subtle and the MC has ability to shape the outcome the way the player wants
7. related to 2, if there's a step family, change the ethnicity--interracial incest isn't really touched on in most games at all
8. Maybe a karma system--maybe there's a benefit to being nice, and being nasty/creepy cuts off certain game options and increases the chances of a bad ending--peeping, groping, blackmail and lying get you negative karma, and helping, choosing non-manipulative responses, protecting family and being honest to a fault get you positive karma.
9. Break or shorten the Stairway to Heaven--Conversational intimacy to kissing to fucking seems more realistic and less frustrating
10. Side characters or non-family characters who don't realize they're side characters--in other words, as fleshed out as the family is.

 

[Volta]

I wondered how long it would take for our resident plot fetishist in chief @DarthSeduction arrived, you make some good points as usual, in particular i've got to agree with the all too common creeper, or max-alike i'm sort of surprised that i forgot to add it in my initial post, or perhaps i'm so tired of it my brain blocks it out now to save my sanity. That said a valid, well fleshed out creeper side character that the MC can either bitch slap or exploit could be a nice change.

 

[Ataios]

Ok, just some ideas:

Son MCs: Up to now I haven't found one I would consider good. The MCs from Fate of Irnia and Lust and Power come closest. I strongly dislike son MCs with boy-like features or son MCs who are smaller than their mothers. The most basic quality a son MC must have, is being a grown man without any remaining boy-ish features. Depending on wether a game features combat or not, a son MC could be a ruthless business man or a heavily armed warrior. Personally I'd find the business man version good for a corruption game, while the warrior as a protective archetype could come into play as a pseudo-good character, who protects his mom from wannabe rapists. The ideal son MC for me would be warlord in a dystopian world.

Moms: There are many games that do moms right, at least as far as looks go. Big boobs are fine, though within the laws of nature. Moms in porn games should be smaller than their sons and about as tall as their daughters. As far as their way of life goes, I think they can be anything from extremely prudish to whores. Though wether they are modest or slutty, I like my milfs feminine in a more traditional sense, e.g. as far as clothing goes. I don't like the moms as sex teachers versions and prefer moms conflicted about incest. Moms make good damsels in distress, especially if their son or daughter is a martial character.

Daughters: While I don't touch dad-daughter games with a three meter pole, mom-daughter games are my favorite. While I prefer moms feminine, I don't mind daughters being a bit more tomboy-ish. Their moms may then try to educate them in a different direction and - of course - fail miserably at it and get dominated by their daughters in the end. Daughters could be dominas who bring BDSM into the family or geek girls with hacker skills, who find out about their mothers darker pasts. Like sons they can also be more warlike characters.

 

[Ying Ko]

the warrior as a protective archetype could come into play as a pseudo-good character, who protects his mom

I’m rather fond of the premise of a warrior son defending his mother in a dangerous setting. Ideally he would still have to entice her using charisma, rather than just demanding sex. I would also prefer if the threat was more than just the mother getting raped. The protagonist’s motivation should also be more than just having sex with her.

 

[Volta]

I quite like the idea of the protective son with a combat background, in a contemporary setting you could use a military son, perhaps coming back from deployment or perhaps injured out of the army, he would be unlikely to be much over 25 so as to keep him and the Mom at a believable age gap, which would mean a relatively low rank most likely, even if he went into officer training school.

This could give you a great reason to have a physically quite big and tough character rather than the usual lightweight. It would also lend itself to a character than has emotional flaws or trauma, if that were the way you wanted to go you would have good reason to be able to have either a "white knight" or a more predatory and coercive individual if you wanted, either way it appeals to me as "post max era" character.

 

[DarthSeduction]

I quite like the idea of the protective son with a combat background, in a contemporary setting you could use a military son, perhaps coming back from deployment or perhaps injured out of the army, he would be unlikely to be much over 25 so as to keep him and the Mom at a believable age gap, which would mean a relatively low rank most likely, even if he went into officer training school.

This could give you a great reason to have a physically quite big and tough character rather than the usual lightweight. It would also lend itself to a character than has emotional flaws or trauma, if that were the way you wanted to go you would have good reason to be able to have either a "white knight" or a more predatory and coercive individual if you wanted.

Lust and Power does this, in particular, the more predatory and coercive parts, not being a fan of that stuff though, and having to deal with the repetitive nature of its mechanics made me rage quit that one. There's another game, I think called After Invasion, that also uses something similar, but that game has barely passable art and really sketchy code. Both of those have superpowers/magic though. Not that the MC looks incapable mind you, both of them are actually pretty fit.

This whole idea is what I was pointing to when I suggested:

And it doesn't have to be an occupation. The Deluca Family would work just as well if it were incest, the point being that what you'd have to offer the girls is both your growing strength to protect the family, and the things you're already offering them, Gracie's first friend, the guy who challenges Luna's inner girl and makes her want to show it to him, etc. I have a game planned where the MC is actually gonna be the cause of all the problems, but in the course of solving them will earn the love and affection of the ladies around him, including his sister.

By giving the MC a role where he is protecting the family he now has something to offer. Sure, you could play it coercive, but it's one where you don't have to in order to create the situations where they begin to have sexual romantic inclinations. Another great thing about making a dangerous world where the MC is forced to protect his family is that it creates stressful situations, trauma. Traumatic experiences are great for lifting taboo. A game with life and death stakes makes it a lot easier for an author to avoid a "suddenly I'm into incest" trope.

 

[asdadasdasdsadada]

I almost inclusively play/prefer Mom/aunt/older sister = son with single route and better if there is romance. For example when i first played through TBB i made a speed run to see the most ridiculous route then i was gonna play mother route only and older sister later. Imagine my surprise when i learned merged harem/freak route is the only route available.

For the story itself i don't think it differs much from other rules/tricks to write an interesting story, even if the topic is taboo, just run it through a few known structural schema/molds the result would be good like SS.(i imagine, i'm definitely not an expert). Or you could try to go random and create a story with raw talent which are difficult to achieve with best stories if successful like mom/son in Dual Family. Or somewhere in between surprisingly well done at Milfy City surprising because previous RPGM games sucked ass, and my least preferred branch after generic group porno where everyone gets a turn and story is non-existant/quickly falls apart, horny for son Mom. An example for good try but fail/meeh for mom/son would be MOTH. And generic porno would be DOD, though the early parts were great for example when i could kiss my in game mom's feet out of nowhere is my one of the best and hot moments of playing ero-games . You know because in real life when it happens taboo sex and/or incest usually have a realistic starting point where lust rules like that. And for me the best stories must have a natural flow, with minimal interference from author's ego. You know like Nabokov

Edit: I forgot to mention two oddballs Second Happiness and SOB. SH has a good realistic story but the engrish and the impossibility of simply advancing any route...(even with walkthrough there is like 500 steps with broken english and outdated random format, it was like solving a math or physics problem to advance mom's story which was interesting) . For SOB this was the last game i checked out here because I simply do not trust anything Russian related, their trolling reputation is well deserved so i had to install 15 additional firewalls and anti virus, keylogger protection, ransomware etc... before i had the courage to play. Besides word by word mind fuck engrish-japanese to russian-engrish google translation, its awesome, albeit a bit odd, but still very hot.Mom, Grandma and Anastasia routes were perfect, story wise nothing special but lol i have nothing to say to that kind of crazy people except admiration.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

Lust and Power does this, in particular, the more predatory and coercive parts, not being a fan of that stuff though, and having to deal with the repetitive nature of its mechanics made me rage quit that one. There's another game, I think called After Invasion, that also uses something similar, but that game has barely passable art and really sketchy code. Both of those have superpowers/magic though. Not that the MC looks incapable mind you, both of them are actually pretty fit.

This whole idea is what I was pointing to when I suggested:



By giving the MC a role where he is protecting the family he now has something to offer. Sure, you could play it coercive, but it's one where you don't have to in order to create the situations where they begin to have sexual romantic inclinations. Another great thing about making a dangerous world where the MC is forced to protect his family is that it creates stressful situations, trauma. Traumatic experiences are great for lifting taboo. A game with life and death stakes makes it a lot easier for an author to avoid a "suddenly I'm into incest" trope.

There are scenarios where incest seems less out of the blue:
Sudden isolation and survival scenarios(Zombie Life/Zombie Retreat, Lust Island, et al)
Significant family adversity, esp. where the MC is suddenly vaulted into the role of head of household/breadwinner(various games)
MC returns after a long time apart from family, particularly if the separation time covered most of their puberty--Genetic Sexual Attraction kicks in, mom and sisters initially rationalize as just missing MC
Something "breaks" or is broken in the household--what is "normal" is completely turned upside down(Tyrant, Big Brother, various other games do this in one way or another)
Divorce/death of father

Obviously supernatural elements like demonic corruption, mind control spells/powers/devices, etc can overcome any inhibitions

In lieu of these things, you can still create reasons why incestuous relationships could happen under regular circumstances--mom is lonely/horny and son looks a lot like dad, sister is already in a boundary-pushing state of mind, MC develops a knack for recognizing openings and manipulating people's emotions and desires, etc.

 

[215303j]

Some ideas for things that would be a change of pace even with the same basic setup:

Except that most of them are already done:
1. Shota MC who's an evil genius megalomaniac(rather than innocent inexperienced child)
= BB

2. Extended family--MC has a mom, aunt, grandma, sisters(let's try 3 or more)...and a step-family too.
= Most harem games (except the grandma usually for obvious reasons)

3. Or shrink the family down to 1--a single object of desire, with greater attention to characterization and motives
= DMD

4. The fucking happens early, the rest of the game deals with the consequences and figuring out what the MC's actual goal is
= I think I have played something like that but that's rare. Good one!

5. The women have real personalities(non-cliché), the MC has positive qualities(a reason why they like/trust him, are attracted), and things develop more naturally(so to speak)
= Intimate Relations

6. If there's a mind control or magic corruption element, it's more subtle and the MC has ability to shape the outcome the way the player wants
= After invasion

7. related to 2, if there's a step family, change the ethnicity--interracial incest isn't really touched on in most games at all
= The whole step family thing is a bit bullshit IMO.

8. Maybe a karma system--maybe there's a benefit to being nice, and being nasty/creepy cuts off certain game options and increases the chances of a bad ending--peeping, groping, blackmail and lying get you negative karma, and helping, choosing non-manipulative responses, protecting family and being honest to a fault get you positive karma.
= GGGB, Our Fate (but without a points mechanic)

9. Break or shorten the Stairway to Heaven--Conversational intimacy to kissing to fucking seems more realistic and less frustrating
= Intimate Relations

10. Side characters or non-family characters who don't realize they're side characters--in other words, as fleshed out as the family is.
= DMD

 

[megaplayboy10k]

My general feeling about step-family is, if it's "organic" to the story, or the step-family is in addition to the original family, it's fine, maybe even better than fine. If they just throw "step-" in front of things to try to placate patreon or water down the incest...meh. Now, a three-way with your mom and step-mom? HAWT.

 

[Ataios]

After Invasion is my absolute favorite, as far as incest games go, mostly because it has mother-daughter content with a dominant daughter and a (for porn game standards) well-written dystopian setting. You can play as a male character too, but I didn't play that route. Regardless of the MCs gender, he or she has some super powers.

For a mom-son game I'd most likely choose a post apocalyptic setting or at least a setting, where the protagonist's home suffered some serious damage. He may come from war to find out, that his mother has been forced to either work in brothel or marry some particular evil crime lord. A similar scenario would be possible in a fantasy world too, though in this case the protagonist would most likely more appear as a knight in shining armor than a - pun intended - badass motherfucker.

The image shows a first early sketch of how I would design a mom-son couple for a porn game.

 

[Volta]

My general feeling about step-family is, if it's "organic" to the story, or the step-family is in addition to the original family, it's fine, maybe even better than fine. If they just throw "step-" in front of things to try to placate patreon or water down the incest...meh. Now, a three-way with your mom and step-mom? HAWT.

Step family isn't done very often, i think it could simply let you double up on the number of characters, variety box style, not to mention you can do the whole taboo thing without actually being blood related. A gorgeous black step sister and Milfy Step-Mom could spice things up and add an additional dynamic to a game, especially if the father had an affair and left the MC's mother for them.

@Ataios, that sketch is pretty damn good. For what basically amounts to concept art i have to say i'm sold on this one, the siren sign and meaty trike are nice touches.

 

[hameleona]

Heh, seems to me I'm not the only one, who is tired of the child useless MC creep.

You must be registered to see the links

Sadly, I quickly realized, there is no way I'll find good enough artists and/or coders to do it. So if anyone is interested in how I would do it - skim trough the document, I've stripped the most WIP parts and left the characters and starting concept. Honestly, I'll probably finish it if only just to point out how easy is to shake the cliches up.

 

[DarthSeduction]

Significant family adversity, esp. where the MC is suddenly vaulted into the role of head of household/breadwinner(various games)

I've never once seen this done convincingly. It's always either a creeper MC and the fact that he's thrust to the top of the food chain is more of an adversity issue, creating something to grind away at in order to get the sexy stuff, or it's Lust and Power but without magic and monsters, where the MC is forcing his own sudden desire for incest on the women in the family because he has power now. It's porn logic plain and simple.

Divorce/death of father

As a product of a divorced home, I can say with a certainty, divorce doesn't create a situation where incest comes into mind.

You either need the characters to be separated from some point between toddler and puberty (when the actual block that you get develops) as you see in a lot of Daddy Daughter incest games, DmD and Parental Love both perfect examples, or you need some psychological event. Major Trauma experienced by all involved parties, pushing them together, a situation wherein a parent forces themselves on the child at an early age, breaking the psychological barrier by force, some sort of complex developing, like Linda in Milfy City, or the daughter in Intimate Relations. Elekra, Oedipus, etc.

Of course, the supernatural things also work, any mind alteration can be used to cause that, but it is another thing that I really wish were done better. Seriously, make me care about your supernatural element. Don't just conveniently throw in "Oh you're chosen by the devil, here's your elixir, now go corrupt and fuck everyone." Create a lore, do some world building.

MC develops a knack for recognizing openings and manipulating people's emotions and desires, etc.

This could be interesting, if someone with a lot of writing skill, and an artist willing to put in the work were to do it, but everything else in your "In lieu of... " paragraph boils down to porn logic. I'm tired of porn logic. I'm tired of "this happens because I'm too lazy to think of a good reason." Your mom is never going to be horny enough to get over the fact that she doesn't see you as a mate. Your sister is never going to be so hypnotized by the cock that she's going to override her programming to see you sexually.

This is most apparent with older sisters and moms. Women aren't looking for a dweeby kid in the first place, but even if you have a "Stiffler's mom" situation, she's not gonna go after Stiffler unless she already has a complex or some other reason why she doesn't mind incest. The woman who raised you is never going to see you as any more than a child, unless something drastic changes that perception, and something drastic isn't going to be "She's really lonely, and horny, and you have a big cock and have been doing all your chores recently."

If she has a complex, don't just tell us she does, show it to us. Milfy City is by no means a masterpiece, but Linda's characterization in the first couple releases, the voracious way she comes after the MC, the nagging feeling that it's wrong, all of it show us that she has a complex. Of all the m/s incest scenarios out there, hers is one of two I actually find believable. The other is Sisterly Lust, in which the MC has been out of the home since he was almost too young to remember them, making him around 5 or 6, right there in that crucial window for where he'd stop from developing an incest block for them, and where she'd no longer recognize the man who comes back, with the means to provide, as her son.

1. Shota MC who's an evil genius megalomaniac(rather than innocent inexperienced child)
= BB

In all honesty, that's head canon though. Max certainly behaves that way, but he's not a genius, and his megalomania is pretty tame all things considered. If a Dev actually committed to this narrative from the start, giving us an "Artemis Fowl", "Dexter (Dexter's Lab), "Ender (Ender's Game)" type character, it could be a lot of actual fun, and not another shitty gotta fuck'em'all grindfest

3. Or shrink the family down to 1--a single object of desire, with greater attention to characterization and motives
= DMD

And there are plenty of good incest games that have followed in it's footsteps, just because someone has done it doesn't mean it can't be done again in a way that hits as many if not more people.

7. related to 2, if there's a step family, change the ethnicity--interracial incest isn't really touched on in most games at all
= The whole step family thing is a bit bullshit IMO.

I could do it to where the necessary tension and taboo were still there, however anyone who is only interested in it for the actual scientific reason incest is wrong, well, you can't please everyone.

10. Side characters or non-family characters who don't realize they're side characters--in other words, as fleshed out as the family is.
= DMD

HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Heh, seems to me I'm not the only one, who is tired of the child useless MC creep.

You must be registered to see the links

Sadly, I quickly realized, there is no way I'll find good enough artists and/or coders to do it. So if anyone is interested in how I would do it - skim trough the document, I've stripped the most WIP parts and left the characters and starting concept. Honestly, I'll probably finish it if only just to point out how easy is to shake the cliches up.

Why couldn't you? I started with a script and a dream, FunFiction and Rich who I joined for Seraphim, and HellsPerfectSpawn who joined me for TTWDFL were all found here on the forum. You're active enough that if you advertized that you're looking for talent in those areas you could find someone.

The way I found Spawn was a one, two punch of having a request in my signature for artists interested in making a game to contact me and a thread detailing what I wanted to do and what I needed.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

I've never once seen this done convincingly. It's always either a creeper MC and the fact that he's thrust to the top of the food chain is more of an adversity issue, creating something to grind away at in order to get the sexy stuff, or it's Lust and Power but without magic and monsters, where the MC is forcing his own sudden desire for incest on the women in the family because he has power now. It's porn logic plain and simple.



As a product of a divorced home, I can say with a certainty, divorce doesn't create a situation where incest comes into mind.

You either need the characters to be separated from some point between toddler and puberty (when the actual block that you get develops) as you see in a lot of Daddy Daughter incest games, DmD and Parental Love both perfect examples, or you need some psychological event. Major Trauma experienced by all involved parties, pushing them together, a situation wherein a parent forces themselves on the child at an early age, breaking the psychological barrier by force, some sort of complex developing, like Linda in Milfy City, or the daughter in Intimate Relations. Elekra, Oedipus, etc.

Of course, the supernatural things also work, any mind alteration can be used to cause that, but it is another thing that I really wish were done better. Seriously, make me care about your supernatural element. Don't just conveniently throw in "Oh you're chosen by the devil, here's your elixir, now go corrupt and fuck everyone." Create a lore, do some world building.



This could be interesting, if someone with a lot of writing skill, and an artist willing to put in the work were to do it, but everything else in your "In lieu of... " paragraph boils down to porn logic. I'm tired of porn logic. I'm tired of "this happens because I'm too lazy to think of a good reason." Your mom is never going to be horny enough to get over the fact that she doesn't see you as a mate. Your sister is never going to be so hypnotized by the cock that she's going to override her programming to see you sexually.

This is most apparent with older sisters and moms. Women aren't looking for a dweeby kid in the first place, but even if you have a "Stiffler's mom" situation, she's not gonna go after Stiffler unless she already has a complex or some other reason why she doesn't mind incest. The woman who raised you is never going to see you as any more than a child, unless something drastic changes that perception, and something drastic isn't going to be "She's really lonely, and horny, and you have a big cock and have been doing all your chores recently."

If she has a complex, don't just tell us she does, show it to us. Milfy City is by no means a masterpiece, but Linda's characterization in the first couple releases, the voracious way she comes after the MC, the nagging feeling that it's wrong, all of it show us that she has a complex. Of all the m/s incest scenarios out there, hers is one of two I actually find believable. The other is Sisterly Lust, in which the MC has been out of the home since he was almost too young to remember them, making him around 5 or 6, right there in that crucial window for where he'd stop from developing an incest block for them, and where she'd no longer recognize the man who comes back, with the means to provide, as her son.



In all honesty, that's head canon though. Max certainly behaves that way, but he's not a genius, and his megalomania is pretty tame all things considered. If a Dev actually committed to this narrative from the start, giving us an "Artemis Fowl", "Dexter (Dexter's Lab), "Ender (Ender's Game)" type character, it could be a lot of actual fun, and not another shitty gotta fuck'em'all grindfest



And there are plenty of good incest games that have followed in it's footsteps, just because someone has done it doesn't mean it can't be done again in a way that hits as many if not more people.



I could do it to where the necessary tension and taboo were still there, however anyone who is only interested in it for the actual scientific reason incest is wrong, well, you can't please everyone.



HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA



Why couldn't you? I started with a script and a dream, FunFiction and Rich who I joined for Seraphim, and HellsPerfectSpawn who joined me for TTWDFL were all found here on the forum. You're active enough that if you advertized that you're looking for talent in those areas you could find someone.

The way I found Spawn was a one, two punch of having a request in my signature for artists interested in making a game to contact me and a thread detailing what I wanted to do and what I needed.

If I may ask, what kind of time commitment did you find game development to be? I'm interested in making a game, but I'm not sure whether I have the necessary bandwidth in terms of free time.

 

[hameleona]

Why couldn't you? I started with a script and a dream, FunFiction and Rich who I joined for Seraphim, and HellsPerfectSpawn who joined me for TTWDFL were all found here on the forum. You're active enough that if you advertized that you're looking for talent in those areas you could find someone.

The way I found Spawn was a one, two punch of having a request in my signature for artists interested in making a game to contact me and a thread detailing what I wanted to do and what I needed.

Well, for one - I haven't had the time to finish the design document.
My IRL work schedule is... crazy, at best. Maybe after the holidays I'll have the cast, the mechanics and a few chapters of what there is as a story finished up and than I would think seriously about eventually looking for people to work with. But I do know there are some limitations to what I've created - especially the huge amount of visual assets the game would require.
We will see. I'll keep updating the design document when I have free time, and who knows, maybe I'll grow the balls to move forward

 

[215303j]

HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I actually think that's the point: most games are just badly written. (almost) Any trope could be done well enough to be convincing and believable. But it's not that easy apparently. And maybe, if you flesh characters out enough to have actual depth and actually convincing, they'll probably also gain some unpleasant characteristics which will throw players off. At least that's a comment I have read a couple of times regarding Intimate Relations. Although Kelly is one my favourite and most believable daughter characters she also comes off as abrasive and overbearing, apparently.

 

[DarthSeduction]

If I may ask, what kind of time commitment did you find game development to be? I'm interested in making a game, but I'm not sure whether I have the necessary bandwidth in terms of free time.

If you're doing it alone, 8-14 hours a day. If you have a team that work gets spread out. Your artist is going to be the one with the most physical hours working, as it takes quite a long time to set up and render scenes. However, that isn't to say code and writing are the easy parts. Rich does our code on Seraphim and he's waaaay better than I am, you can definitely see some of the difference in our skills between TTWDFL and Seraphim, and the writing, while you're not constantly actually working on it, it consumes your life. Every day you are either writing or thinking of a way to write something, you'll write a page of dialogue and throw it away because it all sounds wooden or you'll have to rework an entire scene to fit some problem you forgot. And all of this increases over time as your story gets bigger, branches out more and etc.

Of course, you can spend less time per day, release less often, but then you're contending with people who value time over quality, so it is a big risk.

In the end, creating these games has to be something you really want to do, don't do it because you think you'll make it big, because with that attitude you definitely won't. Do it because you enjoy some part of it, whether it be the writing, the code, or the art.

I actually think that's the point: most games are just badly written. (almost) Any trope could be done well enough to be convincing and believable. But it's not that easy apparently. And maybe, if you flesh characters out enough to have actual depth and actually convincing, they'll probably also gain some unpleasant characteristics which will throw players off. At least that's a comment I have read a couple of times regarding Intimate Relations. Although Kelly is one my favourite and most believable daughter characters she also comes off as abrasive and overbearing, apparently.

I'd blame that more on the system the game uses. She's abrasive and overbearing when she's bold. However, flaws are good. We don't gain attachments to characters we can't relate to. Sure, some people might not like that type of girl. But I don't really like the DmD type either, so...

But seriously, I think devs should start taking some time to look at their characters as real people. They need to give them mundane, but specific interests. Alexis is a huge star wars and tabletop gaming nerd whose whole persona has been defined by her shut in nature since the incident. Alison is a superhero/fantasy movie geek with social anxiety. Brooke is a hopeless romantic and a player with a heart of gold. Milla is a girl who has lived her entire life wearing the mask her parents taught her to. A future character I have planned in another game is a total occult geek with very specific tastes. Another character I have for another future project is a huge comic nerd with an obsession, in particular, with Raven from Teen Titans.

By giving these characters these seemingly mundane character traits its so much easier to write dialogue for them. To decide how they'd act in a given situation. Mr Dots didn't do that with his characters and that's why Elena goes from being the big slut who throws herself at her best friend's dad and her dad's doctor friend, to the blushing maiden who doesn't know how to act around a small town hick. When you don't nail down who your characters are, you don't know how to use them, and they become increasingly inconsistent.

 

[megaplayboy10k]

If you're doing it alone, 8-14 hours a day. If you have a team that work gets spread out. Your artist is going to be the one with the most physical hours working, as it takes quite a long time to set up and render scenes. However, that isn't to say code and writing are the easy parts. Rich does our code on Seraphim and he's waaaay better than I am, you can definitely see some of the difference in our skills between TTWDFL and Seraphim, and the writing, while you're not constantly actually working on it, it consumes your life. Every day you are either writing or thinking of a way to write something, you'll write a page of dialogue and throw it away because it all sounds wooden or you'll have to rework an entire scene to fit some problem you forgot. And all of this increases over time as your story gets bigger, branches out more and etc.

Of course, you can spend less time per day, release less often, but then you're contending with people who value time over quality, so it is a big risk.

In the end, creating these games has to be something you really want to do, don't do it because you think you'll make it big, because with that attitude you definitely won't. Do it because you enjoy some part of it, whether it be the writing, the code, or the art.



I'd blame that more on the system the game uses. She's abrasive and overbearing when she's bold. However, flaws are good. We don't gain attachments to characters we can't relate to. Sure, some people might not like that type of girl. But I don't really like the DmD type either, so...

But seriously, I think devs should start taking some time to look at their characters as real people. They need to give them mundane, but specific interests. Alexis is a huge star wars and tabletop gaming nerd whose whole persona has been defined by her shut in nature since the incident. Alison is a superhero/fantasy movie geek with social anxiety. Brooke is a hopeless romantic and a player with a heart of gold. Milla is a girl who has lived her entire life wearing the mask her parents taught her to. A future character I have planned in another game is a total occult geek with very specific tastes. Another character I have for another future project is a huge comic nerd with an obsession, in particular, with Raven from Teen Titans.

By giving these characters these seemingly mundane character traits its so much easier to write dialogue for them. To decide how they'd act in a given situation. Mr Dots didn't do that with his characters and that's why Elena goes from being the big slut who throws herself at her best friend's dad and her dad's doctor friend, to the blushing maiden who doesn't know how to act around a small town hick. When you don't nail down who your characters are, you don't know how to use them, and they become increasingly inconsistent.

Thanks for your response. It's not so much about having the wrong attitude as not being a young man, and having bills to pay, puts a crimp in the amount of free time I have to do something all by myself. I know how to write, and I know something about multimedia, but learning to code would take weeks, learning to make something half decent in daz would likely take months, and putting it all together would take years just to create a single game(hell, maybe a year just to create a demo). Based on what you've told me, though, if I focused on the writing and overall design, and worked with a veteran coder and a good 3d artist, it sounds like I could make one, albeit still a bit on the slow side. Hmm.

 

[Volta]

Thanks for your response. It's not so much about having the wrong attitude as not being a young man, and having bills to pay, puts a crimp in the amount of free time I have to do something all by myself. I know how to write, and I know something about multimedia, but learning to code would take weeks, learning to make something half decent in daz would likely take months, and putting it all together would take years just to create a single game(hell, maybe a year just to create a demo). Based on what you've told me, though, if I focused on the writing and overall design, and worked with a veteran coder and a good 3d artist, it sounds like I could make one, albeit still a bit on the slow side. Hmm.

I can't speak for coding a full game but the python required for Ren'py is not all that daunting, you could probably get up to speed in a couple of months and be ready for basic stuff, especially if you have any prior experience/knowledge of coding, Unity and other software will take more time though. As someone who plays around with Daz on and off and have done for a year or so i can entirely agree, a good 3D artist (Or 2d if that's your bag) would be required to keep updates at a decent pace, but if you were interested there are some excellent Daz tutorials out there, sickleyield and dreamlight are both good places to start and would cut the learning curve down to size in a lot of ways, oh and you'll need mid range hardware or up for Daz.