thaumx
patreon
Simulated Cities
🕑 Added 2017-10-20 14:23:30 +0000 UTC This is a long post, but I think that it will be a good read. It's hopefully not boring, and definitely informative; it talks about the design of Accidental Woman.I wanted to take a moment to talk a bit about games, and why I'm going into detail in many areas (like the PC's budget) that aren't exactly erotic. I wouldn't blame you if you were thinking something along the lines of "This is supposed to be a porn game, why is he working on X?"
A good portion of the answer lies in the nature of simulation games and porn themselves. People play simulation games--and watch porn--for different reasons, and they're interested in different things. People are interested in different kinks and different gameplay elements, and they play or watch for different reasons at different times.
The best example that I think most people will be familiar with is the SimCity series. (Pictured above is SimCity 1, play for free here!) SimCity is one of those games that makes a perfect example of how people play simulation type games. (A modern variant of the simulation genre is the sandbox game, though I won't get into detail on what distinguishes the two.) When someone plays a simulation game like SimCity, they can do it for any number of reasons, many of which they create themselves. In SimCity, some people are interested in the challenge of building a city. Some are interested in making a "perfect" city. Some people like being creative and building an interesting city, while others like testing the limits with really strange cities. The list goes on and on when it comes to simulation games.
Porn, and porn games in particular, share this multifaceted nature in regard to the way they are experienced. The amount of variation starts to get crazy when you throw in the various sets of kinks that players are into!
There's an often-unrecognized aspect to erotic games that have a wider scope, and that's detail. This element is even more critical to simulation-type games, though often players don't realize what exactly is wrong when it's missing. Freedom and imaginative gameplay demand it, but it's easy to overlook when we think of games as porn. That feeling that a game is too shallow can be pretty obviously attributed to a lack of detail, but it can also result in a game feeling repetitive, grindy, limiting, restrictive, or slow, among others.
Often in porn games we attribute this to a lack of sex scenes, or another obvious element, but I think that the root cause comes down to detail. If you've ever been playing a game, tried to do something, but found that you either couldn't or that you could but that there was no result, you've run into a lack of detail. It really takes the fun out of a game.
Erotica, particularly story-driven games like AW and countless others, has a strong element of fantasy. It gives you the opportunity to experience things vicariously, try things you wouldn't in real life, and generally just cater to your own personal kinks. This also leads to some disappointment. I'm sure many of you have played an erotic game that really grabbed your attention, but then suddenly found yourself disappointed, or wishing that there was more somehow. Even when a game lets you do parts of your own fantasies, it quickly becomes a let-down when there is no detail behind it. As an example, how many games let you get your character addicted to something, only to find out that the addiction doesn't really have any consequences or impact beyond some inconvenience to gameplay?
It's a bit difficult to recognize, in part because people's expectations and fantasies are different, which leads to a different experience of that same "missing something" feeling.
This issue has been a major part of my thought process while designing Accidental Woman. In fact, I didn't start work on planning or designing AW until I had a solution. That solution is why I've been adding detail routinely to everything. While this is also partly because different people are interested in different aspects of a simulation (some people care a lot about clothes perhaps, while others couldn't care less), the biggest factor is creating a structure that allows detail and consequences to happen.
Why do you have to clean your house? So that NPCs can notice that it has become a hoarder's nest because you've been too busy doing X to clean. Why is there a budget? So that losing your job, developing an expensive habit, being conned, etc have degrees of consequence beyond a simple "end of the month, can't pay rent, game over" bad end. These non-erotic aspects of daily life, like waking up in time for work, cleaning, bills, etc aren't there to be erotic by themselves. They also aren't there out of some attempt to be a real-life-simulator with some sex thrown in. They exist to provide meaning and detail to the erotic aspects of the game, giving them more depth and providing room for those fantasy scenarios we dream up. They also open up opportunities for other scenarios. Why else would a sane person sign up for shady drug trials if not because they need money?
The important sticking point is that all this detail can't bog down play and take away the fun. That was another major part of my thought process with AW. Most of the mechanics you see are designed so that they are skippable and automatic, taking up very little time if the player isn't interested, but allowing more control if they are. The key point with my design is that most of these processes are automatic and mostly out of sight... until they aren't. And when they aren't, they're part of one of those aforementioned consequences. You won't have to give much thought to having your character go to sleep at night, until your late nights partying starts making you late to work, and your rushed mornings lead to a slovenly appearance that annoys your employer.
This sort of reward and punishment use of increasing complexity has been used pretty successfully in some mainstream games (particularly sims), but I've never seen it in an erotic game. I can't point to an erotic game and say "Look, that's what I'm doing, the concept works!" Despite that, the fact that it works in other games is a good indication that it can work for an erotic game. I also really believe that it might be a solution to that "missing element" that so many of us have noticed in other erotic games.
This kind of detail isn't easy, but I'm pretty confident I can do it thanks to all your support. For all of you getting worried about me focusing too much on non-erotic aspects of the game, you can rest assured that it's all for a very erotic purpose! ;)
Comments
Garbargle
I completely agree. I love when games like this keep the consciences realistic and make us really think about if we want to go through with something.
ThaumX
Avoiding the annoying aspect of too much micromanagement is a big deal to me too. It might result in the game being easy, but I think AW is more about exploring (and ero!) than being a challenge anyway.
Doctor Fate
A game that has romance(sex) is good but a game that has much more is great; for example: the Dragon Age/Mass Effect and even the Witcher series(does it even better than bioware) do this wonderfully. They have sex in the game but it fits well with the plot, it isn't just some random event that happens there's a reason and a build up to it. I can see this game pulling of the same thing, and I can only hope that you go through with this in a manner that makes the game fun as hell. Anyway keep up the great work.
paiden yen
So many developers focus only on the porn and let everything else fall to the wayside. The fact that you're focusing on other areas as well is a good thing imo.
R
While a detailed and fleshed out setting with believable characters is absolutely essential to me (muh immershun), too much detail can also be a bad thing, especially if it involves a lot of micromanagement. I'm all for having a certain number of stats/bars to manage, as long as it's not at the level of The Sims where you have so many "needs" to manage that there's no time for anything else. And you just keep repeating satisfying those same needs every day until the day your sim dies (or you do).
Branos
I was really frustrated by the lack of background stories un today's porn. I loved 80's-90's erotism because it was linked to something credible. Without background porn is just like fastfood. Quick and tasteless. So I thank you for going in the roght direction considering this aspect of erotism !
ThaumX
I can't wait to get started on the sex scenes. NPC generation is going to be interesting for sure, I'm expecting about 450 variables for each NPC, so it's going to take some concentration! ^-^
ThaumX
I'm definitely going to try and get art for the player that accounts for customization, starting with the player's face. I'd also like to have similar body art for NPCs. There won't be any animation because that would be too difficult to do with the amount of PC/NPC customization, or it would just be generic, and that's pretty unappealing to me.
ThaumX
I'm a fan of Girl Life as well, but have the same problem with it that you do.
Aketemo
Personally what drew me the most to AW (a lot of things did, but this one stands out the most for me) is the prospect of being able to choose whatever path you want your character to take while also having mechanics behind it to support that path. Plus I'm sure that the fact there will be random NPCs will just add to the replayability of it.
shmerlin33
The attention to detail is what got me turned on to AW. That aspect is missing in countless adult games and I’m happy that you’re taking the time to make it a rich environment with another important aspect... the ability to play it over and over again! I just have one quick question, will we see our character and npc’s animated, or will this be primarily a text based game due to the massive amount of randomness of the images.
DigitalBits
I've been playing girl life a lot, it's what drew me in to look for more games such as AW. I think the thing that draws me back is it gives me the freedom to play around in a simulation, with the detail most of the other games lack. Most adult games are just playing around in someone else's story, or some gameplay element and no story whatsoever. However while it has the detail, it feels way too grindy. I keep playing because there is no finished alternative. If I do the same thing every morning, then there should be the ability to automate it. Hentai High School is similar, less grindy since there is less to take care of, but the problem with HHS is lacking events, so after you play through once it gets very repetitive. That's why I am so eager with this game, it look it can do all the same things that are important to me in a game as Girl Life, but just more polished, less grindy, so on.
