Thought bubbles in adult games

[lancelotdulak]

I've come to realize I physically hate clicking 12000 times to get through lines of text the rider has convinced himself you absolutely must see one line at a time
I'm thinking of using thought Bubbles as in comics instead but I'm thinking that might break immersion a little bit or make the game look too cartoony
I'm talkin and 3D realistic games not actual cartoon Games Etc and was wondering what people thought.

 

[Synx]

Couldn't you just remove all the unnecessary words and try to express the stuff you want to use the thought bubbles for in the renders/face expressions themselves? For complete immersion you don't directly need/want to know what everyone is thinking. A bit of mystery is always good for a game/story.

The only exception is if it makes sense in the game, like if your MC could read minds or something.

 

[79flavors]

I'm going to assume RenPy here, since that is the most common style of interface for realistic 3DCG + text games...

Wouldn't the thought bubbles have to be presented 1 at a time, so the player has time to read them?

How is a bubble presented near each character any different than the same text appearing at the bottom of the screen? If anything, it could be seen as worse - since the player's eyes would need to roam around the screen looking for the next speech bubble.

Unless you're thinking of multi-panel windows like comics, where all the speech bubbles are already shown and the player can read up to 6 or 8 panels in turn at their own pace - before clicking to continue. In which case, the text might be a bit small in general... but certainly on mobile devices.

Personally, I gave up very early on with clicking the mouse to advance the text. Instead, I set the text speed to appear slowly (slightly faster than my usual reading speed), one character at a time and set the auto-advance timer to be slightly slower than my usual reading speed of long lines - so I can still read each line when my brain is wandering. Then, rather than going into the preferences every time in each game, I created that overrode those settings as the defaults. I copy the file into the game folder before each new game/version I play and so I don't need to worry about messing about. I also add a keybind (alt+PgUp) to toggle auto-advance on and off within games that have disabled the quickbar at the bottom of the screen. If you're fed up with clicking... that's another potential solution for you.

If you're thinking of your own game... if it could be made to work... It could be great... or terrible. It really comes down to how well it works in practice. imo though, one of the reasons RenPy games are so popular is the familiar layout and user experience. New is good. New is also risky.

 

[lancelotdulak]

I'm going to assume RenPy here, since that is the most common style of interface for realistic 3DCG + text games...

Wouldn't the thought bubbles have to be presented 1 at a time, so the player has time to read them?

How is a bubble presented near each character any different than the same text appearing at the bottom of the screen? If anything, it could be seen as worse - since the player's eyes would need to roam around the screen looking for the next speech bubble.

Unless you're thinking of multi-panel windows like comics, where all the speech bubbles are already shown and the player can read up to 6 or 8 panels in turn at their own pace - before clicking to continue. In which case, the text might be a bit small in general... but certainly on mobile devices.

Personally, I gave up very early on with clicking the mouse to advance the text. Instead, I set the text speed to appear slowly (slightly faster than my usual reading speed), one character at a time and set the auto-advance timer to be slightly slower than my usual reading speed of long lines - so I can still read each line when my brain is wandering. Then, rather than going into the preferences every time in each game, I created that overrode those settings as the defaults. I copy the file into the game folder before each new game/version I play and so I don't need to worry about messing about. I also add a keybind (alt+PgUp) to toggle auto-advance on and off within games that have disabled the quickbar at the bottom of the screen. If you're fed up with clicking... that's another potential solution for you.

If you're thinking of your own game... if it could be made to work... It could be great... or terrible. It really comes down to how well it works in practice. imo though, one of the reasons RenPy games are so popular is the familiar layout and user experience. New is good. New is also risky.

VERY good points

 

[lancelotdulak]

Couldn't you just remove all the unnecessary words and try to express the stuff you want to use the thought bubbles for in the renders/face expressions themselves? For complete immersion you don't directly need/want to know what everyone is thinking. A bit of mystery is always good for a game/story.

The only exception is if it makes sense in the game, like if your MC could read minds or something.

youre right. you should think of making games more as a director . very nice insight

 

[Talothral]

As Synx said, more visual, less novel. Personally I've started to loathe pointless exposition, which in VN's is portrayed by inner monologue, in most cases. We as a creators have the opportunity to show it instead of just telling.

Your main character admires how good the ass of the woman in front of him looks like, show him staring at it and then have his friend nudge him with an elbow and start the dialogue, which in my opinion is better way to give the required exposition of the main characters ass obsession than just writing 20 lines of inner monologue. And at the same time you can even introduction the friend in question without another 20 inner monologue lines on top of the dialogue. Sure it requires more renders and change how you write things a bit, but is it worth it? Personally yes.

 

[GNVE]

You have a point that there are games out there that have to much clicking in them i.e. to much text. Going the comic route is the wrong way I think. I like the text being in one place and having only one character speak at a time. It makes for a relaxed experience. (Tangent: this is why I think QTE's clash really horribly with VN's I am reading/playing a VN not playing a first person shooter or other twitchy type of game so I might have my hand on my keyboard casually entering in stead of on my mouse).
If you want to look for inspiration on how to make a VN I think the art of storyboarding might be a good one otherwise look at playwrights and movie directors.
Next to the excellent advice of show don't tell proposed before I'd like to add don't underestimate the audience. A lot of times you don't need as much exposition as you may think to make your story clear.
e.g. for my project:
Finally! I made it! Collings University, the highest ranked in the world.

works probably nearly as well as:
I am finally here. Collings University. The University that brings even the Ivy league to shame. Nearly impossible to get accepted to their program. I still can't believe how hard I had to work to get to this point. Countless hours of studying, lots of extra curricular activities yada yada yada.

This because most people have at least some understanding of what a university is, how you get into one and how hard it will probably be to get into a top university.