Hi, just to clarify first: I’m a beginner hobbyist who only started trying out game development not long ago. I have a full-time job elsewhere, so I don’t really worry about career, reputation, or income when it comes to this.
The reason I started making games in the first place was simply to create something that fits my own taste (because there wasn't in other game sites), and 7CP is filled with exactly that. My tastes lean toward dark dungeon exploration and muscle/bara male characters, but it’s not just about the theme or characters. What matters most to me in both playing and making games is the sense of hidden content and the player’s satisfaction in discovering or achieving it. Of course, I know that in this genre most players come for porn and fap material. But I didn’t want my game to just be “meet a guy → oh damn he’s sexy → sex scene → route completion! Hurray!” Instead, I wanted more complex paths. If you’ve played it, you’ve probably noticed there are lots of things tucked away—new content you stumble across while exploring the dungeon, CGs that only unlock when certain conditions are met, nightmare CGs that require specific in-game values, or special outcomes when you form particular team compositions.
So, why am I so cautious about distribution? It’s because I don’t like the idea of these hidden elements being exposed publicly before players have the chance to naturally discover them themselves. Unlike other engines (like Ren’Py), Twine doesn’t allow any real encryption—the CGs are just sitting there in the files. That makes it too easy for everything to get spoiled without effort. On top of that, yeah, the CG quality and my coding are still kind of rough, so I’d rather not have all that laid bare. Also, as the person above mentioned, I also want to provide exclusive early access for patrons so they can feel they are truly getting something unique. That’s one of the things I promised them. So it’s not that I’m worried about random people online seeing AI CGs. I’ve already uploaded over 10,000 images to platforms like Civitai. But at least for my very first game, I want to keep what’s inside under wraps until it’s actually finished, and also for my patrons.
When the game is complete, it’ll be a different story. For example, I previously uploaded a small experimental game called
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to itch.io. Once its updates were finished, I released a downloadable version since there wasn’t really any hidden content left (though I’ve since taken it down now due to the itch NSFW crackdown). So yeah, it’s really just a simple reason—or maybe stubbornness—that I don’t want to release the files publicly until the game is done.
There’s also the fact that I don’t have much confidence in putting myself out there. I’ve been hit with harsh comments/messages before, and it left me with a weird kind of low self-esteem about whether my game is actually fun or even decent. Thankfully, there are also many people who enjoy it, but those experiences make me hesitant about going fully public for now.
As for AI art—honestly, I don’t feel particularly proud about using it (I’ve gotten plenty of curse words in comments for it too). But my only real reason for doing so was practical: it’s the fastest way to produce a large volume of CGs(which is very important in porn game). Replacing over 2,000 images with commissions from real artists just isn’t feasible for me—the cost alone would be overwhelming, and the pace of development would slow to a crawl. Even so, I’ve spent a lot of time building my own LoRA and prompt combinations to avoid the kind of low-quality, inconsistent “AI slop” you can crank out in seconds. Of course, I know most people won’t recognize or care about that effort.
Anyway, that’s why. Hope this clears things up.
P.S. English is not my native language, so I might not have expressed my thoughts very clearly. Thank you for your understanding.
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