Survival and building mechanics for an adult game

[DreamBig Games]

Hey,
I'm looking for some feedback regarding an idea for my next project.
So, the game would be 3D ( Unreal Engine ) using Daz3D models ( so you can expect a similar quality of visuals as we get with 2D renders), it will follow a general storyline ( space shipwrecked on an alien planet, Earth was destroyed, as far as you know, you and your companions are the last humans in the universe so you must survive and populate this planet ). So, your mission would be to seduce all the other characters and procreate with them, increasing your numbers.

Each companion character has its own storyline ( who she is, what she wants, what you need to do in order to seduce her ), its own activities, needs, wants, etc.

When the game starts, you start with nothing, you will need to follow the usual survival game path ( collect resources to build Tier 1 tools, use those tools to collect other resources, and build crafting stations to create Tier 2 tools and other types of objects or build buildings ) and the whole idea is that you would need to create and help maintain a colony.
Along the way, more companions will be made available for you to interact with.


So, that is the general idea of the game ( I haven't got down to details as I don't have all of them fleshed out, but the whole story should be credible ) or the types of fetishes as the questions are not about those.

Now, the question:
Do you think you would be interested in playing this kind of game? Spend time gathering wood, iron then smelt the iron and cut the wood to create an ax that Eve needs to gain some love points with her?
Do you think that the grind involved in building this colony and then help to maintain it would be too much for a story that could be told in simpler ways ( Renders/ RenPy?

As an example of something that comes close to my vision, but it's not adult related:

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P.S. Yes, I know that most people on this forum are RenPy fans, but still....

 

[Deleted member 3145675]

Hi,
Wouldn't your project be like Skyrim + sex mods? (which already exists)

and personally I don't like those kinda games - I've modded Skyrim (Oldrim) up to alter almost everything but I stopped at including sex mods because I don't like to mix Gaming for fun and for something else. (tho many ppl will probably like it)

I also find grinding hours to see a tit utterly boring.

Real Life is a torment good enough as it is, there's no need to add some more in our gaming time.

Those were my two cents. May success pave the way to your future endeavors.
Cheers.

 

[DreamBig Games]

Hi,
Wouldn't your project be like Skyrim + sex mods? (which already exists)

and personally I don't like those kinda games - I've modded Skyrim (Oldrim) up to alter almost everything but I stopped at including sex mods because I don't like to mix Gaming for fun and for something else. (tho many ppl will probably like it)

I also find grinding hours to see a tit utterly boring.

Real Life is a torment good enough as it is, there's no need to add some more in our gaming time.

Those were my two cents. May success pave the way to your future endeavors.
Cheers.

Hey,
No, it would not be like Skyrim. Skyrim, for me at least, is focused on action ( fighting enemies with the goal for Good to win ).
My game won't have something like that, your goal would be to survive and increase the population numbers.
Also, the "survival" focus would be on building and maintaining that colony.

 

[Gunizz]

Make it based on intellectual challenges and not on combat or actions where you have to skilfully use mouse or keyboard. Because, you know, many players are going to have their best hand occupied with something else.
But you have to set the right amount of lewd content because if I want to play a normal game I have better alternatives.
If the sex is not the main content and it's not a game for fapping, then you have to make an extra effort because you'll compete with games developed by big crews of experienced developers.

 

[DreamBig Games]

Make it based on intellectual challenges and not on combat or actions where you have to skilfully use mouse or keyboard. Because, you know, many players are going to have their best hand occupied with something else.
But you have to set the right amount of lewd content because if I want to play a normal game I have better alternatives.
If the sex is not the main content and it's not a game for fapping, then you have to make an extra effort because you'll compete with games developed by big crews of experienced developers.

1) No combat. Maybe, except hunting a deer-like animal and killing a predator. IT will be easy stuff anyway.
2)Lewd content: this, there will be plenty of )) I'm not known for skipping on sex in my games .
3)Main content: this is what I'm trying to figure out, what a good balance between sex and survival/ building should be. Anyway, it will be a fap game , I'm just trying to combine 2 genres that I love: sex and survival games.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

I'm the weirdo who voted for "3/4 survival". I just can't get into VNs, they leave me feeling empty. I'm happy if a game has quality gameplay, and also quality scenes as a reward for winning at that gameplay. I played MIST recently, and it just kinda didn't do it for me. The gameplay was too tightly designed, feeling more like a puzzle than a game where you make tactical choices and there's not just one optimal way to play. In particular the energy limit felt like a very short leash.

That said, even if the gameplay is good (and it doesn't have to be great, I lower my standards for ero-games compared to mainstream ones), if I'm going to play it, it still has to hit my fetishes. Which veer towards questionable-consent corruption/mind-control. Too vanilla and I'm unlikely to play it even if it's AAA-quality.

 

[F4C430]

I would like to see more adult games with actual gameplay in general so i voted on mostly survival.

 

[DreamBig Games]

I'm the weirdo who voted for "3/4 survival". I just can't get into VNs, they leave me feeling empty. I'm happy if a game has quality gameplay, and also quality scenes as a reward for winning at that gameplay. I played MIST recently, and it just kinda didn't do it for me. The gameplay was too tightly designed, feeling more like a puzzle than a game where you make tactical choices and there's not just one optimal way to play. In particular the energy limit felt like a very short leash.

That said, even if the gameplay is good (and it doesn't have to be great, I lower my standards for ero-games compared to mainstream ones), if I'm going to play it, it still has to hit my fetishes. Which veer towards questionable-consent corruption/mind-control. Too vanilla and I'm unlikely to play it even if it's AAA-quality.

MIST = Mist Survival? I have over 300 hours in that game

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

MIST = Mist Survival? I have over 300 hours in that game

I meant this.

 

[telotelo]

item crafting and resource gathering mechanic is pain in the ass for game with sexual content
but if you could make the grind worth it (i.e. build up tension - good story) i think it's acceptable
the problem is that mechanic need some brain cell to be rubbed together
even much worse if you plan to add some mini games into them (i.e. while crafting or gathering stuff)
and while this happen all your blood are begin to concentrate in the opposite side of your body

so this could be funny, while you plan on teasing the player subtlety with naked body around while trying to survive
the player had to be actually bothered by some other stuff like building a hut or weave their own cloth
not to mention the sandbox degree in survival while you trying to be story-driven as well

seems like big dream project to me, but good luck on whatever fleshed out from that

 

[somebodynobody]

The concept seems interesting but also hard to pull off.

It really depends on what you want to do with it. Most survival games become very easy without a constant threat. Examples would be Valheim, The Forest, Raft, Subnautica, etc.

Subnautica is probably the best fit with it not really having combat.

Another direction might be something similar to Don't starve, Oxygen Not Included, Fallout Shelter. Or Management sims like Nangoku Dominion, Ryouchi Kizoku, etc.

------

A different example than being last humans in the universe. You are a noble/lord who was given some land and must build up a town/city. Unbeknownst to everyone you are destitute, and thus must do all the work yourself instead of being able to hire workers to come with you. Maybe a few people hear about it, think it might be a good investment and will come once there is infrastructure. Player sets off, does his stuff for a bit. He digs a well and builds a few houses, a raven is sent telling the first families they can come and see if it is up to their standards. This will take them a couple of in-game days so you can improve the place even more and if it is up to their base standards then they stay and the lord can try to romance whomever. Sooner or later you are now the head of a massive trading hub city and nobles/royalty come and you can try your luck with them.

Point of this example was so that there was conceptually progression for the story and the romance. Being the final of the species makes it more dire and once basic needs like shelter/food/warmth are met, the characters are less likely to require anywhere near as much seduction and meeting of their needs comparatively. Assumingly that these others want the species to survive.

 

[おい！]

Nope.

 

[DreamBig Games]

The concept seems interesting but also hard to pull off.

It really depends on what you want to do with it. Most survival games become very easy without a constant threat. Examples would be Valheim, The Forest, Raft, Subnautica, etc.

Subnautica is probably the best fit with it not really having combat.

Another direction might be something similar to Don't starve, Oxygen Not Included, Fallout Shelter. Or Management sims like Nangoku Dominion, Ryouchi Kizoku, etc.

------

A different example than being last humans in the universe. You are a noble/lord who was given some land and must build up a town/city. Unbeknownst to everyone you are destitute, and thus must do all the work yourself instead of being able to hire workers to come with you. Maybe a few people hear about it, think it might be a good investment and will come once there is infrastructure. Player sets off, does his stuff for a bit. He digs a well and builds a few houses, a raven is sent telling the first families they can come and see if it is up to their standards. This will take them a couple of in-game days so you can improve the place even more and if it is up to their base standards then they stay and the lord can try to romance whomever. Sooner or later you are now the head of a massive trading hub city and nobles/royalty come and you can try your luck with them.

Point of this example was so that there was conceptually progression for the story and the romance. Being the final of the species makes it more dire and once basic needs like shelter/food/warmth are met, the characters are less likely to require anywhere near as much seduction and meeting of their needs comparatively. Assumingly that these others want the species to survive.

Well, from looking at ( the very limited ) responses and votes, I would say the survival part should be easy, so not much of a threat.
I am thinking that the survival focus would be just on gathering materials, building stuff and crafting items. No actual combat. The rewards for those actions would be the sexual content, like:
To initiate your relation with Eve, you need to build a tent for her.
To see her naked, you build a shower room with a peep hole.
To get a BJ, you craft an axe for her.
To get some sex, you build a house for her.

I'm also thinking about getting the NPC's to help with gathering materials and crafting ( like Maddy will gather plants and cook them then deposit them in a communal storage area, so everyone in the colony can eat ), this would take a lot of grind from the player.

I like the noble/lord idea

 

[Baka_Energy_studios]

I voted for "Survival of the tittiest"

 

[desmosome]

If you are gonna add gameplay, it needs to stand on it's own. It needs to be legitimately fun enough to play without the porn part. If you make some lackluster system and treat it as nothing but a grind to unlock some H scenes, it's a waste of everyone's time.

Your game idea seems cool on paper. Don't listen to people who want some easy game without a challenge. What's the point of survival gameplay if there is no challenge? Might as well make a VN at that point. The goal is to strike that perfect balance. Compare your gameplay loop with other non porn games in the genre and see if it measures up.

 

[Omae wa shinda]

You are talking about 18+ Minecraft

 

[somebodynobody]

Not getting a lot of replies is also from being in General Discussion, a less used area of the forums.

With you no combat, it is why I mentioned Subnautica, it technically has "combat" but also not really. Mainly avoidance of dangerous creatures and I think there is a stun type gun, while there is also a knife but it is mainly used for cooking food.

If the survival isn't fun, people aren't going to like it and it will feel like it is one of those Japanese games where they tack on some weird grind to see lewd things.

So the survival has to stand on its own, but also not become boring with both increasing benefit and challenge. Take the lady doing the cooking you mentioned, that would make sense as say an upgrade like in Stardew Valley how you go from a watering can to sprinklers to special sprinklers thus making the grind of farming less and less.

However with your story of last people maybe in universe it is obvious they would need to make shelter and warmth, food/water production and thus being "rewarded" for it seems weird.

A slight change in the story would be similar to the lord thing I mentioned and instead of being "the last" you and the people around you are the first scouts of a new planet to house humanity and so you have a 1 year contract where you have to prove the land/water/air is good for humans and they won't just die off. So creating and checking for potable water, making sure the soil can sustain the plant life/food humans need, making sure they don't get ill from native whatever exists. Plus build up a small settlement, so that post this 1 year contract more people can settle the area.

This would allow you to make a bunch of characters and have an RNG roll for who comes to the planet post the 1 year contract or whom MC will start with on the planet, making each run kind of unique. And being MC is in charge he gets to decide who gets the better "home" and all those things that would make for lewdness.

 

[Doorknob22]

I think "light game + sex" is a good combo. The "game" elements are an elegant way to build sexual tension: the player sees the sexy girl but can't fuck her until certain conditions are met. Once all the conditions are met he earns his "prize", the sex scene. My own game has world conquest elements but from day one I intended them to be easy to learn and master, not to be the next Sid Meieir's Civilization. You conquer a fiefdom and you can do whatever you want with its ruler.

Despite what some hardcore players in f95zone might feel or say, the casual sex-gamer doesn't want to mix fapping and thinking.

 

[Blaspheme]

To each his own, but as a rule, I prefer when adult games are just...adult games. Meaning a good story, with well-written dialogues, possibly with different paths for the mains characters and some kind of time-money-management elements.

But emphasis on puzzles, action, survival achieves only two things, in my opinion: first, most adult games who try, fail to provide real entertainment in this department. Nowadays, most player have played an AAA game and it's difficult to compete. As a result, you have two choices: making a cheap version of a AAA title you like (which will most likely be disappointing -no offense, I'm only talking about the games I already played-) or really try to compete and you're on a 5-8 years adventure with people complaining your "the new Star Citizen" (see Wildlife, Carnal Instinct and such).

Second, it kills the immersion, the "erotic wave" that submerges you when you play an adult game. Like, you know when you don't want to come and began listing the 50 states to delay? Well, same thing. When I play an adult game, I close the curtains and enter "the zone"; if I suddenly have to go fishing because my elf-slave maid is hungry, it kills the vibe. And if on the way back, I find out I have to cook the fishes and craft baskets to store them, my well-build musky atmosphere vanishes and I go "read" a hentai.

Last thing is: what the survival element brings to the game? If the protagonists are frail when they are hungry, so you can break their spirit more easily, or if you can craft stuff what changes erotic animations (like poles, whips and such), go for it (but it sounds like an ungodly amount of work)! If it's "just" to create a new crossover, meeh...

I do love your main idea: space harem sounds delightful! And with breeding, I can see a new "fourth-generation-incest" tag for here!

 

[DreamBig Games]

To each his own, but as a rule, I prefer when adult games are just...adult games. Meaning a good story, with well-written dialogues, possibly with different paths for the mains characters and some kind of time-money-management elements.

But emphasis on puzzles, action, survival achieves only two things, in my opinion: first, most adult games who try, fail to provide real entertainment in this department. Nowadays, most player have played an AAA game and it's difficult to compete. As a result, you have two choices: making a cheap version of a AAA title you like (which will most likely be disappointing -no offense, I'm only talking about the games I already played-) or really try to compete and you're on a 5-8 years adventure with people complaining your "the new Star Citizen" (see Wildlife, Carnal Instinct and such).

Second, it kills the immersion, the "erotic wave" that submerges you when you play an adult game. Like, you know when you don't want to come and began listing the 50 states to delay? Well, same thing. When I play an adult game, I close the curtains and enter "the zone"; if I suddenly have to go fishing because my elf-slave maid is hungry, it kills the vibe. And if on the way back, I find out I have to cook the fishes and craft baskets to store them, my well-build musky atmosphere vanishes and I go "read" a hentai.

Last thing is: what the survival element brings to the game? If the protagonists are frail when they are hungry, so you can break their spirit more easily, or if you can craft stuff what changes erotic animations (like poles, whips and such), go for it (but it sounds like an ungodly amount of work)! If it's "just" to create a new crossover, meeh...

I do love your main idea: space harem sounds delightful! And with breeding, I can see a new "fourth-generation-incest" tag for here!

I guess I'm a bit different.
For me, a mix of gameplay ( any kind really ) with sexual content works best. RenPy novels, I just skip the text, only paying attention when there is a choice to be made.

But maybe you are right, and game mechanics that are too much time-consuming are not the best idea...
I'm still thinking if maybe I should reduce the "survival" to a minimum and reduce crafting only to gifts/ items directly related to sexual rewards.