How important is an in-game Gallery menu?

[Apple_Tart_Games]

Hi.

I've released two games so far in a series called Sir Stretchalot. They're RPG Maker games. Both included an in-game Gallery where players could view unlocked lewd scenes and images.

My latest project is a bit different and my problem is that every plugin I've tried doesn't do what I want this time around.

I was thinking instead of the in-game image gallery, I'd just include all the images as PNGs in the game's installation folder.

I'd have a note on the title screen that says to check the install folder for gallery images.

I figure people would rather have high res PNGs anyway. The gallery section I'd have in game would only be to replay the lewd scenes. I feel like those are more important.

Does this sound like a good or bad idea?

Thanks.

 

[Allard]

I like replaying some of some lewd scenes for ... scientific purposes. It isn't a feature I would demand in every game or I wouldn't touch it, but it is a nice have.
The important thing for me is the replaying part. I want the dialogue, not just a slideshow of renders.

 

[Apple_Tart_Games]

I like replaying some of some lewd scenes for ... scientific purposes. It isn't a feature I would demand in every game or I wouldn't touch it, but it is a nice have.
The important thing for me is the replaying part. I want the dialogue, not just a slideshow of renders.

Oh, the replaying of lewd scenes part I absolutely have. That stuff is no issue at all.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

Oh, the replaying of lewd scenes part I absolutely have. That stuff is no issue at all.

Then I don't understand what else do you think the game needs? The lewd scene replay, presumably, also displays relevant art?

 

[VMiller]

It seems to me that what we need in games is not a gallery, but something else.
Some TV shows show a summary of the previous episodes at the beginning of each episode.
In a game, it would also be good to do something like this, to show what important events have happened. Of course with pictures and explanatory text. This is like achievements in Steam. One difference, it should be tied to the walkthrough of the game.

 

[chainedpanda]

It seems to me that what we need in games is not a gallery, but something else.
Some TV shows show a summary of the previous episodes at the beginning of each episode.
In a game, it would also be good to do something like this, to show what important events have happened. Of course with pictures and explanatory text. This is like achievements in Steam. One difference, it should be tied to the walkthrough of the game.

Completely agree that this is an issue that I think would work wonders if solved. Too many good games get ignored simply because people can't remember them for every update. The issue is that a general solution is hard to create. Ideally we get something that's fairly universal, but doesn't take up a ton of dev time.

While an episodic summary sounds good on paper, it would honestly only work for a specific type of game which actively uses chapters.

Honestly, the best solution would likely be a some sort of twist to the 'codex' type concept.

 

[Apple_Tart_Games]

It seems to me that what we need in games is not a gallery, but something else.
Some TV shows show a summary of the previous episodes at the beginning of each episode.
In a game, it would also be good to do something like this, to show what important events have happened. Of course with pictures and explanatory text. This is like achievements in Steam. One difference, it should be tied to the walkthrough of the game.

Completely agree that this is an issue that I think would work wonders if solved. Too many good games get ignored simply because people can't remember them for every update. The issue is that a general solution is hard to create. Ideally we get something that's fairly universal, but doesn't take up a ton of dev time.

While an episodic summary sounds good on paper, it would honestly only work for a specific type of game which actively uses chapters.

Honestly, the best solution would likely be a some sort of twist to the 'codex' type concept.

I have this one completely covered.

This current project I'm about to release the first episode of is episodic. It's designed like a sit-com with each episode being somewhere between 20-40 mins long. There's a bit of a story that carries over, but each ep still has it's own standalone story as well that gets resolved.

I'm going to have a Recap option from the main menu. This will launch a thing that shows still images and displays text that summarizes all the major plot points that has happened so far in each episode.

It won't take a ton of dev time at all. it's just taking pictures and using RPG Maker's dialog functions.

But yeh, when I say Gallery, I am talking just about a gallery where you can look at the lewds lol.

 

[Apple_Tart_Games]

Then I don't understand what else do you think the game needs? The lewd scene replay, presumably, also displays relevant art?

The lewd scene replay does indeed display the art. It has all the art and more that the gallery would have. I just wondered how important it is for people to have something separate that just displays the images. I know a lot of games have them. Digging around though, I'm seeing some big ones that don't, and choose to just have the lewd scene replay.

I thought it might be an issue for those that want to just get to the pictures, because there's a decent amount of dialogue and scripted sections in my scenes that they might not want to have to go through just to get to the pictures.

It's probably not an issue though. The gallery might be unnecessary.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

I thought it might be an issue for those that want to just get to the pictures, because there's a decent amount of dialogue and scripted sections in my scenes that they might not want to have to go through just to get to the pictures.

Aha, I see. Well, if you're polling opinions, I'm kinda the opposite. I have almost zero interest in "just the pics", it's just not that good without the text (and or VA), especially if that's OC and not a rule34 of some well-known character.

Now, if that's something extra, some concept art that never got used, then sure, you can have a Bonus Pack folder. As a bonus.

Sell the art pack as additional $1 (or whatever) DLC on Steam.

 

[Apple_Tart_Games]

Aha, I see. Well, if you're polling opinions, I'm kinda the opposite. I have almost zero interest in "just the pics", it's just not that good without the text (and or VA), especially if that's OC and not a rule34 of some well-known character.

Now, if that's something extra, some concept art that never got used, then sure, you can have a Bonus Pack folder. As a bonus.

Sell the art pack as additional $1 (or whatever) DLC on Steam.

Yeh, my lewd scenes are made up of dialog, and different 1-3 frame animations. No VA, but I think the experience is still way better than just pics haha. They are OCs as well.

Concept art bonus pack actually sounds like a fun idea.

As for selling the art pack, I do sort of do that on Patreon, where I have HD image packs for both my games. The Patreon is more for people who just want to support me and get my games that way though.

 

[RedPillBlues]

Hi.

I've released two games so far in a series called Sir Stretchalot. They're RPG Maker games. Both included an in-game Gallery where players could view unlocked lewd scenes and images.

My latest project is a bit different and my problem is that every plugin I've tried doesn't do what I want this time around.

I was thinking instead of the in-game image gallery, I'd just include all the images as PNGs in the game's installation folder.

I'd have a note on the title screen that says to check the install folder for gallery images.

I figure people would rather have high res PNGs anyway. The gallery section I'd have in game would only be to replay the lewd scenes. I feel like those are more important.

Does this sound like a good or bad idea?

Thanks.

Just throwing the images in the installation folder is kind of useless. Consdering you said Plugin I assume its RPGM and most everyone knows how to decrypt RPGM games. Just leave them decrpyted in the first place and tell people how to reach them, img/pictures, graphics/pictures etc. At least then you can save doubling the space the pictures take. But still that doesnt help that having just the PNG's without the text makes them useless to the people looking to actually see the scene. Having the writing go along with it is kind of important. At that point might as well just go to Rule34. If its impossible to get the plugin to work, at least think about letting the player know before a sex scene is about to happen so they can save. Thats probably the next best thing. Something non-intrusive

 

[Apple_Tart_Games]

Just throwing the images in the installation folder is kind of useless. Consdering you said Plugin I assume its RPGM and most everyone knows how to decrypt RPGM games. Just leave them decrpyted in the first place and tell people how to reach them, img/pictures, graphics/pictures etc. At least then you can save doubling the space the pictures take. But still that doesnt help that having just the PNG's without the text makes them useless to the people looking to actually see the scene. Having the writing go along with it is kind of important. At that point might as well just go to Rule34. If its impossible to get the plugin to work, at least think about letting the player know before a sex scene is about to happen so they can save. Thats probably the next best thing. Something non-intrusive

Ah, maybe I didn't explain how I'm doing it correctly.

I wasn't going to decrypt the lewd images in the main root of the installation folder. Was literally going to have a folder called "LEWD IMAGES" and then just have them all decrypted in there. Pics don't take too much space so doesn't matter if they're doubled up.

And as for letting players save before sex scenes, I don't do that. After sex scenes I have a popup that says "Gallery Content Unlocked". I then have a room that the players can enter from the main menu where they can interact with each girl and replay any sex scene they've unlocked. I think it's better than having to have different save files for each sex scene.

 

[RedPillBlues]

I wasn't going to decrypt the lewd images in the main root of the installation folder. Was literally going to have a folder called "LEWD IMAGES" and then just have them all decrypted in there. Pics don't take too much space so doesn't matter if they're doubled up.

Spoiler: And this isnt even high quality pictures

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Imagine that being doubled. To be fair only about 300mb are images rather then scenes, but thats still a lot and would be much larger if the game wasnt in 480/720p. I get that space isnt that big of an issue for people in the West, and other countrys with higher standards of living, but there are many places where both HDD's are not easy to come by and internet is data limited. Not saying that you have to cater to them, but it is something to consider

 

[desmosome]

I imagine very few people would even look at the image folder when a scene replay exists. The marginal benefit of including an image folder for the handful of people interested is entirely offset by the increased file size of the download. If you really want, make a separate download for the CG rip.

 

[Apple_Tart_Games]

I imagine very few people would even look at the image folder when a scene replay exists. The marginal benefit of including an image folder for the handful of people interested is entirely offset by the increased file size of the download. If you really want, make a separate download for the CG rip.

Oh yeh, I actually do this already for Patreons. Maybe I should do it just for everyone.

 

[Apple_Tart_Games]

Spoiler: And this isnt even high quality pictures

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Imagine that being doubled. To be fair only about 300mb are images rather then scenes, but thats still a lot and would be much larger if the game wasnt in 480/720p. I get that space isnt that big of an issue for people in the West, and other countrys with higher standards of living, but there are many places where both HDD's are not easy to come by and internet is data limited. Not saying that you have to cater to them, but it is something to consider

Hadn't really considered people in places where size might be an issue. I'll have a think about that.

The image gallery for this project right now is only 37 mbs, but yeh, I suppose it'll be way higher as I add more episodes.

 

[nulnil]

Galleries can be useful to ensure your porn content is accessible easily. But make sure you don't end up completelty relying on a gallery for the fapping experience.