Amount of preferred game mechanics ?

[cintix]

Hi,

I'm just started up creating a sandbox (right now its just grey boxing) for a game concept, that I thought my be fun.
I tried a lot of the great games shared in here, but a few stand out to me as more of a game. ( I mean no disrespect to any of the developers)

The amount of game mechanics are from almost none, just click on doors to more "advanced" inventory systems, object construction.
Ex. Treasure of Nadia beautiful game with fun mechanics. There are puzzles, combining objects. Now other games seem to go more for the level-up system grinding for love/lust and so on.

So I'm wondering what do you prefer ?
Do you want a adult game to be more easy going or are you missing some like more " Leisure Suit Larry " game ?

Navigating around , should it be clicking on rooms and maps, click to move or maybe FPS ?
Would you play a adult game with a controller or always a keyboard/mouse ?

How about having mini games in the game, but not like snake (even though i like snake), but more like a event?
Play tennis with your character or a car race ?

Do you mind grinding in games and if not. Is it time or the lack of rewards for doing it ?

That's just a few questions from me.
//Cintix

 

[DuniX]

Gameplay Mechanics with Porn as a Reward is a simple and reliable concept that works.
It can make you enjoy simple games that you normally wouldn't give a chance to.

What I don't like is "Story" games simply because they will never be finished you always wait around for small pieces of story progress to drop.

 

[Amethyst Star]

There are a lot of generic sandbox/grindfest (typically western) and battlefuck (typically eastern) games out there, and it's so boring. They can be well-executed, but most of them feel like shovelware.

If a game can differentiate itself with fun game mechanics, that's a win in my book. Even more so if the porn is either integrated with the gameplay or provided as a reward for good performance. Forcing me to play badly if I want to see any porn is such a turn off.

That said, if you want to introduce fun game mechanics, don't half-ass it. Inserting a badly-done minigame into a VN is a great way to take me out of it, particularly if I have to go through said shitty minigame more than once.

 

[rk-47]

Depends what game engine you are using, renpy then yes clicking doors and such like badik, milfy city or summertime saga are good examples and for rpgms then yes TON and lust epidemic are also good, but try to make custom higher quality assets and character cutouts instead of that default pixelated crap most rpgms have

 

[dooka58]

I really like management games where you're running a brothel or porn business, like Venus's Club, Brothel King, and Jack-O-Nine-Tails.
(edit: Hail Dicktator is one where you're managing a hotel, but it's turning out more like a dating sim or VN, at least in the beginning)

It would be great if devs tried for a fantasy strategy game where you're pillaging villages, kind of like the premise of Ravager, except that game is more of a VN with RPG elements.

It would be great if someone made a turn-based game like Seeds of Chaos but instead of focusing on the protagonist's personal story, have it be more of a kingdom/empire conquest strategy. That game is great, but the movement of a single unit is too limiting, and they really went too deep with the characters' story, IMHO.

I suppose Strive for Power combines the training and management mechanics I like, but the UI is not intuitive and too complex, and it really takes a bit of a grind to get started. Does anyone else have recommendations of similar games? (this is a bit off-topic; I suppose I should ask in the recommendations sub-forum, but these are the gameplay mechanics I like.)

 

[aattss]

I would say that it depends on how the game mechanics feed into the porn part. For example, in one survival game I played, if the player was too thirsty then they could get the liquid needed to survive by drinking cum or milk or piss (the latter of which could be disabled in the options). The thirst meter wasn't just there for the sake of it/to give the player meaningless mechanics to micromanage, like in another game I played where buying and eating sandwiches and water bottles at the convenience store every so often was just tedious.

If a mechanic isn't part of the porn and is just busywork then consider if you really need it. Ask what parts of the game can be made simpler or automatic. I could get how, like, grinding a stat is part of the game's theme about the MC becoming an attractive alpha male to conquer women or whatever, but consider adding difficulty modes which make the grinding go quicker for people who find the grinding tedious.

 

[fregreger]

I really like management games where you're running a brothel or porn business, like Venus's Club, Brothel King, and Jack-O-Nine-Tails.
(edit: Hail Diktator is one where you're managing a hotel, but it's turning out more like a dating sim or VN, at least in the beginning)

It would be great if devs tried for a fantasy strategy game where you're pillaging villages, kind of like the premise of Ravager, except that game is more of a VN with RPG elements.

It would be great if someone made a turn-based game like Seeds of Chaos but instead of focusing on the protagonist's personal story, have it be more of a kingdom/empire conquest strategy. That game is great, but the movement of a single unit is too limiting, and they really went too deep with the characters' story, IMHO.

I suppose Strive for Power combines the training and management mechanics I like, but the UI is not intuitive and too complex, and it really takes a bit of a grind to get started. Do anyone else have recommendations of similar games? (this is a bit off-topic; I suppose I should ask in the recommendations sub-forum, but these are the gameplay mechanics I like.)

I second this. This has got to be my favorite genre of game. I'm so tired of endless VN's where girls don't even have a sex counter, let alone an anal tightness ejaculation modifier. Randomly generated characters whom you can eugenically breed into different tiers of tracked values such as cum hair elasticity and hymen perforation strength. Honestly if a game looks nothing but like a stock market spreadsheet listing graphs and arrays of various stats, I would play the shit out of it. The closest games like that I've come across so far are Free Cities, Lab Rats 2, Stationmaster, Portals of Phareon, Female Secret Agent and Eratohok.

 

[Jman9]

It would be great if devs tried for a fantasy strategy game where you're pillaging villages, kind of like the premise of Ravager, except that game is more of a VN with RPG elements.

Defiler Wings, Time for Dragons, and Deranged Dragon Mod for the latter. Exactly the management counterparts of Ravager. The stolen art, the Runglish and, for the mod, the difficulty can be turn-offs.

 

[AetherL]

I don't really like games that add mini games or clicker stuff or rng when basically that's not the game. If I start a game as a VN I don't want to to have to make a series of clicks in a mini game without interest in itself.
I like certain types of games that can require a lot of clicks, but only when the game itself is like that. Strategi / combat etc ... whatever.
I like sandboxes when they are sandboxes, but vns that put sandboxes or freeroams or I don't know what name, it annoys me. I'm not saying it's bad, but I don't like it.

You took example of Treasure of Nadia, what I find interesting in the construction of this game is that the game is based on a kind of simple mini-game which is treasure hunting using a few items at times, pick them up etc ... But it is the game itself which is like that, it is integrated into the story.
Besides you have mini games not necessarily integrated into the story such as fishing, labyrinths etc ... But they are not mandatory, if you like it you can play it, otherwise you can continue the story without.

The basis of the story is that you want to be a treasure hunter like your father. So you're looking for treasures. It's part of the story. But the story is not that you want to be a treasure hunter and a bit of a fisherman so the fishing system is not mandatory. So it's cool.

But no.... for me the tennis / cooking mini games or whatever in a vn that is not a vn about tennis or cooking is not interesting...
If it's a game about tennis, with a whole match system that makes you move up in a ranking etc ... And either winning or losing the match has a lengthy impact on part of the story. Ok that's cool if it's done well.
On the other hand, a mini tennis game that came out of nowhere:
1- is ultra easy and in the end two button which gives you the possibility to choose between winning or losing achieves the same result.
2 - is a little more difficult and requires mastery, I would say no ... If I want to play tennis game, I play a tennis game.

 

[Jofur]

Overall I prefer my porn games to be reasonably casual. Don't get me wrong getting to the good stuff shouldn't be quick or painless by any means, that's just devalues the reward, but I don't necessarily want to play Dark Souls when I fap. In other words, the game shouldn't require me to reload/replay a bunch of areas, or read a walkthrough. If you have fail-states make sure those fail states do something erotic or will only be a small setback like rather than just have a game-over or fuck the player over to the point where you just reload a save.

For navigation it depends on the game, if you travel/talk to people a lot just clicking and teleporting is nice. Stuff like first person is way more immersive obviously, but it's only worth doing if the rest of the game is immersive along with it, and you don't make the game world too big so it takes ages to move from A to B.
I would never use a controller. Mouse centered gameplay is best IMO.

Mini-games I'm not overly fond of. I'd rather have the "challenge" be from some other aspect. Like time management or resource management.

I don't mind games that have some time-wasting/grinding elements, in fact to me that's part of the fun since I want to work for that reward, but I do think all elements should in some way progress the porn in a meaningful way. When I'm say, grinding for money, I want to know that I need 500 bucks to buy a necklace that will advance the plot as a motivation. If you use stuff like stats to block content, you need to make sure the player knows how to progress, and how much they need to grind.