How fast should I get to the sexy stuff?

[LykoXXX]

Hello everybody, So I am wanting to make a visual novel game involving a lot of sex scenes. But I don't know how long I should have the setup for the story be without being boring but also not too short to where you don't understand why you are doing the things you are doing. If anyone can give some tips or advice it would be so great!

 

[Synx]

There is no right answers. I have enjoyed games where the first sex scene took almost an hour to appear, and got bored of games where sex scenes were thrown around left and right.

Honestly the only advice on this topic is to create a story which still would be interesting without the sex scenes. The time before the first or in-between sec scenes is less important than.

 

[LykoXXX]

There is no right answers. I have enjoyed games where the first sex scene took almost an hour to appear, and got bored of games where sex scenes were thrown around left and right.

Honestly the only advice on this topic is to create a story which still would be interesting without the sex scenes. The time before the first or in-between sec scenes is less important than.

Wow thats really great advice thank you! Really this helped me alot in deciding the story flow even more!

 

[Cosy Creator]

Depends on where you're aiming to position your game on the spectrum between porn and story. If you're aiming for more story you can go hours before the first actual scene, but that doesn't mean it should just come out of nowhere - the whole point of the story is to build the sexual tension before the scene, so that the eventual payoff has much more impact.

 

[Syploore]

When an adult scene is thrown to me in the first 5 minutes of a game while I still don't know the characters and plot, I skip it. If I wanted to see a sex scene of two characters I don't know, I'd turn on porn. Reveal the characters, bring me up to speed, show me why the characters are attracted to each other - and I'm in.

 

[nulnil]

To be honest, it depends on the outward appearence of your game. Players will be more patient for a sexual content if the game looks better on the outside.

The more a player thinks they'll like a game, the more lenient they'll be on the arrival of that first sex scene. But if the opposite is the case, they will be less willing to push through to see the first scene.

Now as for your VN, the placement of that first scene is further the more intriguing your game is before it's even downloaded.

 

[woody554]

if you want to tell a story, sex must be late. when you give it up you've reached a peak of your story. don't waste your most important dramatic asset in the beginning.

if you don't care about stories you can start spamming sex as early as you like. "Hey, lady, did you order a pizza?" bow-chica-wow-wow.

both have their fans.

 

[LykoXXX]

These all are so great thank you guys!

 

[GNVE]

As Synx said there is no right answer. Only a few wrong ones. All games on this site exist on a dimension of sex - story. And on both ends of the spectrum there are good games to be found. The big mistakes you can make:

• Being boring. Remember that media is not real life but imitates it. You are allowed to assume that the players understand the MC has a morning routine and brushes their teeth, showers, dresses, has breakfast etc each morning. You don't need to show it unless there is a reason for it to be there. (e.g. American Psycho uses it effectively to do a lot of character development for instance).
• Promising something and not delivering. Whether that is sex scenes or something story related. Be mindful of your audience what they want and expect. (which doesn't mean plot twists are out of the question but they should still make sense for instance).
• Interchangeable characters. There is a game with an absolutely massive amount of characters in it. If you ask me what the difference is between those characters there would be a big shrug. Couldn't tell you. For 99 out of a 100 their main character traits are horny and big tits. So why should I care? I am not saying you need lots of character development but even in a game serving one sex scene after another you can differentiate characters. Have them like some things and dislike others. Discover new things about themselves. Be corny, horny, shy etc.

 

[TRKaiser]

I think it depends the type of game you are going for, is it going to be a short game? Is it going to be a long project? That would be the first thing that I would set in stone, how long do you have to tell your story or build up to the H scenes depend on how much time you are leaving available for the game as a whole.

It also depends on your target audience that would be the second thing I consider. If you are targeting people who are just here for the H then they wont like clicking or hitting shift/tab for long as they skip through the text...
If you are targeting people who are here for games that include H scenes, then you are going to want to have some build up...

How I look at it is like this, even in real life situations when you can jump right into the deed, people like building connections...even after they've built connections many people still love the build up to the act as much as the act, some even more so...there is a reason foreplay has been a thing for ever... built up sexual tension being released always better than unrepressed unattatched sex.

Some people cant even get sexually aroused without deeper connections or attraction to intellect and personality more than physical... of course you cant have it seem like a holy piece of chastity and take forever but I think, for me, a balance of build up is important in any good game.

 

[LykoXXX]

I think it depends the type of game you are going for, is it going to be a short game? Is it going to be a long project? That would be the first thing that I would set in stone, how long do you have to tell your story or build up to the H scenes depend on how much time you are leaving available for the game as a whole.

It also depends on your target audience that would be the second thing I consider. If you are targeting people who are just here for the H then they wont like clicking or hitting shift/tab for long as they skip through the text...
If you are targeting people who are here for games that include H scenes, then you are going to want to have some build up...

How I look at it is like this, even in real life situations when you can jump right into the deed, people like building connections...even after they've built connections many people still love the build up to the act as much as the act, some even more so...there is a reason foreplay has been a thing for ever... built up sexual tension being released always better than unrepressed unattatched sex.

Some people cant even get sexually aroused without deeper connections or attraction to intellect and personality more than physical... of course you cant have it seem like a holy piece of chastity and take forever but I think, for me, a balance of build up is important in any good game.

Very true thank you! My first game Im sure might change the answer given to me so far but im working on like forced sex game. But even though it will feature forced sex I still want to build up the reason the MC is doing it in the first place. And I plan on releasing the game in episodes just get feedback from people and how they like the story moving forward.

 

[hakarlman]

Damn, this thread is gold, some of the best advice I've read in sometime.

 

[disturb-o-matic]

If your characters and story are interesting, you won't need sex scenes right away. You will still get whiners saying "where sex" but that comes with everything. If you want to write a good story, sex should come naturally if your characters are romancing each other. So rushing it isn't always a good idea.

And each relationship should have different speeds to be believable. For one couple, it may make more sense for you to plan to have them fuck on the first day. For other couples, it might make more sense to hold off for a while. Especially if one of the characters is religious (and takes time to be corrupted), or has past trauma, baggage, or self-esteem issues that prevents them from becoming intimate.

If you hold off on sex scenes, I would suggest you make sure you give your players a warning or set expectations before they play so they don't get disappointed. Make mention of it in game somewhere that is clearly visible & nobody can skip.

 

[Banality]

if you have incest in your story, get to sex asap (looking at random threads there's always the question: can i fuck my mom and when?)
If you have a more adult approach to the story... take your time and develop it. There will be cry-babies on every side of that, but that's life

 

[Living In A Lewd World]

From a story telling perspective, I would also say, it doesn't mind, when you introduce sex scenes in your game as long as the story is compelling enough.

From a marketing perspective, I would suggest you to introduce some kind of adult scene already quite at the beginning of the game, just to raise expectations and get support already at an early time in development. And if it's just the MC watching porn or seeing something he/she should normally not see.
Though if you try to attract the Harem-Lovers, you might have to be aware, that what you show doesn't raise any "Beta" or "Jealousy"-Feelings and thus keeps the "No NTR in my Harem"-fraction away from your game.
I personally would e.g. like to see a game, where your father ain't dead, but you witness your father fucking a woman that isn't your mother in one of the first scenes. Your first aim would then not be to directly corrupt your family but to throw your father out of the house and only then corrupt your family and create your harem. But I really can't say, if one can do this with successful monetarization.

 

[LykoXXX]

I wake up to even more great advice, You all are awesome helping me greatly, Thank you!

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

The answer:

 

[desmosome]

There will be people who complain because of slow burn, and there will be people complaining because of too fast sex scenes. There will be people complaining about dream scenes. There will be people complaining about tags. About the story and characters. Just make the game you want to the best of your ability. You can't please everyone.

In the end, it entirely depends on the type of game you want to make and your skills as a writer. You can even open the game with a bar scene which ends in a one night stand with a LI. The relationship can certainly build from there. That even sounds like a plot to some rom com that may or may not exist. There are no hard set rules like some others are implying. It's not like the entire goal of the story HAS to be about slowly building sexual tension to finally bang at the end.

 

[Ripply]

Great answers from above, i'd just like to add that I really dislike when a dream scenes are added early on having sex with the LI's. Make it a tease or just wait. My 2 cents

 

[Jaike]

Whatever you want to write and fits the gameplay, story or slideshow. If the MC is single, there are no one night stands and dating is a core element, it makes sense to wait. If the MC has an LI, not having sex for months without an explanation is gonna be found a bit weird.

Oh, and some people don't like sex with an LI in the first 10 minutes or so. They want to get to know a character a little first. That's a personal preference though, you can easily ignore it if you want.

if you want to tell a story, sex must be late. when you give it up you've reached a peak of your story. don't waste your most important dramatic asset in the beginning.

if you don't care about stories you can start spamming sex as early as you like. "Hey, lady, did you order a pizza?" bow-chica-wow-wow.

both have their fans.

That makes sense for a story where sex is core of the plot and vanilla sex is the peak. But it's not hard to imagine something story-based where sex comes early. It just needs a plot about something other than sex or something more than vanilla.

There will be people complaining about dream scenes.

I think it's good to understand why people complain about dream scenes. Nothing that happens in dreams normally has any consequence. If a dev uses dreams to show stuff without consequences, like to spam early meaningless dream sex scenes, that's pretty boring to read. It's often a good view into the fetishes the devs likes, though.

But if it has some relevance for the story, like a dream world, prophetic dreams or insight in the MC's mind for other things than "the MC is a horny fucker", that's more accepted and doesn't get as many complaints.