nope

[Meaning Less]

There is a reason why people resort to clickbait. You need something to catch people's attention, the banner, screenshots, game name, tags, description.

Ask yourself this, what distinguishes your current game from every other copy/paste daz game in this website?
That's probably a good starting point to know what you should be promoting in your game thread.

 

[Alcahest]

Hrm. I'm not going to argue with you or call you wrong, because I will fully admit I don't know a lot about this stuff. "Art" isn't exactly my forte.

That said, I personally look at it and think it's fine - like, my opinion when I look at it is "Yea, there's nothing wrong with that". In fact, until about 5 minutes ago when more than 1 person said it wasn't good, I was rather proud of that banner. It makes me wonder where the disconnect is, where I look at it and think "Yea that looks good" and then other ppl look at it and go "Actually, that sucks".

And when you say things like "Comp is bad" I literally don't understand what that means. And the colors to me? They look fine. Again I'm not arguing what you're saying, im just saying to me, I don't see what you see, and I wonder why?


Also, I don't understand how that tool is useful. I looked at it for a few seconds, and without a greater understanding of what's behind it, I have no idea what it's even used for. In a minute or so of experimenting, I was able to manipulate it to provide any color combo I wanted. (For example I said "I want 2 blue, 1 yellow, 1 red, 1 green, then I moved them around a bit until it gave me 2 blue, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 red. I then repeated that for 2 yellow, 2 green, 1 red). It just seems like you could easily manipulate it to provide any color combo you want, so I'm not sure what the point of it is supposed to be?

I don't think the cover matters that much as long as the screenshots and the rest of the OP make up for it. But speaking of your cover, the problem IMO is that it doesn't look like a poster. It is too busy. Look up movie or game posters, or just look at the covers Douve used as an example.

Now for my own cover image, it's just a screenshot of the start menu, yet I think it works better than yours because it is simple, and stands out among all the covers of girls and stuff. For people into HTML games, they probably will check it out regardless of the cover if they see it, is my thinking. It's possible I'm losing views because of it, but I think it fits well in setting the tone for my game.

 

[woody554]

The other 2 points you make are interesting though. What you're basically saying is "Nothing there is bad, it's just boring. It's forgettable, and forgettable isn't good".

I'd rather say that it's MARKETED as if it were bland and boring. could be the best game in the world but nobody is gonna find it out because they'll never get there.

I also added something about art quality at the end of my previous comment which I think is something that could help you onto the right path.

 

[noping123]

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[chainedpanda]

Hmm... This is actually a good question, similar to "why did you watch this video on YouTube rather than that one?". Anyway, here is a list of stuff I look at or notice when I'm looking for games:

Spoiler: Unrelated note

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Spoiler: List

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Spoiler: As for the game Alive

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[woody554]

Now for my own cover image, it's just a screenshot of the start menu

I think yours is a good example of what I said before about an image telling a story. it has a nun, it even spells monastery in big clear letters with an unbusy background. so instantly in my head I have a story of nuns engaging in all kinds of sexual debauchery or being abused by mother superior/monks etc. it's a dark story, has high contrasts of good and evil, and is all about a SECRET life behind a facade of goodness. it's already interesting even though I know NOTHING about it or even the tags.

 

[Alcahest]

Actually, that's exactly what it is - my main menu (with the menu bit stripped out). It's literally just that.

I never really gave any thought into creating a "seperate" banner, and tbh, I have no clue what I'd even use as one.

But in your case, then, your main menu is too busy. What I mean with that is that it looks like something taken from real life, like just a photo of people sitting on a beach. A poster is meant to pop.

But again, I don't think our covers mean that much to our success. And looking up your game in latest updates, I think your cover image looks pretty good. The color composition and stuff fits better in that cropped format than when seeing the whole image.

 

[noping123]

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[Toramizu]

- It doesn't do much to stand out. DaZ characters, Ren'Py Visual novel without (apparent) gameplay or impactful choices.

- The main picture of your game doesn't show much of what your game is about / it's uniqueness (+1 because it is a PoV shot, showed by the protagonist's hand, that's uncommon)
- The other images are also quite basic, none of them really pique my interest (again, +1 because all of them seem to be PoV)

- You did some work to make your characters slightly stand out from other DaZ games, but I've burnt out on the same visual in every VN, it's not enough for me to download it right now. The lighting and picture quality is okay too, not bad, not great either.
- v0.4 implies a short content, I might come back if I see the game come back a few times in the Latest Updates. As it's the first release here, I'll wait.
- The overview doesn't tell much. It only shows that there are 5 girls and a guy (probably not a love interest (no gay tag) or rival (no ntr tag). What's the story about?
- "Will the sins of the past come back around?" Did the protagonist cheat on his girl or killed someone? Is it the plot or
- The name "Alive" is quite bland. Again, what does it have to do about the story?
- Tags and Genre look like there will be sex in your sex game. Even "No sexual content" catch my attention more than your selection. And I don't mean that I look for much, but there isn't even romance, just sex positions. (If your game is PoV focused, I blame F95 for not having a way to highlight the main genres of a game)

 

[Alcahest]

I think yours is a good example of what I said before about an image telling a story. it has a nun, it even spells monastery in big clear letters with an unbusy background. so instantly in my head I have a story of nuns engaging in all kinds of sexual debauchery or being abused by mother superior/monks etc. it's a dark story, has high contrasts of good and evil, and is all about a SECRET life behind a facade of goodness. it's already interesting even though I know NOTHING about it or even the tags.

You're thinking of my signature image? My cover image (in my game thread) doesn't have a nun though. I actually tried that, using the same nun pic as in my signature, and while it may have looked fine in the game thread, the nun looked too small and hard to see when seeing the cropped image in the Latest Updates list even when trying to adapt the cover image especially for that.

 

[chainedpanda]

Don't get me wrong - I'm more than happy if anyone does check out my game because of this, and I do appreciate feedback on my stuff in particular - it's given me a lot to think about, and I suspect some of it will prove helpful, but it's not necessarily what I was looking for either.

You may wanna change the name of the thread if that's possible. I came here with the intention of laughing at your desperation, but instead found an interesting question. I went back and edited my reply because so many were talking about your game in particular, so I felt I needed to add at least something about your game.

 

[woody554]

You're thinking of my signature image? My cover image (in my game thread) doesn't have a nun though. I actually tried that, using the same nun pic as in my signature, and while it may have looked fine in the game thread, the nun looked too small and hard to see when seeing the cropped image in the Latest Updates list even when trying to adapt the cover image especially for that.

ah, yeah. I thought the nun one was the banner. now that I saw the actual one I think the story point would make the nun one a far better choice. you just need to fix the composition until it reads well there too.

your sig is so strong it sold the game to me even thought it wasn't meant to.

but the real one is definitely standing out from all the other girl face banners as well, so I get why you chose that. and the name tells a little bit of story alone as well.

 

[noping123]

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[woody554]

I wonder if my versioning numbers gives people the impression that it's very early in development, when in fact it's just about halfway through.

It definitely does. maybe marketing it as "chapter 4 out of 7" would make sense in this case.

 

[Geralt_R]

For me it's the description that doesn't really grab my attention. I have no idea what the game is about (probably slice of life). There's nothing to hook me in, I would maybe rewrite the description from scratch and give people a better idea what the game is actually about, who the MC is, even if it's just slice of life.

In short: it looks and sounds a bit generic. Another thing that would raise my eyebrows is what some of the reviews write... forced sex? Fake choices where you are railroaded into doing certain things even if you don't want to? That combined with the less than inspiring description would make me ignore the game.

 

[Toramizu]

But I will make note of this: It's had 4 releases so far on here, each release corresponds to a new chapter, and there are only going to be 7 chapters total. To give a rough idea of size/content: ch1 was about 300 images, ch2 and 3 about 400, ch4 about 700, and ch5 (which i recently released, but not here) about 750. Make of that what you will). It was always planned to be a "Shorter" game, so by the time it's completely finished I expect somewhere around 5-6000 total images. I wonder if my versioning numbers gives people the impression that it's very early in development, when in fact it's just about halfway through.

I'm not saying anything about the game's quality or content (and sorry if I offend you, I can be quite dry when I criticize ^^"), it's more about how you sell it :
Rather than saying v0.4, I'd suggest saying Chapter 4. A lot of games here have very low content when it's a low version number and first release here. If you have already planned the story, maybe write it in the Dev Notes (something like "Chapter 4 out of 10")
v0.4 only says "It's the 4th time I made progress in my game", it doesn't show how long each version was.

 

[noping123]

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[GreenGobbo]

Gotta get the completely incendiary topic in there to stoke the fires right away!

So, I've been curious about something for a while, and I figured I'd just ask! (Note: I'm using my game as an example and a highlight but this can be expanded to almost any game really).

Some people are looking for something specific... maybe they're into incest, or futa, or furries, or NTR - my game has none of that, so obviously those people wouldn't be interested. But what if you're not someone looking for a specific niche?

Let's say you're someone who isn't looking for anything specific, just in general. You're browsing games, you see mine, and you go "Nah, no thanks, I'll pass."

You're not passing on it because it's a shit game (You might hate it and think it's shit if you played it, or you might enjoy it, but obviously you never got that far so you don't know if it's any good or not), but something about it made you decide it wasn't worth your time.

My question is, why? Or put in a much broader sense, what about a game (Where we assume the content isn't a disqualifier) would make you think it isn't worth your time? Is it the title? The reviews? The screenshots? The description? Are you going through the comments in the threads?

And to pose a somewhat related question, think of a game you tried out that you did not like - maybe the content you weren't a fan of, or maybe you thought it was shit, or maybe you even thought it was good but just "Not for you". What made you try it in the first place?

The name of your game makes me think about that movie with the sports team stuck on a mountain that turns to cannibalism to survive.
Aesthetics/models look kinda plain/generic.
Overview doesn't really give much of an idea aside from "friends go hang out."

This on is a bit less of what you're looking for, and a bit more about my own personal tastes, buuuut:
It's not animated. I know a lot of folks disagree with me on this because I've gotten into arguments about it here before, but I just flatly refuse to play any games from here without animations. It's become so much a part of the new normal in the eroge genre over the past 4 or 5 years now that I view it in the same way as I see the differences between silent films and talkies or black-and-white films vs movies made in technicolor. Again this is just a personal gripe of mine, but the first thing I do on the latest updates page is filter for animated. (Well right after I exclude out RPGM games. )

Something about a game that made me give it a shot recently even if it didn't originally hold my interest: Eternum.
TBH, when I first saw it I just thought it was gonna be a shittier version of Ready Player One with boobs. But then people all over the forum kept talking about it. Not just in the reviews, not just in the thread itself. All over the forum. And a ton of folks statted using it's signature banner gif things. Finally gavebit a shot just to see what all the hubub was about. If it really was *THAT* good. I wasn't far off with my initial assessment. Game is definitely trying to be an eroge RPO, but I will admit there's a bit more to it than *just* and at least the writing in Eternum is way better.
7.5/10? 4/5?

Game I tried and didn't like... that Defending Lydia one. Looked pretty good. Lotsa reviews talking about how great it was. Comment section was full of praise. Overview and preview pics made it look really nice. And then I tried to play it. And it was one of the most boring things I've read in years. Story felt bland/dry. Characters didn't interest me. Ended up just uninstalling it. Was pretty disappointed tbh. Still gave it 2 stars for the art/models looking decent though.

 

[Meaning Less]

which lead me to wonder if my version numbering is presenting an issue, which it seems it is.

You said you are halfway done, so v0.4 isn't bad.
But technically 4 out of 7 would be around v0.57 instead, because v1.0 usually means complete.

 

[noping123]

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