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Race of Life Q&A - July 2024
🕑 Added 2024-07-31 17:27:47 +0000 UTCGeralt of Ashkelon
If you could have any character from any AVN make a cameo in Race of Life, which character/s would it be and why?
Josh Answer:
There are a lot that I think would be cool, but it’s unlikely that they’d happen. For a cameo, either the other dev would need to spend time scripting the character (and therefore working on a game that’s not theirs, taking time away from their own project) or trust me with it and let me write it. I don’t think that’d be likely, as no two writers really write the same way, everyone sees the characters through their own lens of life experiences, so there would be some friction there.
I did see a reddit comment where someone said that Jake could cameo in other games as a guest lecturer, which would be kind of cool, but again, it’d mean spending time on a project that isn’t the one I should be spending time on.
Jachu Answer:
I do like an occasional cameo but like Joshua already said it’d be hard to implement. It’d need to be a character that fits into the style of RoL right away and doesn’t have to be “adjusted”. I can’t think of any character from other AVN’s at the moment that would fit here.
Rivoner
Here are questions for Jachu:
Is your health better now?
Jachu Answer:
Much better. I had an MRI a few days ago to check if the tumor regrew and a last appointment with my doctor in October to make sure everything healed up properly. I do have to rinse my nose with a syringe everyday at least till the end of the year. It’s not really nice but I got used to it.
How do you cope with having another job and not feeling well at the same time?
Jachu Answer:
My day job is flexible enough (for the most part) that my health situation didn’t impact it much. There are times in the year that I’m flooded with work but luckily it wasn’t during my recovery time.
How do you continue to create game under such circumstances?
Jachu Answer:
I simply enjoy doing it. It’s like a relaxing time for me and I needed plenty of that to recover properly.
Here are questions for Joshua
Have you thought about wrapping up the storyline, and how to solve the problem if the story keeps spreading out and leads to too many branches or triggers part of the plot to become troublesome?
Joshua Answer:
There have been plans on how to wrap everything up from early on. It’s not too difficult to trim options and remove choices from the story, but I think that one of the best parts of an AVN is giving players as much choice as is practical. The troublesome part is where everything kind of spaghettis into each other, which happened to be a big part of the new episode due to the variety of people who attend the conference. It’d be simple to just cut and paste text between different paths (and I do that some of the time) but different characters interact with each other in different ways, and if I don’t honour that, I think it’d make the story a bit less than it could be.
So the short answer is “Yes, I think about it.” but I also acknowledge the need to do the hard work in order to make something that gives the player options that matter.
Do you have an estimate of how many seasons it will take to complete the game?
Joshua Answer:
We’ve planned three Acts, so it’ll be three to four seasons. The final arc is the shortest, the middle arc is the longest. I’ve estimated a total of nine or ten episodes, and I’d like to stick to that.
Is there a possibility of adding more episodes?
Joshua Answer:
It’s not impossible, but personally I kind of dislike it when a TV show or movie series starts stretching the story out because it became popular. I’d rather finish the story and move on to a sequel or another project than stretch it out so far that people got sick of it.
That doesn’t mean once RoL is done that the characters are gone though. You never know what can happen in the future, and I plan on living until I’m 150.
Hanbo
I'd like to ask you both which is your favorite character, you can only choose from LI (I'm worried you might answer me Cooper or other men) 🤣 And please explain why she is your favorite character. Is there a specific trait of hers that particularly attracts you? 😏
Josh Answer:
I literally change my mind based on who I’m writing at the time. I don’t want there to be one or two “good” picks, while the rest are just filler.
Having said that, one thing I like about the premise is how Allison is integrated into the story. The fact that the common story setting is that the MC was cheated on is flipped so the MC is the cheater (though the player can kind of choose whether it’s something to make up for, or something that was justified) makes her fun to write. She’s got a bit more nuance than the stereotypical “angry ex”. I don’t think there’s another character much like her.
Jachu Answer:
Damn, I hate to pick just one. I just love them all. If I had to pick I’d choose Jasmine. She is just so important to the story and her presence in the game is so natural. I don’t feel like there was a single scene with her that was rushed or squeezed in just to add to her screen time. Plus her 3D model is so good to work with. No matter the outfit, no matter the expression, she always looks stunning.
Jonathan Hang
How did you both meet?
Josh Answer:
I was a patron of Underground Studios and a fan of The Best Days of Our Lives when it wrapped up. When Jachu sent feelers out for a new writer, I kind of hemmed and hawed about whether I could do the job, so by the time I’d sent in some examples of my work, he’d already set up a treatment for Race of Life.
He liked the work I submitted, offered me the position, and we’ve been working together since.
What are some of your favorite AVNs (being a lover of AVNs)?
Josh Answer:
I really enjoyed Acting Lessons, because I think there was a strong emotional resonance there. I know it gets some criticism, but I do think that it set a new standard for storytelling at the time it was released.
There have been a lot that I like, such as Leap of Faith and Being a Dik, plus some newer ones like Move the Chains, Leaving DNA and Artemis. One of the ones that isn’t talked about much is Nothing is Forever. I liked the way they integrated kinks in that, and the way that influenced the branching.
Jachu Answer:
I haven’t played AVN’s much lately. It’s just that when I’ve experienced every detail of AVN development I started to nitpick every little issue. I just can’t enjoy it as much as I used to because I see every weird pose, every render artifact or story inconsistency. All these little errors stand out much more than they used to. I did like Being a Dik back in the day.
Insight into how ROL was created and inspiration for the characters.
Josh Answer:
Jachu started with a treatment that had a basic premise, along with some of the core characters. I then kind of ran with it and created some options that we’d hash out to create the narrative options we wanted.
Inspiration-wise… well most characters have some level of similarity with people I’ve known or known of. Take Dr Katzei. He’s moderately based on the behaviours of a medical professional that I worked with for a time, with some traits of a couple of other bosses I’ve had, just to make sure that he’s truly despicable. The Doctor in question was infamous for sending in nurses to deliver bad news, while swooping in to prompt patients into giving him praise when there was good news to be delivered, along with some truly terrible bedside manner. I once saw him scold a nurse who had to deliver some horrible news to parents of a kid because she was upset and emotional just afterwards while still on the clock.
Fortunately, the vast majority of medical people I’ve known and worked with are nothing like that.
Jachu Answer:
When Arisushimake (previous writer) left I tried to move the story of TBDOOL forward myself. I tried to think of a way to make it more interesting. Suddenly I realized that there isn’t a car related AVN there yet. I was actually surprised that there was such a gap in the market. I played with the idea of illegal car races in TBDOOL but just couldn’t find the way to make it work without remaking the game too much. Finally I decided to start from scratch and that’s how RoL was born.
What do you both do in your free time when you're not working on ROL?
Josh Answer:
At the moment, I’ve gotten into metal fabrication. Nothing too extreme, just basic stuff like knife-making, tool-making, forging, welding, and building some basic household stuff for fun.
Regarding my day job, I’m a freelance corporate writer. I’ve written for companies big and small across sectors from transport, medical, industrial, political, FMCG, retail and a whole bunch of stuff in-between. It’s creative in its own way, but quite dry. Not many stakeholders appreciate dick jokes in their content. At least not openly.
I found that one out the hard way.
Jachu Answer:
Before my health situation I used to throw some iron in the gym. I’m on break now but I plan to return to the gym later this year. Besides that I do enjoy playing a round or two of competitive video games like CS or Valorant. As for my day job, I do have a strict NDA signed so I can’t say much unfortunately.
Are we going to get more LIs in the future?
Josh Answer:
Yes.
Jachu Answer:
I'm not sure if they will be the main LIs, but there will definitely be more so-called "side chicks", and we already have some ideas for a few.
Kayum Rakib
I have a question for you. I want to make AVN but I don't know what to do. Please give me some tips and advise.
Josh Answer:
Here’s a few tips:
Plan. Plan in detail, right from day one. Know how the story ends for each major character, and work towards that at all times.
Take your time with your first release. As soon as episode one is out, you’re on the clock. People who like what you do will want more, and you should try not to make them wait too long. I’d even say that you should hold off on releasing episode 1 until you are confident of a release date of episode 2.
Your first draft’s whole purpose is to suck. That’s what it’s for. Don’t try and make a blank page perfect, just make it better than it was.
It’s better to be loved by a few than for a lot of people to just think you’re alright. You will get some flack from people that don’t like what you’ve done because it doesn’t suit their tastes. That’s fine, you don’t need everyone to like the same thing. Just understand who your audience is, and try not to alienate them.
Enjoy what you make. If you don’t like the story you’re writing, it’ll be harder to stick with it. You may as well like what you’re doing if you plan on doing it for a while.
Jachu Answer:
My tips will be more regarding the visual side:
1. Put time into your first release. RoL took off mostly because episode 1 had so much content that it easily stood up among dozens of other games that are released daily. Be sure to polish it as much as possible too.
2. Most people buy with their eyes. Be sure to make your game pretty. Your story doesn’t have to be ambitious to be successful as long as you have great renders. And I’m not saying the story is not important. It certainly is but unfortunately most people play these games to jerk off and just skip till they get to the next lewd scene.
3. Spend some time learning how to animate the lewd scenes. It’s not easy (especially in Daz3D) but a lewd scene with animations makes a huge difference.
4. Try to be original. Don’t copy the same story premise you see in every other game. You can take inspiration but add your own twist to it.
5. Watch a couple of videos regarding photography, film making etc. Most stuff people use in those fields can be used when making renders, drawing or making animations. Big step for me was when I took a couple of racing clips from Fast & Furious, watched it frame by frame and analyzed it thoroughly.
DIVINE
Is there any chance of changing the characters names if possible.? I'd love to change the character names and play.
Jachu Answer:
It’d be hard to implement it this far into the game unfortunately.
Comments
Sinner
Chloe from "How to Fix the Future" could cameo for her IT help in the development of the battery system prototype coding etc.
Brownaaa
Nora from college kings or Jill from being a dik bit there characters will not fit
Jonathan Hang
Thanks for answering mine and everyone's questions, guys (we asked a lot, lol). We also got to learn more about you both and about the game. This was a fun and great read. I can wait for more Q&A in the future! 😁
MAK
The Q&A was really good and I hope there will be more in future.
Hanbo
Wow, the Q&A was really interesting, I hope there will be more Q&As in the future, thank you very much to both of you for taking the time to answer the questions 😄 Most people buy with their eyes. I couldn't agree more with this, it happens in a lot of AVNs 😏
Jhonatanw
🤔
