The HC series is a pixel art game first and foremost. Rather than spending money on CG, I'd much rather spend it on better pixel art. That doesn't mean it won't have the occasional CG, like in HC3 for some story events or character portraits, but that's about it.
As I say whenever this topic comes up... the focus on sprite animation makes Henteria Chronicles fairly unique. Even most Japanese RPGM games largely focus on CG over sprite work. Take that away and you lose some of the appeal, I can say without hesitation that I would not be a patreon sub if the HC games used CG.
And that's your prerogative. A place for every niche, N_Taii fills his and people support him for it. If you want something a little more CG heavy have you tried out Inatari? It's inspired by N_Taii's work and it uses CG with the occasional full animation, the sprite work in it is pretty bad but the focus is on the CGs so it's excusable. LIke HC1-3 corruption is a core focus.
- Feb 9, 2018
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Some CGs showing the characters would have quiet the impact, especially if unexpected.
to add my point I think spritework has a strenght in keeping the flow going, when the game goes from sprite to CG there is a clear separation of scenery. that in a way is telling you. "if there is no CG there is no porn going on" meanwhile in sprite ones where you can even stumble uppon them you keep the tension going with the fact that there may in fact something be happening that you may be missing.
I am, currently supporting both HC and Corruption of the Village. Its just that my focus went from HC to there mostly. This one didn't catch my attention as well as HC2, Cyanna story fucked everything for me.
Both is the best option, like Corruption of the Village + animations
I wouldn't say both is the best example if you're using Inatari as your example. The sprite work in Inatari Tales is aaawful, like it's straight up dog shit. The characters look nothing like their profile and CG artwork, the animation of the sprites is rigid at best and nonexistent at worst, and the utilized effects for things like splooge make HC1's oversized semen puddles look downright normal by comparison. Corruption of the Village is a great example of what not to do with sprites, just as HC1 is a great example of what not to do with CG. The HC games prove the benefit of focusing exclusively on sprites, just as Inatari Tales proves the benefit of CGs to make up for other limitations.
I say all this as someone who subs to both N_Taii and InatariTales on patreon.
- Jun 3, 2017
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- Jun 8, 2017
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- Jun 8, 2017
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I think my golden middle is sprite + pixel.
I play a lot of CG-games, but I really like the creative ways you can display scenes in pixel. that being said, pixel has limitations. Like a characters new outfit not being a visually impressive, esp. on subtle differences. sprites help complement that part. the same goes for very subtle sexual things. Pixel art works very well for the basics and the BIG changes, but to show subtle differences I think sprites are a great addition.
I agree with you that once CG is introduced tho, there is a clear separation. Each CG-scene is basically its own little world. It's like watching a presentation and then being asked by the prof to watch this youtube video or fill out this test. It has a level of separation and has to be able to exist on it's own, aside from the game. Sprites bridge that gap. They are visually more enhanced and removed from the actual (RPGM-)environment but they still can exist in conjunction with pixel-art. They don't completely remove you from the (engine) framework and map.
- Jun 8, 2017
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I mean, y'all are talking like you've already played Inatari Tales: Corruption of the Village. Dun need to link, I think.
Buuuut: https://f95zone.to/threads/the-corruption-of-the-village-v0-4-inatari-tales.161481/
I wonder how long the time between 13 and 14 is going to be. The time between 12 and 13 was only an extra week or so but it felt a lot longer.
- Nov 20, 2023
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Intari has a very long plot, even Yui is still a virgin and there are no scenes yet, I can't jerk off
Inatari Tales suffers from the same main issue that HC2 did... it takes forever to get anywhere. I don't really fault the dev for that as it's his first game and he's clearly an artist not a writer.
Pixel art also has many advantages from a dev standpoint. It's cheaper, and thus allows for far more variety in graphics. The deadline are also far shorter, ~1 week for several custom animations while a CG could take 3 times that amount, and even worse if you want it semi-animated. If I were to transition from pixel art from CG, forget about semi-monthly deadlines. Also, forget about having several scenes with different positions per update. At most, you're getting one CG per scene with a few variations.
What's worse, you become extremely reliant on one artist and on their own circumstances, whether they're sick, busy, etc... or you go for another artist with another artstyle and forsake consitency, which is usually not very well received.
With pixel art, I've had artists disappearing for weeks, but since it's small and low-details, I can easily ask another artist and nobody would notice the difference. Same for busy periods, where I can just ask a few new artists to do some extras here and there. As a dev, this is a huge load off my back.
Of course, if you're your own artist, things are different, but all I can draw are vaguely human-looking stick figures.
Which, as is well covered by now, are fantastic. Everyone loves a sexy, sexy stick figure.