VN Ren'Py Completed A Date With Emily [Final] [RobertDeadth]

[RobertDeadth]

Good luck to you. It's too late to adapt your story to nonsense like mine, but I find that harem games with a dependable protagonist are an easier sell than those with a total nobody kid or a blank slate. Taking the personalities of your other characters seriously goes a long way to sidestep the least convincing tropes.

Thank you so much Yes, I'm trying to avoid the trope of the protagonist being a random kid who gets every woman lusting after him with the magical power of his giga-dong. I'm trying to write fairly believable and distinct characters who are different from one another, but if I actually managed to accomplish that, I guess it remains to be seen after at least the first episode is out. That said, the players won't be able to learn everything about all of the love interests in the first episode, some of them will get more screentime, others will have to wait for the next episodes since there's simply not enough time to get to know them all well in the first release, even though it will be fairly big (I have around 75 minutes done already, aiming for a bit over 90 minutes of playtime in the first episode overall).

My other advice is to know the harem game market and to seek to please a specific audience, best of all with yourself as top priority. I don't know if your game will be for me, I'll see it when the first episode is released.

Yes, this is very good advice. I enjoy playing many of the games here, and with my games, I'm trying to make something that I would enjoy playing. It obviously won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I'm hoping that it will find its audience

 

[Raife]

Yes, this is very good advice. I enjoy playing many of the games here, and with my games, I'm trying to make something that I would enjoy playing. It obviously won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I'm hoping that it will find its audience

That all sounds appealing, RobertD... good luck. (Jaike's advice is good, as usual... particularly on the MC.)

In my view, the car crash in true harem game development tends to come about halfway through, when (A) parallel stories involving the MC and LIs who never seem to meet each other become unrealistic and/or (B) the LIs _do_ finally meet each other and rapidly reconcile themselves to sharing the MC. Both of these events tend to nuke the credibility of the plot, and distort the LIs' personalities in fuckdoll-ish ways.

Have you considered the option of a 'semi-harem' scenario, like in _Where the Heart Is_?

In that game, there are some LIs who are open to sharing the (wunderschlong-equipped) MC with other LIs... but only because of the nature of their preexisting, well-established relationships (with one or two of the other LIs) and sexual quirks. But... there are some LIs who will _not_ share the MC, and many others who will only share with some LIs and not others

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This setup _still_ doesn't strike me as very plausible, and it is quite porn-y... but it allows the player to suspend disbelief a bit... and creates useful tension and potential 'game over' scenarios for the dev and player. It precludes the possibility of a giant harem/big love ending, but it creates multiple possibilities for separate endings: either with single LIs or what we might call 'small harems.'

 

[Spatenklopper]

RobertDeadth

I'm just so impertinent and ask
When can we expect a nice little demo of your new game?

I liked a date with emily and i'm curious what you have up your sleeve.

 

[RobertDeadth]

Raife Yeah, those are all good points and something that I'm also concerned about. Something that I think makes things a bit easier in my game, Tune in to the show, is the fact that the game already has a designated end date, that is 30 in-game days. So I know how the game is going to end, and it's not going to be dragging on forever, becoming more and more ridiculous.

My plan is to let the player decide which love interests are of interest to them sexually, and so let the player choose if they want to end up with 6 of them, or only 1, or any number at all. However, I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to game development so there won't really be completely different paths that change a lot of content or anything like that, since that would probably easily overwhelm me and the game would end up abandoned or half-assed.

Yes, there is still a problem of how to handle the love interests' attitude towards the MC being romantically and sexually involved with a few of them. I feel like my game's setting makes it somewhat easier for me, but still, I believe that there's always going to be a small unrealistic feel to it; but that's also the appeal of many adult games I guess, so I'm just hoping to make the unbelievableness of my game as believable as possible I'll do my best to make as good of a game as possible with my abilities and hardware, so hopefully it will prove enjoyable for some people at least

 

[RobertDeadth]

RobertDeadth

I'm just so impertinent and ask
When can we expect a nice little demo of your new game?

I liked a date with emily and i'm curious what you have up your sleeve.

If everything goes well, I'm planning to release the first episode around the 20th of February

 

[Spatenklopper]

and so let the player choose if they want to end up with 6 of them, or only 1, or any number at all.

Honestly?
That sounds awesome!!

It's always just as cramping to have to decide on an LI when there are several of them, as if you're forced into one path with LI's that you don't really like.

 

[Jaike]

I'm trying to write fairly believable and distinct characters who are different from one another, but if I actually managed to accomplish that, I guess it remains to be seen after at least the first episode is out. That said, the players won't be able to learn everything about all of the love interests in the first episode, some of them will get more screentime, others will have to wait for the next episodes since there's simply not enough time to get to know them all well in the first release, even though it will be fairly big (I have around 75 minutes done already, aiming for a bit over 90 minutes of playtime in the first episode overall).

That's indeed a big first release! Good luck on getting the remaining parts of the first episode done.

Yes, this is very good advice. I enjoy playing many of the games here, and with my games, I'm trying to make something that I would enjoy playing. It obviously won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I'm hoping that it will find its audience

If you've planned out the main content of the game, a good idea is to mention in the OP if it has or if it is going to have any of the most controversial content (basically anybody or anything else getting with a potential LI, also some unpopular fetishes) even if it doesn't correspond to a tag description. That can save you a lot of drama down the line.

Of _course_ it's the monogamous people in long-term relationships who suffer harem fatigue... we know how hard this shit is with _one person_ let alone half a dozen!

Dunno bout that, some big fans of harem games are pushing fifty or sixty and married. Must be energetic chaps.

 

[RobertDeadth]

That's indeed a big first release! Good luck on getting the remaining parts of the first episode done.

Thank you so much

If you've planned out the main content of the game, a good idea is to mention in the OP if it has or if it is going to have any of the most controversial content (basically anybody or anything else getting with a potential LI, also some unpopular fetishes) even if it doesn't correspond to a tag description. That can save you a lot of drama down the line.

Yes, absolutely. I will have to make a note in the OP that there won't be anyone else involved with the love interests in any way, and there won't be any content like rape, sleep sex, etc., since I don't want it in my game. Not sure what else might be controversial/unpopular, but I'll be able to give a pretty accurate list of what content I'm planning to include, so I should be good, hopefully.

 

[Raife]

Dunno bout that, some big fans of harem games are pushing fifty or sixty and married. Must be energetic chaps.

Or those lucky fellows don't have a middle-aged wife who remains a sex maniac like... uh... some people. Give Emily another 20 years and some more seasoning, and the poor worn-out MC would find it hard to imagine a plausible harem game, too.

 

[Raife]

Raife
I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to game development so there won't really be completely different paths that change a lot of content or anything like that, since that would probably easily overwhelm me and the game would end up abandoned or half-assed.

I'll do my best to make as good of a game as possible with my abilities and hardware, so hopefully it will prove enjoyable for some people at least

That's a wise approach, RobertD... even an experienced developer like EvaK can exhaust herself building detailed, multiple paths. I think you're smart to avoid that approach, particularly for your first full-length game.

But I do think your current plan lends itself to multiple endings, which might allow the player to validate that single LI or 'small harem' LI choice, per my previous post.

Last piece of gratuitous advice, though: don't listen too much to the punters... including me. There's a 'sameness' to most adult games, which comes from devs attempting to cater to the whims of the market. I tend to enjoy the work of devs who are a bit idiosyncratic... a bit personal and different. Stick with your vision.

 

[Jaike]

... and there won't be any content like... sleep sex,

I already love this game. Seriously, I don't 'get' why cheap sleep rape and full noncon sleep groping are so popular. Well, I do know the reasons but it still turns me off, although I don't mind the con noncon type.

Or those lucky fellows don't have a middle-aged wife who remains a sex maniac like... uh... some people. Give Emily another 20 years and some more seasoning, and the poor worn-out MC would find it hard to imagine a plausible harem game, too.

It sounds like the MC and... some people... could do with a consensual sleep sex arrangement.

Edit:

Don't give some people's wife any ideas, Jaike, or I'm going to blow out my back again.

Sorry for that!

BTW, 'some people's wife' just gave me some side eye and objected to being called a "middle-aged sex maniac" because it "sounded pejorative."

Well yes, "sex maniac" does sound pejorative.

 

[Raife]

I already love this game. Seriously, I don't 'get' why cheap sleep rape and full noncon sleep groping are so popular. Well, I do know the reasons but it still turns me off, although I don't mind the con noncon type.


It sounds like the MC and... some people... could do with a consensual sleep sex arrangement.

'Sleep sex' is an absolute turnoff for me, as well. Gruesome and anti-erotic. And don't even get jufot started on that subject. Another good choice from my point of view, RobertD.

Don't give some people's wife any ideas, Jaike, or I'm going to blow out my back again.

BTW, 'some people's wife' just gave me some side eye and objected to being called a "middle-aged sex maniac" because it "sounded pejorative." Some people's wife would prefer to be known as "an early middle-aged sex enthusiast or afficionado or skilled practitioner." She also wants it known that she enjoyed Emily's character, "because she has the right attitude."

 

[jufot]

'Sleep sex' is an absolute turnoff for me, as well. Gruesome and anti-erotic. And don't even get jufot started on that subject.

Oh, I could write an entire essay on how so many of the tags on F95 are thinly veiled, colourful euphemisms for rape and what that says about the audiences of such games. But I get hate mail when I do that, so I won't

 

[Dragon59]

Oh, I could write an entire essay on how so many of the tags on F95 are thinly veiled, colourful euphemisms for rape and what that says about the audiences of such games. But I get hate mail when I do that, so I won't

Yeah, probably better if you didn't. I'm a little surprised the mere mention hasn't gotten you facepalms (yet). I get a lot of them for talking about things like biology.

 

[Raife]

Yeah, probably better if you didn't. I'm a little surprised the mere mention hasn't gotten you facepalms (yet). I get a lot of them for talking about things like biology.

It just shows that all the best folks hang out on the Emily thread, Dragon. If he'd poked his head above the parapet on, say, the BAD thread, it would have been Butch & Sundance taking on the entire Bolivian Army... again.

 

[jufot]

I'm a little surprised the mere mention hasn't gotten you facepalms (yet).

Only because it's a low-traffic thread for a completed game that doesn't have any of the usual perversities.

I get a lot of them for talking about things like biology.

I don't bother with that either. Way too many are content with wilful disregard for reality. ItS jUsT pOrN mAaAaN! Perhaps ignorance is bliss after all.

 

[Dragon59]

I came here from a recommendation on a "story driven games" thread. One reason I want to try this out is that I realized that most of my story ideas are sagas and I need to get comfortable doing small stories first.

 

[RobertDeadth]

For anyone interested - the release of the first episode of my second game, Tune in to the show, is very close now. Most likely it will come out around the 15th of February, maybe a day or two earlier or later. Here's a banner I made for the game, in which you can see all of the main love interests I can't wait to finally release another game into the world

 

[Spatenklopper]

I'm excited to see what you've created. The banner makes you want more.

 

[RobertDeadth]

Tune in to the show Episode 1 is out! The download links are already up on my

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page, they should also be up soon (depending on the uploaders) on F95zone! If you have enjoyed A Date With Emily, or just are looking for something to play this weekend, please check it out! Any comments or feedback will help me greatly