Virtual Date Girls: Lucy

[dboy]

See there's a new game up now, with you in control of the female this time.

http://vdategames.com/vdluc.html

Have managed to get 2 endings, just missing the 3rd.

[danigonz]

I don't want to sound harsh or rude. I really appreciate all the effort that surely implies to design a game, but...

...I feel this is again the same game as always. Surely the model is hot, and the graphic quality has imporved. But... ¿again the strip tease thing? ¿The same situations and places? I know that start a new game from scratch should be difficult, but it's also is a better option than being repeating the same tricks allover again.

[dafsa]

...You do realize that this was just an older game he had in the Offsite that he's now releasing for free right?

[Mr.Madness]

Dans le club, vous avez réussi à faire quelque chose avec le gars ?
J'ai envoyé sa copine au gagner de l'argent au cabaret, mais j'arrive à rien !!

Merci

[Mr.Madness]

Dans le club, vous avez réussi à faire quelque chose avec le gars ?
J'ai envoyé sa copine au gagner de l'argent au cabaret, mais j'arrive à rien !!

Merci

Heu !! vous cassez pas... à force d'insister j'ai fini par y arriver...

Par contre ne sait pas si c'est possible de se taper la copine de la station service en même temps que la gars...

[danigonz]

...You do realize that this was just an older game he had in the Offsite that he's now releasing for free right?

Yes, I'm aware of that. Months ago I was member of the offsite, and discovered that the're basically the same game. Only thing that changes is the girl. Of course, the mechanics varies: what works for a girl doesn¡t work for another. But is always the bar, the strip club...

[Ansys]

Nearly got with Ellie, Lucy fell asleep. Nearly got to using the toy, Lucy fell asleep. I didn't drink or anything why is she so keen on randomly passing out lol.

[dafsa]

...You do realize that this was just an older game he had in the Offsite that he's now releasing for free right?

Yes, I'm aware of that. Months ago I was member of the offsite, and discovered that the're basically the same game. Only thing that changes is the girl. Of course, the mechanics varies: what works for a girl doesn¡t work for another. But is always the bar, the strip club...

I understand that, but I don't see how you'd get mad for him just releasing a game from the offsite to free. The point wasn't really to redo anything. I'm just saying, there's plenty of reasons to be mad at him, but this seems like a random time to do it.

[kessie8yl]

...You do realize that this was just an older game he had in the Offsite that he's now releasing for free right?

Yes, I'm aware of that. Months ago I was member of the offsite, and discovered that the're basically the same game. Only thing that changes is the girl. Of course, the mechanics varies: what works for a girl doesn¡t work for another. But is always the bar, the strip club...

I understand that, but I don't see how you'd get mad for him just releasing a game from the offsite to free. The point wasn't really to redo anything. I'm just saying, there's plenty of reasons to be mad at him, but this seems like a random time to do it.

I think you misunderstood the original post - what I think dafsa's trying to say is ALL the VDG games are too similar and feature a lot of the same locations.

I know what he means, the format may be starting to feel a little tired. Having said that, most computer games fall into the same few categories and many share a common "engine", which means they are bound to be similar - that hasn't stopped subsequent games being hugely successful. Chaotic cannot be expected to reinvent the wheel every time he comes up with a new game.

Chaotic's games revolve around "dates" and they also feature sexual encounters. By definition this limits the number of locations if the scenarios are to remotely believable. How many places are there where people routinely get naked outside of their home? Strip clubs, saunas, swimming pools, changing rooms, photo shoots... Chaotic's done all those and I'm struggling to think of any more.

Perhaps Chaotic will start moving away from the virtual date concept but with a site called "Virtually Date Girls", I wouldn't put money on it

[ptmg30]

...You do realize that this was just an older game he had in the Offsite that he's now releasing for free right?

Yes, I'm aware of that. Months ago I was member of the offsite, and discovered that the're basically the same game. Only thing that changes is the girl. Of course, the mechanics varies: what works for a girl doesn¡t work for another. But is always the bar, the strip club...

I understand that, but I don't see how you'd get mad for him just releasing a game from the offsite to free. The point wasn't really to redo anything. I'm just saying, there's plenty of reasons to be mad at him, but this seems like a random time to do it.

I think you misunderstood the original post - what I think dafsa's trying to say is ALL the VDG games are too similar and feature a lot of the same locations.

I know what he means, the format may be starting to feel a little tired. Having said that, most computer games fall into the same few categories and many share a common "engine", which means they are bound to be similar - that hasn't stopped subsequent games being hugely successful. Chaotic cannot be expected to reinvent the wheel every time he comes up with a new game.

Chaotic's games revolve around "dates" and they also feature sexual encounters. By definition this limits the number of locations if the scenarios are to remotely believable. How many places are there where people routinely get naked outside of their home? Strip clubs, saunas, swimming pools, changing rooms, photo shoots... Chaotic's done all those and I'm struggling to think of any more.

Perhaps Chaotic will start moving away from the virtual date concept but with a site called "Virtually Date Girls", I wouldn't put money on it

But, you would think with him lifting images from GTA4 that he would put a different backdrop in, i.e. :The Photographer

[kessie8yl]

Sorry ptmg30 but I don't get the relevance of your comment to that part of the conversation.

While I accept your point, we should remember these games are not developed by huge software houses with a team of hundreds. It takes long enough for the likes of Chaotic to develop a game as it is - do you really want to wait even longer just so you won't be able to recognise the source of the backgrounds?

It would be fair to say that in asking people to pay for games which include these images a developer may be leaving himself open to accusations of theft of intellectual property. That is a matter for the developer's conscience. So far as I know none of the copyright owners have taken action in such cases, possibly because they consider it as uneconomic to purse such a case, or maybe they are following the example of many in the music business, who don't seem to mind their work being sampled, as long as it is not simply being copied. In any event, the decision whether to take action or not lies with the copyright owner. If they don't mind then why should we?

[dutchie]

I don't mind repeating games, it is again slightly different I think and allways a sport in hitting the spots and searching the for the right answers. One thing of the game I don't get. In the picturefiles it has a gun in the kitchen but in the game nothing leads to such a scene. Anybody who has such a scene triggered?
Regards Dutchie

[ExLibris]

I don't mind repeating games, it is again slightly different I think and allways a sport in hitting the spots and searching the for the right answers. One thing of the game I don't get. In the picturefiles it has a gun in the kitchen but in the game nothing leads to such a scene. Anybody who has such a scene triggered?
Regards Dutchie

There are no links to gun1.html, which is where the image is referenced. I would guess that it's left over from a plot thread that Chaotic started writing but didn't complete.

So far as I know none of the copyright owners have taken action in such cases

There has been at least one case where an AIF author who used copyrighted material was contacted by the holder and asked to desist (which he did). This was a case where the holder was actually getting free advertising, but copyright holders are pretty much forced to go after breaches in case their failure to do so is later construed as abandoning the copyright. Hence, silly things like Marvel suing NCsoft over City of Heroes.

Perhaps Chaotic will start moving away from the virtual date concept but with a site called "Virtually Date Girls", I wouldn't put money on it

Chaotic has made some gestures towards moving away from the date formula with games like Office Party, but sadly that hasn't stuck despite Tlaero/phreaky showing that HTML games are actually capable of supporting a story. However, I think the culprit is more likely Chaotic's business model of churning out a game every 2-3 months. With that kind of development cycle there's not a lot of time for originality (or apparently testing, to beat another dead horse).

[fatquack]

It's trademarks you have to enforce or risk losing them, not copyrights. With copyrights you can wait for years and then send the lawyers in.

[ExLibris]

It's trademarks you have to enforce or risk losing them, not copyrights. With copyrights you can wait for years and then send the lawyers in.

Whoops. That's what I get for relying on my brain rather than actually looking things up.