Shuriken Sex Squad: An Idea

[SirEpic]

Howdy fellow forum members!

I have an idea for a video game, but almost no idea where to actually start. I was hoping the good people of the internet could help me out on this one. I might ramble, so if you want to help me but hate reading, message me and I will give you the short.

The main idea of the game is that you started your career as a ninja (not like Naruto, more like the ones in Rurouni Kenshin) and your goal is to become a grandmaster as quickly as possible. To do this, you have to pass the five of the seven sacred ninja art tests. You need to train and practice, in addition completing missions to remain relevant and wealthy. Missions play out like a combination of a stealth and puzzle game, while training and practice are more like a traditional dating game. Though you could go the whole game without banging anyone, a large amount of male and female romance options from among your clients and other ninjas are available.

The main "gimmick" I want wanted to do with this game is to have FMV instead of animation or still images for as many sex scenes as possible. I know a few porn games have it, but I feel it should be more common if possible.

So, if you can't find any general advice on getting started, I have a few specific questions that I would love answered. Is there any particular game engine which can handle FMV particularly well, and is reasonably affordable (or free) to use? Is the FMV idea stupid; Is anyone other than me excited about the prospect? And finally, does anyone want to join the project, paid or otherwise?

That was a long post, and I commend you for reading it all. I really am looking for feedback, and feel free to be as harsh as you want.

 

[Bronzechair]

• Do you have any experience developing games? What skillsets do you have that might be relevant? Can you code in any language, create art, interfaces, edit the videos you want?
• Why do you only need to pass five of seven trials to become a grandmaster? Are there higher ranks for people who pass six or all seven ranks and our protagonist is amibitious but not THAT ambitious, or is it more like you can afford to fail two trials but you'll never be a grandmaster if you fail three times?
• What kind of puzzles are you interested in doing? Stealth can be the theme like Invisible Inc. or Velvet Assassin (a stealth-themed puzzle game disguised as an action game), but that's just dressing on top of what needs to be established mechanics.
• If training and practice are a dating game, exactly what kind of ninja are we talking about here? I've never seen Rurouni Kenshin, but I understand it's not a hentai, so not the kind of ninja that run around molesting people, I assume. Are they more conventional ninja (whatever that means) for gameplay purposes and the adult themes come from theme and side stuff, ala Rance?
• FMV as in video of real people? There's plenty of live action porn out there if you need clips, though navigating legal territory is probably going to be obnoxious, especially if you need niche content for your setting.
• What sort of kinks and pairings are you hoping to include?

 

[SirEpic]

Thanks, these questions are more helpful than you make think. The answers in order.

• I don't have any bottom up game design experienc if that makes sense. I am proficient in Java, C++, and C#. Learning any other language for coding would take time, but is easily doable for me. I have worked on several mods for different games (Civ 4 is my favorite to work with), and have written and test game mechanics myself for a friend's project. I have made very rudimentary menus and interfaces in all of those languages in modified existing menus for mods. That is about the extent of my relevant skills. Graphic (always worked with provided assets) and sound design is a skill I would need to learn from scratch, more or less. A friend of mine might help me with at least one of those, and I could take on the other.
• To the last question in this bullet, yes. Tests cannot be retaken, and if you fail three you cannot get the mandatory five to be a grandmaster. While honorary titles may be granted for completing an extra test or two, this is purely for the player. Anyone who passes at least five tests is a grandmaster, and anyone who pass more does not have any additional authority or power.
• Magical Diary: Horse Hall was a non-H dating game that had magic tests. In it, you had a limited supply of mana and a set of spells from your classes to overcome certain obstacles. I found this fairly interesting and wanted to do something like that. Missions are laid out maps you need to navigate towards a target, using your ninja skills to overcome certain obstacles to get there (scaling walls, special locks, etc.) and resolve the target itself. The actual puzzle comes in reading the mission info, having the right skills ready, and using them in a way to maximize speed. Using the wrong skills, or not quickly moving towards the goal, increases your chances of getting caught by guards. They will make the mission harder and deadlier to you and act like additional obstacles in many ways.
• When I mean training is like a dating sim, I meant to say very simple. Games like Sim Girls or Vandread Love Quest have a simple interaction that takes up time and gives you stats. Hopefully, some nice flavor text and encounters with partners will make this more interesting, but the puzzle missions are the real "game". What I meant by comparing them to Rurouni Kenshin was to say they aren't outright magic. They are a bit like real world magicians, in that they can use slight of hand, scientific knowledge, and a fearsome reputation to appear to have supernatural powers. In actuality, they can't do anything that can't reasonably be recreated in the real world. So yes, it is a la Rance. The adult content is largely secondary to being a ninja and the game.
• Yes, full motion video of real people. I planned to nab a few porn clips I like and hope they fit well enough. But if by some miracle I can make a demo that is actually amazing, I might start a patreon to hire actual actors and costumes. That would drastically improve the quality of the game, but I wouldn't bank on it happening. If some animator or artist falls in love with my idea, I would be willing to commission some placeholder work right now.
• So pairings. I want a male or female protagonist with both straight and gay options available. As for kinks, the available library of porn I have access to will largely limit me. Probably won't go farther than watersports, though minor scenes of BDSM will be included. If I ever get enough traction to actually hire actors (which I probably won't), I want to really show off the ninja tricks. One particular idea I have is a gangbang scene (gay version for men, straight for women) in a smoky room. The audience seeing the eyes of the character sees a normal gangbang, but it is revealed to be a trick by a rival in which several dildos were rigged to swinging logs. I don't know if illusion porn is a genre, but I would love to do stuff like that.

 

[Bronzechair]

I'm glad you appreciated it; food for thought before you get started never hurts. Creating an indie game is a lot more work than people realize, and I find this is especially true with adult games, as enthusiasm is especially fleeting in such a context. Your plans are ambitious, and I hope they work out to some satisfying degree for you. While I'm not a game maker myself, I'll leave you with a similar topic that offers plenty of pertinent questions (scroll down a few posts) for an aspiring dev to reflect upon. G'luck out there.

https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/new-adult-game-maybe.4348/

 

[asestado]

Note: This is feedback as a player.

First of all I don't recommend that you start by having two genders, the writing and skill needed for two genders is quite big and you are doing a tremendous effort like that. Choose one gender, make it feel complete and then think if you want to make the other gender or move on.

Personally I will say that having as a main objective becoming a grandmaster by passing tests isn't very exciting. I would prefer that there were a better "storyline" to say the least. If you are focusing more on a world like the one of Rurouni Kenshin perhaps a civil war between the shogunate and multiple conflicts with ronins would be quite good. Focusing on the disarm policy how the shogunate got divided in two and multiple groups of ronin that just want to destroy the shogunate.

Ok here I need to be a bit more harsh, when we talk about minigames for missions/training and whatever this isn't a good idea, in fact delete it. I say this because I have played too many games that added minigames to that part and the consequence is that people get bored of them, the first few times you say "oh it seems funny" but when you continue playing you feel like "sigh, why can't I skip them". Everything that makes more complex something repetitive is a bad choice.

About the dating part... It's okay that a part of the characters are known by doing mission/quests, however it would be good that a good part of them you know them by "exploring" or other activities. This is because there are characters that will be especially liked by the player and having all of them or a big part at missions will be bad.

Talking more deeply about dating this are the type of characters that you need:

-Main romance characters (those are the ones that have many events, big chances depending on choices during romances, or those that can suffer multiple difficulties). About main romance characters I do not recommend a number bigger than 3, they need a lot of development and you will have to write a lot of scenes for them, for example on the plot that I gave it would be good if those 3 were "1º Shogunate princess, 2º Shogunate reformist ronin, 3º Daughter of a dojo master (rebel)". It would require showing what they want, why and a lot of depth on the relationship. Some of the important points that may have are:

*Personality: If she/he is dominant, submissive or neutral, another point is if it can change
*Corruption: If she/he has high corruption then it is normal that they will have sex with other people.

This type of things decide quite a bit, but those mechanics will determine a LOT. Even if you want to have more "main romance characters" do not have more than 5, they are quite complex (at least if you made them well).

-Supporting characters: Those are the characters that may have casual sex with you, or are simply friends with you, they have quite a bit of development but they won't compare to main romances, they can give multiple quests or have something special but nothing else.

-One time characters/repetitive characters: They can be enemies or characters that only appear once and you have sex with them or something on those lines, they don't truly have any complex development and I recommend that when you feel a bit tired you change to make one or two.

Finally and one of the most important things is the gameplay: It is important that you make it with care, however because this is quite subjective I can't give any true recommendation.

This is an example of a plot:

Introduction: "War is like a memory that is never forgotten, after many years the war between the imperialists and the shogunate has ended with the victory of the shogun and finally people thought that peace will come to the land, but sometimes, even the tiniest spark can create a big fire.

The disarm policy was introduced as a revolutionary change that will make the country prosper, however what people didn't understand is how much dissatisfaction it generated, under the minister Rakusha a strong opposition based on the traditionalism and preserving the old customs appeared.

The discussions became disputes and finally... it ended in war. After only 5 years since the last war ended, as if it was just a dream, it started all over again.

Will this land end up with a true period of peace or is it's destiny to always be covered of blood and hate?"

After that It is good to introduce your character and even more a bit of his story, if he has family, if he lost them in the war, what he truly wants to do and then finally open options for the player.

Sorry if I have been too much of a busybody, but I have actually helped a few friends to write plots and things like that so even if this was a large post you can just ignore it. One of the most important things is that you end up satisfied with what you do.

 

[SirEpic]

No need to be sorry! This is exactly why I bothered posting my idea. Feedback like this is very helpful and I fully welcome it.

 

[The Silver Bard]

I don't know of any engines that are particularly well suited to FMV, but I generally recommend Unity as a pretty easy to use engine for most beginners.

I do, however, recommend against using commercial porn clips in your game. The distribution rights for those are going to get very expensive, very quickly. If by some chance you're thinking of stealing them and throwing them into the game without permission, I'm guessing you will get shut down very quickly. This isn't like swiping images off the internet like Slave Maker or HHS. The porn companies making those videos are likely spending a lot of money to enforce their copyrights.

Some general tips I would give to anyone starting out:

• If you're planning to develop the game solo, you need to keep your scope small. Any time you see a game with multiple names in the credits, remember that they have more resources than you and probably more experience. You will usually need to be less ambitious than them.
• If this is your first time making a game, you have a major disadvantage that you'll need to consider. You have a fixed budget, but you don't know what it is yet. You probably don't think you have a budget if you're making it yourself, but you have a finite amount of work you can accomplish in the time you have available to work. You can't magically add more hours to the day, and you probably don't want to spend 10 years in development, so you need to be budgeting your time from the start.
• The main purpose of your game design is to get the maximum entertainment out of your fixed budget. Adding additional content without removing any is rarely an option. You want to look for places where you can cut content without affecting the experience. Look for shortcuts and features that require minimal effort. The key is to always aim for the most bang for your buck.

This probably all sounds pretty pessimistic to a new game developer, but they're the most important lessons I've learned through experience. They're also the reason most novice developers end up giving up.