Ren'Py Daz Viability of the Backrooms in Daz

[Affogado]

I'm working on a game set in a Backrooms-style environment of endless corridors and rooms of yellow wallpaper and disgusting carpeting, and I'm trying to decide between doing a Visual Novel in Ren'Py or something more fully text-based in Twine. The idea works with a bit of tweaking either way, and it comes down to the visuals - while I have used Daz 3D in the past and could use it to create characters as needed, I haven't really tried building environments before.

I know there are primitives and you can texture them, and I was wondering how feasible the idea of crafting some of the weirder Backrooms environments is. Not weird level types, just odd configuration of hallways, exits, rooms, odd pits, pillars, and the like. If you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about.

I'm looking to do this entirely in Daz without sculpting or using something like Blender or ZBrush, and I don't need it to be perfect - just good enough for background work. Input is appreciated! Thanks.

 

[osanaiko]

I might be unusual but I don't know what "backrooms" is.

However, I can answer your question: there is at least one daz official product which is a collection of room/wall/doorwar/hallway segments that can be combined in any pattern. I will try to find it....

Found it!

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The "Poser Interior Construction Kit" (PICK). It was built for the older "Poser" 3D app, but Daz has some sort of connection to that and can still successfully load models originally built for Poser.

Here's a shitty hallway I just whipped up out of parts. The most annoying part was setting the shaders.

 

[Affogado]

I might be unusual but I don't know what "backrooms" is.

The Backrooms is basically a online creepypasta about an extra-dimensional liminal space you can reach by accidentally slipping out of reality. An extensive community has built up a body of lore based on stories, images, videos, and even a few games. The first level is an infinite series of architecturally absurd rooms and corridors that look like this:
Basically like the backstage to reality where unused assets have been stored, or garbage collection from the collective subconscious. Like anything created for the internet for free by committee, it's full of a lot of dumb and goofy shit, some of which doesn't work, so I'll be curating a version suited for this kind of erotic game that has some internal consistency.

 

[Gunsothegreat]

You could try MICK (Medieval Interior Construction Kit)

 

[Turning Tricks]

I'm working on a game set in a Backrooms-style environment of endless corridors and rooms of yellow wallpaper and disgusting carpeting, and I'm trying to decide between doing a Visual Novel in Ren'Py or something more fully text-based in Twine. The idea works with a bit of tweaking either way, and it comes down to the visuals - while I have used Daz 3D in the past and could use it to create characters as needed, I haven't really tried building environments before.

I know there are primitives and you can texture them, and I was wondering how feasible the idea of crafting some of the weirder Backrooms environments is. Not weird level types, just odd configuration of hallways, exits, rooms, odd pits, pillars, and the like. If you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about.

I'm looking to do this entirely in Daz without sculpting or using something like Blender or ZBrush, and I don't need it to be perfect - just good enough for background work. Input is appreciated! Thanks.

Just a thought, but have you ever used Roblox Studio?

I play a lot of Roblox with my kid, and there's a ton of Backrooms themed assets in the Studio library, including a couple of full sized backrooms environments. Basically any game that gets popular on PC or Mobile devices gets cloned in Roblox and a lot of devs release their work for use in Studio.

You can also export assets from Roblox as .OBJ files and then use Blender to convert them to something that works in DAZ. Once you have the export in DAZ, then you can play with the texture maps to make it yours. I've done it with avatars to make 3D prints, but I can't see why you wouldn't be able to do it with the environments as well.

And honestly, the full sized backrooms map I just looked at in Studio (see pic below) would save you a hell of a lot of time compared to making one from scratch. You would just need to read up a bit on the export process, watch a few Youtube tutorials and experiment in Bender/Daz.

And Roblox Studio is free (My favorite word!)



PS: And heck... if these are just for background images to a mainly text VN, you could even just screen cap the images right from Roblox Player and process them in your favorite editor, like Photoshop. Maybe superimpose some DAZ created characters onto those screencaps (render the characters in DAZ with the dome off and the ground on, to get an alpha PNG of the character with their shadows). That would be an insanely fast workflow.

 

[MissFortune]

Just a thought, but have you ever used Roblox Studio?

Only pause I'd have here is the IP/copyright Roblox has over their product. I'm not sure how hard they'd come after a developer of adult games, but if it gets to a point where it's damaging for a brand, they might get involved. Which could become problematic if they intended to take it to Steam.

I wonder if something like pCon Planner might work for OP.

 

[Turning Tricks]

Only pause I'd have here is the IP/copyright Roblox has over their product. I'm not sure how hard they'd come after a developer of adult games, but if it gets to a point where it's damaging for a brand, they might get involved. Which could become problematic if they intended to take it to Steam.

I wonder if something like pCon Planner might work for OP.

Well, then going the export route to generate the geometry and then customizing your textures would probably insulate you there.

But you have to remember... Roblox has like 65 million players per DAY! Half the children in the US play Roblox now (Not hyperbole, actual stats) I've played games with over a billion visits. And practically every popular game out there has been ported to Roblox. Many of them never get challenged. Just the other day, I was doing a Sonic sidescroller that was almost identical to the original Sega console version. And one maniac is even making a full port of Subnautica for Roblox, lol! (it's awesome)

The Backrooms environment is practically the poster child for nondescript. Unless you are dropping recognizable NPC's or mob models in your VN, I can't really see any issues. In the actual game, the rooms are pretty much randomly generated. That's the whole point... it's a new maze every time. So they can't challenge you on that point.

The actual free assets in Studio are all player made. There's over a million of them. I doubt the 8 year old creator will come after you for using parts of the assets they already put on the marketplace for free. Heck, most them would probably brag that their model got used in a porn game, if they even found out about it.

 

[MissFortune]

Well, then going the export route to generate the geometry and then customizing your textures would probably insulate you there.

But you have to remember... Roblox has like 65 million players per DAY! Half the children in the US play Roblox now (Not hyperbole, actual stats) I've played games with over a billion visits. And practically every popular game out there has been ported to Roblox. Many of them never get challenged. Just the other day, I was doing a Sonic sidescroller that was almost identical to the original Sega console version. And one maniac is even making a full port of Subnautica for Roblox, lol! (it's awesome)

The Backrooms environment is practically the poster child for nondescript. Unless you are dropping recognizable NPC's or mob models in your VN, I can't really see any issues. In the actual game, the rooms are pretty much randomly generated. That's the whole point... it's a new maze every time. So they can't challenge you on that point.

The actual free assets in Studio are all player made. There's over a million of them. I doubt the 8 year old creator will come after you for using parts of the assets they already put on the marketplace for free. Heck, most them would probably brag that their model got used in a porn game, if they even found out about it.

I've never touched Roblox nor read the T&C/ToS, but I imagine Roblox (or their parent company, if there is one) retain at least some of the rights to the end-product as their own materials/assets (or so I assume, at least.) are being used to create it. That's where I think copyright/IP issues would apply more, but again, I don't know near enough about Roblox or Legalese to speaking anything on it lol.

But yeah, chances are they aren't coming after you at all. Not unless you find yourself at the popularity of BaD or something of the sort, which is probably very much unlikely given the type of game this would be.

 

[Turning Tricks]

I've never touched Roblox nor read the T&C/ToS, but I imagine Roblox (or their parent company, if there is one) retain at least some of the rights to the end-product as their own materials/assets (or so I assume, at least.) are being used to create it. That's where I think copyright/IP issues would apply more, but again, I don't know near enough about Roblox or Legalese to speaking anything on it lol.

But yeah, chances are they aren't coming after you at all. Not unless you find yourself at the popularity of BaD or something of the sort, which is probably very much unlikely given the type of game this would be.

I've read of some of the largest dev's being sued, but these are guys using Marvel toons, etc and they were pulling in 6 figure revenue from their games. I mean, Roblox is a billion dollar company now because they basically just gave everyone the tools to create whatever they want. They are strict about monitoring violence and protecting the kids, but they tend to ignore copyright issues unless a company pushes them (like Marvel or some of the other big greedy conglomerates) It's one of the reasons I love the game. There's some insanely creative shit on there and a lot of it was done by young people. My son's only 8 and he's even made a few simple games there.

Back to the OP though.. I am 100% sure they would be OK just using the Backdoor Room assets from Roblox Studio to kitbash something for their VN.

 

[Affogado]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll take some time, figure it out... but now I know that it's possible.

 

[GNVE]

This is very doable. Use the create a room set (with it's expansions if needed) and slap on some shaders/ change the colours.

This took me 10 - 20 minutes as a proof of concept. I can't find it quickly but I have a tiled office ceiling somewhere (now you see it in daylight ruining the atmosphere a little.)