Is there less quality content than before?

[trbbles and bits]

This question was asked several months ago but feels like it needs to be asked again. It seems to me that Patreon's content guidelines and the curious number of devs falling ill has created a dearth of top notch content every month. Which is not to say that there aren't some really skilled devs providing quality games but it feels like the sheer amount of high end content is noticebly less than even 6 months ago. I love this site and this style of erotica and hope this is just a brief downturn rather than a long term trend.
Does anyone else agree with this assessment? What can be done about this? I know there are other alternatives to Patreon but are any of them viable? If I was tech-savvy enough to create a game I would, but unfortunately that's not the case, so I have to settle on supporting others content financially and in spirit. I appreciate any feedback you may have. Thanks!

 

[Avaron1974]

No, i've not noticed any decline.

I've noticed far less shitty incest copy pastas but there are plenty of games with good stories coming out.

I guess if incest is your main kink you may notice less games but overall there are still plenty of decent games coming out to keep me happy.

 

[polywog]

Fewer Flash games being released lately.

 

[jamdan]

I dont think so, there might be different content to conform with the patreon rules but the quality is IMO better than ever. Several top games are nearing completion or have been completed recently , so there will be new stuff to play from those devs by the end of the year so I look forward to that.

 

[fauxplayer]

I don't agree that there's less quality content than before; in fact, I would say the opposite. The high tide of quality seems to be raising all the boats and there's more good stuff out there. But I understand why you or others would feel there's less quantity of quality (if that makes sense) because there does seem to be quite a few quality games that are on hold or even abandoned and others with releases every three-to-four months rather than monthly. A year ago, you could more reliably count on quality games having regular monthly releases, but that seems to less common now. Some games aiming for highest quality (very subjective, but examples IMO are Being a Dik, City of Broken Dreamers, DeLuca Family, Milfy City, Ecchi Sensei) don't update very often, while some others (like My Sweet Neighbors, High Life, Lexi) are either abandoned or up-in-the-air.

Overall, though, I feel there are more games of better quality than ever before.

 

[Deleted member 229118]

I personaly think there is less quality games in terms of gameplay and story but more quality in terms of sex appeal and grathic's.
Tho not in any significant numbers.

Games like the imperial gatekeeper are fun little distractions that deliver what i expect of them.
And while they are fun they arent nearly the quality of games like superpower or lab rats.

Is that because quality is going backward or that (like in normal gaming) there are still diamonds in the mud but there just is alot mud now?

For me there are too many linear visual novels pretending to be game by adding gameplay that doesnt do anything execpt drag out the game(walking simulators anyone)
You know the type of game where you need to do things in a predetermint order and have zero choice?
I notice those are increasly common.

If you arent the type of gamer that is looking for good gameplay you problem wont notice the decline that much.
Likewise stories are becoming increasly linear.
Where instead of multiple path to victory you options pretty much are: Pick the right answer or reload.
I cant blame dev's too much.
I doubt most of them have the time, money and people to create anything that isnt a linear story focused game.

 

[WIRProductions]

I feel it is subjective based on when you found the treasure trove of this website. When I first found it, there was so much content, fresh and new to explore. Now that I have gone through all the games of interest, unless I find something from the archives, like a JRPG hentai game, it is just waiting for new updates that feel big enough to want to replay the game. This is especially true for games where old saves are not usable. I don't want to reply hours of a game for one fuck scene, so I'm left waiting months for a enough updates to binge.

 

[Domiek]

But I understand why you or others would feel there's less quantity of quality (if that makes sense) because there does seem to be quite a few quality games that are on hold or even abandoned and others with releases every three-to-four months rather than monthly. A year ago, you could more reliably count on quality games having regular monthly releases, but that seems to less common now.

I think I can answer this one, at least one side of it. I was releasing monthly for half a year. It's not a realistic option. Especially if you have a full time job and family, you'll be taking sick days and pulling all nighters once you get close to the release day crunch. It's feasible for a while, but eventually a person will burn out or burn personal relationships. Hard to tell your cousin or niece that you're skipping their birthday because you're "Uh... busy with a project". It's not the type of hobby that the general society accepts or one you announce freely to your social groups.

 

[takuya.aihara]

For me there are too many linear visual novels pretending to be game by adding gameplay that doesnt do anything execpt drag out the game . . .

I consider those to be interactive stories padded with events or tasks that aren't compelling at all.

 

[Joshua Tree]

I think I can answer this one, at least one side of it. I was releasing monthly for half a year. It's not a realistic option. Especially if you have a full time job and family, you'll be taking sick days and pulling all nighters once you get close to the release day crunch. It's feasible for a while, but eventually a person will burn out or burn personal relationships. Hard to tell your cousin or niece that you're skipping their birthday because you're "Uh... busy with a project". It's not the type of hobby that the general society accepts or one you announce freely to your social groups.

You touch on something important a lot of players seems to ignore or not think much about. They quick to judge a creator if their content doesn't get pushed out in tact with the growth of their patreon income etc though. People doesn't magically gain extra hours in a day with increased support.

Tbh, I rather want content updates more like every 3 months, than on a monthly basis. Should put less pressure on creators and give room for better content. I'm inclined to think with Patreon, people prone to think "I support every month, so I'm entitled to new content every month", which imho is terrible way of thinking.

 

[Avaron1974]

Content speed doesn't bother me as long as devs don't give deadlines. When they can't stick to them it makes them look unreliable and when it happens multiple times it can turn people off.

Most devs here are amateur at most and have full time jobs with families.

Relying on Patreon for income to pay the bills isn't the way to go, it could be taken away in a second. I know there is nothing that could make me leave my job and I know some devs feel the same so there are games that will have a longer wait period between updates.

 

[Joshua Tree]

Relying on Patreon for income to pay the bills isn't the way to go, it could be taken away in a second. I know there is nothing that could make me leave my job and I know some devs feel the same so there are games that will have a longer wait period between updates.

Imho, there is some creators that kinda put unrealistic goals on their patreon as well though. Like if they achieve x support/income they will quit work/school etc and go full time game dev. I don't think that would apply much in the, hmm, how to put in western part of the world? (don't want to offend someone, due to where they live, whatever). Education is important and follow you rest of your life, so drop out of school over something like that, is silly. And you must be stuck in quite a terrible job if you want to quit your job over it.

 

[215303j]

I was releasing monthly for half a year. It's not a realistic option. Especially if you have a full time job and family.

I fully understand what you are saying but for the player, a monthly update schedule is the next best thing after playing only completed games.

And what is better for the customer is also better for the producer, in financial terms.

So the dev can choose between (potential!) business success or accept that it'll never be more than a hobby for which he gets some kind of compensation.

 

[Kinkstabbing]

I think one of the reasons for the influx of low quality games is that many developers are learning as they go. My first game Cast Out(which is barely a game at this point) was me learning RPG Maker at the same as I was making the game. Which is a great way to learn, not so much a great way to make quality content.

Luckily I made that game very small from the start so i finished it in a couple months and by the end I knew a lot. But many devs seem to start out with super ambitious projects and then get in over their heads and end up releasing a bare bones alpha with no real content, and then people get obviously annoyed at the lack of any real substance and the devs get discouraged and quit.

It's one of the reasons I'm taking so long on my current project. I want to make sure there's a decent chunk of content at the very start so people aren't angrily waiting for me to release a new patch to make the game worthwhile actually downloading.

That and making porn games is hard. And so am I.

 

[Joshua Tree]

I fully understand what you are saying but for the player, a monthly update schedule is the next best thing after playing only completed games.

And what is better for the customer is also better for the producer, in financial terms.

So the dev can choose between (potential!) business success or accept that it'll never be more than a hobby for which he gets some kind of compensation.

You will face the risk of push out content just to push out content, rather than release good content. Quality over quantity any day. And quality take longer time. If you a creator of a game, and you already have a full time job, family, kids, and all kind of real life responsibilities else to take care of. Face it, you are creating the game as a hobby, not with a primary aim to make it big business.

A creator such as DarkCookie is the exception rather than the norm. As Avaron1974 pointed out above, relying on Patreon income is a uncertain future. Imho what patreon support does more than any is give added incentive to the creators that what they are spending their time on is appreciated and valued.

 

[Domiek]

I fully understand what you are saying but for the player, a monthly update schedule is the next best thing after playing only completed games.

And what is better for the customer is also better for the producer, in financial terms.

So the dev can choose between (potential!) business success or accept that it'll never be more than a hobby for which he gets some kind of compensation.

This is simply incorrect. I can see how you come to this conclusion but in reality it doesn't work like that.

As a dev you stagnate when you do monthly releases while juggling a full time job. Every single dev I interacted with told me not to do it that way.

It's quantity over quality. You have no time to further learn and improve your craft. You can't afford to take a couple days to learn the basics of a new software or experiment with lighting when every day counts. Just look at Personal Trainer. It's not the best of the best or anything, but the visual quality from the first 6 months is pretty similar and kind of meh. As soon as I stopped doing monthly, the quality visibly improved.

Not sure why you think a non-monthly game will never be more than a hobby. Plenty of devs are on a 2-3 month release schedule, some who are making a serious income.

If I didn't have a job and had that extra 40 hours a week to dev? Hell yeah, I'm doing monthly. But for now as you say, it has to only be a hobby. My wife would probably leave me if I stayed on a monthly schedule.

 

[Avaron1974]

I don't think any of the more well known devs release monthly.

 

[BrokenDreams]

This question was asked several months ago but feels like it needs to be asked again. It seems to me that Patreon's content guidelines and the curious number of devs falling ill has created a dearth of top notch content every month. Which is not to say that there aren't some really skilled devs providing quality games but it feels like the sheer amount of high end content is noticebly less than even 6 months ago. I love this site and this style of erotica and hope this is just a brief downturn rather than a long term trend.
Does anyone else agree with this assessment? What can be done about this? I know there are other alternatives to Patreon but are any of them viable? If I was tech-savvy enough to create a game I would, but unfortunately that's not the case, so I have to settle on supporting others content financially and in spirit. I appreciate any feedback you may have. Thanks!

Now first you have to tell me which time frame in the last three years produced the highest quality content according to you.I consider 2016 to be the start of modern age of adult gaming and in my opinion we are getting more quality contents now than ever before.I started playing all the oldest updated games and moving towards all the new games just so I can appreciate the evolution of the games and their respective Devs. Objectively you can say graphics/game mechanics are truly getting better and as for stories,more Devs are trying out new story elements,different time settings etc as a response to elevate themselves from the common tried and tested incest themes.Not everybody will succeed but the effort is there.Many Devs are member of this forum and there are also numerous other future Devs lurking in this threads.They got the message that they must consistently push themselves,they must continuously evolve to survive in the ever expanding adult gaming business which will in turn produce more quality content than ever before.

 

[Joshua Tree]

Now first you have to tell me which time frame in the last three years produced the highest quality content according to you.I consider 2016 to be the start of modern age of adult gaming and in my opinion we are getting more quality contents now than ever before.I started playing all the oldest updated games and moving towards all the new games just so I can appreciate the evolution of the games and their respective Devs. Objectively you can say graphics/game mechanics are truly getting better and as for stories,more Devs are trying out new story elements,different time settings etc as a response to elevate themselves from the common tried and tested incest themes.Not everybody will succeed but the effort is there.Many Devs are member of this forum and there are also numerous other future Devs lurking in this threads.They got the message that they must consistently push themselves,they must continuously evolve to survive in the ever expanding adult gaming business which will in turn produce more quality content than ever before.

I might be wrong, but I think a lot started jump on the bandwagon of BB, and wanted to if not get rich, at least make some dough. Just create some stuff and throw at the fap hungry masses and get greens in the process. It doesn't really pan out well, because even the fap hungry got ideas of quality.

I think the motivation that drive the creators at great deal affect what kind of game and quality of, they can produce. You kinda see this with mobile games and games else as well. Some just want to make a good game, others just want to become the next candy crush, whatever.

 

[BrokenDreams]

I might be wrong, but I think a lot started jump on the bandwagon of BB, and wanted to if not get rich, at least make some dough. Just create some stuff and throw at the fap hungry masses and get greens in the process. It doesn't really pan out well, because even the fap hungry got ideas of quality.

I think the motivation that drive the creators at great deal affect what kind of game and quality of, they can produce. You kinda see this with mobile games and games else as well. Some just want to make a good game, others just want to become the next candy crush, whatever.

There will always be bandwagoners. Some will try to replicate but some will try to one up the current best.The drive of competition will always bring out the best of ones capabilities and that is why this forum is very important in adult game fandom IMO.So many Devs cross path with one another here and players can openly discuss/judge one game in relation to another.I believe the respected members of this forum have the power to push the Devs for better quality.

On the other hand,there are so many players of different mindset that I believe games of different quality can co-exist.Many players will be playing their first adult games here and they will be easy to satisfy.But after playing many games of similar concept,they will start to look for more quality stuffs and then the top level Devs have to answer them.This players will now occupy the upper niche and their absence will be filled by ever increasing new players and the cycle will continue.Long story short,every quality tier will have their own player niche and this player niche will be determined by their prior experience in different adult games/storytelling etc.