discussion Hot take - every game should have an "unlock gallery and replay" option.

[frankie223]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

[Clunk676]

Why not lol

 

[SARGANT]

For me I always think I want this, I download an unlocker, and it never fulfills the same way a buildup would. So I agree I guess, but only to teach you a lesson lol

 

[lapras99]

I agree that the gallery and replay should be a default option in all games and not through mods. Maybe not so much agree that they can be unlocked without having played the game, maybe for this is better the option you mention of hints that indicate what you must do to achieve it. And also it should be mandatory to include the ability to change the font type, size and color of the texts. in some cases it becomes tedious reading.

 

[rocketsheep]

A large game that isn't completely kinetic should always have a well organized replay gallery. This is where most games already fail.

But in my opinion, this replay gallery does not need to be unlockable from the menu. It's totally OK if unlocking it all is treated as a game. While I am often not interested, why spoil the fun for those who want to play this unlocking game? However, there should always be a simple way to unlock everything by cheating. It could be a published cheat code or an unlock patch.

For the following, I am assuming Ren'Py. Ideally there should be a single boolean variable, unlock_all set to False by default. Wherever the code checks whether an image or scene is unlocked, it should also check this variable. This achieves the following things:

• If you have access to a cheat console, you set unlock_all=True to unlock everything.
• For those without access to a cheat console or who don't want to use it, a single tiny universal patch for all games using this variable achieves the same result.
• The unlocking can easily be reversed without losing the information about what has been unlocked legitimately through playing. Just remove the patch or enter unlock_all=False in the cheat console.

Note that this requires that everyone really uses this exact variable. Don't split it into unlock_all_images and unlock_all_scenes. Don't call it unlockAll. And, rather importantly: Don't just run away implementing my suggestions. First check if there is already a similar but different quasi-standard that you should implement instead because many games are already following it. (My suggestion is not based on such research.) Otherwise we will end up with two competing standards for no legitimate reason.

The fact that so many games do not have replay galleries, or have poor and incomplete ones, is probably related to the fact that most games are either works in progress or have been abandoned. Keeping a good replay gallery up to date takes work that can hold up progress. If you do it right, it's probably not too much work and totally worth it, but I can see why most developers prefer to concentrate on other things. So a lot of developers postpone work on the replay gallery until the game is finished -- which may never happen as, lots of games are abandoned in a very unfinished state.

While finishing someone else's abandoned game is usually not feasible, modders occasionally develop gallery mods for other people's games. I think this is particularly important for abandoned but otherwise excellent games.

 

[Rads95]

I don't object against the option of having the entire gallery unlocked by default, but I like more the idea of unlocking the gallery by reaching certain point. For example, if you reach chapter 2, you have all gallery from chapter 1 unlocked.

 

[LewisCarroll]

I'm of the opinion that rewards should be earned. If you just want to watch porn or animated sex, there are tons of resources out there.

 

[Kernist]

Normally I would choose option that gallery and replay should only include stuff that person unlocked, however I chose "other" because I think in case where there are multiple endings the "unlock everything" button should appear either after reaching one of the endings or after reaching the "true ending".

 

[Rukvia]

Yeah, I agree with the other people who posted here, not really a hot take, the whole gallery thing has been there since long lost times of the JRPG games that were MTL from hell. The problem is that some games have partial galleries and others have none, while some of the best games I played have repeated scenes instead of galleries. In a way, I think a gallery should be fully unlocked only when the player reached the ending of the game or if the dev knows his game has a terrible gameplay loop and wants to spare his customer by offering a gallery to skip the ordeal. Essentially, you'll buy the game for the gallery not the gameplay.

 

[Charmingone]

I would like all games to have replay gallery and yes, if the unlock option isn't available, at least should tell me what part of the game or action could unlock that scene.

 

[paparas123]

Hmm. Yes, but only after you finish a current playthrough once

 

[fthegovernment]

First: all games should have gallery and replay options, full stop. No exceptions. There's nothing more annoying than having to try and remember what part of a long game had the scene you want to replay and having to have thirty seven different save locations to try and find it again.

Second: all galleries and replays should be able to be unlocked manually by players if they just don't want to play through the story mode any longer.

Third: If you mouse-over or click on an "locked" gallery or replay location it should hint to you what you need to do to unlock it. "This path requires Izzy Love of 10+" or "To unlock this scene try and spend more time with Laura" or whatever.

have you seen / tried this ??

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[xartma]

First: all games should have gallery and replay options, full stop. No exceptions. There's nothing more annoying than having to try and remember what part of a long game had the scene you want to replay and having to have thirty seven different save locations to try and find it again.

Second: all galleries and replays should be able to be unlocked manually by players if they just don't want to play through the story mode any longer.

Third: If you mouse-over or click on an "locked" gallery or replay location it should hint to you what you need to do to unlock it. "This path requires Izzy Love of 10+" or "To unlock this scene try and spend more time with Laura" or whatever.

I agree with 1&3 but not 2. The dev put in a lot of work in between scenes, the least we can do is to play through to unlock them.

 

[Wily Rodent]

This, of course, highly depends on the game in question, but I quite like the idea of simply unlocking the entire gallery as soon as you've reached the end of the game.
Whether it's constantly restarting the game to explore alternate pathes or farming deaths in a roguelike to unlock defeat scenes, it kind of gets annoying.

Of course, there are some caveats here. This works for roguelikes or VNs with a clearly defined end point, but for more open ended sandboxy games, you will just have to grind it out.

 

[BS3DX]

Agree with all of the op, but I would also like it to be able to unlocked while playing if I miss something then I would unlock it manually in the gallery also on the note they should have a real gallery. I have played a few games that have a gallery but when you open the gallery it's just bonus images or stills, not the actual sex scenes that is just lazy on the dev's part.

 

[Barryton42]

Replay for me is must have, unlock all is good when there is ton of text

 

[Seo In-guk]

Well my opinion is sometimes yes because there are routes that the games are long and sometimes one does not have time to go another route and with the unlocking I will be able to know the other scene.
Example, I am on the corruption route but I will not be able to see the romantic scene, another scene is woman 1 but I will not be able to see woman 2, with that help we can visualize

 

[lanny]

I mean yeah, it would be nice. If there is indeed a gallery. But making it like a rule or something like that, I don't agree with. It's up to the creator to determine how I, the player, should be able to get these scenes. If they want to add what you sugges,t fine, i am all for it. But I do not think it should be a general rule.

 

[PepperLSD]

is not a hot take at all
every game should have it period

 

[drakeK]

The gallery should be in every game! And an “unlock all” button. Because replaying, sometimes half a game, for the sake of 1-2 scenes is a shitty pleasure.
So in some games I have to open gallery.rpy and try to edit the code to unlock the whole gallery.