Would you play a short, linear game that is part of an anthology?

[DreamBig Games]

Hey everyone,

A few days ago someone asked here if developers have thought or would make a short game that is part of an anthology ( https://f95zone.to/threads/to-vn-de...how-difficult-would-it-be.31726/#post-2030304 ), something like in Game 1 MC seduces a sweet, nice school mate, Game 2 he is seducing the MILF next door ( or he is seduced by her), Game 3 he is seducing a third person, or gets into BDSM, or he pushes the girl from Game 1 into BDSM, and so on.
Thinking about it, I've come to realize that a game like that would not be able to give you many choices, different paths, seducing a character or not, as the whole game is about 1 character and her relation to the MC. Keep in mind that this would be a short game, something along the lines of maybe 1 hour if you actually read the text, not just furious clicking until you find the sex scenes ) .

So, with all that said, is this something that would interest you as a player, and assuming the writing is good, same with the renders, would you see yourself buying/ supporting a game like that? Not sure if you could actually call it a game, as there won't be many choices, maybe something like a simple love/ lust path, in the end, you will have to seduce/ or be seduced, but the renders for each path would be different.

PS: Bellow are some characters that I'm working on for my next project .

 

[DarthSeduction]

To be honest, that sounds like a Life sim that's just being broken into pieces.

 

[DreamBig Games]

To be honest, that sounds like a Life sim that's just being broken into pieces.

Well, yes and no. I mean, in a life sim, you could interact with both/ all characters at the same time ( in the same playthrough), but in something like this, you could not. Or at least in my idea of a life sim, I should be able to interact with anyone, go bdsm or become a monk, all in the same playthrough.
As for something broken into pieces, yes, that is what I think too. The whole anthology could be placed in just 1 game, and force the player to not interact with the MILF until he seduced the schoolmate, and so on. ANd then, instead of releasing a game each month, you would release 1 update/ chapter each month.
But, as I have mentioned, this is not my idea, is what someone else has asked, but he asked the developers if they could make the game, now, I'm asking players if they would play/ support it ( and I am saying support, because, to be honest I have played games that I thought were shity, just because I was very bored, but I am supporting only a couple of games, that I think are deserving of my support )

 

[RanliLabz]

Hey everyone,

A few days ago someone asked here if developers have thought or would make a short game that is part of an anthology ( https://f95zone.to/threads/to-vn-de...how-difficult-would-it-be.31726/#post-2030304 ), something like in Game 1 MC seduces a sweet, nice school mate, Game 2 he is seducing the MILF next door ( or he is seduced by her), Game 3 he is seducing a third person, or gets into BDSM, or he pushes the girl from Game 1 into BDSM, and so on.
Thinking about it, I've come to realize that a game like that would not be able to give you many choices, different paths, seducing a character or not, as the whole game is about 1 character and her relation to the MC. Keep in mind that this would be a short game, something along the lines of maybe 1 hour if you actually read the text, not just furious clicking until you find the sex scenes ) .

So, with all that said, is this something that would interest you as a player, and assuming the writing is good, same with the renders, would you see yourself buying/ supporting a game like that? Not sure if you could actually call it a game, as there won't be many choices, maybe something like a simple love/ lust path, in the end, you will have to seduce/ or be seduced, but the renders for each path would be different.

Sounds interesting... I guess my first question would be whether the MC is the same character in each of the short stories? If so, I'd say it is a game (actually quite a classic sort of game with 'levels'). As far as choices go, you could just make it so players can pick which levels they play - just give some indication of the characters and sex-content involved per level and let them choose or dismiss it, so people that don't like the BDSM can go for the girl-next-door and visa versa.

The only downside on the commercial front would be that you'd probably have to release each level/short story as a full update... assuming that they're reasonably full segments. That might mean long waits between updates and a slow burn of sales - at least at the start. But, frankly, no reason you'd need to limit it to an hour - there are lots of sexy things that can happen in a neighbourhood and 12 levels of around 15 mins gameplay each would probably appeal as long as each gets its money shot in

An alternative - if you don't feel it's enough of a game - is just to make each segment as a comic, turn it into a series and sell it somewhere like Renderotica (60 images, $9.99 or thereabouts seems standard) while making a little extra Patreon/Subscribestar cash on the side from fans who want to keep it going. Blackadder and Erogenesis sound like they make bank that way!

 

[redknight00]

If you have one MC and multiple girls, I agree with Darth that you are effectively doing a broken down sandbox game.

One of the beauties of short stories is that you have more control over the full scope of the story and doesn't have to worry about the consequences since you'll be jumping on another one soon. That means you can explore other character dynamics, multiple MCs, can do all different kinds of choices without worrying about the future, use bad endings, and generally go crazy.

 

[DreamBig Games]

An alternative - if you don't feel it's enough of a game - is just to make each segment as a comic, turn it into a series and sell it somewhere like Renderotica (60 images, $9.99 or thereabouts seems standard) while making a little extra Patreon/Subscribestar cash on the side from fans who want to keep it going. Blackadder and Erogenesis sound like they make bank that way!

I really don't agree with that way of doing things... as soon as I launched on Steam I've closed my patreon account and sent game keys to all backers. And I also disagree with the whole Patreon scheme, especially those devs that place their builds behind a subscription. If you have a free, public build, and the only perk a patreon gets is that he will play the game 2 weeks early, then it's fine, but things like all builds are behind a patreon tier, or 2 months after the patreon release you would get the free build, that is not something that I would do.
As for comics... neah.. I prefer Linear VN. And yes, I'm still not convinced a game like this9, for example, DMD, or GamesOfdesire ) are actual games and not just VNs.... at the end of the day, the only choice you have in DMD if you were not interested in Incest, would have been to quit the game.

 

[Avaron1974]

at the end of the day, the only choice you have in DMD if you were not interested in Incest, would have been to quit the game.

It's not just incest, you don't get a choice of main love interest either and I can't stand the daughter in that game nor the MC to be honest. I couldn't play much of it before her stupidity ground my nerves out and he came across like a creepy groomer trying to bed the young girl.

That being said, an anthology of games could work depending on a few things.

The MC would need to be different or what would be the point?

You go through one game with one girl and get the ending, I assume love would be the goal? So you go through that to see them get all loved up to move on to another girl, makes them superficial and meaningless.

It's also based on how good the story and the girls personalities are. Both need to grip the reader in a linear game with only 1 LI, if one or both fails it won't hold people for very long.

You may think a linear game with only 1 LI would be easy but it's a lot harder. You get 1 chance to convince the reader the girl you've given us is the right choice because without other options she's the selling point.

You have literally put all your eggs in one basket and they better be the best damn eggs we've ever tasted or you'll be left with a shell filled omelette nobody wants to eat ... okay that ran away from me but you get my point. Your girl and your story need to be on point or you've got nothing.

I also assume you'd be going for a male MC so don't take my word for anything, i'm not the biggest fan of male MC games as it is so I may be overly critical.

 

[DreamBig Games]

It's not just incest, you don't get a choice of main love interest either and I can't stand the daughter in that game nor the MC to be honest. I couldn't play much of it before her stupidity ground my nerves out and he came across like a creepy groomer trying to bed the young girl.

That being said, an anthology of games could work depending on a few things.

The MC would need to be different or what would be the point?

You go through one game with one girl and get the ending, I assume love would be the goal? So you go through that to see them get all loved up to move on to another girl, makes them superficial and meaningless.

It's also based on how good the story and the girls personalities are. Both need to grip the reader in a linear game with only 1 LI, if one or both fails it won't hold people for very long.

You may think a linear game with only 1 LI would be easy but it's a lot harder. You get 1 chance to convince the reader the girl you've given us is the right choice because without other options she's the selling point.

You have literally put all your eggs in one basket and they better be the best damn eggs we've ever tasted or you'll be left with a shell filled omelette nobody wants to eat ... okay that ran away from me but you get my point. Your girl and your story need to be on point or you've got nothing.

I also assume you'd be going for a male MC so don't take my word for anything, i'm not the biggest fan of male MC games as it is so I may be overly critical.

I am not planning anything yet. This question is more of a follow up after I've read the other thread ( link in OP ), so right now I'm just asking around to get a feeling if it's worth planing something this.

That being said, I would make something with a male MC ( it's just hard for me to think like a woman, so I know I would fuck it up if I would try to write a story with a female MC, and to be fair Female or Male MC doesn't matter from a project point of view, only for the story ), and yes, once you have won the girl from Game 1, either by love or corruption, in game 2, the same guy would be corrupted/seduced, or the other way around, by his MILF next door. Chapter 3 would see other characters, or maybe a blending from game 1 and 2, with the MILF helping MC to corrupt the schoolmate into threesomes and lesbian sex.

As for the quality of the story, let's assume it would be decent.

 

[Ataios]

In general, I don't care much, if something is one game as part of an anthology or a part of a larger game. However, if the various plots are largely different in genre, I'd prefer the anthology option and play only the parts I'm interested in. If an anthology has e.g. a story about a boy's romance with a school mate, his mother's seduction by a lesbian dominatrix and his father's affair with his teacher, I'd only play the mother's story line and skip the others.

In your example I would strongly recommend getting the MILF to be the submissive part in the BDSM story btw.

 

[Avaron1974]

I'd play one with a dom milf but not a submissive one. I wouldn't be able to take a young dom seriously unless it was a comedy game.

 

[Deleted member 229118]

No i woudnt.
Mass effect cured me of trilogy's/serrie's.

 

[DreamBig Games]

No i woudnt.
Mass effect cured me of trilogy's/serrie's.

) I would say the same....

 

[Ataios]

As for the sub/dom milf: I just find submissive milfs much sexier than dominant ones. Of course the woman or man who dominates her should not be virgin either, just younger than milf and a good learner or natural talent. Frankly I care little how much experience BDSM requires in RL or not as it is not something I'm going to do in RL anyway. In a porn game, dominant woman in her twenties and submissive woman in her forties would be my choice.

A scenario I could well imagine is as an anthology, is what I'd call "King of Kinks". People meet at a BDSM club and share their stories, betting who can pull off the kinkiest adventure. Naturally this would have a lot of fetishes, where you may like some or one, but not likely all, still it would be interesting to a large audience, as you could just skip the story lines you don't like. When a guy tells the story, how his boss stole his wife and he watched via a hidden camera, I'd certainly skip it. If a dominatrix tells the story how she turned her mother into her personal sex slave, I'd certainly play it. If the third person comes up with a story about scat, I'd skip. Maybe the players could even vote, who had the best story.

Sigh, I have a lot of story idea, but unfortunately no programming knowledge.

 

[CarbonBlue]

That being said, an anthology of games could work depending on a few things.

The MC would need to be different or what would be the point?

I'm not sure I agree with that. I would probably prefer different characters in an anthology, but I could easily see someone who is skilled with writing pull off a single protagonist. Perhaps the protagonist is an unreliable narrator. telling stories of his or her conquests. Or the protagonist is being reincarnated. Or jumping through lives a la Quantum Leap.

Either way, the important thing to remember in all of this is that ideas are a dime a dozen. Nolan Bushnell just said on a History Channel documentary something like, "every idiot who's ever taken a shower has had a great idea." It's being able to implement an idea that means something.

 

[batman666]

I'd always take a linear game that's well done over any "open" grind fest that requires a walkthrough to play through. What's important to me though is the freedom of choice concerning who you bang or don't bang. Good example: out of your three shown characters, the one on the left and the one on the right don't appeal to me at all. The middle one though is super freaking hot. Let me get with her but don't force me to bang everyone just because the game is linear.

 

[Saki_Sliz]

Very much yes. I actually am trying to improve how I plan and design games by only making them 30 to 1 hour long. I have no attention span so stuff like this would be perfect for me or those on newgrounds.

 

[Cronicle]

Hey guys , 2 new commisions pics with Myriam

 

[HarveyD]

At the end of the day, the only choice you have in DMD if you were not interested in Incest, would have been to quit the game.

I feel like anyone who isn't interested in incest probably shouldn't of gone to the trouble of even downloading a game called "Dating My Daughter".

You go through one game with one girl and get the ending, I assume love would be the goal? So you go through that to see them get all loved up to move on to another girl, makes them superficial and meaningless.

It's also based on how good the story and the girls personalities are. Both need to grip the reader in a linear game with only 1 LI, if one or both fails it won't hold people for very long.

You may think a linear game with only 1 LI would be easy but it's a lot harder. You get 1 chance to convince the reader the girl you've given us is the right choice because without other options she's the selling point.

You have literally put all your eggs in one basket and they better be the best damn eggs we've ever tasted or you'll be left with a shell filled omelette nobody wants to eat ... okay that ran away from me but you get my point. Your girl and your story need to be on point or you've got nothing.

I feel like all of these points can just as easily be leveled at more sandbox games. Sure, one terribly written LI wont keep you interested in the game. But will 6 terribly written LI's keep you interested?

An anthology would probably work best with different characters in varied situations. Short stories that a dev could use to polish writing and art skills. Play around with any ideas he/she might have and then possibly make one of them into a larger and fuller experience once their skills have improved.

 

[Darkmetal]

What you are describing is "episodic" rather than "anthological." There is nothing wrong with that, it will resemble a TV procedural or Telltale's releases. I would even contend that it has a higher chance of (financial) success than a true anthology.

If you really, really want to make an anthology, what you need to decide and have nailed down first is your universe and your unifying theme (ala Black Mirror or Tales from the Crypt). The characters that will populate it and what will happen in each release can actually be fine tuned later as you go along in this case.

For example, it could be called "Delinquents" and the unifying theme is about a (different) 18 yo released from reform school and returning home, putting you in a position to milk every effing trope there is over and over. (Seriously though, please don't do that ).

It might be "Small town adventures" and the location becomes the unifying theme. Each release featuring the sexual adventures of different inhabitants of said town. Locations and side characters can all be re-used assets (e.g. every time the Sheriff is called, it's always the same Sheriff). Meanwhile, the waitress who appears in a few frames every time someone goes into the coffee shop suddenly becomes the main character in episode 4, and then drops back into a recurring side character again in ep.5 etc. The ability to add whatever fetishes you want will be limitless in this case and not constrained by the fetishises of one MC.

Anyway, just some random thoughts. Good luck with your project.

 

[Volta]

If you were to make use of the breaks then yes go for it, for example use the same guy at different points in his life, his sexual partners at those time and how he develops as a person from say, a high school kid of 18, to a college guy at 21, though a young up and comer at 30 with a job trying to climb the ladder, maybe a 40 something who's life has fallen apart in a divorce and is dating younger girls to feel good about himself again. I could get behind something like that but if the MC is going to be the exact same guy each time with no development or change between games then i'd have more trouble, though if the MC changed between a group of guys, say they were buddies at college and you had a small game with each of them with different personalities and fetishes attached to each, then yeah i'd go for that.

Basically if you're going for that format then make use of it and don't stick with an unchanging MC each time, that would seem no different than a game in instalments, something we already get with every other game, though i have to say a self contained game that is complete after each update does have it's appeal.