Girls vs Gameplay

[HornyMonsterGirlEnjoyer]

This thread is kind of a follow up to my last thread.

I play a lot of h games on this site because the girl/girls in the game turn me on. However if the game isn't fun too control or play I can get turned off.

So my question for all y'all esteemed F95zone users is:
Will you suffer bad gameplay for a sexy girl?

As always if you have examples feel free to share.
(P.S. I definitely have suffered through a bad game because the girl I liked was sexy)

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

No, I absolutely will not. I don't even play VNs because "choices" are not gameplay. Gameplay > Art/Render quality every single time.

 

[seifukulover]

If we were talking about regular video games, then of course gameplay is king and it matters much more than graphics or art direction. But for eroge I'm more willing to relax that standard, so yes, I will endure bad gameplay to some degree if the girls are hot enough. VNs in general are a good example: i'll play a game that's just reading and selecting from a menu if you promise me hot girls and sex scenes, but I have no interest at all in a non-eroge VN.

 

[lfgals1]

In general, I won't play things with no gameplay. On the other hand, my definition of gameplay is different than a lot of folks here seem to have. I count stuff like resource management stuff as gameplay where a lot of other's don't.

For example, the calling who you want, managing house points, and menu selection from Witch Trainer are enough to count in my book even if they are a fairly shallow disguise for a visual novel.

 

[Wizard Hat Studios]

In general, I won't play things with no gameplay. On the other hand, my definition of gameplay is different than a lot of folks here seem to have. I count stuff like resource management stuff as gameplay where a lot of other's don't.

For example, the calling who you want, managing house points, and menu selection from Witch Trainer are enough to count in my book even if they are a fairly shallow disguise for a visual novel.

Who says resource management isn't gameplay? It's literally a game mechanic many games use as the centre of their gameplay. Managing House Points is also a game mechanic, as is summoning a character for interactions between them and the main character (to improve state, for example).

 

[Ayymao]

This thread is kind of a follow up to my last thread.

I play a lot of h games on this site because the girl/girls in the game turn me on. However if the game isn't fun too control or play I can get turned off.

So my question for all y'all esteemed F95zone users is:
Will you suffer bad gameplay for a sexy girl?

As always if you have examples feel free to share.
(P.S. I definitely have suffered through a bad game because the girl I liked was sexy)

I can suffer bad gameplay if it's skippable. I've learned to ignore sandbox vns because they are more often than not, a waste of time.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

Who says resource management isn't gameplay? It's literally a game mechanic many games use as the centre of their gameplay. Managing House Points is also a game mechanic, as is summoning a character for interactions between them and the main character (to improve state, for example).

Well, specifically in WT you do not manage house points. You can not purchase anything with them except lewd scenes, and in a linear manner at that. Managing resources means investing them in different avenues and balaning different risks and returns. The only resource you manage in WT is money, but again, it's a very constricted setup.

 

[Wizard Hat Studios]

Well, specifically in WT you do not manage house points. You can not purchase anything with them except lewd scenes, and in a linear manner at that. Managing resources means investing them in different avenues and balaning different risks and returns. The only resource you manage in WT is money, but again, it's a very constricted setup.

Yeah okay, but it's still a gameplay mechanic, however loosely implemented it might be.

 

[Deleted member 8250181]

Will you suffer bad gameplay for a sexy girl?

I'd just look up CGs if she was really hot.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

Yeah okay, but it's still a gameplay mechanic, however loosely implemented it might be.

That would be stretching the definition of gameplay enough to be not valid for some people.

Let me explain, and also answer the OP's question.

I call a certain type of games VNs with bells and whistles attached, WT is one of them. And to be honest that's a bit too generous, because they are, for the most part, VNs with treadmills (in almost original, Victorian definition of the word). If you consider "click 100 times and get a coin" a form of gameplay, then yeah, sure, Akabur's "management" is gameplay.

However, what most people want from gameplay is
1. A food for their analytical, creative, or reaction based-skills.
2. Stakes that are not exclusively or disproportionately their real-time.

Witch Trainer fails on both fronts. It's not challenging you in any way, because the decision space is both narrow and obvious almost to the point of not existing at all, and there are no stakes. You can't lose. The only thing you lose by making sub-optimal choices is your real time.

This is the worst.

Technically, almost everything can be fit under gameplay unbrella. But really, the question is what is engaging gameplay. Mindlessly clicking through menus to slightly raise money and wine stock to purchase the next lewd scene with that is not engaging. Why do that when gallery unlocks, full saves, cheats, or CG rips exist? If you want people to actually play the game, it should be fun on its own, without lewd "rewards."

 

[Ayymao]

Technically, almost everything can be fit under gameplay unbrella. But really, the question is what is engaging gameplay. Mindlessly clicking through menus to slightly raise money and wine stock to purchase the next lewd scene with that is not engaging. Why do that when gallery unlocks, full saves, cheats, or CG rips exist? If you want people to actually play the game, it should be fun on its own, without lewd "rewards."

I agree with you up to last point. Porn games should be "fun enough." If your game is so good that people can enjoy it without the porn, then you might as well remove the porn and sell the game to more people.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

I agree with you up to last point. Porn games should be "fun enough." If your game is so good that people can enjoy it without the porn, then you might as well remove the porn and sell the game to more people.

I don't know if I would use prescriptive "should" here, but you're right. What you said definitely happens naturally.

However, for an indie game there's a big gap between being so good that it becomes a hit, and being fun to play, but not fun AND original enough for people to pay a lot of money. A huge gap, really, because originality is a huge factor. Imagine you make a good faithful clone of, I dunno, Stardew Valley is my go-to example. Would I buy it? Absolutely not, I've played SDV already. But not everyone has! A person without prior experience would have exactly as much fun playing your clone as me playing "the original", so it would be still a very fun game. With porn.

 

[lfgals1]

This is the worst.

Technically, almost everything can be fit under gameplay unbrella. But really, the question is what is engaging gameplay. Mindlessly clicking through menus to slightly raise money and wine stock to purchase the next lewd scene with that is not engaging. Why do that when gallery unlocks, full saves, cheats, or CG rips exist? If you want people to actually play the game, it should be fun on its own, without lewd "rewards."

This is the big divide of opinion between me and the folks really chomping a the bit for gameplay.

1. The point of playing porn as a game instead of just looking at a picture file is that you get a longer form erotic experience.

2. The mechanical loops to afford the sex scenes creates a sensation of being in the driver seat of the narrative that a pure VN simply doesn't have. The story just happens in a VN, in an Akabur game I make the story happen (even if it is an illusion).

3. "The game being fun on its own" is something I am completely uninterested in. I see the entire lewd game as a delivery system for erotica. Any piece of that system that isn't designed to deliver erotica should have been left on the chopping block in my book.

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

I see the entire lewd game as a delivery system for erotica. Any piece of that system that isn't designed to deliver erotica should have been left on the chopping block in my book.

Depends on what the dev is going for. IMO, there's a difference between a "game with porn" and a "porn game". My own game, for example, was never meant to be a thing that people ONLY wack off to. I wanted it to be a bit more. Whether I succeeded is up for debate.

TL;DR, I disagree.

 

[lfgals1]

Depends on what the dev is going for. IMO, there's a difference between a "game with porn" and a "porn game". My own game, for example, was never meant to be a thing that people ONLY wack off to. I wanted it to be a bit more. Whether I succeeded is up for debate.

TL;DR, I disagree.

I wasn't talking universal truths. Just why I am here.

I have zero interest in "a game with porn".

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

1. The point of playing porn as a game instead of just looking at a picture file is that you get a longer form erotic experience.

No. If I wanted a longer experience, I would look at 10 pictures. Length is not the point. By that logic, you take game, make it 10x more grindy, and it's an clear improvement, because length is increased. Not how that works.

2. The mechanical loops to afford the sex scenes creates a sensation of being in the driver seat of the narrative that a pure VN simply doesn't have. The story just happens in a VN, in an Akabur game I make the story happen (even if it is an illusion).

Firstly, hello, CHOICES. In a good VN with actual choices, you DO make the story happen, and it's not an illusion. Well, much less of an illusion than a treadmill powering a kinetic novel.

Secondly, even your analogy of a driver seat is ironical. Driving involves CONTROLS. Do you swerve left, or right? Hit gas or breaks? Being in a driver's seat is mechanics rich (which is exactly why you need a licence to drive!) And that's exactly the sort of meaningful mechanical choices I want from a game. Akabur's VNs are absolutely an antithesis of that.

3. "The game being fun on its own" is something I am completely uninterested in. I see the entire lewd game as a delivery system for erotica. Any piece of that system that isn't designed to deliver erotica should have been left on the chopping block in my book.

Core mechanics being fun and them delivering player the content is not mutually exclusive. In fact, that's how a lot of story-rich games work, they have a simplistic (but still fun) core loop and a whole lot of art and narrative on top of that.

 

[HornyMonsterGirlEnjoyer]

IMO gameplay should always have a place in a game. When I play a porn game I expect a game. I have no problems with VNs or minigame collections. A porn game doesn't need a large and interesting gameplay loop. I do however expect a reason for the porn to be there. Whether it be because the MC is hot/charming or has the ability to screw people because "porn" I enjoy porn games because I have input. So while I have played a game because a girl is hot normally my favorite porn game experiences have a bit of gameplay that enhances the porn instead of just porn for the sake of a simple wank session.

 

[lfgals1]

No. If I wanted a longer experience, I would look at 10 pictures. Length is not the point. By that logic, you take game, make it 10x more grindy, and it's an clear improvement, because length is increased. Not how that works.

This part of the response sort of tells me that I am wasting my time talking to you seeing as you are coming in hot and combative like there is only one acceptable thing to want out of the content. You're writing like you need to be 'right' instead of just chatting about what you like in porn games. Like I said at the start of my post, I feel differently than you do and enjoy different things.

Bur screw it, I'm gonna try anyway.

For me there is a substantial difference between 10 pictures, or even a 10 minute video of people banging, and long form erotica. Think the difference between a sex scene and a full bodice ripper romance book. The context and what builds into the sex is what I am talking about, not just longer sex.

Firstly, hello, CHOICES. In a good VN with actual choices, you DO make the story happen, and it's not an illusion. Well, much less of an illusion than a treadmill powering a kinetic novel.

Secondly, even your analogy of a driver seat is ironical. Driving involves CONTROLS. Do you swerve left, or right? Hit gas or breaks? Being in a driver's seat is mechanics rich (which is exactly why you need a licence to drive!) And that's exactly the sort of meaningful mechanical choices I want from a game. Akabur's VNs are absolutely an antithesis of that.

Meh, there is no such thing as a VN with enough choices to satisfy me. I've hated "choice based" dialogue tree games since Mass Effect. I especially dislike it when the dialogue tree gameplay means the game is shallow in content unless you play it multiple times to achieve all the outcomes. There is no piece of that which appeals to me.

I'm not really going to defend Akabur's games as pillars of quality, but just because the illusion of control created by simple resource acquisition gameplay doesn't appeal to you, doesn't mean it doesn't work for other folks. Just like I can totally see that there are plenty of people who do feel like they are in control as they tumble down a dialogue tree.

Core mechanics being fun and them delivering player the content is not mutually exclusive. In fact, that's how a lot of story-rich games work, they have a simplistic (but still fun) core loop and a whole lot of art and narrative on top of that.

Part of this we can agree on. Truely great porn games can only happen when devs make the mechanics of the game mesh with the story. No point in it being a game if there is nothing to give a sense of interactivity.

However, that isn't really what most of the "gameplay" group seem to really care about. What they ask for over and over again are traditional "good games" that just happen to have sex in them as an occssional perk. There are folks asking for basically that (or talking about making it) in this thread.

And that is totally cool, more power to those folks. I just don't enjoy it. I'm more of a 'one mood or another' type person I guess. Either I want an extended interactive erotica experience, or I want something a traditional videogame offers. I never really want those things together.[/Quote][/QUOTE]

 

[Xaoyu]

I don't see the point in coming here if you don't seek gameplay, there are media that are literaly made to just get to the point without challenges/interactions : pictures/"movies"/comics

In 2025 if your intention/ambition are not to at least equal Karyn's prison level of gameplay, i don't understand why you call what you are doing a "game". It's not about copying the game mechanics, it's about offering at least the same satisfaction of gettings to the hentai/porn stuff through gameplay. It doesn't have to be with combat tho. I don't remember the name but someone made a really good hentai game based on investigations. I found it impressive even tho he abandoned it. And you had this pixel game, not nostalgic pixel but actual interesting pixel art where the whole thing was a roguelit based on multitude of choices that unlock different pathes and different outcomes regarding porn. That was great too.

 

[anne O'nymous]

So my question for all y'all esteemed F95zone users is:
Will you suffer bad gameplay for a sexy girl?

I don't even play a game with a bad gameplay but an interesting and well crafted story, why would I do it for a sexy bunch of pixels?