I’ve been around on this site for a few years and just bothered to make an account recently; I’ve really enjoyed a lot of games here and thought I would try my hand at creating my own.
It’s still very early in development, my plan is currently to have a college simulator game where you can go through college and influence your peers and the rest of the school through various methods.
My current plan is to use daz3d to make assets for the game eventually, I definitely want this game to be a more of a slow burn game where gains are slow overtime and more on the realistic side.
I currently have 30 NPCs with proper weight gain systems programmed into Ren’py, just with no story yet , this is still very early in development and will take a good amount of time considering how my work schedule is currently and my lack of experience in coding and daz3d.
My biggest inspirations for the game have been “Project B.O.B”, “A Piece of Cake”, and “Fill Me Up”, that brings me to what I want to ask all of you for my project. What are some of your favorite parts of projects and games like this, what do you really like to see and just general ideas, I’d really like to hear what people like and dislike for a game like this, as I am entering this process of creating stories for my characters as I am nearing completion of the actually mathematical engine behind the scenes.
Since you want make a slow burn game, I think the immersion will be the most important tihing, just like Kingdom Come 2. To be honest, I don’t like a unreasonable story, so try to make it logical. And I want this game can gain weight for different parts(hip, belly and so on), for player and NPCs. Currently I can only list these, I need some more time to think for other suggestions.
I agree with the two above but one thing i seem not to see much is the ability to also lose weight. I know i know boo that but hear me out. I’m games line these i like to fly immerse myself in the character and embrace a struggle. And have total control over her actions. I want to well try and lose weight but fail miserably. However if i really applied myself i could that’s one of my biggest asks.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I’d honestly rather have a game like that be text-only than use daz3d assets. From a personal standpoint: I prefer cartoonish grapics to semi-realism, and daz3d makes me feel the uncanny valley hard. But also, I feel like simply through well-written descriptions you can activate a player’s imagination much more effectively.
I loved the aspect of meeting NPCs and having them feed you/vice versa in project bob, were it more fleshed out you could in one playthrough befriend a fatty and have her influence you, in another corrupt a thin NPC, etc. Just a lot of potential.
In “A Piece of Cake”, I also enjoyed the more personal interactions with NPCs, as well as the possibility of influencing the populace at large.
In “Fill Me Up”, besides obviously the different paths with NPCs (and the unique 3d models), I liked how you could influence your character’s gluttony, and the influence it had on the availability of future choices. Made it really satisfying going for the ‘gluttony point of no return’ or trying to fight against it.
If I were you, I’d first try fleshing out maybe one or two NPC stories (and the MC part of the experience, duh), so that the game feels more deeper than it feels wide. While Project Bob’s NPC system was ambitious and quite fun in its own right, I quickly found that everything just repeats and that there’s not that much flavour. A Piece of Cake and Fill Me Up have a ton of random events connected to your progress that keep things fresh, and they also focused on fleshing out a smaller number of NPCst (iirc your friend in A Piece of Cake and obv your roommates in FMU) with a number of side characters with less content.
TL;DR
Try to flesh out one aspect of the game (MC, one NPC, one area, etc.) before adding another, or feature bloat will get to you and possibly demotivate you. If it’s your first time making a game, maybe even avoid too many intertwined narratives (e.g. interactions of characters that can happen at multiple weight stages each)
This is something people say around here, and I will too 'cause it’s true: Please release early, while the thing is still very half-baked. It gives us something to play with, it gives you feedback about what’s working, it gives you motivation to push on.
Also like others have said, characters with fleshed-out personalities and histories. When they feel real and believable is when the WG etc. hits the hardest.
My favorite parts of games like this are the little journeys from “no, I won’t do that, that’s gluttonous and weird” through “OK, but only because (excuses)” and “wait, do I…” to “it’s ON!”. This relates to the character depth and growth thing. What I’d really like to see is a game where the characters stuff/gain for varying reasons, so that pushing them all the same way won’t get the player results; we have to learn where people’s buttons are and push those.
Whether the world as a whole is realistic I could go either way on - fantasy and sci-fi settings are also fine, something that has a dream or storybook feel to it would be super cool for a change - just there should be some consistent idea of how the world works.
Enhance the option of the MC character gaining weight with the plot of either being influenced to grow to like the idea or a plot where the NPCs realize what the MC is doing to them and take their revenge by fattening the MC either subtlety or forceful means. Filling me Up was great with option of influence effecting the MC’s take on weight gain.
, this is still very early in development and will take a good amount of time considering how my work schedule is currently and my lack of experience in coding and daz3d.