Your opinion about text-based slave training games

[Pheontrain]

Hello. Sorry for any rude or misleading sentences. English is not my native language.

I'm planning to start developing a text-based game inspired by Lilith's Throne, Strive for Power/Conquest and many HTML games.
But before starting I would like to know my auditory so I have some questions. If you would like to share your opinion so please do it.

You can answer any questions from the list or describe your general opinion.

1. How is important for you text-quality?
2. Do you prefer long detailed descriptions of every action, location etc, or short and simple?
3. What do you like the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?
4. What do you dislike the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?
5. What world lore do you would like to see in this kind of game (dark fantasy, sci-fi, multiverse, etc )?
6. What fetishes would you like to see in game?
7. What is your opinion about what should have images in this type of games (characters, locations, items, nothing)?
8. What do you think about sex gameplay in Lilith's Throne and Strive for Power/Conquest?
9. Maybe some examples of your most love games with little comment about what you like the most.

 

[DuniX]

The only reason I play "text-based" trainer/management games is for the Gameplay.
Ideally it has image pack support with tags, you don't have to make the packs yourself but you have to support it.
Especially if you make the game more moddable, customizable and the game is replayable enough.

How is important for you text-quality?

I don't care, because I skip it for the most part.

Do you prefer long detailed descriptions of every action, location etc, or short and simple?

Short and simple because it's easy to get the gist and there is less things I need to skip.

What do you like the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?

Actual gameplay and replayability.
If your game is not replayable your value is in the negative because there are plenty of games like that that do have art so there is no reason why you should exist.
"Text based" is not a selling point, it is the opposite of a selling point.

What do you dislike the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?

Precisely the problems with gameplay and replayability.
Only a few games that managed to get it right and most games have no idea what they are doing.

What world lore do you would like to see in this kind of game (dark fantasy, sci-fi, multiverse, etc )?

Don't care.

What fetishes would you like to see in game?

Still no good breeding game successor to Breeding Season.
The closest we have completely forgot what Breeding Season was about along the way.

What is your opinion about what should have images in this type of games (characters, locations, items, nothing)?

Everything but they can be random image packs that are tagged for the Scenes.
At the minimum you at least need the characters but again that can be supported by the modders like with Strive for Conquest character pack.
BG Images shouldn't be that hard to do but also not that important.
Especially with AI CG it's easier than ever to have this kind of image packs.

Basically don't be this. Forget images, that doesn't even have a proper interface and menus, even QSP projects are better then that.

What do you think about sex gameplay in Lilith's Throne and Strive for Power/Conquest?

I don't consider the sex gameplay that good or necessary for this types of games.
They can be done if you have a good idea for it but the more important part is getting the Overall Gameplay right, and most likely that will get in the way of what you have to do.

Maybe some examples of your most love games with little comment about what you like the most.

I go into more detail in this posts:
https://f95zone.to/threads/whats-good-gameplay.153641/post-10663091
https://f95zone.to/threads/game-mechanics.143720/#post-9800616

But short answer is Bifrost is the best in the genre and Brothel King is what I want in terms of customization and modding support, Portals of Phereon best for breeding as well as good rpg game overall that is replayable.

 

[Pheontrain]

The only reason I play "text-based" trainer/management games is for the Gameplay.

Thanks for your answer and links to discussions I agree with you in many ways. I haven't played some of games, so I will try them and analyze them.

 

[Glib_Gentleman]

Hello. Sorry for any rude or misleading sentences. English is not my native language.

Well, you seem pretty well spoken to me, aside from a couple of mistakes in this post.

It could be difficult to do a text-based game in a language that isn't your native one, but from this post, I think you could pull it off with a proof-reader.

1. How is important for you text-quality?

Incredibly important in a text-based game.

In a text-based game, text-quality is sort of THE quality, right? It dramatically effects the experience of the player.

By text-quality I mean a few things:
- No major grammar or spelling mistakes.
- Text should flow smoothly and be easy to read without the reader getting tripped up on meaning.
- Text should be evocative and make it easy to picture the scene that is being described.

2. Do you prefer long detailed descriptions of every action, location etc, or short and simple?

I will give you my absolutely favorite quote on this matter. Normally it is used to tell writers how long to make a paragraph, but it is applicable to descriptions, actions, etc. in a text-based game too.

Your descriptions and text for actions and locations should be "like a woman's skirt" - "long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep things interesting."

3. What do you like the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?

The sheer number of variations and possibilities it allows versus graphics-based games. I would say that Free Cities (especially the Preg-Mod version) is one of the best examples of this type of game. It feels like you can do almost anything, and it has no graphics or pictures at all.

4. What do you dislike the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?

I dislike when game devs make things TOO randomly generated. Some just give you a physical description of a slave, give them some random stat numbers, and say it's good enough. But after a while that leads to all the slaves feeling the same. It's not very enjoyable for me if once you raise a slave's stats the only differences between slaves are hair color or slightly different sized breasts.

To me, part of the enjoyment of the slave-training genre is how different personality types and characters deal with being made slaves. How they react, why they are slaves, etc. One slave may be mind broken and boring, but you may keep another slave's fiery personality intact because it is fun to have them resist, or always obey, but with little indicators of objection, like a glare, etc.

5. What world lore do you would like to see in this kind of game (dark fantasy, sci-fi, multiverse, etc )?

I will say I find the fantasy or dark fantasy genres very over-used for the slave-training genre. Multiverse slave-trainers are an excuse to have ANY slave, and I find them a little silly.

Sci-fi is probably my favorite genre for slave-training, but even modern day would be a refreshing change of pace from all the fantasy settings.

6. What fetishes would you like to see in game?

As many as you can do WELL.

I hate to see fetishes stuffed into a game just for the sake of having a lot of fetishes. I would rather a small amount of fetishes done very well than ALL the fetishes done in an abbreviated and disappointing way.

But my favorite fetishes for slave-training?
Lactation - specifically "hucow" or treating women like diary cattle.
Public nudity or humiliation - making women go naked all the time, even in public settings.
BDSM - making women crave greater and greater restriction.

7. What is your opinion about what should have images in this type of games (characters, locations, items, nothing)?

I think small portraits that can be applied using tags, and allow for image packs will certainly get more people excited about the game, but for me, if the text and gameplay is done well, no graphics are needed.

8. What do you think about sex gameplay in Lilith's Throne and Strive for Power/Conquest?

I view it as a reward for doing well in the slave-training gameplay. After all, the point of training them is to use them for sex, right? Unlocking sexual interactions that feel rewarding is important to me with these types of games.

9. Maybe some examples of your most love games with little comment about what you like the most.

Free Cities with Pregmod is probably my favorite. You can do nearly anything it feels like, and the gameplay and mechanics are well thought out and well done so that it is challenging but doesn't feel too grindy or difficult to enjoy.

 

[chainedpanda]

.... I want to point out the irony of someone concerned about their grammar wanting to create a text based game...

 

[Pheontrain]

.... I want to point out the irony of someone concerned about their grammar wanting to create a text based game...

Yeah, it might be funny, but I am not planing to make VN, or story-based game. I'm planing to make a sandbox, some proofreading should be enough. I have seen games with worse English than mine

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

1. As with most other game types, very important. Even moreso here.
2. Relatively short non-sexual text. I'm not here to read a novel. The sex/fetish text can be longer, including stuff like non-sexual corruption.
3. Gameplay and corruption fetish.
4. I don't like walls of text, and text-based ero-games tend to be full of furry/monster content I don't care for (CoC, TiTS, LT etc.).
5. Not fantasy, ideally not historical. Modern, sci-fi, dieselpunk, all fine.
6. Corruption, maybe hard maledom.
7. It's good to have some images to break up the text and reduce the amount of text-based descriptions needed for locations, characters etc. Ideally not just stolen from some pro-porn or amateur. I'm fine with AI-generated stuff as long as it's not jarring.
8. I like turn-based battlefuck but I'm not too familiar with them. I do think I prefer something more focused, though, not a sandbox with randomized NPCs, but something more like Karryn's Prison or, more to the point, Corrupted Saviors.
9. Corrupted Saviors is the only game of this kind I've spent much time with. It focuses on the characters and corruption rather than locations or exploration. It gives a variety of ways to corrupt characters and has a ton of interactions between the player, characters and each other. It's pretty great once you get over the learning cliff (or cheat), but I would like more images, including for the combat, training and sex.

 

[Doorknob22]

Hello. Sorry for any rude or misleading sentences. English is not my native language.

I'm planning to start developing a text-based game inspired by Lilith's Throne, Strive for Power/Conquest and many HTML games.
But before starting I would like to know my auditory so I have some questions. If you would like to share your opinion so please do it.

You can answer any questions from the list or describe your general opinion.

1. How is important for you text-quality?
2. Do you prefer long detailed descriptions of every action, location etc, or short and simple?
3. What do you like the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?
4. What do you dislike the most of this kind of games (text-based, slave training)?
5. What world lore do you would like to see in this kind of game (dark fantasy, sci-fi, multiverse, etc )?
6. What fetishes would you like to see in game?
7. What is your opinion about what should have images in this type of games (characters, locations, items, nothing)?
8. What do you think about sex gameplay in Lilith's Throne and Strive for Power/Conquest?
9. Maybe some examples of your most love games with little comment about what you like the most.

As a creator, I'm somewhat concerned about bullets 5 and 6. These should come from within you, you can't poll drive and creativity.

 

[Count Morado]

5. What world lore do you would like to see in this kind of game (dark fantasy, sci-fi, multiverse, etc )?
6. What fetishes would you like to see in game?

As a creator, I'm somewhat concerned about bullets 5 and 6. These should come from within you, you can't poll drive and creativity.

Exactly. If you are asking people what they want to see and what their fetishes are, don't make a game. The desire to create a game should come from the creator's vision to create something they want to see. There will always be fans and there will always be critics, no matter what you do. The best thing you can do is be faithful to yourself, your vision, and your own peace of mind.

Saying something to the effect of, "well, yes, I am creating this for me, but I want it to be popular or I want to earn money or..." is a huge red flag. There are 8 billion people in the world. About 5 billion people access the internet. Around 3 billion people play video games that they access online in some way, 2.5 billion are adults. Although there are no official statistics, major adult games on here have had tens and hundreds of millions of downloads, meaning that one could easily make the case that easily 1 billion people have played at least 1 adult video game. Even if only one-thousandth of one percent of them play your game (0.001% - 1 in 100,000 adult video game players), that's still 10,000 players.

Create something you want to see in the world, critics be damned.

 

[SharkVampire]

I see that you mentioned some of the games that inspired you. I've tried a lot of games in this genre, but of all of them, Masters of Raana is the one I enjoyed the most. Reviews and support on patreon also confirms its quality. While it's not entirely text-based, the text still takes up most of this game. So if you want to be somewhat in the trend, I advise you to give it a try. At the very least, you will be able to decide for yourself whether it is worth trying to fight such a competitor or perhaps decide to make the game in some other way, or get some inspiration for your own game.

 

[DuniX]

As a creator, I'm somewhat concerned about bullets 5 and 6. These should come from within you, you can't poll drive and creativity.

Limitations can also breed creativity.
If everyone is tired of the generic fantasy setting that might be an impetus to make that into a constraint and get creative.
Creativity and Problem Solving are the same thing, the corollary to the that is you need a problem first.

If you are asking people what they want to see and what their fetishes are, don't make a game. The desire to create a game should come from the creator's vision to create something they want to see. There will always be fans and there will always be critics, no matter what you do. The best thing you can do is be faithful to yourself, your vision, and your own peace of mind.

People can make games for many reasons, there are things they care about and want to see and things they don't care about that much and are ambivalent whichever way.

Peoples are too obsessed about story, settings and themes when that is not the only thing the game can have.
I will give Brothel King as a example.
It's features are customization, moddability, replayability, gameplay but in terms of characters and setting it is all over the place since the characters themselves are random and you can add whatever you want.

Sure you could have your own "Vision" for your brothel game and that has already been done before but you are losing in customization and moddability then.
And my "Ideal" management game is more towards gameplay and customization.

 

[Pheontrain]

As a creator, I'm somewhat concerned about bullets 5 and 6. These should come from within you, you can't poll drive and creativity.

The game will be created with my vision. I will not concentrate on things that I don't like
About 5: I feel that fantasy is overused, but I love this genre. And I wanted to hear people thoughts. Probably I will make non-classic fantasy world with alter-world traveling. But currently I'm not sure about it.
About 6: I will add and concentrate on my own interests. But if it can be easily done, I can add it as an option (e.g. gay, futa). Also some aspects will be hard to add if at beginning of development it was not planned.

 

[Yngling]

Generally speaking, if you know that something is sub-par compared compared to the competition, another thing needs to be so good that it compensates the weakness. Or, you need a thing which is highly desired by some who don't care about the thing you are poor at.

Text-based games are (by definition) lacking graphics, or at least decent graphics.
The compensate, the story has to be really fantastic.
A fantastic story has several aspects, you'll need to be good at most of them in order to be able to consider the overall result good enough to compensate for lack of images.

The same goes for game engine. Yes, there are good HTML / QSP games (Free Cities has already been mentioned) but the majority sucks. At any rate, it lacks certain functionalities offered by other engines. If you decide to go for HTML, this needs to be compensated as well, like FC is doing.