MUST HAVE features in adult games

[Baronluck]

There is no such thing. A game is usually classified by having mechanics or loops that keep the player entertained and engaged, which has nothing to do with specific features at all. Your game can be filled with lots of features that wont mean a thing if your core design sucks.

For novel styled games your audience is as diverse as any reader of a book. Less is often better in those cases, as every single extra feature will somehow repel a certain fraction. If the story is good no one will blame the dev for a lack of visuals. If the visuals are great but the story sucks a large group will probably complain. Again - your audience is diverse which is why these kinds of questions cannot be seriously answered, unless you define who your actual audience is.

I think genres attract certain types of people and those people will have overlapping interests, so most will value some features over others. They'll probably value them so much that the features will become standards in the genre. Like how soulslikes let you upgrade your character with a currency that you lose after dying. Or FPS that have reload mechanic and headshots. Flight sims have key rebindings for pitch and yaw directions. If the game doesn't have these, players will be surprised (even angry) because they expect these type of games to have them.

 

[tooldev]

I think genres attract certain types of people and those people will have overlapping interests, so most will value some features over others. They'll probably value them so much that the features will become standards in the genre. Like how soulslikes let you upgrade your character with a currency that you lose after dying. Or FPS that have reload mechanic and headshots. Flight sims have key rebindings for pitch and yaw directions. If the game doesn't have these, players will be surprised (even angry) because they expect these type of games to have them.

Lewd games dont have a genre per se but fall into sub-categories of typical game genres. If your naked fighters rape each other after a fight ends, that is just fluff on top of what you see as typical in general games of that genre.

But the answer is still the same: a game is targetting an audience first and foremost and that is also one of the major reasons, where many devs fail, as they either dont target at all or use a shotgun approach to hit as many as possible (but none properly except a minor part that sits just right in the middle somewhere). Audience is diverse and even all players of an FPS will give you a spread of answers, why they chose that game or why they enjoyed it. You will always find 'some' reason why a game didnt appeal to you and choosing to blame a feature or lack thereof is a popular way, but usually not the real reason. Gaming is lot about emotions and not just dissecting of tech and mechanics or features. Age is a factor often ignored too, as with age hand/eye coordination gets reduced, while the appeal for the tech or genre doesnt change at all for a player. You can have all features any other game of that genre has, but if you target an audience that includes all kinds of age groups, you will for example have problems with older people in certain genres for that given reason.

 

[Baronluck]

Lewd games dont have a genre per se but fall into sub-categories of typical game genres. If your naked fighters rape each other after a fight ends, that is just fluff on top of what you see as typical in general games of that genre.

But the answer is still the same: a game is targetting an audience first and foremost and that is also one of the major reasons, where many devs fail, as they either dont target at all or use a shotgun approach to hit as many as possible (but none properly except a minor part that sits just right in the middle somewhere). Audience is diverse and even all players of an FPS will give you a spread of answers, why they chose that game or why they enjoyed it. You will always find 'some' reason why a game didnt appeal to you and choosing to blame a feature or lack thereof is a popular way, but usually not the real reason. Gaming is lot about emotions and not just dissecting of tech and mechanics or features. Age is a factor often ignored too, as with age hand/eye coordination gets reduced, while the appeal for the tech or genre doesnt change at all for a player. You can have all features any other game of that genre has, but if you target an audience that includes all kinds of age groups, you will for example have problems with older people in certain genres for that given reason.

I'm new to lewd games, so I'm still learning about the different types of games. It makes sense that lewd games aren't a particular genre but rather a sub-genre of any game. Just take a random game, a football game, then add the lewd sub-genre, so now it's a football game.. but with sex lol Like you could do that with literally any game and it would fall under the adult game category. But then when you look at the most popular games on here, they're mostly visual novels. Granted they have different topics and tags, but the gameplay is a lot of point and click with animations. Audience or feature, call it what you want, but there are some trends that a lot of people into adult games are used to and are looking for.

 

[tooldev]

I'm new to lewd games, so I'm still learning about the different types of games. It makes sense that lewd games aren't a particular genre but rather a sub-genre of any game. Just take a random game, a football game, then add the lewd sub-genre, so now it's a football game.. but with sex lol Like you could do that with literally any game and it would fall under the adult game category. But then when you look at the most popular games on here, they're mostly visual novels. Granted they have different topics and tags, but the gameplay is a lot of point and click with animations. Audience or feature, call it what you want, but there are some trends that a lot of people into adult games are used to and are looking for.

Which is what triggered my comment. You asked for 'features' but those vary from type to type of the game, as some features will never make sense for particular genres. Many novels have tried to add features like mini-games etc and have badly failed at that. Others did the same and got applause for it. In novels your story and characters carry the maximum load of the core feature. Anything else is either bonus or distraction, depending on how well implemented. And one particular thing in game development is a typical killer for a project: feature creep.

 

[psychobanana]

I agree with all the points given!

Personally, I don't really consider visual/ kinetic novels as a traditional game. While some do have fail states, most are interactive fiction with branching paths. In this regard, more choices and even more importantly, remembering these choices by having consequences to the story could make the novel better. If a visual novel is what you're aiming for then the standard features (save, quick save, etc.) are more than enough since the main driving force of a visual novel is the story itself. The addition of minigames and others could detract from the experience if they were just added for the sake of it.

In terms of developing an adult game, in my opinion, you should first decide on what is you want to focus on. Is it a porn with game or a game with porn and then work from there. Either you have sex front and center with minor gameplay elements or develop a fun gameplay loop with sex as reward and of course a story or something to give everything context.

From what I've seen, in this forum at least, is that there are two types of players of these games. The first is the one who enjoys the game and gradual grind for the happy reward and those who just want a quick and dirty fun time. Games usually target both these types by well, being a proper game for the first type and then offering a gallery unlock code for the second type.

Anyway, what I appreciate in an adult game is the context. Well if you think about it, this is just an expansion of the eroticism that was mentioned. It adds a lot to the sex if there is proper build up as to why are you banging this chick or something. The events leading up to it, or in the case of a VN, how you are able to affect the situation in order to lead to this banging. What I really want to say is, I want to bang characters, not just walking sex dolls.