What do you think of the re-zero parody? I can create it, but I need your help.

[ReLoveZero]

Hello! I'm glad that the topic interested you so much that you decided to come here! Before I describe the details, I must warn you that my knowledge of English isn't at a high level and you can get mentally hurt by some basic mistakes. Now that I warned you, it's time to move on to meat.

My financial situation made me seriously think about game dev. I am a slow-working perfectionist and I do not plan to devote all my free time to develop my production, but rather I want to treat it as a hobby that I do from time to time. I thought for a long time what game to create and I put a serious question mark on the re-zero parody because I think it has a lot of potential, will attract a lot of people and I really like this anime.

Before presenting the vision to you, I just want to remind you that this is an initial outline and most likely the whole concept or a significant part of it may change if I decide to implement my concept. The current vision of the game is as follows:

The player takes on the role of subaru natsuki. The game starts at the Mathers mansion after the fight with Elsa. The player moves around locations in the open world and performs tasks for female characters, it will be a sandbox. I will do the assets myself and I will try to match the graphic design to the anime (I have one year of experience in realistic graphics, not candy, but it should not be a big problem) to best reflect the atmosphere of re zero. The quests themselves will vary considerably depending on the path you choose. At the very beginning, the player will have to choose a path between good and evil. The main purpose of this division is to divide players into fetishes that suit them best. I'm not going to be one of the game developers collecting as many tags as possible by in the end, the tag was only in one scene.

As I mentioned, I am a hobbyist and have never made a game before, only individual assets. So I'm not sure which game engine to choose, but in this moment I think about Ren`py.

Tags that will definitely appear:
Rape, creampie, blackmail, male protegan, female domination, male dominaiton, anal sex, oral sex, cheating, pregnancy, virgin, parody and much more, but I'm too lazy to list them right now.

This is all from the initial assumptions. I recommend subscribing to notifications in this channel, because I will probably create a new devlog thread about what the production will look like if you are interested, of course.

Finally, I leave a few questions that may help you answer, but don't be afraid to go outside the scheme and ask your own questions. Thank you and skip the question you are unsure.

Market Research Questions:
[Q] Do you prefer all characters to have the same content, or maybe one particular character should have more content than others? If a specific character then tell me which one and why?
[A]
[Q] What specific relationship or thread between the player and the character would you like to see?
[A}
[Q] Do you have an idea for a quest?
[A]
[Q] Write which option you prefer more and why.
A. Sex scenes with only one character
B. Sex scenes with one character and the occasional combination of scenes with some addotional characters.
[A]
[Q] Which taq would you like to see in this game?
[A]
[Q] Would you be willing to financially support my work, and what rewards would you expect in return for this financial aid?
[AND]
[Q] What do you like best about sex games?
[A]
[Q] What do you dislike most about sex games?
[A]
[Q] Do you prefer to have quick or slow access to sex scenes and why?
[A]
[Q] What do you expect from this production?
[A]

Questions for game developers (and others who may know something about it):
[Q] Do you know how it is with patronage taxes for a indivdual person without a business?
[A]
[Q] Will a person unfamiliar with programming have a problem with the Ren`py engine?
[A]
[Q] What engine do you recommend to me and why?
[A]
[Q] Do you have any advice on 3D rendering in a blender and then porting it to another engine? Optimization, light etc.
[A]
[Q] What should I be careful about when making a parody? (The last thing I dream about is a lawsuit)
[A]

This is probably all, if I had to know something more then I will probably ask in a comment. Whatever comes to your mind - tell me. I'd love to hear criticism, advice and anything else that comes to your mind, even the page where I can get inspiration for building future assets is very helpful and I really appreciate it. That's it, thanks for making it to the end and see you soon.

 

[yihman1]

My thoughts:

1) Don't get into game development if money is your primary goal. You are going to have a bad time. Like 99% devs would be better off flipping burgers if they wanted a few extra bucks.

2) Re:zero is awesome. That would be something incredibly difficult to match the art, and style of, and not only that the writing is incredible. It would be really hard to parody such a thing.

3) I would be extremely disappointed in such a game if it lacked arcs and a return by death mechanic, and such and also such a mechanic should be a central theme. Which would mean very difficult to have a good & evil mechanic as well. You almost want good arcs and bad arcs separate completely.

4) What engine? renpy 100%

5) Copyright material: I would suggest not making a direct parody. Instead, a game based on it with similar-looking characters so to say.

Back to point 3 more in-depth: To have this groundhog day mechanic in there is extremely important. That what has to push you to the next arc. So, you are going to have to make in such a way to be a little bit of a mystery, but not too tough so that players need to die so many ways before they figure out the right thing to do. To do that you want a clock mechanic in there saying what day it's on. So like you die in your sleep on day 4 and start back on day 1. Then you gotta figure all that out then die again, try other things ect.

What you are suggesting for a project has a lot of potential to be something great, but the difficulty curve on pulling it off right is way up there.

 

[ReLoveZero]

I'm sorry you waited so long for an answer, but I wanted to think carefully about it before I respond to your advice. In any case, thank you very much for lending me some advice.

1) Don't get into game development if money is your primary goal. You are going to have a bad time. Like 99% devs would be better off flipping burgers if they wanted a few extra bucks.

1) To say that I'm doing it for the money, it's not true, but it's my fault because I didn't say that I have more reasons to make this parody than just one. After my studies I want to take up professional game dev. It has been my passion for a long time and I want to try my skills in this project. It's also a kind of test for bigger projects that I have planned in the future. Speaking of my financial situation, I meant that $200-300 a month should be enough for me to not neglect my graphic studies and work on this project as a hobby. Depending on the interest, this project will be developed further, we will see. I believe that it is worth spending these 3-4 months on production if I'm going to learn a lot from it.

2) Re:zero is awesome. That would be something incredibly difficult to match the art, and style of, and not only that the writing is incredible. It would be really hard to parody such a thing.

2) Yes, I am aware of that and you are absolutely right. This is an extremely difficult task, so I'm not going to do it. Let me expand on what I mean by saying "I'm not going to do it." In my current vision, this is supposed to be a casual parody that doesn't focus on the plot, but on the relationship between the characters. I currently have 2 plans for what this parody might look like.

In the first plan the player takes on the role of Subaru and the game starts from the beginning of the second season with my own interpretation of what is happening next and maybe (but probably not) with some minor modifications from the first season.

In the second plan, I assume that someone else is summoned instead of Subaru and that person is the player. The player will go through the same events as in the anime until he lands on the mansion. From this point the player will have flexibility in what he does.

3) I would be extremely disappointed in such a game if it lacked arcs and a return by death mechanic, and such and also such a mechanic should be a central theme. Which would mean very difficult to have a good & evil mechanic as well. You almost want good arcs and bad arcs separate completely.

3) I thought for a long time whether I want to introduce this mechanic to the game. At first I thought you were right because it solves problem of mechanical gameplay, but such mechanic would indeed be a good solution if I had a main plot in my plans, and currently I don't have a main plot in my plans. As I mentioned before, I want that game to be a sandbox. It's not a great idea, but I think it's a lot better than continuing the main storyline - mainly because it would be difficult to build a sex scenes if the player didn't have time to concentrate on building a relationship but were concerned about whether he would survive the next day. Actually, it might somehow balance that out, like adding a few extra days to give the player some time to himself, but honestly I'm not convinced it's a good idea. There probably won't be scenes where he dies, at least not in the very beginning, so there won't be that kind of pressure. I will see how the game will be received by the rest of the players and maybe then I will change my mind if my plan is not well received by the audience. In the current plan, I try to make the game casual rather than demanding.

4) What engine? renpy 100%

4) At first I thought the same, but with time I became uncertain. As I will have 100% control over my models, I can get the most out of them for the best renderings. I will probably compare UE4 and ren`pym, see which scene will look better.

That's all, I encourage you to discuss because I would love to hear what you have to say and perhaps you will straighten my thinking. Your answers and so helped me enough, so thank you very much.

As for the production of my parody, in the last few days I have watched the first season twice, closely observing behavior of the characters, including screenshots from the location. I 'm currently learning from the purchased course to achieve the best possible graphic style to re:zero.

 

[Gulekgul]

[Q] Do you prefer all characters to have the same content, or maybe one particular character should have more content than others? If a specific character then tell me which one and why?
[A] Each to have equall amount of content but diverse and specific for character
[Q] What specific relationship or thread between the player and the character would you like to see?
[A} (why }?) I wish to see choices. The best case scenario would be 10 routes coresponding to each witch nickname and innocent route
[Q] Do you have an idea for a quest?
[A] Not really but maybe some that focus on book's major points but these are ideas for routes:
Lust - Everyone fucks everyone some gangbang scenes and mc doesn't envy he's just horny, some scenes even won't feature male mc
Envy - your own harem only for your pleasure
Greed - managment of brothel
Melancholy - NTR focused (you're getting NTR by many)
Wrath - truly hardcore pathmaybe feature gore
Vanity - the femdom route
Pride - maledom route fouced on harassement other girls
Sloth - mind control
Gluttony - for our obese lovers
(as you can see I came up with the last 2 on spot)
Inoccent - wholesome route
and I would like that you can only have sex scenes with godesses if at the end of their route and if you go through wholesome one you won't have it with godesses at all and you can have them only in their route gallery shows only onlocked scenes
[Q] Write which option you prefer more and why.
A. Sex scenes with only one character
B. Sex scenes with one character and the occasional combination of scenes with some addotional characters.
[A] B more options is always better
[Q] Which taq would you like to see in this game?
[A] well the ones for routes definitely but I don't have the tags memorised
[Q] Would you be willing to financially support my work, and what rewards would you expect in return for this financial aid?
[AND] well I have yet to do so for any game but maybe in future yes. As for rewards the game will be a great reward itself
[Q] What do you like best about sex games?
[A] Corruption and multiple choices I like to feel influence for my actions. Also for anime games I want drawn 2dcg but it's already too much
[Q] What do you dislike most about sex games?
[A] extensive and sexualised gore, NTR eventually the too much of a fetish, ah, and too much of H statistic but this one is mostly for fem protag games
[Q] Do you prefer to have quick or slow access to sex scenes and why?
[A] Different routes dif access for inoccent route most scenes are wholesome for wi
[Q] What do you expect from this production?
[A] My expectations are too high so I don't think they'll be met it was well shown up in answers. As well I kinda ignored your scenario for now but the topic was pretty interesting to me
Sorry for english, not native