Hello! Writer starting out with game design

[Kosheh]

Welcome! I haven't given it a full read, but

Well, welcome to this forum all the same, but maybe you could look into creating a less erotic game instead?

pffffffffft bahahahaa

My plan is for the game to have little combat or no combat at all, and be more like a lot of overlapping visual novel games instead of a "fantasy adventure" or "meet and fuck" style game

yo meet and fuck kingdom was one of 2000's greatest gifts to the internet don't be hatin' on meet and fuck kingdom )':

In all seriousness, you might want to look into Ren'py if you're looking into making something that's more like a visual novel. It'll take a little bit of custom scripting in Python to do the actual things you want - but if you're just more comfortable in RPG Maker that's fine too. I have a friend who's a writer and doesn't know jack about programming, but he and his pal were able to scrounge up a short VN with little to no knowledge at all of Python.



Skimming and just realized, though. You know what'd be awesome? A really awkward erotic adventure that chronicles several characters' sexual escapades, but instead of explicitly having sex scenes/onscreen sex, having boss battle/scale fights but abstract symbols represent your team members and the enemy, with Latin names to describe the archetypes of those characters.
So like, people who are squeamish like E-Man and other people could play it too and be fully aware of the sexual undertones and complexities the game is presenting.
Kinda like Earthbound, but about one-night stands and casual meetups.


...yeah.

I'll read this again later with a little more concrete input tho. :V

EDIT: Read it a little more. I'm not sure if there's any content that's really criticizable at this point. You might still wanna look into Ren'py if you're hunting for a visual novel engine - and chances are you could write a basic executable that serves as a "hub" for your network of games if your game gets to that point.

Unless you've got a steady team of 10+ people, I wouldn't think about the "what if the game becomes successful" aspect - I'd probably focus more on the actual content and shaping/carving things out.

That said, I think going with a modern theme would be pretty neat. One thing I've got to admit - I'm pretty sick of every erotic VN not being "real" enough. It's always a dopey cast of characters, and, while lovable in their own right, none of the stuff particularly feels like it'd ever happen to me. I mean, I get the whole "I play games to escape from reality, why would I play a game about realistic love" - but I'd love a game that really throws a wrench into conventional VNs, and really allows you to live a fantasy opposite of the Silky Waifu bullshit. Issues that make you actually think. Like, for example:

- One of the girls, while charming and a real socialite, also has a child at home. The child was born when she was in her middle teens, and the boy's biological father, and girl's ex-boyfriend, was originally a great guy until be became an alcoholic. The unstable home relationship due to the boyfriend's alcoholism forced the girl to move out. And the child, who's not an infant, has unusually enough experience to cause some tension when you're around as he's not really keen on the idea of you replacing his father, and is sick of the men that his mother would bring home during one-night stands who'd pretend to be nice to get in his mother's pants.

- A kind woman whose husband is stationed overseas. He's injured in the call of duty, receives a Purple Heart award, comes home, and finds that she's been seeing someone else: You. The story revolves around the shitstorm clouds that form over the couple and the tangled webs of marriage, all with the constant fear of a musclebound hulk is going to knock down your door and beat the shit out of you when you're sleeping.

- Another real straightedge girl who suffered from a rare disease when she was a child. From a well-off family, they forked over the cash for a blood transfusion, but due to the lack of knowledge of the disease, ends up being diagnosed as HIV positive. The main plot in this storyline deals with the MC's naivete and risk of possible contraction of HIV and the social situations he faces from his peers.

- A childhood friend you haven't seen in years who's a transitioning MTF.

Like, you know, a visual novel. But on hard mode.
Sorry if I just spilled all my fantasies out into a post on the interwebs - but like, a Really Real VN that isn't a platter of buttercups but not trying super-hard to be XxEDGYxASxFUCKxX would be pretty fuckin sweet.

I'm Just Saiyan