Singleplayer or Multiplayer? How MP in Hentai games should/could look like.

[Tobi/Chaos]

Hello,
First of all, maybe some of You know because i already posted 2 or 3 topics on this forum about games that Game Company i work for made ( and are here on F95 )
I'm writing that topic as myself, not as employee of any game dev.

For last 1 Year i was working on my own Game Engine, I'm C++ Programmer, i made my Game Engine based on Windows and C++/ASM
It means that this game engine have huge potential, its a lot faster than many other game engines ( for example RPG Maker ) and it can make anything ( if u write it xD lol )
it's rendering over 200 frames on 2.4 GHz CPU ( single core ) with 1360 x 768 rendering resolution - with 5000 objects ( 32x32 px ) on screen - currently no GPU support
maybe one day I will add GPU but currently CPU for rendering and logic is doing great enough ( ofc. keep in mind it was tested in controled enviroment )

I have idea for game that I want to play myself.

I'm huge fan of games like Holy Knight Ricca, LonaRPG, Night of Revenge and few others, I love these games but one of my favorite games is Lona RPG
Lona RPG is made on RPG Maker which is really poor option for games ( but at least cheap to make games with that engine )

I have over 500 hours in LonaRPG, so game i want to make will be very similar to how Lona RPG looks and works.
I'm also running my own Discord Server with over 1400 people on it, i talked with many other fans of Lona RPG and things that most people desire are things like
- option to build ur house in Lona
- Craft Your own weapons and armors ( Lona kinda have some crafting but its poor )
- More minigames, perks and for example Farming?

But one of ideas that were dropped by some Lona fans and me myself was Multiplayer in Lona.


I want to know Your opinion about Multiplayer in hentai games, how it should look and if this would even work,
I myself have 3 options for this game as Poll gives You 3 options.


1) Singleplayer -> Simply forget about Multiplayer idea and make game with singleplayer only ( aka "I don't like MP in Hentai games fuck it" - option )


2) Multiplayer ( Host Leader ) -> Multiplayer where Host is "Leader" of the game, girl in my game is having name "Shelly", she is Necromancer ( just like Cocona in Lona )
Shelly is able to summon undeads, and here is my current idea of WHO is player in Multiplayer.

Host is playing as Shelly, only host can pick quests and world is changing according to Host decisions,
other players are playing as Shelly Undeads, they can't talk etc. they can only follow Shelly and help her in combat / gathering / building etc.

Question is if You would be interested in MP like that or maybe u have different idea for MP in Lona RPG style?
or will it be super boring to be limited in what You can do in game and You are just like watching other player to play xD
so here is option 3)


3) Multiplayer -> Simply multiplayer on different rules that were described in option 2
- Keep in mind that I'm one lone programmer and i can't code Super MMO RPG Hentai Engine all by myself...
even simple string took me 3 days and over 300 lines ( 12.000 characters ) of code to write, debug and test ( there was some memory leaks as always )

Also keep in mind that im not interested in changing game style, I'm writing 2D RPG Game that looks like LonaRPG.
So ideas must be possible to use in Lona like games.


If You want You can also share other ideas about game but well... focus of this topic is to decide how Multiplayer in Hentai game should WORK and LOOK
( btw. yes Game will be post here on F95 too when first "playable" version will be ready - unless F95 admins don't want to - i dont care too much )

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[anne O'nymous]

I want to know Your opinion about Multiplayer in hentai games, how it should look and if this would even work,

Personally I never understood the interest behind multiplayer hentai games.

If you need a partner, isn't Tinder, or whatever, a better place to be, than a multiplayer game where you'll have your dick in hand, trying to forget that the sweet Anna, who's flirting and more with you in the game, is probably a 45yo incel who's fapping to the fantasy he's serving you ?
And if you don't care about the lewd, isn't a none hentai multiplayer game a better game to play ?
Then finally, if you want the lewd, but don't care this much about the partner, isn't a single player game better than a multiplayer one where Will the trucker will, time to time, say that "you aren't concentrated, I wonder why huhuhu naughty boy ".

2) Multiplayer ( Host Leader ) -> Multiplayer where Host is "Leader" of the game, girl in my game is having name "Shelly", she is Necromancer ( just like Cocona in Lona )
Shelly is able to summon undeads, and here is my current idea of WHO is player in Multiplayer.

Host is playing as Shelly, only host can pick quests and world is changing according to Host decisions,
other players are playing as Shelly Undeads, they can't talk etc. they can only follow Shelly and help her in combat / gathering / building etc.

So, unless you're the host, you fight, gather and build, but have no benefit from any of this, because you're just a summoned minion and will disappear at the end of the session. And if you're the host, you'll mostly give orders and have slaves doing most of the boring stuff for you. I can be wrong, but I predict servers overloaded by hosts with really few compulsive peoples ready to be summoned.
Or perhaps do you expect friends to play together. Theoretically that way it could works, host turning with each session to balance everything. But would you really play a game with people that you effectively know, knowing that you'll fap while playing, and that they'll know you're doing it, because they are doing the same ; "hey bros, I'm bored and horny, want to fap with me in [whatever the game name] ?"
Some would say that, even if each one is at his own home, behind his own computer, this fraternal fapping looks a bit gay. And if a girl accept to play such game, in such condition, with you, there's chance that she would also accept to play other "games", directly in your bedroom.

3) Multiplayer -> Simply multiplayer on different rules that were described in option 2

What lead back to my initial question, what is the interest to fap in harmony with Will the trucker ?



I know I'm a bit harsh, but is there really people who seriously believe that in those games more than 5% of the girl characters have a real girl behind, or that they'll be lucky enough to only found real girls ?


Edit:
To soften a bit what I said, there's one interest in such multiplayer hentai games. It's for couple who, due to the works one do, are often separated. It permit them to still share fun and intimate moments despite the distance. But of course the girls will never care about you, they are here to fap with their man, and will not play with you.

 

[Tobi/Chaos]

So, unless you're the host, you fight, gather and build, but have no benefit from any of this, because you're just a summoned minion and will disappear at the end of the session. And if you're the host, you'll mostly give orders and have slaves doing most of the boring stuff for you. I can be wrong, but I predict servers overloaded by hosts with really few compulsive peoples ready to be summoned.
Or perhaps do you expect friends to play together. Theoretically that way it could works, host turning with each session to balance everything. But would you really play a game with people that you effectively know, knowing that you'll fap while playing, and that they'll know you're doing it, because they are doing the same ; "hey bros, I'm bored and horny, want to fap with me in [whatever the game name] ?"
Some would say that, even if each one is at his own home, behind his own computer, this fraternal fapping looks a bit gay. And if a girl accept to play such game, in such condition, with you, there's chance that she would also accept to play other "games", directly in your bedroom.

Well... Thats exactly why i asked if someone have better idea cuz i realise that having minions and host as leader sound boring to me too, but well game need to have some limits as it's open world and if there would be for example quest that is spawning some monsters somewhere to kill, if 2 or 3 players pick same quest its gonna be pretty messy etc.

So idea to limit only Host for picking quests / starting events was my only idea so far.

But well from Votes here i see that people dont really care much about Multiplayer in Hentai games?...
6 Votes for Singleplayer 0 for Multiplayer so far...


Also I'm not rich enough to make Server Browser Multiplayer idea would work on my current MP Framework, TCP IPv4 where You enter IPv4 Adress to which u want to connect and game ping that adress, if that adress have game and socket open then message is displayed to either block or accept and 2 or more people can be connected if connection is accepted by both.

So yee... MP was planned between "friends" only xD I myself have 2 other friends who would want to play with me :x
but not really with my current Multiplayer idea cuz they also think it could be done better than playing as minion xD


Anywaa, i keep Votes and Thread open for while maybe someone will have different opinion and some cool idea ^_^
- so far MP dying xD

 

[bethrezen0]

2) Multiplayer ( Host Leader ) -> Multiplayer where Host is "Leader" of the game, girl in my game is having name "Shelly", she is Necromancer ( just like Cocona in Lona )
Shelly is able to summon undeads, and here is my current idea of WHO is player in Multiplayer.

Host is playing as Shelly, only host can pick quests and world is changing according to Host decisions,
other players are playing as Shelly Undeads, they can't talk etc. they can only follow Shelly and help her in combat / gathering / building etc.

Question is if You would be interested in MP like that or maybe u have different idea for MP in Lona RPG style?
or will it be super boring to be limited in what You can do in game and You are just like watching other player to play xD
so here is option 3)

I personally don't see how this type of multiplayer can be enjoyable for anyone but the host, playing as some mute summon who really can't do anything but fulfill the role that any NPC could. Only fun i see is that you can try and grief the host, collecting packs of mobs to lead them directly to host, bodyblocking the host, gathering stuff and not giving it to host, e.t.c.
since playing how intended seem very boring.

But the whole idea of a summoner and party of his mobs as players, isn't a bad idea. But the summon players definitely should have more agency, ability to talk and interact with the world close to what a host can, also ability to level up/progress mechanically in a way MC can in a game. Exception is to progress the story, picking up quests, basically all the things you must have a party leader for. And maybe they should be not just undead, but how i see it a better pick would be demons that host player summons, having a more tense dynamic with a bit of unpredictability between host and their familiars, since they are not just mindless undead, but entities with their own personality and agenda, and can even be malicious. If the host can't control them or they just wanna troll, host can try actually killing them, alone or with other summons who are loyal, or die trying to, not just kick/unsummon from the server. I think that could generate a lot of fun situations. But it requires that players would be random people, not your friends. And your game is direct TCP/IP connection as i just have read, so in this case just a co-op would be enough. Where the other player can do everything the host can.

example quest that is spawning some monsters somewhere to kill, if 2 or 3 players pick same quest its gonna be pretty messy

Well you can make it so players can't pick same quest if it's already picked by one of the players. Or make it so that any picked quest is picked not for a single person but for a party as a whole, and everyone will get the reward, either split between them, or the same reward for everyone but for the sake of game balance, quantity and strength of mobs you need to defeat will depend on have many players are in your party or even have it kinda like in diablo where difficulty of enemies everywhere in the world depends on player count.

As for actually the sex in multiplayer between players i suppose. I haven't really seen any multiplayer games with actual sex in them intended by the dev tbh, people do this mostly in form of ERP, and for that even just an ability to chat would suffice.
but of course you can give them additional tools for immersion. People ERP more commonly in games like VRchat or Second life, not in WoW or any other MMORPG. Because in games like SL you can customize your avatar however you want and also have it all animated, so that's just better, but its not really a must have, just adds a lot more immersion.
So as your game is not a some kind of a dedicated muliplayer sex simulator, you don't need much. Just give stuff like sexual animations for interaction between players, for better immersion, since everything would probably still be done via ERP.

 

[anne O'nymous]

[...] but well game need to have some limits as it's open world and if there would be for example quest that is spawning some monsters somewhere to kill, if 2 or 3 players pick same quest its gonna be pretty messy etc.

Yet it's how most, if not all (I haven't played them all, so there's perhaps exceptions), open world multiplayer games works.

For generic quests it's global. The world content is shared between all the players connected to the server, and its the spreading of the content and low cooldown between repop, combined with the difference in level and priority of the players, that balance everything.
And for more specific quests, it's instantiated. The elements needed for the quest are only visible and available for the players having the said quest, and each one of them can only see what is present in his instance.

Also I'm not rich enough to make Server Browser

It don't necessarily need to be this rich at first. Nopy achieved to be a file sharing hosting site with around $US 6K/month, and F95zone cover the cost for its 23 servers with the sole ads revenue.
Of course, 6K is a lot, and there's an average of 15K members connected to the forum at a given instant. But it's way less than what people generally imagine when they think about hosting cost. When you know what you are doing, how to optimize the load, balance it correctly, choose the right hosting company, and all, you can start an online opened world multiplayer game with around US$ 200/month. It would be a bit slow and have some instabilities, but it's the starts and players would be more tolerant.

But note that I haven't wrote a "go for it, it cost less than you think", paragraph. It's not because it don't cost as much as you thought, that you should do it.
While multiplayer hentai games exist and achieve to survive, it's a niche market on a game genre that is itself a niche. Therefore there's more chance that you just loose your money, than there's that you achieve to earn enough to payback your expense. This especially since the fact that you didn't see another solution than your host/minions approach to deal with the quest tend to prove that you don't have (yet) the knowledge needed to make such game.
Not that it's difficult by itself, but you need to know the models to apply and, because you aren't rich, you also need to master them enough, in order to effectively optimize their implementation.

Multiplayer idea would work on my current MP Framework, TCP IPv4 where You enter IPv4 Adress to which u want to connect and game ping that adress, if that adress have game and socket open then message is displayed to either block or accept and 2 or more people can be connected if connection is accepted by both.

What fall back to my "hey bros, let's fap together tonight". You'll not connect to a random server and wait for hours that someone else connect to it. If you connect, it's because you already have your team ready to go, and therefore that they are your friends.

Note that it also point to an important point when you design an opened world multiplayer game, whatever for adult or not. At low level is need to be designed like a single player game with content that can be shared. With few exceptions people starting in the game are solo, and they need to have something interesting to do on their own. It's only with time that they'll make friends or call some of their friends to player with them.
What mean that balancing such game is way harder than balancing a single player game. At low level, the content need to be interesting and challenging whatever if the player is alone or with a team. And at mid level it need to be still doable when you are alone, while being difficult enough for the player to prefer to team in order to do it.

 

[Deleted member 5563201]

Singleplayer, I don't have friends...........

 

[morphnet]

You might be able to get better ideas and opinions from people already doing this kind of thing (sort of)

Second life has a large erp community although be careful when exploring there.

Star wars the old republic and ff14 both have erp communities.

While star wars and ff14 both use ingame and discord for their erp, second life is almost all done ingame.

There are other smaller communities in other mmo's but those three are probably a good starting point to find people who can maybe give you a better insight into multiplayer erotica. They have also been around for awhile so there is definitely a audience for it.

Good luck, Hope this helps.

 

[Meaning Less]

I don't mind a decent multiplayer game having some optional adult content on the side, conan exiles,fallout 76 are some examples of multiplayer games that have some nude/sexy mods that are enough to release some steam if needed without impacting the core non-adult gameplay.

But when it comes to full on porn games where that is the focus and main goal, I just can't see the appeal of multiplayer... If anything I can only think of issues like:
-being dependant on other people to have sex;
-people ruining the porn with bad erp or cheating;
-lack of story, progression and buildup for unlocking sexual content;
-lack of privacy.

Plus you have to consider that any games that requires an online connection to work is not allowed on this website.

So my recommendation to anyone considering multiplayer in adult games is to make it completely optional, make a decent singleplayer game and if you really want add either an optional multiplayer mode or just some side features that work in multiplayer for those interested.
This way you can enable those interested in multiplayer without excluding everyone not interested at all.

 

[Doorknob22]

-lack of story, progression and buildup for unlocking sexual content;

This. A good erotic experience benefits immensely from tension buildup and release, whether it's a text story or an AVN. You see it but you can't have it and you see it some more and you want it some more and you make some progress until finally you get it. Bam! Even in gonzo porn, you'll see director spending 5-10 minutes of teasing before the sex. I simply can't see how this translates to multiplayer game.

What I can see is some sort high tech adult chat room (ACR?) with lot of visuals (backgrounds, props, outfits etc') where two or more people can act their sexual fantasies. You might even hire a "virtual prostitute", a person who will play your mom or teacher in this ACR, skillfully using their avatar to act out your fantasy.

But I just can't see how multiplayer combines with porn.

 

[TessaXYZ]

Personally I never understood the interest behind multiplayer hentai games.

If you need a partner, isn't Tinder, or whatever, a better place to be, than a multiplayer game where you'll have your dick in hand, trying to forget that the sweet Anna, who's flirting and more with you in the game, is probably a 45yo incel who's fapping to the fantasy he's serving you ?
And if you don't care about the lewd, isn't a none hentai multiplayer game a better game to play ?
Then finally, if you want the lewd, but don't care this much about the partner, isn't a single player game better than a multiplayer one where Will the trucker will, time to time, say that "you aren't concentrated, I wonder why huhuhu naughty boy ".




So, unless you're the host, you fight, gather and build, but have no benefit from any of this, because you're just a summoned minion and will disappear at the end of the session. And if you're the host, you'll mostly give orders and have slaves doing most of the boring stuff for you. I can be wrong, but I predict servers overloaded by hosts with really few compulsive peoples ready to be summoned.
Or perhaps do you expect friends to play together. Theoretically that way it could works, host turning with each session to balance everything. But would you really play a game with people that you effectively know, knowing that you'll fap while playing, and that they'll know you're doing it, because they are doing the same ; "hey bros, I'm bored and horny, want to fap with me in [whatever the game name] ?"
Some would say that, even if each one is at his own home, behind his own computer, this fraternal fapping looks a bit gay. And if a girl accept to play such game, in such condition, with you, there's chance that she would also accept to play other "games", directly in your bedroom.




What lead back to my initial question, what is the interest to fap in harmony with Will the trucker ?



I know I'm a bit harsh, but is there really people who seriously believe that in those games more than 5% of the girl characters have a real girl behind, or that they'll be lucky enough to only found real girls ?


Edit:
To soften a bit what I said, there's one interest in such multiplayer hentai games. It's for couple who, due to the works one do, are often separated. It permit them to still share fun and intimate moments despite the distance. But of course the girls will never care about you, they are here to fap with their man, and will not play with you.

Hey leave Will the Trucker out of this

 

[Tobi/Chaos]

Well i see it's 11 to 0...

Tbh. was not expecting result like this... was thinking that there will be at least some people interested in Multiplayer Hentai game... but well... looks like me and my friends are just weirdos

Well then, i think I'm gonna abandon multiplayer Idea then, at least for this game

You can keep voting if u want but for me final results are:
11 - singleplayer
0 - multiplayer
1 - custom idea

 

[DuniX]

Personally I never understood the interest behind multiplayer hentai games.

ERP is a time honored tradition in MUDs and virtual worlds.
Careful of what server you stumble on VRChat and don't drop the soap.

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

Multiplayer would probably be too much work for an indie team.
In the first place only games with solid gameplay could work for multiplayer, otherwise it'll just be a glorified

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chat.

 

[anne O'nymous]

ERP is a time honored tradition in MUDs and virtual worlds.

You know that there's a difference between Erotic Role Playing and a hentai game where, by definition and design, the content is sexual, right ?

 

[Tobi/Chaos]

Multiplayer would probably be too much work for an indie team.
In the first place only games with solid gameplay could work for multiplayer, otherwise it'll just be a glorified

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chat.

Well not indie team but single person
And about that You no need to worry, like i already said Im working with C++ for many many years already,
creating things like that is simply matter of time, and i can tell You, it's not as time consuming as You think.

You saying too much work...
Well... I refuse to work with any Lib / Framework ( as i think i already said )
but also I'm not using any modern tools for making graphics / sounds etc.
*.qgc -> QLG Graphics File
*.qsd -> QLG Sound File
*.qvp -> QLG Vision Project File ( Creative Vision is name of my Paint )
Creative Vibes is name of Sound Editor :x...

Welcome back in 1996, where programming was still fun and no Google was required
As example this font is made by me in very old style

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So don't tell me that making Multiplayer would be too much
as its already far beyond "too much" ^_^

This font is ofc. only for debug... I needed to be able to see something on screen...
and Windows Console or other stuff is big NO

Writing base stuff like that i can do while being blind xD

 

[F4C430]

Adult-themed board games or party games would be far better. They allow playing with random people (greatly increases the chance that someone will actually play your game), plus you can keep the gameplay short enough to actually finish a multiplayer session. I have never played Lona RPG but it doesn't sound like a good idea for multiplayer based on what's written here.

 

[Tobi/Chaos]

Adult-themed board games or party games would be far better. They allow playing with random people (greatly increases the chance that someone will actually play your game), plus you can keep the gameplay short enough to actually finish a multiplayer session. I have never played Lona RPG but it doesn't sound like a good idea for multiplayer based on what's written here.

How could You not play LonaRPG...
Best RPG Maker Game xD

I'm not 100% sure what do You mean by board game or party games... well 100% not sound like my type of games xD
I'm only RPG / RTS player, I'm not playing anything aside from it...

I'm capable of writing stuff like that but like i said... My goal is game that i want to play myself
2D RPG Survival ( similar to Lona RPG - but "better" and on C++ instead of RPG Maker )

So regardless of what Board / Party Games means I think I'm gonna stay with my current idea...
but Singleplayer xD now...

 

[F4C430]

How could You not play LonaRPG...
Best RPG Maker Game xD

I've seen the screenshots and tags for it. It has content i don't like. There are also people claiming that Karryn's Prison is the best in RPG Maker, but i don't like that game either.

So regardless of what Board / Party Games means I think I'm gonna stay with my current idea...
but Singleplayer xD now...

I think that's a good idea.

 

[qwsaq]

There are exactly two porn games that I know of that went the multiplayer route:
-

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Bondage themed (duh). You do tasks to earn in-game currency to buy bondage gear that you can lock onto other players. Or you get locked up and try to struggle out of it. It's kinda lame, frustrating, and un-sexy.
-

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Transformation themed. You do tasks to get your hands on transformative items/spells that you can use on other players. Or you get transformed and just kinda deal with it. It's kinda lame, frustrating, and un-sexy.

So yeah, even if we ignore the obvious problem anne O'nymous mentioned about having to mentally block out the inevitable fact that there's a 300 lb neckbeard furiously masturbating on the other side of the computer screen as you're trying to get off, adding multiplayer mechanics just kinda takes away from the escapism element of porn. Anything you think you're adding to the game with multiplayer would be done a lot better with decent writing and game balance on the part of the developer. You think some randos with one hand on their dick would do any better?

 

[anne O'nymous]

So yeah, [...] adding multiplayer mechanics just kinda takes away from the escapism element of porn. Anything you think you're adding to the game with multiplayer would be done a lot better with decent writing and game balance on the part of the developer.

Let's talk seriously for few minutes.

Both Elder Scrolls and Fallout mod scenes demonstrate since years that adding porn content into an opened world game is possible and don't necessarily limits to "fuck or be fucked" variations ; I count your two examples as variations even if strictly speaking there's no sex involved. You can build a brother, you can seduce NPC, you can sell your body to NPC, starts a slave training/selling facility (Ah the joy of New Vegas), and so many other options.
Therefore, strictly speaking, on theory making a opened world multiplayer game that could be interesting as game is something possible. Each guild would be seduce/kidnap NPC, build a brothel, take care of it, and all, by example. You can even have PvP content if you decide that guilds can raid brothel to limit the impact of concurrence. And of course, consenting players could also interact sexually together.

BUT both lewd modded Elder Scrolls and Fallout games proved that lewd content is boring. Of course not by itself, but you don't pass your time following this route. It's something on the side, some additional content interesting because appealing to other feelings than what the game provide by default. You play the lewd content like you tend to play quests in such games, pursuing a bit of this, a bit of that, and having multiple active goals at the same time, in order to put some variety in your playthrough.
What mean that an opened world multiplayer game couldn't rely exclusively on its lewd content. It can be a big part of it, but probably not represent more than 50% of what is possible to do.

And of course, for it to be effectively attractive, it need to have a decent quality level. The game should looks on the side of WoW, not on the side of Dofus. What mean that you need a team of professionals, that will works full time for one or two years before you have something to effectively release.
And well, this no one on the scene can afford to do it. Not even the few companies who make those silly multiplayer games we can see through their ads. While, obviously, no AAA studios would try to go that way, because it would be too risked for their image.

In the end, interesting multiplayer hentai games are like interesting realtime 3D hentai games. It's not that they can't exist, but that no one can afford to effectively do them, at least not in a decent time and with a decent enough quality.


This being said, if you have the money (we are talking in US$ millions), don't hesitate to PM me, I have the ideas and I promise to limit myself to a 5 digits monthly salary.