[HELP] Need Community Help and Advice [18+]

[Channing Tater]

Hello good people... I need your help...

Context
I have been a long time forum member (not very active one TBH =) ) and a huge fan of adult VN/Sim games for a long while now. I always had this itch in back of my head that I wanted to create my own game and tell my own story. Lately. I have been experimenting with DAZ and created some render samples (check gallery below). I have worked as Software Developer (10+ years), Game Developer (5+years), as well as Product Manager/IT consultant (6+years), so I have skills and knowhow to bring projects to life. I wanted to gauge the community and ask for your opinion as I am second guessing myself and wondering if I should purse and bring this project to life ("scratch this itch" so to say).

To be honest, I had some startup projects (mainly software) before which have failed, but I learned in those failures to not try and do everything myself and ask community for help and advice. So here I am... =)

Samples



Request
If you could please answer the poll and provide any additional information in comments it would mean and help a lot. Advice, ideas, critiques, encouragement, really any input will greatly help me in making my decision.

Thank you all so much in advance!!!

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

If you want to make something then just make something.
Create a plan, procure/learn what you need to complete it, and get shit done.
Be the end result bad or good, you will at least satisfy yourself.

 

[Deleted member 5410619]

Shamelessly fap to image's.

Those are some really nice renders.
If you want to make something do it.
But my advise is to threat it like a pet project instead as something your gonna earn money off.

 

[Channing Tater]

If you want to make something then just make something.
Create a plan, procure/learn what you need to complete it, and get shit done.
Be the end result bad or good, you will at least satisfy yourself.

Thank you so much for the input Void .

I mentioned in context part I had that approach and created 2 applications that only I use. Creating something is not an issue. With this project I want to create something that others will use and enjoy too. I don't need to invest so much time creating a whole game if only I will play it. I can just render scenes that tickle my fancy if you catch my drift .

That is why I decided to reach out to the community and share my idea. To see if people like the content and are willing to advise and grow it.

 

[Channing Tater]

Shamelessly fap to image's.

Those are some really nice renders.

Thank you for your input Malaficus . This is one of the reasons why I started this post. wanted to see if anyone else would enjoy.

If you want to make something do it.
But my advise is to threat it like a pet project then something your gonna earn money off.

Thank you for the advise , but I am a kind of person who when does something, does it best they can or not at all... Kind of perfectionist. My plan is to approach it as a serious (part-time) project and develop set of tools in Unity to help me create more games in the future.

My primary focus is reaching out and creating something that others will enjoy. With that being said I wont BS people saying I don't want to make money of it . But money is not my primary focus. Money would be just means to the end and allow me to purse this full time.

 

[JoeTheMC84]

The renders look good, and I always advocate for people to pursue an artistic outlet and way to share that with others. Even if you can't make a bunch of money or anything, there is no better feeling than finishing a creative project. I took fifteen years to finish my first novel and it was the best feeling in the world to have others finally be able to see all the effort and labor I put in.

I would advise that you have a solid idea about where your lines are. You will get people from all different sides pushing you to add or remove things if you start this and make it available for others. Think of it like food. Different people have different tastes and all of them will want you to make your dish to their tastes. You can allow for that or not, but just be ready for it. And just like a meal at a restaurant people deserve to know what will be in their meal before they order it. No one wants to order a cheese omelet and get liver and onions.

You should have solid stances from the go about kinks: Incest, yes or no. NTR, yes or no. Rape, anal, foot stuff, watersports, loli, necrophilia, bestiality, harem, swinging, gay, trap, lesbian, yes or no... and so on. When making something for yourself you can experiment and add things at random to try it out, but once you are making something to be consumed by others, it is only fair to be honest about your ingredients used, in no small part because some people can have very real reactions to things. To keep with the cooking and food analogy, some people can be allergic to nuts, so if you plan to have nuts in your meal, you should be honest about that and not surprise people with it. As a non-food example, I worked as a trauma counselor for almost twenty years and knew several girls for whom seeing, or even hearing about, rape in media like movies, tv shows, or games would cause panic attacks in them. So surprising someone like that with that content would be... well, not good to say the least.

And some people may say they don't want to be upfront about tags because of spoilers, but remember, it doesn't spoil anything to say *what* will happen. You still have the how, who, when, where, and other specifics to keep to yourself. For example, saying the game will have incest doesn't spoil it, you would still need to play to know if it is the mother, sister, aunt, etc. And keep in mind that people who want things spoiled will find the information anyway, other people will spoil it, so why not just be upfront about tags and content generally so that others aren't the ones possible misrepresenting what is in the story. Not to mention that if you consider the work when complete then all the tags would already be clearly there so adding them early is not spoilers anymore then when the game is done, and people see them at that time before playing the game.

Pardon my ramblings, I am kind of known for my essays and long posts And I hope you go for it and make something you can be happy with, and others can enjoy whatever you decide.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Thank you for the advise , but I am a kind of person who when does something, does it best they can or not at all... Kind of perfectionist.

"Perfectionism" is the bane of any game project.
The best thing you can do right now is watch some painting tutorials by Bob Ross.
Not to learn to paint, but to absorb his philosophy.
When Bob makes a mistake, he doesn't throw out the canvas; he just keeps going.

There are SO MANY man-hours involved in making a game that you just can't afford to get bogged down endlessly with minutiae.

If you need any help with Unity, I'll answer any questions to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Channing Tater]

Thank you so much Joe for your insights and inputs . It means a lot especially coming from someone who has walked the line I wish to walk and have created a game themselves.

You should have solid stances from the go about kinks: Incest, yes or no. NTR, yes or no. Rape, anal, foot stuff, watersports, loli, necrophilia, bestiality, harem, swinging, gay, trap, lesbian, yes or no... and so on.

I totally agree... Since I am kind of already developing my own unity toolset I have planned to tag each sexual encounter with a tag that can be either disabled completely in settings (kind of content filter) or provide option in story not to see or perform certain action.

And some people may say they don't want to be upfront about tags because of spoilers

Honestly in my opinion its total BS. I am aware you cannot please everyone as each of us are different, but I do want to share my story (hopefully) stories with people that appriciate them and provide fun and new experience.

Pardon my ramblings, I am kind of known for my essays and long posts And I hope you go for it and make something you can be happy with, and others can enjoy whatever you decide.

Its not ramblings at all, its very useful information and I thank you for it sir.

 

[Channing Tater]

"Perfectionism" is the bane of any game project.
The best thing you can do right now is watch some painting tutorials by Bob Ross.
Not to learn to paint, but to absorb his philosophy.
When Bob makes a mistake, he doesn't throw out the canvas; he just keeps going.

There are SO MANY man-hours involved in making a game that you just can't afford to get bogged down endlessly with minutiae.

If you need any help with Unity, I'll answer any questions to the best of my knowledge.

It's bane of any project . I did somewhat learn over long time that perfection is relative (eye of beholder so to say) and learned how to manage my own expectations... find the "good enough" ground. I still hold to higher quality over quantity mentality.

I am aware of time requirements in making a game that is why I decided to reach out to this community. Seek guidance and help. I spent 5+ years as Unity dev but was involved mainly on 3d projects and custom editor designs. I will keep you to your word though if I get stuck.

Thank you so much for the info KleptoLizard .

 

[JoeTheMC84]

Thank you so much Joe for your insights and inputs . It means a lot especially coming from someone who has walked the line I wish to walk and have created a game themselves.

To be fair, I have not finished a game yet (though I am writing scripts for a couple I just have a potato PC and can't do any rendering) but I have a few paperback novels and I've been published in a few books of poems over the years. I have also written for a few AVNs here on the site too, but none of them are "mine," I'm just cowriting on the projects.

 

[Channing Tater]

To be fair, I have not finished a game yet (though I am writing scripts for a couple I just have a potato PC and can't do any rendering) but I have a few paperback novels and I've been published in a few books of poems over the years. I have also written for a few AVNs here on the site too, but none of them are "mine," I'm just cowriting on the projects.

Not finishing doesn't diminish your experience and quality of your advice .

 

[UncleAi]

I'm also making renders for my game so I might be a little captious

Camera angle and character's pose are good. Really very good.

Some renders are too noisy. (Especially livingroom003-006) I don't know that's your final version or just a quick render to show us. But I think they need further denoise. Try change render setting/change lighting/use denoiser.

Try use color and light better. The walls and furnitures look too close to skin color. Why don't change the color of bathroom tiles？ Enhance light and shade contrast, even on character's face. Google some basic photo lighting type. I suggest use ghost light kit.

 

[Winterfire]

Why are you asking us for permission? If you want to make it, do it, else do not.

 

[Ophanim]

Okay, so you can render, and you sound qualified to the task of developing a project but... what is your project? You never actually said what it was about, just showed us some graphics. What's your pitch? I can't say whether I think you should pursue this project without knowing anything about its premise or setting or... anything it does beyond how it looks. What makes this collection of graphics separate from the plethora of incredibly samey 3d-rendered games for vanilla straight guys (which is very much what this looks like)? What's your plot hook to get people invested? Is it a visual novel? A stop motion Daz movie? A trading card game with collectible 'prize' cards with these graphics on them? An eroge where our isekai protagonist has occasional out-of-body sequences of being a photorealistic woman living with a man who doesn't know how to knock?

If it's a game, have you thought about making a game design document that answers my above questions? You might think I'm being overly harsh here, but I'm kind of just a bit baffled because you've done everything but say what it is that you want to make

 

[MissFortune]

JoeTheMC84 basically hit anything I was going to say. That is, short of something everyone else saying. I mean this constructively, even if it sounds a bit rough. Your renders aren't really at a release/game/VN-level quality. If you're a perfectionist, this isn't it.

Lighting is a learned art, so I don't expect someone to just jump in and get it, but I'd get it honed before releasing anything. But there's little stuff that you can work on. Model diversity. I can pick out all the models used here (outside of the guy) without even looking it up to confirm it. Play around with mixing figures, morphs/shaping, etc. Give your characters some uniqueness, traits (both good and bad) that stand out against others. Play with skin textures, imperfections, etc. It'll add life and take away the uncanny valley from a lot of them.

Attention to detail is something else I'd work on. There's a ton of clipping, for one. Looks at the girl sitting on the dildo on top of the mattress. On some of them, you can clearly see her feet going into the mattress and even her knees in others, along with the dildo in one. Maybe porn logic applies here, but how is the dildo standing on the bed, exactly? I'd imagine it's not exactly flat, seeing as her knees are on it. Another would be boob sock (clothes following the shape of breasts). dForce clothing can fix this, but can get old when you're doing fifty different poses. Breast Helper will help with this, Fit Control can help with the finer touches. More of a Daz vendor issue than a you issue, but a lot of the standard poses are exaggerated and I'm seeing that with some of these. Using the poses as a base and adjusting them to be more natural is going to help a bit.

Following the characters point, there's a lot of stock assets. You can change the look with shaders, either from the Daz store or from a website like

You must be registered to see the links

that offers CC0/Public Domain PBR shaders. It'll add another layer of uniqueness to your renders. I agree that you should pursue this, but I'd put in the effort to learn it before attempting something like a VN. Maybe try some comics first? Use them to experiment and learn while having an end goal at each one.

Also, is there any specific reason for using Unity? I mean, I can understand that you already understand C# (which I believe is Unity's language.), but it'll likely cut off a larger portion of this userbase than you'd like. There's a lot of people here on older systems/devices (potatos), which is Ren'py is so common.

 

[Eagle1900]

I must say that the images you have posted are very interesting, but they are not enough, you have to build a compelling story on them, you must first of all BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!! You seem a little shy about starting this project, but you said your head has been itching for a while, so what are you going to do? scratch it away, or let life pass you by and regret these days that could be the most inspiring??
life is a thrill that flies away, it's all a balance above the madness...
I can wish you good luck, and hope that your project sees the light soon, so that you can play with it and only then can I give you a more precise evaluation.

 

[Channing Tater]

Some renders are too noisy. (Especially livingroom003-006) I don't know that's your final version or just a quick render to show us. But I think they need further denoise. Try change render setting/change lighting/use denoiser.

Try use color and light better. The walls and furnitures look too close to skin color. Why don't change the color of bathroom tiles？ Enhance light and shade contrast, even on character's face. Google some basic photo lighting type. I suggest use ghost light kit.

Thank you so much for your input UncleAI .

These are sample renders I made learning and messing around with DAZ. To be honest they are not final renders and no photoshop done to them... just pure renders. I think you can tell difference in quality and progression .
Beach scenes are where I first started (HDRI only).
Living room (HDRIs and DAZ lights).
Bedroom scenes have been done with ghost lights.
And Bathroom scenes are where I kind of currently am I my learning.

Ghost Lights were really a game changer (both in render times and quality)

Thank you for your input, much obliged

 

[Channing Tater]

Why are you asking us for permission? If you want to make it, do it, else do not.

I don't quite get how you got to conclusion that I am asking for permission? I am asking for help and advice (not quite the same thing)

Cheers

 

[Channing Tater]

Okay, so you can render, and you sound qualified to the task of developing a project but... what is your project? You never actually said what it was about, just showed us some graphics. What's your pitch? I can't say whether I think you should pursue this project without knowing anything about its premise or setting or... anything it does beyond how it looks. What makes this collection of graphics separate from the plethora of incredibly samey 3d-rendered games for vanilla straight guys (which is very much what this looks like)? What's your plot hook to get people invested? Is it a visual novel? A stop motion Daz movie? A trading card game with collectible 'prize' cards with these graphics on them? An eroge where our isekai protagonist has occasional out-of-body sequences of being a photorealistic woman living with a man who doesn't know how to knock?

If it's a game, have you thought about making a game design document that answers my above questions? You might think I'm being overly harsh here, but I'm kind of just a bit baffled because you've done everything but say what it is that you want to make

Hello Ophanim thank you so much for the input .

Currently there is no project per say as it is mostly Idea. Idea is to make a parallel set of VN tools for Unity as well as a game. Once I pull the trigger I will write up Product Doc for the toolset as well as GDD for the game. This post is mostly doing due diligence and reaching out to community asking for their experiences and inputs (which so far I got a lot of useful information).

The reason why I put only images is simply because 3D and rendering was my weak suit, as I mostly did dev and PM through my life.

Thank you again for input... and once I have firmer grasp I will post another post with the link to GDD about the game and gameplay.

 

[Channing Tater]

Hello Miss Fortune, thank you so much for the input.

Lighting is a learned art

For sure. To be honest getting Ghost Lights was a huge game changer... I had so much trouble setting up the lights and they still looked like crap. I think the difference is noticable as beach and living room are HDRI and daz lighting while bedroom and bathroom scenes are with GH.

Attention to detail is something else I'd work on.

Great points here. And I totally agree with you. In my defense I am still learning and this is more of lighting and composition set of samples. I am currently experimenting with Dforce and Dmorphs and learning marvelous designer to learn how to avoid "boob sock" issues. Also trying to figure out how to morph Hairs to poses as it is bugging me so much .

I'd put in the effort to learn it

I am trying . I did dabble in 3D a bit before but for me this is whole new experience.

Also, is there any specific reason for using Unity?

There is two reasons really. I worked with Unity before and I want to create a VN Toolset for Unity that will help community and I make more games. I did the research and tried ren'py, RPGmaker and some VN toolsets for unity (cant remember their names) and found them very limited. I found renpy to be most encomapassing but somewhat dated.

Thank you again for your great insight .