Does Non-adult VN games success?

[hoproya12]

I wasn't familiar with Visual novels and Renpy till I saw this forum (I saw the Japanese before but didn't like them), So I started to play them, which I liked very much, and then I found the support for games(Patreon, Like and discussion from fans).

I was wondering, Are non-adult games have the same support and donation as Adults? Do people (you) support a game if it's not sexual?

 

[Avaron1974]

Depends.

There are plenty of non adult visual novels that have success and sold quite well but they need to be on point or catch people in some way.

Without that sex hook you need characters people will like, doesn't need to be a good guy, people love a well made baddie just as much.

It also needs a story people will latch onto.

Stein's Gate is probably one of the more well known ones. Phantom Trigger is another.

Easiest way to put it is anything will sell if it's enjoyable. By enjoyably I don't mean happy, also plenty of evidence that sad stories or bittersweet tales work just as well, I just mean something people will find worthwhile to have read.

Sex helps, it surely helps bad VN's make money, you need to put more care into non adult ones but they can and do find success.

I don't care if a VN has sex or not, i'm only interested in whether i'll enjoy it or not. I'm here for adult orientated material whether that be sexual or mature because of violent or horror content it doesn't matter. It's mainly interactive fiction regardless of content.

 

[215303j]

Actually I wasn't aware of any VN's without sexual content to be honest...
I have briefly wondered why I was not aware of them, but assumed they didn't exist and never looked into it.

On this site, there are several games with sexual content but where the porn is not the major part of the game.
The DeLuca Family is an example of this. It has sexual content, but more like a mainstream TV series for an adult audience rather than straight-up porn.

Personally I like such story-heavy games and prefer them to the more porn-like games.

Still I do play such games to fap because the build-up increases the pay-off, if that makes sense.

A game without any sexual content would seem like a waste. I mean, if it's intended for adults, then why not include sexual content? And if it's not intended for adults (e.g. for children), I likely would not be interested in the story either. I do realise that there is a grey area, but still.

On the other hand, would I like Lord of the Rings (the book) better if Tolkien had written in some explicit sex scenes? Probably not.
Would I have liked Lord of the Rings (the movies) better if Peter Jackson had produced a hard-core porn movie? Certainly not.
So maybe it's just a question of unfamiliarity.

 

[kytee]

If it's a non sexual game, then the premise has to be very interesting to get me to play. If it's just your stereotypical porn VN game, minus the porn, I wouldn't waste my time with it.

 

[khumak]

I think most people like a good story. The big difference for a VN is that an adult game can get away with a weaker story if it has good renders. Usually people playing those games are just skipping through the dialog so they can see the sex scenes though. If the game doesn't have any sex then you don't have that crutch. The story HAS to be good or there's no point.

 

[Fliptoynk]

I'm good with comedy. With sexy green humor. Like benny hill + al bundy

 

[215303j]

I think most people like a good story. The big difference for a VN is that an adult game can get away with a weaker story if it has good renders. Usually people playing those games are just skipping through the dialog so they can see the sex scenes though.

I kinda get what you are saying but even the porniest (is that a word?) of games, the story (and the choices that you make) is still what sets it apart from porn movies with actors.

Skipping all text doesn't make sense in my opinion. Skimming through it sure, skipping no.

 

[Joshua Tree]

I don't care if a VN has sex or not, i'm only interested in whether i'll enjoy it or not. I'm here for adult orientated material whether that be sexual or mature because of violent or horror content it doesn't matter. It's mainly interactive fiction regardless of content.

A lot of people seems to have a hard time see the difference between an "adult oriented" and porn/sexual though. Doing the; "adult game equal porn", and then lash out at creators for the lack of sex content, even the game/story itself is very much adult with mature content.

 

[Joshua Tree]

I think most people like a good story. The big difference for a VN is that an adult game can get away with a weaker story if it has good renders. Usually people playing those games are just skipping through the dialog so they can see the sex scenes though. If the game doesn't have any sex then you don't have that crutch. The story HAS to be good or there's no point.

Well, some people just like picture books, others won't mind a deep dive into literature

 

[hoproya12]

Thank everyone, I found some visual novels with no erotic content but good score from players. Something that I realized was they not only had a good story + they had an amazing beginning. Music and the visual were unique.
Obviously, they will not get that support like games here, but they have their own audience as well.

 

[hoproya12]

But its really interesting to know how many people here will try and support non-adult VN.

 

[215303j]

Obviously, they will not get that support like games here, but they have their own audience as well.

I do guess that depends and as I noticed before, unfamiliarity breeds contempt.

The mainstream movie / TV industry is way bigger than the porn industry.
Even moreso for literature.

I think that there are big advantages to the VN format.
By introducing meaningful choices, the reader/player gets more involved with the story.
In a traditional book / movie, you just observe the MC even if he makes bad or stupid choices which you can't identify with.
If it is worse enough, the book / movie may be discarded altogether.

So if the VN is a significant advantage, then why wouldn't it be a success?
It could potentially be bigger than mainstream literature, especially now that more and more people are reading books on tablets anyway.

 

[Joshua Tree]

I do guess that depends and as I noticed before, unfamiliarity breeds contempt.

The mainstream movie / TV industry is way bigger than the porn industry.
Even moreso for literature.

I think that there are big advantages to the VN format.
By introducing meaningful choices, the reader/player gets more involved with the story.
In a traditional book / movie, you just observe the MC even if he makes bad or stupid choices which you can't identify with.
If it is worse enough, the book / movie may be discarded altogether.

So if the VN is a significant advantage, then why wouldn't it be a success?
It could potentially be bigger than mainstream literature, especially now that more and more people are reading books on tablets anyway.

Problem with giving the player/reader meaningful choices, is to create enough paths/options for where the story lead. This again can end up a very large undertaking for the creator and in the end could give the fans a less rewarding experience. If you as a player have to wait months before a update land that actually continue the path with your decisions, players just get de-attached and lose interest. I like games where I as the player have enough choices in how to handle situations, but I know that these also far between due to the work involved in achieve that by the creator.

 

[SeventhVixen]

That's like asking if videogames without explicit sex scenes will sell.... Damn XD

Visual Novels are just a type of gameplay usually focused on story. And Patreon is a way of marketing games, same as Kickstarter or directly to Steam.

Long story short = good game sells. With sex or no sex.
For sure there are people out there looking for his next nonsexual VN same way there are people looking for his next sex-included VN.

As Avaron said,

Sex helps, it surely helps bad VN's make money,

There is this very old phrase in all Media... "Sex Sells"

 

[khumak]

I kinda get what you are saying but even the porniest (is that a word?) of games, the story (and the choices that you make) is still what sets it apart from porn movies with actors.

Skipping all text doesn't make sense in my opinion. Skimming through it sure, skipping no.

I meant just in the ones with really bad stories or dialog. There are some games where I'll skim through the story and dialog if it's good enough but still not really engaging. There are also some games I've run into that have really good renders and animations but the dialog is so bad I literally just hold down the control key and make random choices to see some of the sex scenes and then delete it. I'm literally done with the entire game in 10 minutes and have no idea what happened other than the fact that a few characters fucked. A good game I will actually read all of the dialog because I'm interested in the characters and the story and I actually want to know what's going on. The sex scenes are a bonus but they're not the reason I'm playing a good game.

 

[215303j]

So, does anyone here play / read these non-adult VN's?

How do you think they compare to the best adult VN's? (e.g. The DeLuca Family)

Avaron mentioned a few, but not whether she actually played or enjoyed them.

Stein's Gate is probably one of the more well known ones. Phantom Trigger is another.

 

[Deleted member 1370694]

I think so. There are plenty of them on steam etc. But 99% of them seem to be anime/japanese. So nothing for me sadly. But I wonder could a renpy kinetic visual novel (non-adult) and with daz3d renders instead of anime drawings work? if the story is rich, of course. Or is it more like that that the majority of visual novel players/readers are preferring anime/japanese style of renders/drawing and japanese crazy weird writing?

Because I'd love to see a western styled visual novel. I just don't know if there is a market for it outside of adult/lewd theme for western style visual novels.

 

[LewdCatgirl]

If it's good enough and relevant to my interests, absolutely. Analogue: A Hate Story is probably my favorite VN of all time and it has no adult content.

But it's much easier for a meh adult VN to be appealing to me than a meh non-adult VN.

 

[Konstantinus]

A VN does not need to have sex scenes for being good. For example Lucy: The eternity she wished for is a VN that goes under the skin. While I stopped sometime the VNs from Norn/Miel because it whas mostly sex and so got boring