The craziest thing about male MC sandbox games.

[Deleted member 167032]

Games are theatre, fantasy... I do not have a problem with what you described. As long as my gaming habits do not evade my real life thinking, i'll keep playing the virgin MC who scores the chicks....

 

[RomanHume]

I actually really like the idea of it. A light, shallow life simulation with a bunch of different girls you can date and you're free to chose which one(s)... But it rarely pans out like that. Bunch of padding, horrendous MC, almost forced to go after every single girls in the game even the ones you don't like.

Content per update isn't a huge deal to me but I am getting sick and tired of all these games conveniently stopping before sex happens. Like a cliffhanger, like bait. And in the next update it doesn't get resolved either. Either more teasing or worse, it does the same baiting again with another (sometimes completely new never seen before) character.

Fuck that shit, man.

100% agree. And a lot of times the sand box is very linear. Like you said, you have to go from point a, to b, to c.

And I hate the torturous withholding of sex scenes. When my game got started I swore we were going to have sex in as many updates as we could. The first release had a sex scene in it! (although it wasn't a very good one because we were still figuring out what we were doing.)

I think many previous developers believe that people played the game to get to the sex scenes and that once players got there they'd be done. I knew from personal experience that if the story is worth a damn, the sex is just the cherry on an already great cake. My goal has always been to write a great story filled with sex. Not a game where navigate a maze and get sex as a reward.

 

[Nottravis]

Something else that aggravates me is how these "open-world", "sand-boxy" games get away with releasing very little actual content but hiding behind all these little fetch quests and bullshit.

I've gotten railed in the past over the size of a release, at which point I have to point out, "Well, I released as much if not more than this guy, but his took you three hours to play through because you had to keep running over the same parts of the map clicking on different shit until you could find out how to unlock the next scene three or four times. My game just didn't torture you with that we got straight to the meat and potatoes."

For me, this open world style story telling doesn't really add anything. It just creates the illusion of more content because it takes you longer to play through.

But that's just my personal gripe.

Jesus, aye. Tell me about it.

My last Chapter had a higher word count than one of HG Wells short novels (forgets which one) - and he didn't have to render it! But if you hold down skip you could be done in ten minutes I dare say so "No content".

Should add a grind for Annie's smokes....

 

[RomanHume]

Jesus, aye. Tell me about it.

My last Chapter had a higher word count than one of HG Wells short novels (forgets which one) - and he didn't have to render it! But if you hold down skip you could be done in ten minutes I dare say so "No content".

Should add a grind for Annie's smokes....

I often tell my community, "I wish it took you as long to play it as it did for me to build it."

As a now single developer, I have to do all the work myself.

You my dear, Nottravis, would know nothing about that with your fancy teams and 1337 programmers!

 

[TomberryDude]

It is true. When a game's boring, usually I jerk off while playing and when I'm done with that I'm done with the game as well.

A good game, it doesn't even matter how much sex there is. If I like it I'll keep playing it. I'm still expecting porn from games I get on f95, I mean, as aweful as it might sound. If I simply wanted good games, I'd play games on Steam with no sex in them. If I just wanted to see porn, I'd go to pornhub.

 

[Nottravis]

I often tell my community, "I wish it took you as long to play it as it did for me to build it."

As a now single developer, I have to do all the work myself.

You my dear, Nottravis, would know nothing about that with your fancy teams and 1337 programmers!

It's a 1337 Jaffa cakes....and they get fewer each day

 

[TomberryDude]

It's a 1337 Jaffa cakes....and they get fewer each day

The only Jaffa (beef)cake I need

 

[RomanHume]

It is true. When a game's boring, usually I jerk off while playing and when I'm done with that I'm done with the game as well.

A good game, it doesn't even matter how much sex there is. If I like it I'll keep playing it. I'm still expecting porn from games I get on f95, I mean, as aweful as it might sound. If I simply wanted good games, I'd play games on Steam with no sex in them. If I just wanted to see porn, I'd go to pornhub.

Of course. I think everyone here, myself included, play these games for the sex. I just refuse to accept that sex and a good story have to mutually exclusive.

It should go, little bit of story - sex - more story - sex - story - sex -etc.

You know, to give people a little breather between those sex scenes and get them geared up for the next.

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

Of course. I think everyone here, myself included, play these games for the sex. I just refuse to accept that sex and a good story have to mutually exclusive.

It should go, little bit of story - sex - more story - sex - story - sex -etc.

You know, to give people a little breather between those sex scenes and get them geared up for the next.

By story, do you mean fap breaks? (On most games, that is, yours and Nottys are high art compared to most of the dross that passes for "a game")

 

[RomanHume]

By story, do you mean fap breaks? (On most games, that is, yours and Nottys are high art compared to most of the dross that passes for "a game")

I often refer to my story as "The Commercial Break".

 

[Akamari]

Of course. I think everyone here, myself included, play these games for the sex. I just refuse to accept that sex and a good story have to mutually exclusive.

It should go, little bit of story - sex - more story - sex - story - sex -etc.

You know, to give people a little breather between those sex scenes and get them geared up for the next.

Personally, I'd go for a full course of story with some sex seasoning.

In general, what I really miss is more of a middle ground between games that go full story but shy away from sex, and games that go all sex but only pretend to have a story. Chances of finding that in the mainstream are miniscule compared to finding them here.

 

[RomanHume]

Personally, I'd go for a full course of story with some sex seasoning.

In general, what I really miss is more of a middle ground between games that go full story but shy away from sex, and games that go all sex but only pretend to have a story. Chances of finding that in the mainstream are miniscule compared to finding them here.

Story-wise, I feel more than competent. I can spin a good yarn. But I still feel like I'm trying to figure out how to write a good sex scene. I'm getting closer, but still not quite where I want to be.

But I think every game, sandbox or otherwise needs to have good writing. It's the structure that holds all the sex together.

 

[TomberryDude]

Of course. I think everyone here, myself included, play these games for the sex. I just refuse to accept that sex and a good story have to mutually exclusive.

It should go, little bit of story - sex - more story - sex - story - sex -etc.

You know, to give people a little breather between those sex scenes and get them geared up for the next.

The story isn't as important as the characters and gameplay to me. Writing also, it's important that the game doesn't give me a headache reading it and and it helps to make characters more likable.

It's a lot hotter when a sex scene happens with a girl I relate to and can connect with emotionally. Again, it's not just about watching hot people plowing.

 

[Akamari]

Story-wise, I feel more than competent. I can spin a good yarn. But I still feel like I'm trying to figure out how to write a good sex scene. I'm getting closer, but still not quite where I want to be.

But I think every game, sandbox or otherwise needs to have good writing. It's the structure that holds all the sex together.

Absolutely. It's the context that matters. I don't care how sexy the sex renders or animations are if what leads to them is crap.

 

[Archronique]

And I hate the torturous withholding of sex scenes. When my game got started I swore we were going to have sex in as many updates as we could. The first release had a sex scene in it! (although it wasn't a very good one because we were still figuring out what we were doing.)

Well, you see, I'm the complete opposite.
I hate when a game catapult in my face a sex scene before I even have the time to remember the girl's name my character is currently fucking. Because of that, my first release which has a duration of 40min~1h to reach the end doesn't have a single sex scene, the only erotic things you will find in it is a breast pair and panties.

The story isn't as important as the characters and gameplay to me. Writing also, it's important that the game doesn't give me a headache reading it and and it helps to make characters more likable.

It's a lot hotter when a sex scene happens with a girl I relate to and can connect with emotionally. Again, it's not just about watching hot people plowing.

You contradict yourself (and to be honest that's not the first time on this thread).
You cannot separate characters and story, if there isn't story then your characters are just fuckdolls with names and it will be really hard to "connect with emotionally". The arguments you're using explain why the story is important to you, not the opposite.

 

[woody554]

so here's the ideal sandbox rpg: lots of male characters to talk to, not about tricking your mom to blow you but about your feelings and how you respect women and also walk the walk. you can only date one woman at a time because you're not a douchebag. your family members will never fuck you, and they'll be disgusted if you show any non-platonic interest in them. there are no magic pills to get over that, so blueballed forever if your mom is hot. nobody likes you, your dick is small, your cumshots are small, more leaking out of your dick than shooting out like a firehose. women are not impressed about it nor of its taste.

yea, sounds like a great fantasy, right? average life gets me so hard!

the truth is you can't write good fantasy without breaking rules of real life. real life, ideally, is very boring. when it's not boring it usually means your life is destroyed. in real life romeo & julia is a story of a 17yo wanting to fuck a 13yo child he knows, and they commit double suicide because they believe their parents don't understand them. extremely depressing, pointless deaths. in fantasy though, it's the most famous romantic story ever.

so the problem isn't that the building blocks of your average sandbox incest house is an unrealistic and opposing version of what REALLY would happen if you tried to fuck your aunt in the ass while she was sleeping. the problem is did you manage to justify the actions within the rules of that fantasy? and yeah, most people fail that, because they're not writers or because they just don't care about anything except rendering their heroines in an awkward position with their pussy out. but it's not because it's a boring idea trying to fuck your mom at night.

so how do we, as a community, get better at it? not by making polls at patreon about story decisions that's for sure. if your readers knew how to make better stories they would be making them. never let the audience choose, they don't know shit. a poll will just reveal you what is the most banal and least conflicting boring predictable continuation. the gary-sue choice. the average first thought of people who never wrote anything or are writing their first thing ever.

no. we get better by talking about these things here, and more importantly by showing example. right now the bar is still incredibly low, people basically think your story is great if it doesn't have grainy renders. that's it. they don't know, they've almost never seen anything better.

the best would probably be if someone took every stupid incest house cliche and showed how to make it great. just as an example. the most successful games come from that genre even with half-assed execution, a great version would probably make more money than anything before. and by example, people would be motivated to do their games better as well.

 

[TomberryDude]

You contradict yourself (and to be honest that's not the first time on this thread).
You cannot separate characters and story, if there isn't story then your characters are just fuckdolls with names and it will be really hard to "connect with emotionally". The arguments you're using explain why the story is important to you, not the opposite.

No, I didn't. Story and characters are two different things. Just because they're usually closely related doesn't make them one and the same. Some stories are dreadful but the characters are interesting. Some stories are great but the characters are unlikable, or worse.

Of course, it's debatable just how closely story and character are or should be related. All I can say is I never said story wasn't important. it's just not my priority. A game's story could be people going to buy bread as far as I'm concerned. If one of them is a cute, nice girl, changes are I'll want to see her naked.

so here's the ideal sandbox rpg: lots of male characters to talk to, not about tricking your mom to blow you but about your feelings and how you respect women and also walk the walk. you can only date one woman at a time because you're not a douchebag. your family members will never fuck you, and they'll be disgusted if you show any non-platonic interest in them. there are no magic pills to get over that, so blueballed forever if your mom is hot. nobody likes you, your dick is small, your cumshots are small, more leaking out of your dick than shooting out like a firehose. women are not impressed about it nor of its taste.

yea, sounds like a great fantasy, right? average life gets me so hard!

the truth is you can't write good fantasy without breaking rules of real life. real life, ideally, is very boring. when it's not boring it usually means your life is destroyed. in real life romeo & julia is a story of a 17yo wanting to fuck a 13yo child he knows, and they commit double suicide because they believe their parents don't understand them. extremely depressing, pointless deaths. in fantasy though, it's the most famous romantic story ever.

so the problem isn't that the building blocks of your average sandbox incest house is an unrealistic and opposing version of what REALLY would happen if you tried to fuck your aunt in the ass while she was sleeping. the problem is did you manage to justify the actions within the rules of that fantasy? and yeah, most people fail that, because they're not writers or because they just don't care about anything except rendering their heroines in an awkward position with their pussy out. but it's not because it's a boring idea trying to fuck your mom at night.

so how do we, as a community, get better at it? not by making polls at patreon about story decisions that's for sure. if your readers knew how to make better stories they would be making them. never let the audience choose, they don't know shit. a poll will just reveal you what is the most banal and least conflicting boring predictable continuation. the gary-sue choice. the average first thought of people who never wrote anything or are writing their first thing ever.

no. we get better by talking about these things here, and more importantly by showing example. right now the bar is still incredibly low, people basically think your story is great if it doesn't have grainy renders. that's it. they don't know, they've almost never seen anything better.

the best would probably be if someone took every stupid incest house cliche and showed how to make it great. just as an example. the most successful games come from that genre even with half-assed execution, a great version would probably make more money than anything before. and by example, people would be motivated to do their games better as well.

It's never been about realism either. One of my favourite game here is Long Live the Princess, another is Harem Hotel. I wouldn't call either of those realistic in any way. I don't mind incest either. It's too common but it's also a theme I happen to like enough. Putting feelings (and if possible, not cheating) ahead of bangin everything that moves is also a very personal taste I have. I'm not saying it's objectively better, I just prefer it.

As for magic pills, raping your mom in her sleep and all that fun stuff. It's things I don't really like but I can tolerate. If it was in less games, when it's in good games.

 

[RomanHume]

Well, you see, I'm the complete opposite.
I hate when a game catapult in my face a sex scene before I even have the time to remember the girl's name my character is currently fucking. Because of that, my first release which has a duration of 40min~1h to reach the end doesn't have a single sex scene, the only erotic things you will find in it is a breast pair and panties.

Unless your story is really, really good, I'd have a hard time playing your game. No offence.

You cannot separate characters and story, if there isn't story then your characters are just fuckdolls with names and it will be really hard to "connect with emotionally".

You can absolutely have great characters with a poor story. Personally I'd add Westworld as Exhibit A. The characters in that show were incredibly deep and complex and interesting in and of themselves. But they were wasted in a butchered narrative that attempted to craft mystery via chaos.

Characters and story are not inexorably bound together. They are separate parts that when working together certainly enhance and strengthen a good narrative. But you can have a story without characters and you can have well defined characters without a story.

 

[Archronique]

Just because they're usually closely related doesn't make them one and the same. Some stories are dreadful but the characters are interesting. Some stories are great but the characters are unlikable, or worse.

I didn't say there are the same, I said they are linked.

You can absolutely have great characters with a poor story.

I totally agree and that's what I tried to say with an extreme exemple, if there is no story (I'm not talking about a general story but at least something individual to a character), you can't emotionally deepen your relationship with a character. Take a game like Dany Clicker, do you feel a connection?

Unless your story is really, really good, I'd have a hard time playing your game. No offence.

It's okay since I didn't make it to please everyone. I just wanted to make you remember that not everyone has the same taste as you.

 

[RomanHume]

I totally agree and that's what I tried to say with an extreme exemple, you there is no story (I'm not talking about a general story but at least something individual to a character), you can't emotionally deepen your relationship with a character. Take a game like Dany Clicker, do you feel a connection?

Can't say I've played Dany Clicker (though I think I need to now just to understand. )

I can envision a scenario though where it's basically the MC sitting down with a character and just talking. It's more of an interview than a story, but through that interaction you could develop a bond with a character without having a connecting narrative to other events. It would be almost zero story and all narrative exposition. But possible.

It's okay since I didn't make it to please everyone. I just wanted to make you remember that not everyone has the same taste as you.

Oh for certain. And I don't want you to think I'm dogging your game or your style. I've had enough feedback and interaction with my own player community to know that tastes and preferences are wide and varied. TomberryDude and I were just in agreement that we don't like to super slow burn. But no one implied it was the best or only way. Just what we prefer.

And for what it's worth, I wish you the best of luck with your game. I'm always the first to encourage other devs on their projects, even if it's not something I like. Fact is, there is enough diversity in tastes and preferences here for all of us to thrive.