Seeking other people's opinions on game content.

[lemonfreak]

I did some searches but could not really find something that relates to all my wonderings.

I am very curious to know what people prefer to see in games.

I would appreciate if you might share your thoughts to these questions.



1. Do you like creating a custom main character, or, do you like having one that was created by the developer for you to assume as yours, assuming a customizable name?

I have no interest in creating my own character, I don't self insert as the MC, I want to play as a pre-existing character (and if you don't include a default name then I'll likely delete the game

2. Do you like text based games with some images, or image based games with some text?

image with text

3. Would you rather play a 2D VN with dialog choices, or a 3D RPG with being able to walk around a world to trigger story events and story advancement?

It's worrying that you asked this, it suggests to me that you lack a clear vision of the game you wish to make. The game you should be making is the game you want to play but does not exist

4. Do you want to get right into the sexual action, or have a slow buildup? Romantic relationship building from story, or quick fucks? Maybe a mixture?

Depends on the story but, if you plan on a slow burn romance it's not the worst idea to include side characters up for casual sex, Being a Dik handled this well with 5 main girls who you'll have to choose between by the end of the game but with any number of side girls interested only in the MC's footlong

5. Do you prefer grinding and building stats with characters, or making choices to advance the story?

Never grinding, you're not aiming to blue ball your players (or are you?)

6. How important is non-sexual story and content in your sexual games? As in, what does your character do when not having sex.

Entirely dependent on your abilities as a writer. Ask your self this, would your game be worth playing if there was no sex whatsoever? If not then the best thing to do is add lots more sex

7. Lots of choices and branching dialog, or more directed story with few choices?

Branching choices are great but let me ask you this, are you head of a 50 person dev team? If not then keep it simple with fixed major story beats but with looping choices, ie, you can stay home with your roommate, yes, roommate, definitely not your sister or you can hang with GND type you met at the bookstore or you can go out with the red headed femme fatale you met at the bar

8. Do you like to have control of what happens in sex scenes, and to what level of control?

Clicking to change position or speed is fine, requiring players to click to fill a bar isn't, not is the old MnF progress bar where you have to sit there waiting to move on

9. What is more important to you, specific kinks and themes, or a good story with vanilla sex?

Most players are more forgiving of a subpar story with specific kinks but will rinse the dev if they've clearly included said kinks in a cynical attempt to appeal to a particular audience. I will say again that you should make the game you want to play but that does not exist

10. Would you play a game with a theme or kink you do not like, if you were attracted to the art, story, or gameplay?

It would need to include a kink that I love in order to override my dislike. As an example, I love pegging but dislike femdom (especially feet) so have to tolerate a lot of content I don't like to see the things I do


I'm not going to answer the rest of the questions because it's clear you have no idea what you want to make. Figure that out first

 

[Count Morado]

I did some searches but could not really find something that relates to all my wonderings.
<snip>
18. Anything you might want to add to this, based upon these questions?

You say you did some searches but didn't find something that relates to your questions, and yet all of these questions have been asked several times on this site. Most of the time, these questions are asked by people who say they are interested in developing games, but in the end rarely do.

You are asking all the wrong questions. I recommend you check out this thread. You can also see that there are links in that one to other threads where people are asking similar questions. Finally, there's a notorious person on this site with a seemingly unsated poll-fetish that has been asking for at least 5 years but hasn't started development, yet.

In the end, a few people in this thread have already pointed out the obvious: It doesn't matter wheat "we" want - a good product will be the result of a strong vision of what you want. There are millions of adult video game players and adult VN readers. If you stay true to your own vision and work, you will find your fanbase.

 

[ping-pong-shiba]

I would appreciate if you might share your thoughts to these questions.

I was kinda in a similar situation as you, so here are my 2 cents on the topic:

First of all (and others have pointed out before me): Make a game that YOU would play as well! This applies to adult games even more to than to non-adult games. There are sooooo many different tastes and chances are high that if YOU are into it, others are as well.

Also, if you are developping solo something you should consider above all else is the risk of loosing motivation. It's much easier to stay motivated if you work on something that you enjoy. (For example, don't try to write/draw a hard-core BDSM scene, if you are actually turned off by it - players will likely be able to tell...)

I have been creating games on and off over the past years, but never released anything into the public. I have many different experiments and prototypes. Lots of half finished stories, and some fully storyboarded and drafted, but not polished and missing artwork.

If you have already some prototypes, it might be worth to revisit them. If there is one you still like, maybe move forward with it and publish it on itch.io (or the platform of your choice) before moving on to the next project.

 

[nulnil]

Spoiler: Poll Answers

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Now you might have noticed number 5 missing from here.

5. Do you prefer grinding and building stats with characters, or making choices to advance the story?

This is a loaded question, no offense.

By definition, grinding is not fun. If it was, we'd all be playing gacha games or some other garbage.

 

[hu lover]

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Now you might have noticed number 5 missing from here.

5. Do you prefer grinding and building stats with characters, or making choices to advance the story?

This is a loaded question, no offense.

By definition, grinding is not fun. If it was, we'd all be playing gacha games or some other garbage.

Grinding and farming the same thing? Or are they different? To me, they both go hand in hand. Farming is similar because in a way it involves the player building up stats and getting through the game.
An example of farming.
Devil may cry 4 uses a method of farming because at one point in the game there is a level where the player can harvest red orbs in a forested area. This benefits both the player, and progresses the player's progression.

 

[nulnil]

Grinding and farming the same thing? Or are they different? To me, they both go hand in hand. Farming is similar because in a way it involves the player building up stats and getting through the game.
An example of farming.
Devil may cry 4 uses a method of farming because at one point in the game there is a level where the player can harvest red orbs in a forested area. This benefits both the player, and progresses the player's progression.

To be fair, farming and grinding both have vague definitions and are pretty similar.

From what I've heard, the main difference is that farming is optional, while grinding is near-mandatory. Farming is also usually more related to the player's skill level/application of game mechanics, and grinding is typically random/linear.

Here's a rough example:

• Farming: In Minecraft, one can make a mob farm for quick EXP gain and tons of loot. There's ways to make a farm more effecient, like one that automatically kills the mobs so you simply need to collect everything.
• Grinding: Doing a repeatable quest over and over in order to level up, because you need those levels to beat a boss that otherwise can't be beat.

I might be wrong about this, and they might just be interchangeable, but there is still ways you can make a player work for something without it being tedious.

 

[hu lover]

To be fair, farming and grinding both have vague definitions and are pretty similar.

From what I've heard, the main difference is that farming is optional, while grinding is near-mandatory. Farming is also usually more related to the player's skill level/application of game mechanics, and grinding is typically random/linear.

Here's a rough example:

• Farming: In Minecraft, one can make a mob farm for quick EXP gain and tons of loot. There's ways to make a farm more effecient, like one that automatically kills the mobs so you simply need to collect everything.
• Grinding: Doing a repeatable quest over and over in order to level up, because you need those levels to beat a boss that otherwise can't be beat.

I might be wrong about this, and they might just be interchangeable, but there is still ways you can make a player work for something without it being tedious.

You made a good response nonetheless.

 

[SecretSal]

1. Do you like creating a custom main character, or, do you like having one that was created by the developer for you to assume as yours, assuming a customizable name?

Actual customisation is just too much work realistically (unless it's a 3D game, which is a different kind of 'too much work'). Honestly, it's more important to me that it's an interesting character (preferably not another dull or cliched high school student) than that it's customisable.


2. Do you like text based games with some images, or image based games with some text?

Middle ground here. Pacing the ratio of text to image is one of the ways to ensure smoother and more engaging flow. The typical Japanese-style has way too much text per image, for example. I know it's to keep dev cost of assets low, but I'll never find that ratio satisfactory.


3. Would you rather play a 2D VN with dialog choices, or a 3D RPG with being able to walk around a world to trigger story events and story advancement?

I have more faith that a 2D VN with dialog choices would be a more polished and enjoyable experience than an ambitious 3D RPG as described. Art for 2D would be more focused on making it look good, 3D would have more features, more dev time, more bugs... we'd be more an extended beta tester in that situation. Of course, if a game actually pulled it off, it'd be amazing (and I'd add it straight to my Mt Rushmore), but I'm not holding my breath at the moment.


4. Do you want to get right into the sexual action, or have a slow buildup? Romantic relationship building from story, or quick fucks? Maybe a mixture?

Mix is good, but the important thing is that the writing needs to justify the pace of the encounter. Quick hookups happen in real life and they can be exciting, but just having a character see you and jump you immediately without any lead-up leaves me pretty cold. But in general, I like the player having agency, and scenarios where NPCs are pushing themselves onto MC, whose only choice of response is to stammer and say it's not a good idea (or something similar) evokes a state that's almost like cognitive dissonance for me. If the needs of the main character are firmly opposed to that of the player, it's a bad situation.


5. Do you prefer grinding and building stats with characters, or making choices to advance the story?

Grinding and building stats means the core loop of that activity has to actually be fun. Otherwise, it's just filler, which I'll give a hard pass. So judging by the exclusive 'build stats games' that I've seen here so far, I'd say choices. But some games combine choices and stats pretty well, so let's go with that.


6. How important is non-sexual story and content in your sexual games? As in, what does your character do when not having sex.

Kinda important, but if it gets too bogged down in minutiae, then it can lose me pretty fast. Learning more about the characters and developing relationships with those who are involved in the sex scenarios is always rewarding, but sometimes devs can take their plots a little too seriously. Let's be honest, most of the stories are as interesting as the articles in Playboy back in the day. There are a small handful of devs who have stories good enough to be engaging without the sexual element. For them, I very much appreciate the skill constructing the story. For the rest, can take it or leave it.


7. Lots of choices and branching dialog, or more directed story with few choices?

I like choices, but not those that force me to choose between scenes and characters. Would prefer having a choice about how to approach that scene instead. Basically, I don't have as much time to replay games trying to get all the scenes these days, and would prefer a one-and-done for these things, and replay only when I want to experience it again, not just to catch em all. If a game's good enough (eg. Leap of Faith, STWA), I might do it, but it's not my standard M.O for playthroughs.


8. Do you like to have control of what happens in sex scenes, and to what level of control?

As mentioned in the last point, some control about the tone of the scene would be good (gentle/rough etc). But I'm not fussed about choosing positions and the like, unless it's introducing the character to a new position as part of the progression. Would prefer that the dev set up the scene in a good cinematic manner with good angles, buildup, and dialog, instead of me having to fiddle around with minigames and the like.


9. What is more important to you, specific kinks and themes, or a good story with vanilla sex?

Kinks and themes are what I'm here for. For vanilla sex, it'd have to be a REALLY good story, and those are in short supply. Would still prefer scratching preferred kinks though. If it's done with a good story, that's the cherry on top.


10. Would you play a game with a theme or kink you do not like, if you were attracted to the art, story, or gameplay?

I'd be more willing to try it out if the theme were optional or one of many that could be sped through. But it'd be with a pretty short leash, and if I feel that I'm not getting as much enjoyment out of it than I'd like, the good production wouldn't prevent me from moving on. Of course, depends on how much I dislike the kink. Incest I'll tolerate (its overexposure annoys me more than the fundamental principle), but things like rape and loli, I'll probably steer clear of, regardless of how it good it looks.


11. Do you like a minimal interface or lots of information?

Minimal is best, because it presumes that you've figured out how to present all the necessary info in the most concise way possible. It'll take a lot more design, but I definitely prefer that over a text dump. Some info that I do like though: Notebook-style excerpts of the history of your interaction with a character. And quest logs/trackers/hints, obviously.


12. Do you like anime or rendered style artwork?

For me (keeping quality as a constant), western-style illustrations > western-style 3D renders > anime-style illustrations > Honey Select characters


13. Do you want some music or not?

Mostly no. Unless you're going to spend a serious amount of time making sure it fits your game vibe. For example, the music in City of Broken Dreamers adds a lot to the experience. But if I open a game and hear some obnoxious recognisable stock music, I'm muting all the audio channels asap. Ditto if the game starts blaring some genre that doesn't do much for me, like pop-punk.


14. How often do you like to see games updated?

I like regular schedules, which is tough with projects like this. One month would be good, 2 weeks would be amazing, 3 months would be alright if the content for the update justifies the wait. 6-month and 1-year updates are way too long, I would've forgotten my place in the story at that point.


15. Do you like quicker updates with less content, or slower updates with more content?

Hard to make a binary choice here. College Bound updates are (or were) too light, What a Hero! updates are too slow. Grandma's House and King of Summer manage to have good content for each update despite a speedy update schedule, just hope it's sustainable. Only stipulation is that if you're going to release quick small updates, make sure you also upload an update patch instead of having the player download the full game each time.


16. What type of gameplay do you like to see in these kinds of games?

Mostly choices, relationship points and dialog checks. Didn't come here to play minigames.


17. What length of game and story do you most prefer?

Tough to tell with episodic releases. An update taking 25-30 mins to play through (when reading all the text and not skipping) seems fine to me. Obviously, that includes meaningful content, not navigation, grinding, etc. But that stretches it to 2-3 hrs even at 6 updates or so. Don't mind that if pacing is well managed.


18. Anything you might want to add to this, based upon these questions?

Ultimately, make the game you want to make. More chance of keeping motivated that way. Trying to make it for other people is a fast way to get pulled in many different directions and ultimately burning out. Look out for good suggestions always, but only those that are compatible with the vision that you already have.

Recommendation: Don't release your first game. Use it as an internal project. Try make a short game which is a condensed version which has all the stuff you're interested in implementing. There will be several things you learn and many systems you will probably realise can be overhauled to work in a more flexible manner.

If you think you have a hang on it at this point, then plan out your project from scratch. General outline of the story, the breakpoints and cliffhangers for episode splits, the mechanics if any, how gradually they will be introduced, the asset requirement and rendering cycles. Get an idea of how long it'll to make and test each update. Then finally, make the pilot and see if you're on track with your schedule. After that, you can do the whole Patreon etc system if you're confident you've got this in hand.

 

[tuvrelm11]

1. Detailed, personalized customization of the MC sounds nice, but is really hard to do. I'd suggest going with the faceless everyman. That way you as the creator and the player as the, well, player can "self insert" him/her as the game, or specific scene requires. Gigachad haremmaster, sissy cuck and everything in between.
If you can pull it off, some minimal customization would be good. Hair color, costumes, shlong/boba size etc. Even easier to pull off in a text based game.

2. Depends. Personally I like more text with emphasis on choices and context, instead of a gallery with minimal commentary. But, to each their own.

3. Yes. What matters most is if the game is good. Do what you're good at, and avoid what your not good at. If you have decent experience deving 2D VNs, downloading Unreal/Unity to go full 3D sounds like a bad idea.

4. Heavily depends on the game/characters. Personally I like at least some build up, to contextualize what is happening.

5. Depends on the game. Personally, and I don't know if I like admitting it to myself, but I like the grind. Gives weight, meaning and context to what's happening in the game. Assuming it's the well implemented kind of grind. Not the "play cookie clicker for 5 hours for next scene" kind of grind.

6. Very important. Provided it's not a 'Nukige' kinetic novel. I.e. "errybody fucks, the end". Especially if it's coupled with the grind/choices for the gameplay aspect of the game.

7. Depends on what you want to make. Personally, I like more choices and branches. The more sandboxy the better. Though, that's harder to implement, so do what you're good at, not what passerby's are barking at you to do.

8. Yes. Control is nice, but again, harder to implement. A middle ground would be some minimal choices as to what's happening in the scene. Like, what specific pose, location, partner choice, condom or not, inside or outside, do the clothes stay on, etc.
Having no control leads to scenes like "you kiss waifu -> time for action -> she lubes up her strapon". Good for you if you're into that, but a choice to do something else sounds better.

9. Kinks and fetishes. People who are into 'vanilla harem' are probably not gonna enjoy 'ugly bastard NTR', and vice-versa. Do what you like, and are good at. You know the whole 'trying to please everybody leads to pleasing nobody' thing.
The purely vanilla game can be enjoyed by everyone only if it has some outstanding quality. Like supremely good graphics. Or a story that'll change your life. But again, that's a little hard to do.

10. Yes. A genuinely good game, with good qualities will attract people from outside it's target demographic.

11. Yes. You have some choices how to implement the UI. In the sidebar. Have the sidebar retractable. "Check phone" button where all the stats/info/whatever are listed.
Don't overlay an excel spreadsheet over an h-scene. I don't think too many people are into that, but who knows.

12. Personally I'm all about the anime, cartoony unrealistic stuff. What's important is that you do what you're good at. If you're an experienced 2D anime style artist, trying to make mediocre DAZ goblins sounds like a waste. Similarly, if you're experienced enough with DAZ that you can make passable humanoids that do not resemble goblins, buying a how2draw anime book sounds like a waste.

13. Meh. If plot in a porn movie is not that important, then the music is even less so. Still, get some stock royalty-free music so that the game is not dead silent. If your game requires it, of course.

14. Yes. As often as possible with a Skyrim worth of content. That's not happening though, let's be real.
Something like once a month, with 1-2 hour of content/ like 4-6 new scenes sounds like a good pace. Enough to not burn the dev out, and enough show that the dev isn't just milking patrons with semi-monthly "typo fix" updates.

15. Yes. Do what you can manage / are comfortable with, as long as on a per month basis you get like the point I made in 14.

16. That heavily depends. On the person playing and on the dev. What's important is the quality of the game. I'm not that picky in terms of specific gameplay. Managment, VNs, RPGs, freeroam, sandbox, simulators, etc. Again, do what you're good at.

17. Hard to answer. Depends on the mood. But mostly 'medium' sized games. Long/big enough to provide a lasting experience and have enough content to be worth picking up in the first place. Short/small enough to finish in a reasonable time frame, not overstay it's welcome, ocasionaly replay it without it sounding like a chore, waste my time with obnoxious shit.
Examples (depending on the game) of obnoxious shit: badly implemented grind that adds nothing to the game other than to pad it out; hours of story that goes nowhere, fast; meaningless choices; walking from A to B on a map for 10-20, sometimes more, minutes / coupled with slow walking; poor writing practices like saying the same thing 20 times, etc.

I know I slapped a lot of 'depends' and 'some this, some that' and 'you do you' but it really does depend. There's no one size fits all answers/solutions/opinions. Focus on what you're good at, can achieve and like, avoid what you don't/can't. My opinion is based on my own experiences, biases and preferences of course.

And good luck on your game!