Adding Animations to Hillside

Thanks, Abraham. 👍

DarkBlue

Your work is really very good, I don't think animations are necessary

Abraham Francisco Cetina Corona

Thanks for your thoughts, Ian. 👍

DarkBlue

I just signed up because I hit the end of the current content and my stomach dropped at not being able to find out what happens next. I want the story and the character progression. My preference would be to finish the story and add a few meaningful branch choices. Then come back and add animations afterwards.

Like many others have said, animations are not a requirement. A good descriptive story is what we all like. Totally up to you in the end, follow your vision.

Puma230

It is your choice. But if you decide to do them, make them have meaning and of good quality.

I know I'm just beating a dead horse here but like several other folks have mentioned previously, add animations if you think it'll make sense in the story you're trying to tell. 🙂 I just played through the first part of (if I'm allowed to drop the name of another game) Leap of Faith, and the sex scenes in that actually do a great job narrating how the MC feels about each of his potential romances. None of the scenes are just purely about "sex" but actually look to make you laugh or really display an example of what "love" looks like. 🙂 I wanted to say thank you again DarkBlue for being part of the crowd that wants to tell a story and knows that sex is just a natural thing that happens in life so why wouldn't it be a "natural" thing in a game either? 🙂 Either way, keep up the great work and I can't wait for the next chapter of the game! 😃

J

It can be nice and add something, I would like it. But it also depends from the effort and time and result. I imagine they can take a lot of time and effort to make. I download every update, but I don't play even for some time after, so I am less affected by delays and it is easy for me to say it, but If you end up with something that you like and can feel good about, then, you should do it, and follow your inspiration, that is part of being an artist.

A

IMO it is not really necessary - especially when it would cause delay in the updates. I mean if you want to train yourself in making animations please do use the game for it but I would not make it dependent on them ... your game is very good without animations.

B-52

Count another vote for: It's your story. Do animations where you think they make it better. A lot of the "standard" stuff would not fit at all in a plot-driven vn like Hillside.

colin r

Content and story are far more meaningful for me than animations. I'd rather have the strong renders this story provides and quick good content then wait extended periods to add in animations.

UScotsman

I like animations where they make the story more meaningful. They have to add enough to the story that they are worth it in terms of time and potential delay in the development cycle. I think stills that are well done with facial features that convey meaning (as well as body postures and interactions like hugging and holding hands) can tell much of the story as well as animations can. A favorite VN with great animations is Summer's Gone. The creator is going for cinematic touches and makes a major investment in animations but chapters can take 5-6 months to come out (and he has to have some Serious hardware to do the rendering and animation creation). Hillside did not start with this so making it a centerpiece of the story would, perhaps, take away from the way the Hillside story is unfolding. For Hillside, if there was a way to do animations for the first reveals of the MC seeing Charlotte or Emma nude, or for the MC to spot something and protect Charlotte or Emma from danger, that would be meaningful to me. Animations are not just about sex and the best VNs use them to help highlight special moments or key turning points in the story.

Pax

There are some Games with REALLY good Animations... (dont know if its ok to say it here, but being a dik for example has great animations) but they cost A HELL LOT off time and effort. Are they worth it? Dont think so... Animations take so much time... other developers said that they need three-times more effort an time to get the content done with only a handful animations in it... first of all this is a visual novel, not an action game or porno, some nice animations here and there, ok... why not if the time-cost is ok... but if the time for development suffers from it, dont do them... especially if doing animations effect your time and ideas of writing the story. You started really really well with Hillside, the story ist fantastic so far and the charactres are absolutly on top of al VNs ive played so far. keep that up and no one will care about animations in the future. And Animations are only spoiceing the game up if they REALLY good... most of the games have bad animations and just do repeatingly the same motions over and over again... nobody need "robotic" sex or so. overall, im against animations cause the other games slow down extremly in the development and the animations are not worth it most of the time...

Haehnchen

Doesn't really matter much to me. Short animations for certain scenes can add some spice for sure, but good renders can have a similar effect. I honestly prefer good renders over decent/mediocre animations, especially if animations means slower development. On the list of things that makes a great VN for me, animations are pretty low on the list. I've thoroughly enjoyed Hillside so far and would much rather see extra content over animations :)

Qaliber