Starting concepts on a new game!

[Deleted member 718841]

So like the title says trying to start development on a new game!
I actually worked on some previous games before but never on my own. I´m an artist and writer, but my programming skills are lacking (if anybody wants to help out haha )

I´m thinking it´ll be an adventure game, i kind of have a basic plot down, but still not sure which engine to go with yet.

For now just roughly sketching out some characters and designs like below. What do you think of this kind of style in general?


[EDIT: added a couple outfits]

 

[Epadder]

I mean for "rough" sketches they look really good to me I like your style, I would be willing to offer my services with programing (Ren'py). You can look at my current project (in sig) to see what I can already do in Ren'py and if your interested just start a conversation with me. I'd be interested in knowing an artist like you for a future project I want to put together :biggrin:

 

[desmosome]

Love the artwork. Looks like it'll be a female protag corruption game. It comes down to preference, but I feel like there's just too many of those for the 2D genre (almost all japanese RPGM games). Well, if its NTR from female perspective, those are super hot though

The clothing seems ike it could be Sci-fi/cyperpunk?

 

[Deleted member 718841]

Hey, thanks! Glad you guys like it.

Ah, so it´s definitely not a corruption plot as of now, although i guess it could be. And it´s more modern day based (or even 1980s) rather than sci-fi (i suppose i chose the sluttiest costumes possible for the character there, so maybe that´s why it´s a bit confusing), although there will be some sci-fi elements, and probably a bit of mind-control stuff.

The basic premise is that this character Mona (in the picture i posted) is a wannabe writer/investigator who goes to an isolated town (think silent hill or some lovecraftian story, although obviously not pure horror/creepiness), just a far away town in the mountains or woods or something, with a small population, where strange things reportedly happen for unknown reasons. So sometimes people are compelled to walk around naked in the middle of the street or somebody cheats on their partner after 20 years of marriage, later not knowing why, and so on.
Mona´s goal is to figure out what´s going on and write a book about it, which of course will lead to some dark secrets being uncovered.

One key mechanic i want to do with this game is to make the game progress based on what you decide to write in your book. So lets say there is an orgy going on in the mayor´s office, you can decide not to add that to your book, and it will not affect the progression. The game ending and resolution being heavily affected by what you put in the book (basically only a certain number of events you can add to the book, so you´ll have to pick and choose).
But for now i´m still figuring out the logistics of it.

 

[Epadder]

I mean the corruption element could fit in possibly if you wanted to include it, She gets too involved personally in the action around town and becomes a victim like the rest, but as always don't try and add something you don't want in your game just to be a crowd pleaser. Otherwise mechanically it doesn't seem too daunting a task to program.

 

[Deleted member 229118]

Those are rought sketches?
*instant hard on*

 

[Ennoch]

A good lovecraftian story is more of a detective story than horror in truth. IF the horror kicks in, its game over anyway. So a creepy/creepish detective story, with lots of lewds, would be fun! Kinda hard to pull it through though. Kinda easier said than done. But i do love your style! That rough b&w sketch? It looks amazing. Will not be everyone's cup of tea as always but i think its great, i'm already curious how it will look like when more detailed. But you should definitely stick with the style! Need more drawn lewds :relievedface:

Love the artwork. Looks like it'll be a female protag corruption game. It comes down to preference, but I feel like there's just too many of those for the 2D genre (almost all japanese RPGM games)

Yes, but the key is exactly that. Almost all japs and those have a certain style/pattern they slavishly follow. Which i'm not exactly a huge fan of. Some western style would be nice and refreshing.

 

[anne O'nymous]

A good lovecraftian story is more of a detective story than horror in truth. IF the horror kicks in, its game over anyway.

Yeah. Nyarlathotep is right behind the corner, but he's your fear, not your desire. You don't cease to find evidence of his presence, but the more you find them, the more you run away... and the more you'll run away, the more you'll find evidences.
It's a subtle trap set by the horror who both hunt you and haunt you. And all you do is trying to figure who's the hunter and what's the real trap, in a (vain) attempt to avoid it.

This said, it can also be done on the opposite point of view. Instead of being the prey, you are the minion. You slowly corrupt every girl near the prey, making them more and more depraved, influencing them more and more to lust for the prey. And it's how the said prey will slowly discover that there's someone behind the corner (Shub-Niggurath obviously) and that he's a prey. Not because of the lust itself, but because of the way this lust is expressed.
The girls don't just offer themselves, they track him and act without reason. They break in his house to have sex with him. If one of them encounter him in the street, she kneel and start to give him a BJ... They always want more, more powerfully, more harshly, in a more depraved way... All this is unnatural as fuck...
And while the minion you are continue to set up the track, he also witness the prey trying to figure out how he can escape it. You can even make a game inside the game here. The minion have to send the right girls at the right place to counter the move made by the prey.

 

[Ennoch]

I feel like what you describe there would prove to be too confusing and unexplained thus unfounded for most of the audience. Using lewds as a source for dread, to make its appearance a threat and thus stripping away the fun from it would not sit well with the player base. Hence the reason why i said its much easer said than done, to merge a lovecraftian story with an adult game. The term "lovecraftian" needs to be used very lightly as the game should focus on the lighter aspects.

A grim overtone can be introduced but i'd steer away from actual lovecraftian storytelling and at the moment i do believe DC12 meant it exactly like that. A somewhat dark tale and mystery plot, not really about horror and madness but about the mystery and lewds instead so don't get yourself riled up on the idea of seeing your mc being licked, fingered by sexcrazed big titted stalker types of girl maniacs till she gives yout that ahegao face you perv :closedtongue: Points for trying though!:eazyHype:

 

[Deleted member 718841]

Yeah, it is definitely not going to be full horror, like Ennoch says. So, it wont be a town filled with monsters, fishmen or tentacles or anything like that.
I dont think i will make a big point out of corruption, but just saying it could be applicable in some places.

I plan on writing the story in a way so that there are no game overs. You´d play through the game by exploring the city, asking questions / finding information, folliwing leads, stalking people, or flat out seducing or manipulating someone with sex.
Once you find out something important, you can write it in your book. But i do want to create an atmosphere where it feels like you are being watched, and whenever you leave your room, there will be clues afterwards that somebody broke in carefully, to imply that they know what you are writing about, meaning after you write it down in your book notes (lets say about a character you were stalking) next time they will be more careful or even hostile. That kind of stuff.

There might very well be some kind of alien creature behind the scenes (i just havent completely figured out the ending tails) but overall it´s just gonna be a "big brother" town where everyone is potentially spied on, and through some means or another people engage or are made to engage in sexual acts (so there is also some "depravity" going on for sure)

 

[Deleted member 718841]

Added a couple more casual outfits, so it´s not full fetish latex, haha

 

[Ennoch]

Nice and easy, fun and atmoshperic! Mystery with a flare of paranoia, and ever watchful eye casting a long shadow in the sunset! Plus boobs. Sound funs :relievedface:

 

[anne O'nymous]

I feel like what you describe there would prove to be too confusing and unexplained thus unfounded for most of the audience.

Never said that it would be playable In a way this is the last lovecraftian touch of the game, play it at the risk of your own sanity.