Re: YOU design a platformer RoR game: need opinions!
You seem to have mostly everything covered, so my only suggestion would be this,
Avoid including things like clothing destruction, pregnancy, passive effects, alternate animations and positions, etc. These are all things that people will always ask for and want in an H game. However, the reality is that these things take a lot of time, and focusing on them rather than the core of the game will make the project drag on longer than you can afford.
Instead, decide what the most important aspect of your game is, focus on that, and keep it simple. As long as you have competent gameplay, decent graphics, in game sprite sex, and CGs, your game will sell on DLsite simply because of the niche it fills. Even a modest effort will make you enough profit to continue working on H games. Finish your first game, and then focus on including other features once you know you can afford to do so.
Also, I'd also hold of on the story, for now. It could potentially take more time to develop the game, and with your largest source of potential income being DLsite, it wouldn't help you make any Japanese sales. After completing your first game, you should be able to afford to pay for an English to Japanese translation, if you choose to make your next game more complex.
Edit: And no, I wouldn't include content from the start. If people are that eager, they'll just get a save file or look at a collection of CGs. For everyone else, it may just tempt them to spoil content that they would probably enjoy more had they experienced it naturally, as you intended.
The observation that H-games that aren't godawful will sell is correct, but I loathe the suggestion that the amount of work that one needs to put in should be adjusted accordingly.
H-games that concentrate on a single aspect and attempt to milk it dry turn stale very quickly. “Oh look, it’s a tentacle monster and its screwing a girl!” (as an example). They’re a dime a dozen, but there’s really so much tentacle-H out there its hard to get really drawn into a game that relies solely on that. You’re right in saying it will sell anyway, but if you’re really in this business just to make money, there really are more profitable ways to go about doing that.
The creative mind knows how to get maximum results with minimal effort. Some of the best H-games have a near endless list of fetishes, yet still remain simple and absorbing, precisely because of their unique way of blending everything together so seamlessly. Take for example:
Marionette of the Labyrinth: Fantastic gameplay, engaging story, “Cutesy” art style, status effects, clothing changes, tentacles, vore, bestiality, yuri, etc...
Shinobi Girl: Great gameplay, decent story, clothing destruction, “orgasm meter”, tentacles, bestiality, gangbang, yuri, machine sex, many more if you go into the game-over CGs...
Kurovadis: VERY good gameplay, pixel-sprite sex (!), tentacles, bestiality (of multiple varieties), futa, vore...
tl;dr: It’s good to keep it simple, but it’d be even better if you got creative on how you could keep it simple, yet content-filled. Also Kyrieru I’m a great fan of your games so I hope you don’t take offence at this post!