Concept Development

[MidnightGM]

Hey,

So as the title says, this is more of a concept for now, though I have a lot of things written and planned out, but nothing that I could put into a demo yet (sorry if this is the wrong section to post this kind of thing).

Some concept art:


I have not really tried working on erotic games before, but I have played quite a few and I just had some ideas floating in my head, now trying to get something going, see where it takes me.

The idea (as I hope the "fake" screenshots show) is to make an isometric exploration/adventure style game with some rogue-like elements. I honestly don't want to say much about the premise and plot that I'm working on, not that it's a mind-blowing epic tale. I just figure I'll talk about the project outlines and ask for some opinions from you, mainly if you have useful advice and whatnot.

At this moment I'm just a single person, mostly writing and doing some art tests like the ones above to see how it all could translate. Whether it looks exciting or not.
Coding is probably my weakest side in all this, though I know some basics to a point where I can at least talk to programmers on the level, but I would feel a little overburdened if I tried to do everything by myself.

Which leads me to my first question...
- Could anyone give me estimates of how much programmers would charge for doing side-work for H-games, part-time and stuff?

I have my regular day job obviously, so now I'm trying to weigh my options and see if I can afford to hire another person to help out with the project, or if I should get some crowdfunding going first and then if it raises money, hire somebody? Or offer to split profits?
I don't really have a plan for that side of business. All I know is that it would take way too long for me to just soldier through it by myself, and I know for sure I'll lose interest at some point if it's going to be just up to me.

Anyway, I don't know if any programmers will read this or someone who worked on other projects and could advise. If it all depends on the details, I'm more than happy to talk in private.

As far as the game mechanics and how I'm thinking it's all going to work, well I do have an extensive stat system, as I want to make this akin to D&D or Shadowrun in the way the character sheet tells the essence of every character pretty well (Enemies/Monsters/Bosses included). Like, you know, a guy with maxed out Strength and Dexterity probably doesn't have that much left for brain power. So all NPCs would have the same building blocks as the main character, obviously with a slight erotic tilt to it.

Then on the writing side of things... I hate repetition in lore and dialogue, and I hate reading a lot of it myself, I don't think anybody really does. So if it absolutely can't be displayed visually or shown through play, I would want to write smaller bits that occure more often instead of big chunks that are dropped on you and bore you for a handful of minutes at a time, making you just skip most of it.
Like one of the things that I really feel is hard to get past is the ton of exposition text right at the start of a fantasy/sci-fi game, when it tells you the history of the land and some ancient war, etc etc. And then every interesting quest is set up by a bunch of upfront talk by the quest-giver, which you just end up skipping and then don't know what to do in the quest half-way through.

Well, those are some of my concerns that I'm trying to address and work around.

...

To bottom line.
I guess it would be great if someone could advise how to get things rolling with a team. And in particular if it can get really expensive.
Mind you, I have worked on games before, and with rather big teams too. It's just that none of my normie contacts are into this erotic stuff, so I'm feeling a bit lonely, you could say.

If anyone has their experiences to share, or just their thoughts. Do feel free. Thanks!

 

[Perverteer]

I can't give you any hard numbers, but creating an isometric RPG will require quite a lot of work and a very dedicated programmer alongside a writer and an artist. You need to design and implement a lot of systems, like inventory management, quest tracking, character progression, combat, conversations, to name a few.

That said, your concept art looks pretty damn nice. I don't know how good your nudes are, but I think this quality level of artwork would draw an audience, even though you intended it as concept art. In the jungle of 3DCG adult games, 2D artwork really stands out. That said, my advice would be to start small and utilize your strengths (art and writing). Why not create a visual novel with the artwork and story you can create yourself? Ren'Py is not that hard to get into and you could theoretically get a programmer to add some RPG-like elements to it, like combat or character attributes.

 

[PotentiallyZebra]

Hey, I may be able to do some programming on this project. DM me?

 

[MidnightGM]

I can't give you any hard numbers, but

I agree with you on the 2D art over 3D in a case like mine. It's one of the reasons why I want to give it a try. I'm fairly confident that I could do all the art assets and writing myself since I've done that before (maybe eventually get a proof reader, but that's it). My only other concern is whether I want to go with just illustrated scenes like you suggest, or do something animated, in which case I would probably need an extra hand there too.

That said I'm not doing a visual novel for sure, that's just not enough to keep me interested to begin with. I have worked on other RPG games (just nothing lewd and never tried hiring people myself, you see), so if anything I could at the very least make an isometric game where it's possible for a character to move around and explore, have a sense of space and freedom rather than being confined in the dialogue options of a visual novel. I can already do something like that myself, in Godot engine or Game Maker studio it's fairly easy, Unity too would be another contender but I only gave side-scrollers a try there.

Dialogue options, character progression, and quest tracking are non-issues I believe. I probably won't have actual "tracking" at all, and focus on an organic integration of how quests and missions are fulfilled. Maybe just a generic journal that pins the quest as complete or in progress, but nothing more. Will be at the players discretion how much they want to keep track of it.

Inventory I feel I can make minimal and not worry about any complicated sorting or whatever else. Items can be just unique batches of stats, or randomized ones, or just something that adds an extra skill/ability to use. It's more a question of design than actual coding work.

Combat (or rather, the encounters) is the real headache. Maybe because I'm not sure how interesting/complex I should make it, like how interesting the "AI" should be. Probably doing something turn-based and then just rolling numbers like any Final Fantasy or JRPG, with the enemy bots just having priority on which actions to do first.