Lewd Game Design: Few In-depth Characters vs Many Simple Characters

[whiskeyrose]

Do you prefer a large cast of characters to have scenes with, but with a limited number of unique scenes. Or do you prefer a small cast of characters, but with more unique scenes?

For those of you that have played my games before, you know I make Twine HTML games using real life porn webms/images/videos as the visuals. I've been kicking around a few projects and ideas that haven't gotten very far, but I'd like to ask the above question to the community.

For the large cast, the game focuses on a lot of superficial interaction but with a huge varied cast of characters. You can use your mind control powers/drugs/charm and with anyone from your sister to your gym teacher to your boss to the cashier at the gas station. The downside being that for each character there are maybe only one to three scenes with, and the jump from normal to slutty is a pretty quick transition. As you roam the map you come across many different characters in many different capacities. Example of this would be games like Haramase Simulator, A Spell of Your Own, Glassix.

For the smaller cast, you have a few characters to use your mind control/lewd abilities on, but they have many intricate interactions with this smaller cast. The journey from normal to lewd is riddled with events as you climb the stairway to heaven with each character. As you explore the world, the events routinely involve the same characters and your interactions with these characters grow more and more lewd over time. Examples of this would be MILFY City, Dreaming of Dana, Dating my Daughter.

So basically, which do you prefer in your games? Please don't say both. A huge cast with intricate story-lines and events would be great, but as a solo dev for most projects it isn't feasible, at least not at first.

edit: I want to clarify here, but with the large cast I don't mean the scenes are generic and lazy, but just that there are less of them per character. For those of you that are familiar with my work, I would consider my big project, Breeders Haven to be a poor example of a game with a large cast, where are a game like Glassix or A spell of your Own to be an example of this done well.

 

[Johnny-Doe]

Quality beats quantity every time.

 

[whiskeyrose]

Quality beats quantity every time.

I get what you're saying, but I added an edit for clarity, just in case.

 

[Johnny-Doe]

I get what you're saying, but I added an edit for clarity, just in case.

I just read it and i still believe a smaller cast with more depth and sense of progression is better,having a smaller cast opens up more options for customization ex make that annoying girl a public whore,keep that sweetheart as a private toy etc.As you said in OP we cant have everything so my vote is small cast with unique colorful personalities and possible choices for their "evolution" love/corruption.

 

[Agent HK47]

I'll take a bottomless lake over an ocean with the depth of a mud puddle, any day of the week.

 

[HopesGaming]

I like a large cast if, and only if, the majority of them are side characters.
I still prefer to focus on a few.
And as most games are done by sole devs or a small team, it's impossible to explore the depth of a character if there are too many.

 

[DarthSeduction]

As someone attempting to write a game with a relatively large cast, between 8 and 10 NPCs with some sexual content, I can definitely say, I really have my hands tied with how much I can do. I have to cram a lot of character development into every interaction to make each character feel uniquely important to the MC. Each one has to provide something else to the game. It isn't impossible to give everyone a satisfying story, but it is really hard to give everyone multiple arcs.

Conversely, the other project I'm working on is a much smaller cast, 1 main love interest, 2 side interests, and the main interest is also a playable character, so I'm free to develop both in ways that are full of choice and depth.

I definitely like the characters in both games, but I have to say that, overall, by the end of the smaller game, you'll, ideally, have real feelings for the characters, by the end of the larger game, they'll all have been a nice experience, though, barring certain developments, likely you'll have less emotional impact...

 

[caLTD]

We are here for porn not the plot.

AND

Quantity has a quality all its own

-- Joseph Stalin

 

[HopesGaming]

We are here for porn not the plot.

AND

Quantity has a quality all its own

-- Joseph Stalin

*We* is a big statement.
Some simply want the porn. Others do not.
There is always pornhub and other video sites for people who prefer only porn.

 

[caLTD]

*We* is a big statement.
Some simply want the porn. Others do not.
There is always pornhub and other video sites for people who prefer only porn.

It's a trope for porn and it was realization what we do.

Most earned creators have sh*t load of chars. No body give damn about character deep. If do they will read a Novel for deep characters.

Our job is making fantasies visual. We are just enhanced porn fantasy writers with equipped with more than pen and paper.

And of course, everything should be reasonable at least for a porn game.

 

[DarthSeduction]

We are here for porn not the plot.

AND

Quantity has a quality all its own

-- Joseph Stalin

That's probably the most ignorant thing I've ever read. There is no value in playing a game without character depth. Not a single game, no matter how nice it looks, whether it uses real porn, or renders, or 2D art, is as good as a video is if all I want is porn. I come to games specifically for the plot. It allows me to empathize with and gain an investment in the characters and the outcomes. A weak plot is all it takes for me to uninstall a game, no matter how good it looks.

 

[carbonatedman]

For the most part I like a medium sized cast with a healthy amount of story arc development given to each of the main characters. Gives the player a little more variety in the types of characters you can try to win over than the typical dating games or h-games where there's just a few main interests, but it doesn't water the game down so much with an over abundance of options that it begins limiting character depth/progression with them.

A good example of what I mean by that could be a game like Mythic Manor. Great cast, all of them have their own unique personalities, goals, hobbies, and styles. Decent amount of story behind them all. Really solid game that perfectly illustrates you don't need to sacrifice quality by having a decent amount of quantity.

Another one on my radar right now would be Offcuts. Currently only one of the 6 main character routes has been completed, but there's already a decent amount of work done on a second one as well. Even the girls whose stories haven't been started yet are given enough time and attention to clue you in on who they are and what motivates them. Plus the writing so far has been great (aside from a little weirdness at the very beginning). The game is only on version 0.15 right now but it already has better story development, pacing, and characterization than most of the other games on this site (imo).

Just my 2 cents anyhow.

 

[caLTD]

That's probably the most ignorant thing I've ever read. There is no value in playing a game without character depth. Not a single game, no matter how nice it looks, whether it uses real porn, or renders, or 2D art, is as good as a video is if all I want is porn. I come to games specifically for the plot. It allows me to empathize with and gain an investment in the characters and the outcomes. A weak plot is all it takes for me to uninstall a game, no matter how good it looks.

Then could you explain me how deep is Summer Time Saga characters ? If you call those are deep, I'm sorry I got wrong if not, please let me explain something.

You are missing one important thing. We are not building games for our selfs. Sure all of us has own vision to how adult game can made.

AND

Our job is find good excuses for instant, unreasonable, immoral, no strings attachted, always healthy, always happy, no physiological after effects sex with almost everyone which has holes and put it in good package.

Kind a fairy tale for 16 old male.

Let I give an example, If my English permits.

Very long time ago, one of our best Cartoonist convert Disney's Cinderella to an adult cartoon.

In this version everyone f*ck with everyone but not Cinderella, when Cinderella uses cucumber to satisfy herself, that F*ck fairy show herself and change Cinderella clothes, then Cinderella goes to party, at end prince f*ck Cinderella and Cinderella left the party. To find Cinderella prince fuck everyone in the country.

Anyway when he finds Cinderella in rags, f*ck her in very last moment. But refuses to acknowledge her is a Cinderella.

Reason ?

Hell now I can f*ck everyone why should I chose one.

 

[DarthSeduction]

Then could you explain me how deep is Summer Time Saga characters ? If you call those are deep, I'm sorry I got wrong if not, please let me explain something.

First off, it's telling that you chose Summertime Saga as your example. Summertime Saga is a life sim, it is, as I explained in my initial post, very hard to get a lot of depth out of a larger cast, however, Summertime Saga, unlike its contemporaries in Big Brother and Man of the House, realized this, and embraced the camp as a result. Summertime Saga is fun, it's engaging because it is over the top.

Spoiler: Summertime Saga

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Spoiler: DmD

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Spoiler: Babysitter

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In short, just because you're a horn dog that ignores the story doesn't mean it isn't there.

You are missing one important thing. We are not building games for our selfs. Sure all of us has own vision to how adult game can made.

Absolutely wrong. You can't expect someone else to like something you yourself wouldn't be interested in. Even if your tastes are obscure and not the biggest audience, you'll do better writing what you know than trying to pander to an audience you think exists.

Our job is find good excuses for instant, unreasonable, immoral, no strings attachted, always healthy, always happy, no physiological after effects sex with almost everyone which has holes and put it in good package.

Only partially correct, and missing the point. First of all, there are plenty of people who get off on the effects surrounding sex. Some people want there to be consequences and others make a big deal about trying not to cause them, for example, both the very popular Milfy City, and the game Babysitter which I already mention have dealt with going easy on a virgin for their first time. Both gave you the option to go balls to the wall, but the outcome is best, of course, if you go easy on them. It's almost comical that you don't see the error in your statements when you say this, honestly. How do you define "good excuses" if not narrative, plot, story, character development? You can throw all the contrivances at the wall that you want, at the end of the day you'll probably get thrown in the trash, because we already have overrated games with nothing but contrivance to show for themselves (Man of the House comes to mind). What separates you from the pack these days is exactly what you think is a gotcha, "GOOD" excuses for our characters to have sex.

Very long time ago, one of our best Cartoonist convert Disney's Cinderella to an adult cartoon.

In this version everyone f*ck with everyone but not Cinderella, when Cinderella uses cucumber to satisfy herself, that F*ck fairy show herself and change Cinderella clothes, then Cinderella goes to party, at end prince f*ck Cinderella and Cinderella left the party. To find Cinderella prince fuck everyone in the country.

Anyway when he finds Cinderella in rags, f*ck her in very last moment. But refuses to acknowledge her is a Cinderella.

Reason ?

Hell now I can f*ck everyone why should I chose one.

What is that if not plot and story? Seriously? Is it contrived and childish? Sure, but if you embrace the camp it could be fun. It is still characters to get invested in, a story to follow, and a reason to continue.

Just this afternoon I was watching the movie Oceans 8, and someone said this line "and you know they've never lost a pope" referring to the current security service, I'm sure, but my first thought was, "Wait, didn't I assassinate Rodrigo Borgia?" And of course, that got me thinking, and a fucking insane game idea came to mind, playing as Rodrigo's daughter, and following the decisions he and her brother make, using her and her sexuality both for themselves and their schemes, the awesome excuse to play as a slutty character with plenty of drama surrounding it to keep it interesting, intrigue and all that. Is it simple? Yes, but being based on a real person and actual events would allow me to go full bore with both a plot and graphic sex, to which I say, hell yeah.

 

[caLTD]

From my point of view this is not deep.

What I'm try to saying with my broken English.

If you going after decent amount money for your effort. Put large cast for MC and keep them reasonable (deep) enough for Porn game.

In Summer times Mia was one of the best example of this. I had sh*t load of Religious types in my life. It was far beyond from this. But we like to thing far opposite. So DarkCookie create fantasy which we buy easily.

Of course we can create very realistic, deep one, however it needs probably 10 times of dialogue screens to get f*ck done. Which non of us want to afford plus I'm not so sure any body like to play this kind of game.

Plus in real life we got 2 consequences get married or get shot (at least in my country).

 

[BigWamanHunter]

From my point of view this is not deep.

What I'm try to saying with my broken English.

If you going after decent amount money for your effort. Put large cast for MC and keep them reasonable (deep) enough for Porn game.

In Summer times Mia was one of the best example of this. I had sh*t load of Religious types in my life. It was far beyond from this. But we like to thing far opposite. So DarkCookie create fantasy which we buy easily.

Of course we can create very realistic, deep one, however it needs probably 10 times of dialogue screens to get f*ck done. Which non of us want to afford plus I'm not so sure any body like to play this kind of game.

Plus in real life we got 2 consequences get married or get shot (at least in my country).

Very few people(unless they are new to this shit) prefer the kind of games where you get to fuck and be worshiped by a dozen shallow females {with deep(reasonable) enough.....} who think being a virgin doesn't make them a dumb bimbo.....

I guess i can understand why u feel that way about porn......you are from a VERY conservative society..... In the west getting pussy is way easier than the middle east or where i live so i assume thats why most ppl including my desensitized self prefer deep characters we can empathize with.

I'd recommend going through this site or looking at the threads poll results before showing ur own opinions and thoughts as general consensus

 

[redknight00]

In my experience, when asked, people default to quality > quantity, even if when it comes down to number the cheap mass produced goods and generic Hollywood blockbusters win.

Now for the real question, personally I prefer a larger cast with a mixed approach. Take Mythic Manor for example, it has over a dozen women, even if the game focuses on 5 and now got a 6th with decent focus. I believe it's a reasonable approach because it allows the player and developer to operate on different levels with different girls, even if it's not necessarily the case in MM, a dev could use the side girls to explore quicker routes with more experimental content and a fast payoff, opposed to the main girls that can have longer arcs. And by long I don't mean year long blue balls, because i strongly believe sex should not be the endgame, in fact in my experience, having sex with a a person is just one of the first steps in their relationship.

Another positive side of having a larger cast is giving the player options, being a gamer for years and coming from RPGs, I love choices and often uninstall games that only have one or two main girls because the very idea of being forced to interact with one person is a no go for me. On the other hand, having at least 4-5 girls gives enough elbow room provided they all are portrayed as equally valid and the dev doesn't play favorite.

Anyhow, in the end, it's not about what is the best, but why it's good and a higher understand of that why makes for a better creator in every case.

 

[caLTD]

I'd recommend going through this site or looking at the threads poll results before showing ur own opinions and thoughts as general consensus

So you mean you will watch Kay Parker's taboo with full length, not skipping.

Just stop a one minute and think. Why people play our games ?

Because of they are good games, they have good mechanics for revarding player ?

Or

Because of they have stellar graphics, sounds environments ?

Or

Because of good stories which can earn a Nobel prize or can enter best selling list ?

Or

Simple they put players position of able to f*ck nearly every possible one in the game without any consequences.

One of those poll results I believe 90% percent of players does not want to replay the game. Why ? because they are so bad. Thats why many of great games has own cheat panel.

They are not games, simple they are enhanced porn fantasy items.

 

[BigWamanHunter]

So you mean you will watch Kay Parker's taboo with full length, not skipping.

Just stop a one minute and think. Why people play our games ?

Because of they are good games, they have good mechanics for revarding player ?

Or

Because of they have stellar graphics, sounds environments ?

Or

Because of good stories which can earn a Nobel prize or can enter best selling list ?

Or

Simple they put players position of able to f*ck nearly every possible one in the game without any consequences.

One of those poll results I believe 90% percent of players does not want to replay the game. Why ? because they are so bad. Thats why many of great games has own cheat panel.

They are not games, simple they are enhanced porn fantasy items.

The biggest hits/most commercially successful games in here are the ones that have good balance of the sexy stuff and the plot. The old dumb harem shit shall be forgotten.

 

[whiskeyrose]

The biggest hits/most commercially successful games in here are the ones that have good balance of the sexy stuff and the plot. The old dumb harem shit shall be forgotten.

I actually somewhat agree with the person you're quoting (though not quite as simple as he's putting it).

Almost all the popular games on this forum aren't good games, and if not for the porn aspect they wouldn't really be played. I'm looking at the most viewed threads and popular games forum.

Dating my daughter is about you grooming your daughter for sex
Both Big Brother and Man of the House are about you manipulating/harassing your family into having sex with you (with MotH having added a rival for the twist.
My new life is hilariously poorly translated, and even then has flat game mechanics
Son of a Bitch is also hilariously poorly translated, and even if it was the plot for all the characters would be "sexually harass female until she loves you."

I'm not saying that all lewd games are like this, but the majority are. But that can be okay, because you still spend a ton of time playing them.

I for example just finished a bender on Son of a Bitch, where I spent most of the time reading guides and monkeying with the cheat menu to reach scenes. It might as well as been a complicated MP4 viewer because I hadn't a clue what was going on with characters. But that doesn't matter, because I've spent like 7 hours in the past week on it. That's more than I can say for half my steam library.