- Feb 13, 2021
- 433
- 911
I very much share your vision of things, and I won't deny that this first chapter is very messy, however the only thing I can say is that indeed, a game that rewards through exploration can be a viable game, and that this was my vision from the start.I've seen way too many games die because the devs took criticism like this to heart and then started packing their game with unnecessary mechanics. (Miss you, Proteus Effect!)
A "game" is any entertainment that provides participants with a challenge with variable outcomes. And yes, the "challenge" can be as simple as figuring how how to minimize the time spent reaching the payoff (e.g., an event hunt), and missing an event can count as a variable outcome.
Another thing to keep in mind is that adult games are a different genre from mainstream games, very similar to how romantic comedies are different from war movies.
Different genres, but still a game or movie.
- Mainstream games are focused on the challenge. The rewards are not the point of winning football matches or beating levels in an FPS or running raids in an MMO for a +1 upgrade. The journey is the reward in those games. Just like in a war movie, where "peace" or "victory" are claimed to be the point but get like ten seconds of discussion at the end of the movie.
- Adult games are about payoffs, and thus delaying gratification. (I think a game like Karryn's Prison is the rare exception -- the challenge is adult content -- that proves how consistent the rule otherwise is.) As with a romantic comedy, the audience is there to watch a predictable outcome take shape; the challenges along the way are just a delay in gratification.
So I'd encourage the dev to keep up with their event hunt game. Delaying gratification as much as the payoff permits is all the genre requires. Sure, games have used many ways to delay gratification -- grinding stats, requiring replays due to false paths/gameovers, tests of skill, etc. -- but exploring is perfectly valid.
However, I don't consider my game to be a "cg hunt", since despite everything, I'm trying to encourage the player to have a game experience as much as an ERO experience (and this will be felt even more in the next update, which will include a shitload more rewarding mini-games, still in line with the "nogrind" policy of course), BUT yes, the game is very openly a game that want to tells an adventure.
And because of this, I understand that players (especially those like in the post quoted who don't buy into the humor and writing and skip everything ) may feel an unpleasant sensation of having to walk to the next scene to jerk off, and nothing else.
100% understandable, but even though I may have lost my way a little over the last few months, now I'm simply trying to avoid trying to please everyone and do what I and those who have already enjoyed this first update would like to see.
However, I sincerely hope to see you all again for the next update, and I'm already looking forward to reading your feedback and critics about it!
I'm currently working very hard to get things finished as quickly as possible, and I even have an excellent friend who is helping me a LOT with the visual part of the game, making this update much prettier than the first one! Can't wait for y'all to see it