Some advice for a beginner

Nov 26, 2021
344
792
Hi and if you've seen this post thanks for reading

I'm just trying to get some advice from a few developers as to whether I can create a VN with assets from Daz or if there is better asset sites then that would be better

I have zero artistic skill but have somewhat decent computer literacy but no programming skill

I'm definitely willing to learn how to use programs like blender and ren'py pretty much any program

Like I said before my biggest drawback would be the art so using pre-made backgrounds and characters would be my only way of doing it,

This would definitely be a hobby and passion project to begin with but move onto actual released games once I'm fluent enough with the programs

If anyone has a similar starting experience especially the art part then ide like to know,

Animation would also probably be really tough for me but I'm even going to learn that to so if there is software that anyone can recommend then ide be very appreciative

So with that stuff out the way here's my idea of the game

The game will be set in a medieval setting but not on earth it will be a vision of my own world, it's definitely fantasy but not completely over the top, I don't want to give to much away, the game will be very mature in story and won't have all those freaking stereotypes I'll leave some details of planned features at the end of the post

If it is possible to use pre made assets than I'll be investing a lot of time to the game I want to make and learn everything from the coding to the animation even if it takes years, if you can't use pre-made stuff like the characters and backgrounds and everything than that will be a huge disappointment

Planned content
Romance (big part of the game)
Virgin (not just the women you to and what happens after your first time leads to what starts the next game in the series if I can start the game that is)

Harem ( this is something I personally like, although I don't like how a lot of games do it, they are really unrealistic, there needs to be conflict and emotional volume when something like this happens it will work out in the end and the maximum women will be between 7 and 9, given the scale of the story I plan for the first novel even that may be high)

Pregnancy ( this is something I like in games but again I don't like how it's done, it usually happens at the end and you don't see the progress of the mother, in this game there will be time skips of a few months after relationships and peace are ensured so you will see the mother's progress , the baby's born and grow up a little way before the game ends and you can help raise them , something I don't want to do but feel like I need to do for the future story is kinda forced, you'll have relations with a peasant woman at the start, it's not a one night stand thing you and her are actually in love (backstory will happen) and she will be apart of the whole game, and the child she gives birth to will be a bastard half noble half low born which will create issues between the women of high birth in your harem and highborn lords, the bastard boy is something that will be further described in the second game as you'll play as him also 4 of your wives will also get pregnant which again influences the story in the second game, think rebellion and civil war but on a smaller scale and yes some of your siblings in the second game will be on your side but 1 of them a true born son will be the main enemy even though your father raised you from bastard to heir before the second son is even conceived )

Incest (this is only between you and your cousin she will be a big impact in the story as well, and also for the time period even though its not based on earth it was pretty common for this to happen in history, in the second game you will form a harem with 2 half sisters involved and a cousin, no you will not bang your mum she ihas died , in the second game your mum is alive through it the same peasant mum and no you will not bang her, I'm not a massive fan of incest but I do want it for this story It makes sense in the end of the second book the third book may or may not have it since I don't know whether it will be needed )

Oral
Vaginal
Anal ( still not sure but more than likely with a few of the women, think I'll make it optional to, I like it in some games but only if it's done tastefully, not the whole OMG MY you know what is coming)

Group (MFF,MFFF, this is something that will happen mid game, the women need to also gain trust with one another and build their own relationships between each other and also not all of them are bisexual and some conversations with pure straight women may be awkward and funny by suggesting involvment)

Angel and demon, yeah definitely getting biblical but not in the Christian theme, the game has many deity's but only 2 will be in the game, also the demon character will not be pure evil but she will definitely be complicated, the angel will be one of the major plot twist in the game along with the demon so thats something I won't go into detail about

Powers (ok some may or may not like it and no you aren't one of the strongest characters at the start that has powers in the game but it's also extremely rare in this world but you do develop them with co help from the angel and demon and at some point become very strong)

If people want to know about the main characters that have major involvment in the game then please don't hesitate to ask


What will never be in my games

NTR
Sharing
Swinging
Degrading themes towards women

Rape (there will be a female character in the second game that tells you about how she was raped at a young age I don't know whether it will be in graphic detail or not because that's a topic that's very emotional to a lot of people including myself so if I can write it in detail I will but I'll also make it optional to listen to)
Pee stuff
The other thing relating to pee don't even want to think about it

Sandbox (there will be combat though as this game will have war, raiding and all sorts of things, I'll more than likely make it similar to BADIK where it's choice based combat

There's just going to be a massive amount of content if I can get it going, I have the idea of where the first game will go how it will end, the second games idea is going to be far more complex, also there will be 3 different protagonist 1 for each game all from the same family line

Ide even accept help from someone that knows how to do renders and animation while I learn coding and how to use different software, this game is definitely a hobbie and passion project so I would need someone who feels the same, I'm kinda broke so paying someone would be an issue and if anyone wants to help please ddo would prefer someone trustworthy who doesn't mind working on it a couple hours a day and isn't afraid to suggest stuff, the things that will never be In my game won't change,my story will be unchanged other than unimportant stuff, and no if someone did help I wouldn't just kick them off the project once I learn everything, I'm loyal and would only ask for the same
and if it did go big obviously the money would be split
but to mme it's a pipe dream right now ,also ide be buying the assets as it goes oon aand when I actually Have money to use I'll even throw 50$ a month for electricity bbills if someone hhelped thanks for reading and like I said any info will be appreciated


I'm also English speaking only so if you don't speak English all good that's what Google translate is for
 

Domiek

In a Scent
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Game Developer
Jun 19, 2018
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What graphics card do you have?

The best all around software to get started would be Blender as you can use all Daz assets as well as utilize any other assets with a wide range of data formats and tools to edit and customize everything within Blender. The addon lets you easily import Daz models, assets, poses, morphs, etc.

You'll be able to sculpt, edit meshes, animate, simulate and texture paint all in one free software. If your graphics card is on the lower end, you'll be able to use Blenders Eevee render engine, which is near real-time so your renders will be done in seconds rather than potentially 20+ minutes. Eevee generally doesn't look as great as Blender's Cycles or Daz Iray but the tradeoff could be worth it. Blender is an overall great jack-of-all trades. Other than modeling, it's not really the best at any specific thing but it's good enough.

If you already have a decent graphics card then Daz would be the easiest software to get you up and running with the least amount of effort. Most Daz store assets are prepared to look good in Daz right out of the box. Iray is a bit slow and will be painful with a lower end GPU. Daz is a very specific piece of software so the animation tools are very limiting and frustrating, there really aren't any modeling or sculpting tools and the overall software performance is rather poor compared to some of the bigger players. It's still the single best piece of software to get some nice renders out with no background 3D knowledge.

TL/DR: Go with Daz if you have decent hardware and want to start rendering asap. Go with Blender if you don't mind a steeper learning curve and having more robust tools at your disposal.
 
Nov 26, 2021
344
792
What graphics card do you have?

The best all around software to get started would be Blender as you can use all Daz assets as well as utilize any other assets with a wide range of data formats and tools to edit and customize everything within Blender. The addon lets you easily import Daz models, assets, poses, morphs, etc.

You'll be able to sculpt, edit meshes, animate, simulate and texture paint all in one free software. If your graphics card is on the lower end, you'll be able to use Blenders Eevee render engine, which is near real-time so your renders will be done in seconds rather than potentially 20+ minutes. Eevee generally doesn't look as great as Blender's Cycles or Daz Iray but the tradeoff could be worth it. Blender is an overall great jack-of-all trades. Other than modeling, it's not really the best at any specific thing but it's good enough.

If you already have a decent graphics card then Daz would be the easiest software to get you up and running with the least amount of effort. Most Daz store assets are prepared to look good in Daz right out of the box. Iray is a bit slow and will be painful with a lower end GPU. Daz is a very specific piece of software so the animation tools are very limiting and frustrating, there really aren't any modeling or sculpting tools and the overall software performance is rather poor compared to some of the bigger players. It's still the single best piece of software to get some nice renders out with no background 3D knowledge.

TL/DR: Go with Daz if you have decent hardware and want to start rendering asap. Go with Blender if you don't mind a steeper learning curve and having more robust tools at your disposal.
Hi thanks heaps for all this information, I'm currently rocking a RTX 2060 super and Ryzen 5 2600, 16gb ram, 1tb WD black sn750, I'm not currently home but I'll definitely take this advice and try it all out when I am, hardware wise I think it should be fine since it's just a hobbie to start off but if I ever get to the point where I have a game to test I'll send you a copy if you want for the help

Thanks heaps again
 
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MissFortune

I Was Once, Possibly, Maybe, Perhaps… A Harem King
Respected User
Game Developer
Aug 17, 2019
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Before you put wear and tear on your system, money, or a ton of time into making a VN, I'd start small to see if this is something you want to do first. As mentioned, Daz is probably the best way to start. The assets are premade (and free, if you pirate them) and more or less ready-to-render once you get a hold of lighting. If you want to go further later, you always can with Blender. The learning curve is very much brutal, though (like a month just picking up the UI). Just something to keep in mind. are good at what they do. Pricey, but they make the entire software much eaiser to understand (They have a free sword tutorial on YT, as well. All free, irrc.)

"Buy" ( , ) some Daz assets and make a short VN out of it. It doesn't have to be anything more than a few scenes inside of an apartment with two characters. Make a simple (or even a piece of a complicated story) story out of a couple in an apartment, lead them into sex, and experiment with it. Play with lighting (and even animation, if you'd like), expressions, and poses. Tell as much of a story via renders as you are text, or at least as much as possible. Then upload it here, or share it with a couple of friends who are comfortable with this type of content, and see what they have to say. That'll give you an idea on what to work on, from which you can either make another short VN or start applying it to a real/big one.
 
Nov 26, 2021
344
792
Before you put wear and tear on your system, money, or a ton of time into making a VN, I'd start small to see if this is something you want to do first. As mentioned, Daz is probably the best way to start. The assets are premade (and free, if you pirate them) and more or less ready-to-render once you get a hold of lighting. If you want to go further later, you always can with Blender. The learning curve is very much brutal, though (like a month just picking up the UI). Just something to keep in mind. are good at what they do. Pricey, but they make the entire software much eaiser to understand (They have a free sword tutorial on YT, as well. All free, irrc.)

"Buy" ( , ) some Daz assets and make a short VN out of it. It doesn't have to be anything more than a few scenes inside of an apartment with two characters. Make a simple (or even a piece of a complicated story) story out of a couple in an apartment, lead them into sex, and experiment with it. Play with lighting (and even animation, if you'd like), expressions, and poses. Tell as much of a story via renders as you are text, or at least as much as possible. Then upload it here, or share it with a couple of friends who are comfortable with this type of content, and see what they have to say. That'll give you an idea on what to work on, from which you can either make another short VN or start applying it to a real/big one.
Yeah that's actually a good idea I'll try doing that first and screw around with some things in with a small version game, yeah definitely want to do this love VN's but a lot of them are just starting to become a repeat of another game over n over and it's making me go crazy, I want to make something with drama and that's mature, once I get home I'll get my PC set back up and dive into those links, thanks heaps for the info and advice,

Thanks again

lol thanks for the good links
 
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Domiek

In a Scent
Donor
Game Developer
Jun 19, 2018
1,956
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Just to add on the topic of learning materials, haven't heard of CG Fast Track before but is widely considered the go to paid material for learning Blender.

It's cheap around $20 a month and has instructors review your submissions daily, offering direct feedback.

The best part is that you can download all of the courses you want to view later. Pay $20 for only one month and download the entire catalogue. That's the route I took in 2020.
 
Nov 26, 2021
344
792
Just to add on the topic of learning materials, haven't heard of CG Fast Track before but is widely considered the go to paid material for learning Blender.

It's cheap around $20 a month and has instructors review your submissions daily, offering direct feedback.

The best part is that you can download all of the courses you want to view later. Pay $20 for only one month and download the entire catalogue. That's the route I took in 2020.
I'm that dumb I didn't even think of doing something like that, I'll check that out to, really thanks for the information guys it's really helping me figure this out a lot easier, so I'll probably watch instructional videos through that link while learning to use the software and that

Thanks again guys, hopefully in like 4 or 5 months I got a short story to show