How important is graphics in AVN to you?

[NukaCola]

By graphics, I mean both render quality, the aesthetic, environment, lighting...etc and the girls design. For me its the most important factor when I'm picking a new ANV to play. Especially the girls design. When I visit a new game thread here the first thing I usually do is check out all the screenshots. If they're interesting then I will check the overviews and tags next. If the renders is bad and none of the girls shown is attractive to me then I just move on right away.
I tried to play some games that are recommended to me because I heard the story is very good but its very hard to sit through if none of the girls look attractive to me. I have no motivation to talk, go on date or do anything with them.
For non porn games though I will play pretty much anything if its good. The graphics doesn't matter.

 

[woody554]

I'm a painter and graphics engineer by trade, but I've found that it's not a very big part of what draws me to a game or a comic. the main thing that pulls me in is my specific kinks. I mean of course I love good art, but it can't offset how the wrong kinks leave me cold about it.

so nice to have, definitely gets my first glance if it's good, but the second I find the story doesn't cater to my kinks I'm gone. doesn't have to be good story either, just needs to have my kinks and I'm hooked. the 'good story' is just a yawn fest if the kinks don't match with me.

 

[Bev_]

Even though graphics plays probably the biggest role in getting me interested in a game, I'd say writing (story, dialogs, setting, characters and interactions between them) is more important. I want to have something nice to look at, but art won't hold my interest on it's own, without background, that writing provides, I could as well watch some porn which'll have way better visuals and at least some 'story'.
I can see myself playing games with shitty visuals (like 90% of html games), but enjoyable writing, however there is no way I'd play a game, that is basically a slideshow of beautiful art, for longer than 15-30 minutes.

 

[SecretSal]

My biggest factor of consideration is the scenario presented by the game. Has to be a setting that I'm not bored of, and have characters/character roles that I find enticing.

I'd considering writing as a separate category, and probably the next most important factor. It's not just that the writer should have a good grasp of the language, they should be able to build characters to be unique and engaging, to draw out what's hot about a situation, to keep the protagonist from getting too annoying, all while using good economy of words, because some games (especially some from good writers) feel like the dialog starts indulgently circling around a lot just because they can. Editing is an underappreciated skill.

Art comes not too far below that. While I appreciate good art a lot, I'll always choose an average-looking character who occupies a really hot role over a great-looking one that occupies a bland role.

 

[Grozar]

Not as important as when I first enter this adult community,. The more games I play, the more my priority now is settings, plot & character

 

[Meaning Less]

To me, gameplay is everything when it comes to games. If the gameplay is decent or at least interactive enough I'm able to overlook almost every other aspect of the game.

Games like succulence come to mind, where the graphics consist of generic HS models but there is so much interactivity and possibilities in it that put this game near the top of my most enjoyed adult games.

Graphics can improve the overall appeal of a game but for sure it isn't everything, neither is a good story if you have no gameplay at all to go along with it.

 

[Doorknob22]

Humans are complex and what attract us (to anything, from food to partners to movies) is a combination of factors which, of course, can differ from one person to the next. Even the AVN with the best graphics can kill my mood with terrible grammar or mindless grinding and I can enjoy a game with below average art if it brings the right set of kinks to the table.

So: yes, art is very important but it's far from eclipsing other ingredients when concocting the perfect porn game.

 

[Loganfin]

Graphics are certainly important. Its what generally draws me to a new game originally and catches me eye to give it a look. However, at a certain point, it becomes nice but you hit diminishing rewards. For example. I may "need" a game to be a 6 or a 7 on my personal graphics scale to enjoy it, but I'd rather have a game that's a 7 with awesome gameplay features and good characters than one that's a 10 graphically but pretty empty and lifeless otherwise.

User interface and the ability to control the pace of the game are 1 and 2 in my book. Graphics are probably number 3.

 

[Geralt_R]

Character design is important (the characters should look like human beings, no exaggerated proportions), but render quality itself is secondary to a good plot. Great visuals cannot compensate for a bad or stupid story. Of course truly horrendous art will hurt a game as well, especially when the characters had certain sliders pushed all the way to 11. So it's a combination of various factors, but as long as the graphics are "ok", I don't care if they are a bit noisy or the lighting not always optimal - when the story and setting are good.

Great art can't save a game for me if the writing is horrendous or the plot stupid.

 

[Alboe Interactive]

To be honest... not much. There are only two things that I care about regarding visuals.

The first is blatant mistakes like clipping or noticeably bad textures. As a dev, I know clipping is annoying to fix, but suck it up and spend a minute to fix it. For low res textures, I'm willing to forgive if it's the background or something unimportant, because I know not every dev has a monster PC. However, if I see someone use the stretched-out torso texture on a Dicktator penis one more time I'm going to scream. It's literally a 3 click process: Add Dicktator to the model, copy the materials (torso texture), and then add the geoshell to apply other textures on top. There is no excuse for characters having penises with a shitty stretched-out texture and I see it way too often.

The second is the image should give the proper portrayal of what's happening and make sense in context. This is why I struggle playing Japanese games where they use a handful of images for the sex scene. For example, the text will say the MC grabbed something, but his hand doesn't move.

As for making sense, the one that always comes to mind is a scene from JOHN where the MC is having breakfast with her boyfriend. He has a plate of pancakes and then proceeds to PICK UP THE ENTIRE STACK AND BITE INTO IT LIKE IT WAS A SANDWICH! AND THAT WAS WITH SYRUP AND BUTTER ON IT TOO! It was as if he was an alien masquerading as a human. In a visual novel with otherwise amazing renders, it took me a few minutes to recover from that.

Other than what I mentioned, I'm willing to let my imagination carry visuals when needed.

 

[TranscendentThots]

First of all, do keep in mind that

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Secondly, I sort of feel like if you feel the need to ask this question, you're probably trying justify releasing a game with bad graphics. Everybody says they don't care about graphics. They're lying. You can see for yourself. Just use the Latest Updates tool at the top of the screen. Sort by Views or Likes.

Look at the graphics in the thumbnails.

Next, skip to the last page of each of those sort methods.

Look at the graphics in the thumbnails.

The difference in graphical quality from low views to high views is obvious.

(Weighted Rating is kind of a crapshoot since the vast majority of games in the database have Zero Reviews.)

But there is something useful you can take away from it, no matter where you are with your game's graphics. You can observe the obvious patterns and therefore make good decisions about how to best use your own limited graphical ability. You can ask yourself "Which of these unpopular aesthetics can I realistically avoid? Which of these popular aesthetics can I probably emulate?"

Specific advice depends upon your development computer, your art pipeline, and your skill/experience, and you should google and do your own research in this area. Got a high budget, but low skill? Commission a professional artist to do renders or illustrations for you. Got a lot of skill and ability to learn from tutorials, but low budget and a weak computer? Export Daz Studio content to Blender, and use the much faster Eevee rendering engine, while also editing the free content into something custom, instead of buying a lot of new content.

Got no budget, skill, talent, time, or halfway decent computer?

Make a text-based game!

It probably won't make a lot of money, but it's still better than an ugly game.

Sorry for being blunt about this. Everybody says gameplay is more important than graphics, because saying it makes them feel sophisticated, but nobody actually wants a porn game where all of the characters are represented by colored cubes. If people can't look at a screenshot and think "that's hot," why even have visuals?

 

[haksaw]

If it's 2D I found myself tolerating quite a surprising low quality drawings, they don't distract me as much as I thought just looking at previews. 3D renders is an instant trash tier, you can't make still 3D images not look like uncanny abominations. Animations save them somewhat, but games with a lot of animations are rare. Full 3D stuff like Illusion works are also fine, animation to the rescue I guess.