JohnF95zone

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Oct 31, 2017
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First off, congrats on getting your first patron(y) before the game is even released. I hope it will get more exposure and attracts more interests.

The inbox system serves as a powerful tool for managing content within your game. It allows you to create and organize a wide range of emails that can contain important information, clues, or even conversations between characters. Email exchanges add a new layer of immersion and realism to the gameplay experience, staying away from your typical formats.

Beware, like in the real world, missing a message at an urgent time can lead to unexpected consequences in the game.
Cool feature, personally I like it. However, I can already anticipate that many players will be complaining about this regardless if it was very well implemented and executed, because some player just play how they want, don't really care about how the game should be played and/or will just complain about anything really:p.

My wish is that you will remain steadfast and hold onto this feature even if there will be backlash since it is a differentiating feature compared to other games out there. You just have to make it very clear about the importance of emails ( in the game itself, in addition to this journal entry ) and make it very clear and visible so that players can't accidentally miss it when they receive new email ( using for example 'hard pause', 'almost-permanent notification' or whatever most relevant techniques and/or tools which I myself not really familiar with to be honest:p ).
 

Deleted member 2282952

Developing I SCREAM
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First off, congrats on getting your first patron(y) before the game is even released. I hope it will get more exposure and attracts more interests.
I was surprised too - and after texting the person why they would support me even without the demo, they said that they liked the visuals and story, which is just awesome to hear. I thought I would get the first patron in like a couple of months; I consider this a milestone.

Cool feature, personally I like it. However, I can already anticipate that many players will be complaining about this regardless if it was very well implemented and executed, because some player just play how they want, don't really care about how the game should be played and/or will just complain about anything really:p.

My wish is that you will remain steadfast and hold onto this feature even if there will be backlash since it is a differentiating feature compared to other games out there. You just have to make it very clear about the importance of emails ( in the game itself, in addition to this journal entry ) and make it very clear and visible so that players can't accidentally miss it when they receive new email ( using for example 'hard pause', 'almost-permanent notification' or whatever most relevant techniques and/or tools which I myself not really familiar with to be honest:p ).
I think Being a Dik nailed the communication system in the game (except for the overall design, which I am not a fan of) in a way how it gives additional immersion into the world while not being necessary. The difference here is that some of the choices made during Inbox sequences will have an impact on the story, or give tips to the player that something would happen if they don't do X before doing Y.

Since the game isn't just a visual novel, ChimeraPad (worked 'very hard' on that name) is a way to interact with the world outside of the novel sequences (or during them). 'Characters' gives additional ways to interact with girls, 'Map' is how you select the next step you take in the game (which matters), and Inbox is intended to give you deeper context.

I am still ironing things out regarding how prevalent the mechanic will be. I have a picture in my head of how I want the Map to be, but I think I will leave its usage more for key story points rather than overall gameplay - still thinking.
 
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JohnF95zone

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Oct 31, 2017
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Cool. I hope some member can give better feedbacks on these soundtracks because I am tone deaf:ROFLMAO: but in general adding musics and sound effects improve the gaming experience tremendously, a lot.

I would say they all sounds good to me. However, the Tension soundtrack is kinda a little bit off to me when the piano? is playing ( starting at the 0:50 mark ). I think it is because I associated piano tunes to joy so for the Tension build up it feels off to me. But yeah, I am no where good at music and sound stuff so my opinion is strictly noob.

One thing I would like to remind is that you preset the game music, sound, voice volume at below 50% because the soundtracks are really clear and quite loud. I use headphones and my system volume is at 50% and yeah it is loud enough I have to reduce to 40%. There will unhappy players if the game volume preset is maxed out ( although it is actually their fault to crank up their system volume in the first place ).
 

Deleted member 2282952

Developing I SCREAM
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Cool. I hope some member can give better feedbacks on these soundtracks because I am tone deaf:ROFLMAO: but in general adding musics and sound effects improve the gaming experience tremendously, a lot.

I would say they all sounds good to me. However, the Tension soundtrack is kinda a little bit off to me when the piano? is playing ( starting at the 0:50 mark ). I think it is because I associated piano tunes to joy so for the Tension build up it feels off to me. But yeah, I am no where good at music and sound stuff so my opinion is strictly noob.

One thing I would like to remind is that you preset the game music, sound, voice volume at below 50% because the soundtracks are really clear and quite loud. I use headphones and my system volume is at 50% and yeah it is loud enough I have to reduce to 40%. There will unhappy players if the game volume preset is maxed out ( although it is actually their fault to crank up their system volume in the first place ).
Oh yeah, those tracks are low/mid poly versions, I mostly wanted to communicate the vibe, those things will be refined. I felt like making some music, that's why it's here now.

Thanks for listening! The issue with the melody is mostly mixing and fixing sharpness - I plan to just kill off all 'lead melody' parts when they are added to the actual game, pretty common practice, and efficient because you get two songs (good to finally use my music education before I moved to game dev).

Lol, I remember there was one game here, can't remember which one, I downloaded, started playing it, and then BOOM, the 1000% volume music blasted my headphones, and I got mad and deleted the game. So yes, you definitely don't want to deafen the users and get yourself blasted in the reviews.

But, when you create Noir experiences, music is vital to set the mood, that's why it's a must for me to have good music and really good sound effects. After all, it's supposed to be a high-end adult game (well, as high as one and a half persons can make it).

Always appreciate your responses JohnF95zone !!
 
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JohnF95zone

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Oct 31, 2017
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The environment assets looks nice. Feels like in a WWII games. Solid prologue/intro I say even before I play it:D. The protagonist is well-defined with a backstory ( not yet revealed ), IMO the second scene basically puts the protagonist at a crossroad/turning point of his life ( which later developed into the 3 routes by the choices made by the player )(y). Shifting this focus into protagonist 'internal struggle' keeps the audience engage with him and paying less attention to the mysterious, foreign, unknown world of Chimera ( which will be revealed slowly later as the story/game progresses ).
 

Deleted member 2282952

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The environment assets looks nice. Feels like in a WWII games. Solid prologue/intro I say even before I play it:D. The protagonist is well-defined with a backstory ( not yet revealed ), IMO the second scene basically puts the protagonist at a crossroad/turning point of his life ( which later developed into the 3 routes by the choices made by the player )(y). Shifting this focus into protagonist 'internal struggle' keeps the audience engage with him and paying less attention to the mysterious, foreign, unknown world of Chimera ( which will be revealed slowly later as the story/game progresses ).
One of my favorite (and frankly, very underutilized storytelling tools) are PoVs and inner thoughts, I plan to make a lot of those, from various characters. I am happy with the opening sequence & the quality - stuff I posted reveals very little from all of the things I rendered out.

The 3D library of assets I own is pretty massive (I have been buying everything from Daz stores on sales for the past couple of months - decided to invest heavily to make sure nothing limits me & I have licenses for official releases), so at this point, the world can be as big as I want it to be, in any setting, and mixing those settings to create something time-period mismatched in a good way. Same for characters.

And don't forget, the female characters will be voiced, and I am satisfied with the quality of the voices. Though, I am still thinking what parts are worth and not worth it to voice, would love to get feedback on it after the demo is out.

Hopefully, I can build up some interest here before publishing the demo (like you being a big help!), should be able to push the first demo in 1-2 weeks, depending on how many bugs I end up facing after first-time builds.

Exciting! Always appreciate your comments!

I am looking forward to seeing more people write to get more feedback and perspectives! :)
 
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osanaiko

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Wow, I can feel your enthusiasm coming right through the screen... multiple big update messages per day! Must be a record, lol.

I always like to encourage new developers, so welcome to the wonderful world of NSFW indie games. I'll be honest and say that I didn't read all of the wall of text that this thread has become, but a couple of things I wanted to give you some feedback about.

I don't disagree completely with the advice you got from JohnF95 about the extreme violence kinks that you've decided to remove - it's certainly not my cup of tea - but the most common advice I've seen in response to the (surprisingly regular) posts asking about "what game themes / kinks should I include in my game" is this: build a game that caters to *your* interests, not one that focuses on what you think is going to be "successful".

This advice aims to help devs get over the biggest stumbling point that most face, which is losing interest/motivation part way through a project, usually after they realise just how much work it is going to be. The idea is that if a dev is building content that they personally find exciting then they are more likely to continue, in comparison to the downer of forcing themsleves to build out a game focusing on stuff that doesn't turn them on.

In your case, it seems that perhaps it doesn't matter so much given how productive and enthusiastic you are. And your background in SFW game development (or perhaps marketing?) probably has left you with no illusions into the long hard slog needed to complete and ship something.

Also one thing I noticed from your first post is this line: "cutting-edge 3D modeling and AI technologies." It sounds great but anyone who is a F95 regular will recognise the screen shots as fairly standard daz renders with perhaps a denoise filter, just like 100s of other games on here. I'm not saying this to discourage you, but I think tuning your message to your audience is a good idea.

I wish you good luck, and I'm looking forward to playing your demo when it comes out. (y)
 

Deleted member 2282952

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Welcome to the thread, osanaiko! I've also seen your comment on the second one, and I do see your point that having two threads might not be appropriate, I won't be updating the other one.

Wow, I can feel your enthusiasm coming right through the screen... multiple big update messages per day! Must be a record, lol.
For my real-life job, I spend most of the time writing game docs and tech specs, and this is just something I enjoy doing; helps me organize my thoughts and brings in feedback from people like you that can familiarize themselves to the extent they are willing to read the text.

I always like to encourage new developers, so welcome to the wonderful world of NSFW indie games. I'll be honest and say that I didn't read all of the wall of text that this thread has become, but a couple of things I wanted to give you some feedback about.
I would be surprised if anyone does, a lot of it is for me since this is how I structure my work. I've been playing NSFW games probably for a decade, and hopefully can make a good entry, there is definitely an existing gap of high-fidelity (hopefully) NSFW games. Not that there aren't any, just that there aren't enough imo.

I don't disagree completely with the advice you got from JohnF95 about the extreme violence kinks that you've decided to remove - it's certainly not my cup of tea - but the most common advice I've seen in response to the (surprisingly regular) posts asking about "what game themes / kinks should I include in my game" is this: build a game that caters to *your* interests, not one that focuses on what you think is going to be "successful".
When developing games, I typically consider reverse engineering two things as primary:

1) Interests of the target audience, which in the case of Adult Games seem to be Redditors/F95 members and Steam-only adult audiences. I am still learning Persona and behaviors here.
2) Steam content policies to ensure there are no issues with making the game accessible.

After reading John's advice, I definitely felt comfortable removing extreme violence, and replaced it with something a bit more interesting.

This advice aims to help devs get over the biggest stumbling point that most face, which is losing interest/motivation part way through a project, usually after they realise just how much work it is going to be. The idea is that if a dev is building content that they personally find exciting then they are more likely to continue, in comparison to the downer of forcing themsleves to build out a game focusing on stuff that doesn't turn them on.
True, it's important to have an incentive to succeed, which for me, is escaping the grind.

I know there aren't a lot of sex scenes yet, because I mostly left them to the end because it fit dev cycle better this way, they will be coming, and I've been learning to make good animations.

In your case, it seems that perhaps it doesn't matter so much given how productive and enthusiastic you are. And your background in SFW game development (or perhaps marketing?) probably has left you with no illusions into the long hard slog needed to complete and ship something.
Oh yeah, I definitely have no illusions about how long it takes, but things get easier once you have a good codebase. Adult games have easier pipeline, but you can't just sit down in a two-day sprints (how I like working) to finish big chunks of work due to render times.

Also one thing I noticed from your first post is this line: "cutting-edge 3D modeling and AI technologies." It sounds great but anyone who is a F95 regular will recognise the screen shots as fairly standard daz renders with perhaps a denoise filter, just like 100s of other games on here. I'm not saying this to discourage you, but I think tuning your message to your audience is a good idea.
I will be 100% real, I am so used to writing promotional materials and publisher/government documents that these sorts of phrasings become automatic with me. I am using a set of AI tools for image post-processing, but I do see your point, I have difficulties turning down my marketing speak, habits die hard. I will do another pass on the text.

I wish you good luck, and I'm looking forward to playing your demo when it comes out. (y)
Thanks! It's lots of fun, and I am definitely learning a lot of skills I didn't have before.
 

JohnF95zone

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Oct 31, 2017
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P.S. The sex animations look really good, but 8 seconds take 46 hours to render. Ah!
While having really good animations are great, animations in general are not a hard requirement especially for story focus, narrative driven type of games. Also, if the animations end up being mediocre at best but takes a lot of time and resources to pull off, seems to be not so encouraging ROI. As the game developer, you have to take that into considerations especially for development works of future updates. At least for the first release or demo, the animations are good selling point to showcase your capability and potential, with great hardware, software and supports the renders and animations can be improved further. In some projects ( very few ), there is a dedicated 3D artist or machine just for doing the animations. I hope you have tricks up your sleeve for tackling the animations dilemma.
 

Deleted member 2282952

Developing I SCREAM
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While having really good animations are great, animations in general are not a hard requirement especially for story focus, narrative driven type of games. Also, if the animations end up being mediocre at best but takes a lot of time and resources to pull off, seems to be not so encouraging ROI. As the game developer, you have to take that into considerations especially for development works of future updates. At least for the first release or demo, the animations are good selling point to showcase your capability and potential, with great hardware, software and supports the renders and animations can be improved further. In some projects ( very few ), there is a dedicated 3D artist or machine just for doing the animations. I hope you have tricks up your sleeve for tackling the animations dilemma.
That's actually one of my learnings after playing lots of new/finished/unfinished/etc. games - it's good to start by showcasing a skillset, and I noticed that a lot of successful games almost immediately start with a sex scene, which I like as well, because it shows whether this content does a thing for you or not. Start with action, so to speak.

Then, I will see about the trade-offs. The hard thing is that if I have 2 workstations running to make 220 renders for a 7-second animation, I can't do any other rendering cause GPU gets all used up.

I'm pretty confident in the quality of the animation. Making it, surprisingly, is not as difficult as rendering it. My Alienware got so insanely loud that I had to move my setup to a closet cause I couldn't fall asleep. Video interpolation AI tools are really cool as well, excited to test them out and see the quality difference.

You learn a lot about hardware surprisingly from making adult games, lol
 
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