Yes hello! I'm not dead! I'm sorry I never post updates, my life is just...kinda busy and structureless. Also I just...don't think about porn games so much these days. I'm sure that'll change again sooner or later. Also, Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you had good holidays! Now, on to the actual rambling.
I've programmed approximately two AI so far. That's technically a lie, I've done one, and then two AI to half completion, but the math adds up to making two AI so I'm gonna stick with that claim. In that limited experience, I've come to the conclusion that programming AI fucking sucks, and if I ever go back to making AI for that other game which is currently on the shelf, elaborate scripting is the way to go. The big hurdle isn't making AI that makes decisions, I've done that with every AI I've made. It's making AI that makes decisions with a purpose. That makes decisions with a clear goal of winning and doesn't miss obvious traps because it's a dumb machine that can't think like a human and thus can't foresee an obvious trap. But let's say you can do all that. You can make AI that doesn't make dumb mistakes, that tries to win, but isn't so brilliantly optimized that players can beat it. Maybe not consistently, maybe it's only a 50/50, but they can, in fact, win, and not just by getting lucky. Now you run into a new problem.
Just winning, in a porn game, isn't very sexy. This wasn't something I'd ever really considered before, but reading r/Healsluts, someone posted about how bad they are at Age of Empires. The point was that the AI didn't just beat them, it also humiliated them in the process. Obviously, this was not the intention when programming them. More likely they're simply not programmed to consider if enemies technically should own places when moving in to take resources, and don't have the highest priority in killing all your stuff. HOWEVER, it raised an interesting idea to me. The idea of AI that actually does try to humiliate the player.
To use Shield High as an example, if you've got two or more damage bars maxed out, and almost no fatigue, while they're still going strong and haven't even taken significant amounts of pain, why shouldn't the AI toy with you a bit? Why wouldn't it drive the point home that you're it's bitch right now? I mean, given that the AI is for a rival girl at Shield High, it stands to reason she'd want to rub it in.
It also opens up an avenue for other types of porn games. In fact, the nature of AI opens up whole other genres, as suddenly the content of the gameplay doesn't have to be sex-related at all. You could make an RTS game that has no sex mechanics, but have a narrative focus where the AI not just beating you, but openly disrespecting you in-game makes sense, and plays into the porn element of it. Obviously, I'm not about to do such a thing. I really do need to finish Shield High and my new project before I dash off to more porn games, however it's something I might be thinking about for the future. Y'know, if I ever do finish anything.
Or someone else could take this and make something of it. Both work. Just tell me if you do.
Pudding Earl
Tuesday, 26 December 2017
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Earl's Musings: Life Simulators
I thought I'd talked about these already, but when looking at all my old stuff I don't see any reference to them in a title. I'm sure I've talked about what I think inside a topic, but I haven't really shared thoughts on them specifically as their own topic, so here we go.
Life Simulators are kind of strange games. As the name suggests, they're about simulating life. I haven't played many, and I'm not sure all that many exist, on the grounds that it's a big undertaking for a not particularly interesting concept. The only two I've played are Cursed and Girl Life, and Cursed was...not for very long. Despite only playing two though, I'm pretty confident in saying that any others out there (I haven't looked, it's not really my thing), and any others that will be made, will exhibit similar features. The two I have played both have a similar hook for their sex angle, which is you were a guy magically turned into a girl by some means or another. It's not exactly an unexpected angle, as it provides a good framing device as to why you have very little, and have to build up a life from nothing, since you're effectively an adult who's just been born into the world. Basically all the sex that comes up is as a sort of side effect of your own choices, and it's very possible to go for ages without getting into any sex at all, if that's your preference.
I played a LOT of Girl Life. I bounced off it several times, but finally I managed to pick up the rhythm of it, and there'd be weeks where I'd play a few hours every night, trying to reach some event I'd read about on the wiki. Long enough to know that I honestly fucking hate this type of game. There's a lot of issues I take with them, but I think they all really boil down to one core complaint. Life is complex as fuck, and thus simulating it is basically impossible. As such, the "life" in a life simulator is a surreal mirror of the world. Events repeat, and conversations happen again and again in identical fashion. That can be forgiven, obviously, it's still just a game. It's the smallest issue I take with it though. The world isn't the world as we know it, but the world as presented by the game's creator, and as such some things become strained. Moral compasses get skewed in favor of making sex more accessible, and people tend to be more uniform in their action. And finally, there's the issue of survival itself. It suffers from the same problem that every game that makes hunger/thirst/sleep things you need, where they're represented as simple numbers, with seemingly no tethering to real life. Girl Life, at least, tracks weight gain too, which makes things worse. The core problem of numbers for food is that it leads to odd eating times. You don't eat at meal times, you eat at the times you're hungry. Sleep behaves oddly too, and I often woke up at 4am and couldn't sleep more. But the BIGGEST problem of all, comes in the form of time management. Moving around the world takes time. This can cause some stupid issues where trips to places can take an amount of time that you simply didn't account for, in a way that would never happen in real life. Add to that the fact times are rather precise. X activity becomes available between 2 and 4. If you arrive at 1:59, you have to leave and come back to make it past 2. Some places have a wait option, but it's not consistent.
So, to sum up the point I was getting at there. They don't really give you LIFE, so much as a strange, game-y equivalent, filled with busy work. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Until you consider that these are, at least in part, porn games. Girl Life is indisputably a porn game, with how many porn images are in it, and how much casual sex you can witness for no reason other than having sex there. With the porn game nature in mind, it starts to just become an obstacle to the porn. And not a challenging obstacle either. I'm all for porn content being placed behind gameplay, but this isn't really that. It's padding to keep you spending more time doing things between the porn.
And all of this is a shame, because I think a life simulator porn game could be quite interesting. But without the busywork. By all means, keep the getting a job loop, hell, even keep in the paying bills angle, those I won't argue with as being essential. But removing the busywork of eating, managing when you sleep, getting ready in the morning, all of that stuff, could be very beneficial to the game. Boil it down to the meaningful choices, random encounters doing your job, pursuing relationships, and generally finding consequences for your actions.
Theorycrafting my ideal game from this idea, I'd want it to start off with a series of choices. What kind of career you have, how you got there (for instance, high performer, just an average performer there, slept your way into the job etc), what kinds of friends you have, if you have a partner, and how serious. So when you start the game, you have a basis from which to grow. And then it plays out similarly to other Life Simulators, with you being in a location, travelling around and interacting with the world, but with the boring stuff streamlined. Getting ready in the morning isn't a chore of remembering everything, you just hit the "Get ready for work" button, and then you're good. Another button press takes you to work, and then maybe an event comes up, maybe it doesn't. You could put your whole week on auto-pilot like that if you wanted, just waiting for something to come up, or you could be taking the initiative. Relationships wouldn't ever be given as numbers, just as a status, "Acquaintance", "Friend" etc. Obviously there'd be numbers involved, but by hiding it it can seem more believable. The only problem with this dream game is the sheer volume of writing that would go into it. It'd probably be a similar amount to how much I dream of having in Shield High. But I think that's the best way it could be done.
Anyway, just some thoughts. Sadly I don't have the time or money to take on such a project, so it's just theory. If I did have the time and money, I'd probably still take on something else. But if someone else wants to step up, there's an idea on how to do it.
Pudding Earl
Life Simulators are kind of strange games. As the name suggests, they're about simulating life. I haven't played many, and I'm not sure all that many exist, on the grounds that it's a big undertaking for a not particularly interesting concept. The only two I've played are Cursed and Girl Life, and Cursed was...not for very long. Despite only playing two though, I'm pretty confident in saying that any others out there (I haven't looked, it's not really my thing), and any others that will be made, will exhibit similar features. The two I have played both have a similar hook for their sex angle, which is you were a guy magically turned into a girl by some means or another. It's not exactly an unexpected angle, as it provides a good framing device as to why you have very little, and have to build up a life from nothing, since you're effectively an adult who's just been born into the world. Basically all the sex that comes up is as a sort of side effect of your own choices, and it's very possible to go for ages without getting into any sex at all, if that's your preference.
I played a LOT of Girl Life. I bounced off it several times, but finally I managed to pick up the rhythm of it, and there'd be weeks where I'd play a few hours every night, trying to reach some event I'd read about on the wiki. Long enough to know that I honestly fucking hate this type of game. There's a lot of issues I take with them, but I think they all really boil down to one core complaint. Life is complex as fuck, and thus simulating it is basically impossible. As such, the "life" in a life simulator is a surreal mirror of the world. Events repeat, and conversations happen again and again in identical fashion. That can be forgiven, obviously, it's still just a game. It's the smallest issue I take with it though. The world isn't the world as we know it, but the world as presented by the game's creator, and as such some things become strained. Moral compasses get skewed in favor of making sex more accessible, and people tend to be more uniform in their action. And finally, there's the issue of survival itself. It suffers from the same problem that every game that makes hunger/thirst/sleep things you need, where they're represented as simple numbers, with seemingly no tethering to real life. Girl Life, at least, tracks weight gain too, which makes things worse. The core problem of numbers for food is that it leads to odd eating times. You don't eat at meal times, you eat at the times you're hungry. Sleep behaves oddly too, and I often woke up at 4am and couldn't sleep more. But the BIGGEST problem of all, comes in the form of time management. Moving around the world takes time. This can cause some stupid issues where trips to places can take an amount of time that you simply didn't account for, in a way that would never happen in real life. Add to that the fact times are rather precise. X activity becomes available between 2 and 4. If you arrive at 1:59, you have to leave and come back to make it past 2. Some places have a wait option, but it's not consistent.
So, to sum up the point I was getting at there. They don't really give you LIFE, so much as a strange, game-y equivalent, filled with busy work. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Until you consider that these are, at least in part, porn games. Girl Life is indisputably a porn game, with how many porn images are in it, and how much casual sex you can witness for no reason other than having sex there. With the porn game nature in mind, it starts to just become an obstacle to the porn. And not a challenging obstacle either. I'm all for porn content being placed behind gameplay, but this isn't really that. It's padding to keep you spending more time doing things between the porn.
And all of this is a shame, because I think a life simulator porn game could be quite interesting. But without the busywork. By all means, keep the getting a job loop, hell, even keep in the paying bills angle, those I won't argue with as being essential. But removing the busywork of eating, managing when you sleep, getting ready in the morning, all of that stuff, could be very beneficial to the game. Boil it down to the meaningful choices, random encounters doing your job, pursuing relationships, and generally finding consequences for your actions.
Theorycrafting my ideal game from this idea, I'd want it to start off with a series of choices. What kind of career you have, how you got there (for instance, high performer, just an average performer there, slept your way into the job etc), what kinds of friends you have, if you have a partner, and how serious. So when you start the game, you have a basis from which to grow. And then it plays out similarly to other Life Simulators, with you being in a location, travelling around and interacting with the world, but with the boring stuff streamlined. Getting ready in the morning isn't a chore of remembering everything, you just hit the "Get ready for work" button, and then you're good. Another button press takes you to work, and then maybe an event comes up, maybe it doesn't. You could put your whole week on auto-pilot like that if you wanted, just waiting for something to come up, or you could be taking the initiative. Relationships wouldn't ever be given as numbers, just as a status, "Acquaintance", "Friend" etc. Obviously there'd be numbers involved, but by hiding it it can seem more believable. The only problem with this dream game is the sheer volume of writing that would go into it. It'd probably be a similar amount to how much I dream of having in Shield High. But I think that's the best way it could be done.
Anyway, just some thoughts. Sadly I don't have the time or money to take on such a project, so it's just theory. If I did have the time and money, I'd probably still take on something else. But if someone else wants to step up, there's an idea on how to do it.
Pudding Earl
Sunday, 29 October 2017
Touching Base!
Okay so like, over a month ago I said I was in the US and working on Shield High again. That last part was a half truth. I HAD been working on it again, but since settling into the US basically nothing got done. In my defense, I've been busy cranking out the other project, which is coming along slowly but surely. I'm building the AI right now and I want to kill myself. So I figured I wouldn't bother posting until I actually started working again. Seeing as I'm presently taking a break from Karen's dialogue, I'd say this qualifies.
So yes, Shield High is now officially upgraded from the "project I'm working on" pile to "project I'm ACTIVELY working on" pile. Other news, I'm now married! That happened last Saturday. It was horrible. Mostly because it was all my wife's family and none of mine. Normally I wouldn't bore you with too many details about my personal life, but I'm making an exception for this one instance because it's a (hopefully) once in a lifetime event.
So, going forward from here I'm going to try and touch base more regularly, post screenshots of both Shield High and the new project which I don't recall if I explained what it was but just in case I haven't I won't mention it's name here. Also, going to resume musings probably, since I want to talk about life simulators again. Pretty sure I've already bitched about them, but I can't let things rest.
Until then.
Pudding Earl
So yes, Shield High is now officially upgraded from the "project I'm working on" pile to "project I'm ACTIVELY working on" pile. Other news, I'm now married! That happened last Saturday. It was horrible. Mostly because it was all my wife's family and none of mine. Normally I wouldn't bore you with too many details about my personal life, but I'm making an exception for this one instance because it's a (hopefully) once in a lifetime event.
So, going forward from here I'm going to try and touch base more regularly, post screenshots of both Shield High and the new project which I don't recall if I explained what it was but just in case I haven't I won't mention it's name here. Also, going to resume musings probably, since I want to talk about life simulators again. Pretty sure I've already bitched about them, but I can't let things rest.
Until then.
Pudding Earl
Monday, 18 September 2017
Some Personal Updates
Alright so, I bet y'all are wondering what's going on since I mentioned a while ago I'd be in America around this time. I was right. I've moved, getting married next month, and settling in pretty well. Started working properly on a new project for the next few months until I can legally work. I'm also planning on resuming work on Shield High.
Surpising, I know. The issues fiance had with it have been resolved. It was a really stupid mis-understanding on my part mostly. Even so, I'm not going to be making any proper releases for several months. While I'm still in limbo with immigration, I can't legally do any work here. That includes getting money on Patreon. So since I can't charge Patrons, I don't really have any incentive to push myself for monthly updates. This is...actually probably a good thing. It means I can take some time to focus on cleaning up the AI without a looming deadline for getting it ready to release. So that's the plan, once I'm free from limbo, I should be back to releasing updates, once I've got my work ethic re-established.
There might also be some other stuff going on around that time, if everything with my new project goes to plan. I'll keep you all posted, might even throw out a demo to you all if I get there. Be warned though, it's not a porn game. I don't want to try and make another porn game until Shield High has been finished.
Pudding Earl
Surpising, I know. The issues fiance had with it have been resolved. It was a really stupid mis-understanding on my part mostly. Even so, I'm not going to be making any proper releases for several months. While I'm still in limbo with immigration, I can't legally do any work here. That includes getting money on Patreon. So since I can't charge Patrons, I don't really have any incentive to push myself for monthly updates. This is...actually probably a good thing. It means I can take some time to focus on cleaning up the AI without a looming deadline for getting it ready to release. So that's the plan, once I'm free from limbo, I should be back to releasing updates, once I've got my work ethic re-established.
There might also be some other stuff going on around that time, if everything with my new project goes to plan. I'll keep you all posted, might even throw out a demo to you all if I get there. Be warned though, it's not a porn game. I don't want to try and make another porn game until Shield High has been finished.
Pudding Earl
Thursday, 31 August 2017
Earl's Musings: Porn Games and Consent
Okay so, I was thinking about some design ideas for porn games, and somehow my mind stumbled onto the idea of consent, and some ideas put themselves together, and now I wanna share said ideas. So, obviously, consent is at the center of all good, healthy sex. The kind not depicted in most porn games because we're all sick fucks, myself included. Of course, consent is also present in most forms of porn. When I sit down to watch porn, I am essentially giving my consent to whatever I'm watching. If ever I stop I can just...close the video and move on. Or, if I know the end gets better and I just dislike a small section in the middle, I can skip ahead and just watch the good bits.
But what about porn games? Obviously, by playing one, you're consenting to whatever you're going to see, but what about when something in that game stops being something you like? That opens up some interesting questions. After all, porn games are a lot more about immersion, about developing a proper interest and emotional bond with what's happening, so the sex part of it feels more fulfilling. (Emotional bond optional) With this heightened investment, I feel as though there's a need for a more hands on approach to consent.
This consent doesn't have to be offered in the form of a "Are you okay with this Yes/No?" question. It could be a boss battle for instance, where if you lose you end up being raped. That is, functionally, a form of consent check. If you lose, you can just close the game and re-load from before, picking up where you left off and trying again to avoid the bad outcome. Likewise, if you have a choice that can lead to sex or avoid it, you've got a consent check of sorts. But what if sex is part of the linear experience? What if your character just...fucks a character you don't like as part of the story? You can't just close the game to avoid it. Well, you can, but you can't progress in the game if you do.
The problem posed here is an interesting one, because it means that porn games either need to have A. choices before each sex encounter to dodge it, or B. be non-linear, so as to make all content encountered a result of your actions, known or not. Or, people could just not worry about it and carry on. That works too. I for one, am probably going to look into including sex avoiding options in the winning scenes, just to facilitate this new thought. Also to facilitate purity runs, one of the funnest parts about porn games in my mind. (Assuming I ever resume work on Shield High)
I do apologize for the half-baked-ness of the thought, it just kinda came to me and I needed to vent. Expect to one day see it again in a more thorough and well-articulated format.
Pudding Earl
But what about porn games? Obviously, by playing one, you're consenting to whatever you're going to see, but what about when something in that game stops being something you like? That opens up some interesting questions. After all, porn games are a lot more about immersion, about developing a proper interest and emotional bond with what's happening, so the sex part of it feels more fulfilling. (Emotional bond optional) With this heightened investment, I feel as though there's a need for a more hands on approach to consent.
This consent doesn't have to be offered in the form of a "Are you okay with this Yes/No?" question. It could be a boss battle for instance, where if you lose you end up being raped. That is, functionally, a form of consent check. If you lose, you can just close the game and re-load from before, picking up where you left off and trying again to avoid the bad outcome. Likewise, if you have a choice that can lead to sex or avoid it, you've got a consent check of sorts. But what if sex is part of the linear experience? What if your character just...fucks a character you don't like as part of the story? You can't just close the game to avoid it. Well, you can, but you can't progress in the game if you do.
The problem posed here is an interesting one, because it means that porn games either need to have A. choices before each sex encounter to dodge it, or B. be non-linear, so as to make all content encountered a result of your actions, known or not. Or, people could just not worry about it and carry on. That works too. I for one, am probably going to look into including sex avoiding options in the winning scenes, just to facilitate this new thought. Also to facilitate purity runs, one of the funnest parts about porn games in my mind. (Assuming I ever resume work on Shield High)
I do apologize for the half-baked-ness of the thought, it just kinda came to me and I needed to vent. Expect to one day see it again in a more thorough and well-articulated format.
Pudding Earl
Monday, 28 August 2017
A Personal Update
So, for those of you who are particularly invested in my overall life, I had my immigration interview today, and my visa to the US has been approved. I'm flying over on the 14th, unless something goes horribly wrong. I am currently in total disbelief that this is happening, but here we are. Nothing else to really say for the moment, more news to come as it happens.
Saturday, 19 August 2017
Earl's Musings: The State of Porn Games
Oh boy, it's that topic I've been wanting to talk about forever but haven't ever had the guts to because I was...iuno, scared of offending people? Seeing as I'm not actively developing Shield High at the moment, may as well go ahead and just come out with my opinions on the matter. So, what's the general porn game industry like, in my opinion?
Shit. It's shit. Which, to be totally fair, I understand, despite the relatively large amount of porn games available, we're still in our relative infancy. A lot of the really core questions don't have answers, and we don't have any veterans to say what is and isn't good. I have a lot of theories on what's good, but I don't have the time to actually crank out enough stuff to test them for sure, so a lot of it is down to what I've liked and disliked in games I've played.
But the goal of this post isn't to make excuses. There are some, to be sure, but that's not the point. The point is to suggest why it's shit, and then put forward what people can do to fix it. So, why's it shit? Lack of experience is an obvious thing I just pointed out. Honestly, the lack of most professionalism. Indie development is a much more personal thing than traditional development, and we see a lot more of people's personal thoughts and general life happenings than we do in the larger games production. This puts an unfortunate dent in the perceived professionalism of a lot of people, though isn't the killing blow. I think the lack of clear deadlines and schedules is the big problem. A lot of porn game work is done "when it's done" which I don't think is good enough. It's why I would always push myself to release Shield High on the same day every month. What else can be done for this? I'm not actually sure. Maybe the total appearance of professionalism isn't necessary. Maybe being open about everything is fine. But the work ethic of professionalism is something that is absolutely necessary, and I don't feel like it's there in a lot of new developers.
So that's problem one, and it's on the developer side. Now for some problems on the audience side. Primarily, I don't think audiences hold developers to account enough. I don't think people demand enough, in terms of punctuality, in terms of quality, and in terms of...personal value, for lack of a better word. There may be other areas where people could hold a higher standard, but I'm not sure what they are. These three things are, in my opinion, the most important things. A bad, late game made by a developer who plans to contribute nothing more, is not better than no game at all. I think maybe if the personal value is present, then one of these factors can be improved on, but again, audiences shouldn't just let it slide. If things are a problem I do think they should be called out. Obviously, this is less true for games without any financial angle, but if someone is asking for your money, then I think they should be ready to take your most brutal feedback.
To quickly clarify what I mean by personal value, I mean a developer who shows a clear inclination to stick with it. Not just this game, but to make another, and maybe another after that. If we want to see good porn games, it's really important to highlight people who are trying to make a real living off this, and help them grow to be able to actually really get deep into the craft and find out how things work. I would honestly suggest asking any developer you plan to support what they want to do next. I don't believe for a second someone passionate about making porn games wouldn't have a few other ideas, even if just vague ones.
And finally, what can be done about it all? I'd say get involved with communities, and apply lots of discretion when giving someone money for their work. If the majority of the appeal in the game comes off of images you can either get for free, or can generate easily with a tool, I would encourage you not to support that game, and put the money somewhere else to a developer that is working towards something that might be of real value to the community. That's not to say shun every game that uses such images, I understand they can be good visual aids, but if someone relies on them to do the work of making it appealing, I don't think they're really doing anything at all. As for getting involved with communities, find forums about porn games, post about them, tell people what's shit, encourage people to do the same, try and get other people to really think about what they're throwing money at, suggest alternatives for their money if it's going to someone who's not worth it.
Also, on the flip side, don't be an entitled shit about things. If you aren't paying for a game, you're not really owed anything. While I do say tell developers about problems, your wallet is the most powerful way you can influence the industry and get more good quality games. I spent a minute thinking about how to end this thought, to best explain how they interact. I think the best way I can put it, is to say pointing out problems when you're not paying is fine, if they were fixed, there's a chance you might start. Asking for new features, or specific content however, is kind of reaching I think.
Anyway, those are just some thoughts. I realize the last paragraph gets a bit confused, it's a complex topic, and I hadn't really organized my ideas on that last section before I got to typing.
Pudding Earl
Shit. It's shit. Which, to be totally fair, I understand, despite the relatively large amount of porn games available, we're still in our relative infancy. A lot of the really core questions don't have answers, and we don't have any veterans to say what is and isn't good. I have a lot of theories on what's good, but I don't have the time to actually crank out enough stuff to test them for sure, so a lot of it is down to what I've liked and disliked in games I've played.
But the goal of this post isn't to make excuses. There are some, to be sure, but that's not the point. The point is to suggest why it's shit, and then put forward what people can do to fix it. So, why's it shit? Lack of experience is an obvious thing I just pointed out. Honestly, the lack of most professionalism. Indie development is a much more personal thing than traditional development, and we see a lot more of people's personal thoughts and general life happenings than we do in the larger games production. This puts an unfortunate dent in the perceived professionalism of a lot of people, though isn't the killing blow. I think the lack of clear deadlines and schedules is the big problem. A lot of porn game work is done "when it's done" which I don't think is good enough. It's why I would always push myself to release Shield High on the same day every month. What else can be done for this? I'm not actually sure. Maybe the total appearance of professionalism isn't necessary. Maybe being open about everything is fine. But the work ethic of professionalism is something that is absolutely necessary, and I don't feel like it's there in a lot of new developers.
So that's problem one, and it's on the developer side. Now for some problems on the audience side. Primarily, I don't think audiences hold developers to account enough. I don't think people demand enough, in terms of punctuality, in terms of quality, and in terms of...personal value, for lack of a better word. There may be other areas where people could hold a higher standard, but I'm not sure what they are. These three things are, in my opinion, the most important things. A bad, late game made by a developer who plans to contribute nothing more, is not better than no game at all. I think maybe if the personal value is present, then one of these factors can be improved on, but again, audiences shouldn't just let it slide. If things are a problem I do think they should be called out. Obviously, this is less true for games without any financial angle, but if someone is asking for your money, then I think they should be ready to take your most brutal feedback.
To quickly clarify what I mean by personal value, I mean a developer who shows a clear inclination to stick with it. Not just this game, but to make another, and maybe another after that. If we want to see good porn games, it's really important to highlight people who are trying to make a real living off this, and help them grow to be able to actually really get deep into the craft and find out how things work. I would honestly suggest asking any developer you plan to support what they want to do next. I don't believe for a second someone passionate about making porn games wouldn't have a few other ideas, even if just vague ones.
And finally, what can be done about it all? I'd say get involved with communities, and apply lots of discretion when giving someone money for their work. If the majority of the appeal in the game comes off of images you can either get for free, or can generate easily with a tool, I would encourage you not to support that game, and put the money somewhere else to a developer that is working towards something that might be of real value to the community. That's not to say shun every game that uses such images, I understand they can be good visual aids, but if someone relies on them to do the work of making it appealing, I don't think they're really doing anything at all. As for getting involved with communities, find forums about porn games, post about them, tell people what's shit, encourage people to do the same, try and get other people to really think about what they're throwing money at, suggest alternatives for their money if it's going to someone who's not worth it.
Also, on the flip side, don't be an entitled shit about things. If you aren't paying for a game, you're not really owed anything. While I do say tell developers about problems, your wallet is the most powerful way you can influence the industry and get more good quality games. I spent a minute thinking about how to end this thought, to best explain how they interact. I think the best way I can put it, is to say pointing out problems when you're not paying is fine, if they were fixed, there's a chance you might start. Asking for new features, or specific content however, is kind of reaching I think.
Anyway, those are just some thoughts. I realize the last paragraph gets a bit confused, it's a complex topic, and I hadn't really organized my ideas on that last section before I got to typing.
Pudding Earl
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