What makes a game GREAT in your opinion...

[ItsEricBoi]

If you can put it in a 5 point answer would be great... What makes a game great, not good but great and something you wanna play.

I am curious I suppose.

The hardest thing- a great story and characters that I care about

 

[Joraell]

If I know it. I was already done it So who knows .....

 

[215303j]

1) Believable story
2) Interesting characters
3) Choices matter
4) Great art
5) No grind

 

[forbidden101v]

Depends on the game though a great game imo pulls you in and make you want to play more and more. Most people don't want to slog through 6 hours of boring content just to get to the good stuff. If we are talking about visual novels then for starters I wouldn't recommend daz because from the results I've seen it's not that impressive.

Daz3d render from the popular game Big Brother

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Heres a Blender render on the other hand

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Secondly give the game a custom look for its UI. Nothing makes a game feel more generic than seeing a UI in it thats been used in countless other games a person has played before. For comparison look below.
Generic UI from Make Love not Waagh!

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Custom UI from Nowhere Girl

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Looks better doesn't it? I believe tailoring your game as much as possible to make it feel like a unique experience is key for making a great game.

Good story is rather hard to accomplish I find when it comes to erotica. Writers often either get too focused on sex scenes or they drag out the game longer than its welcome like say Nekopara. Honestly for the quality of writing of that game I would of suggested no more than 30 minutes because the writing just wasn't that good but I've only played the first game so maybe I'm talking out of my ass and its one of those things that gradually gets better throughout the series but I'm gonna hold my breath on that one. Sadly I don't have any examples for what I would consider great writing for erotica at least game wise.

Now finally onto my favorite part. Game mechanics. I'm going to leave vn's out as theres really not a lot to them usually beyond the expected features we've come to know. Lets talk about the goals of the game. I honestly think that games that offer all sex scenes by losing are terrible by design. There's no incentive to actually play the game beyond looking at the cg's or animations if the game doesn't have some sort of compelling narrative going for it and/or the game mechanics are just terrible. You might as well just make a stimulation game at that point. Same thing applies to rpgm walking simulators. Now what makes a great game? Mechanics that feel smooth and actually add to gameplay along with providing a bit of a learning curve. Never have I had so much fun in a porn game until I played If Adventure Time was an Anime. Sure theres little porn in it but the gameplay was solid and I actually had to put in some effort when fighting bosses. I enjoyed Mansion as you actually had to beat the game to obtain all the cg's and the art was wonderful but its game mechanics felt clunky a bit but I could feel the potential for a great game.

Conclusion for a game to be great in my eyes it has to have more going for it than art and sound otherwise you might as well just make an animation and call it a day or a cg set because if a game makes me feel bad when I play it and I question why I'm playing it in the first place I'm just going to find a cg rip of it some where or rip the game myself if I really like the art. Why would I want to play a bad game when I could play so many other great games?

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

If we are talking about visual novels then for starters I wouldn't recommend daz because from the results I've seen it's not that impressive.

Daz3d render from the popular game Big Brother

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Heres a Blender render on the other hand

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I guess that depends on personal taste because I think that Blender render looks worse. And I don't think Big Brother has especially good renders, there is a lot more impressive Daz3D work in other games.

 

[riktor]

• Engaging, coherent story (proper english is a major boon here, good voice acting is a home run)
• Well developed, interesting characters
• High level of choice for MC actions / kinks and such (and the choices should matter to the story)
• Either non-sandbox or very limited use (something akin to babysitter perhaps)
• Quality renders (i'm not much of a fan of anime style or 2d in general)

 

[forbidden101v]

I guess that depends on personal taste because I think that Blender render looks worse. And I don't think Big Brother has especially good renders, there is a lot more impressive Daz3D work in other games.

Show me some good renders of daz. My main quirk with daz is the faces usually. They look uncanny and fail to deliver a good expression most times. Like with that Big Brother render I posted the expression feels off for two of the characters. The chick sucking the dick looks alright but the other two look like they have down syndrome or something.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

My main quirk with daz is the faces usually. They look uncanny and fail to deliver a good expression most times.

Yeah, there are a lot of bad renders out there, but that has nothing to do with Daz vs Blender, it's just that most people use Daz because it's the more accessible program and most people are bad. You can do good work with either program if you know what you're doing.

That's from

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, which has pretty good renders.

 

[forbidden101v]

Yeah, there are a lot of bad renders out there, but that has nothing to do with Daz vs Blender, it's just that most people use Daz because it's the more accessible program and most people are bad. You can do good work with either program if you know what you're doing.

That's from

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, which has pretty good renders.

Thats actually decent though the guys hand could look a bit less like plastic. You make a fair point though. It's probably just another scenario like so many people have easy access to rpgm so we see lots of bad to mediocre content as a result. I still wouldn't recommend Daz if someone is truly serious about making great models though. It's undeniably faster to make models using Daz as you have lots of presets to work with but you don't get the same level of customization as you would with say something like blender or autodesk 3ds max. If anything I would use Daz as a supplement to other modelling softwares but never as a main stay. It's much like how I wouldn't recommend rpgm if someone wants to make a great rpg game. These software applications are great for beginners up to semi pros but ultimately limiting in nature due to design.

 

[Tlaero]

"Story" and "Player Choice" are at odds. A given developer will create at a more-or-less constant rate. Let's pretend it takes your favorite developer a year to create a compelling linear story that's 1000 "pages" long. Now, say he gives you, the player, one choice at the start. Rather than forcing you to pursue one person, he lets you pick between two different people.

Now the developer has a few choices.
1) Write two 500 page stories over the course of a year
2) Write two 1000 page stories over the course of two years

If he chooses #1, each story is half as long. For one choice. Add a few more choices and, quickly, each individual story is so short that the story just can't be good anymore.

If he chooses #2, then you've got to wait twice as long to play the first story. Wouldn't you rather him give you two separate 1000 page games, one after a year and the second one after two years?

Yes, different developers work at differing rates, but the basic costs don't change. If they have fewer choices, they'll either have longer stories or get the games to you sooner.

Finding the right balance between player choice, story length, and development time is probably the hardest thing we do as developers.

Tlaero

 

[polywog]

"Story" and "Player Choice" are at odds. A given developer will create at a more-or-less constant rate. Let's pretend it takes your favorite developer a year to create a compelling linear story that's 1000 "pages" long. Now, say he gives you, the player, one choice at the start. Rather than forcing you to pursue one person, he lets you pick between two different people.

Now the developer has a few choices.
1) Write two 500 page stories over the course of a year
2) Write two 1000 page stories over the course of two years

If he chooses #1, each story is half as long. For one choice. Add a few more choices and, quickly, each individual story is so short that the story just can't be good anymore.

If he chooses #2, then you've got to wait twice as long to play the first story. Wouldn't you rather him give you two separate 1000 page games, one after a year and the second one after two years?

Yes, different developers work at differing rates, but the basic costs don't change. If they have fewer choices, they'll either have longer stories or get the games to you sooner.

Finding the right balance between player choice, story length, and development time is probably the hardest thing we do as developers.

Tlaero

Times have changed my friend. Our traditional method of completing a game before releasing it is still doable and fine for those of us who have fans, but for developers just starting out/ lacking that support and encouragement that drives us...
This new era of open development and incremental releases has changed the playing field, making it much easier for anyone to get infected with this disease and run with it. They don't need the full story in advance, they are able to launch with a concept.

Players get to see the game evolve, and the smaller doses of the product get them hooked before they even know it. soon they are lining up desperate for a fix, and the dev is motivated to cook up a new batch to meet that demand. Like you said, you can only do so much, it takes the same amount of time, but it's more fun doing it when people are watching.
Finding balance is easier when you can feed your addictions by supplying the addictions of others.

 

[Ataios]

Lesbians: Mother-daughter is hot but other lesbian scenarios are fine too, best curvy women with some age-difference.
BDSM or some other form of domination: At best one woman dominates another, with the submissive being a milf who had no prior lesbian experience.
Lingerie, high heels and other hot outfits: Nudity alone clearly is not enough.
Good artwork: Can be 2D or 3D, as long as proportions are realistic and characters look the age they are supposed to be. If the game contains mother and daughter e.g. I want to be able to tell from a look on the face without guessing from the size of the boobs who is who.
Story: The story should be able to build up tension and atmosphere. My favorite setting is cyberpunk, but I will play any setting, if a game contains the fetishes I like.

I'm rather forgiving as far as bugs and bad programming go and I'm also fine with unfinished games, as long as they are more than glorified trailers.

 

[Deleted member 167032]

Thank you all for answering.

Pretty much answered a lot of things I've been wondering about.

Basically Choices is key and variaty it seems. I have lots to ponder it seems.

 

[Joraell]

Show me some good renders of daz. My main quirk with daz is the faces usually. They look uncanny and fail to deliver a good expression most times. Like with that Big Brother render I posted the expression feels off for two of the characters. The chick sucking the dick looks alright but the other two look like they have down syndrome or something.

I don't think Daz is the problem. If anybody making bad expressions it is just problem of dev not Daz.

Here is my one picture I'm making now. with many epressions and I think they are not off.

 

[babyseal]

“The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself”

― William Faulkner

 

[215303j]

"Story" and "Player Choice" are at odds.

Finding the right balance between player choice, story length, and development time is probably the hardest thing we do as developers.

Basically Choices is key and variaty it seems. I have lots to ponder it seems.

One of the few games that I think does it extremely well with regards to choices is GGGB.
The differences in outcomes are amazing.

The drawback is in the art. Even though preference remains personal opinion, it's way faster to hand draw (the dev has been "accused" of copying scenes from porn movies, personally I don't see the problem even if it's true) and therefore easier to create content.

The other drawback is that it is likely that players never see a large part of the content.
In GGGB, there are some storylines / NPC that I am just not into and which content I don't want to pursue.
Still I really like the fact that the game gives me that choice!

Another approach would be like Our Fate, where the dev uses many of the same renders with very different dialogue for the different paths. If you stick to one path, this fact is nowhere obvious. If you do play all paths, it does feel a bit "cheap". Personally I don't really mind at this point, but there has to be a point where the paths will diverge so much that it won't be possible anymore.

Overall I think the problem is with the devs available time.

And of course the choices should have meaningful consequences. If a choice only leads to a different sex scene, without impact to the general story, then I feel that development time would be better spent on a more meaningful choice.

 

[HopesGaming]

Thats actually decent though the guys hand could look a bit less like plastic. You make a fair point though. It's probably just another scenario like so many people have easy access to rpgm so we see lots of bad to mediocre content as a result. I still wouldn't recommend Daz if someone is truly serious about making great models though. It's undeniably faster to make models using Daz as you have lots of presets to work with but you don't get the same level of customization as you would with say something like blender or autodesk 3ds max. If anything I would use Daz as a supplement to other modelling softwares but never as a main stay. It's much like how I wouldn't recommend rpgm if someone wants to make a great rpg game. These software applications are great for beginners up to semi pros but ultimately limiting in nature due to design.

I wholeheartedly disagree.
Daz has the capacity to make great and realistic looking renders. As good as any other render software.
The limitations are not the program but with the user.

Also, blender and all the other programs are not an option. Too many things have to be created from scratch. Which take a shitton of time. And with games that have a player base waiting for an update - not plausible.

Also, my latest renders as an example.

Spoiler: Renders

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What are the limitations with that render? What would blender be able to do that Daz is lacking?
Any faults on this render are not daz but me.

I have a lot of bad renders in my game.
But those are not the fault of daz but is due to my early days of not knowing it properly.
Bad lighting, bad skin, bad poses, stiff expressions and so on. All of those are on the user. Not on the software.

 

[Deleted member 167032]

What sets guys like Philly and Stroper apart from the rest of us, not story or game play but what they do with the tools they have.

I wholeheartedly disagree.
Daz has the capacity to make great and realistic looking renders. As good as any other render software.
The limitations are not the program but with the user.

Also, blender and all the other programs are not an option. Too many things have to be created from scratch. Which take a shitton of time. And with games that have a player base waiting for an update - not plausible.

Also, my latest renders as an example.

Spoiler: Renders

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What are the limitations with that render? What would blender be able to do that Daz is lacking?
Any faults on this render are not daz but me.

I have a lot of bad renders in my game.
But those are not the fault of daz but is due to my early days of not knowing it properly.
Bad lighting, bad skin, bad poses, stiff expressions and so on. All of those are on the user. Not on the software.

 

[polywog]

Daz has the capacity to make great and realistic looking renders. As good as any other render software.

Daz is in about 12th place, if that's what you mean by "as good as"

 

[agentc]

If you can put it in a 5 point answer would be great... What makes a game great, not good but great and something you wanna play.

I am curious I suppose.

Camera controls for appreciating a scene from different angles

Timing controls for ensuring I control when the action ends

Character responds to input so that actions feel weighted. One idea not explored to my knowledge is the concept of weighted actions that influence the direction and demeanor of the individual you're engaged with. So far only a few games have introduced some level of weighting to engagement and those have been binary serving only as a minigame for getting to climax.

X-ray camera so you can observe the intimate "exchange" on a level of excess that gives you a real appreciation for art work above and beyond getting to the end game

Sticky cum with gravity controlled ejaculate. Sets the bar way above. Only one game has it that I've seen and the developer is almost non-existent on his own forums.