Ren'Py What makes you play a game?

[Crunch.E.Cake]

Hi everyone hope you're all doing good.
I'm interested in developing a simple sandbox game with day/night cycle and wanted to get some ideas on what makes you want to play and what makes you annoyed/mad.

For eg. I hate senseless grinding just to get to 1 or 2 simple scenes. It feels like devs do it on purpose to beef up their game times. One of the things i want to do is keep things simple so I'm not gonna include things like 4-5 resources to manage.

I'm also gonna focus more on the sex scenes rather than just walls and walls of text.

What about you guys, what makes/breaks a sandbox for you? Minigames, grinding, slow/short updates, senseless writing, etc.

 

[eevkyi]

Regardless of any suggestions from others, create something you could effortlessly play for dozens of hours and be captivated by at least some of the characters. Since it's impossible to please everyone, at least create something that won't leave you bored halfway through development.

Personally, I don't like grinding either, but I also don't like sex scenes thrown in without a reasonable plot tying them together. Regarding minigames, I almost always find them annoying, so I prefer them all to be optional.

 

[Idyllune]

Similar to what eevkyi said, I don't care for "sex scenes thrown in without a reasonable plot". For me, the whole point of adult games is to get more out of the gooning experience. If BG3 or Skyrim had more sex, they'd be all the better for it. Without a good game, I care little about the lewd.

Coming from a heavy MMO background, I can get past a lot of grinding if the payoff is worth it. A few bad design decision doesn't completely nuke a game for me, I can almost always ignore them if the game itself has something going for it.

In the game I'm making, I had mini-games at first. I realized they were quite literally just filler and I hated playing them - so I nuked em all. Instead, I just hyper focused on my priority, TBS combat. I like combat and at minimum, mine is atleast on par with FF1

What makes me play a game? It's a good game.

 

[Crunch.E.Cake]

Similar to what eevkyi said, I don't care for "sex scenes thrown in without a reasonable plot". For me, the whole point of adult games is to get more out of the gooning experience. If BG3 or Skyrim had more sex, they'd be all the better for it. Without a good game, I care little about the lewd.

Coming from a heavy MMO background, I can get past a lot of grinding if the payoff is worth it. A few bad design decision doesn't completely nuke a game for me, I can almost always ignore them if the game itself has something going for it.

In the game I'm making, I had mini-games at first. I realized they were quite literally just filler and I hated playing them - so I nuked em all. Instead, I just hyper focused on my priority, TBS combat. I like combat and at minimum, mine is atleast on par with FF1

What makes me play a game? It's a good game.

that's cool, i'm thinking of making turn based too! the only grinding in my game will just be for levelling up and finding equipment from defeated enemies if players want to go for a full matching set. Other than that, no currency, no upgrade resources, etc. For the plot, i'll have one but i was more referring to how some devs force dialogue to meet a word count and having played 90% story games growing up, i've realised short and sweet are what i like.

when it comes to the main gameloop, for me it'd be something like fight>level up/train>new equipment>sex/story scene>fight, would you prefer if the game included elements of sex/sexualized or would you prefer a somewhat more serious gameplay with the payoff being sex.
Don't know if worded right so: Sexy gameplay - yes or no?

 

[TSSG59]

Since you ask, remember not everyone is a teenager with reactions akin to a praying mantis.
Some of us have joints that creak when we move so no stupid games against the clock.
I can't even remember how many games I've deleted because the dev. decides to stick some stupid game against the clock right in the middle of the game and that means hours of wasted effort for me.
Sandbox, OK but please check which get good reviews and which don't to give you some idea of how to proceed.
Some sandbox are virtually impossible to follow without some form of hint or guide.
I tend to avoid most sandbox games because so many are badly done.

 

[Crunch.E.Cake]

Since you ask, remember not everyone is a teenager with reactions akin to a praying mantis.
Some of us have joints that creak when we move so no stupid games against the clock.
I can't even remember how many games I've deleted because the dev. decides to stick some stupid game against the clock right in the middle of the game and that means hours of wasted effort for me.
Sandbox, OK but please check which get good reviews and which don't to give you some idea of how to proceed.
Some sandbox are virtually impossible to follow without some form of hint or guide.
I tend to avoid most sandbox games because so many are badly done.

that's mainly why i want to keep things simple. only day and night with a simple turnbased combat system that doesn't demand too much grinding and whatnot. I personally hate timed minigames or choices too (witcher 3). I've got 20-60 sec minigames in my head right and they won't be time wasters/fillers but actually contribute to the gameplay.

 

[Renderedthoughts]

The games I mostly keep in my mind, were usually the ones that had more of a slow burn type, or at least not 0-100 immediately. Even though it doesn't have to be with walls of text, which I also don't like - only if it's placed and paced right. Without a good implementation of the Characters, it's hard for me personally to get immersed with the game. If the only attribute is "horny", I usually loose interest pretty fast, especially for more story driven novels of course.

 

[Idyllune]

that's cool, i'm thinking of making turn based too! the only grinding in my game will just be for levelling up and finding equipment from defeated enemies if players want to go for a full matching set. Other than that, no currency, no upgrade resources, etc. For the plot, i'll have one but i was more referring to how some devs force dialogue to meet a word count and having played 90% story games growing up, i've realised short and sweet are what i like.

when it comes to the main gameloop, for me it'd be something like fight>level up/train>new equipment>sex/story scene>fight, would you prefer if the game included elements of sex/sexualized or would you prefer a somewhat more serious gameplay with the payoff being sex.
Don't know if worded right so: Sexy gameplay - yes or no?

Sexy gameplay - no.

I know a lot of adult games that mix the two, and a lot of people enjoy that. However, it's rare for me to enjoy the lewd content when I'm thinking/worrying about gameplay.

Imoutou Fantasy, Parasite Black, Four Elements, Third Crisis, Karryn, etc. I much prefer having gameplay and lewd coexist rather than stepping on each others feet.

Tales of Androgyny, Spirit Valley - things like that a fine. But it's far from ideal fighting Mike Tyson while trying to goon.

 

[HabitualLineStepper]

What makes you play a game?

For me it's a few things.

#1 is Gameplay.

I prefer games that reward me for either my choices or my stats/money.

#2 is Writing.

The dialogue doesn't need to be written by someone with a degree in literature from Oxford, but good consistent story telling goes a long way.

#3 is Kinks.

It's an adult game so people are going to expect some adult content, kinks are a big part of that. For instance, I always give Netori games a chance unless the artwork is too odd or anime inspired.

#4 is Artwork.

I understand that Art work is what brings in the mass of casual gamers, but I feel like an adult game (not a novel) should put all the other aspects I listed ahead of art work. I've seen games with medicore art work leave lasting impressions on gamers for their gameplay, writing, and kinks. But you rarely hear positive comments about very visually stunning games with bad game play, bad writing, and little to no kinks.

Side Note: I never bother with Anime games, I am not a fan of the general Japanese art style (and story telling too if I am being honest tbh, the writing and art work generally tend to be too exaggerated). But unlike the Anime art style, I do find myself playing Japanese art style games when the dialogue is a lot tamer and more realistic.