mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

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what kind of content you prefer to see in stories? (explanation in post below)

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jack1974
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mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by jack1974 »

SHORT VERSION
Younger/Older = We thought to consider Younger if you're 24 years or less, Older if you're 25 years or more. It's just a way to separate players age groups, nothing else :)
Serious = As my writer said (probably better): "serious does not mean tragic or without comedy! In this sense, serious mainly means less stereotypical characters with more depth (think, more like characters in a mainstream novel or TV series). "

In summary, since so far I did mostly humorous stories, I wanted to see if people could also like something different, or they prefer to keep the usual story mood/setting/tone.

LONG VERSION
One of my upcoming (unannounced) games, is a yuri dating sim. It has more serious/mature content. Situations characters find themselves in are more 'true to life'...:wink:

Please note that serious/mature doesn't necessarily mean sad, tragic events, unhappy endings, etc. If those happens they wouldn't be tied to being lesbian, or gay, or straight, or <insert any stereotype here> :)

To explain better: I believe there are different target groups playing VN/dating sims and I think we could agree that there are two kind of stories:
1) purely fanservice stuff. There are many examples on Steam :lol: Note that I am NOT against that stuff. I am just asking. I've played games like Huniepop and similar. They're relaxing and fun IMHO, even if completely unrealistic, and I can see why people play them. Usually those games are also funny, light-hearted, comedies, etc. If I had to pick some examples of my own games: Roommates (clearly haha), Heileen series (of course those don't have any particularly hot/erotic content, but the setting/writing is a good example)

2) stories with sexy/adult/mature content but tied to a story. About this...well I really cannot find many good examples on Steam :lol: In practice, there can be hot scenes, but tied to a story, not purely for fanservice reasons. Those games can have funny moment, but also more serious ones, even sad ones. Because that's how life is :)
If I had to pick some examples of my own games: Loren (since people can die there), SOTW (see gray characters like Krimm), Bionic Heart (heh, many people can do bad things there)

I understand people that play games as a way to "escape reality" with only happy endings, light-comedy stories and in general no need to be realistic with gray characters, only black/white. It's fine. I like those stories too. I only want to know what people think/prefer. Especially if it's also applied to sexy situations (for the romance CG I'll always have censored/uncensored versions, but for the texts/situations...).

Finally I also put an age (vague indication) because my writer and I had a theory and wanted to see if it's true (won't say what is now, maybe later) :)

Any feedback is welcome!
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Franka
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by Franka »

It's hard to give an exact answer, because I don't prefer one exclusively to the other. I love fan service games, but I prefer those to be fairly short, 3-4 hours at most (the story is usually weak, so it's better to just get to the fan service). I also love more mature stories, and yes, I would like to see more of those, with fleshed out characters, interesting plot, and maybe 7-8+ hours long, BUT I wouldn't want them to be the only thing I get.

Oh, and I'm your age, so "Older."
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jack1974
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by jack1974 »

Yes of course. The poll is not asking if you want to see "serious" mature games only. It's the opposite: if you wanted to see ONLY fanservice/short/light-hearted stuff, or also something else, more "realistic".

Some stupid examples:
Fanservice story: two girls bump in each other. Fanservice CG. Ooh! let's do a boobs-fight, just because. Fanservice CG. 5 minutes later, in bed. Fanservice CG. The End :lol:
More serious story: plot about a growing love between two long-time friend since childhood, through several stages of their lives, both happy and sad events, but in the end they realize they love each other and bla bla bla. Fanservice CG. :)
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Franka
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by Franka »

Well, I think all the games you've made fall into the mature category compared to usual fan service games. So just keep doing what you're doing, and maybe do some shorter fan service games on top of that to get more food for your cats?
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jack1974
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by jack1974 »

Haha yeah I've been thinking about that. As a content creator is hard to work 6+ months on a long, multiple branching game, doing even complex stuff like RPG design/combat/coding/testing, and then see all those maybe 1h long/25k words of text games with many porn CG getting all the recognition/fame/money :lol:
Not saying I would do those games only of course, but maybe a few just to feed pets and finance future bigger games... could be worth it.
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SimonStardust
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by SimonStardust »

I voted "older female interested in more serious romances/stories" although it's not so much the theme itself that matters. As an author it's more the writing style which does the trick for me.

That said I usually put writing styles into two categories:
One which can make even the most colourful and lighthearted fantasy story sound awfully realistic - in a way I don't want to go on reading because it gives me the creepy and depressing feeling of "it definitely is like that in real life."
And the other one which does exactly the opposite - creating a cozy atmosphere of "it's only a story." Even though the story itself might be serious and dark.

It actually is hard to explain, because it might only apply to me and be a matter of taste. I guess I just don't want to feel too involved with the story. I only want to control the character's choices, but I dislike writing which pushes me into the role of the MC.
...and I'm getting slightly off-topic here. xD
Beware! Peerons ahead! xD
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BobTheMob
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by BobTheMob »

Just b/c I'm about to turn 30 in April (totally not a hinting that I feel I should have a free and/or discounted game of my choosing soon as a BDay present [hey, I figure it's worth a shot :mrgreen: ]--but seriously-->) doesn't mean I'm old, Jack!!!! :x (OK, now I'll get serious, haha.)

As I've been sayin since first having discovered Roommates I've been DYIN to see more pure-comedy kinds o' games!!!!!!!!!!! :mrgreen:

And if possible, it'd be esp. cool if such could happen w/ a RPG, since those are my fave kinds; but just in general, something that's gonna have me ROARIN w/ laughter from start to finish like Roommates did. :mrgreen:


Just the one thing: ya said about as an example a yuri-based thing...that's the one thing that would keep me from buying: if it was exclusively any kind of same-gender romance deal; those ain't for me (though as I've said before I have nothing against people who are like that IRL; it's just not for me.)
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jack1974
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by jack1974 »

SimonStardust wrote:It actually is hard to explain, because it might only apply to me and be a matter of taste. I guess I just don't want to feel too involved with the story. I only want to control the character's choices, but I dislike writing which pushes me into the role of the MC.
Hmm not sure I understood what you're saying here :o :P
Maybe you mean serious, not not too much? But I wouldn't allow stuff like gore, rape or other "game of thrones" stuff in my games ever.
BobTheMob wrote:Just the one thing: ya said about as an example a yuri-based thing...that's the one thing that would keep me from buying: if it was exclusively any kind of same-gender romance deal
The game in question it is indeed yuri only. There'll be also "Summer In Trigue". But for the next/upcoming games, I'll always try to have at least two romance options. The ideal is of course like in my RPGs, choose male/female and then romance male/female, but that's a big effort. It's more likely to be play as male OR female, and romance male/female :)

As for comedy in RPG, I am not sure. I mean if it's funny situations like there are in Loren, QoT, SOTW (with Rowinda! best comedy character ever :lol:) then yes. Instead having a RPG that it's never serious... I don't think I could do one. As player I completely hate them. I want a serious story, then of course there can be funny moments or crazy characters, but not the whole thing as comedy, for a slice of life/modern setting works, but for a fantasy one, it sort of breaks the immersion completely for me.
Astrala
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by Astrala »

Well, I'm in the "younger" category, despite my 19-year-old roommate's opinion of my "old soul" :? , but I like stories with more "meat" to them. I wouldn't call them "serious," exactly, but they're defiantly not superficial.

I think the best stories are like really good cupcakes (I know, I know. I really like sweets. I am sorry, The Internet). The comedy's the frosting and the plot development is the cake. Nobody eats a cupcake without frosting, and stories without ANY humor are just sad (*not a pun), but I'm not one of those people who can just eat frosting, because that, and too much comedy without anything impactful happening, makes my teeth hurt.
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DarkWolf
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Re: mature VN/dating sims "seriousness" poll

Post by DarkWolf »

This is a very hard question to answer with a pool for me so I will answer with a post instead.

Firstly I am into older category but I definitely prefer younger characters, this is because I find younger characters to be a lot more emotional and expressive. As for my gender, I am biologically male gender queer.

Now as for serious or lighthearted... I would definitely say I prefer more serious stories but our definition of serious stories seems to be very different. You say that for you serious story means being closer to real life, I and hate those stories because as i see it those are just casual relationships and I read romance for a beautiful love story about true love, witch honestly I don't believe it exist in real life. For me a serious story means story that takes it self seriously. SOTW would be a good example, it is a serous story but not very real life like, then again as you yourself had put this into example of serious stories I might misunderstood what you mean when you said closer to real life.

I can also enjoy more lighthearted stories but I hate fanservice stuff.
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