nope

[GreenGobbo]

You're the 2nd person to mention that to me today.

I gotta ask - is there a filter for animations or something, and my game isn't tagged? Is it in tags?

because the sex scenes in the game ARE animated, so I wonder why people are thinking it's not?

Yup, there's an animation tag you can filter by. May want to add it since you're saying the scenes are animated.

 

[danken]

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

I would like to emphasize this. There are probably hundreds of VNs with generic 3d models on f95. I instantly ignore the thread as I enter one of those. You need something to stand out, such as pixel art like in Drain Mansion, or niche topic like Succubus Covenant, some good liking 2D art with unique artstyle, maybe some memes, or actual gameplay like in Excessm games.

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

Your game looked like a typical daz flick with very boring tags and average models.
So, it ended up just like the other thousand of its likes, in my ignore list.

 

[Geralt_R]

you need something to stand out, such as pixel art like in Drain Mansion, or niche topic like Succubus Covenant, some good liking 2D art with unique artstyle, maybe some memes, or actual gameplay like in Excessm games.

I would disagree here, the many, many DAZ3D games exist for a reason, many people like the style. In my opinion artstyle is just one part of the equation, but more important, in my opinion, is story and setting. Is the setting anything unique? Does it add least add a spin to a topic you have seen many times before? Is the story any good? Are the characters likable? I can easily forgive some less than perfect renders or drawings if the story and characters are great.

Also, many abhor gameplay in VNs, just like they hate sandboxes, while others enjoy it.

Again, I think story and setting are what attract people. If the game then uses HS, DAZ or some 2D drawings is not the primary factor here. But when in doubt I would always go for DAZ, since that is something many very obviously like. I played games with all of those artstyles and each time I only played for the setting / story, not because of the artstyle.

And a niche topic will only get you a niche audience, which is not something many devs may want, if they want to appeal to a broader potential audience?

 

[anne O'nymous]

My question is, why?

Because the description and screenshot don't present the game as interesting enough for me. And it's worse for your game since the screenshots starts with fours renders seen hundreds of times in so many games.

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?

And you, what make you think that a game isn't worth your time ? Do you even have an answer to this question ? If yes I'm interested, because at 51yo I'm still unable to answer this kind of question.
It's just "not interesting", but there isn't one thing in particular that make me feel that way. I play(ed) games that aren't at all my genre, like Shattered by example, because they feel interesting, and there's games that match all my preferred kinks that I will probably never play, because just seeing the thread opening I'm already bored.

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 exact opposite of above, it felt interesting. And, exactly like above, there's no reason why, it's a feeling and nothing more.
To be honest, and it will not help you, it's probable that I wouldn't have tried one of those games if I discovered them at another time ; whatever one day sooner, one week later, and so on. I would have been in another mood at this moment and they perhaps would have felt less interesting because of that.

I'm posing this question for 3 reasons really: #1 to find out what I can do to improve the overall presentation of my game. #2 as a broader question for devs in general, to find out what players look for in a games presentation,

You want to improve the overall presentation of your game ? Well make your game feel interesting...
But well, I guess that you thought it was already the case, else you would have presented it otherwise.

The truth is that you're searching answers that don't exist, mostly because you're trying to rationalize something that is not only irrational by definition, but that also can't be universal.

#3 because I'm just overall curious to see what sort of things interest people, what turns them away, etc.

And you'll get as much answers than there's people who will answer.

 

[Squidstar]

As people have said, having some kind of strong hook, being bold and leaving an impression, even if its niche is super important.

I'm not sure if this is helpful but I tried a quick photoshop of your banner to try to fix some of the issues I felt it had. My advice for any art topic, whether its composition, color, readability, shape design etc. is to keep contrast in mind. Just be aware that contrast is what guides the eye. If there's a lot of cool colors, warm colors will guide the eye. If there's a lot of medium sized shapes, one larger shape will guide the eye. And when there is nothing providing contrast, your eye just gets lost.

So when people are saying "The composition is bad" without offering any remedy, you should think about contrast. All of the characters in your image are about the same size, same shape, same colors, same facial expressions, same body shapes, etc. etc. Nothing seems to break the mold, so there's nothing to get my attention. The best change you could probably make to your banner would be to tell more of a story with it than just having each character smile blankly at you.

Some of the edits I made here are:
slightly blurring the foreground and background = the midground where the characters are stands out
Unifying the colors of the environment to a more cool tone = the warm of the characters stands out
spreading the characters apart and making the girl on the left significantly closer/bigger makes her stand out, and brings you into the scene better

At least, those were my goals with the edits, whether or not they came through in a quick photoshop edit is up to you.

 

[noping123]

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[Rintal]

For example, I don't even look at games that are in their first couple of updates. There is almost no content in them and it is highly likely that the game will not advance further than these couple of updates. So, at least there should be a fourth update, and preferably not ten years after the first release of the game.

 

[Deleted member 229118]

Why would i?
I got over 200 games on steam alone.
I got several more on origin and i got a social life untop of that.

When i am going to play a game my first question is always going to be:
Will it be worth my time.
90% of the time the answer is no.
Visual novels shoud be burned in holy fire.
I am here to game not to read third rate fan fiction.

When i look for a game to play i go down a checklist:
1: Do i like the theme.
2: Does it have gameplay.
3: Does it has grind?
4: Are there characters likeable.

A simple example.

I like the idea of wtm academy.
But the gameplay is just fast clicking before the time run out.
And the reward are some ugly woman from 3000 years ago being fucked for 5 seconds.
Really not worth my time.

Lab rats 2 has a lot of characters, gameplay and is grindly as all hell.
But i am willing to deal with the grind because there characters are fun and the gameplay is fun(and grindly)

Superpowered has mind control i rarely see in a game.
Mindless drone.
Unfortantly it suffered from too many girls syndrome.
The dev burned out.
Understanble.
But the thing about superpowered is that every girl had a personalty and it had good gameplay.
Sure it was a bit grindy until you got mind control but still.
I had fun.

I played overwhored from start to finesh because it was a fun game with good characters.
I player imperial gatekeeper because fun gameplay and decent story.

To play a game i need to enjoy it from the moment i start it.
Games exist to entertain us and if they dont they are to be threated like the crap they are.
Just like every other product in life.
You want to sell us something.
Make it worth buying.

 

[Count Morado]

1. 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?
2. Is it the title?
3. The reviews?
4. The screenshots?
5. The description?
6. Are you going through the comments in the threads?

It appears some of my comments overlap what others have said. I decided to number your questions from your OP for better clarity.

1. A quick look at your game, I'm not interested. There's nothing that hooks my curiosity into playing. Not everyone has the time to try every single thing on here, so you're going to have to market your product to make someone curious about it.
2. The title is fine, I guess - if it had something to do with the content but based upon the banner image, the screenshots, the tags, the descriptions, there's nothing that is Alive about them. Alive should be more for something about a person facing life-threatening obstacles or has a limited time on earth left and they want to do everything they can before the end.
3. I don't review the reviews. If a product intrigues me I'll peruse some comments, particularly the last few pages.
4. I look at the screenshots and, their ok. They don't reel me in. I expect screenshots to show me an example of gameplay, intriguing situations, and highlight some of the best work in the product. These are average. Nothing too exciting, nothing too offending.
5. The description is lacking tremendously. Based upon the impression I get of the ages of the characters, what "sins" does an 18-24 year old person who sits out on the beach in this kind of scene really have? While the quick character sketches are fine, there's nothing, again, that piques curiosity. What's the hook? What's your logline?
6. I only go through the comments if 2, 4, 5 hook me.

In the end, the game appears very bland and common. It doesn't stand out for me. There's nothing that makes it pop. It appears like it is trying to be safe for as many people as possible instead of actually being creative. The characters look like characters in many of the other products here, in the similar scenes, with fewer sexual genres than a 1980s softcore movie on Cinemax after Dark.

The way the product is marketed makes it the RC Cola in the Cola Wars. Sure, it's on the shelves to drink - but it's got no pizazz, it doesn't appear to know who its demographic is (or its demographic is so broadly defined, it's "everybody" and "nobody" at the same time). You could have the best darn product that is listed on this site, but few will ever know.

Who is your audience?
What story are you trying to tell?
What is special about your product that makes it different than others?
Have you reviewed all the tags available to use and properly tagged?
What's the best work in the product and how are you showcasing it to attract prospective consumers?

 

[D2K]

for me to try a game, it generally has to do a few things for me:

1. draw my eye. amazing renders obviously will often do that, but in general i look for at least 1-2 characters i'm interested in. the art itself doesn't have to be amazing, but it has to interest me and i can't hate it. for instance, i know there are a ton of honey select type games that are probably good, but i just can't get into any of them. there's something about that style which i just don't like, like it just has no...i dunno, weight to them? the art just always feels too floaty to me.

2. premise. if you throw a milf and some big tittied hot daughters in a sandbox, i'm in. it's a tried and overdone game style, but i love it and can't get enough of it. that's enough for me to try a game. if it's supernatural or weird, i'll also give it a go. vampires, ufos, medieval, mind control, whatever. what i don't like are the generally young, coming of age/slice of life games. where a guy is teenager to early 20s going to college, or just living their life. aside from being a dik, i don't think i like any or much from that genre.

so now onto your game. i think the art looks good. that's a pass for me. but as soon as a saw the beach, the beer, your buddy, i kinda felt like it looks like a slice of life game...and after reading the description i knew right away. i just don't find those type of games interesting.

 

[noping123]

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[anne O'nymous]

I'm too busy trying to create my own to have time to play any, or even consider that question. Even games that I'm a big fan of, I haven't played any new updates in forever, so it's really not something I've actively considered for a long time [...]

And so ? Just because you haven't had the possibility to play games during the last 12 months, you don't remember what made you choose one game over another before this ?

Sure, nothing wrong with that though. I'm happy to hear different thoughts, opinions, etc.

There's nothing wrong yes, but there's also nothing really useful by itself. One person will tell you that he want to have a good look at the main girls body, another that he want a good look at the game play, and yet another some unique renders that will stand out. They are all rights, according to their own criteria.

The problem is that you can't satisfy everybody. If you try, you'll fall even more in the trap pointed by Count Morado said, with your game appearing "like it is trying to be safe for as many people as possible instead of actually being creative". There a moment when you've to make an artistic/creative choice, and them assume it. It will deprive you of a part of your possible audience, but it will also make your game finally interesting for another part of it. Choose your audience, and you'll find it. But if you try to stay as open as possible, you'll find near to no audience.

 

[Deleted member 1952336]

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".

As a fellow Dev I can relate to this. I can't count the number of things I've released that thought looked amazing, only to find out they were indeed shit. So, we need to never stop improving.

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?

Here's what I can see:

* The image has no focal point. In art you always want to have a primary focal point, otherwise the image looks scattered. When it comes to colors, detail, content, and contrast there's no real focal point in the image. This can't be understated, a single focal point is extremely important for image composition. You can have a secondary focal point, but it should be subservient to the primary one.

* The posing for the woman on the left looks off. Her head looks bent very far.

* Where is my head? My head looks like it's coming out of my shoulder. That's the main character's left arm on the right side of the screen.

* Beach sand looks flat on the parts where the feet are touching it. I understand it's a paralex texture, you can hide the feet touching it with cropping, shadow, or occlusion.

* Expressions look boring. all perfectly symmetrical. all essentially the same. Every single character smiling with open upper teeth, perfectly symmetrical, flat eyebrows.

* Colors. Seems like mist opportunity for sunset colors, and harder lighting. Usually people have campfire's on the beach after it's starting to get dark. A camp fire during the day feels boring to me.

* The character's eyes look like they're looking in slightly different places.

* I can't tell what the character is doing with the alcohol. If he's about to open it, his other hand could be on it. If he's about to toss it to another character then that character could be getting ready to catch it and the MC's arm could be about to toss it.

* Why does that other dude have a girl in the picture? Feels like NTR to me. This may limit your audience.

* The fire looks very flat. I'm not sure if there's a better way to do that.

* Colors don't evoke any emotions. Not particularly saturated, but not particularly grey/depressing. There's no single color to tie the image together and make it feel cohesive. For example, making the entire image feel warm and yellow.

* Not enough interesting occurring. By interesting, think unexpected, dangerous, crazy, or intense. From the picture it looks like the game is about friendship but friendship can be more interesting. This may be a personal preference, but I want a bigger hook: A dead body, a monster, a character that looks goofy/deranged, conflicting character emotions, something.

Btw, If my Teen Titans game I'm publishing v0.1.0 today/tomorrow, never get's much attention I'll probably ask others for visual feedback as well.

 

[noping123]

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[gunderson]

So, the useful question I get out of the OP is as follows: how do I make my game's marketing better/give it broader appeal?

I'll give a list.

1) More regular updates. I'm assuming you've dropped it/have been having a slower development cycle, but three months is a while to not have updated a fairly cookie-cutter-looking ren'py Daz3d game.

2) You tried to give your game broad appeal without offending anybody who'd actually be willing to play a porn game, and that's usually a death sentence for indie porn game devs. The money is tapping into niche that the audience (and, more importantly, devs) didn't know they thought was hot, then making your game bigger and better than the competition that inevitably crops up around the discovery of such a niche. This is why, for example, Summertime Saga and Fenoxo's games could get as big as they did, even though arguably there are more interesting games out now in those niches. So you did yourself no favors by being the no-incest no-NTR no-meaningful-kinky-shit dev.

3) More broadly, there's nothing special about your game. I don't see any unique gameplay mechanics, your writing doesn't seem to be better than anybody else's, and your images are on the low end for a ren'py Daz3d game that got past version 0.1. Note: I didn't play your game. It doesn't interest me in the slightest. This is based on your page. But that's the point, really. We're not here to criticize your game as it actually exists. Your question was about why nobody plays it. Word of mouth about a great game is one thing, but it really does matter what a player sees to determine if they download it in the first place or not.

4) Your premise is dull. You've written more about the girls the protagonist dates and his friend than the protagonist himself, and so we as players have nothing to grab onto. Who are we? Why are we here? Why, beyond seeing boobies, do I care whether this guy gets laid or not? End of the day, other games have better hooks than yours, so I play those instead.

Tl;dr, you played it too safe, and these are the consequences. If anything, this thread was a good idea just to draw eyes to your page, but it doesn't fix the basic reasons why nobody wanted to play it. Ya basic.

 

[Count Morado]

The game then "flashes back" to 2 weeks earlier and plays out the "How we got here" thing.

Don't do this unless you are an experienced and/or writer. It's become an overused trope in the past decade or so that people are tired of. Yes, some great movies and games and books are able to get away with it, but because they are backed by experienced creatives who know how to drive storylines. It sounds like you're using that future event as an inciting incident for the story. If you can't hook people with what's going on in the recent life of the characters and have the inciting incident get the story moving - you need to review your work and consider revisions.

Two successful games here off the top of my head do use this trope well:

• Light of My Life
• Taffy Tales

But neither rely on that as the inciting incident to move their story forward.
In LoML, it's just a teaser to let you know what's coming - the inciting incident is the youngest ward's removal from school at the start of gameplay and how the household deals with it. The story is driven by other factors, and then blows past that teaser.
In Taffy Tales, this was just added in the latest release and really does nothing for the story and should really be dropped. The inciting incident is the car accident within the first couple game days.

 

[woody554]

The opening scene of the game is him at the beach with a gun, the "male friend" lying on the ground, and he's dragging the girl into the car, waving the gun around threatening everyone.

now why on earth didn't you use this for the banner? this is instantly telling a story.

get rid of the boring campfire asap.

 

[noping123]

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[Count Morado]

Well that's not happening. (The whole revisions thing.)

I actually *do* have writing experience, fwiw. the whole "VN style" isn't where my experience lies, but in general writing and storytelling, yes I do.

That said, idk. Does the story do enough to interest someone without that as a hook? Maybe not. Or maybe that scene is such a contrast to the overall "feel" of the earlier parts of the game, that I included it for that very reason. The very early game is very "Slice of life" where the MC goes about his life, and the story ramps into that - there's 3 or 4 scenes that show that character,(the one with the gun) throughout the chapters, meanwhile carrying along the MC's life (who at this point doesn't know the guy, or know anything about him), showing the paths that lead them to eventually collide.

You might not like the storytelling method, or the trope, or whatever, and you know what? That's completely fair. But the one thing I will *NOT* do, is change my story. If literally everyone who played the game said "That story sucks" I still would not change it, flat out. It is the story I want to tell, and the way I want to tell it, and that's what I'm going to do.

Here's the thing. I'm open to feedback always, I'm open to criticism, and I'll always consider it.... except when it comes to the story. I'm still fully accepting of "That story sucks" if that's how someone feels about it, but I won't change it either.

My mantra from Day 1 when I started this has always been, I will tell the stories I want to tell. If others like it, awesome, if they don't, oh well, I'm not changing it for them. On one view you could consider that arrogance, but it's not, not really. I'm not making money off this, I'm barely breaking even (which in it-self is a feat tbh), I'm doing it because I want to, and the second I change the story is when I stop enjoying the work. If I was doing it to get paid then yea, I'd probably consider making concessions cause at that point it IS work, but as long as it's a hobby, once I stop enjoying it, it isn't worth doing.

I'm not telling you to change the story. There's a difference between the story and the structure of the story. I'm not saying the story sucks. That you immediately went to thinking I was offering critique on content rather than construction tells me not to bother any further.

You've come back with a lot of defensive posturing with anyone who has commented on your artwork, also, attempting to justify rather than to actually concern yourself with reflection. I honestly don't think you are looking for insight on how to become better or make a better product, rather this appears more to be what someone referenced earlier, an attempt to get attention and, perhaps, get people who wouldn't normally give your product a second look a chance. Which, is a marketing strategy - whether good or not is too soon to tell.