VN Thoughts on this art style?

[Veileos]

I have a lot of downtime taking care of my mother who had a stroke a couple months ago. I was thinking of making a VN to pass the time but all I have is a crappy Acer laptop with a 940MX. I cant do anything with Daz but I found a combination of KKS and another game that I think looks good. Right now I just have a very basic shadow so the characters dont stand out from the bg too much. I could do a more detailed shadow on some outside scenes or inside where theres only light from 1 source but would take a lot more time. I attached some sample webp pics to check out.


Also would a game with the option to change a relationship in game make it past Patreon? Like if they started out as Master and Apprentice giving people the option to change that to what ever.

 

[Gunizz]

Honestly I don't like it, if you plan a porn game. Their look it's too cartoonish. If it's another kind of VN, without sex, it could be fine. But there are people here getting excited with much worse graphics so you still could have an audience.

 

[papel]

I, for one, prefer things done without using Daz assets or the program's renders, I'm really tired of them.
There are ways to transfer the models to Blender and use it instead, its rendering engines are graphic card agnostic, though it's still slower than just firing a game, posing the models and hitting PrintScreen.

I think you don't need to worry too much about shadows UNLESS the characters are very close to or interacting with the background, like in the first pic. It's super obvious the shadow is wrong, since it's not covering the dude's head. With that more anime-esque look, you can probably get away with more "unrealistic" lighting choices.

Regarding patreon, "changing the relationship status" is not against their terms on adult material. You should worry about anything that can be considered non-consensual or of dubious consent.

 

[Veileos]

Honestly I don't like it, if you plan a porn game. Their look it's too cartoonish. If it's another kind of VN, without sex, it could be fine. But there are people here getting excited with much worse graphics so you still could have an audience.

Yea I dont mind it but I cant do anything realistic of full 3d with my laptop sadly. I did notice theres a good mix of popular games either cartoony or realistic.

I, for one, prefer things done without using Daz assets or the program's renders, I'm really tired of them.
There are ways to transfer the models to Blender and use it instead, its rendering engines are graphic card agnostic, though it's still slower than just firing a game, posing the models and hitting PrintScreen.

I think you don't need to worry too much about shadows UNLESS the characters are very close to or interacting with the background, like in the first pic. It's super obvious the shadow is wrong, since it's not covering the dude's head. With that more anime-esque look, you can probably get away with more "unrealistic" lighting choices.

Regarding patreon, "changing the relationship status" is not against their terms on adult material. You should worry about anything that can be considered non-consensual or of dubious consent.

Yea for that one I was thinking with the light being straight ahead and up a little sinse hes laying down the shadow would be more visible around his lower body sinse thats more horizontal, while his upper body is vertical against the tree where would be little to no shadow. Probably need to make him sitting up a little straighter. Same thing with the girls at the top of the fence I tried removing the shadow on the left side sinse thats where the sun was coming from.

Hard to line things up right I'm taking the models from KKS and placing them infront of a ss from another game so they dont interact at all. Then editing them in photoshop. Only way I can get something for fps by limiting how much is in KKS.

About that other content I don't have any interest in that stuff so I'm all good there.

 

[papel]

If you want something kinda realistic looking, Skyrim can still offer something. I don't know the proper tools for posing and whatnot, but that game most definitely runs on your rig. You could also try Fallout 4 for arguably better graphics. I first played it on a 3rd gen i5 with a 740m, so it can run at a decent framerate on your machine.
Another alternative that maybe should run fine on your rig is SFM, though no matter what you pick, posing will be very time consuming.

 

[Veileos]

I did think about those games but I'm not a modder so I don't know how posing and what not would work. Thats why I picked KKS. Comes with a studio for very easy editing and lots of mods. The timeline mod makes it very easy to make my own animations for both erotic and combat.

 

[SuccubiGames]

First of all, I'm sorry about your mother. Second, create what you want. If there are people who like it (there always is even if it's a niche community), they'll come to your game. Basically, stop worrying about what people think and create something you want to make.

As for the master/apprentice thing, as long as it's consensual, Patreon won't mind.

 

[Veileos]

First of all, I'm sorry about your mother. Second, create what you want. If there are people who like it (there always is even if it's a niche community), they'll come to your game. Basically, stop worrying about what people think and create something you want to make.

As for the master/apprentice thing, as long as it's consensual, Patreon won't mind.

Thanks and I will. I think it looks good, just wondering if it looked like the characters were a part of that world. I have seen quite a few games that do this like theyre just pasting characters onto the background and it pretty much never looked right to me.

 

[♍VoidTraveler]

I like it. Rather cute, those twin girls especially.
But i am an anime fan so i generally will like anime-like stuff.
But then again, there are a LOT of anime fans.

 

[Veileos]

Thanks I like them too. They were the first girls I made in KK months ago looking nothing like they do now.

 

[woody554]

I think the main problem is not the style but how the sprites don't sit into the background. the lighting and saturation is so off that it looks like really bad green screen. bringing saturation down a bit for the characters would probably help a little.

 

[Veileos]

Hmm I tried that but the characters with anything but light skin started looking weird. Sadly its almost going to look like a green screen sinse its two different engines. Heres another shadow option I found looks alright as well and better for some shots like this one and then one without any shadows. Takes a bit more time though as I have to do the shadows on the ground myself.

 

[SecretSal]

The style isn't the best in show, but it should be fine for your purposes. Anyway, your first project usually tends to be a learning experience, not a masterpiece. The important thing is that you're comfortable with the workflow and can manage to create screens at a decent rate.

One thing I would mention is that, because the lighting system of KKS seems to be quite flat, you're going to have to pay much more attention to the framing. Even in the few screenshots you've posted, there are a couple of examples of characters getting a little lost against the background. Might need to arrange the scene and angle the shot in such a way that their silhouettes pop more. Those are fundamentals that will always serve you well, no matter what medium you're using, makes sense to hone those skills.

 

[Veileos]

Yea Ive noticed the backgrounds I'm using are a lot further back then what they look like when I bring them over the KKS so characters end up further out then I want them. Two different cameras with very different zoom levels makes it weird but Im starting to get it. Also agree about the lighting in KKS the slider thing isnt working so ignoring that and going to try working with points of light and map light instead.

 

[Meaning Less]

Here is an idea:
Keep character sepparate from the background in different layers on renpy or whatever engine you use, it will be easier to make interactions without changing the background you can then have multiple character in one scene, move them around, change their poses and so on.

Usually lazy vns don't care about splitting them from the background so they keep re-rendendering the same background multiple times just to change the character poses which is honestly a waste of space in general and looks a lot less refined.

But you already have them sepparate so I have no idea why don't you make full use of that instead of trying to merge them together in a single image again.

 

[kristijanEX]

I think the guy looks fine, the girls could use improvement.