What's the easier kind of game to develope?

[MrSandman69]

I have been playing adult games for a while and I'm thinking about developing a game. However, I don't know exactly how to start a project. Do you have experience about that? Where should I start? Thank you!!

 

[Deleted member 7941]

For people starting out, there are two tools that I can reccomend:

Twine:
Use it for text based games (it is also possible to include images and video). Twine games are played in the browser and developed in the browser. It is kind of limited in what it can do, but it is easy to use.
Renpy:
Majority of Pr0n games use Renpy these days. It is easy to use, but you need a graphics artist (or you need to be able to do the art yourself).

In an nutshell: If you can do art, use Renpy. If not, use Twine.
Also: Before you start making the game, write the story first. Outline the good/bad endings, choices, and story branches. If you can do this, then actually making the game will become much easier, and you don't need any game engine to do this, just a notebook and a pen.

 

[IM6]

The easiest type of game is probably online/HTML based through adventure creator/TWINE. Basically this model revolves around posting single images with text link choices that lead you to the next page in the same format. Tlaero and Mortze and vdategames.com are probably the best examples of this style. Games like The Company are done in TWINE (and are well done, I might add).

Systems like Ren'py are similar, but less text-heavy. I believe they are more code-heavy, though.

 

[Kyraneth]

Firstly, you need a concept of the game. If you don't have one, you won't create a good thing even with the freindliest engine.

Do you have one? Tell us.

 

[Deleted member 7941]

Renpy is as easy to use as Twine as long as you stick to simple things which have built in support. Of course, you need art to make a game in Renpy.

 

[Nottravis]

Also: Before you start making the game, write the story first. Outline the good/bad endings, choices, and story branches. If you can do this, then actually making the game will become much easier, and you don't need any game engine to do this, just a notebook and a pen.

Double liked and starred if I could. This is the most important point.

It's possible to write on the fly of course - but really not recommended as you -will- end up in a coding mess. Get the ideas and script locked down and that will help you choose the engine as well I suspect.

 

[thecardinal]

Renpy isn't that hard to code if you are leaning towards a visual novel type game.

But most of all be receptive to feedback. People here are helpful if you listen to the constructive criticism.

 

[User_51567]

If you already are talking about that you want to have it easy.... Don't even start making a game and start with learning basic coding, desinging and most importantly writing..

Otherwise i can guarantee that you will be like many many many other "beginning" devs who like to play games and think they can make one of their own just because they have a fun idea..... but only realize after a demo that an idea for 1 scene is only 0.0001% of a game... And just quit because they don't know that to do and/or don't think it's fun and don't make enough money of it (and you won't in the first months).
So here are my tips.

-Start with writing a couple scenes (Writing as in just writing)...... (9 out of 10 people can't even make a simple story for a scene so...)
-If you suceed with that, write a story.....
-Learn how to basic code and design (enough guide on this website, youtube and sites of the software).
-And make sure you have enough money to make a game..... Making a decent game is NOT cheap and will NOT generate money untill you proven yourself ...


I don't mean all the above like an assault of negative..
But there are so many people on this website who think they can make a game because they have 1 horny idea and think that that makes a game..

Making a game is easy.....Making a game that actually works is hard... Making a game that works and is fun, well that's very rare

 

[MrSandman69]

For people starting out, there are two tools that I can reccomend:

Twine:
Use it for text based games (it is also possible to include images and video). Twine games are played in the browser and developed in the browser. It is kind of limited in what it can do, but it is easy to use.
Renpy:
Majority of Pr0n games use Renpy these days. It is easy to use, but you need a graphics artist (or you need to be able to do the art yourself).

In an nutshell: If you can do art, use Renpy. If not, use Twine.
Also: Before you start making the game, write the story first. Outline the good/bad endings, choices, and story branches. If you can do this, then actually making the game will become much easier, and you don't need any game engine to do this, just a notebook and a pen.

Thank you! That's very interesting. I didn't know if that kind of format could be the right one. Something like a visual novel with choices to make can be a great start.

I was checking both Twine and Renpy and probably I will try Renpy. However I have a little fear about the graphic part. I have seen several games with images and text where the images where like 3D format but static. If that would work in Renpy maybe I can handle the graphic part. It's just making the scene and take "the photo", text text text, another photo, and so on right? I saw a subforum here about "Asset Releases" with amazing resources that can make it lot easier. However, am I able to use this resources for public projects, or they have some kind of paid license? On the other hand... is 3D the best visual approach for this kind of games?

Of course I need to pulish the story first. I have several ideas in my head, I just need to order them, I will write it down in paper, thank you for your advice.

The easiest type of game is probably online/HTML based through adventure creator/TWINE. Basically this model revolves around posting single images with text link choices that lead you to the next page in the same format. Tlaero and Mortze and vdategames.com are probably the best examples of this style. Games like The Company are done in TWINE (and are well done, I might add).

Systems like Ren'py are similar, but less text-heavy. I believe they are more code-heavy, though.

I played some great browser games, some good examples that came to my memory are "Urban Voyeur" by CesarGames and "Pandora" by Mortzeart, do you know them?. I have been thinking a lot if is better to make a browser type game or a downloable game, like for PC or even Android. What do you think about it?

Firstly, you need a concept of the game. If you don't have one, you won't create a good thing even with the freindliest engine.

Do you have one? Tell us.

I have several ideas, however I needed to know first the technology in order to be able to know what is possible with my skills and what it isn't. That's the reason for this post

Renpy is as easy to use as Twine as long as you stick to simple things which have built in support. Of course, you need art to make a game in Renpy.

What is the art difference between Twine and Renpy? Why do you say that for Renpy I need art and not for Twine?

Double liked and starred if I could. This is the most important point.

It's possible to write on the fly of course - but really not recommended as you -will- end up in a coding mess. Get the ideas and script locked down and that will help you choose the engine as well I suspect.

Totally agree, I have played games with lots of technical sophistication or great graphics but if the story isn't good... I don't enjoy them and stop playing. However a good story... wow, that's different. So story is first. However I fear that I need to adapt the story a little to my technical capacity. I want this to be a learning process, but I need to start with the basics.

 

[NandabaCanti]

If you are interested in doing a story driven game, then Twine is hard to beat as a starting place, even if you don't plan to use it for the finished game. It has a really nice flow chart style node editor for planning out your story. Each node represents a chunk of your story. It starts you off with 1 node by default, you just need to select it and choose to edit it to get into a simple text editor for that node. To link to other nodes, just add a line of text similar to this:

[[next->next bit]]

The text before the arrow is what gets displayed to the player, the text after the arrow is the name of the new node that will be created automatically for you. If you want multiple choices, just add multiple links, one after another, each on its own line. With this setup, you can quickly map a game's choices in a nice visual chart to have as a reference for what you'll implement in another engine or a starting point if you want to stick with Twine through to the end.

Ren'Py is a great choice for VNs as many have already stated. The only downside to it really is that customizing a new UI can be a bit cumbersome, as you have to basically do it all through a text file and unless I'm missing something, the UI in a running instance of the game doesn't update as you make changes, so you end up having to keep shutting down and relaunching to check your changes, and that turn around of shutting down, editing the text, saving, launching the game and navigating to the bit you want to check takes several seconds, which is a bit annoying to me.

This actually caused me to switch to Godot for my current text game project (despite being a text game, I have a very specific UI layout in mind for the graphics side of things and it will include several unique painted backgrounds for different areas of the story.) Godot has a nice visual editor where you can see your changes immediately and a great built in debugger and a nice text editor with high quality auto complete and even a built in searchable reference for looking up nodes and their methods so you can figure out how to use them. So it speeds things up substantially once you get into it and figure everything out. The downside is that I have to do everything in code, instead of simple markup when it comes to creating the game's content. It isn't really that hard though, GDScript is very easy to learn and is a lot like a game focused version of Python, but it's still definitely a bit tougher than Ren'Py if you've never coded before.

If you want to create more of an RPG and you have no previous experience and don't mind spending a bit of money, RPG Maker can be a decent option. I'd turn to Godot for this as well, but that again will take a fair bit more coding, but offer way more flexibility and almost certainly a better performing and much less buggy finished game in the long run.

 

[MrSandman69]

Renpy isn't that hard to code if you are leaning towards a visual novel type game.

But most of all be receptive to feedback. People here are helpful if you listen to the constructive criticism.

Yes, I think that a visual novel with choices and different paths can be the best model. I have some bases about programming, so I think I can handle a little of code, or learn how to handle it in the process.

About feedback. That is precisely what I enjoy the most of this forum! You make a great community and that was what made me make a step forward to try this. One great example is this topic, with lots of good advises.

If you already are talking about that you want to have it easy.... Don't even start making a game and start with learning basic coding, desinging and most importantly writing..

Otherwise i can guarantee that you will be like many many many other "beginning" devs who like to play games and think they can make one of their own just because they have a fun idea..... but only realize after a demo that an idea for 1 scene is only 0.0001% of a game... And just quit because they don't know that to do and/or don't think it's fun and don't make enough money of it (and you won't in the first months).
So here are my tips.

-Start with writing a couple scenes (Writing as in just writing)...... (9 out of 10 people can't even make a simple story for a scene so...)
-If you suceed with that, write a story.....
-Learn how to basic code and design (enough guide on this website, youtube and sites of the software).
-And make sure you have enough money to make a game..... Making a decent game is NOT cheap and will NOT generate money untill you proven yourself ...


I don't mean all the above like an assault of negative..
But there are so many people on this website who think they can make a game because they have 1 horny idea and think that that makes a game..

Making a game is easy.....Making a game that actually works is hard... Making a game that works and is fun, well that's very rare

That's a very interesting point. I have some ideas that are bigger than just an scene, but I need to order them before starting to program anything.

I wanted to do it as following:

1. I have my ideas, like premises, location, characters... etc (mostly done)
2. I check the kind of game that I can create (in this case I think about something like a visual novel with choices and different paths), the technology needed etc.
3. I complete the story and make some kind of storyboard, adapting it to the technology I am able to use
4. I need to generate resources like graphics, texts... whatever.
5. I put it all together
6. I release a first version with the beginning of the game (like an alpha) and receive feedback
7. Apply that feedback and my ideas to make a better game
8. Continuously improve

In the process I will be able to learn lots of thing for sure. You said that "Making a decent game is NOT cheap and will NOT generate money untill you proven yourself" What kind of investment do I need for the game? Do you think is possible to monetize it in just "months"? I see people earning a lot from Patreon but I see that like lightyears from me. I would like it to be a free to play game, what's your advice about that? I like free stuff and I want to develop something that I would enjoy to play.

 

[MrSandman69]

If you are interested in doing a story driven game, then Twine is hard to beat as a starting place, even if you don't plan to use it for the finished game. It has a really nice flow chart style node editor for planning out your story. Each node represents a chunk of your story. It starts you off with 1 node by default, you just need to select it and choose to edit it to get into a simple text editor for that node. To link to other nodes, just add a line of text similar to this:

[[next->next bit]]

The text before the arrow is what gets displayed to the player, the text after the arrow is the name of the new node that will be created automatically for you. If you want multiple choices, just add multiple links, one after another, each on its own line. With this setup, you can quickly map a game's choices in a nice visual chart to have as a reference for what you'll implement in another engine or a starting point if you want to stick with Twine through to the end.

Ren'Py is a great choice for VNs as many have already stated. The only downside to it really is that customizing a new UI can be a bit cumbersome, as you have to basically do it all through a text file and unless I'm missing something, the UI in a running instance of the game doesn't update as you make changes, so you end up having to keep shutting down and relaunching to check your changes, and that turn around of shutting down, editing the text, saving, launching the game and navigating to the bit you want to check takes several seconds, which is a bit annoying to me.

This actually caused me to switch to Godot for my current text game project (despite being a text game, I have a very specific UI layout in mind for the graphics side of things and it will include several unique painted backgrounds for different areas of the story.) Godot has a nice visual editor where you can see your changes immediately and a great built in debugger and a nice text editor with high quality auto complete and even a built in searchable reference for looking up nodes and their methods so you can figure out how to use them. So it speeds things up substantially once you get into it and figure everything out. The downside is that I have to do everything in code, instead of simple markup when it comes to creating the game's content. It isn't really that hard though, GDScript is very easy to learn and is a lot like a game focused version of Python, but it's still definitely a bit tougher than Ren'Py if you've never coded before.

If you want to create more of an RPG and you have no previous experience and don't mind spending a bit of money, RPG Maker can be a decent option. I'd turn to Godot for this as well, but that again will take a fair bit more coding, but offer way more flexibility and almost certainly a better performing and much less buggy finished game in the long run.

I saw Twine and I confess that this graphic interface is tempting:

Do you mean this boxes? This looks very intuitive for making paths. I was thinking about a program called xmind for my storyboard, but maybe Twine is the same, and I can be creating the game at the same time.

I wonder... Can you recomend me a Twine made game for check it out?

 

[User_51567]

Yes, I think that a visual novel with choices and different paths can be the best model. I have some bases about programming, so I think I can handle a little of code, or learn how to handle it in the process.

About feedback. That is precisely what I enjoy the most of this forum! You make a great community and that was what made me make a step forward to try this. One great example is this topic, with lots of good advises.



That's a very interesting point. I have some ideas that are bigger than just an scene, but I need to order them before starting to program anything.

I wanted to do it as following:

1. I have my ideas, like premises, location, characters... etc (mostly done)
2. I check the kind of game that I can create (in this case I think about something like a visual novel with choices and different paths), the technology needed etc.
3. I complete the story and make some kind of storyboard, adapting it to the technology I am able to use
4. I need to generate resources like graphics, texts... whatever.
5. I put it all together
6. I release a first version with the beginning of the game (like an alpha) and receive feedback
7. Apply that feedback and my ideas to make a better game
8. Continuously improve

In the process I will be able to learn lots of thing for sure. You said that "Making a decent game is NOT cheap and will NOT generate money untill you proven yourself" What kind of investment do I need for the game? Do you think is possible to monetize it in just "months"? I see people earning a lot from Patreon but I see that like lightyears from me. I would like it to be a free to play game, what's your advice about that? I like free stuff and I want to develop something that I would enjoy to play.

For your last question..
Well it's very simple..... In order to make money you have to spend money.

Sure you can use basic models/environments and object that are pretty much "free" but you have to think about the following.
What do people who play these games want to see (You say you like these games so that's easy for you).
Do you want to see Models that are in 25 other games OR do you want to see original content.
Well, i can say the following things.
-The most profitable projects on this site and others are the ones with original content.
-Projects with GFX that are in 20 other games fail 9 times out of 10 even before the first few updates.

If i look at a topic and i see preview pics where there are copies of models i willl not even play it.
For me (and others) that show a lack of creativity, and if you are already lacking on those parts the other parts will not be very better ..
Now i don't say that you have to spend thousands of dollars like me on models, but with 100 dollars you can make a couple very nice Chars with DaZ that are 100% original.

But the most important thing is.
Do you have a job besides this game?..... Because i will tell you right now...the first couple months you won't make any money (or barely).
For Example Kuggazer on Patreon... he started over a year ago with his game and only recently past the 1.000 dollar mark on his Patreon.

You should think about this as a hobby, as fun for YOU... Not as work

 

[NandabaCanti]

I used Twine to make the text demo for my main project, it can be found

You must be registered to see the links

. I think it should be possible to download it and open it up in Twine, but I've never tried before. I really enjoy planning branching stories in it because of how quick and easy it is to work with and the nice flow chart for visualizing the paths. The only downside I saw with it is that it didn't have a spell checker, I think though if you were to install one for chrome/chromium then it would take advantage of it. The only other minor issue with it is that you are limited to html based output. You could potentially wrap it with a minimal browser instance for a stand alone game, but that isn't supported and seems rather finicky from what I've read from others who've gone through the hassle. If you don't mind having to host the game online somewhere (like itch.io) and only getting to play through a browser, then it isn't that big of a drawback, but still something to be aware of.

 

[MrSandman69]

For your last question..
Well it's very simple..... In order to make money you have to spend money.

Sure you can use basic models/environments and object that are pretty much "free" but you have to think about the following.
What do people who play these games want to see (You say you like these games so that's easy for you).
Do you want to see Models that are in 25 other games OR do you want to see original content.
Well, i can say the following things.
-The most profitable projects on this site and others are the ones with original content.
-Projects with GFX that are in 20 other games fail 9 times out of 10 even before the first few updates.

If i look at a topic and i see preview pics where there are copies of models i willl not even play it.
For me (and others) that show a lack of creativity, and if you are already lacking on those parts the other parts will not be very better ..
Now i don't say that you have to spend thousands of dollars like me on models, but with 100 dollars you can make a couple very nice Chars with DaZ that are 100% original.

But the most important thing is.
Do you have a job besides this game?..... Because i will tell you right now...the first couple months you won't make any money (or barely).
For Example Kuggazer on Patreon... he started over a year ago with his game and only recently past the 1.000 dollar mark on his Patreon.

You should think about this as a hobby, as fun for YOU... Not as work

I was thinking about using existing models as a base. For example a character, and then I can edit it, like colors, shapes... etc, not just copy and paste. What do you think about this approach?

On the other hand, I already have my incoming sources of money, I work as a freelancer for several clients in stuff like website development, content creation etc, so I have it covered. This game project can start, as you say, as a hobby (that was indeed my original idea, more like a way of learning new things that a "modus vivendi"). However if with the time it generates somehow enough money to pay itself... I can use more time in it.

As a freelancer I have variable incomes, if a project like this can provide in a couple of years from now an stable 1000€ income mothly, and I have learned something in the process, that would be incredible, but for the moment I need to make a long trajectory before that.

 

[MrSandman69]

I used Twine to make the text demo for my main project, it can be found

You must be registered to see the links

. I think it should be possible to download it and open it up in Twine, but I've never tried before. I really enjoy planning branching stories in it because of how quick and easy it is to work with and the nice flow chart for visualizing the paths. The only downside I saw with it is that it didn't have a spell checker, I think though if you were to install one for chrome/chromium then it would take advantage of it. The only other minor issue with it is that you are limited to html based output. You could potentially wrap it with a minimal browser instance for a stand alone game, but that isn't supported and seems rather finicky from what I've read from others who've gone through the hassle. If you don't mind having to host the game online somewhere (like itch.io) and only getting to play through a browser, then it isn't that big of a drawback, but still something to be aware of.

Wow, amazing job, you have a very interesting story between hands.

 

[NandabaCanti]

I couldn't figure out a way to make the main file downloadable for that text demo on itch.io. So I just zipped up a copy and uploaded that as well, and that can be downloaded. If you just unzip it and then chose that html file in Twine, it should open it up just fine.

 

[Agnaricson]

Hiya! I am, like yourself, brand new to making games. I played around with Honey Select a couple years back, and only recently figured out that there's tons of mods for it. Vanilla HS is pretty shit, imo. But if you play around with it, you can get pretty decent art and animations. So if you want to start easy, I suggest using that (you can download it

You must be registered to see the links

). Be careful if you plan on starting a patreon, though. Pretty sure using it for profit is frowned upon by Illusion.

Also, there's tons of tutorials on how to use

You must be registered to see the links

on YouTube - that's how I got into it. I have absolutely 0 experience in coding and programming, but it's pretty straight forward (depending on how complex you want to make your game).

Tip #1: Have a game plan for how you want to progress the production. I have HS open on one monitor, for poses/art, and Ren'Py on the other, for dialogue/script. (My game is reeally straight forward, mind you...). Write a draft of your script/story first, then start making it. Have a game-plan, man!

Tip #2: Use your community. Ask for advice, suggestions, make polls, spark an interest for your game. Make it interesting!

Tip #3: Most importantly: Have fun. Don't like some of the feedback you get? Screw'em. This is your game, your product and your vision. Nobody liked The Beatles when they started either. Now look at'em. (Half of them are dead? Ugh...)

Anyways, glad to have you onboard the developement cruise! Enjoy the ride, and please - for the love of god - don't make a 0.1 and call it. I hate that.

 

[Nottravis]

Tip #3: Most importantly: Have fun. Don't like some of the feedback you get? Screw'em. This is your game, your product and your vision.

THIS.

Feedback in respect to mechanics or how the game actually works you -should- consider taking on board (A good example is Fashion Business where the Dev reworked it and it is now significantly better).

But feedback with regards to what the game should contain? Nah. By all means listen to opinions if you want, as you might get some ideas, but don't let others feedback on what they want to see end up driving you towards making a game that you actually have no interest in making.

 

[Chekhovs_Ghost]

Make the game you would be happy about having made if nobody played it.

It's like dancing; it goes best when there's nobody watching.