Hello everyone...
I've noticed there are basically four mayor currents or options for h-games artwork...
Drawn artwork, when done well, looks amazing and has a life of it own. But I'm not a good artist, nor I have the resources to hire an artist or commission artwork.
Real porn, of course there's the whole lot of the internet to pick from, but it can be somewhat limited with one's vision. When picking a pornstar to represent a character in-game, you are limited to the kind of porn that starlet have already done. Say you pick your favorite pornstar, if you want to have a scene with anal or bdsm in-game, and that porstar you picked doesn't do that kind of porn, then you have to scramble to look for a look alike or scenes where the pornstar face isn't shown or isn't recognizable.
Engine dependent models, are good solution for not compromising the vision of the game, as you would have the model and could do with it as you'd like, but it would take a lot of work and time to fully develop this solution.
That leaves CGI Artwork created from Daz3D or Illusion Games Studios, with these, you have the liberty to set the model as you like and do with it as you please having freedom of positions, expressions, clothing, etc. You can add onto this by using available assets/mods for adding more and more to the scene.
With that in mind, in trying to choose from Daz3D and Illusion Games is where I come to ask about your opinion.
To me it seems like Daz3D has a whole lot of options, and would set you on the director's chair and give you total freedom, but then again, it seems like it has some learning curve to be able to use the whole package. I tried using Daz3D several years ago, and my impressions is that it can be a little overwhelming with all the options, morphs and managing all the assets, and a lot to take in if you want to personalize anything.
Illusion Games like Honey Select and Koikatu, by using their included character studios, seems in contrast, more simple and easy to use, already including a whole lot of options and positions specifically designed for h. It may lack in some aspects, but with the modding community very active, it has a lot to choose from. I mention those two games, because as far as I know those are the one that has the most active mod communities, also because these both games have the most distinct styles between each other, Honey select going for realistic (sorta) and Koikatu going for cell-shading artwork. Although recently released AI Girl seems quite interesting and being recently released with realistic design, it might grow into the community. Also Emotion Creators seems like a game made specifically to create VN games using only illusion assets, but I don't know how much this title was approved by the moders.
TL;DR:
As player and/or as developer, witch tool and results do you like the most for h-games artwork an why? Daz 3D or Illusion Games (Honey Select, Koikatu, AI Girl, etc)?
I've noticed there are basically four mayor currents or options for h-games artwork...
- Drawn Artwork (Artist commissioned, self-made exclusives or taken from other sources) [Ex. Summertime Saga, Innocent Witches, Something Unlimited]
- Real Porn (Videos, Gif's or Image-sets from porn stars) [Ex. The company, Last man, Wife trainer files]
- Engine Dependent (3D models/artwork generated by the engine during game play) [Ex. The twist, Life play, All Illusion Games]
- Computer Generated Images (CGI) Artwork (models/artwork created using Daz3D or Illusion games) [Ex. Man of the house, Harem Hotel, Lucky Mark]
Drawn artwork, when done well, looks amazing and has a life of it own. But I'm not a good artist, nor I have the resources to hire an artist or commission artwork.
Real porn, of course there's the whole lot of the internet to pick from, but it can be somewhat limited with one's vision. When picking a pornstar to represent a character in-game, you are limited to the kind of porn that starlet have already done. Say you pick your favorite pornstar, if you want to have a scene with anal or bdsm in-game, and that porstar you picked doesn't do that kind of porn, then you have to scramble to look for a look alike or scenes where the pornstar face isn't shown or isn't recognizable.
Engine dependent models, are good solution for not compromising the vision of the game, as you would have the model and could do with it as you'd like, but it would take a lot of work and time to fully develop this solution.
That leaves CGI Artwork created from Daz3D or Illusion Games Studios, with these, you have the liberty to set the model as you like and do with it as you please having freedom of positions, expressions, clothing, etc. You can add onto this by using available assets/mods for adding more and more to the scene.
With that in mind, in trying to choose from Daz3D and Illusion Games is where I come to ask about your opinion.
To me it seems like Daz3D has a whole lot of options, and would set you on the director's chair and give you total freedom, but then again, it seems like it has some learning curve to be able to use the whole package. I tried using Daz3D several years ago, and my impressions is that it can be a little overwhelming with all the options, morphs and managing all the assets, and a lot to take in if you want to personalize anything.
Illusion Games like Honey Select and Koikatu, by using their included character studios, seems in contrast, more simple and easy to use, already including a whole lot of options and positions specifically designed for h. It may lack in some aspects, but with the modding community very active, it has a lot to choose from. I mention those two games, because as far as I know those are the one that has the most active mod communities, also because these both games have the most distinct styles between each other, Honey select going for realistic (sorta) and Koikatu going for cell-shading artwork. Although recently released AI Girl seems quite interesting and being recently released with realistic design, it might grow into the community. Also Emotion Creators seems like a game made specifically to create VN games using only illusion assets, but I don't know how much this title was approved by the moders.
TL;DR:
As player and/or as developer, witch tool and results do you like the most for h-games artwork an why? Daz 3D or Illusion Games (Honey Select, Koikatu, AI Girl, etc)?
