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So, Gamemaker's Toolkit put up a video about AI design in games, which inspired me to kick off a discussion about a recurring theme in H-games; the lack of challenge. You can watch the video here:
I'd really value the input of devs here, we have quite a few on this forum.
I'll be mainly relating this to action side-scrollers in particular, but much still holds true of RPGs.
So, a problem I find endemic in H-games is that their enemies seldom present a challenge to players for varying reasons. In games where those enemies are out to rape the player character, this is important to avoid.
Out of all the factors outlined in the above video, passive behavior, ie the absence of reaction to the player, their actions and tactics, is chief amongst them. However, it's also probably the hardest to address, since most adult game devs don't have the ability or resources to create complex AI, or gameplay systems for them to interact with.
So, which are the simplest methods to have the enemies in these games pose a credible threat?
1) Verticality.
One of the most common complaints I have about action games is that enemies are often bound to a single plane of movement, in the worst cases keeping all of them in the player's line of fire so long as they're facing them. Thus, the challenge amounts to "Can I shoot/slash/magic enough in their direction to kill them, before they get close enough to inflict damage to me?". And more often than not in such games, the answer will be yes unless you suffer crippling boneitis and only hit the attack button 1/10 times. In others, the dev will compensate by giving the enemy absurdly high health or damage potential.
The result in both cases is tedium; you don't feel threatened by enemies that make themselves easy targets. This goes double in games where the player can jump, but enemies cannot. Likewise, you are frustrated by enemies that present little opportunity for exploitation.
A fair proportion of action games will go a step up, and have two or three vertical planes - take
The best implementation of verticality however, is to allow for enemies to be in any direction from the player, and give the player the ability to attack in multiple directions.
This is achieved through
2) Enemy behavior and characteristics
Let's look at Crisis Point as an example. Each enemy has a unique movement pattern, with some more complex than others. The first enemy you encounter, the slimes crawl up and down walls and ceilings. They often end up at odd angles you have to jump or crouch to hit before it launches its self at Alicia, the player character.
The flies hover out of line-of-fire, maintaining their distance from Alicia, often on both sides, then swoop in for an attack; This introduces an element of timing, as the only way to deal with them is to shoot them during their attack, or dodge them as you move to escape that room.
The tentacles are fairly docile and are more or less a "support" enemy. They will stay in place until Alicia reaches a certain distance, then burrow under the terrain, then unburrowing beneath her, giving the player a short window to dodge or be knocked down.
One of each of these enemies alone presents a difficult challenge, you're forced to prioritise. The fly constantly harasses, but doesn't pose much of a threat; the slime moves slowly, but can do some damage if it gets close enough; the tentacles are easy to dodge, but can easily knock you down if you're focused on fighting the other two.
Another game I'd like to use as an example is Wolfenstahl's Last Demon Hunter (
Creating enemies that vary completely in their method of maneuvering around and attacking the player is arguably the most effective means, however it requires the support of level design.
Earlier, I mentioned
3) Timing
If you can always attack, and the enemy is always an easy target (Through behavior and/or their health vs the PC's damage potential), the player will rarely be in enough "natural" danger to lose/get knocked down to see the H anim/scene, leading to intentional self-sabotage to at least get some gratification out of the encounter. One of the best ways to make any enemy more of a danger is to shorten the window the player has to successfully damage or defeat them, (This applies to the enemy too so as to not make the player too vulnerable). One game that does this excellently is
4) Awareness & Ambush
In most side-scrollers, the player can see everything in their surroundings, regardless of where their character "should" be able to see; around corners, on the floors above and below, behind them. Knowing, as the saying goes, is half the battle. Even in the most basic games, having to check behind you every once in a while would go a long way. The more directions the enemy could possibly be in, and the more obstacles blocking line of sight to them, the more opportunities the enemies will have to get the drop on the player.
Again, Last Demon Hunter is a prime example; The gameplay revolves around moving through proc-gen'd facilities, with several rooms and corridors. You don't know what's around each corner or behind each door til you round it or open it; If you rush complacently, you might find yourself unable to deal with the threats you've presented yourself to.
Again though, this is facilitated by the nature of a top-down perspective.
Anthophobia addresses this in an interesting way with one enemy at least. There's a static plant enemy whose primary means of attack is by shooting spores into the air; when contacting the heroine, she'll be hypnotised into walking forwards for a short while, allowing any enemy in her path to take advantage. Due to your restrictive vision cone, it's easy to not even realise they're there.
While the player's field of view can be restricted and line of sight obstructed in a side scroller, in most cases it might be awkward due to the particular game's combat mechanics. So, how else can this effect be achieved?
Camouflage. Anthophobia has another good example, though unfortunately the pertinent enemies don't have an H-attack. Much of the background scenery features flowers, and two enemies have very similar-looking flowers growing out their top. When they're moving, you can see the rest of the enemy, but when they're stopped they will cling to the wall, showing only the flower. If the player mindlessly wanders past, they might find themselves getting hit when they just walked through an "empty" area.
There's also the element of traps, though they can often be more frustrating than not.
5) Resource management
Where most games will restrict the player's power behind XP bars or powerups (Not that this is a bad thing), another way to go about it is limiting the player's capacity for combat by making the supplies used to do so limited. Again, Anthophobia is a very good example of this. You can well decide to shoot everything in your path, but there literally isn't enough ammo in the game for this, and you'll soon find yourself swinging a pipe at enemies that couldn't care less if you're not careful. It raises the stakes of any fight because if you miss, that's a measure of your combat capacity you won't get back. You can be more efficient by say, shooting 2 shots at a zombie then hitting it once with the pipe, but this puts you at greater immediate risk. So, just by restricting ammunition heavily, there's a compelling decision to be made in a scenario where there wouldn't be otherwise. "Do I save that bullet for later at the risk of getting hit, or do I use it now at the risk of not having enough to kill more a more dangerous enemy?". It also adds an incentive for exploration.
The same can be said of the game's way of managing health - you can sacrifice a measure of your clothing to replenish it. "Do I deal with being closer to losing, or do I trade vulnerability for increasing that distance?".
There are a few more that escape me right now - Not even touched CR mechanics, I think that should be left for a later discussion. But these five elements together would make a fun game, hentai or not.
You must be registered to see the links
I'd really value the input of devs here, we have quite a few on this forum.
I'll be mainly relating this to action side-scrollers in particular, but much still holds true of RPGs.
So, a problem I find endemic in H-games is that their enemies seldom present a challenge to players for varying reasons. In games where those enemies are out to rape the player character, this is important to avoid.
Out of all the factors outlined in the above video, passive behavior, ie the absence of reaction to the player, their actions and tactics, is chief amongst them. However, it's also probably the hardest to address, since most adult game devs don't have the ability or resources to create complex AI, or gameplay systems for them to interact with.
So, which are the simplest methods to have the enemies in these games pose a credible threat?
1) Verticality.
One of the most common complaints I have about action games is that enemies are often bound to a single plane of movement, in the worst cases keeping all of them in the player's line of fire so long as they're facing them. Thus, the challenge amounts to "Can I shoot/slash/magic enough in their direction to kill them, before they get close enough to inflict damage to me?". And more often than not in such games, the answer will be yes unless you suffer crippling boneitis and only hit the attack button 1/10 times. In others, the dev will compensate by giving the enemy absurdly high health or damage potential.
The result in both cases is tedium; you don't feel threatened by enemies that make themselves easy targets. This goes double in games where the player can jump, but enemies cannot. Likewise, you are frustrated by enemies that present little opportunity for exploitation.
A fair proportion of action games will go a step up, and have two or three vertical planes - take
You must be registered to see the links
's games for example - necessitating the player to crouch or jump to hit (or avoid) the enemy. Even better is when some enemies switch between planes, or temporarily cover multiple through a projectile or sweeping attack.The best implementation of verticality however, is to allow for enemies to be in any direction from the player, and give the player the ability to attack in multiple directions.
This is achieved through
2) Enemy behavior and characteristics
Let's look at Crisis Point as an example. Each enemy has a unique movement pattern, with some more complex than others. The first enemy you encounter, the slimes crawl up and down walls and ceilings. They often end up at odd angles you have to jump or crouch to hit before it launches its self at Alicia, the player character.
The flies hover out of line-of-fire, maintaining their distance from Alicia, often on both sides, then swoop in for an attack; This introduces an element of timing, as the only way to deal with them is to shoot them during their attack, or dodge them as you move to escape that room.
The tentacles are fairly docile and are more or less a "support" enemy. They will stay in place until Alicia reaches a certain distance, then burrow under the terrain, then unburrowing beneath her, giving the player a short window to dodge or be knocked down.
One of each of these enemies alone presents a difficult challenge, you're forced to prioritise. The fly constantly harasses, but doesn't pose much of a threat; the slime moves slowly, but can do some damage if it gets close enough; the tentacles are easy to dodge, but can easily knock you down if you're focused on fighting the other two.
Another game I'd like to use as an example is Wolfenstahl's Last Demon Hunter (
You must be registered to see the links
). It's top-down so it has the luxury of not having the ground being an obstacle the enemies have to account for but I digress. It has small, weak enemies with a ranged attack that will shoot at you, then zip around when you go to aim at them. Some enemies are plain dumb but tanky and try to close the distance. Another enemy is capable of cloaking and teleportation.Creating enemies that vary completely in their method of maneuvering around and attacking the player is arguably the most effective means, however it requires the support of level design.
Earlier, I mentioned
3) Timing
If you can always attack, and the enemy is always an easy target (Through behavior and/or their health vs the PC's damage potential), the player will rarely be in enough "natural" danger to lose/get knocked down to see the H anim/scene, leading to intentional self-sabotage to at least get some gratification out of the encounter. One of the best ways to make any enemy more of a danger is to shorten the window the player has to successfully damage or defeat them, (This applies to the enemy too so as to not make the player too vulnerable). One game that does this excellently is
You must be registered to see the links
. The enemies can't be hit by default, only entering a "solid" state for brief moments, most often when rearing for an attack. To kill the enemy, the player must first stun them when they're in this solid state, allowing them a brief window to land a damaging attack. Throw in multiple enemies on both sides and it's both much more challenging and all the more satisfying to land those hits.4) Awareness & Ambush
In most side-scrollers, the player can see everything in their surroundings, regardless of where their character "should" be able to see; around corners, on the floors above and below, behind them. Knowing, as the saying goes, is half the battle. Even in the most basic games, having to check behind you every once in a while would go a long way. The more directions the enemy could possibly be in, and the more obstacles blocking line of sight to them, the more opportunities the enemies will have to get the drop on the player.
Again, Last Demon Hunter is a prime example; The gameplay revolves around moving through proc-gen'd facilities, with several rooms and corridors. You don't know what's around each corner or behind each door til you round it or open it; If you rush complacently, you might find yourself unable to deal with the threats you've presented yourself to.
Again though, this is facilitated by the nature of a top-down perspective.
Anthophobia addresses this in an interesting way with one enemy at least. There's a static plant enemy whose primary means of attack is by shooting spores into the air; when contacting the heroine, she'll be hypnotised into walking forwards for a short while, allowing any enemy in her path to take advantage. Due to your restrictive vision cone, it's easy to not even realise they're there.
While the player's field of view can be restricted and line of sight obstructed in a side scroller, in most cases it might be awkward due to the particular game's combat mechanics. So, how else can this effect be achieved?
Camouflage. Anthophobia has another good example, though unfortunately the pertinent enemies don't have an H-attack. Much of the background scenery features flowers, and two enemies have very similar-looking flowers growing out their top. When they're moving, you can see the rest of the enemy, but when they're stopped they will cling to the wall, showing only the flower. If the player mindlessly wanders past, they might find themselves getting hit when they just walked through an "empty" area.
There's also the element of traps, though they can often be more frustrating than not.
5) Resource management
Where most games will restrict the player's power behind XP bars or powerups (Not that this is a bad thing), another way to go about it is limiting the player's capacity for combat by making the supplies used to do so limited. Again, Anthophobia is a very good example of this. You can well decide to shoot everything in your path, but there literally isn't enough ammo in the game for this, and you'll soon find yourself swinging a pipe at enemies that couldn't care less if you're not careful. It raises the stakes of any fight because if you miss, that's a measure of your combat capacity you won't get back. You can be more efficient by say, shooting 2 shots at a zombie then hitting it once with the pipe, but this puts you at greater immediate risk. So, just by restricting ammunition heavily, there's a compelling decision to be made in a scenario where there wouldn't be otherwise. "Do I save that bullet for later at the risk of getting hit, or do I use it now at the risk of not having enough to kill more a more dangerous enemy?". It also adds an incentive for exploration.
The same can be said of the game's way of managing health - you can sacrifice a measure of your clothing to replenish it. "Do I deal with being closer to losing, or do I trade vulnerability for increasing that distance?".
There are a few more that escape me right now - Not even touched CR mechanics, I think that should be left for a later discussion. But these five elements together would make a fun game, hentai or not.
