The Devolving Quality of Adult Games

[Jnx]

This is gonna be my long-winded rant on how the quality and effort put into making games is not only getting disturbingly low. But the fact that so many people just reward it because they're led to believe making games is so hard. While making good, complex, beautiful games can be a challenge. Fundamentally, making games is now so easy in the time you, yes you, have read this entire post, you could have made a simple platformer in multiple free game engines. Or even downloaded RenPy and started our own AVN. By the way, this is gonna be about writing and visuals only, I won't even get into fake linear sandboxes with nothing to do, or boring, invasive minigames that add nothing but a time sink to your gameplay.

If you've never seen me before, Im Jnx, I review a lot of the games on this site, and it's getting to the point I'm tired of being the only person rating something for what it currently has, not based on potential or "Because the models are hot." If that's all you need, by all means skip this thread do whatever, we both have separate opinions. But I complain and critique things because when I read or see adult content, I'd hope for it to be, you know, adult? Not written like some horny middle school boys fantasy, referencing Marvel movies and memes, where every girl falls in love with the smell of MC's farts. It's boring, tasteless, and a waste of hard drive space.

Now, I understand where I am. This is a pirate website full of horny brain gamers looking for pretty virtual women to ogle and other at. (Or guys, no judgement.) While, yes, I'm still a horny brained goblin gamer as well, I am sick of the shovelware and honestly wish I could mark so many games on here as such. My goal with this rant is for you, the reader, to not only value yourself, but your time and money more than you currently do. Or at least be aware of the trash and maybe push for better. And I am fine if you say "then why waste my time reading this garbage." Fair. You don't owe me your time. But you also don't owe it to these shovelware devs that pump out game after game, or in this patreon-era development, release after release of hot garbage. And I'm not talking about a fetish you don't like, or focusing on a character you don't care for. I mean broken code, Engrish, zero effort renders, writing that makes drying paint feel like a spectators sport, and/or one of the same 4 plotlines recycled over and over. You deserve BETTER. ESPECIALLY if you pay for it.

Let me write this pseudo-plot and tell me if you've read it somewhere, ANYWHERE, before:
"MC returns home after X amount of time. Him and his housemates[family] had a falling out and he needed to find/better himself. He only returns home after the man of the house leaves/dies/cheats/becomes inept and tries to patch things up with the woman of the house and her 1-3 daughters. The Mother has body image issues even though she's a supermodel. The youngest is overly affectionate and acts like an 8 year old. The middle(if there is one) is usually the most fleshed out character that is glad MC's back and has been trying to keep things together. And the oldest is either abrasive and cold, or motherly and inviting and usually it's the former because of a fight for X years ago. And MC's first thought as he opens the door. 'God she's so hot... I really shouldn't say that about my [DEFINE RELATIONSHIP HERE].' Then simple touches, passing glances and long hugs make everyone discover: sUdDeNlY tHeIr aTtRaCtEd tO eAcH oThEr. Then sex happens until patrons get bored."

Is that familiar? Does replacing "MC returning home" with "MC has/gets amnesia" fill in more of the games? Do you see what I mean? I won't pretend that one or two of the games I've enjoyed on here had some of that in them. But the games I haven't deleted, and/or follow the releases happily actually write out a decent story. Or even if the story isn't amazing, they write good characters. And I don't mean one defining, sad event that happened to the character. I mean they have mannerisms you pick up on, more than one moment in their history is brought up, and you can name more than one personality trait of theirs. I can excuse having a milquetoast MC for a self-insert, if the rest of the story or characters have more effort put into them than: "Oh I spent the last two months learning how to add images to RenPy, please give me money." Writing will always elevate every part of your visual NOVEL. You know, something you READ? It can even enhance the sex scenes.

Would you rather read
"Oh! That feels so good! Wow I'm cumming!"
OR
"Every thrust inside her was ecstasy. The ridges inside her womanhood grind against your glans bringing the moment of release closer and closer. Both of your labored breathing begins to sync up and your passion for one another only seems to increase the sensitivity..." (A little phoned in and slightly cringey, but you get it? DETAILS.)

I know MOST games, even ones I like contain more of the former. I mean, why wouldn't they? They actually SHOW the sex. Sure, you see sex happening. But so many times I've been sitting there clicking through these games, finally approaching a completely unearned sex scene, and for some reason, it's just boring. You see the two frame animation as the player model breaks his spine to shove his comically large penis inside the woman's elastic vagina. Now, I know animating is hard, I know firsthand, so write about it. Make it more sexy than an exaggerated source filmmaker video. Even simple actions, laughs, or just things you don't wanna render or draw. WRITE IT. Instead of *laughs* or *smiles* etc. "You let out a hearty laugh, barely able to contain it after Jimmy fell on his face." Just SOMETHING. I hope that, THAT starts to annoy you after realizing seeing 2006 chatroom "action asterisks" in a story is cheap and lazy. And the "humor" in these games. They're nothing more than "HEY DID YOU GET THAT REFERENCE TO [ANIME/GAME/MOVIE/TV SHOW]?" That's not funny, it's relatable, and the most you did was breath through your nose a little. Situational comedy and physical humor can be done so easily if the characters and events are fleshed out. Klutz? Make them fall. Shy? Have them get embarrassed after they say the wrong words. Simple stuff...

Now I can move on to Language. The Engrish. Why? Why defend these devs that wrote an ENTIRE STORY in a language they clearly don't understand? YOU have to suffer reading it. They shove a script though google translate and you pay $5 a month for a story neither you nor the dev understand. They don't even have an option to set it to their native language. Who benefits from that? On top of that, the renders aren't even good quality, what are you defending? "They put in effort." No. They flipped DAZ assets and barely wrote a story. They spent more time making the patreon page than making a story I can almost guarantee it. Prizes for participation and effort should be reserved for children and pets. This is an ADULT website for ADULT content where another ADULT should be able to see your game/product is shit and move on. Every single time I get the rebuttal "But it's not their first language." All I do is leave the thread. They are hoping to latch onto some fat american whale to fund their livelihood. If I make a game in Chinese or Spanish, Chinese and Spanish players would tell me "This is written so poorly you should never do this again." Even though I'd never be able to read their comment. But as soon as some shovelware dev shows what they've been doing for a week in a text editor white knights descend from all corners of the net saying:
"Be still, villain. They should be praised for venturing into another language, not chastised you heathen!" (How do you format Ye Olde English?)
And I don't get it.

And things are getting even worse with the introduction of "AI." I can understand using "AI" to give a starting point of an event to build off of, or a character idea to replace later. But entire scripts, art, and code are just plugged into an "AI" then copy and pasted into the project. As zero effort as possible to turn a possible profit. The only thing it takes is the time for the GPU to render an image, if that. Zero overhead, 100% profit. That's where we're going, 40 new games released a day because someone decided to try Chattering GTP or Subtle Dysfunction. (You know what I mean, without even saying it deliberately) So many games now I can't tell if it's a bad translation or an "AI" script, nowadays. I see comment after comment "This sounds like if a robot tried to write a porn game" And IT PROBABLY WAS. Someone wanted to apply no effort and for YOU to pay for it, and it's disgusting.

You know what you could do with your money instead? ANYTHING. Invest, buy a smoothie, save for a GPU, buy a real game on sale, make your own game, give to charity, HELL, BURN IT for warmth. ALL of that is of more worth to YOU than downloading some shovelware with MEGA and being disappointed by your time being wasted. Time is literally all you have on this Earth and this absolute lemon of a dev wasted it on MC returning home to learn that he's now a redneck. If you've read all of this and HAVEN'T agreed with anything I've said, more power to you. I'm happy that you can turn your brain off and enjoy trash, I envy you. But if you want a "real world" example of what I mean, go play "Uncharted," whichever one it doesn't matter, then play "Unearthed: The Trail of Ibn Batutta" or however it's spelled. One is practically an industry standard. The other feels so soulless and cash grabby you have to laugh at how bad it is. And that is what the shovelware on this site feels like to me.

But I also know I'm just some random weirdo on the internet. My opinion likely won't change yours. The only other response I could see being said is "Yeah, but what can I do about it?" Speak up. Message the dev and and say "This seems lazy/could be improved/what went wrong here?" If the dev is worth anything, they'll reply with "Thanks for pointing it out, I'll actually take it into consideration moving forward." or "I never thought of that, I'm stuck in this hell of an echo chamber." That has happened to me PLENTY of times. And after that point, you can judge them based on "Did they actually improve based on feedback, or is it more of the same?" Hold them accountable for the things they do or don't do. Just because they made a pretty 3D model, doesn't mean their shit doesn't stink. Cancel your sub, write a review, do something other than sit there and hope things get better.

All that to say, you and your time are worth more than what these leeches are taking from you. you are the end-user and probably even actively paying for the development. You deserve better.

 

[Doorknob22]

I think you underestimate the power of fetish. Fetishes tap the darkest wells in our souls and many people are willing to overlook a lot of shortcomings in a pornographic product if it caters to their fetish, especially when aroused. That game you mentioned? The clichéd "son coms home" game? Give the MC the option to impregnate the family members and I'll play it.

Also: very good visuals will exponentially increase the pull of a game, despite lackluster plot, Engrish and more. Such is life.

In this article I analyze what make things erotic. In a nutshell, it is (A) the gap between the characters, (B) technical quality (i.e. graphics, sounds etc) and (C) fetishes. A is probably what hurts you the most but many players are more affected by B and C.

 

[Alphonsocat]

milking is the worst part of the gaming industry, if sex games could add a cash shop they would.

overall if you want to improve the quality you need to force millions of gamers to stop paying for bad quality games, normal or sex it doesn't matter. the moment bad or milked games stop making money you will see 90% of problems insta gone.

 

[Yngling]

The amount of games has increased a lot. As has the quality of their graphics, making it more complicated to distinguish the good from the bad just from the previews.

However there are also good quality games and perhaps in absolute numbers more that ever.

If anything I think many of "the best games of all times" are still being developed. A couple of years ago people would have cheered for games (like DmD) which would now have a very difficult time.

The percentage of good vs bad may have decreased a bit though, and that may be what you are feeling.

 

[Ratrio]

I agree with a lot of what you said but I do think good daz renders are harder to create than you make out.
I've been looking into doing my own visual novel with Daz renders, and maybe I'm just stupid but I've put probably over 50 hours so far into getting assets and learning the program better and I still feel like I'm a a good distance from even being ready to start creating renders specifically for the game. Granted that's still not an especially long time in the grand scheme of things but it's still a relatively large amount of hours to even get started. And my renders probably aren't gonna be as good as a lot of other people's because Daz seems like it takes a long long time to really master.

 

[peterppp]

This is gonna be my long-winded rant on how the quality and effort put into making games is not only getting disturbingly low. But the fact that so many people just reward it because they're led to believe making games is so hard. While making good, complex, beautiful games can be a challenge. Fundamentally, making games is now so easy in the time you, yes you, have read this entire post, you could have made a simple platformer in multiple free game engines. Or even downloaded RenPy and started our own AVN. By the way, this is gonna be about writing and visuals only, I won't even get into fake linear sandboxes with nothing to do, or boring, invasive minigames that add nothing but a time sink to your gameplay.

If you've never seen me before, Im Jnx, I review a lot of the games on this site, and it's getting to the point I'm tired of being the only person rating something for what it currently has, not based on potential or "Because the models are hot." If that's all you need, by all means skip this thread do whatever, we both have separate opinions. But I complain and critique things because when I read or see adult content, I'd hope for it to be, you know, adult? Not written like some horny middle school boys fantasy, referencing Marvel movies and memes, where every girl falls in love with the smell of MC's farts. It's boring, tasteless, and a waste of hard drive space.

Now, I understand where I am. This is a pirate website full of horny brain gamers looking for pretty virtual women to ogle and other at. (Or guys, no judgement.) While, yes, I'm still a horny brained goblin gamer as well, I am sick of the shovelware and honestly wish I could mark so many games on here as such. My goal with this rant is for you, the reader, to not only value yourself, but your time and money more than you currently do. Or at least be aware of the trash and maybe push for better. And I am fine if you say "then why waste my time reading this garbage." Fair. You don't owe me your time. But you also don't owe it to these shovelware devs that pump out game after game, or in this patreon-era development, release after release of hot garbage. And I'm not talking about a fetish you don't like, or focusing on a character you don't care for. I mean broken code, Engrish, zero effort renders, writing that makes drying paint feel like a spectators sport, and/or one of the same 4 plotlines recycled over and over. You deserve BETTER. ESPECIALLY if you pay for it.

Let me write this pseudo-plot and tell me if you've read it somewhere, ANYWHERE, before:
"MC returns home after X amount of time. Him and his housemates[family] had a falling out and he needed to find/better himself. He only returns home after the man of the house leaves/dies/cheats/becomes inept and tries to patch things up with the woman of the house and her 1-3 daughters. The Mother has body image issues even though she's a supermodel. The youngest is overly affectionate and acts like an 8 year old. The middle(if there is one) is usually the most fleshed out character that is glad MC's back and has been trying to keep things together. And the oldest is either abrasive and cold, or motherly and inviting and usually it's the former because of a fight for X years ago. And MC's first thought as he opens the door. 'God she's so hot... I really shouldn't say that about my [DEFINE RELATIONSHIP HERE].' Then simple touches, passing glances and long hugs make everyone discover: sUdDeNlY tHeIr aTtRaCtEd tO eAcH oThEr. Then sex happens until patrons get bored."

Is that familiar? Does replacing "MC returning home" with "MC has/gets amnesia" fill in more of the games? Do you see what I mean? I won't pretend that one or two of the games I've enjoyed on here had some of that in them. But the games I haven't deleted, and/or follow the releases happily actually write out a decent story. Or even if the story isn't amazing, they write good characters. And I don't mean one defining, sad event that happened to the character. I mean they have mannerisms you pick up on, more than one moment in their history is brought up, and you can name more than one personality trait of theirs. I can excuse having a milquetoast MC for a self-insert, if the rest of the story or characters have more effort put into them than: "Oh I spent the last two months learning how to add images to RenPy, please give me money." Writing will always elevate every part of your visual NOVEL. You know, something you READ? It can even enhance the sex scenes.

Would you rather read
"Oh! That feels so good! Wow I'm cumming!"
OR
"Every thrust inside her was ecstasy. The ridges inside her womanhood grind against your glans bringing the moment of release closer and closer. Both of your labored breathing begins to sync up and your passion for one another only seems to increase the sensitivity..." (A little phoned in and slightly cringey, but you get it? DETAILS.)

I know MOST games, even ones I like contain more of the former. I mean, why wouldn't they? They actually SHOW the sex. Sure, you see sex happening. But so many times I've been sitting there clicking through these games, finally approaching a completely unearned sex scene, and for some reason, it's just boring. You see the two frame animation as the player model breaks his spine to shove his comically large penis inside the woman's elastic vagina. Now, I know animating is hard, I know firsthand, so write about it. Make it more sexy than an exaggerated source filmmaker video. Even simple actions, laughs, or just things you don't wanna render or draw. WRITE IT. Instead of *laughs* or *smiles* etc. "You let out a hearty laugh, barely able to contain it after Jimmy fell on his face." Just SOMETHING. I hope that, THAT starts to annoy you after realizing seeing 2006 chatroom "action asterisks" in a story is cheap and lazy. And the "humor" in these games. They're nothing more than "HEY DID YOU GET THAT REFERENCE TO [ANIME/GAME/MOVIE/TV SHOW]?" That's not funny, it's relatable, and the most you did was breath through your nose a little. Situational comedy and physical humor can be done so easily if the characters and events are fleshed out. Klutz? Make them fall. Shy? Have them get embarrassed after they say the wrong words. Simple stuff...

Now I can move on to Language. The Engrish. Why? Why defend these devs that wrote an ENTIRE STORY in a language they clearly don't understand? YOU have to suffer reading it. They shove a script though google translate and you pay $5 a month for a story neither you nor the dev understand. They don't even have an option to set it to their native language. Who benefits from that? On top of that, the renders aren't even good quality, what are you defending? "They put in effort." No. They flipped DAZ assets and barely wrote a story. They spent more time making the patreon page than making a story I can almost guarantee it. Prizes for participation and effort should be reserved for children and pets. This is an ADULT website for ADULT content where another ADULT should be able to see your game/product is shit and move on. Every single time I get the rebuttal "But it's not their first language." All I do is leave the thread. They are hoping to latch onto some fat american whale to fund their livelihood. If I make a game in Chinese or Spanish, Chinese and Spanish players would tell me "This is written so poorly you should never do this again." Even though I'd never be able to read their comment. But as soon as some shovelware dev shows what they've been doing for a week in a text editor white knights descend from all corners of the net saying:
"Be still, villain. They should be praised for venturing into another language, not chastised you heathen!" (How do you format Ye Olde English?)
And I don't get it.

And things are getting even worse with the introduction of "AI." I can understand using "AI" to give a starting point of an event to build off of, or a character idea to replace later. But entire scripts, art, and code are just plugged into an "AI" then copy and pasted into the project. As zero effort as possible to turn a possible profit. The only thing it takes is the time for the GPU to render an image, if that. Zero overhead, 100% profit. That's where we're going, 40 new games released a day because someone decided to try Chattering GTP or Subtle Dysfunction. (You know what I mean, without even saying it deliberately) So many games now I can't tell if it's a bad translation or an "AI" script, nowadays. I see comment after comment "This sounds like if a robot tried to write a porn game" And IT PROBABLY WAS. Someone wanted to apply no effort and for YOU to pay for it, and it's disgusting.

You know what you could do with your money instead? ANYTHING. Invest, buy a smoothie, save for a GPU, buy a real game on sale, make your own game, give to charity, HELL, BURN IT for warmth. ALL of that is of more worth to YOU than downloading some shovelware with MEGA and being disappointed by your time being wasted. Time is literally all you have on this Earth and this absolute lemon of a dev wasted it on MC returning home to learn that he's now a redneck. If you've read all of this and HAVEN'T agreed with anything I've said, more power to you. I'm happy that you can turn your brain off and enjoy trash, I envy you. But if you want a "real world" example of what I mean, go play "Uncharted," whichever one it doesn't matter, then play "Unearthed: The Trail of Ibn Batutta" or however it's spelled. One is practically an industry standard. The other feels so soulless and cash grabby you have to laugh at how bad it is. And that is what the shovelware on this site feels like to me.

But I also know I'm just some random weirdo on the internet. My opinion likely won't change yours. The only other response I could see being said is "Yeah, but what can I do about it?" Speak up. Message the dev and and say "This seems lazy/could be improved/what went wrong here?" If the dev is worth anything, they'll reply with "Thanks for pointing it out, I'll actually take it into consideration moving forward." or "I never thought of that, I'm stuck in this hell of an echo chamber." That has happened to me PLENTY of times. And after that point, you can judge them based on "Did they actually improve based on feedback, or is it more of the same?" Hold them accountable for the things they do or don't do. Just because they made a pretty 3D model, doesn't mean their shit doesn't stink. Cancel your sub, write a review, do something other than sit there and hope things get better.

All that to say, you and your time are worth more than what these leeches are taking from you. you are the end-user and probably even actively paying for the development. You deserve better.

spoken by someone who has never released an adult game and probably never released a game, period. you and hakarlman should team up to make an adult game. it could be the best adult game to never be released.

 

[Jnx]

spoken by someone who has never released an adult game and probably never released a game, period. you and hakarlman should team up to make an adult game. it could be the best adult game to never be released.

The funny thing is, I did. I wrote the functionality for a game that is currently being released. But, I kept getting crunch deadlines, the story progresses at a snails pace, and there were no active goals or planning. It was all "We need to release the game in 3 days, can you build this new feature based on a fever dream I had?" On top of me not getting paid for 4 months of making the entire game for this 'studio'. So I left.

All that while actively building up my own game on the side.

So, based on past experience, I will not team up with whoever that is.

Enjoy your day.

 

[anne O'nymous]

This is gonna be my long-winded rant on how the quality and effort put into making games is not only getting disturbingly low. But the fact that so many people just reward it because they're led to believe making games is so hard. While making good, complex, beautiful games can be a challenge.

The quality rate have never been this high and, whatever how difficult or not can be making good complex and beautiful game, one thing is sure, it need time.

If you've never seen me before, Im Jnx, I review a lot of the games on this site, and it's getting to the point I'm tired of being the only person rating something for what it currently has, not based on potential or "Because the models are hot."
[...]
Now, I understand where I am. This is a pirate website full of horny brain gamers looking for pretty virtual women to ogle and other at.
[...]
My goal with this rant is for you, the reader, to not only value yourself, but your time and money more than you currently do. Or at least be aware of the trash and maybe push for better.

So, let me summarize, among the now more than six millions member here, only you can distinguish between good and bad games... And at no time you seem to acknowledge that taste isn't something universal.

By example, when you say that you expect games to not be "written like some horny middle school boys fantasy, referencing Marvel movies and memes", it's your own opinion, based on your own taste. It's an opinion shared by other members, but not by the many who are between 18yo and 25yo, and therefore still have middle school boys fantasies, full of Marvel movies references and memes.

I mean broken code, Engrish, zero effort renders, writing that makes drying paint feel like a spectators sport, and/or one of the same 4 plotlines recycled over and over.

I've read some of your review, to make up my mind before answering, and honestly I wouldn't have read them if it wasn't for this reason.

Their first line is the notation you give to the level of English...
While I understand that Engrish can be hard, and sometimes impossible to understand (especially for a none native), you also need to understand that, for most of them, creators are not native English speakers. Pointing it when the level of English is so bad that it's barely understandable, yeah, I get it, because it can really impact the global quality of the game.
But going as far as giving a notation, no, personally it disqualify everything that will be wrote after this. Incidentally, if you cared this much about games quality and about the adult gaming scene, that you want to make it looks with this post, you would contact the creators and propose your help as proofreader. Some of them are stuck up, but most would be really happy by this offer.

Would you rather read
"Oh! That feels so good! Wow I'm cumming!"
OR
"Every thrust inside her was ecstasy. The ridges inside her womanhood grind against your glans bringing the moment of release closer and closer. Both of your labored breathing begins to sync up and your passion for one another only seems to increase the sensitivity..." (A little phoned in and slightly cringey, but you get it? DETAILS.)

If I wanted to read adult novels, I wouldn't be here playing adult visual novels. What make the first example way better, at least when synced with the CGs, and the second something to avoid as much as possible.

Incidentally, it's how people talk.
I'll not pretend to have had sex with enough women to be able to write an accurate study, but according to my own experience, if not all are the "fuck me like the bitch I am" type, not a single one will ever say something among the line of "oh, what a pleasant feeling. Your penis have the right size for my love tunnel, and feeling my inside expand when it penetrate me is really an astounding feeling. Please continue like this, I feel that I'm near to the point where I'll be overwhelmed by the pleasure you're giving me". And, frankly speaking, if a girl talk to you that way while you're fucking her, don't believe a single word she'll say, because she's clearly faking.
Even if you are shy, prude or reserved, what you'll say during sex will always be raw. You'll not necessarily be crude, but you'll always be direct, and near to never say correct and complete sentences. Simply because your brain is occupied by something way more pleasing than making complete sentences.
And it happen that Visual Novels don't need to describe what is happening, since they show it, and focus instead on those dialogs that happen during sex.

Now, I don't say that the second is bad and that one shouldn't like this kind of games. But they are illustrated stories, not visual novels, and therefore not what interest me. And I'm pretty sure than among the more than 6 millions members, for once I'm on the side of the majority.

Now I can move on to Language.

I pass, not only because I already addressed it, but also because you're way too pedantic in this part and I'm now a member of both the anonymous sarcastic people and anonymous grumpy old fart.
It would be a shame if I loose my "one hour" badges because of you...
I lost both of them with this sentence, right ?

That's where we're going, 40 new games released a day because someone decided to try Chattering GTP or Subtle Dysfunction.

You know, the description and preview screenshots are here for a reason. After so many years on this site, one would believe that you finally understood that you have no obligation to play them all.

You know what you could do with your money instead? ANYTHING.

And it happen that "anything" include: Support a creator, not because of the quality of its creation, but because of the visible efforts he put in it, and/or as a thanks for the pleasuring time you had playing his game, that perhaps wasn't top quality, but was telling a captivating story and, therefore, interesting to play.

If you've read all of this and HAVEN'T agreed with anything I've said, more power to you. I'm happy that you can turn your brain off and enjoy trash, I envy you.

And now the insult for anyone who isn't you...

But I also know I'm just some random weirdo on the internet.

Please, don't sell yourself short. You're not just "some random weirdo", you're "top quality pedantic weirdo brat".
Ok, this time I lost both my badges for sure...

My opinion likely won't change yours.

Like mine will not change yours. You wouldn't have started a thread, writing all this, if you weren't fully convinced that you the trustee of universal truth.
What paradoxically imply that the thread itself is useless. No one can possibly change your mind, and you acknowledge by yourself that there's near to no chance that you can change ours. But I guess that discovering that a member of this site is into onanism is a big surprise for no one.
I should ask if they give badges for negative periods of time...

 

[peterppp]

The funny thing is, I did.

no you didn't

I wrote the functionality for a game that is currently being released.

you did coding for a game not yet released. that's all you did. coding is just one part of making an adult game. you must also create the story and graphics, everything, or you don't know what you're talking about.

you're a failed developer and now you're bitter because you're jealous of others who did what you couldn't

 

[M$hot]

Obviously I wouldn't object to suddenly a tsunami of stunning, well written games containing all my fetishes and not containing my icks flooding the updates page, and since this is a pipedream lets add 'with the "completed" tag' to the mix.

My rebuttal is, have you ever had a friend or family member that's not at all professionally trained give you a free haircut? It probably wasn't perfect, may or may not have been to your tastes and made you possibly hesitant to take the offer again. But it was free, your choice to accept or not and it still took some of their time to do that.

I agree with some of your points, but tropes often became that for a reason, if the market didn't gobble it up, they'd stop providing it. Same reason there are still obvious scamcalls/texts being sent, there's still money in it.
And if people didn't MTL but genuinely tried to write it in English with it being their 2nd/3rd/4th language, I do think the Engrish deserves a break. And with forum rules being that the game needs to (also) be in English to be uploaded, I can't even blame people who MTL their game to expose their game to a large audience.

Regarding messaging developers with criticism, I'm sorry, but that requires a time investment I'm not going to be willing to make if the game didn't tickle me already. If a game is a 9 and I think somehow I have the magic idea to turn it into a 10 I might make a suggestion, but if it's a 6, I simply don't believe a game can stretch to being a masterpiece without abandoning it and starting over. But if they have passion for the story and make a bit of money on it, who am I to trample their 6? Besides, it may be a 6 to me, it can still be a 9 to others. Many flavors of game for many kinds of players. Some kinks I absolutely do not enjoy or are even actively revolting to me, so I simply add the tag to the 'excluded tags' list to keep the 'Latest Updates' only showing me things I may like. But like Doorknob said, if something has adequate renders and it plays to one of my main fetishes, I can overlook the spelling mistakes, predictable story and lackluster character development.

If 1000 games are released per month and 900 aren't your taste, it will look like an ocean, even though it's the same ratio as 10 games dropping in a day and only liking 1.

TL;DR: I don't think your suggestions are very helpful, my suggestion to you is to include and exclude more tags for a more curated 'Latest Updates', it will slow the flow, but hopefully fit your tastes better.

PS: Generally it doesn't take more than 3 hours to finish an update that took 3 months to produce, so it's always going to be unbalanced. If I really enjoy 5 games, that's 15 hours of content (at most) in 3 months, that simply won't do. It leaves you a lot of time to search through the other games, wishing it was another update of your favorite game. Going in with that mentality already puts the other games at a disadvantage. I applaud anybody that gets a somewhat functional product out of the door, doesn't mean I think all of them are worth money in general, or more specifically, my own money.

Dang this got long, my bad yo.

 

[Nunu312]

While the idea that you can't critique a game without having made one has some merit... I feel that is a statement that is right when it's right, but you have to ignore all the times when it's wrong. Yes, you cannot truly appreciate the time it takes to flesh out a background in 3d without making one, but you can absolutely judge a game based on the quality of it's English and how that effects your immersion.

As a developer, it can be easy to get defensive about our games. Many of us put in hundreds to thousands of hours into them and many of us see little to no return on that, even just kind words. To hear that that isn't good enough. that we don't deserve support... well that's not nice.

At the same time... I don't actually feel the original post had anything to do with critiquing game. More that it was a critique of supporters low standards. That if people want better games, they need to set the bar higher. This is very true, if people want better games.

But I'm about to float a strange idea.

Do players want better games?

Obviously yes, with a big but (pun intended). I would tend to argue that a significant portion of players, possibly even a majority, are perfectly willing to accept a worse game if it fits their specific fetishes better. As long as a game meets a minimum standard, the fetish is more important than quality, from the consumer perspective. The game sets the scene and imagination and fantasy take over as the player masturbates to that, rather than the game itself. I would wager that is where a major amount of support for these "bad" games comes from. And I'm also hesitant to call these people wrong for supporting those fetishes. It is up to them if they are getting their money's worth.

Then as a secondary point, competition is increasing and it becomes harder by the day to be a successful full time developer. Getting a few patrons, a couple of hundred dollars a month will happen, but If I had started Cabin by the Lake 2 years before I did, then I would probably be four times more successful than I am. The truth is, while there are a lot more bad games coming out... the bar for being a good game is still rising. There is more of everything out there, good games and bad.

 

[VMiller]

There's no freak that can't find a mate, and there's no garbage that can't find a suitable reader.

A great classic writer wrote this more than 100 years ago.

 

[Saint Blackmoor]

Then as a secondary point, competition is increasing, and it becomes harder by the day to be a successful full time developer. Getting a few patrons, a couple of hundred dollars a month, will happen, but If I had started Cabin by the Lake 2 years before I did, then I would probably be four times more successful than I am. The truth is, while there are a lot more bad games coming out... the bar for being a good game is still rising. There is more of everything out there, good games and bad.

You make very good points. And being a dev means you see both sides. Competition increasing is the main factor to most issues today. Not only in gaming but pretty much everything. I won't go into world issues here.

Competition creates better products on average and can drive down prices. but one byproduct of competition is the casualties. Time will tell if a game considered now was bad just might be considered great in the future.

Game quality is better than ever, IMO.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

I'm tired of being the only person rating something for what it currently has, not based on potential or "Because the models are hot."

I could take offense in that. No, you're not the only one.

Is that familiar?

Not really. Don't like incest tropes? Don't play incest games, it's THAT SIMPLE. I played 2 (two) games that resemble the scenario, and even then it's far from a perfect match (for starters no literal returning home, no amnesia). Disclaimer: I don't play DAZ games, so maybe you're right and in these the tropes you described are more prevalent. But sorry, I could not care less about dazshit games. Likewise, with AI. We have a tag exactly for that. Filter that shit out and regain inner peace. There will be eventually a good game made with AI, but for now simply ignoring the whole subcategory is a decent idea.

Would you rather read
"Oh! That feels so good! Wow I'm cumming!"
OR
"Every thrust inside her was ecstasy. The ridges inside her womanhood grind against your glans bringing the moment of release closer and closer. Both of your labored breathing begins to sync up and your passion for one another only seems to increase the sensitivity..." (A little phoned in and slightly cringey, but you get it? DETAILS.)

Uh... Neither? You said it yourself, the second one is kinda cringe. Writing good purple prose is actually HARDER than good regular prose.

To me a good sex scene has descriptive concise narration, and natural dialogue. And natural dialogue is going to be, uh, unrefined. "Yes! Fuck me, fuck your little whore!" and not "Oh, how I love the feeling of your prodigious penis massaging the velvety insides of my vagina!"

Generally, I agree, writing could be better in a lot of games. But the issue I have with your rant is that it seems you imply that writing is the easier part. Empiric evidence suggests otherwise, good writing is less common than good hand-drawn art. My conclusion is that finding a good artist for a project is easier than finding a good author, and the most difficult part is finding a good game designer (these are basically unicorns).

 

[werebackandwerebonedocks]

I could take offense in that. No, you're not the only one.


Not really. Don't like incest tropes? Don't play incest games, it's THAT SIMPLE. I played 2 (two) games that resemble the scenario, and even then it's far from a perfect match (for starters no literal returning home, no amnesia). Disclaimer: I don't play DAZ games, so maybe you're right and in these the tropes you described are more prevalent. But sorry, I could not care less about dazshit games. Likewise, with AI. We have a tag exactly for that. Filter that shit out and regain inner peace. There will be eventually a good game made with AI, but for now simply ignoring the whole subcategory is a decent idea.

Uh... Neither? You said it yourself, the second one is kinda cringe. Writing good purple prose is actually HARDER than good regular prose.

To me a good sex scene has descriptive concise narration, and natural dialogue. And natural dialogue is going to be, uh, unrefined. "Yes! Fuck me, fuck your little whore!" and not "Oh, how I love the feeling of your prodigious penis massaging the velvety insides of my vagina!"

Generally, I agree, writing could be better in a lot of games. But the issue I have with your rant is that it seems you imply that writing is the easier part. Empiric evidence suggests otherwise, good writing is less common than good hand-drawn art. My conclusion is that finding a good artist for a project is easier than finding a good author, and the most difficult part is finding a good game designer (these are basically unicorns).

Take my reddit updoots

 

[Deleted member 5954819]

"hakarlman" 2.0 - but from Wish

 

[kintarodev]

Is already that time of the week?

....

I will address what I think are not so common points in this kind of weekly rants:

1. It's plainly not posssible to drop entire geenerated AI code. What's even 'entire code'? Doesn't work like that. So far ChatGPT works as a superb instruction manual of specific languages (not even all, I already hit some walls) for us coders, but framework design/arquitecture is beyond its capabilities. And will be for a long time.

2. Please stop using the term 'flipped assets'. Yes, solo devs and small teams buy assets from stores (daz/renderosity/unity store/etc) and use them in their projects, thus seeing the same spaces/props/wathever some times. That's not being lazy, that's just using their budget according to their capabilities.

3. You will never see something in the level of Uncharted for an adult market; at least coming from a significant studio*. It's just how the channels of distribution and consumer target for adult games work. They are too niche and restricted to have standard AAA production levels. On the other hand but, you will find UNIQUE games due to individuals applying their full creativity and visions without restrictions on their own small and individual projects.

*Of course, a genius can always appear out of nowhere and surprise us all with their skills... As a player I would't complain

 

[Yngling]

3. You will never see something in the level of Uncharted for an adult market; at least coming from a significant studio*. It's just how the channels of distribution and consumer target for adult games work. They are too niche to have standard AAA production levels. On the other hand but, you will find UNIQUE games due to individuals applying their full creativity and visions without restrictions in their own small and individual projects.

This is the key point.

Any solo dev will face big issues and will need to make certain compromises. And then still run the risk of getting burned out.

Devs who manage to assemble a small team may be in a better spot and are often also able to produce better and more timely quality stuff. But they run the risk of certain key team members quitting / getting sick etc.

All in all though, I think the strength of this entire "industry" is in it's diversity. There are a lot of games out there and a lot of them are likeable in one way or another. Sure, not one game is perfect, and if there is one, there can never be enough updates to fully satisfy everybody.

 

[kintarodev]

This is the key point.

Any solo dev will face big issues and will need to make certain compromises. And then still run the risk of getting burned out.

Devs who manage to assemble a small team may be in a better spot and are often also able to produce better and more timely quality stuff. But they run the risk of certain key team members quitting / getting sick etc.

All in all though, I think the strength of this entire "industry" is in it's diversity. There are a lot of games out there and a lot of them are likeable in one way or another. Sure, not one game is perfect, and if there is one, there can never be enough updates to fully satisfy everybody.

Indeed. For example, I would never play a 'text-sandbox' adult game, but there are those individuals putting their private time to produce them and building their own small communities. And seems like that makes some people happy. Kudos to them.

 

[TSSG59]

I think the problem lies in the fact most creators are not good story tellers and most story tellers are not good creators.
I start many games but cut and run after the first five minutes with 99% of them.
Look-wank- titty fuck- blow job, blah, blah, blah, always the same path.
Most of the games I really liked were abandoned for one reason or another even though they offered something different from the run of the mill.