A Little Bit of History...
My wife and I have been avid players of AVNs, diving into titles like "Being a DIK," "Acting Lessons," "DMD," "City of Broken Dreamers," and many more. Two years ago, we had a lightbulb moment: "Why don't we create our own?" She wanted to craft an enthralling story, weave together unique character designs, and develop a game that truly embodies "came for the porn, stayed for the plot." Meanwhile, I was eager to dive into RenPy and Daz. After several attempts, we weren’t completely satisfied with the results. By day, we run a mobile app development company and dabble with Unreal Engine for our "serious" projects. Then the idea clicked: "Why not make an AVN using Unreal Engine? That would be amazing!" And so, for the past two years, we’ve been testing, tweaking, and are now just days away from launching our very first game, entirely crafted with Unreal Engine 5!
During this venture, we broke down the elements of our game into pieces to create a next-gen VN engine based on Unreal Engine 5, allowing for multiple games, and perhaps in the future, enabling anyone to do the same!
What is this engine all about?
Introducing V2NG (Visual Novel Next Generation), a VN engine written entirely with Unreal Engine 5. Experience fully animated 3D real-time scenes where players can walk, run, jump, and much more. But don't worry, we've kept the beloved VN core: dialogue-centered gameplay with choices that lead to small and grand consequences. We've merged the crème de la crème of rendered static frames from Daz (detailed, vivid characters with realistic expressions and lighting) and modern video game tech (dynamic lighting, animations, VR, motion capture, etc.). Our aim? Rapid game production (thanks to UE5’s real-time rendering ease) with a modern 3D real-time feel while respecting core AVN traditions.
Did we achieve this dream? We’ll let you be the judge with the trailer for our debut game "Stacy’s Party".
What Can It Do?
So far, here’s what our engine offers:
- Easy import from Daz of characters, environments, props, and animations (plus Unreal Marketplace, MetaHuman, and more)
- Management of complete interactive storylines: scenes, sequences, dialogues, choices
- Dynamic player camera control: move, stroll the streets, look around
- Animated characters: pose during dialogue (complete with facial and body expressions), idle animations (breathe, dance, bounce, blink), and transition through complex animations (dance, jump) smoothly
- First-person view: see your hands, interact with characters, tilt your head, fall, jump
- Character outfits: Characters switch outfits dynamically depending on situations, with exclusive sexy outfits for Patreon supporters
- Diverse environments: Experience different settings with varying daytimes, weather conditions (sun, rain, snow, fog), indoor or outdoor
- NPC system: Lively scenes with NPC routines (walk, chat) and unique attributes (clothes, hair, physique)
- Props system: Moving props like cars or vibrating phones to bring scenes to life
- Camera effects: Shakes, blinding lights, eye closures, Field Of View, zoom
- Viewable character limbs and actions (mowing the lawn, walking, fighting, dancing)
- Comprehensive condition and consequence system: Decisions affect route accessibility, choice visibility
- Interactive map: Players decide where to go and in what order the story unfolds
- Sound and music management: Each scene features looping music, ambient sounds (bar, locker room, streets), and sound effects (horns, whistles)
- Dynamic lighting: Full real-time calculations for realistic shadows and natural light (Lumen and MegaLight tech). Explore an abandoned place with a flashlight, anyone?
- iOS and Android compatibility: Fully playable on both platforms
- Gallery and achievement system: Unlock replayable scenes and unique images as you progress
- Interactive walkthrough: Highlight recommended and undesired choices for players
- Patreon codes: Unlock exclusive features like gallery access, walkthrough, NSFW outfits
- Menu: Save/load, graphical settings, language selection, text speed
- Internationalization: Multi-language menus and stories
- Performance: Designed to optimize both high-end PCs (Raytracing, dynamic shadows, MegaLight) and modest setups. Smoothly runs on a Samsung laptop with an integrated Intel Iris graphics card!
Eager to explore our engine’s capabilities? Check out our technical showcase video!
Future Vision:
- VR Compatibility: UE5 supports VR, but requires tweaks for comfort (reduce motion sickness, camera placement, 360-degree backgrounds)
- Interaction with environments: Open doors, pick up objects
- Smartphone Integration: A fully functional in-game smartphone with messaging, camera, calendar, and more in development
- Free Roam Mode: Explore scenes freely in FPS mode to hunt for clues, engage in conversations
- Point And Click Mode: Discover scene elements with your mouse, manage an inventory, solve puzzles like classic point-and-click games
- Motion Capture: Currently, we adapt animations from various sites to suit situations. The holy grail would be in-house motion capture for fluid and realistic movements. We’re already exploring promising options like Rokoko!
Platform Compatibility:
Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS!
As you may know, publishing iOS applications outside the App Store is notoriously difficult. Thus, getting Apple's approval is challenging (or maybe we’ll hit the Epic Game Store in Europe!).
Eager to Try It?
Absolutely! Our first game, "Stacy’s Party," is available here:
You must be registered to see the links
and Stacy's Party on f95zoneThe first two episodes are FREE, including all engine features and about 1 hour of gameplay!
For forum members, since we’ve learned so much here, just DM me for a code granting FREE access to Patreon for two months with all the perks (walkthrough, NSFW content, gallery, new episodes, and more)!
Available for All Developers?
Not just yet, but soon! Once our first game is complete, we plan to make V2NG (essentially an Unreal Engine 5 plugin) available to developers, empowering everyone to create their own real-time 3D AVNs! At the moment, the engine's architecture isn't stable, and we keep refining it based on new ideas and experience. When API and interface stability is certain, we’ll roll out the engine for everyone!
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