String fullTitle = 'Designing the Penultimate Whalebait Gacha';
int postNumber = 1443352;
String image = '1712211911915825.png';
String date = '04/04/24(Thu)02:25:11';
String comment = 'A train of thought that popped up and I've been mulling about in my head, and wanted to see what you guys think. Don't tell me to take my fucking meds, I'll do that later, just hear me out for a minute.
We all know waifu and husbando collection games both have their own group of whales. I'm talking the hardcore paypig kind. The ones that can shell out enough money to pay for all the operating costs all by themselves. Those kinds of whales. They play their respective waifu/husbando games, because it ONLY has women or men, and will refuse to touch any game that has the opposite. Obviously you can't wring money out of both these groups at once, so all gachas that do target these whales will pick a lane and stay in it. Arknights and Genshin have both genders and big whales, but they don't attract the ones I mentioned earlier.
So what if you decided that you'll be the first to double dip and snag both parties, well how would you do that? You can't go with Granblue's "everyone is protagonist-sexual" philosophy, because these whales will run away at the mere notion of the same gender being in the gacha pool. Or will they?
Now, I can't put myself into the head of one of these whales to really see things from their point of view, so from this point forward will likely just be me schizoposting into the void.';
'The waifu collectors want a harem setup. Generally male or undetermined protagonist, with a cast of only women, with bond/romance stories for each one. Same thing goes for husbando collectors, just swap the genders around.
What actually scares them off is either the idea that having men in a game with bond/romance stories will turn off waifu collectors (vice versa for husbando collectors), or the possibility that with a cast of both men and women, some characters will already have relationships with one another (married, dating, etc), or will do so in the future (which they'll see as NTR, gotta avoid dat GFL2 drama if you want to keep your whales happy).';
'So here's my setup for a theoretical gacha that lures in and catches ALL whales:
> Have a male and female protagonist to choose from
This reinforces the harem setup without having a vague protagonist with no sprite. Whether you use a blank slate self-insert or an established character (i.e. Dragalia Lost) probably doesn't matter, I've seen varying opinions on self-insert characters, despite how common they are.
> For each bond/character story, divide it into two alternate branches, your more harem romcom bond story, and a more neutral platonic/friendship variant.
Doubles the writing for a character story, but from what I've seen, they're not usually that long to begin with. As for 'why have two alternate versions', that leads into my next point
> At the start, ask the player if they like men or women (or both)
Just as a multiple checkbox option. This'll determine whether a male/female character will be 'protagonist-sexual' or have a more traditional friendship/comrade relationship with the protagonist. Both whale groups can have their harem setting while the other gender stays out of it, as well as the yuri/yaoi-fags (characters won't care what gender protagonist is as long as you select the right checkbox to enable the romance stuff with them). Will probably have to either limit what characters you can pull depending on these settings, or just gender-specific banners.
Its not a revolutionary idea, but from my knowledge, its also neve been done because companies are risk-adverse and nobody wants to be the first to dip their toes in. Of course, there's always the chance that the whales we've been targeting this entire time take one look at the game, see a man/woman in it, and are immediately turned off without looking into it. In this case, the gacha has already failed to do what it was set out to do.
Thoughts? Do you have any better ideas on designing the ultimate whalebait gacha? Maybe you just wanna comment to tell me I'm retarded, that's fine too.';
'>>1443352
Essentially, make two games in one. The setting will be a world where males are at war with females. When you choose your main character's gender you are hard locked into either faction, and your game experience will be adjusted accordingly. Neither side will interact with each other beyond major fight scenes that make it clear reconciliation will not happen and shipping cross faction will not be tolerated. Even will be some sort of faction wads. This way you catch both the harem/reverse harem groups and the tribalistic ones as well, and the latter would undoubtedly pay a shit ton to have their husbando/waifu win. The only snag is determining the protagonists' gender without breaking the world setting, because not everyone wants be a girl romancing other girls or vice versa';
'>>1443413
If you choose male in the female faction you're an exception proving himself. If you chose fem-fem you're a rising leader. If you choose fem-male they're simps/ you have to prove you're worth following. If male-male you're bonds slowly cross lines.
Hot take fuck bara I want Shuffle, Tsukuru, Sugoku Zaku, and acbins in charge of the dudes. There's too many illustrators I'd like in the female side.
There will be two huge events: a faction war, and a limited time annual event where (you) cross enemy lines and are able to recruit that faction. This event will be followed by another like Kancolle where some girls/ boys of your own faction fucking hate that you betrayed the cause and get all edgy mode. You can recruit those forms and they're to appeal to more fetish shit. Mostly cosmetic, but there will be AL's bond system but you have the additional choice to give someone a collar. Mad libs some keywords around but otherwise the same. Should be visible on the model/png.
What do you think about being lax towards modding? I'm in favor of leaning towards good will over maximizing profits. Let people be nsfw privately or make their own costumes. Maybe even involve yourself in the community and every now and then pick a popular mod outfit to make an event around?';
'>>1443420
Oh also fuck most mobs in gacha. Contract or mimic the fag who did the sick monster illustrations in the Death Mark games. I dunno how that'd work in this hypothetical game...
Maybe between the factions instead of being bordering neighbors there's a "no-man's land?" Maybe a previous leader on a faction escalated too much and their abominations went out of control. Or there could be a Sengoku Rance server wide mechanic where a year after haha-silly slice of life low stakes ecchi warfare there's an invasion/introduction of a neutral threat that changes the mood? Otherwise I guess you'd be fighting generic but cute goombas like in Blue Archive';
'>>1443420
Goodwill in mind, I argue in favor of not being as stingy as fgo and genshin. Not that the game should be as kind as Last Origin, but keep in mind games like Blue Archive and Eversoul. You get the feeling that as long as you consistently play, you have steady progress. You pay for efficiency and assurance.
I'm not a fan of having to buy outfits with premium currency, but if you can slowly earn that currency then it's fine. I'd also like to make premium currency be notably easier to acquire the higher your level. Veterans and paypigs should be rewarded for their donations and following';
'>>1443352
there is no such thing as ultimate whalebait. Most "whales" i know they are not whale to begin with but something just clicked with them and the sunk cost fallacy sets in. how would you eveb target both extreme? imagine if you make a fujo game but you wanted to attract waifufags as well? simply not feasable. you are better off creating 2 games catering to 2 parties.';
'why is misusing the word penultimate in vogue lately';
'>>1443420
>If you choose male in the female faction you're an exception proving himself. If you chose fem-fem you're a rising leader. If you choose fem-male they're simps/ you have to prove you're worth following. If male-male you're bonds slowly cross lines.
Allowing fem-male/male-fem opens the possibility that if the female and male characters interact they might hit it off despite being enemies, which is what we don't want. We want complete and utter tribalism, husbando vs waifu, and the team with the most whales wins their harem
>mods
The problem with mods in a gacha game is that usually they employ dozens of artists to design multiple different girls. You'd have a hard time convincing everyone to allow random people to tamper with their creations. Best you can do is to not crack down on it until someone complains and you take them down';
'>>1443420
>If you choose male in the female faction you're an exception proving himself. If you chose fem-fem you're a rising leader. If you choose fem-male they're simps/ you have to prove you're worth following. If male-male you're bonds slowly cross lines.
That's FOUR versions of the main story you'd have to write,unless this only comes into play in bond stories.Which is more feasible,but wriers will still bitch at you about it.Maybe yiu could instead implement a voting system with premium currency over which character will first get a bond story and what kind of flavor is it(we're assuming they don't start with any).There'd be a few,like 6 at most,generic prompts to choose from about half of which are sexual.It lessens the workload and gives the player more choice if they pay for it,';
'>>1443352
You're already thinking wrong if you're trying to cast a net at all. You don't whale with nets, you whale with harpoons. Or in other words, the REAL ultimate whalebait gacha would be nearly indistinguishable from a personalized scam.
>>1443434 basically gets it. The closest to a predefined whale is someone obsessive/autistic enough to sink thousands or tens of thousands for "their waifu", so to hook them you have to hunt for them specifically. Make generic waifugame. Track data relentlessly. Figure out who's spending in that extreme end of the curve and on who. Personalize the game to them. Low-rate alt costumes for THEIR waifu. Limited time events that you can only complete (and get a relationship scene) by shelling out large amounts of cash. Take "fan suggestions" to hook them in more personally. Run multiple games even, with "crossover events", so the whale has to shell out and level up on several different accounts to "fully capture" his waifu.
As long as the operation cost is low enough you could keep doing this until the whale runs dry and then just kill the game and repeat. I've seen a game or two that dipped its toes into this by giving whales "a hand in the creative process" but none that went all the way yet.';
'>>1443413
you are setting up tags: captured with that';
'make a gacha where NPCs are all the important dudes in the grand scheme
and the only ones you can roll for are all literal whos by comparison
wait a minute that's arknights';
'>>1443413
a successful game like that could have a very interesting media presence and fanbase interactions';
'>>1443352
Sauce for pix?';
'>>1443354
>Of course, there's always the chance that the whales we've been targeting this entire time take one look at the game, see a man/woman in it, and are immediately turned off without looking into it. In this case, the gacha has already failed to do what it was set out to do.
>the chance
lmao
it's 100% of the time for anyone worth targeting
if blue archive falls to the male plague you can kiss goodbye the entire whale audience
lately there's been too many retcons and story addons that add non selfinsert relationships in the story
AI chatbots are the future and nexon is already investing';
'>>1443352
A game where all characters are crossdressing shota. Should it work for both whales.
For those who want a real husband... if you pay enough you can make your hero not to cd.
For thos who want a real waifu... if you pay enough you can make your hero to grow tits and/or cut his dick.
No need to thank me.';
}