VN Ren'Py New Game from Xta-Z

[XTZ Adult Games]

Hi all.

I'm developing a new game, and I would like to hear some of your thoughts about what is most important to you as a player, when you get involved in the game.
I don't mean the topics themselves, but rather the experience: is it the graphics you value the most? the story?
Do you like to have choices at every juncture, or prefer to read a story, and make decisions at key points only?
Would you like the developer to deliver updates as frequently as possible, even if very small progress was achieved, or prefer to wait a month or two and get substantial updates?

Thank you for any input,
Mark

 

[Saki_Sliz]

If I can turn on my auto clicker and speed through a story, than its not for me, but for most F95Zone users I understand that they do appreciate a good video.

I'm not too concerned with graphics either. What I'm most interested in is my ability to impact the game. How soon can I make choices? When do I get into the gameplay and how quick is it to learn, is there a lot of fluff (walking) mechanics or do the mechanics matter? I'd wait a full year for a substance update, I go all over the place I don't have time to monitor even my favorite makers. Maybe I would pay more attention if I were a patreon but I had to pull out recently due to quarantine being a pain on my wallet.

 

[serhatdozdiyik]

I kinda agree with Saki_Sliz

The reason for me to download a game is the plot and in-game images. If there is a model that I really like I would definetely download the game, but to make me keep playing it the impact of the choices I made is the main reason. Different paths always make me make more saves and try the paths again and again for the scenes that I may have missed.

Also considering, I come home from a busy workday, only want to spent maybe 1-2 hours (at max) to get a good story and gameplay with nice graphics, I really do not prefer sandbox games. My main preference is a no-sandbox game (so sorry I forget it, what you call a no-sandbox game) with choices that effects the game for real (so I can replay and see different outcomes.)

 

[Saki_Sliz]

As for meaningful choices, trying to write a story with many branches is hard. at least for me I can only think of one true story. Instead it may be simpler to have an inventory system like clothes and tools, where the game reacts to what you have. ie in trap quest if you aren't wearing pants or underwear, traps can go right into your holes.

 

[Axle Jones]

as people have said above there needs to be choices, cant stand it when most of the game is just waiting for the auto to get to the actual sex or the next option that's 2 million test boxes ahead. graphics depends on the style, if its 2D its kinda hard to get wrong either go with the traditional anime style or if you have your own style do that, as for 3D i personally cant stand non-animated 3DCG games, those motionless doll eyes are just a boner killer, as for the quality of the models it doesn't have to be anything super realistic or anything. i also personally prefer more sandbox games where i can get everything in 1 run cause i don't really have the time or patience to do multiple runs just to see everything so unlocking everything on 1 save at my own pace is more enjoyable for me personally of course in the end its your game, asking the people who are possibly gonna play it is good and all but try working with what you're good at. lastly you should basically release an update when either you feel there's enough content, there's a major bug with the version you released that you fixed or its been a while (for example a month) but you still haven't made enough to make you think its worth releasing cause if updates go dark for too long it gets annoying, even a minor bug fix a month is better than nothing, and of course if possible try to keep saves compatible with future versions, its fine if one or two major updates break the saves but having to restart every update gets old really fast and usually ends with most people ignoring the game then rediscovering the final version a year or so later

EDIT: almost forgot, don't forget to inform people of any delays whenever possible, there's nothing worse than waiting a year just to learn the games essentially been put on hold

 

[XTZ Adult Games]

First, I want to thank everyone who wrote here.
Although not a statistical survey, your opinions matter, and give me a better understanding of what other people look for in a game.
Until now, I had only one guy's tastes to sample...

Though I'm doing animation for almost 30 years now, and even written and directed a couple of animation series for TV, I've never designed a game. So this is a new territory for me, in which I have to give options to the player, instead of controlling everything he sees.
That said, since I play games much longer than I animate, I also understand the need of the player to influence the story - basically, the best reason for playing a game rather than watching a movie.

I will describe the game in the next thread I start, not to clatter this one, but some things about it that are relevant to our discussion: It's a visual novel done in Ren'Py, in which decision making for all the main characters is the most important engine, and happens very frequently.
And it affects not just the future actions of some characters, but also their looks.
Paula (the main character), for example, will either become thinner, athletic, muscular and hot in the future, or "just" thinner and hot AF, based on the emphasis you put on her workouts or on other aspects of her development.

Also, my intention (for now, at least) is to deliver an update every month.
My concerns, though, are quite obvious: since I use mostly Maya, and render in Pixar's RenderMan, it will take time to deliver substantial material.
And I don't want to be the target of annoyed (and annoying...) "Oh, it's just another small and pathetic update" remarks and so on.
So I'm thinking perhaps updating just every two or even three months.

What do you guys think?

 

[DbatRT]

1. Don't make a game with an open world, seriously, it's not cool to wander for hours around locations, trying to fulfill the condition and see the scene. The game should guide the player, you don't have to guess where to go for the story to develop, all you have to do is make choices in the dialogues, watch the scenes and jerk off.

2. Grant memory and attention to your characters when they see a certain event or participate in it, then the next day they should not behave as if nothing happened. When you realize that this scene really has consequences, it gives you emotions, shame, humiliation, or something else, and after it's over, some day the character should remind you of that feeling, even if just by mentioning it.
Do not let the characters forget, otherwise the player will not have any excitement, because the world does not care that he was seen naked, because tomorrow no one will remember.

3. Develop your characters and the main character, they should change as the story progresses or from specific events. This partially connects us to the second point. In any case, this way they will look alive, they should have emotions, and the player should have excitement.

4. Do not force events, do not miss foreplay, stroking, harassment, verbal communication and grooming, leave sex for sweet, because after the heroine is fucked, simple harassment no longer causes emotions. Play on the player's expectations. We humans get the most pleasure from anticipation and get much less pleasure from getting a cherished scene than from waiting for it.

5. If appropriate, a bit of sex statistics, either a magazine or a detailed status, we like to watch our progress and remember everything we've been through.

6. It Would be great if the world reacted not only to scenes and events, but also to your clothes or other distinctive features, sometimes I like to see (actually not) how my choice does not affect anything. Why do people make a wardrobe if only the player notices the changes and everyone else doesn't?

Once again, most importantly, do not force the player to strain and look for scenes, so if you are for example making a game on RPG Maker, it will be a very big plus to remove unnecessary battles, as well as moving around locations, ideally, do cutscenes, let the player just sit and watch, remember my principle: the player must make a choice, watch the scene, jerk off.

 

[Axle Jones]

1. Don't make a game with an open world, seriously, it's not cool to wander for hours around locations, trying to fulfill the condition and see the scene. The game should guide the player, you don't have to guess where to go for the story to develop, all you have to do is make choices in the dialogues, watch the scenes and jerk off.

the post does say it'll be a Renpy VN so the closest you'll get to open world is a navigation menu, you are absolutely right about open worlds that dont give you any real hint on what to do being annoying but with Renpy that's rarely an issue

 

[XTZ Adult Games]

1. Don't make a game with an open world, seriously, it's not cool to wander for hours around locations, trying to fulfill the condition and see the scene. The game should guide the player, you don't have to guess where to go for the story to develop, all you have to do is make choices in the dialogues, watch the scenes and jerk off.

2. Grant memory and attention to your characters when they see a certain event or participate in it, then the next day they should not behave as if nothing happened. When you realize that this scene really has consequences, it gives you emotions, shame, humiliation, or something else, and after it's over, some day the character should remind you of that feeling, even if just by mentioning it.
Do not let the characters forget, otherwise the player will not have any excitement, because the world does not care that he was seen naked, because tomorrow no one will remember.

3. Develop your characters and the main character, they should change as the story progresses or from specific events. This partially connects us to the second point. In any case, this way they will look alive, they should have emotions, and the player should have excitement.

4. Do not force events, do not miss foreplay, stroking, harassment, verbal communication and grooming, leave sex for sweet, because after the heroine is fucked, simple harassment no longer causes emotions. Play on the player's expectations. We humans get the most pleasure from anticipation and get much less pleasure from getting a cherished scene than from waiting for it.

5. If appropriate, a bit of sex statistics, either a magazine or a detailed status, we like to watch our progress and remember everything we've been through.

6. It Would be great if the world reacted not only to scenes and events, but also to your clothes or other distinctive features, sometimes I like to see (actually not) how my choice does not affect anything. Why do people make a wardrobe if only the player notices the changes and everyone else doesn't?

Once again, most importantly, do not force the player to strain and look for scenes, so if you are for example making a game on RPG Maker, it will be a very big plus to remove unnecessary battles, as well as moving around locations, ideally, do cutscenes, let the player just sit and watch, remember my principle: the player must make a choice, watch the scene, jerk off.

1. No fear of an open-world game at this stage
I myself, by the way, like open worlds, but the mass of work needed to make such a game, especially a good game, is enormous. And surely not on the Ren'Py engine.

2-3. definitely.

4. All true. And also a fine balance between build-up and reward, which I hope to achieve.
I don't want to fall to the trap of a long and grinding game that goes nowhere, but still let the story unfold at it's own pace.

5. While programming scripts for years in several languages for my 3D and Post workflows, I still haven't coded a single Ren'Py line yet, so I will see What I can do.
I too, as a player, like to see my progress and stats, so I will definitely like to do that if I can.
That said, It's not on the top of my agenda while I learn Ren'Py on the fly.

6. I agree. As I wrote above, one of the best reasons to play rather than watch, is the influence we have on the characters and the plot.

DbatRT and all you guys, thank you for the time you took to write your comments.
I appreciate it, and it's helpful.

 

[Derek Wildstsar]

Whatever you do, don't give us a long wait and then just a crappy update.
We just got an update for a game after 5 months of waiting, only to find out that the story - and sex - went nowhere. After 3 years of game development...
It is a good game and I was seriously considering to support it UNTIL that update, because it gives the feeling that the dev is simply milking his patrons.
The reason given is that time needs to pass, in the game world, for things to advance a "naturally."
I understand slow development of a story, especially where "landladies" and "tenants" are involved, but if the "Game Time" is slow, then at least the updates shouldn't take half a f#&*ing year.

 

[XTZ Adult Games]

Whatever you do, don't give us a long wait and then just a crappy update.
We just got an update for a game after 5 months of waiting, only to find out that the story - and sex - went nowhere. After 3 years of game development...
It is a good game and I was seriously considering to support it UNTIL that update, because it gives the feeling that the dev is simply milking his patrons.
The reason given is that time needs to pass, in the game world, for things to advance a "naturally."
I understand slow development of a story, especially where "landladies" and "tenants" are involved, but if the "Game Time" is slow, then at least the updates shouldn't take half a f#&*ing year.

I know what you mean...
But no worries here.