Lack of sound effects in H games these days?

[MidnightVT]

Hello all. I have noticed a trend lately where games do not have any sound effects on their H scenes and I just dont know why.. It seems to be most commin with Ren'py and similar type engines/games. Maybe its an issue or limitation with that engine or?

Do devs just choose to not have sounds? I cant imagine thats the case.. to me anyway having good sounds effects like moaning, words, slapping of skin, explosion at the end etc.. adds great value to the game. We dont usually chose to pick a picture or gif to get off to do we? we watch a video.. Sound is key.

Anyway just something i noticed and wanted to see if this is an engine limitation or what your guys thoughts were.. maybe im just weird and sound isnt important to most people.

 

[Meaning Less]

The reason it is something rare in indy games is because unlike real porn where the sound is result of the deed there is no sound in 2D or 3D, it has to be engineered in later.
That is extra work that adds complexity to the project and not everyone has the interest/budget for it.

If sound is that important to you look for games with the voiced tag.

 

[Rafster]

or what your guys thoughts were

Easy. Money. 90% of the devs here are indie devs with no budget.

Not everyone have the funds to hire someone for music/Sound FX.

 

[Adabelitoo]

You have to get the SFX from somewhere, and while it isn't an impossible task, it isn't worthy either. These games are a really inefficient way to do porn if you think about it, there are a lot of things left to the player's imagination to fill, why not letting the moans up to them as well? Not everyone likes to hear voices or moans in the first place so just leave as it is and the player will do the rest.

 

[Cynicaladm]

watching porn, you rarely get to self insert/identify with whoever the guy or girl is that is at the center of the scene... it's very clear you are watching a performance, and that comes with their sound as they make it during the scene... (except when it's dubbed which adds an extra layer of campy uncanny valley silliness to the whole thing)..

these games, on the other hand, focus in large part on first person point of view... If I am having a wank to the game I will provide my own sound effects (or not, since I just so happen to be a quiet guy in the bedroom).. if I am not having a wank, which is most likely these days, the last thing I want is to hear the grunts and moans of someone else that I am supposed to self identify with.
of course, you are probably talking about the sounds of the actual physical interaction, slapping sounds and whatnot, and the reactions of the other person in the scene... I can do without those... in fact those sounds would probably take me out of the scene more often than that they add something to them.... but that's just me.

Add to that that a substantial majority of players actually turn the sound off on these games because so many of them have random and often ill-fitting generic sounds (in and beyond the sex scenes) that it's not worth it, and there you have it.. it's mostly a waste of resources.
There are games like the one I collaborate on, that do focus a lot on finding the appropriate sound track to set the mood for scenes, both sexy and not...so the players that play with the sound off do miss out on that aspect of the game, but personally, to interrupt that music with random grunts, ooh's and aah's... I'm glad that the main dev decided not to do that.

 

[AlisaB]

I dont think OP realizes how much time and effort is required to create those indie porn games as a single dev. It is a massive amount of work and since most people start doing this as a hobby then adding any non-essential tasks such as sound/music seems like a needless luxury.
Then you take into account how many players(myself included) just mute everything right from the start making the effort even more senseless. I dont need nor want music in porn games, the generic sounds of sex can be nice but are not necessary.

 

[Nunu312]

Y'all really hit the nail on the head.

Sound definitely adds something, but as a general statement it is pretty high on the effort required to do it and doesnt add that much. The first thing the majority of players will do is turn it off anyway. Not only that if you dont do it right it will actively detract from the experience. Furthermore once you have it in one place it has to be in every place. You can't write a scene and not include sounds anymore.

As I say, in general two identical games, the one with sound is better. But instead of doing that sound, you could make the game 10-20% larger. Or you could put that effort into marketing, or just take some time off to rest your brain because you haven't had a break in 3 months.

Cost benefit analysis... sound usually isnt worth it.

 

[Deleted member 229118]

I always turn the sound off anyway.
I find it doesnt add anything.
Also i am paranoid as all hell so i always want to keep my ears open so nobody walks in on my while i am fapping.

Also depending on the sound moaning can be very painfull for the ear's.
Some woman have this anoyingly high piece voice that makes my ears bleed.

 

[redknight00]

I don't remember sound effects ever being the rule.

But then again, I always play on mute unless it's a voiced jp VN.

 

[Glib_Gentleman]

Sound definitely adds something, but as a general statement it is pretty high on the effort required to do it and doesnt add that much. The first thing the majority of players will do is turn it off anyway. Not only that if you dont do it right it will actively detract from the experience.

This is it.

Sound can really elevate a game into something special. I mean, compare Summertime Saga with sound on versus off. The locations feel so much more alive with the sound on.

However, sound done poorly will make the game worse. Much worse.

And for the love of all that is holy, no guy playing a porn game wants to hear their male character groaning and moaning. In fact, unless your game contains full voice acting, I wouldn't include moaning from the women either. It is pretty weird to have silent dialogue for the whole game and suddenly they can vocalize outloud during sex.

 

[Crimson Delight Games]

Good SFX is expensive. And it's difficult syncing it to the lewds themselves. Most games are also one-dev projects, so you can't expect a solo developer to be good at sound design in addition to all the other stuff they have to produce (art, writing, scripting, etc.).

Shit's hard, yo!

 

[3DReaver]

I like music and sound effects in games but, it's one more skill that the developer would have to learn. It's quite difficult to get right, easy to fuck up and will only add to the experience if its done well. Time spent on it could be used to work on more critical parts of the game. Think about a movie, look at that wall of credits. in most cases 1 guy is doing everything when it comes to these games. its overwhelming.

I think most wont take the time to learn it so the deciding factor will be if its a skill he already had, like if he has a video editing background or something.

 

[fidless]

Easy. Money. 90% of the devs here are indie devs with no budget.

Not everyone have the funds to hire someone for music/Sound FX.

Ehh... You can find 1000 sound packs for 10-30$. It's plentiful snd not a big investment. $ is not the issue with sounds.
Same for music.
It's all about not caring about that. Some say "everryone mutes porn games" as a reason not to work with sounds. To me, it's just lazy.
Like painting a picture without colors. Not fully done.
For sex sounds, I don't care myself, but I'd like to see some slap sounds if pictures show slapping etc. Don't care about moaning.
It's hard to find good sounds for that and also it's not always easy to adjust pitch to fit the character.

 

[MidnightVT]

Thank you lol I was beginning to wonder if I was just a weirdo.

 

[Meaning Less]

Like painting a picture without colors. Not fully done.

Have you ever read manga?...

Knowing your audience is important also, sometimes performance is more important.

 

[justpassingbyreally]

Games that add sounds to sex scenes and aren't serious dramas should mix in some squeaky bed noises, exaggerated screams and surprise horse/animal sounds.

 

[fidless]

Have you ever read manga?...

Knowing your audience is important also, sometimes performance is more important.

You're 100% right. It's not worth the effort if you make your game just for $$$ or lack creativity.

 

[Rafster]

Ehh... You can find 1000 sound packs for 10-30$. It's plentiful snd not a big investment. $ is not the issue with sounds.
Same for music.
It's all about not caring about that. Some say "everryone mutes porn games" as a reason not to work with sounds. To me, it's just lazy.
Like painting a picture without colors. Not fully done.
For sex sounds, I don't care myself, but I'd like to see some slap sounds if pictures show slapping etc. Don't care about moaning.
It's hard to find good sounds for that and also it's not always easy to adjust pitch to fit the character.

Yeah, I even think that there are free sources of sound FX and music, requiring a whopping 0$ investment. But would you fill your game with generic sound and music and feel like it's a complete picture? come on. If you're going to invest in sound, you don't want these on your game. Same with music.

And let's not begin with music, because there's a reason why porn studios didn't invest on OST past the 2000. On porn clips I usually mute them because most of the the moaning, screams or even the few words they say are so cringy that turns me off. And you can improve that on a game? good luck with that. On the few porn games I play, the first thing I do is to mute them, even before playing for the first time.

Heh, and with my game using real porn I could take advantage of the sound of the clips, but I chose not to. One of the reasons I've already said it, the other, the size of the clips would pile (and I have a lot of these on the game) and third, I show more than one clip by scene and they start automatically. Players would jump scared with all the sounds playing at the same time.

However, I see your point if we were talking about a SFW games though. But on NSFW games, it's a luxury.

 

[Cynicaladm]

For sex sounds, I don't care myself, but I'd like to see some slap sounds if pictures show slapping etc. Don't care about moaning.

that's you.. someone else might then complain s/he wants the grunts and moaning.. others will say those grunts are too much, too loud, not loud enough... it's pretty much a coin toss as to what level, quality, timing and volume of whatever sound effect chosen is liked or disliked.. Frankly not worth the effort when you know that said effort will only ever please a fraction of your players (and most of those are not even actual patrons anyway...)
The fact that the majority of players mute the sound is a real thing which just compounds the pointlessness.
For DS we have had to actively write it in the script that we advise people to play it with the sound on because the dev puts in an extra effort to find the right music for every scene, have it line up with the story beats and all...and even then we get regularly comments from people who don't bother with it and still play it on mute (which they are free to do).
He put in ambient sounds in a couple of scenes, but those too go largely unnoticed or not commented upon...so... why bother really, especially when the success/appreciation rate is so hit and miss?

 

[AlisaB]

Ehh... You can find 1000 sound packs for 10-30$. It's plentiful snd not a big investment. $ is not the issue with sounds.
Same for music.
It's all about not caring about that. Some say "everryone mutes porn games" as a reason not to work with sounds. To me, it's just lazy.
Like painting a picture without colors. Not fully done.
For sex sounds, I don't care myself, but I'd like to see some slap sounds if pictures show slapping etc. Don't care about moaning.
It's hard to find good sounds for that and also it's not always easy to adjust pitch to fit the character.

Real devs compose their own music. I mean look at Mozart - if he could do it then so can you! Same with sounds, create your own dammit, you lazy bum!
I couldnt help but notice that you create your game using Honey Select - come on dude, thats just lazy. Its pretty much just copy/pase premade chars, locations, poses, animations etc. etc.
Why wont you learn how to draw beautiful 2D images and animate them. I mean Disney can do it so whats your excuse? Laziness, thats what!