Why are most Transformation/Sissy games HTML only?

[ilovenudemods]

With the exception of a game like Two Sides and a handful of others, why is there such a shortage on VN or RPGM transformation games? There's a good selection of games in this genre, but they're all HTML games and I couldn't be less interested in most of those. (Seriously, do a "transformation" keyword search and look at all of the HTML hits) I'm talking about games where you start as a male and change into a female or fem male/sissy, either by choice or strange circumstance, and are then presented with suddenly being hit on by males, sexual encounters with males, etc. There are a few others where you are trans and then your only options are futa chicks, but those don't really scratch the itch I'm looking to scratch as I personally find futa stuff to be silly. Even Two Sides gets a bit weird with the whole sister angle, who looks way too young for my taste, and which kind of turns me off from even wanting to download the game at all.

I'm looking for suggestions of good transformation games I'm missing, or possible explanations as to why most trans games are HTML? Is it just easier to do than having to show a character who changes appearance over time? Or is it a homophobic thing? Or all of the above or something else altogether? It seems like a subject that many people are interested in playing around with, so some titles that explore it could be quite popular if done right. I can't remember the name off hand, but I was playing a really enjoyable one awhile back where one member of a police force got transformed from a male to female. It was an anime artstyle, but really well done, with great writing and sound and story. However it wasn't until I was about 2 hours in that I realized it was also a "no sexual content" game, which halted my experience. I play porn games for porn!

Anyways, thanks for any good game suggestions or conversation to follow.

 

[the_unseen]

Well, most of transformation games arrive here from:

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You can check there for particular transformations you're interested in, game engine, etc.

 

[Chel]

Well, it's just easier to display pictures/gifs of porn and sadly we haven't gotten many people who would actually want to put effort into transformation games.

Now the only question i have is where you took the "Or is it a homophobic thing?" part.

 

[Tataro]

Cause its a kink that is hard to replicate in self made art. You'd need to make a male model, a feminized 1, 2, 3, 4 or whatever the level of feminization be at that point, then do art for every situation you'll be in and every outcome. Its nonlinear. Not to mention that since it caters to latent homosexuality like cuckoldry games it's not that popular since the population is low. Speaking as an outsider thats my perspective on it

 

[baneini]

Russian porn game community has particular game engines they like, probably something to do with documentation and guides in their language. Russia as we all know bans promoting homosexuality to children and are generally a very homophobic society, so they cope with making every game have transformation. Also they steal the porn part of their games since communism and lack of fear of being copyright struck/not having money to pay an artist.

This leads to lots of html tf games with stolen live action porn content.

 

[redknight00]

It's a very niche genre, no surprise it's hard to find full rendered games in it.

 

[ilovenudemods]

Well, it's just easier to display pictures/gifs of porn and sadly we haven't gotten many people who would actually want to put effort into transformation games.

Now the only question i have is where you took the "Or is it a homophobic thing?" part.

Well, I should have clarified better, perhaps. I am interested, typically, in female protagonist games. If I am going to play as a male, even a male transforming into a female, I want M/M content to be present and prevalent in the game I'm playing. I want to play the guy down on his luck who has to suck a cock for money in a dark alley. These types of things are often times omitted in lieu of a female looking sissy character who sucks off futagirls because otherwise it's 'too' gay. I see it all the time.

Since I made this thread, I have checked out a few HTML games, The Repurposing Center" and "Friends of Mine" and I've actually enjoyed myself. But neither of them quite scratched the itch as they start getting pretty unrealistic or aren't completed and lack content. So I'm open to any suggestions of slow or somewhat realistic transformations (a science experiment gone wrong is OK to get the transformation started, but that's about as sci-fi as I'm into!) So yeah, maybe I'm digging for niche-on-niche stuff here, but if you don't ask, you won't know!

 

[ilovenudemods]

Cause its a kink that is hard to replicate in self made art. You'd need to make a male model, a feminized 1, 2, 3, 4 or whatever the level of feminization be at that point, then do art for every situation you'll be in and every outcome. Its nonlinear. Not to mention that since it caters to latent homosexuality like cuckoldry games it's not that popular since the population is low. Speaking as an outsider thats my perspective on it

Yeah, pretty much what I figured. But since I don't have people to talk about these games with, it's nice to hear someone else say what I thought was the reason. Thanks for the reply.

 

[ilovenudemods]

It's a very niche genre, no surprise it's hard to find full rendered games in it.

Compared to the mainstay genres, sure, but I think more than that, it's a niche that not a lot of people are willing to admit they are interested in to others, more than anything else. But in the same way that gay porn is most viewed in the bible belt of the US, I think there's a lot of interest in it, just not publicly. Which means not a lot of monetary or public support is typically given to the devs of this genre. From what I've seen on Patreon anyways, Two Sides is the only 'transformation' game that has gotten a ton of support, and I really think it's more because of the young looking sister that it's gotten as far as it has, not because of the gay content.

I'm not necessarily into playing as a male who is magically transformed into a female as much as I am into a guy who is pushed into situations (corruption/blackmail/necessity situations) where he must do certain things to survive or to make ends meet. This can transform the player into something different than he started from, which can include physical appearance changes of course, but always keep a heavy focus on the mental changes first and foremost.

 

[Akatriel]

It's a really interesting question. Here are my thoughts:

- TF is a sub-genre of another sub-genre. Most devs of this micro-genre are focused around just one discussion board. When you have this acute amount of specialization and only a handful of devs, everyone is aware of everyone else in the field. If one game get's universal praise from the who microcosm (Like Perverted Education) it becomes the yardstick and to measure every subsequent game and the template in how to make a successful game. Just look at the dev forums on here, every other post is someone wanting to make a Renpy game using Daz renders. Because it's been proven successful. Just look at this years E3 and the amount of announced Battle Royale games. One person innovates and creates a new genre, all the others imitate and iteratively polish.

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is interesting because it has a fully searchable archive. There are currently
582 HTML games there. Number 1. What's number 2? RAGS (279)

RAGS used to be the defacto engine for them. It's a weird, eccentric and dated engine but it offered everything they needed. But then...

- Middleware hit the scene. HTML is not actually the game engine. No-one is tracking variables in <BODY> tags. Usually, it's Sugarcube (Twine v2) that runs inside a browser. These free middle-ware game engines offer all the features RAGS does, without the user needing to install additional software.

- No-one is going to spend a lot of money and time on a sub-sub-genre with an audience of 0.00001% (or whatever) of the total gaming industry. You make money in a sub-genre by developing a punk band economy. Low dev costs and a small but die-hard audience. HTML has no barrier to entry and it's free.

- HTML suits the style of game. These TF games are typically text and option heavy.

Go and try a really old game called Cursed.

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It's made in RAGS and 5 years ago was the most popular game on the site. It's a brilliant game but the engine is really difficult to use nowadays. You could re-make Cursed in Sugarcube for a far better end user experience and lose non of the functionallity

 

[ilovenudemods]

It's a really interesting question. Here are my thoughts:

Go and try a really old game called Cursed.

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It's made in RAGS and 5 years ago was the most popular game on the site. It's a brilliant game but the engine is really difficult to use nowadays. You could re-make Cursed in Sugarcube for a far better end user experience and lose non of the functionallity

Thanks for the suggestion. This is the first RAGS game I've tried and yeah, wow. It just feels old and clunky in this format. But I will give it a try. Thank you!

 

[uradamus]

There are definitely some Japanese VNs out there that could probably scratch your itch.

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If the transformation thing isn't an absolute necessity and you don't mind just playing as a really slutty female protagonist who spends the game hooking up with dudes, then

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is worth a look too.

EDIT: Those last two in the main list are actually trap games, but the content seemed close enough to what you were after so I figured I'd toss them in the mix.

 

[ilovenudemods]

There are definitely some Japanese VNs out there that could probably scratch your itch.

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

If the transformation thing isn't an absolute necessity and you don't mind just playing as really slutty female protagonist who spends the game hooking up with dudes, then

You must be registered to see the links

is worth a look too.

EDIT: Those last two in the main list are actually trap games, but the content seemed close enough to what you were after so I figured I'd toss them in the mix.

Appreciate those suggestions very, very much! I've actually been enjoying

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quite a bit, even for a more HTML type experience. It starts to get pretty repetitive, but it's cool. I actually love me some Nymphomania Paradox, it's one of my favorites, so I think you're right in the pocket of what I'm looking for. Thanks again.

 

[FoxLust]

Because its easier to make and fun to play