Recommending Story-first games

[NukaCola]

I'm checking out the list at #1 and like half of them are abandoned games

 

[Mravac Kid]

I have almost 400 games on my disk, I don't think there's more than 20-30 finished ones. A category that only has half of them abandoned is inordinately successful.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

Don't try to write your magnum opus on your first try. Write one story, finish it, "publish" it, and then write the next one. Don't try to write a serial that can continue forever.

I think that's terrible advice based on a very unique career that most people won't be able to duplicate. I agree with the part that your VN shouldn't be the first thing you have written and that you should know the basic plot outline of where your VN is going, but no, you don't need to release multiple games before you finally unlock hard mode and can do a big game. Most popular games are first time dev efforts.

 

[scutterhutdev]

I think that's terrible advice based on a very unique career that most people won't be able to duplicate. I agree with the part that your VN shouldn't be the first thing you have written and that you should know the basic plot outline of where your VN is going, but no, you don't need to release multiple games before you finally unlock hard mode and can do a big game. Most popular games are first time dev efforts.

I know what your getting at. I would guess a lot of devs get stuck because they bite off more than they can chew and get overwhelmed with what to do next.

I think you learn a lot by actually finishing something from start to finish too, because you learn about the steps involved in putting out something finished and how to neatly finish a story. If you have tons of branching narrative, that's really hard in itself, without all the dev work that needs to be done.

I've just started working on Casting Director which was abandoned in 2022 (I think), one of the first comments was "I hope the new dev continues the branching/free choices of the original game". Fair enough, that makes a good game but I'd say it's a huge reason why so much gets abandoned.

I really just want to write a really good fucking story in the style of the original dev and conclude the great story the original dev started.

 

[Finuee]

Long ago, when I was trying to break into the paper novel field, I attended a writer's seminar taught by a husband and wife team, both of whom were established Science Fiction novelists who were also the co-editors of one of the SF magazines of the time. They told me (us) something that was really uncomfortable. (Paraphrased) "Your first story isn't going to be very good. Write it, finish it, and move on to write your next. It'll be better. Keep doing this until you're good enough that people like us want to publish you."

Naturally, I didn't want to hear this. I had put a lot of work into my first story. And it was an idea that I had thought about for a long time. I didn't have enough ideas for the number of stories that they were suggesting it would take. But, while there were professional publishing opportunities back then, you had to print your manuscript and send it by mail to each one, and you had to do it in serial. You couldn't send it to the second magazine until the first one rejected you. Etc.

So, while that first story slowly worked its way through the system, getting rejected each time, I had nothing better to do than write other stories. And, yeah, they got progressively better...

I learned that, while the advice from the pros was uncomfortable, it was also correct.

So I repeat this advice to every new VN dev that I meet. Don't try to write your magnum opus on your first try. Write one story, finish it, "publish" it, and then write the next one. Don't try to write a serial that can continue forever.

This is a solution to "I'm better now, I should redo the early chapters." Finish the story and take your improvements to the next thing you write. It's also a solution to, "I've written myself into a corner and can't figure out how to move forward." If you know the end of the story before you start, you're not going to get stuck. You get stuck when you're seven chapters into your serial and you haven't figured out the end yet.

People rarely listen to that advice, but I don't really mind. I know how it feels to receive it.

Tlaero

It reminds me of the movie "Tick, Tick, Boom". That's basically what happens to the protagonist. And considering it's the true story of the guy who wrote "Rent", you realize how true it is. If he had fallen down the "rework" rabbit hole, we would have never had one of the best musicals of the last 30 years.

 

[jufot]

Jezebel has a new bonus scene out on

You must be registered to see the links

. Bonus scenes are canon compatible side stories. Though they result in sex, they are well-developed and largely self-contained, entirely in line with the game's quality of writing. This is the fifth such story, and revolves around two women - Cheshna, of the nobility, and Nathalée, of the gentry. They both have scandalous pasts with Duvessa and are angry with her, which help spark a wonderful friendship on the road to some long-overdue payback

Nathalée: How long after you married your husband did you start bedding his son?
Chesna: Oh, I don't know...a month?
Nathalée: A month!?
Nathalée: You're shameless, girl.
Chesna: Oh, don't give me that! And don't call me 'girl', child. You ought to respect your elders!
Nathalée: Right...because you're giving me so much to respect, right about now.
Chesna: Stop being a sarcastic twit and try to see it from my side!
Chesna: We've only one go of this life! I had a chance to find true love and I saw fit to take it! Can't you understand that?
...yes. I suppose I can.
Nathalée: Hm...
Chesna: What?
Nathalée: Nothing, it's just...perhaps you're right.
Nathalée: I've been alone for so long...maybe I'd do the same, were I in your shoes.
Nathalée: But, then, how did Duvessa enter the picture?
Chesna: ...take a guess.
Nathalée: How?
Chesna: No, I meant that. Take a guess. If you really knew her well, back then, you probably have an idea, yourself.
Nathalée: ...
Nathalée: ...she found out about your affair and blackmailed you with it.
Chesna: Mm. Precisely.

 

[Johnny Dough]

Not specifically about those (or any particular) games, but it feels like most VNs start not with a plot but with "I'll design girls in Daz because it's fun" which lends itself so easily to scope creep and burnout once development kicks in. Suddenly, you're three chapters in, looking at the same models you've seen thousands of times, and all that's ahead of you is thinking, writing and coding, none of which are as appealing as playing with the boob sliders or shopping for new assets. You start procrastinating. You look at your earliest renders from the first chapter, trying to recapture some of those feelings, but hold on, what's that? Why does her hair look like that?? Oh my god, did you really clip that guy's finger into her thigh? And hey, wouldn't it be sexier if said thighs were thicker? Oh, I know!, you go, I'll remaster the first 5 chapters and make it twice as good! Motivation surges through you and development is fun again. Sure, your planned 2-month remaster of the first episode took 6 months, the number of renders doubled even though the script has barely changed, but so what? You learned your lesson and for the next chapter's remaster you will Do It Right™. But eventually, you find yourself back at the same point - looking at the same models you've seen thousands of times, with nothing but writing and coding on the horizon. You start procrastinating. 6 months later, someone messages you - your game has been marked "Abandoned" on F95. Bollocks!, you say, and go back to scrolling on social media.

I guess it's mostly "I'll put virtual girls to fuck because it's fun," because, by the large amount of out-of-the-box Daz models used in most AVNs, most devs don't seem to either enjoy or have the capacity to design girls in Daz...

But, indeed, since most AVNs are usually one-man-army things, and, since there's a lot into making an AVN (the person has to be cinematographer, writer, director, costume designer, set designer character designer, graphic designer, etc. -- even if "designer" here only means assembling pieces, it's a lot of work and hard to do well), there's a huge chance that the dev will find some parts enjoyable but others not so much. When it starts to feel like a job, but the payment is not enough, it's no surprise they jump the boat.