Hey everyone,
Suppose I have a script/overview for a story (featuring BE and similar transformations) and I want to turn it into a visual novel. In your opinion, what’s the best way to create assets for it?
Since this would be my first narrative game, I’m trying to keep the scope small. I’m aiming for just a few characters and a kinematic story, maybe with a choice at the end that leads to different endings—something similar to Tjord's
Valdana the Fall and
Issis the Corruption (both great games with BE, even if it’s not the main focus).
The main assets I’d need are character sprites (consistent with the transformations) and background art. Here’s what I’ve considered so far:
- AI Assets: I have the technical know-how and the hardware to run a good image generator locally with different ComfyUI workflows. The problem is the bitching around AI usage (if this thread turns into another "AI bad because theft" debate, I’m going to lose my fucking mind) and the inconsistency between assets. Even after training a LoRA for a specific art style, the results still feel like they come from unrelated sources. I’ve also struggled with consistency between character sprites and CG art for scenes. Characters in CGs often look too different from their sprites, and even using inpaint doesn’t fully fix the issue.
- HS2: My main issue with HS2 (besides it being somewhat overused) is the lack of clothing and maps in the default setup. This feels like a skill issue because there are plenty of games where developers use a wide variety of clothes and maps. I just don’t know where to find or create them. For this project, I’d mostly need fantasy RPG-style designs. If anyone knows where I can find those, let me know. I like HS2 because it has a modifiable light-rendering engine and some pre-made animations, which—while overused—would work well for my project.
- DAZ 3D: This is the one I know the least about, but it seems pretty common, especially for comics. My concern is that it’s not a "character modeling software," so modifying character structures (like expanding the breasts) seems like a hassle. If anyone knows how to make that easier, I’d be open to checking it out.
- Blender: Blender obviously offers the most freedom, but it’s also the hardest to use. I know the basics (mostly for low-poly 3D games), but I’m far from being able to create realistic 3D human models. I’m including it here just in case someone knows of a simpler way to use it—maybe base models with sliders and preset clothing/hair/eyes, similar to HS2. Otherwise, I don’t think I have the skills to make it work.
If you know of any other ways to tackle asset creation, I’d love to hear about them. I’m not expecting my project to be groundbreaking or vastly different from what’s already out there, but I think it’ll be fun to create. Who knows? Maybe it’ll even be worth sharing once it’s done!