What does every game need?

[chainedpanda]

I'm referring to the little things. Generally someonething that is fairly common place in adult games, but can be an inconvenience or annoyance if it doesn't exist. I'm not referring to your favorite tags, story setting, nor character type. Here's my list, what else am I missing?

• A folder within a Zip

It's such an unimportant inconvenience that I think means the world. It's always annoying to unzip 4+ games, only to find one has imploded onto my hard drive. Even more so if the games were unzipped in a folder containing several other games. I have to create a folder manually, name it, track down the renpy, game and lib folder, plus any additional contents and move them into that new folder. It can be even more annoying if a dev decided not to name the EXE and instead just leave it as 'game'.

It's such a stupid thing to get annoyed by, but I do every single time. While I know that I can just create a folder before extracting it, and I can even have WinZIP do it for me, but that just creates an additional folder and another minor inconvenience for the vast majority of games rather than having one for the minority of them.

• An opacity slider

I know that many dislike the text boarders in visual novels, but I have to strain my eyes every time there isn't one and still can't read half a lot of the time. An opacity slider is a great way to solve the problems of both sides. While I don't know how much work goes in to make a slider, I always appreciate those that do. If not an opacity slider, at least allow me to increase the boarder around the text, basically making it bold (don't remember what that setting is called right now).

• Unskippable Text

This is a very niche problem that rarely exists anymore. I have come across games which removes the option to skip after choices and transitions. Just let it keep skipping? Why remove this option in the first place? Also, non Renpy games, please add some sort of skip function to your games if you can. I know that doing so in RPGM may be a bit difficult, but several Unity games have it. Skipping text and rollback are the two primary reasons why I prefer Renpy. If they became common in Unity, I'd likely play more Unity games. Simple.

Also, I know that an older version of Renpy doesn't have this option in the first place. I'm not referring to those.

• Everything to do with saves

First, I don't care much for naming saves. It's generally just an additional click, but I do appreciate it when games allow you to disable the feature. Secondly, please name the save folder within the roaming folder... I'm sure most haven't really bothered with it, but I don't know how many times I've had to methodically move massive amounts of folders around only to find a single folder named 'persistent' or 'Blank4' or something.

 

[rk-47]

a "go back" option either by clicking to the left or using scroll wheel
many renpy games do this, some do not (badik) and unity games do not either

 

[nulnil]

• Difficulty Selection

Not only does this like, double or sometimes even triple the replayablity but it lets those 'skill issue' players get what they're seeking. I have only seen like 2 adult games with a difficulty selection.

 

[Meaning Less]

• A folder within a Zip

It's such an unimportant inconvenience that I think means the world. It's always annoying to unzip 4+ games, only to find one has imploded onto my hard drive.

You can right click and select "Extract to FOLDER_NAME" or "Extract to *\" (when there are multiple files selected), this should solve your zip issue.

I know that doing so in RPGM may be a bit difficult, but several Unity games have it. Skipping text and rollback are the two primary reasons why I prefer Renpy. If they became common in Unity, I'd likely play more Unity games. Simple.

Also, rpgm always has a button to skip/speed up dialogue and sprite movement speed during cutscenes. Usually CTRL or holding Z, but it can change depending on the RPGM version or how the dev has set things up, not hard to figure out in most cases.

Most of your nitpicks also can be easily configured or even modded into most games with little to no effort either by yourself or with the help of the community on a case-by-case basis. Just start looking into that instead of expecting every single dev to change things for you.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

Instantly-appearing text. Seems standard on R'P, but too many RPGM games neglect to have this, so I have to either sit and wait for the text to crawl into existence (my reading always outpaces it) or mash a key to make it appear right away, which is annoying and risks skipping more than I asked for or selecting an option I didn't mean to.

 

[AdventAnyx]

Every game needs to be finished one day Please. For the love of God.
I can't play stuff like Kingdom fo Deception for 6 fucking years and still see no end to it

 

[Deleted member 3917737]

Every game needs to be finished one day Please. For the love of God.

If every Dev truly cared about the game that they want to make and the people that they want to make the game for, or if they just want to release their creative masterpiece to the world, that would be something fresh and needed. Don't start making a game if you don't plan on seeing it to the end no matter what. Easier said than done, I suppose though.

Games also need Devs who are truthful and who don't fill their fans minds with bullshit and lies. I don't want your lies. I just want to see your fucking game completed, especially if I spent money on it. I demand proof for all the excuses and made-up stories some of these Devs love to spew.

Hmm, as for what I think games need more of, a freaking Female MC option x3 especially if your game is going to have that "Lesbian" tag. Also, more options to edit Names/Ages/Relations, especially if your game is cesty & going onto Steam.

Better hint/help systems for these terrible sandbox games. I hate sandbox so much. It just ruins the flow of the story for me, not because I just want to see some scenes. If all I want to do is look at sex scenes, I'd watch porn. I just want to enjoy the story without (go here, wait, meet this person at this time, grind, repeat, grind) that's just me, anyways.

Different Models, backdrops and stories xD Games just need newer things, things we haven't seen yet. It's about to be 1am, bye bye now.

 

[Nutluck]

Dev's that are active in their forums. They take the time to read posts and respond, they don't have to agree with what is posted. Just let players know, hey I see what you are saying and I am aware of your thoughts etc.

It isn't that hard. I check both F95 and tfgames forums several times a day. I read every single forum post made. I respond to many of them but not all. I also check out discord and respond to it when I see a need aka if another dev has not already responded. The other devs on the game I work on are a lot more active on discord so I don't need to respond as much there, but I still read every post the players make about the game. off topic and other discord channels I don't always read everything there

So I know this can be done and something I would like to see a lot more from devs of all games.

 

[Meaning Less]

It isn't that hard. I check both F95 and tfgames forums several times a day. I read every single forum post made. I respond to many of them but not all. I also check out discord and respond to it when I see a need aka if another dev has not already responded.
...
So I know this can be done and something I would like to see a lot more from devs of all games.

I don't remember ever meeting a developer that stated "I want to do more PR about my project". I mean, congrats that it is working for you but I doubt many developers can deal with public nonsense on top of not losing focus of actual game development.

In fact I don't even like when I see devs of games I enjoy answering questions that could have been easily answered by fans instead.

The more active you are the more people will expect activity of you, and once you take this stance you better not back off from it until you finish the game otherwise those people will let you know...

You must also consider that when you say stuff like "I read every single message", you are effectively encouraging haters and complainers to shit on your game thread even more. PR isn't easy.

 

[Doorknob22]

• Walkthrough mode: highlight the correct answer for me, don't make me choose blindly between bring her wine and bring her chocolate. I don't want to guess, let alone be punished for guessing wrongly.

 

[anne O'nymous]

I don't remember ever meeting a developer that stated "I want to do more PR about my project". I mean, congrats that it is working for you but I doubt many developers can deal with public nonsense on top of not losing focus of actual game development.

Yeah, it's often the opposite that happen. Dev starts to be active on their thread, until the moment they get tired to loose time having to discriminate between stupid rants made by people who obviously haven't even played the game, and interesting comments that can help them improve.

You must also consider that when you say stuff like "I read every single message", you are effectively encouraging haters and complainers to shit on your game thread even more. PR isn't easy.

I Agree.
This is telling those haters that their opinion weight as much as any other effectively constructive criticism. Soon or later you'll end with tons of "this is shit, change it", that will tell you nothing, and too few "you see, this would probably be better done [that way] because of [this]", that would be effectively helpful.

If teams have some designed to be the PR, it's for a really good reason, and it's generally the guy/girl that have the less works to do. It doesn't mean that devs should stay hidden and never communicate, but it's not their main job, nor what we expect first from them.

 

[Nutluck]

A few answers below to your comment

I don't remember ever meeting a developer that stated "I want to do more PR about my project". I mean, congrats that it is working for you but I doubt many developers can deal with public nonsense on top of not losing focus of actual game development.

It's not about PR. it is about I enjoy interacting with the players and if no one else has answered I will if I know the answer. I am just a writer for part of the game I work on so I don't know all the answers and admit when I don't.

In fact I don't even like when I see devs of games I enjoy answering questions that could have been easily answered by fans instead.

If fans beat me to it then thats fine, I still read it what people post. It is not like it takes that much time out of my day. I would say on most days I spend about 30 mins reading the forum.

As for let fans answer stuff, they might not always give the correct info or the full info.

The more active you are the more people will expect activity of you, and once you take this stance you better not back off from it until you finish the game otherwise those people will let you know...

I will likely die before the game is finished, but that is ok because the game I work on is a community project, so others will still be around.

You must also consider that when you say stuff like "I read every single message", you are effectively encouraging haters and complainers to shit on your game thread even more. PR isn't easy.

I honestly don't care when people make negative posts. Some I ignore and some I respond to and point out GL sounds like it is not the game for them and suggest some other game if I know of one that sounds like they might like it. With that said honestly it is very rare I see such a post, sure it happens but it is rare and typically the fans respond before I can anyways to them.

I have been doing this for the better part of 5 years so far. I joined F95 to keep tabs on what people was posting here, I started reading them all later the same year, but was doing it before that on tfgames. Over there I started going it for about 7 years. Other than a couple of breaks i have taken in the last 7 years I have been pretty active reading the forums.

As I have mentioned in other threads I write for fun. I write because I enjoy it and I enjoy interacting with players as part of that.

 

[Nutluck]

Yeah, it's often the opposite that happen. Dev starts to be active on their thread, until the moment they get tired to loose time having to discriminate between stupid rants made by people who obviously haven't even played the game, and interesting comments that can help them improve.

Maybe we are lucky, I very rarely see rants or people just bad mouthing the game. Sure it happens but honestly it is very rare.

I Agree.
This is telling those haters that their opinion weight as much as any other effectively constructive criticism. Soon or later you'll end with tons of "this is shit, change it", that will tell you nothing, and too few "you see, this would probably be better done [that way] because of [this]", that would be effectively helpful.

Well no it doesn't, just because I read it. Doesn't meant I give equal weight to something. If it is something constructive I reply in kind or even just say we are considering something like that etc or explain why we don't think it will work. While those that just post negative stuff which is rare I tend to either ignore or point out a game I think fits what they want better. Just because I read every post and respond to most post doesn't mean I give them all equal weight.

If teams have some designed to be the PR, it's for a really good reason, and it's generally the guy/girl that have the less works to do. It doesn't mean that devs should stay hidden and never communicate, but it's not their main job, nor what we expect first from them.

Maybe but not in this case. according to Kevin the guy in charge of GL community project, I typically write the most each update and have written more for the game than anyone else for it and I am the most active on the forums.

We don't have a designated PR and I don't do PR. I interact with the fan because I like doing it and think devs should be more involved.

You are free to disagree and if you or anyone else does a game and doesn't do that, thats your choice. But the thread asked what we would like to see more and that is what I would like to see more. I disagree it takes much time or effort to do it and I feel it makes the player happy that they get engaged with.

 

[Niv-Mizzet the Firemind]

A sane default sound volume in games with music. I'd go a bit further and ask for sane audio mastering, but that's not something every dev can or should do.
I positively hate the fact that if I forget to mute the sound at the start of a new game my ears will be raped during the intro.

 

[Müptezel Emo]

Big ass

 

[Doorknob22]

I positively hate the fact that if I forget to mute the sound at the start of a new game my ears will be raped during the intro.

Now I feel guilty...

 

[Deleted member 3917737]

• Walkthrough mode: highlight the correct answer for me, don't make me choose blindly between bring her wine and bring her chocolate. I don't want to guess, let alone be punished for guessing wrongly.

I mean, sometimes the Dev just wants you to pick the (bad/naughty) choice, rather than the good, pure one. From what you wrote, Wine = Sexy time, while Chocolate = Love. I guess that's one way of having people replay a game.

 

[Doorknob22]

I mean, sometimes the Dev just wants you to pick the (bad/naughty) choice, rather than the good, pure one. From what you wrote, Wine = Sexy time, while Chocolate = Love. I guess that's one way of having people replay a game.

Not going to derail this interesting discussion into a discussion about Choices in VNs, but in a nutshell, in your example, the player should have some way of knowing that "Wine = Sexy time, while Chocolate = Love" and not guess blindly.

 

[baneini]

All devs using unity or unreal engine should switch to renpy and grace their players with functional saving, menu, dialogue etc. systems.
As for rpgm I still cant fathom why can't the engine manage bringing up menu during cutscenes or battles. Then as for the devs using older versions where you can't even change the window size, they know something I don't.

A little thing I fail to understand is devs not setting the volume to like 30%. They believe hearing some stock rpgm sound file blasting at 100% is ideal way to make first impressions. Again, they know something I don't.

 

[Eagle1900]

A sane default sound volume in games with music. I'd go a bit further and ask for sane audio mastering, but that's not something every dev can or should do.
I positively hate the fact that if I forget to mute the sound at the start of a new game my ears will be raped during the intro.

I was about to say the same thing, you anticipated me. It's really annoying and it's something I can't stand either