How did Summertime Saga get so huge/popular?

[Avaron1974]

I know...I know good story,characters and gameplay make certain games stand out from others but come on...with the art style of SS(lets just say not everyone's cup of tea),it is currently trading blows with games like Milfy City,DMD etc.Is story in porn game that much of value to everybody?

NB:I like great stories in porn games but seeing this game overshadow the above mentioned games just confused me.Please forgive my ignorance.

There are far more people interested in story and gameplay than some others realise. Some people think everyone is here just for porn which would defeat the whole purpose of us playing games.

If we wanted pure porn we'd be looking at places like Pornhub, Xhamster, Xvideo or Rule34 if we wanted well done CG animated sex.

For me, personally, Milfy City and DMD are shit. I don't mean shit as in they are badly done, they both have had a ton of effort put into them, but at it's core Milfy is just another incest game and DMD is a bit creepy in that the dad comes across like he's grooming his daughter and that was a bit weird and no way attractive. It also has side women far better than the main but no option of just going for them which is why I think Melody was a massive improvement in giving more options.

I played Milfy City a couple of weeks ago after people told me how great it was. If i'm going to play an incest game then I need an awesome story to get me hooked because incest alone doesn't interest me, it's not my kink. The only character I found attractive was the teacher and anything to do with her is rape which is something else I don't like. Now here I am, after having played it from start to finish and I couldn't name a single character. I can barely remember what happened, it just didn't interest me at all.

Yet there are games like Last Sovereign with over 50+ hours of RPG gameplay and I can remember every single character and scene that's happened because it interested me.

I can't play a game if the story doesn't interest me. Sex alone doesn't do it for me regardless of how turned on I am.

There are thousands of H games, a lot of those has gorgeous character models so they need something else to stand out.

 

[Demoness_Kiss]

I tried the first version of SS, i was happy, a lot of places(yet to be implemented) a little group of girls/women and a few were blood-related, a good 2d graphic(maybe the best right after Sylvia game, watch my avatar if you don't know the game and its graphic)...but now? i saw some character polls, soooo many girls that one of the first girl is literally in stand-by since years...i didn't play the last version yet, but we have that nice, gentle, chubby angel known as Judith, for what i know(from asking around) she is still in that bathroom or something giving HJ to MC...(i swear i'm gonna play this game just to check if it's true), something kinda changed, and this guy with a release every 6 months or something gets 52000$/month(i don't know if he stops the bidding/paying option but he gets 5-6 times the paycheck of an italian politician <-- less the privileges and free stuff, the super big retirement-checks soon as they go to retirement) like wtf! Okay is a good game...but really it's kinda overrated this game(i'm not even mentioning Cloud Meadow, an even more overrated game but they gets like 18000$/month, even less that SS)

 

[polywog]

Remember Big Brother? Vaguely? Visual Novels will get temporary popularity, but it is short lived. Like book of the month. DMD is past it's prime, Milfy City will too fade in time. VN are the equivalent of a single episode of a television series. Once you've seen the story, there's nothing left to do. Few readers read the same book over and over again. Imagine a friend asking "what are you reading?" and you reply "Twilight" your friend looks at you... "oh there's a new book in the series?" and with shame in your eyes, you respond "no, i'm re-reading breaking dawn, if feel there must be something i missed the first few times i read it" your friend shakes their head and walks away.

Unlike VN, Games are replayable, again and again. Games can remain in the charts for years before being replaced. A second game in a series becomes a franchise that lasts a decade.

So a) SS is a game, which will always be more popular to begin with, and b) it's success is primarily due to good PR, and widespread marketing all over social media.

 

[BrokenDreams]

There are far more people interested in story and gameplay than some others realise. Some people think everyone is here just for porn which would defeat the whole purpose of us playing games.

If we wanted pure porn we'd be looking at places like Pornhub, Xhamster, Xvideo or Rule34 if we wanted well done CG animated sex.

For me, personally, Milfy City and DMD are shit. I don't mean shit as in they are badly done, they both have had a ton of effort put into them, but at it's core Milfy is just another incest game and DMD is a bit creepy in that the dad comes across like he's grooming his daughter and that was a bit weird and no way attractive. It also has side women far better than the main but no option of just going for them which is why I think Melody was a massive improvement in giving more options.

I played Milfy City a couple of weeks ago after people told me how great it was. If i'm going to play an incest game then I need an awesome story to get me hooked because incest alone doesn't interest me, it's not my kink. The only character I found attractive was the teacher and anything to do with her is rape which is something else I don't like. Now here I am, after having played it from start to finish and I couldn't name a single character. I can barely remember what happened, it just didn't interest me at all.

Yet there are games like Last Sovereign with over 50+ hours of RPG gameplay and I can remember every single character and scene that's happened because it interested me.

I can't play a game if the story doesn't interest me. Sex alone doesn't do it for me regardless of how turned on I am.

There are thousands of H games, a lot of those has gorgeous character models so they need something else to stand out.

Now,I didn't mention those games because I think they are the best rather they are mostly loved by this community.There are many erotic novels and many form of stories for those who are tired of watching porn and want something intellectual.But to me and i hope many others an adult game needs a healthy mixture of story/graphics/gameplay. A game is a visual medium and though I agree art style is subjective and lets just say for arguments sake SS has the best story of any games,do you really think SS is on an another realm compared to other top games.My curiosity for this thread is to know what propels SS to such heights.

 

[BrokenDreams]

Remember Big Brother? Vaguely? Visual Novels will get temporary popularity, but it is short lived. Like book of the month. DMD is past it's prime, Milfy City will too fade in time. VN are the equivalent of a single episode of a television series. Once you've seen the story, there's nothing left to do. Few readers read the same book over and over again. Imagine a friend asking "what are you reading?" and you reply "Twilight" your friend looks at you... "oh there's a new book in the series?" and with shame in your eyes, you respond "no, i'm re-reading breaking dawn, if feel there must be something i missed the first few times i read it" your friend shakes their head and walks away.

Unlike VN, Games are replayable, again and again. Games can remain in the charts for years before being replaced. A second game in a series becomes a franchise that lasts a decade.

So a) SS is a game, which will always be more popular to begin with, and b) it's success is primarily due to good PR, and widespread marketing all over social media.

I think other games deserve good marketing too.That is all.

 

[polywog]

I think other games deserve good marketing too.That is all.

It's up to the dev to promote their game, and get it out there. Some devs hide their game behind a paywall, and wonder why there are only 6 people playing their game.
Sometimes fans do the promoting. SS isn't just on Porn Hub, it's all over, youtube twitter facebook etc

If you like a game, you can tell your friends

 

[SeventhVixen]

So a) SS is a game, which will always be more popular to begin with, and b) it's success is primarily due to good PR, and widespread marketing all over social media.

This; Summertime saga had made the freeroam good, at the point of making the freeroam part, Gameplay. (thing that other games barely achieve). About the good recognition, (fame), everything is up to content; right now summertime saga has a TON of content (and good content, sometimes great, but not bad), and you need more than 10 hours of gameplay to begin not finding any new gameplay.

I don't know how the thing started fame-wise, but now in the long run is clear; It is quite reasonable that a new player that wanna play H games find this one easily, throw 10-15 hours into it (I played more than 20 hours to a release), get hyped, search for more H games, dont find anything quite like it (they may have more interesting graphics to his like, better story, but feel like a demo compared to SS). So this new player just began talking good about SS or make a ocassional pledge into patreon to support the making of more content.

So it's a snowball. Good PR -> more players -> more PR -> more development -> more PR -> more players.
Let's face it, independently of income, Summertime saga in gameplay and story feels like a triple A game compared to milfy city, that just looks like an indie game with good videos.

PS: I 100% like SS graphics, except for a pair of characters that are just strange (dev get out of inspiration I guess).

 

[polywog]

PS: I 100% like SS graphics, except for a pair of characters that are just strange (dev get out of inspiration I guess).

SS got some flack "sameface saga" starting out with character who are a family, and being related needed to look like they were related. But as more characters were added, which weren't related, with more and more unique faces, those critics came around.

 

[Rythan25]

There are far more people interested in story and gameplay than some others realise. Some people think everyone is here just for porn which would defeat the whole purpose of us playing games.

If we wanted pure porn we'd be looking at places like Pornhub, Xhamster, Xvideo or Rule34 if we wanted well done CG animated sex.

For me, personally, Milfy City and DMD are shit. I don't mean shit as in they are badly done, they both have had a ton of effort put into them, but at it's core Milfy is just another incest game and DMD is a bit creepy in that the dad comes across like he's grooming his daughter and that was a bit weird and no way attractive. It also has side women far better than the main but no option of just going for them which is why I think Melody was a massive improvement in giving more options.

I played Milfy City a couple of weeks ago after people told me how great it was. If i'm going to play an incest game then I need an awesome story to get me hooked because incest alone doesn't interest me, it's not my kink. The only character I found attractive was the teacher and anything to do with her is rape which is something else I don't like. Now here I am, after having played it from start to finish and I couldn't name a single character. I can barely remember what happened, it just didn't interest me at all.

Yet there are games like Last Sovereign with over 50+ hours of RPG gameplay and I can remember every single character and scene that's happened because it interested me.

I can't play a game if the story doesn't interest me. Sex alone doesn't do it for me regardless of how turned on I am.

There are thousands of H games, a lot of those has gorgeous character models so they need something else to stand out.

Milfy City isnt great because of the level of writing... its great because the story is more unique than 90% of incest games, even including ICSTOR's old work... its a story where the MC isnt trying to (at first) sleep rape his family, or even has those feelings for them until the psychiatrist basically mind-rapes him into thinking he is... Then there is the fact that his mother has been grooming him since age 12 into her perfect mate, and had enough self control to wait till he is legal before going for it... Most MC's are the aggressors trying to seduce, blackmail, and even rape family members before they accept their love. Also non of the non-family members in that game whole a candle to the main cast, none of them are even above Sarah or the Aunt, let alone Caroline or Linda...

Your other options in that game are
Psychiatrist - who for all we know is asexual or the villain of the game as she has gotten nothing in sexy content, and the only story part we know is she is/was close with Linda
Teacher - fuck her sideways, this is the same bitch that ruined the MC's school life, you dont come back from that
Goth-Twins - fuck them too, their main story arc involves trying to bankrupt the MC's dad and put his family in the poor house, its laughable the MC even considers helping the dumb bitches.
Aunt's Lesbian Lover - boring as shit... she likes dick, but still considers herself "mostly" lesbian... whatever... also she isnt that attractive...
Violet - She's a whore and stripper, has a terrible attitude, and only banged the MC so that Caroline would owe her and get her NTR by some loser...
Sarah's friend - perhaps the only viable alternative, I have nothing horrible to say about her...

In DMD its even worse... D is literally the only good option despite the creepiness...well except for Georgina... but the story seems to have forgotten she existed despite the majority of the fans telling MrDots she is the best side character and the one they want content for. Instead we get the other lamers...
Elena - ewww... just mother-fucking NO !! burn that flat chested UGGO with fire... she looks just as young as D with a pre-pubescent body to boot...
Coffee Girl - Has a cute face, but looks even younger than D herself... also kinda flat...
D's Mom - If she hadnt been such a bitch, and a "cuck" fan cheating not only on the MC but on her new husband, she could have been viable, as it stands she can burn in the sun !
Asian Photographer - kind of ugly, and aside from a small peck didnt really show interest in the MC
Incest Island Daughter - she already has her daddy ! Yes she banged the MC, but she told him it was for fun, cause she loved her daddy.

Melody goes the same way where only Melody and her Aunt Amy are viable... Xianne is ugly... Sophie is cute but flat... Becca is... (cant believe I am saying this) too boring/vanilla... I guess the only other good options would be Isabella who got wrote out of the story 10 versions ago, and Jade who is off limits...

 

[Avaron1974]

Teacher - fuck her sideways, this is the same bitch that ruined the MC's school life, you dont come back from that

Wait, what?

He asked her out in the middle of the hallway which would have cost her career and her marriage and probably sent her to jail.

She didn't ruin his life, he did something utterly moronic.

Of course she laughed and mocked him ANYBODY in that situation would have. It's utterly ridiculous.

 

[Demoness_Kiss]

@Rythan25 it's your opinion(about the girls), it's based on your standards/preferences...but the first part

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

this part...it's good(i mean my opinion Milfy City has too much Caroline content...but i love fluff/vanilla love...and i prefer Linda and Sara barely has content...but i repeat, my opinion)

 

[Demoness_Kiss]

Wait, what?

He asked her out in the middle of the hallway which would have cost her career and her marriage and probably sent her to jail.

She didn't ruin his life, he did something utterly moronic.

Of course she laughed and mocked him ANYBODY in that situation would have. It's utterly ridiculous.

I agree...still i would have some tact and not mocked him...you know...you're destroying a student's social life...also she is kinda corrupted, she get paid for giving high-grades to rich students...she preserved her status...yeah, still a bitch tho.

 

[Rythan25]

SS got some flack "sameface saga" starting out with character who are a family, and being related needed to look like they were related. But as more characters were added, which weren't related, with more and more unique faces, those critics came around.

When I played it a couple of years ago the main flak it got was that every new version that came out forced you to restart... honestly the thread during that time was mostly negative going 10 pages backward to the point I never visited it again... It was the last of the elite 10 games that dominated the "popular games" back when I first found this site that I played. And I couldnt comprehend the amount of hate it got while still remaining popular lol (I think its a great game, maybe not 52k great, but at least 10K/month great).

Then again yesterday I up'd the amount of patrons I joined and was mostly shocked that some I expected were doing great and probably didnt need my "help" were doing pretty abysmal... while some that complain they arent getting enough had decent amounts.... Ptolemy was the biggest shocker... his amount of patrons wasnt super high, but his amount per month made me sad... this is the dude that made "Dreaming of Dana"... I can understand why he hates F95zone now kinda lol...

I just wish I had played "Betrayed" sooner... Joraell's game is pretty damn good, and I heard him say in other topics he doenst even have 50 patrons...I would have picked him over someone else if I had seen how good his game was before I hit the level cap I was willing to spend on patron...

 

[Rythan25]

@Rythan25 it's your opinion(about the girls), it's based on your standards/preferences...but the first part

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

this part...it's good(i mean my opinion Milfy City has too much Caroline content...but i love fluff/vanilla love...and i prefer Linda and Sara barely has content...but i repeat, my opinion)

As passionate as I sound in my posts, of course they are always my opinions... however in polls I can tell you that some of the things I said are true...

Caroline is Milfy City's darling... Linda is 2nd best in polls everytime, and it isnt even close. The side characters never come close to them (and not because they dont have enough content) the Twins arc lasted two updates in which the main household didnt get diddly squat, and they still polled ridiculously low... same with Aunt and her gay lover... Aunt did ok, but her partner was near the bottom.

DMD was the same with only Georgina beating "Dee" every now and then, Elena in the others are nowhere near (it saddens me that Elena is always 3rd when I find her utterly unappealing though)

Melody is the only one I can honestly say I havent kept up with the polls... However back a few versions everyone was clamoring for Amy content... I have however noticed that Becca has spiked much to my dismay... (I mean I like her but...)

 

[Avaron1974]

I agree...still i would have some tact and not mocked him...you know...you're destroying a student's social life...also she is kinda corrupted, she get paid for giving high-grades to rich students...she preserved her status...yeah, still a bitch tho.

The problem is the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

His social life doesn't seem to have suffered except minor mockery which he would have got whether she laughed or not, asking your married teacher out in the middle of school is up there with one of the most stupid things to do. Even if she wasn't married and did like him she couldn't have said yes in that situation.

He put himself in that position, not her.

As for her taking money to fix tests, sure, tell the principal with the evidence.

Look, I don;t care how anyone spins it or whether she's a bitch or not I can't justify rape which is what he does to her.

 

[Demoness_Kiss]

The problem is the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

His social life doesn't seem to have suffered except minor mockery which he would have got whether she laughed or not, asking your married teacher out in the middle of school is up there with one of the most stupid things to do. Even if she wasn't married and did like him she couldn't have said yes in that situation.

He put himself in that position, not her.

As for her taking money to fix tests, sure, tell the principal with the evidence.

Look, I don;t care how anyone spins it or whether she's a bitch or not I can't justify rape which is what he does to her.

just therapist's ability to brainwash him...just that...you can ruin her life with proves, but no, better destroy her mentally with rape and blackmailing...i don't like Celia, i usually ignore her...like: who cares, my MC has a mom in love with him, a little sister also in love with him, and a bunch of girls that would be happy to suck a fart out of him faster that a finger-snap. Like i said i'm more in slow love-build up, like Becca and Melody in Melody, or MC + Steph(main love interest) in Freeloading Family...my kink is love...

now, i think that something that is able to destroy and at the same time gives popularity to a game is the concept of character polls, like Milfy City, everyone ask for Caroline, to the point that me and an another guy for all that ton of drama, we were joking about the final segret of Caroline: She's a futanari...that would be the last drop of her story/plot(i repeat we meant as a joke, just for laughing for a few days)...but the point is that the Dev is soo focused on making stuff for Caroline that the game could be renamed in "Caroline City"(i think there is a tv-series with this kind of name?) so no equal development for other characters...just "Always the winner of the poll" and i think that's one of the reasons Milfy-Ciry's dev went on hiatus.

 

[Rythan25]

The problem is the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

His social life doesn't seem to have suffered except minor mockery which he would have got whether she laughed or not, asking your married teacher out in the middle of school is up there with one of the most stupid things to do. Even if she wasn't married and did like him she couldn't have said yes in that situation.

He put himself in that position, not her.

As for her taking money to fix tests, sure, tell the principal with the evidence.

Look, I don;t care how anyone spins it or whether she's a bitch or not I can't justify rape which is what he does to her.

Absolutely rape is never justified, but i agree with @Demoness_Kiss that she handled it like a total bitch...

In 6th grade when I was 12 I believe... my sixth grade teacher who was 25 was very touchy-feely with me and would always try to hook me up with the the cute girls in class saying how handsome I was, and if she was younger she would have a piece of me herself... (I never got creeped out by it). I have also known tons of friends who had crushes on teachers as far back as 1st grade, and the teachers would always "reason" with them why they couldnt return their affections in a playful manner...

Bitch Teacher could have just said "Sorry MC, but I am happily married, and besides your cute enough to get any girl your age you would want, so go out their and mingle Slugger !".

Instead she says "Lol your a fucking loser, what makes you think I would date a brat like you ? HEY EVERYONE !! Listen to this, Casanova here just told me he was in love with me and wanted to go out with me ROFLMAO, lets all mock him together !!".

And then the MC didnt just suffer a bit of mockery, the dude had a mental breakdown hence why the game starts with him needed psychiatric counseling... I'm sure after the hallway incident he probably curled up into the fetal position while sucking his thumb....

 

[BrokenDreams]

When I played it a couple of years ago the main flak it got was that every new version that came out forced you to restart... honestly the thread during that time was mostly negative going 10 pages backward to the point I never visited it again... It was the last of the elite 10 games that dominated the "popular games" back when I first found this site that I played. And I couldnt comprehend the amount of hate it got while still remaining popular lol (I think its a great game, maybe not 52k great, but at least 10K/month great).

Then again yesterday I up'd the amount of patrons I joined and was mostly shocked that some I expected were doing great and probably didnt need my "help" were doing pretty abysmal... while some that complain they arent getting enough had decent amounts.... Ptolemy was the biggest shocker... his amount of patrons wasnt super high, but his amount per month made me sad... this is the dude that made "Dreaming of Dana"... I can understand why he hates F95zone now kinda lol...

I just wish I had played "Betrayed" sooner... Joraell's game is pretty damn good, and I heard him say in other topics he doenst even have 50 patrons...I would have picked him over someone else if I had seen how good his game was before I hit the level cap I was willing to spend on patron...

Believe me many people still don't know about this site how many wonderful games it has.It is not their fault,this site is always given low priority on google search and I believe posting demo version of a game on online gaming site will help the developers to get recognition.(Milfy City in gamcore.com)

 

[Demoness_Kiss]

@Rythan25 this opinion?Love it!

Yeah i also got a racist teacher(i will not explain how an italian teacher can be racist against an another italian, a loong story but it's the classic north vs south), she was so obsessed with me and my brothers, to literally force to listen to her class but out of the class, like in punishment...just bc i'm from the south! We lived badly that time(thank god that bitch after a year moved i don't want to know where) one of my brothers actually was planning to beat her(we convinced him to just study hard and get good grades with her, bc she was sure we were more stupid that a dead monkey <-- her words). So yeah i hate Celia enough to don't giving a single little fuck about her...don't play her part, neither i read when i see her name...just i force myself to forget that Celia exist, bc she reminds me that shitty teacher...who teached racist to our classmates.

like Rythan said, if a person needs to go to a therapist bc whatever reason, means that reason for be there and being forced to talk to her(bc usually you don't go to a therapist unless you're forced by people that loves you or you had accepted to have a problem) is something serious/grave/that change your behaviour with other people. ICSTOR just skipped the part where MC is super depressed, mentally and socially destroyed like in the game "Double Homework"(in that game this kind of thing is part of the prologue so it's pretty much important in my opinion but in Milfy City the main plot/premise is that a guy is going to bang a city full of milfs and nice girls)

 

[khumak]

I've played it a few times just to try and understand what makes it popular. There some things I like about it, but there's a lot I don't like about it as well. I do think that one thing it really has going for it is the fact that the dev has just continued to develop and add on to it so as time goes on it's got more and more content.

I'm curious how the fan base for adult games break down as far as VN vs sandbox format. Most of the games I like on here are VN format but I like sandbox too if it's done well.

I'm really at a loss though for how it would be raking in $50k+ per month though. There are games I like a lot more that make less than 1/10 of that.