Game mechanics. What would your dream game include?

[sboofs]

sboofs here,

I'm an aspiring game developer, currently working on a closed solo project and learning as I go. I am using Unreal Engine and 3d with Maya/blender/daz. I think we all have different tastes, and it's nice to see a fresh opinion every once in a while.


What is your ideal game like? Avoid talking about genre and "on-topic" categories, this post is more geared towards game style and mechanics.
My questions for YOU are as follows:

• What style of 3d is your favorite? 1st/3rd person? Top down?
• Do you enjoy in-depth inventory systems? Crafting? What style of inventory management is your favorite (list based, icon based, sort-ability, aesthetics?)
• Do you prefer the freedom to control the pace of the game on your own, or do you like to follow a predestined route? Are you the "god mode" kind of player or "just the neighbor dweeb"?
• NPC interaction. I am a fan of the "bethesda style" dialogue options. What style is your favorite? Maybe you like a VN style with no options.
• High Player Character customization. To me this is a requirement. What characteristics or sliders are hard requirement for you? Is diverse attire as important?
• What level of fantasy/ fiction is ideal for you? I'm partial to "life-simulator" style games, maybe with a hint of *magic* sprinkled in.
• Character relation stats. The 10 heart system is overdone.. What stats would you implement to show relationship info between PC and NPC? I like the idea of going in blind, with no meters or percentages.. use your eyes and ears to pick up on cues.
• PC skill points/ skill tree/ abilities. I've never been a fan of skill tree style advancement. What are your ideal ways to improve your character?
• Survival. I love a good survival game. What survival game mechanics do you enjoy? Constantly on the run? Scavenging everything imaginable? Building shelter? What games have the best building mechanics?
• What are annoyances from open world games you've played? I personally hate static meshes that stand out, NPCs with no dialogue, areas of the world blocked off in unrealistic ways, and generally unfinished game assets.
• Where do you find the sweet spot in the grind? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of making the story as you go? Maybe you like to sit back and let the story come to you? Perhaps you most enjoy a sandbox style game?
• Game length. In a quality game, do you like a quick play-through? A multi-week grind? What's your ideal session length? Do you come back to games you still need to finish, or do you move on to the next game?
• Does your ideal game play like a movie with some free-roam? Cut scenes and cinematics everywhere?
• Updates and Versions. I don't really like playing a game, only to realize that the game is over after chapter 1 and we have to wait for the next version to post. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I find that I usually never pick that game back up (depending on the game quality). What are your thoughts on that?

Again, this is mainly just an inspiration post. I like to hear opinions that I might not be aware of!
As for my project, I'm only in the stages of building charcter assets and some cosmetic meshes. I have a general game story planned, but it's very early in the creative process.

Thanks for commenting!

 

[e6mill]

The all-time best game mechanic was in Wing Commander 3. Former porn queen Ginger Lynn.

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[AlBetGam]

Hard to answer some of these without knowing more about the kind of game you have in mind, but I'll give a few a shot.

• What style of 3d is your favorite? 1st/3rd person? Top down?

If I'm playing a game like Skyrim or Mass Effect I tend to like 3rd person with the camera hovering behind and above my character's shoulder- 1st person feels too limiting. I don't know how well that translates to an AVN though, assuming that's what you have in mind.

• Do you prefer the freedom to control the pace of the game on your own, or do you like to follow a predestined route? Are you the "god mode" kind of player or "just the neighbor dweeb"?

I tend to like a game that lets you play it at your own pace (even if I have to swallow a few questions about why Alduin won't destroy the world until I've levelled Smithing to 100 ten times over). But I don't mind the game moving me along a route as long as I get the chance to do everything I want at each stop along the way first.

• NPC interaction. I am a fan of the "bethesda style" dialogue options. What style is your favorite? Maybe you like a VN style with no options.

I like options. Options are good. As long as they're reasonably implemented, and I don't find myself reloading because what looked like a reasonable objection turned into my character saying something deranged.

• Character relation stats. The 10 heart system is overdone.. What stats would you implement to show relationship info between PC and NPC? I like the idea of going in blind, with no meters or percentages.. use your eyes and ears to pick up on cues.

Not opposed to that per se, but you will get players confused about how much progress they've made and how far they have to go.

• PC skill points/ skill tree/ abilities. I've never been a fan of skill tree style advancement. What are your ideal ways to improve your character?

I've always enjoyed games where you get better at things you do a lot of- albeit that tends to be represented by skill points.

• What are annoyances from open world games you've played? I personally hate static meshes that stand out, NPCs with no dialogue, areas of the world blocked off in unrealistic ways, and generally unfinished game assets.

My pet peeve- coming from the RPGM games I've played- is great big maps that are almost entirely devoid of things to do or interact with, accompanied by missions that require the player to cross them 5 or 6 times to complete.

• Where do you find the sweet spot in the grind? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of making the story as you go? Maybe you like to sit back and let the story come to you? Perhaps you most enjoy a sandbox style game?

I like it when I feel like the story's progress is a culmination of my efforts as a character. I worked hard to achieve X, which caused Y to happen and the next chunk of story is the result.

• Does your ideal game play like a movie with some free-roam? Cut scenes and cinematics everywhere?

Not really no. To paraphrase Shamus Young, a cutscene is when the dev takes the controls away to show the player a movie. In moderate doses that's not 100% a bad thing but at a certain point it starts to feel like I'm superfluous to whatever's happening on the screen.

 

[Loliholic]

What is your ideal game like? Avoid talking about genre and "on-topic" categories, this post is more geared towards game style and mechanics.

Sorry, that wont work. It absolutely depends on the genre wich mechanics are needed or useless

What style of 3d is your favorite? 1st/3rd person? Top down?

Everything with aiming is better in 1st person, be it fighting systems or navigating on maps with obstacles forcing you to jump/avoid them, while 3rd person is better to navigate on big but flat maps, since it provides a better overview.

Do you enjoy in-depth inventory systems? Crafting? What style of inventory management is your favorite (list based, icon based, sort-ability, aesthetics?)

Crafting is pointless in most genres/settings, but in games you need it, you also need to sort your inventory to find the stuff you need right away. What i really hate is limited space/weight. I'm a perfectionist, so i always pick up everything (and in games with enemies kill and loot everything) i can find, and limited inventory just means running back to your storage/merchants every few minutes and that gets boring/annoying fast.

Do you prefer the freedom to control the pace of the game on your own, or do you like to follow a predestined route? Are you the "god mode" kind of player or "just the neighbor dweeb"?

I prefer freedom, even if the stuff needed to be done stays the same, i prefer to decide the order within logical reasons. What i absolutely hate are timelimits, qte "spam key X, Y, Z, ..." and other useless stress (except for battles).

NPC interaction. I am a fan of the "bethesda style" dialogue options. What style is your favorite? Maybe you like a VN style with no options.

I always prefer choices, but i dont care if they come as plain list or as wheel menu like in mass effect

High Player Character customization. To me this is a requirement. What characteristics or sliders are hard requirement for you? Is diverse attire as important?

The universal core would be the choice of the gender, i hate running around as guy and avoid most games without this basic choice.
Everything else strongly depends on genre, setting and other mechanics. However, in games with general customization points i mostly pick skills instead of stats, better start with more options than stronger.

What level of fantasy/ fiction is ideal for you? I'm partial to "life-simulator" style games, maybe with a hint of *magic* sprinkled in.

If i want real life i go outside. In games i prefer the stuff i cant find outside. Be it fantasy creatures, magic, spaceships, scifi tech, or anything else. What i hate in games is the forced need to feed, drink, sleep, shower, ...

Character relation stats. The 10 heart system is overdone.. What stats would you implement to show relationship info between PC and NPC? I like the idea of going in blind, with no meters or percentages.. use your eyes and ears to pick up on cues.

What most games mess up is the fused affection stat. You dont need to be friends to get horny, you dont need to be friends to fall in love and you absolutely dont need to love someone to want sex with them, hell you can even hate a girl and still want to eat her. I prefer stats be shown, but i hate the single affection bars going from stranger over friend to lover. I also hate the step by step sex system, maybe its different for you guys, but when i get a girl i dive right in. This idiotic petting-eating-scissor-dildo (or with male protagonists groping-hj-bj-sex) steps are surreal for me and i find the next mostly mandatory step (anal) disgusting without end...and i dont like dildos in general.

PC skill points/ skill tree/ abilities. I've never been a fan of skill tree style advancement. What are your ideal ways to improve your character?

Again, depends on the genre. For example, it makes more sense to learn hunting skills from hunters, magic skills from books/scrolls and common fighting skills from everyone better then you currently are. Learning from nothing, just unlocking the next skill/trait dont feels immersive. Many games with different classes ignore the fact some basic skills should be for everyone, or at least have a variant for everyone. The most common are lockpicking and disarming traps for thiefes, other classes find a locked box and are fucked. As if magic couldnt open a lock or some fighter couldnt smash the box. And if you see a trap and have a staff or longsword, you can just trigger it.
Using logic bugs just to restrict basic skills is annoying.

Survival. I love a good survival game. What survival game mechanics do you enjoy? Constantly on the run? Scavenging everything imaginable? Building shelter? What games have the best building mechanics?

Survival is mostly pretty boring. My main focus in games is the story and survival games mostly dont have one. You get an intro to explain the setting and then you stand there and have 3 possible plots, either you are stranded and need to survive, or you are trapped and need to escape or you are surrounded and need to become the boss.
In every game with building mechanics my houses and bases look the same: One big room with everything useful i can build/place in it, while i give a fuck about decorations and other useless stuff.

What are annoyances from open world games you've played? I personally hate static meshes that stand out, NPCs with no dialogue, areas of the world blocked off in unrealistic ways, and generally unfinished game assets.

Same. I also hate enemies without loot, boxes you cant open (yet and need to remember where they are so you can go back once you can open them, better place a map marker then), deadly navigation (i dont want to waste an hour to carefully sneak down a cliff, i prefer to jump directly and dont die from fall damage), deadly water (honestly, what loser cant swim? If you want to limit the map with water, place some deadly beasts, acid or an active volcano in it and dont just let us drown)

Where do you find the sweet spot in the grind? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of making the story as you go? Maybe you like to sit back and let the story come to you? Perhaps you most enjoy a sandbox style game?

A bit of everything. Some parts of the story are better being discovered while others may come to you or even hunt you, but overall i prefer freedom, be it in navigation, order of sidequests, delaying the main quest while doing something else or skipping minor stuff/quests i dont care/like.

Game length. In a quality game, do you like a quick play-through? A multi-week grind? What's your ideal session length? Do you come back to games you still need to finish, or do you move on to the next game?

Depends on the story and the game. An open world game should never be a quicky, but it also should not turn into a virtual working place. Sure, with a crafting system you need ressources, but you dont need to fell a whole forest to build a hut with a bed and a campfire in front and you dont need to mine 2h for a single ore.
A sandbox game should always have multiple options, its pointless to have 10 locations if always only one has real content/progress and the others are empty or just provide repeatable stuff.
VN on the other hand should never need much grind, maybe work a few shifts to get a needed item or visiting a few times to get to know a girl better, but not repeating the same day 100 times to get the next step unlocked, thats just annoying and useless grind.

Does your ideal game play like a movie with some free-roam? Cut scenes and cinematics everywhere?

Cutscenes are a nice bonus, but not necessary. Ideal games allow me to play them however i want. That means free roam, free style, multiple endings and no/less limits and restrictions. Except for the main story it should be up to me what i want to do or skip, it should be up to me what skills/traits i (l)earn, if i play the good hero, the selfish/opportunistic asshole or the evil antagonist and most of all, who i want to help, kill or fuck. Forced content/directions lower the fun and forced sex kills every game (on that note, i need pure lesbian routes to enjoy sex scenes, dicks are disgusting moodkillers).

Updates and Versions. I don't really like playing a game, only to realize that the game is over after chapter 1 and we have to wait for the next version to post. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I find that I usually never pick that game back up (depending on the game quality). What are your thoughts on that?

Erm, i wouldnt be here if i only wanted completed games. Sure, in the end thats the goal and noone cares if devs of a completed games lose interest in maintaining them, while it sucks when incomplete games get abandoned for any reason. Updates should be more or less regular and provide more then 10 minutes of gameplay (its fucking frustrating if an update takes longer to download then to play it).

 

[69Questions]

Minecraft is a near ideal game, it'd be better if the villagers would hand out quests for different things to move the player along in equipment upgrades, but for the most part, it's a near perfect open sandbox crafting game.

 

[badplottwist]

Carnal instinct, but fully realized AAA with a few more bells and whistles would get things pretty close to what I want. That would be something akin to the Witcher, but more interactive sex.

 

[hotrodjesus]

Minecraft is a near ideal game, it'd be better if the villagers would hand out quests for different things to move the player along in equipment upgrades, but for the most part, it's a near perfect open sandbox crafting game.

Thats what mods are for, its insane how intense the modding community is with Minecraft. I thought skyrim modding was insane but oh boy.

 

[Flame125]

• What style of 3d is your favorite? 1st/3rd person? Top down?

3rd person view, possibly with adjustable camera angle (left shoulder, right shoulder, on head)

• Do you enjoy in-depth inventory systems? Crafting? What style of inventory management is your favorite (list based, icon based, sort-ability, aesthetics?)

Yes. I would enjoy crafting, and would be very much into seeking for unlockable crafting recipe but prefer more if you can discover the recipe by testing as well. Inventory wise would be icon-based with description shown when hovered (not when "right-click > info" kind of menu)

• Do you prefer the freedom to control the pace of the game on your own, or do you like to follow a predestined route? Are you the "god mode" kind of player or "just the neighbor dweeb"?

Freedom to control the pace, but predestined route side quests are always a good change once in a while. Not a god mode kind of player, but would be willing to grind until god mode is achieved.

• NPC interaction. I am a fan of the "Bethesda style" dialogue options. What style is your favorite? Maybe you like a VN style with no options.

NPC interaction with dialogue that actually matters. (change course of game/npc attitude towards player/hostility)

• High Player Character customization. To me this is a requirement. What characteristics or sliders are hard requirement for you? Is diverse attire as important?

Costume and face customization is mandatory. Body type, size, and color are optional but very welcomed. This includes meme-level enlargement/shrinking.

• What level of fantasy/ fiction is ideal for you? I'm partial to "life-simulator" style games, maybe with a hint of *magic* sprinkled in.

Sword, Guns, Magic. It doesn't have to be Harry Porter level of magic. It could be magic stone that just serves to activate certain mechanism, or a gem that can lights up a path when placed at the right place.

• Character relation stats. The 10 heart system is overdone.. What stats would you implement to show relationship info between PC and NPC? I like the idea of going in blind, with no meters or percentages.. use your eyes and ears to pick up on cues.

I prefer a system where the game shows what the character like or dislike, but doesn't show the progress of the relationship. At least that way the dev cannot trick us into thinking a "tsundere" behavior is likely a favorable behavior.

• PC skill points/ skill tree/ abilities. I've never been a fan of skill tree style advancement. What are your ideal ways to improve your character?

I prefer having a skill tree, but for each of the mastery used. Sword skills can only be learnt through using swords and gain experience in sword-related action. It make sense that you gain better understanding of the things you constantly use, therefore advancing the movement set you have on said equipment/ability. (You can't learn quick scope without holding a sniper)

• Survival. I love a good survival game. What survival game mechanics do you enjoy? Constantly on the run? Scavenging everything imaginable? Building shelter? What games have the best building mechanics?

Not a big fan of shelter building because I lack creativity to build awesome base, but I do enjoy scavenging everything and having a place to keep them. For me, I prefer to have a premade shelter which can be customized once required, and have the ability to fast travel to it for storage purpose.

• What are annoyances from open world games you've played? I personally hate static meshes that stand out, NPCs with no dialogue, areas of the world blocked off in unrealistic ways, and generally unfinished game assets.

The ability to not make a difference on your status with surrounding village/town/settlement based on your equipment. If I wear a Stormcloak Armor near an Imperial Guard, I would expect them to hit me and send me back to "Ahh you're finally awake" scene. That and the lack of random encounter that fits your level. I don't want to encounter a random thief after I just killed the Devourer of World and have him threatened me with a dagger that is smaller than my Glock. Send an army of void-walkers, and we'll have a fair fight,

• Where do you find the sweet spot in the grind? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of making the story as you go? Maybe you like to sit back and let the story come to you? Perhaps you most enjoy a sandbox style game?

I prefer a game that progresses in fair speed. I'd say let the story come to me so that I can continue growing while the game progresses on its own pace.

• Game length. In a quality game, do you like a quick play-through? A multi-week grind? What's your ideal session length? Do you come back to games you still need to finish, or do you move on to the next game?

I'd say a good game takes about 15hrs+ of pure story content, and probably 30hrs+ for all collectible in one run. And would prefer to have a game with multiple routes which leads to different ending, fight and reward. Multi-week grind is not not ideal as it takes all the fun from the game and makes it a chore to complete it.

• Does your ideal game play like a movie with some free-roam? Cut scenes and cinematics everywhere?

I'd say cutscenes for new character, new place, and new equipment. If it's a story-telling between characters that I already know, please let me roam so that I may find some hidden collectibles in the room while they talk about the story.

• Updates and Versions. I don't really like playing a game, only to realize that the game is over after chapter 1 and we have to wait for the next version to post. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I find that I usually never pick that game back up (depending on the game quality). What are your thoughts on that?

100% AGREED. Please don't make chapter-based game release. Complete the game, and the release DLC content for out-of-places content such as having a backyard family activity in a very gore game such as Doom. It's fine if you want to release beta version for beta-testers and feedbacks from the community, but don't release it with the intention of it being the game by itself.


I look forward to see your growth and progress, @sboofs .

 

[sboofs]

I look forward to see your growth and progress, @sboofs .

Thanks for your detailed response @Flame125. I've got a long way to go, and my progress only runs at the pace that life affords me, but I am enjoying the learning journey along the way and hope to have something for the community eventually.

 

[Flame125]

Thanks for your detailed response @Flame125. I've got a long way to go, and my progress only runs at the pace that life affords me, but I am enjoying the learning journey along the way and hope to have something for the community eventually.

No worries. A game that progress in a steady pace over the course of 5 years are better than a "we slapped this game over the weekend" pace. The game will be a success when the community is heard when it comes to feedback, complaint, bugfix and glitches. I believe you got what it takes. Even if you somehow decided to abandon the progress and move on with your life, I'd still acknowledge your effort during your development times~

So do your best and take your rest when overwhelmed.

 

[sboofs]

No worries. A game that progress in a steady pace over the course of 5 years are better than a "we slapped this game over the weekend" pace. The game will be a success when the community is heard when it comes to feedback, complaint, bugfix and glitches. I believe you got what it takes. Even if you somehow decided to abandon the progress and move on with your life, I'd still acknowledge your effort during your development times~

So do your best and take your rest when overwhelmed.

thanks boss. big community support always helps theses games. I feel like a little bit of feedback goes a long way. I'm excited to be there one day!

 

[upbutte]

Turn based fighting!

 

[Zilcho]

Seeing as you're a solo dev working on your first major personal project, what I'd like to see is a small game that's a half-height vertical slice of a larger system. Trim all of the fat and pare it all down. Introduce only a handful of progression mechanics, not the entire ladder (hence half vertical slice). Limit dialogue options to simple binary choices, and limit their impact to largely visual or flavor changes. No gigantic map, no hundred NPCs, no thousand side quests. A game is not the place where you practice your renders and animations, so limit them to only the necessary functions and sexy times. Practice outside of game development and post the renders independently for helpful feedback. What you include in your finished game ought to be complete, with adjustments made later as necessary. Use placeholders for testing, but if you can't fill it with something worthwile, cut out the placeholder and that portion of the game before releasing it as complete.

Certainly, posting updates on game progress is warranted and helps you cater to your potential audience. Story elements can be adjusted before the game is complete, but mechanics ought to be fairly solid with little major change down the line. Adjustments and balance changes are always required. As this is your first game, and I recommend it to be a small one in size and scope, gather information like you are now and commit to a particular style/mechanic and see it through. If you really hate it, scrap it and start again with better thought-out elements, but that's what this stage is for. Most importantly, don't bite off more than you can chew. Even a small, simple game is an amalgamation of many discrete skill sets, each of which require some degree of adroitness per se and which further require careful merging into a coherent overall system.

 

[herelooking027]

sboofs here,

I'm an aspiring game developer, currently working on a closed solo project and learning as I go. I am using Unreal Engine and 3d with Maya/blender/daz. I think we all have different tastes, and it's nice to see a fresh opinion every once in a while.


What is your ideal game like? Avoid talking about genre and "on-topic" categories, this post is more geared towards game style and mechanics.
My questions for YOU are as follows:

• What style of 3d is your favorite? 1st/3rd person? Top down?
• Do you enjoy in-depth inventory systems? Crafting? What style of inventory management is your favorite (list based, icon based, sort-ability, aesthetics?)
• Do you prefer the freedom to control the pace of the game on your own, or do you like to follow a predestined route? Are you the "god mode" kind of player or "just the neighbor dweeb"?
• NPC interaction. I am a fan of the "bethesda style" dialogue options. What style is your favorite? Maybe you like a VN style with no options.
• High Player Character customization. To me this is a requirement. What characteristics or sliders are hard requirement for you? Is diverse attire as important?
• What level of fantasy/ fiction is ideal for you? I'm partial to "life-simulator" style games, maybe with a hint of *magic* sprinkled in.
• Character relation stats. The 10 heart system is overdone.. What stats would you implement to show relationship info between PC and NPC? I like the idea of going in blind, with no meters or percentages.. use your eyes and ears to pick up on cues.
• PC skill points/ skill tree/ abilities. I've never been a fan of skill tree style advancement. What are your ideal ways to improve your character?
• Survival. I love a good survival game. What survival game mechanics do you enjoy? Constantly on the run? Scavenging everything imaginable? Building shelter? What games have the best building mechanics?
• What are annoyances from open world games you've played? I personally hate static meshes that stand out, NPCs with no dialogue, areas of the world blocked off in unrealistic ways, and generally unfinished game assets.
• Where do you find the sweet spot in the grind? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of making the story as you go? Maybe you like to sit back and let the story come to you? Perhaps you most enjoy a sandbox style game?
• Game length. In a quality game, do you like a quick play-through? A multi-week grind? What's your ideal session length? Do you come back to games you still need to finish, or do you move on to the next game?
• Does your ideal game play like a movie with some free-roam? Cut scenes and cinematics everywhere?
• Updates and Versions. I don't really like playing a game, only to realize that the game is over after chapter 1 and we have to wait for the next version to post. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I find that I usually never pick that game back up (depending on the game quality). What are your thoughts on that?

Again, this is mainly just an inspiration post. I like to hear opinions that I might not be aware of!
As for my project, I'm only in the stages of building charcter assets and some cosmetic meshes. I have a general game story planned, but it's very early in the creative process.

Thanks for commenting!

I can't answer about 3D stuff because I hate how 89% of 3D game things look

I hate crafting and inventory management. It is all just a waste of time for the dev and the player. If you want the player to be able to make unique things or get upgrades, just put in flavor text sometimes and have events where the character suddenly was able to craft a thing from the parts you gave in flavor text.

If I can't control the pace of the game, I either quit playing or (if I like it enough) I modify the game files. Better to begin by making it either choose-your-own-pace or story-driven, because those re the two big camps I think. I would prefer a dev make a fully story-driven game than try to make a game that is story and other things, because then the story is better. If the story isn't the point of the game, then don't put much effort into story and just make good code for random generation or management of systems.

I don't know what a "bethesda style" is but I like choosing the development path an NPC takes (how they feel about the MC, what they want sexually, and such). The easy way to do that is a point system 0 to 100 for each scale, and then have the game check each value for how high or low it is (with cutoff points like "greater than 70" having meanings). Scales are the easy way to let the player change values later and see all content without replaying the whole game and remembering what they picked each time. It also gives the dev more freedom in development of options. Also, don't write a lot. Devs are much worse writers than they think. Let what happens tell the story. My mind will fill in the gaps with what is hot or interesting to me. Bad writing is so annoying and a waste of time for the dev and the player.

I don't care about graphics so all I have to say is that I like having a range of options for what every character (MC and NPC) is described like. Some games force everything about an NPC to be described (including butt hair) and others give you a few archetypes to pick from. Give me a middle. Let me pick 1-7 body options from a list (skinny, thin, toned, athletic, average, thick, weighty, obese), 1-5 genital and breast and butt options, and then RGB control over eyes, hair, skin, etc. What I dislike most about the text games I like a lot about is the stupid amount of body choices to make and the stupid amount of descriptions they force. Clothes are even less important.

Superhero fantasy is too much and realism is too terrible. If you get too real things go too slow. If you get too superheroic things stop making sense and the game content gets huge without any depth.

I hate games with NPC dating sim logic and I hate games that don't tell you anything and expect you to remember every interaction or make guesses until you get what you want. I play a game for what I want, not to guess or to simulate life. Relationships should be coded by intent and shouldn't take a long time to adjust. For a dialog system or an event system (like picking a date), the options should have notes for what the MC is trying to do. I want to pick "I want to make her more slutty" or "I want to make her happier" or "I want to seduce her" or "I want to scare her" or simple "I want to get more romantic with her." Make the option do what the intent is. Devs spend too much time trying to make a simulator when they should be making a player's control device. I mostly quit games because of graphics and bad story. My next reason is bad and hidden NPC control systems.

Skill trees are a waste of time like crafting and dating sim logic. They usually are just different ways to get the same result anyway. I don't need a skill tree with a branch I like. Just give me power upgrades and let me define what they are in a text box. I am serious. At the start of the game let me fill out 10 text boxes with descriptions of power types, and when I "level up" just let me pick a box for flavor text for how I solve things, and add 1 to my power score. It won't make any difference to the gameplay that naming the MC "Mike" instead of "Johnothan" will. The only skill differences that matter are special abilities like moving objects with your mind, and that isn't good for a survival game.


Survival games aren't usually what I play because they get really boring with picking up daily supplies or scavenging for medic stuff, but some games do it in a way that you build a network and soon you are automating that boring stuff so you can do new things or spend more time with NPCs. I like that. It also wouldn't be bad if the supplies you need to find are mostly easily available and finding them is tied to interesting events, because then it isn't just busy work. I want to play an RTS where I build basic workers and control them until there are enough of them that I can just give them repeating tasks withou worry about efficiency, or a Last of Us game where story and mechanics are hand-in-hand and I don't feel bored.

I like sandbox games and management games when the sandbox or management part is choosing what new stuff you want to spend time on, instead of filling daily quotas or quests. When a game gets too big with too many roaming NPCs or quests it just feels shallow and not worth time. Limit the number of NPCs that are important. Scenes or repeatable events with other NPCs is fine. They don't need personality or dialog if I don't bring them to my settlement or talk to them. A few HTML games handle this in a smart way by having some NPCs be basically sex scenes when you visit them after you completed their quest, and the image content is randomized. Devs need to know what the player experience is supposed to be before the dev starts making a game. Too many devs think about their story or their game engine or their game mechanics and forget player experience.

Grind is a bad word. Grind is always bad. Accomplishment is different. I want to accomplish my goals by picking options that stack power. For an NPC maybe I want to stack events and rsources that cause relationship+ right now. For a different NPC maybe I want to stack sexual service+. Maybe in the world I want to stack settlement upgrades for "capture new NPCs" or "build a power plant." If I have powers, maybe I want to stack power upgrades to heal all disease in my settlement, or not need to sleep anymore. The important points are (1) the goal shouldn't take forever to achieve, (2) I shouldn't have to sacrifice other fun things to achieve the goal (so many bad games force you to choose between building a house or dating an NPC on their birthday because your time is limited and bad things happen if you delay the house or miss the birthday), and (3) every improvement step I make should have visible effects. If I'm training up the power to heal all disease, every step should allow me to heal an additional person. If I'm training to not need sleep, every step should reduce my sleep time. These benefits have to be visible always. If they are only visible if I stumble on a random event or have a story scene, it isn't rewarding. It feels like grunt work. THis isn't IRL. I don't want to delay all gratification until I finally fill up a meter, and in a game I don't have to unless the dev is mean or bad at game design.

Ideally a game never ends. The best way to make a game never end is to give the player mmore power to decide what NPCs do and feel, including NPC-NPC interaction. That is an endless way to provide instant reward for the player making their own goals and achieving them. The dev doesn't have to do any more work on it once the code is finished. Besides that, how long a game is should be determined by the intended player experience. A game that's about becoming superpowered should end when the player can blast anything away, because that's when the game is boring. A game about a story should end when the story ends (and it shouldn't have any filler content), because otherwise it is boring. A game about building a settlement or conquering a continent should end when the goal is complete (and if it has random NPC dynamics and interaction controls, the game can keep being fun just playing with NPCs). An HTML game I play gives the player the ability to alter variables about society by choosing to support or oppose political and religious groups through many optional actions that always remain options, so that game never truly ends even after you complete the main campaign story. If the game can't be finished in 14 hours then it must have a good game journal that tells the player what major choices they have made, what options they haven't tried to achieve yet, and what recent common actions they have taken. Most devs fail very bad at player logs.

My ideal game makes everything optional, but clearly tells me what my options are and how to achieve goals I cna pick from. If I want to just build a settlement and play with the random engine and social controls, I can do that. If I want to get superpowers and make a harem of 5 detailed NPCs, I can do that. If I want to follow a premade story that has a lot of cutscene-type events that I can influence to maybe soem degree but have scenes or writing I might like or dislike, then I can do that. No choice should exclude the other choices permanently, or make them harder to do.

I don't care how often the game updates or how many updates it takes before the game is done. I just want every update to offer something new and complete. SFor example, a new and complete NPC storyline update, or a new stage in settlement building, or a new land to conquer. If the update is like a new TV season or a major expansion pack, I am very happy. If updates are just "added new pictures for some things. Added new items that don't change anything about how the game worked before" I delete the game if it isn't fun without more updates, or I make my own mods and ignore future updates.


You can maybe tell that I have made games and mods. My advice is to spend most of your time figuring out what the player experience should be, and how you need to plan your game to make that experience happen with the game engine you chose. Then you start planning season 1. AFTER you plan all of that, you start making content (characters, story, digital assets for story and characters, and then other stuff).

Edit: Also, don't change your general plan once you have started. Don't add things because people ask for it. Don't spend time on things people ask for. Have a plan and follow it. The exception is if you want to remove things from your plan so that the plan is smaller.

 

[sboofs]

Seeing as you're a solo dev working on your first major personal project, what I'd like to see is a small game that's a half-height vertical slice of a larger system. Trim all of the fat and pare it all down. Introduce only a handful of progression mechanics, not the entire ladder (hence half vertical slice). Limit dialogue options to simple binary choices, and limit their impact to largely visual or flavor changes. No gigantic map, no hundred NPCs, no thousand side quests. A game is not the place where you practice your renders and animations, so limit them to only the necessary functions and sexy times. Practice outside of game development and post the renders independently for helpful feedback. What you include in your finished game ought to be complete, with adjustments made later as necessary. Use placeholders for testing, but if you can't fill it with something worthwile, cut out the placeholder and that portion of the game before releasing it as complete.

Certainly, posting updates on game progress is warranted and helps you cater to your potential audience. Story elements can be adjusted before the game is complete, but mechanics ought to be fairly solid with little major change down the line. Adjustments and balance changes are always required. As this is your first game, and I recommend it to be a small one in size and scope, gather information like you are now and commit to a particular style/mechanic and see it through. If you really hate it, scrap it and start again with better thought-out elements, but that's what this stage is for. Most importantly, don't bite off more than you can chew. Even a small, simple game is an amalgamation of many discrete skill sets, each of which require some degree of adroitness per se and which further require careful merging into a coherent overall system.

very useful words, thank you for sharing. I do have big things planned out, but I can see myself releasing a small slice of what's created mainly as a functional tech demo. but not just as an empty demo, something with enough meat to be a playable experience for an hour or so. I still have long roads ahead of me as, like you said, I am learning many discrete skills as I go, but part of the draw to releasing a game for me is the requirement to learn every step of the way. again, thank you for your reply.

 

[sboofs]

I can't answer about 3D stuff because I hate how 89% of 3D game things look

I hate crafting and inventory management. It is all just a waste of time for the dev and the player. If you want the player to be able to make unique things or get upgrades, just put in flavor text sometimes and have events where the character suddenly was able to craft a thing from the parts you gave in flavor text.

If I can't control the pace of the game, I either quit playing or (if I like it enough) I modify the game files. Better to begin by making it either choose-your-own-pace or story-driven, because those re the two big camps I think. I would prefer a dev make a fully story-driven game than try to make a game that is story and other things, because then the story is better. If the story isn't the point of the game, then don't put much effort into story and just make good code for random generation or management of systems.

I don't know what a "bethesda style" is but I like choosing the development path an NPC takes (how they feel about the MC, what they want sexually, and such). The easy way to do that is a point system 0 to 100 for each scale, and then have the game check each value for how high or low it is (with cutoff points like "greater than 70" having meanings). Scales are the easy way to let the player change values later and see all content without replaying the whole game and remembering what they picked each time. It also gives the dev more freedom in development of options. Also, don't write a lot. Devs are much worse writers than they think. Let what happens tell the story. My mind will fill in the gaps with what is hot or interesting to me. Bad writing is so annoying and a waste of time for the dev and the player.

I don't care about graphics so all I have to say is that I like having a range of options for what every character (MC and NPC) is described like. Some games force everything about an NPC to be described (including butt hair) and others give you a few archetypes to pick from. Give me a middle. Let me pick 1-7 body options from a list (skinny, thin, toned, athletic, average, thick, weighty, obese), 1-5 genital and breast and butt options, and then RGB control over eyes, hair, skin, etc. What I dislike most about the text games I like a lot about is the stupid amount of body choices to make and the stupid amount of descriptions they force. Clothes are even less important.

Superhero fantasy is too much and realism is too terrible. If you get too real things go too slow. If you get too superheroic things stop making sense and the game content gets huge without any depth.

I hate games with NPC dating sim logic and I hate games that don't tell you anything and expect you to remember every interaction or make guesses until you get what you want. I play a game for what I want, not to guess or to simulate life. Relationships should be coded by intent and shouldn't take a long time to adjust. For a dialog system or an event system (like picking a date), the options should have notes for what the MC is trying to do. I want to pick "I want to make her more slutty" or "I want to make her happier" or "I want to seduce her" or "I want to scare her" or simple "I want to get more romantic with her." Make the option do what the intent is. Devs spend too much time trying to make a simulator when they should be making a player's control device. I mostly quit games because of graphics and bad story. My next reason is bad and hidden NPC control systems.

Skill trees are a waste of time like crafting and dating sim logic. They usually are just different ways to get the same result anyway. I don't need a skill tree with a branch I like. Just give me power upgrades and let me define what they are in a text box. I am serious. At the start of the game let me fill out 10 text boxes with descriptions of power types, and when I "level up" just let me pick a box for flavor text for how I solve things, and add 1 to my power score. It won't make any difference to the gameplay that naming the MC "Mike" instead of "Johnothan" will. The only skill differences that matter are special abilities like moving objects with your mind, and that isn't good for a survival game.


Survival games aren't usually what I play because they get really boring with picking up daily supplies or scavenging for medic stuff, but some games do it in a way that you build a network and soon you are automating that boring stuff so you can do new things or spend more time with NPCs. I like that. It also wouldn't be bad if the supplies you need to find are mostly easily available and finding them is tied to interesting events, because then it isn't just busy work. I want to play an RTS where I build basic workers and control them until there are enough of them that I can just give them repeating tasks withou worry about efficiency, or a Last of Us game where story and mechanics are hand-in-hand and I don't feel bored.

I like sandbox games and management games when the sandbox or management part is choosing what new stuff you want to spend time on, instead of filling daily quotas or quests. When a game gets too big with too many roaming NPCs or quests it just feels shallow and not worth time. Limit the number of NPCs that are important. Scenes or repeatable events with other NPCs is fine. They don't need personality or dialog if I don't bring them to my settlement or talk to them. A few HTML games handle this in a smart way by having some NPCs be basically sex scenes when you visit them after you completed their quest, and the image content is randomized. Devs need to know what the player experience is supposed to be before the dev starts making a game. Too many devs think about their story or their game engine or their game mechanics and forget player experience.

Grind is a bad word. Grind is always bad. Accomplishment is different. I want to accomplish my goals by picking options that stack power. For an NPC maybe I want to stack events and rsources that cause relationship+ right now. For a different NPC maybe I want to stack sexual service+. Maybe in the world I want to stack settlement upgrades for "capture new NPCs" or "build a power plant." If I have powers, maybe I want to stack power upgrades to heal all disease in my settlement, or not need to sleep anymore. The important points are (1) the goal shouldn't take forever to achieve, (2) I shouldn't have to sacrifice other fun things to achieve the goal (so many bad games force you to choose between building a house or dating an NPC on their birthday because your time is limited and bad things happen if you delay the house or miss the birthday), and (3) every improvement step I make should have visible effects. If I'm training up the power to heal all disease, every step should allow me to heal an additional person. If I'm training to not need sleep, every step should reduce my sleep time. These benefits have to be visible always. If they are only visible if I stumble on a random event or have a story scene, it isn't rewarding. It feels like grunt work. THis isn't IRL. I don't want to delay all gratification until I finally fill up a meter, and in a game I don't have to unless the dev is mean or bad at game design.

Ideally a game never ends. The best way to make a game never end is to give the player mmore power to decide what NPCs do and feel, including NPC-NPC interaction. That is an endless way to provide instant reward for the player making their own goals and achieving them. The dev doesn't have to do any more work on it once the code is finished. Besides that, how long a game is should be determined by the intended player experience. A game that's about becoming superpowered should end when the player can blast anything away, because that's when the game is boring. A game about a story should end when the story ends (and it shouldn't have any filler content), because otherwise it is boring. A game about building a settlement or conquering a continent should end when the goal is complete (and if it has random NPC dynamics and interaction controls, the game can keep being fun just playing with NPCs). An HTML game I play gives the player the ability to alter variables about society by choosing to support or oppose political and religious groups through many optional actions that always remain options, so that game never truly ends even after you complete the main campaign story. If the game can't be finished in 14 hours then it must have a good game journal that tells the player what major choices they have made, what options they haven't tried to achieve yet, and what recent common actions they have taken. Most devs fail very bad at player logs.

My ideal game makes everything optional, but clearly tells me what my options are and how to achieve goals I cna pick from. If I want to just build a settlement and play with the random engine and social controls, I can do that. If I want to get superpowers and make a harem of 5 detailed NPCs, I can do that. If I want to follow a premade story that has a lot of cutscene-type events that I can influence to maybe soem degree but have scenes or writing I might like or dislike, then I can do that. No choice should exclude the other choices permanently, or make them harder to do.

I don't care how often the game updates or how many updates it takes before the game is done. I just want every update to offer something new and complete. SFor example, a new and complete NPC storyline update, or a new stage in settlement building, or a new land to conquer. If the update is like a new TV season or a major expansion pack, I am very happy. If updates are just "added new pictures for some things. Added new items that don't change anything about how the game worked before" I delete the game if it isn't fun without more updates, or I make my own mods and ignore future updates.


You can maybe tell that I have made games and mods. My advice is to spend most of your time figuring out what the player experience should be, and how you need to plan your game to make that experience happen with the game engine you chose. Then you start planning season 1. AFTER you plan all of that, you start making content (characters, story, digital assets for story and characters, and then other stuff).

Edit: Also, don't change your general plan once you have started. Don't add things because people ask for it. Don't spend time on things people ask for. Have a plan and follow it. The exception is if you want to remove things from your plan so that the plan is smaller.

very smart points. I like the idea of building a game around "the player experience". i definitely can tell when a game has been shit-stacked with randomness and has no sense of how it flows to the player. I think it's very important to have a logical flow, something that the player can easily follow from A to B, without being instructed along and without getting bored. I like the idea of a story unfolding around the player, rather than the player "unlocking" the next part of the story. Usually the player is involved in the plot, so it would make sense that the player has a reaction on story elements. Overall you have a lot of good points. thank you for your detailed response and view!

 

[ICEMAN]

My dream game would combine open-world exploration with deep narrative choices and character progression. It would have a dynamic world that reacts to your decisions—whether through dialogue, factions, or environmental changes—and blend in RPG elements like skill customization and combat that feels satisfying. I’d also love to see a morality system that isn’t just about "good" or "evil," but allows for more nuanced choices, reflecting the complexity of real-life decisions. And of course, immersive world-building with rich lore would be key to making it feel alive.

 

[KaityCat]

Does anyone remember Corruption of Champions? I've always thought some version of that made in UE would be awesome. you get to design your player then as you go they get altered based on your choices, seems super cool to me. though I understand the vast spread of fetishes in would be hard to cover in a full 3d world

 

[AlBetGam]

Does anyone remember Corruption of Champions? I've always thought some version of that made in UE would be awesome. you get to design your player then as you go they get altered based on your choices, seems super cool to me. though I understand the vast spread of fetishes in would be hard to cover in a full 3d world

I do, always thought it was the bones of a great game but, in a kinda ironic way, wound up being restrictive due to the sheer number of and focus on its fetishes.

 

[Rukvia]

Let's see... that's a lot of questions... hm...

• What style of 3d is your favorite? 1st/3rd person? Top down?

Answer: Over the shoulder with the switch between 1st and 3rd person point of view.

• Do you enjoy in-depth inventory systems? Crafting? What style of inventory management is your favorite (list based, icon based, sort-ability, aesthetics?)

Answer: Gimme Tarkov-like inventory system in a crafting survival game, and I'm hooked.

• Do you prefer the freedom to control the pace of the game on your own, or do you like to follow a predestined route? Are you the "god mode" kind of player or "just the neighbor dweeb"?

Answer: Any, depends on how fun the game is.

• NPC interaction. I am a fan of the "bethesda style" dialogue options. What style is your favorite? Maybe you like a VN style with no options.

Answer: Definitely bethesda style.

• High Player Character customization. To me this is a requirement. What characteristics or sliders are hard requirement for you? Is diverse attire as important?

Answer: Fashionframe is the answer. The more customization the better. This includes ingame decorative items.

• What level of fantasy/ fiction is ideal for you? I'm partial to "life-simulator" style games, maybe with a hint of *magic* sprinkled in.

Answer: Any. I'm not picky.

• Character relation stats. The 10 heart system is overdone.. What stats would you implement to show relationship info between PC and NPC? I like the idea of going in blind, with no meters or percentages.. use your eyes and ears to pick up on cues.

Answer: No system is overdone when done right. Do it bad, and yeah, it'll be bad.

• PC skill points/ skill tree/ abilities. I've never been a fan of skill tree style advancement. What are your ideal ways to improve your character?

Answer: I've always been a fan of skill points/skill trees/abilities. It is an essential element that DEFINES the RPG game. So if you're not aiming for an RPG that allows you to build up your character, then you're going for an Action Adventure game where your character is improved by the story elements like Prince of Persia. Find an item and unlock an ability, to find that item, you need to progress through the story and previous levels.

• Survival. I love a good survival game. What survival game mechanics do you enjoy? Constantly on the run? Scavenging everything imaginable? Building shelter? What games have the best building mechanics?

Answer: Vintage Story, No One Survived, Enshrouded < mix the survival elements of those three and you get a banger. Enshrouded for building, Vintage Story for customization and in-depth detailed crafting, No One Survived for the inventory system.

• What are annoyances from open world games you've played? I personally hate static meshes that stand out, NPCs with no dialogue, areas of the world blocked off in unrealistic ways, and generally unfinished game assets.

Answer: You just described an Early Access game 0.1.0 version. Yeah, those are bad, but sometimes, you have to remember you are playing an Early Access game, if those elements remain after launch, then it's a bad game overall. So the more filled up the world is the better.

• Where do you find the sweet spot in the grind? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of making the story as you go? Maybe you like to sit back and let the story come to you? Perhaps you most enjoy a sandbox style game?

Answer: Erm... don't think the question has any sense to me. Grind = any repeatable action. Depending on the game type and gameplay loop, anything can become a grind. Most games here have the grind of repeated action in the form of events that you got to watch through, while in games like Warframe, you have the kill enemies, get items, repeat. Two VERY different scenarios that define the same thing.

• Game length. In a quality game, do you like a quick play-through? A multi-week grind? What's your ideal session length? Do you come back to games you still need to finish, or do you move on to the next game?

Answer: Doesn't make sense. Your game's length is defined by various factors including modding potential. Skyrim is a good example. Conan Exiles is another example. ECO is another example. On their own you get 100+h maximum, with mods you get another 100-200h, with RP you get another 600+h. Then you have Starfield, where modders gave up on it. Then you have Dark Souls, where you have challenges. So yeah, make the game nice and fun, easy to mod, socially interactable between characters, and you get lots of hours of gameplay.

• Does your ideal game play like a movie with some free-roam? Cut scenes and cinematics everywhere?

Answer: A rather philosophical question, but ok. My ideal game is fun to play. It involves everything that makes the game fun for me specifically.

• Updates and Versions. I don't really like playing a game, only to realize that the game is over after chapter 1 and we have to wait for the next version to post. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I find that I usually never pick that game back up (depending on the game quality). What are your thoughts on that?

Answer: You are describing an Early Access game, again. Early Access games can be considered a Paid Beta or Alpha state of the game. Nothing like a Full Release game. It's normal to have only Chapter 1 in an Early Access game because it's still being worked on, it's essentially not finished. You get the game knowing this and understanding that at any point in time, the updates could force you to completely restart the game from scratch. Similar to how many games on this site are. If you can get over this, yeah, it's not a problem. Also, even after full release, games will typically have plenty of updates through which they make improvements based on feedback and even add new features and new things to do. Generation Zero, which just finished development recently, is a good example of this. No Man Sky is another example. 7 Days to Die is another example.

After reading all of your questions and answering, I would suggest that you foremost try to look over some Game Design videos on YT and even buy one of the online classes that explain this in more detail. I think you'll find out what you need if you do the research properly in this manner. You're already on a good path asking these questions, next you need some clarity. Keep going and good luck!