Do H-scenes really need to be animated?

[Noah Neim]

I've seen alot of talk about animations.
Now, given that most play H-games are a very visual medium built for visual stimulation, so the porn naturally has to be good.
But does it actually require animation?
I've seen people dislike a game purely because it didnt have animated scenes, which seemed a bit ridicilous to me.
The human brain evolved over millions of years only for some of you to be unable to just leave your brain to auto fill for you?
Well, that's just my opinion i guess, one could say i'm either tolerant or have low standards.
There are other elements that could potentially enhance a scene, and maybe some discontent about a lack of animations is when the scenes are poorly written, so the only thing they hope for is good animations
In any case.

Hope to hear what you think.

 

[gostek]

For me, good writing and good animations are the perfect combination. But writing always comes first. Dirt talk is always welcome, but the animations themselves without any text, which happens in many games, is a big minus for me.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

For me, they don't even need to be illustrated, if the writing carries the scene.

 

[morphnet]

I've seen alot of talk about animations.
Now, given that most play H-games are a very visual medium built for visual stimulation, so the porn naturally has to be good.
But does it actually require animation?
I've seen people dislike a game purely because it didnt have animated scenes, which seemed a bit ridicilous to me.
The human brain evolved over millions of years only for some of you to be unable to just leave your brain to auto fill for you?
Well, that's just my opinion i guess, one could say i'm either tolerant or have low standards.
There are other elements that could potentially enhance a scene, and maybe some discontent about a lack of animations is when the scenes are poorly written, so the only thing they hope for is good animations
In any case.

Hope to hear what you think.

Do they NEED to be? No
Do some people WANT them to be? yes
Do some people mix up NEED and WANT? So often it's just sad.

 

[Noah Neim]

For me, good writing and good animations are the perfect combination. But writing always comes first. Dirt talk is always welcome, but the animations themselves without any text, which happens in many games, is a big minus for me.

For me, they don't even need to be illustrated, if the writing carries the scene.

I could say the same

Do they NEED to be? No
Do some people WANT them to be? yes
Do some people mix up NEED and WANT? So often it's just sad.

Fair point lol, i just got surprised how one can throw out a game on the lack of animations

 

[vinnaryGames]

I ask myself that question every single day lol..
Been refining my art for a while now, but my animation skills are pretty much non-existent.
From having played a lot of stuff, both eastern and western, having things a little less static certainly adds a bit of uniqueness and quality to it. Sometimes even just some basic mesh deform animations do the job (Without having to separate any parts of a drawing) A really good one I've currently been looking into a lot from a development standpoint is SHRIFT, as the bloke is pretty darn good at animating and storyboarding. Still, especially in the eastern room, the majority of games do not contain animations and rely solely on CG and flavour-text.

From a consumer standpoint, I'd also join the others - Writing is imo much more important than the actual visuals and in the end, animations are also bloating the workload quite a bit. If a certain scene is a miss for somebody, it doesn't matter if it's well animated or not. If you don't animate your scenes, you'd have more time to write a second one that may strike better.

But yeah, all in all, I still haven't come to a solid conclusion for myself and I'll start delving more into Spine soon, to see what can be done about it without it occupying the majority of my spare time. In the end, it's just a balance that needs to be found.

Whether or not your project even needs animations is another question entirely. I would really just go by what you feel comfortable with. If you yourself really want to have animations, then do look into it. But if you're doing it entirely "for the people", I'd recommend against it. There's plenty of great games with growing fanbases, that don't feature animation.

 

[FleshSac]

I want to watch the boobies bounce.

 

[morphnet]

Fair point lol, i just got surprised how one can throw out a game on the lack of animations

They throw out games without animations because of their taste, that part is fine, some people prefer watching tv/movies over reading.
The part that is not fine is low rating etc. games for not having animations when they never claim to have and/or because dev's won't stop and remake the whole game with animations.

Animations are like whipped-cream it can make some desserts and some sex better but it doesn't go with everything.

 

[Dessolos]

I only say yes because it feels like the norm and feels weird when it isn't however trustfully no they don't. Lewds probably only make up 10% or less of most AVN's so you arent missing much if there is good story and characters if there are no animations.

 

[Monosomething]

You say "no" to slideshow games like you say "no" to your ex. You dont compromise - you accept it as fact. Like dogma in religion.

 

[desmosome]

If you are the average western dev that can't create eroticism or fetishism through writing, then yeah, I guess you gotta rely on them bouncing tiddies.

 

[tuvrelm11]

Absolutely not. The what and the how depends on the game. The most important thing is that the devs do what they want and are good at. Balooning your game's development time 20x fold seems like a bad idea, at least to me.

 

[aura95]

No.

Good presentation is always a welcome bonus, certainly. But the strength of the medium doesn't lie in moving pictures, which can be easier had by way of RL porn or the scene of dedicated (semi-) professional sex animators anyway.
The medium's true super power is its ability to generate a broader and deeper set of feelz than simple videos can by providing context and interactivity.

And so I'd much rather have the author spend their time on refining their writing, game design and programming skills, than waste it dabbling in the extremely complex field of 3D animation for something that can only bring limited additional value to a scene when done right, but can completely throw the player out of the experience when done poorly.

Before I have to torture my brain with another stiff and downright unhealthy looking "baby's first key-framed animation with barely working pre-built IK", I'll happily just let it make up the sexy in-between of a set of stills by itself in any case...

 

[Noah Neim]

I ask myself that question every single day lol..
Been refining my art for a while now, but my animation skills are pretty much non-existent.
From having played a lot of stuff, both eastern and western, having things a little less static certainly adds a bit of uniqueness and quality to it. Sometimes even just some basic mesh deform animations do the job (Without having to separate any parts of a drawing) A really good one I've currently been looking into a lot from a development standpoint is SHRIFT, as the bloke is pretty darn good at animating and storyboarding. Still, especially in the eastern room, the majority of games do not contain animations and rely solely on CG and flavour-text.

From a consumer standpoint, I'd also join the others - Writing is imo much more important than the actual visuals and in the end, animations are also bloating the workload quite a bit. If a certain scene is a miss for somebody, it doesn't matter if it's well animated or not. If you don't animate your scenes, you'd have more time to write a second one that may strike better.

But yeah, all in all, I still haven't come to a solid conclusion for myself and I'll start delving more into Spine soon, to see what can be done about it without it occupying the majority of my spare time. In the end, it's just a balance that needs to be found.

Whether or not your project even needs animations is another question entirely. I would really just go by what you feel comfortable with. If you yourself really want to have animations, then do look into it. But if you're doing it entirely "for the people", I'd recommend against it. There's plenty of great games with growing fanbases, that don't feature animation.

You really don't need to worry that much
And please DO NOT replicate shrift

For me personally, those really weird images that look like they're being stretched out in photoshop is far worse than having no animation

Learning animation is certaintly a good skill for you, and im certaintly not telling you to stop, but don't limit whatever goal you have simply by not being able to do it, focus on your strengths for now and slowly develop yourself

 

[Noah Neim]

They throw out games without animations because of their taste

yeah i 'm fine with that, you can not like something, but calling it bad because it doesnt have that something you want is wrong, like you said

You say "no" to slideshow games like you say "no" to your ex. You dont compromise - you accept it as fact. Like dogma in religion.

So should games and the industry itself work to switch over where every game requires animation?

If you are the average western dev that can't create eroticism or fetishism through writing, then yeah, I guess you gotta rely on them bouncing tiddies.

I know you say average, but i still don't think western devs are that much worse at writing sex
It's a real skill, maybe even harder than general writing, capturing the passion and feelings in the act properly is something few can do
But japanese or other asian media arent some heralds of porn writing, it's generally pretty even

Absolutely not. The what and the how depends on the game. The most important thing is that the devs do what they want and are good at. Balooning your game's development time 20x fold seems like a bad idea, at least to me.

It's interesting you mention this from a game dev standpoint, drawing an image vs drawing an entire animation will take more time, though maybe not 20 fold lol (i know you're exeggerating)
Good show

No.

Good presentation is always a welcome bonus, certainly. But the strength of the medium doesn't lie in moving pictures, which can be easier had by way of RL porn or the scene of dedicated (semi-) professional sex animators anyway.
The medium's true super power is its ability to generate a broader and deeper set of feelz than simple videos can by providing context and interactivity.

And so I'd much rather have the author spend their time on refining their writing, game design and programming skills, than waste it dabbling in the extremely complex field of 3D animation for something that can only bring limited additional value to a scene when done right, but can completely throw the player out of the experience when done poorly.

Before I have to torture my brain with another stiff and downright unhealthy looking "baby's first key-framed animation with barely working pre-built IK", I'll happily just let it make up the sexy in-between of a set of stills by itself in any case...

Good take, due to the large skill curve of animation already, it's very unlikely a new time dev to actually create something good

 

[vinnaryGames]

You really don't need to worry that much
And please DO NOT replicate shrift

For me personally, those really weird images that look like they're being stretched out in photoshop is far worse than having no animation

Learning animation is certaintly a good skill for you, and im certaintly not telling you to stop, but don't limit whatever goal you have simply by not being able to do it, focus on your strengths for now and slowly develop yourself

Shrift is a mixed bag, the art itself has its flaws for sure, but what I'm talking about is the storyboarding - The way the camera moves, the way how layers interact with each other in order to create certain effects, that's my main takeaway from it. He's not the best artist, but a good animator/director.

Focusing on the strengths is certainly the way to go~ Thanks for the kind words!

 

[4 Anon]

Honestly having bad animations tends to be a dealbreaker for me. Just images works fine, no images is fine, great animations are fine, 2d/3d whatever, but nothing ruins immersion in a game more than bad animations added for the sake of having animations. It disrupts just as much as poor writing would.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

In an ideal world, yes, why wouldn't I want animations literally everyewhere? But given the limited budget, I'd like for the majority of it to go towards writing, gameplay, and static art.

 

[woody554]

i just got surprised how one can throw out a game on the lack of animations

there's thousands of these games and a torrent of new ones flooding us every day. to shift through that mountain of smut people instinctively develop hair-trigger selection heuristics just to arrive to a manageable number of candidates. for most those pre-selection rules are pretty random.

but you gotta have SOME system or you'll never arrive to a decision.

 

[Noah Neim]

you gotta have SOME system

Maybe so, i guess i can't expect cold calculated rationale and objectivity, it's not in human natrue