RPGMaker - How Important Are Sprites & Graphics?

[DreamingAway]

Almost all RPGM games I've played generally use stock graphics or slightly customized pixel art.
These games generally focus far more on Renders (Daz3D or Drawn) for cutscenes / character art.

When I look at the big favorites of this site, like Karryn's Prison or Noxian Nights, the RPGM graphics are almost secondary to great writing / good gameplay and fun cutscenes to engage with. (lewd)
Claire's Quest seems to stand out as opting for it's own art direction - did this improve the game or is it a giant time sink with diminishing returns.

This is something I'm grappling with myself - I personally hate the chibi art style and I feel like I should replace it.. but it's a lot of work - is it worth it?

Looking for opinions !

 

[zenshiny]

I don't think it's worth it. The games I've seen that try to stray from standard-sized rpgm sprites look awkward and clunky. I think Peasant's Quest and some other games did this? Don't remember which exactly, but the ones I'm thinking of used sprite sheets of Daz characters, and the walk cycle looked like they were taking a full step to walk two inches on the map. And the Daz sprites obviously looked out of places on the pixel art tiles.

Maybe it could work if you fiddle around with movement speed, and make whole tilesets that look appropriately scaled and consistent with the taller character sprite. I've never even opened up RPGM's editor, so I wouldn't know how easy/difficult that is, but if I had my heart set on something that doesn't look like RPGM, I'd probably look for tools and assets on Unity or Unreal instead.

 

[croco_nsfw]

I guess it depends on how serious you are with your project and how much time you want to spend on it. Making assets takes a shit ton of time, and making limbs bigger will just add more work, since you now have visible legs and arms to animate.

On the other hand, if you can deliver quality assets, you will definitely stand out, but that alone won't make it automatically a good game.
You can make a good game quicker with stock assets, and it can be a success. If it fails, you won't have invested that much time. But if you spend a ton of time on assets and it flops, (maybe) you'll regret spending the time. So it's a risk that you'll have to evaluate if it's worth taking.

 

[DreamingAway]

I don't think it's worth it. The games I've seen that try to stray from standard-sized rpgm sprites look awkward and clunky. I think Peasant's Quest and some other games did this?

Peasant's Quest used stock RPGMV / MZ chibi sprites.. but implemented a clothing system on them to reflect what you had equipped. The Daz assets are all cutscene / portraits.

I don't know of any games that use Daz assets for sprites except this zombie game:
https://f95zone.to/threads/project-venus-v0-1-team-venus.133748/

It's a lot of work too.. personally I appreciated it.. but I think I would of been fine with the game if it didn't have them too.

My favorite games all used stock assets and I didn't mind .. (although I appreciate when they do custom lighting systems or parallax maps to make areas more aesthetically pleasing)

I guess it depends on how serious you are with your project and how much time you want to spend on it. Making assets takes a shit ton of time, and making limbs bigger will just add more work --

Very true, are you generally a fan of RPGM games?

 

[croco_nsfw]

Very true, are you generally a fan of RPGM games?

It depends, two of my favorite lewd games ever are NTRPG and NTRPG2, both made in RPGM, and they really are incredible. There are no CGs for sex, it's all done with sprites, and I really loved the concept. I mostly prefer RPGM games over strictly VNs, since I really like walking around and finding secrets.
The only problem is that there's so many, some of them are a bit too amateurish, so they get bad rep. But they all have this special charm to them.

 

[DreamingAway]

It depends, two of my favorite lewd games ever are NTRPG and NTRPG2, both made in RPGM, and they really are incredible. There are no CGs for sex, it's all done with sprites, and I really loved the concept. I mostly prefer RPGM games over strictly VNs, since I really like walking around and finding secrets.
The only problem is that there's so many, some of them are a bit too amateurish, so they get bad rep. But they all have this special charm to them.

Interesting.. you don't find the "Sprite Only" graphics detracts from the game - does the context / story / themes appeal more to you than the artistic side?

I looked at NTRPG2 and while I found the sprites and tilesets endearing, is that enough to hold up the entire game and the themes it's trying to explore?

 

[croco_nsfw]

Interesting.. you don't find the "Sprite Only" graphics detracts from the game - does the context / story / themes appeal more to you than the artistic side?

This is my personal opinion, but yeah, a good-enough story paired with enough content, makes me forget about the graphics. Free Cities is text only, and it's excellent. You know how nowadays AAA studios try to go for ultra-realistic graphics, while a lot of people would prefer better content? I feel that way also in lewd games. Like 4k renders with the latest 3D models are cool, but I would prefer better games with mediocre graphics.

Again, just my personal opinion, I hope all fellow devs in here the very best, I respect the grind.

I looked at NTRPG2 and while I found the sprites and tilesets endearing, is that enough to hold up the entire game and the themes it's trying to explore?

Yeah no doubt! In fact I've yet to come across another game that goes to the extreme the same way the NTRPG series did, I never felt the need for CG. I'm guessing the graphics puts a lot of people off, but you also get some die-hard fans (kind of like Undertale, Omori).

Don't you have some game that looks crappy but you absolutely adore? You don't need visuals to provoke eroticism, the erotic literature genre is massive. But the advantage we have with our medium, games, is the interactivity, so if you can make someone feel immersed, I think you have won.

 

[Warthief]

Peasant's Quest used stock RPGMV / MZ chibi sprites.. but implemented a clothing system on them to reflect what you had equipped. The Daz assets are all cutscene / portraits.

I don't know of any games that use Daz assets for sprites except this zombie game:
https://f95zone.to/threads/project-venus-v0-1-team-venus.133748/

It's a lot of work too.. personally I appreciated it.. but I think I would of been fine with the game if it didn't have them too.

My favorite games all used stock assets and I didn't mind .. (although I appreciate when they do custom lighting systems or parallax maps to make areas more aesthetically pleasing)

There is some RPG Maker games use Daz assets, NLT games is best example for that, there is also Struggel with Sin and the new zombie game you linked,
To answere your main question "is it worth it?", It will consume so much time, and it also depend on what type of game you want to make, if you plan on making big rpg game with many places and character it gonna be hell to find assets for that and for sure making them as maps and characters, if you plan on small game that focus more on story than i will say maybe start without it and let people test it, if people start to like your game from the demo's maybe after that change the art.

I can say i am that stupid guy who wanted to make big rpg game using daz art for sprites and maps and because I think the gameplay was bad my game failed and all the time i spend making the characters, maps, story, coding ... wasted that why i didn't have chance to start over with new project and stuck with it hoping it succeed.

 

[DreamingAway]

I can say i am that stupid guy who wanted to make big rpg game using daz art for sprites and maps and because I think the gameplay was bad my game failed and all the time i spend making the characters, maps, story, coding ... wasted that why i didn't have chance to start over with new project and stuck with it hoping it succeed.

Can you link any screenshots of your game? I'm curious what you came up with.

Did you develop or find a good tool to convert Daz to Sprite sheets? I've been messing with something in Unity but it doesn't work totally how I want. I think 3D > Spritesheet conversion is the only sane option for a single developer..

 

[Warthief]

Can you link any screenshots of your game? I'm curious what you came up with.

Did you develop or find a good tool to convert Daz to Sprite sheets? I've been messing with something in Unity but it doesn't work totally how I want. I think 3D > Spritesheet conversion is the only sane option for a single developer..

This is the game i am working on "Flames of Desire".
Making Daz characters to sprite sheet is easy if you create 4 cameras (front, back, left and right), and for sure when you place them at the start you go for (Y,Z,X = 0) position than move thier positions like this for example>
Front Camera: Z = 100
Back Camera Z = -100
Left Camera X = 100
Right Camera X = -100
For sure use any number you want and change the Y and X Rotation in any number but keep the Y and X Rotation the same for all cameras.
For the render image size that depend on what engine you are using and how big the character you want him to be.
here and example of a sprite sheet i made for RPG Maker MV>

For using Daz models in 3d games i think you need to buy licanses for the model to use them in your game but i am not sure about that, also if you gonna make 3d game and you have the skills to do it in unity try to find a team else there is a good chance you will abonded the game because to be honest with you making a game alone in your free time is not easy, remember that you will need to write the script, both the full story and dialogues, make the art and if you going for 3d well that will consume so much time and you will face many technical problems with the models and animations ... (I didn't even talk about map and interactive things like doors ...), you will do the sexual parts of the game and many other things and the worst part that many people will not have PC that can run your game and other lazy to download big file games and prefare smaller games.
but if you think you are able to create good 3d game than go for it.

 

[DreamingAway]

For using Daz models in 3d games i think you need to buy licanses for the model to use them in your game but i am not sure about that, also if you gonna make 3d game and you have the skills to do it in unity try to find a team else there is a good chance you will abonded the game because to be honest with you making a game alone in your free time is not easy

Hey thanks for sharing, I will check out your game!

Just to be clear, I am using a Unity project to generate sprite sheets for RPGM..

Specifically this one I am playing with:

You must be registered to see the links

It lets you generate Spritesheets for both characters and particles > spell animations, all free.
Was curious if you had found a better way than this.