January 2, 2024

27 thoughts on “One big game or smaller monthly games?

  1. Wouldn’t mind if you do both, the big project should be JLCK. I’ll say your most successful project that you got done better than the rest is Aria. That allow you to add more stuff in updates in Aria. I think doing it short that allow you to add it on the website is a better idea. After you completed everything of it combine it all to the big file game like a UMCC. For offline. But this is my opinion.

    I think things will get better as more content is out. Specially if you ever get all the MMD 3D models. You might be able to switch it to Unity3D. I think Umichan Maiko Deluxe ported to the Unity3D with the MDD model. Why? To test the waters emulating as much as the flash into the Unity3D. Once you learn how it works. You might be able to move your projects in Unity. All games doesn’t always have to be 3D. They can be 2.5D where is 3D models but the game is 2D.

    There is also the option of RPGMaker. Than again you do have an engine for action RPG and platform games that you buy in the Unity store.

  2. I think, it’s always more interesting to play one big game than many small ones on the same topic. As for me, when you divide a game into different parts, a feeling of “characters integrity” disappears. I mean, when you play one game, then switch to another one and see a character that is supposed to be absolutely the same as in the first game, you get a feeling that he is someone different.

    Moreover, talking about technical aspect of it, smaller games are more like visual novels rather than a kind of RPG. While you can easily develop and upgrade your character in UMCH, it will be much less complicated and enjoyable process in divided games, I guess.

    There are pretty many authors who make quite big games for years, actually. Swegabe, for example. Do you know her/him? He/she’s making Legend of Queen Opala using episode structure. Swegabe has already created two games of the series and for his/her last game (LoQO:Origins) Swegabe makes one episode per year. The full game is scheduled to 2017. And people, who like LoQO series, are okay with it.

    Another two examples that came to my mind – authors of Roundscape Adorevia and Akabur.

    So, it’s not bad after all.

    1. At at some point it will be be necessary to properly explain all of lore in the universe and all the characters. Because it will be necessary to understand that stuff for later events in the story. Every character I have can easy have their own full length game. for Example ARIA or a similar game can easily be about Ari, Phia, Bri or TT as the main character instead of Jeo. You wouldn’t know Jinru is some badass space agent from just playing UMCC alone. and that is just one character in umichan lol.

      I also haven’t did any of the other ARIA girls story. You should know little bit about Arielle and Amp from their side story but that about it. and for UMCH, you would know I little about Savori since her quest is fairly fleshed out in UMCC the the point where it alters the ending of the game. I have so much to other stuff to make. you might also realize Maiko is not even the main character in the overall story lol. Know about Maiko’s past just helps to understand stuff later on.

  3. Big games are ultimately better, however, how do you decide the idea worthy of such a long commitment? I would think the best way to do it, is perhaps releasing a string of smaller games for a little while, and selecting one of them to become the candidate for becoming a long term project.
    The idea would be to make games that are relatively simple, but have the potential to be a lot more.

    1. long commitment games are decided by me determining what is crucial information to know about for later on in the story. For example later on the story there is a girl everyone calls Charity, really popular a loved by many but she doesn’t know them because of memory loss. I wanted to make sure people know how that happened and her bond between all the characters that know her. So it was important to make UMCC/CH make make the pov Maiko. I think it would be even better to go into more detail about each of the other characters also. but they can’t all be long games that takes years. I’ll never finish lol.

  4. I am solidly in the one big chunk camp. I much prefer finding the content in a bigger project to be far more satisfying that getting little, isolated chunks. Even if they are all in the same series, exploring a continuing line piece by piece, I still find it better if the whole thing is available all at once, in one package. That is why I remembered ARIA after a good amount of time, because it was one big piece of content, not just some snippet with a sex animation.

    1. Would be more than a snippet I would imagine heh. It is not really one story broken down into chapters or anything like that if that is what you mean. it is different stories with different characters as the focus. The stories all relate. there are multiple characters that each have their won interesting story where they are the main focus. You would want all this in a one game ? ARIA style is good. But a similar game where Phia, Ari, or any of the other girls as the focus would be just as viable if not more. For example with Phia people were interested why she likes sex and her relationship with her brother and Sui-May. Better to have it in separate game imo instead of taking the focus away form Jeo’s mission. similar to ARIA side story. It happens before ARIA but still relevant to ARIA. Same of Luma, Lynn and RIley. People wanted to know more about them . better to have a game focused on them imo it is why I tried to start making the VN instead of trying to explain backstory of all the characters in ARIA. it would be even worse in UMCH trying to do that imo.

  5. Many small games are faster and easier to do, but focused only on the main character, the interactions with the characters are limited, the stories can be complex because the game has to be light, simple and “linear.” (You can distribute them online without the need that users must download them).
    A big game is much more long and difficult to create, but it is more durable, complex and secondary characters can be more psychologically deep. if the user is tired to go along with the main story, he can throw himself on the side quest.
    (It is likely that the game is to download)
    However, I would prefer a big game like UMCC, with periodic demo.

    1. @graav
      I didn’t plan to make them really linear. But I would argue that all my current big games result in the same ending. Just how you get there can be different. for the smaller games the ending would be determined based on performance and decisions made through the game.

      You mention the main games can have more complex secondary characters. however in a smaller setting the secondary characters would be the main focus entirely instead of just being a better secondary character to another character. In my bigger games in particular secondary characters are not secondary because they don’t have a equally interesting story to the main character, it is just because the game would be too massive to bring attention to everyone’s full side story stuff since it is a lot of characters.

      For example Jeo in ARIA is the seeming unimportant character Jinru in UMCC. you would not even being to understand “Jeo” from Jinru without playing ARIA. it would be too much going on to have all of ARIA as a side quest in UMCC. Plus ARIA has it’s owns assortment of characters that are related to Jeo that have their own stories (Ari, Phia, TT, Bri, etc). At that point the focus would be too far removed from UMCC and Maiko, which is why ARIA exists as something seperate. other characters in UMCC have similar interesting stories. But I would just do it on a bit of a smaller scale heh. there are several characters I have not even gotten to yet because the big games take a while to make.

      1. Mmm small game with multiple ending and choise. I dont know im not quite sure maybe its just for my experiences With other game like that.

  6. I say big, bigger is usually better in many ways. It gives you time, you can edit, and the amount of money you put into it depends on how big you see it going. Small games are a safe bet do to low cost and maintenance but it lacks a big reward, and people get used to the updates thus it kills the buzz. Personal though I would always say go bigger when it comes to this type of thing the problem is you most likely can’t at this point in time.

    Now for a pressing matter that occurred to me

    The only higher you can go is making a company but you don’t have the money for it nor the contacts. The game market you are in is extremely open when it comes to western creators, I can name only a few people like you and one is Russian so he doesn’t count as a western creator. The problem is with this the market is small; you can only sell in japan because western markets won’t sell a rated games. In other words until you get the money, until you find the people go as big as you can by yourself because if there is one thing I know for certain you can get that high. I have been watching you for too long to not know that. Each time i look at your post I see you go leaps and bound upwards, so fast that it getting hard to predict what height you will reach. Your work ethics is through the roof, and your learning rate is amazing that is why I personal think i can see you be a big name in the future. The thing is you’re not just any normal game creator nor is anything you create so getting things done the normal way is impossible, because your just like the porn industry and let’s be serious that struggled for a long time before that made anything. I see you as that person right now, technically I see many people as possibilities but you’re on top by leaps and bounds.

    Yes, yes you might be saying “you don’t even know what my business sense is like, i might suck at business” or you might be thinking something less horribly written then that but still nobody perfect at business were not born from the womb as geniuses it takes time to cultivate and is purely based off of planning and your team because you don’t do business by yourself. I see promise in you; don’t underestimate what you can do. This game, whichever one you are doing currently, I can see that just making this game bigger will not pose a threat to you. It is true that you will struggle it is true that your life would be a living hell for a good amount of time but the things you will learn from this is unimaginable and if you play your cards right nothing will stop you from continuing up the ladder. This is the pure reason why I am leaving you this message. I see you getting bigger then you can currently imagine and I can see the problems that you have not faced yet storm into your home. Sooner or later you will have to think of this. All you are truly missing is the help; money is easy to come by when you show promise. I can truly see this happening, yes it won’t be now, you still have a good amount of time to plan and gather, but it can happen. Though of course this is just my assessment so if you don’t believe me keep going on your merry way but remember one thing I am not the only one that thinks this i was just the one who said it first.

    1. This Russian guy is Akabur, I guess?

      I partially disagree with your opinion on western market.
      The trick (as I see it) is that you can make an adult game, then create a censored version of it and sell it on Steam (for example), where you can give a link to an uncensoring patch.
      Examples: HuniePop and, if I’m not mistaken, Nekopara.
      Problem is that the game must have an interesting gameplay even without H-elements.

        1. That’s what I’m talking about.
          Truly good H-game must be good even without H-elements. It must have nice gameplay at least.
          Otherwise, trying to sell it on digital distribution platforms is a losing idea.

    2. Guys, in my opinion, ask a support with a Patreon and than sell a game, is bad move or even a shitty move. (sorry for the stronk word)
      If you really want to do this way just start with a Kickstart and than sell the game.
      Always in my opinion, the mainstream game market is different from the erotic games market.
      The mainstream market has a potential of almost infinite buyers, so developer throws their game in the mass and hope user to find the game with a bit of luck and by word of mouth. (I’m not talking about the giants of videogames, but the small independent team)
      The erotic game market is another story, almost all western game are from independent developers, the only big producers are in Japan and 90% of the time they produce for the home market and only few title break into the west market, because they don’t translate it. (such noob japan >.>)
      You guys mention Akabur ,from what I know, he sold his first games and now only asks support with patreon.
      The Breeding Season Team ask only support from patreon and release 2 or more patreon update before a public release. (32000$ for month)
      Fenoxo and and his gang, do the same thing, 2 or more patreon update and than a public release. (17000$ for month)
      We have Hreinn Games too, with a release monthly, but patreon can play about a week before the public guys. (3800$ for month with their first game)
      With this, i want to say, it’s only a fact of reputation in the environment.

      1. Well, personally I didn’t talk about selling a certain game after collecting money from Patreon that was used to create this game. In our case I consider Patreon as a starting platform for implementation of much bigger ideas. First, it helps you to get money, and the second, it makes you famous. When you got money and fans, you can try to organize your own studio.

        And again, if you make a good H-game with gameplay that can still be nice without adult elements, you can try to sell it on the mainstream game market, as you called it.

        For example, GTA V is a game designed for adults, though it has no sex – only topless strippers. And you still can get this game on Steam. But imagine if there was an official patch (a kind of Hot Coffee for SA) that would bring sex elements into this game and you could get this patch not on Steam, but on Rockstars’ site, for example.

        So, on the one hand, you sell a very successful mainstream game, and on the other hand, you officially support the ability to turn this mainstream game into erotic one.

        But creating and developing a company in the Western world which designs adult games with sex elements is a really, really tough process, I believe. And no one has ever tried to do it.

        1. yeah it is kind of hard. I used to talk about this years back. most hentai people only work independently. It is hard to get westerns working together, I have tired numerous times. Each has their own unique reason for not working but the end result was the same. Yeah I have seen a few people get super popular by releasing censored versions of stuff on steam. I’m not that desperate yet lol.

    3. Thanks for the comments, making a bigger game than my current games is not even something I want to do at the moment, yes without a decent team that can all be comfortably paid.

      But a team is not even my primary issue with making huge games. The main reason the question came about also was because imo there are lot of interesting stuff at least equally if not better in the overall story that I have not even been able to get to yet lol
      I would never get to the other stories by making UMCC and ARIA bigger because UMCC and ARIA are prequels to these other stories. I even have a few games I made earlier that I would revisit at some point now that I have some help from ttrop.

      If this year works out the way I hope, then all of this will not even be a issue and I will be able to have the capital to fund a dedicated team.

  7. Personally, smaller games are better for me.
    Well let me explain, I’m planning to move in with my girlfriend in about 5/7 months, and then it will be zero hentai for me, and I will have to vanish from your site.
    So, in these upcoming months I will enjoy the small things you set to the public! =)
    I already made my peace that I will not see the full UMCH… damn, I want to play it so bad =,(

    1. Eae Blackoni, tudo bem?
      Sou colaborador aqui do site e também sou brasileiro, hehe. Ando meio sumido, mas seja bem-vindo, tanto você quanto todos os outros brasileiro que estão aparecendo por aqui. Fico muito feliz em ver o interesse do pessoal pelo trabalho do Vortex 🙂
      Mas por que sumir cara? Eu tenho uma namorada também e ela sabe o quanto eu gosto de hentai, tanto que a interface antiga do ARIA foi ela quem ajudou a fazer 😛
      Se eu puder ajudar de alguma forma, só dar um toque. Espero continuar te vendo por aqui! 😀

    2. @blackoni
      sounds like you might be moving in with the wrong chick bro lol. looking at hentai is defiantly not the worst way to be spending some free time. Even if she doesn’t like it herself she should not have a major issue with you liking it.

    3. Tem notebook ? se tiver joga no banheiro HUEHEUHEUHEUHEUH .
      Mais agora falando serio, acho que sua namorada nem vai ligar de tu jogar uns jogo hentai, acho que ela liga mais de tu sair sem avisar, sair dar um role por ae com uma galera, ficar papeando com outras mulheres e etc.
      A não ser que tu fique sem internet, ai já não tem como mesmo. Mais fala com ela tenho certeza que ela nem vai ligar, fala que é um jogo de um amigo e tu ta testando para ele ou coisa do tipo.

    4. Uou, não esperava que tantos fossem se importam com o drama da minha vida hahaha =;)
      Enfim, boas soluções, ela é demais e é nivel sobrenatural de compatibilidade e o sexo é *-*
      Enfim 2, procuramos hentai pra aliviar a tensão sexual quando não podemos nos ver direito e nem fazer nada, ela veio falando que se assustou de um monte de hentai ser de estupro e eu me fazendo de desentendido, sendo que todo meu conhecimento de anime vem de hentai onde as heroinas de animes são estupradas huahauahua
      Mas vou tentar manter vindo aqui casualmente escondido e ficar de olho nas novidades 😉
      Acho também que consigo disfarçar tipo, “oh, olha só esse joguinho que achei que eu nunca vi na vida, vamos ver do que se trata” hauahauahua
      Ótimo ver tanto brasileiros aqui,cada vez mais surpresas por aqui =D

      now in english for Vortex and to practice my english =P:
      wow, didn’t expect so many to care about the drama in my life lol =;)
      Well,good solutions, she’s awesome and we have a supernatural level of compability and the sex is*-*
      Well 2, we looked for hentai to relieve the sexual tension when we couldn’t meet and do stuff, she came all frightened at all the rape hentai and I’m looking like I didn’t know anything about, little did she know that all my anime knowledge came from hentai where the heroines from animes are raped and stuff lol
      But I will try to keep coming here casually sneaking and keeping an eye on the news 😉
      I think can do something like “oh, look at that game that I found out and totally never knew about, let’s try it” lol
      Great to see so many brazilians in here, every time a new surprise in here =D

      PS: if theres some kind of translation tool anywhere, I’m making a total fool of myself hahaha

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