What's a game's secret sauce?

[trolololo2]

I've been playing these games long enough, that I've felt inspired to make my own. I've spent the last couple weeks wrapping my head around scripting, DAZ lighting/physics/composition/texturing, and coding. I've been looking up to games like FILF, Man of the House, Echoes of lust, Daughter for Dessert, Light of my life, and many more. These games have a huge following, with great production, great if not decent writing, good CGs with good composition, and mostly good game flow. ....and rightly so, these game studios are raking in thousands a month.

But as I delve deeper into the games on this site, I've noticed a TON of games with AWFUL lighting, plasticy characters, stilted or boring writing, cookie cutter assets, and just generally low effort games. I look at their support pages, and more than half of these games are drawing several hundred, if not thousands a month in revenue. I just can't figure it out.

I won't call out any of these games in particular, but obviously I'm missing something. What is the secret sauce in these crap-tier games? What is it that is driving the appeal of them? If you don't come for the stunning visuals,(artistic or erotic) then I would think you come for the writing, and if not that, then a game mechanic?

 

[Agent HK47]

I think most of the time, people support the fetishes, more than the game. Players have their kinks, and many of those kinks might be hard to find. If they find a game which tailors to their fetish, they might support it, just for sheer hope that it will provide them with more/better content of that fetish in the future, even if the content itself might possibly be lacking in quality. Supply and demand and all that.

Or people are just stupid. In this day and age, that is always something to consider.

 

[trolololo2]

I think most of the time, people support the fetishes, more than the game. Players have their kinks, and many of those kinks might be hard to find. If they find a game which tailors to their fetish, they might support it, just for sheer hope that it will provide them with more/better content of that fetish in the future, even if the content itself might possibly be lacking in quality. Supply and demand and all that.

Or people are just stupid. In this day and age, that is always something to consider.

That's a super solid point. Maybe I should rethink my game. Include some Sonic, MLP, inflation, vore, and NTR feet.

 

[Agent HK47]

That's a super solid point. Maybe I should rethink my game. Include some Sonic, MLP, inflation, vore, and NTR feet.

I think you just do what you feel like. No matter how you make the game, or which fetishes you include, it is never guaranteed that your game will do well. So, you might as well make the game the way you feel like the most, because that way, at least it will have the most heart and passion behind it, which is something that can be felt.

 

[thecardinal]

I've been playing these games long enough, that I've felt inspired to make my own. I've spent the last couple weeks wrapping my head around scripting, DAZ lighting/physics/composition/texturing, and coding.

But as I delve deeper into the games on this site, I've noticed a TON of games with AWFUL lighting, plasticy characters, stilted or boring writing, cookie cutter assets, and just generally low effort games.

Maybe the mistakes are made by people who spent only a couple of weeks developing a skill.

 

[Winterfire]

But as I delve deeper into the games on this site, I've noticed a TON of games with AWFUL lighting, plasticy characters, stilted or boring writing, cookie cutter assets, and just generally low effort games. I look at their support pages, and more than half of these games are drawing several hundred, if not thousands a month in revenue. I just can't figure it out.

I won't call out any of these games in particular, but obviously I'm missing something. What is the secret sauce in these crap-tier games? What is it that is driving the appeal of them? If you don't come for the stunning visuals,(artistic or erotic) then I would think you come for the writing, and if not that, then a game mechanic?

As a talentless individual who has been making garbage for years, I have all the cards to answer that question.

Most would say that it is the constant effort put behind said games, trying and learning as you go... Crazy talk.
The reality is that making games is like playing a FPS, if you have a good aim you'll be good to go, but if you lack that skill... Well, there is only one thing you can do then: Spray and pray.

Unload that magazine in the general direction of your enemy, most bullets will fly past him but if you pray really hard, then the holy spirit will guide said bullets, but only if the enemy is not praying harder... At that point it is a war between faith.
It is the same thing as making games.

The secret sauce is praying hard as you crap a build and then pray even harder when you are dumping it here, this is a christian server and with the right mindset, the light shall shine upon you.
However, make no mistake, this is not a game (and neither is whatever I upload), if you add unholy elements (such as NTR) in your crap, the holy spirit will punish you... Those bullets will fly in your ally, you'll do a team-kill and get kicked out of the server.

 

[Thr3L]

I'm so ashamed to have thought of "cum" as a response when i read the title of this post.

but maybe it is, all those game have it.