Startup development

[Deleted member 1931428]

Hi all. Third post on the forums, so might as well cut to the chase already

First, a little background - I have been gaming since the 90s, and doing some level design and God knows what else on my spare time since the Build engine was around. Not so much lately though because of my career in other ventures. Lately I have been interested in development again, and in a larger scale this time. Yes, there are several things to be taken into account, but the process is pretty much drafted already.

OK, enough about that. So why adult games? Why not. People need to live a little instead of getting all offended when there is a boob here and there. In addition to accepting basic human needs in a digital form, maybe people could learn something on the process through a decent story. There is a conflict in publishing adult content vs. publishing content where characters and being decapitated and killed in the most brutal ways. This also means it is more difficult to get funding for adult content when investors are protecting their public image. So fine, that is one challenge, but I personally like good a challenge in the business side of things. I may have a way to make this more "acceptable" but let us get back to that later on.

Once the business side of things are being taken care of, cue the technical aspects. I have been getting these ideas about a game which would be a step forward from VNs. Introducing actual 3D gameplay with roaming in a relatively open world and realistic/detailed NPCs that would be able to learn and react more deeply to player decisions and attributes. The idea also includes starting small, then expanding the game universe with e.g. episodic and/or other form of additional content, stories and NPCs.

For me the biggest problem right now is deciding on the game engine. As I see it, Unity offers a pretty good set of tools, including scalable license plan. There are also several developments already done with Unity. Of course there is Unreal Engine as well, but I have not played many developments on that one. So considering the scenario I described above, which one would be suitable? Taking into account the following:

-gameplay with decent system specs is a must, since I do not expect everyone to have LHC-level hardware
-some level of AI development for NPCs would be possible
-engine is scalable from the basic surroundings to future expansions without killing FPS (see first point)

Once the basics are all set, it is time for a PoC and luring in some funding. If everything goes according to plan, there is of course the need for additional talent along the way. I have a feeling I am in the right place for that one as well Pretty much taking baby steps right now, but when I start something in a larger scale it would be a day job and not just a hobby. In the meantime, I appreciate every comment on the subject. If this actually develops into something, I do not expect freebies from additional talent. There are many of us sitting in front of our computers, so might as try something other than working our asses off for someone else taking the credit and cash for it.

Thank you for reading my wall of text!

 

[Kinderalpha]

I would go in the direction of Unreal if you want to do an open world environment and wanna focus heavily on 3D modeling and animation. Unity is good if you know how to use it already, but if you're starting from scratch then I'd choose Unreal.

Objectively it's a long discussion on which is better. If you want details I can share them, or direct you to a long article that objectively compares the difference. Ultimately it comes down to the C# vs C++ applications. So if you understand the difference between those then you know the difference between the toolsets.

Another tip I will give is try to get yourself a working prototype inside either (or both) to get an idea of your modeling pipeline, your design, and how the workflow is in whichever engine you choose. Just this alone will be quite a task, but is usually the first recommendation by many developers when starting a big project. It can be easy to abandon or find it difficult to continue working on something when you're not visually seeing results. So don't focus to much on the big things in the beginning.

Another great preproduction process to undergo is planning game design, functionality, what will and won't be scalable, and your goals. What kind of game will it be, how will the player interact with the world, how much animation will need to be done, how much staff do you need? Undergoing a 3D open world game with limited previous experience in the indie world is difficult but doable. You just gotta be realistic. I hope to see some updates! There's a game in the works called WildLife (I believe) which holds similarities to what you described. You should check that out.

 

[Deleted member 1931428]

I would go in the direction of Unreal if you want to do an open world environment and wanna focus heavily on 3D modeling and animation. Unity is good if you know how to use it already, but if you're starting from scratch then I'd choose Unreal.

Objectively it's a long discussion on which is better. If you want details I can share them, or direct you to a long article that objectively compares the difference. Ultimately it comes down to the C# vs C++ applications. So if you understand the difference between those then you know the difference between the toolsets.

Another tip I will give is try to get yourself a working prototype inside either (or both) to get an idea of your modeling pipeline, your design, and how the workflow is in whichever engine you choose. Just this alone will be quite a task, but is usually the first recommendation by many developers when starting a big project. It can be easy to abandon or find it difficult to continue working on something when you're not visually seeing results. So don't focus to much on the big things in the beginning.

Another great preproduction process to undergo is planning game design, functionality, what will and won't be scalable, and your goals. What kind of game will it be, how will the player interact with the world, how much animation will need to be done, how much staff do you need? Undergoing a 3D open world game with limited previous experience in the indie world is difficult but doable. You just gotta be realistic. I hope to see some updates! There's a game in the works called WildLife (I believe) which holds similarities to what you described. You should check that out.

From what you said, I am guessing it is time for some testing during the weekend. It seems Unreal has pretty similar licensing terms than those of Unity. Both are "free to create" but when making actual gross revenues they will ask for cuts. That is perfectly fine by me, coding a game engine is not exactly a walk in the park (to put it mildly). They both seem to have good asset libraries available as well. No need to re-invent the wheel in some areas. Working a proto is in the process plan as well, no use having all these ideas and then realizing the chosen engine cannot perform. A good proto also converts into a PoC, which is a must to give potential investors a visual idea on what the deal really is.

I actually have this twisted idea of utilizing motion capture for animations as well. I know some people already who might be able to help with that, but that is not the first thing on the list. Also, who would not want to see chicks in mo-cap suits

And yes, it is not realistic to have everything at once, but investors appreciate a look into the future of the development. Starting relatively small and going from there utilizing new technologies /w expansions is what they might appreciate. For them that is not another crap and run scenario with an "oops" factor.

So, for now it seems the first thing I will do is getting my hands dirty and giving both engines a go and shoving my ideas into them. Good thing about the engines is the fact that they both have plenty of tutorials as well. Will also attempt to find the game you mentioned, thanks for the tip and overall input! Much appreciated.

 

[Synx]

Unity isn't really known for super realistic graphics in a 3D environment. It struggles with performance and their options for lighting etc. are somewhat limited compared to Unreal. Unity is the better choice if you would be going for a more cartoonish look, or are using 2s pictures etc. Unreal for high quality realistic 3D graphics. Most triple AAA games are made in Unreal engine.

But high quality realistic 3D graphics is an hell of a challenge for a single person. You might want to see if you can create realist looking assets and characters rather quickly. 3D art takes up a much larger part of a game development then people think.

 

[Deleted member 1931428]

Unity isn't really known for super realistic graphics in a 3D environment. It struggles with performance and their options for lighting etc. are somewhat limited compared to Unreal. Unity is the better choice if you would be going for a more cartoonish look, or are using 2s pictures etc. Unreal for high quality realistic 3D graphics. Most triple AAA games are made in Unreal engine.

But high quality realistic 3D graphics is an hell of a challenge for a single person. You might want to see if you can create realist looking assets and characters rather quickly. 3D art takes up a much larger part of a game development then people think.

Another vote for Unreal I see exactly what you mean by cartoonish look with Unity, now that I have had a more in-depth look into Unreal.

There is no way in hell I can do everything by myself, but without proper funding I have to start by myself. Talk is cheap, and it would require a really knowledgeable investor to see what the deal is by description alone. I am hoping to seek the help of additonal talent once/if the show really starts. I believe in sharing, and as for myself - when there is a vision there is a will I believe it is also an advantage to absorb knowledge by myself as well, that way I will know better what to look for when the time comes for additional hands.

 

[Papa Ernie]

Another vote for Unreal I see exactly what you mean by cartoonish look with Unity, now that I have had a more in-depth look into Unreal.

There is no way in hell I can do everything by myself, but without proper funding I have to start by myself. Talk is cheap, and it would require a really knowledgeable investor to see what the deal is by description alone. I am hoping to seek the help of additonal talent once/if the show really starts. I believe in sharing, and as for myself - when there is a vision there is a will I believe it is also an advantage to absorb knowledge by myself as well, that way I will know better what to look for when the time comes for additional hands.

FYI: F95zone has a forum for browsing/posting want ads for developers:
Recruitment & Services

 

[Deleted member 1931428]

Just a quick update - I managed to contact some local business authorities for a basic support package (a financial one). They actually called me back and asked for a short summary on the whole deal. If I am lucky I will hear back from them next week. It will interesting to describe the adult content to them, but I shall worry about that later

 

[neekleer]

If you get desperate, tell investors that the game will use machine learning. You can compute the average face of select characters from all the best looking adult games to get your own cast of characters. Show them waifulabs.com so they know roughly what you are talking about. You can also train a story generating AI with a data set consisting of all the games that used fluent English writing. If you ever get sued by anyone with the resources to go after you, it won't matter because the input data won't have been stored for long at all, and you can claim you only read metadata from other games.

 

[Deleted member 1931428]

If you get desperate, tell investors that the game will use machine learning. You can compute the average face of select characters from all the best looking adult games to get your own cast of characters. Show them waifulabs.com so they know roughly what you are talking about. You can also train a story generating AI with a data set consisting of all the games that used fluent English writing. If you ever get sued by anyone with the resources to go after you, it won't matter because the input data won't have been stored for long at all, and you can claim you only read metadata from other games.

Heh, yeah. I am hoping that by at least throwing in a few trendy and hunger inducing terms like AI, motion capture and ASMR would make them cream themselves. There is always that BS factor and painting impressive ideas when luring in funding. Nah, but on a more serious note - I really would love to include something new into the genre as well.

 

[somebodynobody]

You can also take a look at Godot, it has an easier scripting language.