Doing art for a first VN. Honey Select or?

[Rilevav]

I've been experimenting with putting out a short first VN before diving into a bigger project. Problem is I am staggeringly inept when it comes to art and not overburdened with budget for a hobby project. I've tried gathering free resources put out by generous creators but I quickly ran into issues with poses. Daz 3D is the recommended solution and I'm sure I can see why but it's a lot learning writing and Renpy and Daz3d.

From what I understand using Honey Select to make VNs is more tolerated than allowed so as a solution it won't scale if I want to do something bigger. But for now is it a good "good enough" tool? Which one should I use? And are there alternatives? I've seen Koikatsu party mentioned and it's got a more distinct art style which I like but I don't know about the practicalities since noone else seems to use it. Or should I just suck it up and spend the time and energy learning Daz?

 

[AnimeKing314]

Using honey select or koikatsu is about the same level of difficulty (koikatsu is probably a little bit easier just because of how many mods there are, check out the koikatsu repack here for a version that's pre-installed with all mods. Also while daz is dominating lately there are a fair number of koikatsu-based games listed here. Really it just comes down to what art style you prefer and what makes sense for your game. BTW, that game list is solely the koikatsu games, it doesn't include all the honey select, playhome, etc games so there's definitely a market for VNs created from illusion games. Where the sense of daz being ultimate and honey select/koikatsu being tolerated comes from is mostly that the daz crowd has a tendency (not all of them) to be elitist. There's actually a large number of people who prefer koikatsu style. In the end though, it really comes down to what you prefer because there's pros and cons to both sides.

 

[Aristro]

If you make a good game, I believe all of them are viable choices. But if it is an average game, I think Daz is more forgiving because some people will still play it for the renders. I started learning Daz few months ago and I don't think it is hard to learn. But it is Definitely hard to master. I am still figuring out different ways of properly lighting a scene...
At the end of the day all of these choices have fan bases, just pick whatever looks interesting to you...

 

[Rilevav]

Ah, I wasn't too clear. From what I understand with Daz the renders are yours to do whatever you want, that's what the licenses are for. But with Koikatsu or Honey Select it seems like you aren't actually supposed to use them to make VNs it's just that to my very limited knowledge Illusion have never stopped anyone using them that way. My reasons for writing are definitely story first so I'd be likely be happy to keep using something like Koikatsu forever if I wasn't concerned about the risks of using content I don't have an appropriate license for. Since for that reason I'll probably have to use Daz eventually it might be better to learn now rather than waste time learning another system.

Thanks for the responses anyway and thanks Animeking314 for the links. Be nice to see how they go.

 

[AnimeKing314]

Ah, I wasn't too clear. From what I understand with Daz the renders are yours to do whatever you want, that's what the licenses are for. But with Koikatsu or Honey Select it seems like you aren't actually supposed to use them to make VNs it's just that to my very limited knowledge Illusion have never stopped anyone using them that way. My reasons for writing are definitely story first so I'd be likely be happy to keep using something like Koikatsu forever if I wasn't concerned about the risks of using content I don't have an appropriate license for. Since for that reason I'll probably have to use Daz eventually it might be better to learn now rather than waste time learning another system.

Thanks for the responses anyway and thanks Animeking314 for the links. Be nice to see how they go.

Having been a fan of koikatsu for quite some time I can tell you that illusion has never taken action against any dev for using their games to create VNs so if that's your only concern then you're fine. Yes, they could if they want to but they don't even officially sell their game outside of Japan, instead they rely on a separate company (fakku) to do so. They also never even look at how their game is used outside of Japan.

On the daz side, the renders are yours but only if you actually buy the content which (depending on what you need) can be expensive. On this side too you likely won't get caught if you just use the stuff in the asset releases part of this forum. In summary, while it's a bit of a grey zone on either side if you go for the free options, you almost certainly won't face consequences either way (I don't know of any instance of a copyright claim for either option) so just pick whichever you like.

 

[Rilevav]

Thanks for that, I think for now I'll experiment with some of the simpler options so I can get at least started. What version of Honey Select would you say is the best at the moment or do they have pros and cons?

 

[AnimeKing314]

Thanks for that, I think for now I'll experiment with some of the simpler options so I can get at least started. What version of Honey Select would you say is the best at the moment or do they have pros and cons?

If you're going for Honey Select the second one should be better and there's tons of resources on this site for it. Really though it mostly comes down to preference for the art style as that varies a bit with each illusion game. The only other consideration is the older games tend to have more mods so you can do more with them but especially for a first project any of the illusion games should have the mods you need.

 

[Rilevav]

Great thanks for the help. I'll have a play see what I come up with.