New Gay VN

[Okalix]

Hmmm, a little bit of lordosis? Nice, I like realism

Thanks pilgrim2003

The lordosis is just down to the particular pose. It won't be a character trait or plot point going forward

First of all, I think there is a big difference between writing a bi story or a gay one.

I self-identify as straight. I did play Aaryn's "Straight!?". I liked the romance story (it may be one of the best romance stories out there), but the guys just aren't doing it for me...

One interesting angle could be, that the MC starts in a relationship with a woman, but they (for some reason) bring another guy into the relationship and the MC can choose to do stuff with him or not, and be reluctant or enthousiastic about it.

What is interesting to me, is the internal conflict of the MC: is this really what I want? Why do I want it? Am I really straight?

This is something which is done really well in Straight!?, but there the outcome is already known (I guess), which makes the dilemma (straight vs. gay) less interesting.

What you need to think about, is whether you want to make a VN or a Sandbox type of game. Are there more potential love interests, or just one or two? Why?

Thanks Thialf

What you described was incredibly close to what I originally intended for the project, however, as I'm pretty new to all this, I wanted to be less overly-ambitious at the start. Bi-elements might be something I move into further down the line, but to begin with, I want to focus more on the male on male stuff. Again, in terms of choice and freedom I would like a more sandbox game but I think it's more important to focus on a solid more linear experience before fleshing out all the possible alternatives and consequences. It's definitely something I will keep in mind for the future though. As my experience grows, so should the complexity of the project.

 

[Okalix]

Here's a peek at the first of many love interests for the MC. Who doesn't love a twink?

 

[pilgrim2003]

Nice, very nice, thank you. Although, concerning the ratio head x body, he seems to be under 18 or even 16 years certainly... Is this your intention?

 

[Okalix]

No problem pilgrim2003

Regarding his age, his character is intended to be 18 years old but looks-wise is a bit of a slower developer, which is actually tied to his character's personality and mindset. Whilst I've intended for him to look young, I do not intend for him to look too young. I found his design to be a believable 18 year old design, however, I'd be interested to know if others think the same or that he should change somehow to look more adult.

 

[pilgrim2003]

Yes,thanks, I would personally tried to decrease his head some 5-10% and see if it makes him look more like an adult body...

 

[RanliLabz]

Thanks pilgrim2003
What you described was incredibly close to what I originally intended for the project, however, as I'm pretty new to all this, I wanted to be less overly-ambitious at the start. Bi-elements might be something I move into further down the line, but to begin with, I want to focus more on the male on male stuff. Again, in terms of choice and freedom I would like a more sandbox game but I think it's more important to focus on a solid more linear experience before fleshing out all the possible alternatives and consequences. It's definitely something I will keep in mind for the future though. As my experience grows, so should the complexity of the project.

Hey Okalix - first up, I really love the characters you posted and the approach you're taking to this I think you're completely right to begin with something more linear while you build up your skills (and possibly your hardware) - far too many first time devs jump straight into sandbox and leave an almost unpopulated world for months. Same with the bi angle - you may want to hint at it if you're planning to introduce it later and save rewrites/replays, but best to concentrate on the core at first.

On your questions:
1) Renpy is remarkably user friendly. I'd advise taking a good look through the scripts of an established game to see how they do it (mine's a messy one, but if you can struggle your way through the disorganisation, there are plenty of handy blocks to use for a VN). The sandbox stuff is a bit tougher - day planners, inventories, stats and maps require a lot more code! But PyTom has some handy renpy tutorials and lemmasoft is a good place to ask questions.

2) So many ways to reduce rendering times! When I started I was CPU rendering with a cheap desktop, so I had to rely on Photoshop a lot (stitching separately rendered elements together). If you've got a decent graphics card, just steer clear of too many reflective/refractive/transparent surfaces and you'll be fine (mine's sci-fi so I'm fucked on the shiny surfaces front! ). Also remember that it takes a while to render night scenes and you often end up with fireflies - a better option may be to darken normal scenes in post).

3) Do what you want to do. You have to love your game to justify the (huge) amount of time you'll be investing in it!

I'd add one more tip here on the marketing side: make your first release big. Far too many devs release small proof of concept v0.1s with no sexual content and no real hook for drawing players in... only to disappear without a trace and leave the devs disheartened and liable to quit the project. v0.1 is the most important release you'll have - it should be the size of at least a couple of normal updates and cleared of any bugs or typos.

Best of luck! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

 

[Okalix]

Hey Okalix - first up, I really love the characters you posted and the approach you're taking to this I think you're completely right to begin with something more linear while you build up your skills (and possibly your hardware) - far too many first time devs jump straight into sandbox and leave an almost unpopulated world for months. Same with the bi angle - you may want to hint at it if you're planning to introduce it later and save rewrites/replays, but best to concentrate on the core at first.

On your questions:
1) Renpy is remarkably user friendly. I'd advise taking a good look through the scripts of an established game to see how they do it (mine's a messy one, but if you can struggle your way through the disorganisation, there are plenty of handy blocks to use for a VN). The sandbox stuff is a bit tougher - day planners, inventories, stats and maps require a lot more code! But PyTom has some handy renpy tutorials and lemmasoft is a good place to ask questions.

2) So many ways to reduce rendering times! When I started I was CPU rendering with a cheap desktop, so I had to rely on Photoshop a lot (stitching separately rendered elements together). If you've got a decent graphics card, just steer clear of too many reflective/refractive/transparent surfaces and you'll be fine (mine's sci-fi so I'm fucked on the shiny surfaces front! ). Also remember that it takes a while to render night scenes and you often end up with fireflies - a better option may be to darken normal scenes in post).

3) Do what you want to do. You have to love your game to justify the (huge) amount of time you'll be investing in it!

I'd add one more tip here on the marketing side: make your first release big. Far too many devs release small proof of concept v0.1s with no sexual content and no real hook for drawing players in... only to disappear without a trace and leave the devs disheartened and liable to quit the project. v0.1 is the most important release you'll have - it should be the size of at least a couple of normal updates and cleared of any bugs or typos.

Best of luck! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Thanks so much RanliLabz

Glad you like the look of my characters so far. It's my first time trying all this stuff so it's big boost when anyone, especially established developers, appreciate my work.

I'll happily take you up on your suggestion to take a look through your script though. I'm sure it will be really helpful.

I've tried a few things to reduce the rendering time, mostly, as you said, it's meant removing reflections etc and brightening the scene.

On your marketing tip, I totally see what your saying. I hadn't thought about making it twice as big/long as a normal update, but then again I have no idea what a normal or regular update would like it in terms of how many new frames or lines of dialogue that should consist of... do you find there's an average figure you aim for in each update?

Also, I'm finding it's a delicate balance for the start of my VN as of course I want to draw people in, but I don't want to jump into sex and nudity straight away. I think there's a big turn-on about waiting in suspense for the pay-off... but I do plan on showing some skin where it makes sense to in the first version. I want to ground the experience within the realms of realism rather than "I'm guna fuck anything that moves in 30 seconds or less". That's not meant as any offence to anyone as I know there's a big crowd who want those kind of games, I just personally want to create something that's more subtle in its approach.

 

[RanliLabz]

Thanks so much RanliLabz

Glad you like the look of my characters so far. It's my first time trying all this stuff so it's big boost when anyone, especially established developers, appreciate my work.

I'll happily take you up on your suggestion to take a look through your script though. I'm sure it will be really helpful.

I've tried a few things to reduce the rendering time, mostly, as you said, it's meant removing reflections etc and brightening the scene.

On your marketing tip, I totally see what your saying. I hadn't thought about making it twice as big/long as a normal update, but then again I have no idea what a normal or regular update would like it in terms of how many new frames or lines of dialogue that should consist of... do you find there's an average figure you aim for in each update?

Also, I'm finding it's a delicate balance for the start of my VN as of course I want to draw people in, but I don't want to jump into sex and nudity straight away. I think there's a big turn-on about waiting in suspense for the pay-off... but I do plan on showing some skin where it makes sense to in the first version. I want to ground the experience within the realms of realism rather than "I'm guna fuck anything that moves in 30 seconds or less". That's not meant as any offence to anyone as I know there's a big crowd who want those kind of games, I just personally want to create something that's more subtle in its approach.

You're welcome!

My normal update is something like 350 images per month (although some of these are small changes like an expression or moved arm) - but I also do extras for different Patreon-ranks and that doesn't include the various GUI elements you end up with. My first update was just under 700 images (lol, took me 3 months on my crappy old rig!). Quite a few of the most successful new games of the past year seem to have a similar figure. Lines are a bit harder to judge... my first was around 5000 or script (not including additional game mechanics files)… but that's going to change massively depending on the amount of dialogue and sfx you're using.

As far as the adult content goes, as long as there's something you should be okay (every project has it's own pace... mine jumped in fast, Aaryn's teased everyone for ages!). In a realistic context nude scenes (like showers), masturbation and sexual fantasies/dreams should wet the players' interest while keeping to the realities of a guy's life

 

[Okalix]

You're welcome!

My normal update is something like 350 images per month (although some of these are small changes like an expression or moved arm) - but I also do extras for different Patreon-ranks and that doesn't include the various GUI elements you end up with. My first update was just under 700 images (lol, took me 3 months on my crappy old rig!). Quite a few of the most successful new games of the past year seem to have a similar figure. Lines are a bit harder to judge... my first was around 5000 or script (not including additional game mechanics files)… but that's going to change massively depending on the amount of dialogue and sfx you're using.

As far as the adult content goes, as long as there's something you should be okay (every project has it's own pace... mine jumped in fast, Aaryn's teased everyone for ages!). In a realistic context nude scenes (like showers), masturbation and sexual fantasies/dreams should wet the players' interest while keeping to the realities of a guy's life

700?! Fuck! May have to give up sleeping for a while.

 

[Aaryn]

To throw in another perspective, my game is much less image heavy than RanliLabz is. My biggest update ever only had 289 images in it but I tend to go very dialogue heavy. So a ton of my time is spent doing just dialogue an banter between characters just because I choose to use that as the catalyst for character development. That last update took me like 3-4 months too but I'm also not a full time developer either. I easily had over 1,000 hours of work in that thing though.

 

[Okalix]

To throw in another perspective, my game is much less image heavy than RanliLabz is. My biggest update ever only had 289 images in it but I tend to go very dialogue heavy. So a ton of my time is spent doing just dialogue an banter between characters just because I choose to use that as the catalyst for character development. That last update took me like 3-4 months too but I'm also not a full time developer either. I easily had over 1,000 hours of work in that thing though.

Thanks Aaryn

It's useful to know. I guess it really is so different for every developer/project. My initial strategy to begin with was just to work on the first version as a first chapter of sorts. Once that chapter feels complete, it feels complete, regardless of the amount of images or script lines.

 

[MadJubal]

Hi there!

Love the design of you MC! I'm totally in love of him already!

I personally find renpy really easy to use, there is always a tutorial or someone who can help you if you need extra help in different forums and all over the internet. Once you understand a bit how it works, its easy peasy. I would go for a default menu and start releasing your game (don't spend 3 months of your time learning and making a completely new menu that nobody is even gonna look at. That was one of my mistakes when I did mine.)

As they say, take it slow in the beginning. I'm sure most people would not care much about not so many thousands of renders in the first few versions of the game. Make some nice renders and would be enough for the beginning. You will have time to make more once your game is up and running and you get better with renders.

It's good to have more gay VN!! I can't wait to see how yours will turn out!!

Good luck!

 

[Okalix]

Hi there!

Love the design of you MC! I'm totally in love of him already!

I personally find renpy really easy to use, there is always a tutorial or someone who can help you if you need extra help in different forums and all over the internet. Once you understand a bit how it works, its easy peasy. I would go for a default menu and start releasing your game (don't spend 3 months of your time learning and making a completely new menu that nobody is even gonna look at. That was one of my mistakes when I did mine.)

As they say, take it slow in the beginning. I'm sure most people would not care much about not so many thousands of renders in the first few versions of the game. Make some nice renders and would be enough for the beginning. You will have time to make more once your game is up and running and you get better with renders.

It's good to have more gay VN!! I can't wait to see how yours will turn out!!

Good luck!

Wow, thanks MadJubal ,

Glad you love the MC (Jake) as much as me I'm going over more and more youtube tutorials for renpy at the moment and yeah I think you're right, I need to throw myself in and figure it out as I go but it looks like theirs plenty of support along the way. Good to hear your thoughts on what should go into a first release too... especially as it sounds a bit less daunting for me in your suggestion haha.

 

[83wulf]

I’m bi myself. I welcome any LBGT material that has depth.

That MC looks lovely.
I’ll second the above comments about the twink. I’m not going to kink-shame too much, but his head size ratio makes him look uncomfortably young for my taste. It would not take much to remedy this.

Sandbox games (even when they are well underway) are at risk of becoming grinding, excessively box-ticking for requirements and scene-hunting. Goodness knows that RL has more than enough time management and grinding (and I don’t mean the fun kind).
If you are trying to have deeper characterisation, and to tell a story, I would urge you to go the VN route instead of sandbox.

Good luck!

 

[Okalix]

Thanks 83wulf ,

I've made notes on the twink character to re-adjust the head scale so that will be done before the release of the first version. Thank you for letting me know. This is exactly the sort of feedback I like to get to help shape up the project. I'll be adding the twink's dad's render soon so feedback from everyone is similarly welcome.

Also, this project is definitely going more the route of true VN rather than open sandbox... at least for now. While I like freedom of choice in games, I definitely agree with you, as a player, it's so frustrating missing out on hot scenes and having to play through the thing again to make sure. Yes I know there are technical ways around this, but for the average player it's something I'm sensitive to.

 

[Okalix]

Here is a draft of the dad-type character (belt will be included eventually ).

 

[pilgrim2003]

hmmm, it's definitely going to be very interesting, this game, thanks!

 

[Okalix]

hmmm, it's definitely going to be very interesting, this game, thanks!

I hope so!

 

[Okalix]

UPDATE: Adjusted head proportions for twink character.

 

[pilgrim2003]

Perfect! Thank you!