Starting fresh of with development

[James354]

Hey folks!

I'm not totally new to programming and really love creating and writing stories, so I thought I could put those two together and start toying around with developing small games (and eventually, once I reach a certain level actually start developing the idea of a game I've got in mind). As of now I'm not the biggest fan of RPGM and I'm not too much into games created in HTML (although some can definitely be nice!), so that probably leaves me with Unity and Ren'Py. Ren'Py seems to be used for VN's whereas Unity seems to be used for more complex games. Is this a correct observation or am I missing something? Both probably behave completely different so I doubt there's going to be a clear "do this" or "do that" if I want to start.

As for graphics:
From my understanding, as I'm totally new to this, I've got either Honeyselect, actual drawn art, Blender or DAZ3D, right? As for DAZ3D, is it possible to create animated (and hopefully somewhat decent looking) sex scenes with it? Or do I need Blender/something else for it and DAZ ist better suited for static images? And can I combine lets say DAZ3D to create the graphics (including animations) and Ren'Py to create the actual story and in general as the framework or do I need some other programs to actually create a functioning game? If so, which would you recommend?

And last of all:
Do you have any additional tips for me? Besides the usual, meaning start small, learn the basics, try and error and practice with tutorials?

Thank you for your answers!

 

[MissFortune]

Ren'Py seems to be used for VN's whereas Unity seems to be used for more complex games. Is this a correct observation or am I missing something? Both probably behave completely different so I doubt there's going to be a clear "do this" or "do that" if I want to start.

Ren'py is going to give you a far easier time coding, especially if you plan to make a VN. Whereas with Unity/UE, you're looking at learning C# and/or C++. With Ren'py, you're looking 'scene image_xxx with dissolve' for most kinetic images. Sandboxes will get a touch more difficult, but likely still far easier than Unity/UE. Languages and knowledge thereof should be considered before you start. Is there ample resources to learn from? To ask questions? Open to the adult/sex side of the spectrum? Just something to think about.

From my understanding, as I'm totally new to this, I've got either Honeyselect, actual drawn art, Blender or DAZ3D, right? As for DAZ3D, is it possible to create animated (and hopefully somewhat decent looking) sex scenes with it?

HoneySelect/Koikatsu (spelling is probably wrong for the latter.) tends to be used for people looking for more of that 'anime' style in 3D form. Most people with a weaker rig/laptop/etc. should probably be looking here. Drawn art comes with bonuses and negatives. You need the skill, of course, but in the sense of adult games you'll probably need to learn Live2D or something of that sort to animate them. But you'll also get something that sticks out more than your typical Daz VN. You won't see too much made in Blender around here, though someone like Domiek (I believe his(?) newest project is made entirely in Blender? Not quite sure there.) may more apt at giving an answer there. It'll take months to just learn the interface at a normal pace, and probably longer to understand it enough to use it competently/quickly enough to push a VN out with it. Daz has the bonus of being (typically) plug-and-play. Animating with Daz isn't exactly fun or intuitive, but with some patience, you'll get a good looking result with it. Keep in mind, Daz is probably the most demanding of the bunch, with Blender being a close second. Some people mix Daz and Blender for animations, but once you move the model/environment from Daz to Blender, you can't take either back to Daz, iirc.

And can I combine lets say DAZ3D to create the graphics (including animations) and Ren'Py to create the actual story and in general as the framework or do I need some other programs to actually create a functioning game?

Daz and Ren'py would be all you need in this scenario. Though, I'd heavily recommend you place some time aside to learn Photoshop if you don't know it. Postwork can take a good render to great with just a few simple sliders in the Camera Raw Filter. Learning to light/shade with Dodge/Burn will help emphasize lighting and shadows when/if needed. Clipping? No need to re-render the image. Just use the spot-healing brush or content-aware fill. Photoshop is an all-around juggernaut, imo. You can get by with GIMP or Affinity Photo, but there's a reason Photoshop has had a stranglehold on the photo industry for the better part of two decades.

 

[8InchFloppyDick]

Just chiming in with a "GIMP and Affinity will do just fine for post-processing your renders" statement. No need to suffer "getting by"

 

[Jofur]

If you are more interesting in making porn games I would start with Renpy. Unity(and other engines like Unreal and Godot) are super powerful, but they do take a fair amount of effort to learn. You aren't just learning an editor, but an entire programming language and software architecture.

That said if my stupid self could learn it, anyone can. So don't feel discouraged, but I would recommend learning it more if you are interested in game development as a hobby. For making porn games it's a tad overkill. Especially if you aren't interested in doing real-time 3D stuff.

 

[James354]

That said if my stupid self could learn it, anyone can. So don't feel discouraged, but I would recommend learning it more if you are interested in game development as a hobby. For making porn games it's a tad overkill. Especially if you aren't interested in doing real-time 3D stuff.

I think I'd be interested not only in doing porn games but games in general - if there wouldn't be the part with learning the whole animation or graphics in general thing. Because I do have quite a few nice and fun ideas in mind (for 'normal' games and for porn games) and love storytelling but so far am really inexperienced with graphics in general. But hey, I guess it's necessary to learn these skills at some point. Although it does look quite overwhelming to start with, if I'm being honest

 

[8InchFloppyDick]

Although it does look quite overwhelming to start with, if I'm being honest

It _is_ overwhelming. There's a reason game studios employ a lot of people and that film credits for VFX are almost as long as the movies they feature in. 3D and in particular 3D animation is complex. Lots of moving parts.

That said, I think that doing a VN with renpy and Daz is a pretty good way to at least get some mileage under your belt. Daz hides a lot of the grunt work of modelling your characters from scratch and then rigging your models. It'll will be a good way to learn composition and lighting and how to frame your 'shots'. All of which are transferrable skills to a whole host of other programmes.

I say, filtch a few assets and get going!

PS. No, not feltch, you dirty buggers...

 

[James354]

Do you happen to have any experience with or knowledge of Maya? I just stumbled upon it and I absolutely love the style! Do you know if it's possible at all to use it for porn games? Or are animations/creating or using porn a nightmare in this software?

 

[toolkitxx]

My immediate suggestion would be to start with a simple text-based project. Keep it simple and short and use that project to simply learn the complexity of choices and branching of content/narration. Once you have that ready start adding some simple graphical stuff to it.

Generally speaking i would always suggest to keep away from anything 3d to begin with. 3D has its own complex set of rules and difficulties. It includes stuff like lightning , polygons and many more things that make 3D a very complex package by itself. Tools like DAZ require assets to really create something meaningful, tools like Blender or Maya require both artistic understanding and abilities.

If you are a good writer play around with something called 'ink' - it is open-source and a language especially made for writing interesting text-based stuff without being very taxing in terms of learning to understand it. It is very much like a mark-up language.

Once you hit the first walls that limit your creativity in that small project add small steps of other tools or languages to circumvent that limitation.