Saturday, May 12, 2018
What kind of protagonist do you prefer?
Figured I may as well just ask, kind of interested to see.
Content of each option
To give more information; this question assumes that a game would be spending the same amount of time on H content regardless of the type. A female protagonist would have 100% of the time spent on animations that include that female character. A game in which you can choose your gender would have that time split between the two.
In the case of my games, a male protagonist implies 100% of the enemies are female, with few body altering mechanics applying to the protagonist. Mechanics such as romance/affection or pregnancy are available for this type of game, involving enemies or other characters.
A female protagonist can involve mechanics like pregnancy, and while mind altering mechanics (lust, lewidity) are possible on a male protagonist, they are more common with a female one. Enemies can be male or female. Romance/affection mechanics are less appealing on male enemies, but would still be possible with either gender.
I'm also more willing to have a female character turn into a male as a mechanic, rather than vice-versa. That said, in a male/female choice game I would be able to add gender bending mechanics in either direction, as at that point it's basically just up to the player what they want, and the distinction isn't something I have to make.
Viability of each option
Gender bending and futa options assume that the majority of the animations would use the default female character, and roughly 25%, a little more, or a little less, would use the secondary form or attribute.
The easiest options are to have either 100% male, 100% female, or a 25% futa attribute, as none of these require extra sprites.
25% male gender bent requires only sligtly more work, as it would likely be a special "form" in which not all gameplay mechanics are applicable (moveset may be different, items may be different, etc).
Male/Female choice requires the most work, or limits the mechanics without further development time, as if there are sets of clothing, action animations, etc, each gender must have a sprite set for them. If these mechanics are not present, then the work would not be drastically different.
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So, I know you explained the differences for how the animations would be implemented for each gender, but do you have any ideas for the differences in type of animations for each gender? By that I mean, Eroico has a male protag, but most of the animations have him being dominated, the same goes for your other games with female protags. So, is there any idea what direction this game would take in terms of animation type depending on the gender of the protag?
ReplyDeleteTo put it more bluntly, I prefer cute female enemies to, say, tentacle monsters. So I personally like games with male protags. So what would be the overall difference in enemy type if you made the game with a female protag versus a male one? Since this would be a game that gets enemies added on semi-weekly basis, would your animations try to cover many different fetishes?
The above was more of a general outline of what I'd do with any game. That said, I generally don't have rapist protagonists for either gender. The only time I would is if it was a battle fuck sort of situation, but that's not really my thing. There can also be consensual, with either gender, but most of my games would focus on rape simply because it goes hand in hand with the theme of combat most of the time, with consensual being peppered in (Like giving the right enemy the right item, or wooing some enemy enough, etc).
DeleteIf a game has a female protagonist, then enemies can be basically anything as far as content goes, be it futa themselves, yuri, or on the receiving end of futa. Most would be male enemies, most likely.
In the weekly game, specifically, I would more or less do what I wanted to do, but try and spread it out a bit. So for example I might show 4 concepts for enemies, and have the players vote on which to use. After 3 or so votes if I feel the game needs something in particular (yuri or futa, or maybe a large enemy for example), the choice might be between a bunch of that thing. In this way the vote could bias the results, but I can still add what I think needs to be added here and there.
I didn't know you didn't like having a rapist protag! Personally, I think all of your games have great weight, impact, and polish, and I really enjoy the platforming elements as I think they offer a fair bit of challenge. I also think your h-animations are great. But, I kind of feel like they seem like separate elements in many of your games. Do you have any plans for future games about how to implement sex game mechanics? There was the lust bar in Noaika, but I'm not sure that affected gameplay?
DeleteI've seen games like succubus that let you sex downed enemies to regain health. There's also the breeder type games where the sex is a central mechanic to getting more currency. There's games that have sex be apart of defeating enemies, but I've always liked the idea of sex fueling a special bar or mana to perform special moves. Anyways, have you thought of implementing things like this, or do you like to keep the h-animations and normal gameplay separate?
Some of my games in development have sex as a part of the gameplay, some more than others. As for the whole H as a mechanic debate, I won't get into it. It's really long lol.
DeleteThough I will say that if you do use H as a mechanic, you want to avoid making it something that has to be repeated too often in order to progress or have an advantage. For example in Succubus, it's pretty tedious to get health, and devalues the animation because you see it so much.
Your games are good enough that I enjoy them even though I prefer games where the male protagonist goes for the sex instead of it being obtained by losing.
DeleteIn the end I just play the game normally ignoring the sex, and when I get in the mood I play for the sex scenes.
Having the option for both seems pretty appealing. The tradeoff in terms of extra dev time and therefore less frequent updates for anyone with a strong preference seems considerable, but on the other hand everyone eventually gets what they want. That aside, since male protagonist is losing pretty badly so far, if you end up not going in that direction for the Patreon game, is there a chance some of the ideas mentioned here for a male protag (npc impregnation especially) might show up in the future, either in the Mischief Makers-style game or something else?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'll certainly still have male protags in the future, and I have plenty of stuff in mind for them.
DeleteGlad to hear it. Incidentally, would there be anything preventing you from including content for both sexes in the Patreon game but staggering the release of updates so that, for example, the game reaches a fairly complete state with a female protag before ramping up development for the male option? That way the majority gets priority but the rest of us still get something eventually. Wouldn't even have to be a 50/50 split when it's finished I suppose. Just spitballing, the poll is pretty decisive but I'd really like to see more male protag content (especially with impregnation and some sort of affection mechanic), and it seems like any commercial games of that nature are a lot farther off than the Patreon one might be.
DeleteI feel like the poll brings up a necessary follow-up question of "what kind of enemies do you prefer", as well. You can definitely make *some* assumptions, in that most voting for a male protag prefer female enemies a la Eroico, but other votes are apt to be more complex to break down...
ReplyDeleteFemale, in particular, doesn't really say anything about preferred enemy types. People might prefer male or female or futa or tentacled or whatever else, and it'd be difficult to really say from just their vote.
The female+25% futa option is especially convoluted, as many will vote just to express *any* interest they can in futa, even if they'd prefer futa enemies with a static female protag, while others might avoid voting for it to avoid the chance of "losing" yuri or such in the process, or some might vote it purely to try and reduce the number of male enemies, if they're particularly overthinking things...
But over-analyzing the psychology of a simple poll is probably more tedious than helpful.
Personally, my preferences for protags are something like...
Female (female foe) > Female (monstrous/tentacle/futa foe) = Futa (female foe) > Female (male foe) > Male (female foe)
Yuri can somewhat limit animation variety, so I get that it'll generally be a minority of animations... But, if a position depends little on the pairing (i.e. fingering, cunnilingus), having it be yuri, rather than relegating it to a singular 'token' is definitely nice.
Though, I've got plenty of fangirl bias, here, as I still thoroughly enjoyed Eroico, regardless of my usual preferences running contrary to the theme, as the enemy designs carried it for me.
...I am terrible at organizing my thoughts in any concise manner. That poll didn't need 2 hours spent typing a reply. >//<
Lol no worries. I'm no stranger to writing book report replies.
DeleteThe reason I grouped them like that is because the enemy types are more or less inherent to what the player is, short of my preferences (no male x male for example). Any choice will have anything possible to that gender available as an option, be it yuri or futa etc.
As for yuri, I like live-action girlxgirl but I find it to be a bit boring in hentai. Maybe because there's less to exaggerate in animation. I think yuri works if there's enough characterization to the aggressor to give the situation a contextual edge, but I'd generally prefer the same situation with futa, on either side.
That said, it is true that someone might, say, prefer a male protag to a female protag with futa elements, yet prefer vanilla female over both. However I think that most probably prefer male or female flat out. If the question wasn't simplified, you'd have to adjust for things like "male but only if enemies are lolis" or "yuri, but only if it's all missionary tribbing" etc
i love monster girls so having a lot of diffrent ones in a game is just great but the i like female protagonists aswell but male are cool aswell
ReplyDeleteKyrieru game with futa protaginist? Is this Heaven?
ReplyDeleteWell, as a mechanic/temp state/form, but not as a default character state.
Deleteanswer to this depends so much on the game and mechanics but knowing what you have done so far i would have to say female if nothing else than the increased enemy variety it brings
ReplyDeletei would be more interested in a male character with enemies of both sexes :P
ReplyDeletetheres been same sex content in your previous works as well
as far as what enemies are available, im more personally interested in the less humanized enemies found in kurovadis for example, rather than semi generic monster girls
best wishes kyrieru
I did FxF, however any of my games are going to be limited by my own sexual preferences. I wouldn't do MxM, simply because I'm not into it.
DeleteIf I did a patreon thing, the enemies would be varied. I wouldn't be sticking to a specific theme, I think, so there would be anything from futa girls to unidentifiable monstrosities.
i suppose my options would be fem/futa or split m/f protagonist content in that case :P
Delete＞They are basically the dame.
ReplyDelete＞However the DLsite version costs more, as DLsite takes a cut of the sales.
i'm sorry
I am using google translation
did not understand
Please be succinct
Sorry about, there was a typo.
Delete> They are the same
> 60% of the money goes to DLsite. So it's more expensive.
I always prefer playing as a female in H games regardless of the genre. It more feels like you know what to expect in terms of the content you're focusing on. A male protag means more females, sure-- that's great, but you don't know what focus content you're gonna face until you get to it. I mean, unless you're into the main character being male (not judging) then it's a bit more of a gamble imo. For example, I know some great games where you play as a guy, but then there'll be something like loli enemies and whilst some people might be into that, it'll feel like a legit punishment and turn-off to me if I get my ass handed by them. Same goes for futa.
ReplyDeleteIt's a somewhat selfish opinion on my part but that's my reasoning for preferring female protags anyway. Chances are I'm more likely going to enjoy what happens to her unless you wanna go REALLY out there with the enemies.
Also I think having a main female protagonist is much more successful in terms of marketing in general. Nail her design and she becomes the face of the game and the reward you'll be playing with.
I usually think it's a bad idea when H games try to stretch their appeal across all sexualities instead of just giving a lot of content for their niche, but since it's just the sex of the protag and I'm pretty much okay with all of the pairings you're okay with I actually find the idea of a split kind of appealing for variety because there's nothing I would want to totally avoid or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, my subjective preferences are just on a male protag. I think there's too few action/platformers with a male hero. And I know monster girls are kinda generic but man they are just genius as far as content selection in a game goes, and it's way more for me to be interested in when coming across a new enemy as opposed to some new penis beast with no sexual appeal in itself at all.
I disagree, I'd rather see a male protag with less overtly anthropomorphic female enemies and more "vagina beasts".
DeleteOr even alternatively a female protag with more anthropomorphic male enemies. But ultimately I just want to see Kyrieru be able to make good games and to be able to make more of them
DeleteWhat do you think about yuri games with female protag and female enemies?
DeleteMy vote goes for 100% female protag. I find the focus on the protag builds up a familiarity with them, and allows for building a connection with the protag, which makes the H stuff sexier.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this 100%
Deletehttps://ulmf.org/threads/acid-style-no-iron-made-explorer-creator-of-barrage-released.10466/
ReplyDeleteI feel like this game is relevant to this poll.
I mean yeah, it could be but it helps to explain why.
DeleteWouldn't say it is shit but it does seem like the creator rushed the art as opposed to taking the time to fully animate past 3-4 frames. As for the world in the preview, I will agree it needs some work. I know the main point of these games is obviously the H content but if it world doesn't look good it can detract from the fun.
DeleteI found Kyrieru through Eroico. Since then, I haven't been able to enjoy any of his other content due to the heavy emphasis on female protags. Not saying its not it quality (It is quality) i'm just saying that there's been a lack of male-protags since eroico.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, Kyrieru should focus on whatever he's passionate about, screw the fans, whenever you're passionate about something, people will come flockin'
Why do you think you enjoyed playing as Kuro less? What do you mainly enjoy about H stuff? Do you actually find games like Eroico titillating, or do you play it mostly for other reasons?
DeleteI feel like immersiveness plays a huge factor in H games for me. A male protagonist helps me feel immersed in the experience, while also increasing the variety of female characters which is always a plus. Female protagonist games are already so abundant, finding a new male-protag game is rare but they always tend to be significantly better than the female-led alternatives.
DeleteMGQ is a lot of people's entry to this genre of games, mine was Eroico. Both games have male protag's and are both significantly better than most h-games on the internet.
I bet there have been plenty of great female-led H games. Eroico's are pretty fun and I've played all of them. Violated Heroine is one I feel is deep enough to be a great game on its own. But male-led games have always been more appealing to me for that immersive factor.
Depends on context. There's very few good, solid H-games out there where you play as the aggressor. In a case like that, I'd lean more towards Male. I probably don't have to say that in games where you play the victim I prefer female, though I don't have a problem with male in the slightest.
ReplyDelete"Yeah, I'll certainly still have male protags in the future, and I have plenty of stuff in mind for them."
ReplyDeleteBasically already committing suicide, u know?
I think it's just a 4chan meme.
DeleteYou know Even though male mc has only 10-20% I would say it's still worth. 95% of all sidescroller have female mcs and the audience who want a male mc are starving for more.
DeleteThink a bit more next time.
Keep self-inserting as a female you betas, I'll just be playing MGQ paradox in japanese.
ReplyDeleteZero stars. Put more effort into your trolling next time.
DeleteYou don't know the definition of trolling you mouth-breather. Female protags are garbage and in sidescroller games with female MCs you usually get flat out repulsive enemies. Yeah I really wana see my character get fugged by a decomposing zombie dog or some kind of ghoul, or what, are you implying I'm suppose to self-insert as all these grotesque and usually non-humanoid things? Even Kurovadis has these problems, like who the hell could jerk off with the final boss there?
DeleteI didn't have a problem jerking off to anything in Kurovadis.
DeleteExcept when I couldn't do the platforming well. That was kind of a boner killer.
I am usually pretty good with either male or female protagonists for these sorts of games. Not as much of a fan of genderbender, and I dislike futa a lot.
ReplyDeleteWhat really intrigues me is the romance possibility as a male character. I'm more into vanilla, so the ability to interact and sex the npcs outside of rape scenes is honestly preferable to me. Plus it always feels nice to have extra interactions with the npc you like the most/enjoy the animations for the most.
You've finished 2 games with female and 1 game with male protags. You've shown you can do both, so I say do what ever actually gets a game out. Your mechanics are solid enough that the porn isn't even required, but is fun none the less. As long as you are enjoying yourself and get a finished product in the end, I'm game.
I kinda do like that idea. I know maybe not 100% what you were aiming for or meaning but the idea of say enemies having a rape animation toward male protag, but once captured and treated well they may have a "consent" animation between the two as well. Or other people in town and such.
DeleteMale. Mostly because almost all such games have female protagonists, so it's nice for variety to have male. It's part off why I really liked Eroico. It's practically the only such game with a male protagonist that I know of. If people could recommend others I'd be interested.
ReplyDeleteGiven the high number of cheap Japanese side-scrollers, there's easily two dozen ones that have male protagonists. I remember two from the same devs where the guy has a whip, and another two from another dev where one protagonist was a fat guy and another a creepy dude in a weird suit. There's a bunch where you play as an orc/goblin, and I remember one where you're some sort of demonic dude and you fight a bunch of "good" girls. There's also one where you play as a boy with a ball and a bunch of girls try to assault you, it was made by the same guy who made Parade Buster.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry if I don't have any names for you, but most of those games seemed pretty bad (certainly nowhere near the same level of quality as Eroico) and their names were probably Japanese ones that I don't remember (or could never even read in the first place) anyway. You could try browsing DLSite Maniax to find them but there are so many games on there that it would take a significant amount of time.
That was meant as a reply to the post above mine.
DeleteIn case anyone's wondering what this guy is talking about, some actual DLSite codes to help (my best guess):
DeleteGuy with whip: Chronicles of Prey 1 or 2* (RE129036)
Fat guy: Hentai Apocalypser Zubrius (RE116034)
Skinsuit Guy?: Hentai Apocalypser Penix* (RE144751) or Phantom Knight* (RE180171)
As Goblin: Goblin Walker (RE212641)
As Orc: Orc Break (RE138728)
As demon in dude's body: Virgin Invader* (RE151542)
Boy with a ball: ONE-SYOTA (RE117304)
One's with asterisk (*) I've played and would recommend.
Definitely 100% female. The preg kinks alone are worth it.
ReplyDeleteFuta all the way for me.
ReplyDeleteWait, there was an actual poll embedded into this post? Doesn't even show up on Firefox at all for me, dunno if other people missed it.
ReplyDeleteHey there!, Im the creator or Ucogi and MoGi Origins. From time to time I peek at your blog, because I like your games.
ReplyDeleteYour questions and poll are intriguing, but as a few have mentioned, it's not just the protagonist, but also the enemies. Personally, I prefer female protagonist in my Resident Evil and GTA5 games but when it comes to hentai... I find it more appealing to play as a guy, in order to have sex scenes with a variety of girls. As a female, you only get sex with just one female which could get boring.
I'm not a big fan of gender-swap, but I can still come up with ideas that would be interesting to see in a game. Using it to solve puzzles could be a compelling mechanic.
If the platform is story driven for example, you could be male for the first level in order to be strong and beat up some guys (o have sex with girls to gain access), and be female for the second level in order to be more agile or even flirt your way through. Some "doors" can only be unlocked if you are male or female and maybe the story can be branching and have multiple endings.
Not sure what could happen if the pregnant female turns into a man... I'll let you figure this one out!
My vote goes to Female Protagonist. If you would have written Male Protagonist with Female enemies then my vote might have changed.
ReplyDeleteWoman, but I'm tired of seeing small characters with a pint of RPG, because it's the easiest thing to do, it's everywhere and it doesn't excite as if it's a bigger character. Try to make your new game the characters look better and bigger , I do not ask a 3d character like the guilty hell, but if at least a 2d character like the Atelier Tia and do not put censorship to your game, I hate censorship, censorship should not exist in pornographic games
ReplyDeleteMale protagonist please! I like your games and played it all, I just loved Eroico but most of your games are female protagonist! >.< We need more reverse rape :D I like a lot the idea of trance/hypno/corruption, in an action platform it is an exciting method to temporarly block the character while the enemy slowly approaches to suck him dry or to make it harder to break the bound while she's at work. And there's a lot of options too... I'm don't have game design skills but i'd be happy to share ideas (no need to have merits in exchange, just want to see the work complete) and a good conversation if you want... just tell me and I'll be happy to share my email or whathever you like with you
ReplyDeleteFemale character centered game. You'll have broader ideas with a female than a male, the MC can receive greater focus without development feeling weird, and it's best to focus on one direction; options can be great, but they also require centering any game additions around 'This part of the game has to work for either gender, so how should I limit it in order to do so?' type planning.
ReplyDeleteGo all in on one route. It's easier to add events and such with 'bent' content than it is to base every single update around multiple possible character states.
Ease of development progress should be a large consideration for a game with this sort of update schedule. Things will go wrong, bugs will pop up, ideas will fall flat and need to be reworked, and you need available time to work on the updates, all of those issues, and any other simultaneously ongoing projects.
I'll have to vote for a male protagonist, because there's at least a higher chance of one of the female sex partners having small breasts. I would prefer female protagonist with smaller breasts any day, but the majority of players prefer the larger breasts and thus most games go in that direction by default. Not to mention that most game designers probably prefer that too, and even if they don't, then they lose money if they don't appeal to the majority.
ReplyDeleteSome time has passed , ready to se a new update from you lol, suprise us
ReplyDeleteHeya, I absolutely love your games and adore your pixel art and style.
ReplyDeleteA small tip: Try publishing on steam platform. You can't put in the H-content but gameplay and good pixel art alone will lure so many casual gamers in buying your games. Release an uncensored patch somewhere in this official sites and those who want it can get it and play it with full H-content.
Other devs are doing it, so can you! For example the creator of Unholy Productions released one of his games: Unholy Disaster (link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/889770/)
Good Luck!
Something about not wanting to attract too much attention due to Canada having blurry porn laws.
Deletehttps://armouredsuits.ca/articles/frequently-asked-questions-about-porn-laws-in-ontario-canada/
Option F: Male protagonist, but female secondary protagonist gets all the 'fun', while the make gets a few parts and mostly narrates.
ReplyDelete*male, not make
DeleteGuess I'm gonna try asking this here, but in the Noaika demo you have this idea of what appears to be a lewdness bar. Are you gonna keep this idea?
ReplyDeleteIf so any plans on what it would change besides her face-icon, perhaps in animations or gameplay itself?
More precisely, what I'm getting at is I'm hoping there would be some sort of stat system or whatnot where, if high enough, the MC would be more susceptible to the lewds e.g: her face would be permanently blushed, maybe the animation would change slightly or (some)enemies have an extra animation, a button to "seduce" enemies without needing to be downed etc. Something like Acid Style's game with the robot-girl explorer or Ayura Crisis, if you've played any of them.
Would still be looking forward to the game and buy it even if none of this gets implemented
i'm generally more of a fan of a sexually submissive protagonist, that is the protagonist is the one getting raped. while i'm not opposed to putting a male character in this role, i understand this is very niche, and probably more doable as a genderbent character, which is mechanically just another female protagonist lol.
ReplyDelete