I'm thinking about making a Hentai game

[Bakahentai]

So I've been playing Hentai games for years and will certainly continue to do so for many more. I've dabbled in just about every genre including 2D and 3D variants. There were some games I've played for 30+ hours, and others I stopped playing after 2 minutes.

Anywho, the most recent games I've gotten into were Town of Passion and Daily Lives of My Countryside. Now, in my opinion, these two games have very unique gameplay styles that I hardly ever see in other hentai games and I wish more hentai games were like these two.

The game idea I have in mind would have a similar playstyle to Town of Passion/Daily Lives, and preferably a Pacifist/Genocide route system similar to Undertale. The gist of the main story would be something like, you (the MC) are the only male (or futa) in a village full of women. Life for the MC has been relatively normal throughout childhood and teenage years, but in present-day, an army of monster girls and/or boys are now marching their way towards your nation/village. Not only that, but the army is lead by a Succubus and as she draws near, the women in your village are affected by increasing amounts of Lust towards the MC.

As the MC, your main goal is to cultivate and empower one/multiple Heroines from the village to fight the Succubus and her army. This would be done through a Romance route or a Lust route. A romanced Heroine is far more powerful than Lustful ones but would be harder to cultivate and you can only fully Romance one. Lustful Heroines are weaker but would have no limit besides a party restriction of 3 or 4 per battle. An example of these routes would be similar to the difference between a Genocide battle and a Pacifist battle in Undertale. You either repeatedly resist your Heroines' sexual advances (Romance) or repeatedly succumb to them (Lust).

The Romance route would be more difficult, resemble a dating sim with your single Heroine, and have a more impactful/emotionally driven story. The romance route will also fail should you succumb to any woman's sexual advances. The Lust route on the other hand would be Harem-focused, and an easier/less challenging path to beating the game. Each path would also have its own unique sex scenes, as well as some shared scenes.

Ideally, I'd also like to implement a feature (save system/warning) that allows you to prepare/easily swap between Heroine Romance paths, in order to avoid wasting a ton of time playing through the beginning of the game multiple times. I would also prefer to make the MC somewhat customizable. Hair length, hairstyle, hair color, sex, body type, skin tone, and possibly boob size. (I realize this would make art and animated sex scenes more complex and difficult, but am willing to do so if it isn't too time-consuming/costly.)

I would probably make the game on RPGM, but I have no experience with game design whatsoever and am open to other ideas. Is my idea for the game/mechanics even possible with RPGM?

I can write fairly well and with a little more practice can probably draw some decent art and animate sex scenes. However, assuming I'd have to hire voice actors, an artist/animator, and a programmer, how much would that all probably cost me? I would also aim to have the game completed within the next 5 years, but is that too optimistic?

 

[Deleted member 1952336]

"However, assuming I'd have to hire voice actors, an artist/animator, and a programmer, how much would that all probably cost me?"

A lot of money. Probably $10,000 at the very least but it depends on the number lines, the number of images, the quality of the voice actors, the number of voice actors, the quality of the character artist and animator, as well as the quality of the background artist and animator, and the quality of the programmer. You might want to try and contact artists you like and get their rates, before you get too far into planning.

As far as voice overs go, this is probably about the cheapest you can find (Fiverr).

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As far as programming it's probably cheaper to just take a day or two and learn RPGM from tutorials and then do all of your writing directly in engine.

"I would also aim to have the game completed within the next 5 years, but is that too optimistic?"

That sounds reasonable if you can keep pouring money and time into it and don't get discouraged. But it depends if you're full time or not. Expect that voice actors and artists will drop out during that time and you'll have to replace them, so you'll want a detailed document describing the character and background art style.

 

[Bakahentai]

Thanks for the reply. $10,000 sounds like an area I could manage. Voice lines would probably be limited to sex scenes and maybe a few greetings to the player. I'd also probably wait till the game is near completion to start recording lines to limit costs and line rewrites.

And I'll certainly take your advice with getting artist and animator rates before anything else. I appreciate the advice.

 

[Deleted member 1952336]

Thanks for the reply. $10,000 sounds like an area I could manage. Voice lines would probably be limited to sex scenes and maybe a few greetings to the player. I'd also probably wait till the game is near completion to start recording lines to limit costs and line rewrites.

And I'll certainly take your advice with getting artist and animator rates before anything else. I appreciate the advice.

Sounds like a good plan. You could also plan your game and story around the rates you get and your budget. Like how many different backgrounds, characters, character expressions and other things you can afford, once you get quotes from a few artists you like.

I know for voice acting, sometimes games will do just a few emotional expressions, like laughing, a "Hmmmff" sound for angry, a relaxed *Sigh* and similar things, and maybe a "hello" type greeting, instead of every line of dialogue. This way you can write as much as you want for the same cost.

I don't know if every one would enjoy it, but I personally enjoy games that do that. I know from surveys and other feedback that about 40% or more of players won't even have the visual novel's sound on when they play, which is why some VN's don't bother with any budget for sound but it's something I personally enjoy and prefer.