I've been toying with the idea of making a hypnofetish game (possibly in Godot) and I thought I'd ask for opinions on what people look for in a good adult hypnosis-themed game? Besides specific fetishes, I mean. There's so much variation out there between how games handle stats, writing vs. gameplay, hypnosis vs. sex, all that fun stuff. What are some of your favorite game mechanics, or even LEAST favorite mechanics?

actually good hypno scenes and expressions/eye stuff for me,i cant tell you how many games handwave the hypno stuff,and dont change the models,dont make it a footnote~

^that

And make the mental changes the focus of the story. The biggest mistake these kinds of games can make is using mind control only as a vehicle to get to sex scenes as soon as possible.

For a fetishist, MC Is a sexual act, and the part we prefer. Instant loss itself can be a kind of fun, but it stops being a treat and becomes boring pretty soon if that's all you are doing.

Taking control should most often be gradual. There should be complications at times.

If you need multiple sessions to take a target where you want them to be, then indicators for each stage of subjugation they are in, visual, behavioral, mentality, all of that should be on display to give you a sense of your progress. A character who is harder to influence with the power set should give subtler signs, but they should still be there.

As a bonus, even if the mind control is unrealistic, it should make some semblance of sense, at least to itself. That would flesh out the core mechanic nicely, helps the player immerse themselves.

I think an important aspect is giving the player options that affect the outcome of the mind control. Without that, you might as well just be reading a mind control themed comic (which is fine, but it's not what makes mind control games appealing). Some examples are changing what they call you, how they dress/act while uncontrolled, and changing the options for controlling other characters based on whether you have another character under control already.

As for least favorite mechanics, anything that feels grindy or that has nothing to do with mind control is annoying. For example, you can put combat in your game, but unless that combat involves mind control in some way, it's just something to slog through before you get to the good stuff. The mind control should be the game, not just the reward.

After writing all this, I realize it really only applies to games where you play as the controller, which isn't always the case. What's the premise and genre of the game you're thinking of making?

Just thought of another good feature - spontaneity. If you can only exert control at certain times decided by the game, it kills the fantasy. Let the player choose when to initiate control.

I think it's very hard to make a game that is simultaneously a good game and good hypno-fetish content. The closest I've seen is Going Deeper, which also happens to be made with Godot. Though even in that case, the hypnosis content is not strongly integrated with the core gameplay of dungeon exploration.

There have also been some games made with SRPG Studio such as Puppet Master and Forbidden Book that also have decent gameplay and good hypno content as overarching narrative. In those cases, the gameplay is mostly decent thanks to it being a clone of Fire Emblem, which is basically what the SRPG Studio engine does.

Generally speaking, I think hypnosis is potentially not a mechanic that naturally lends itself to a strong gameplay loop. If you want to make something that excels in both narrative and gameplay, the best bet might be to imitate some existing proven gameplay loop, and theme it around hypnosis.

Actually being able to order your subjects. In nanocontrol you can get the girls to wear whatever you want

I'm not quite sure yet, I've been toying with a couple of ideas. One's based on Cafetray's The Suite on MCStories, where you and some NPCs are subjects of a psych experiment that gets out of hand. The gameplay would revolve around you trying to retain control (or not) and leading your NPC cohorts into either keeping or losing control. A bit of a choices-matter affair with a gameplay loop based around resisting the mind control.

I've got a few other ideas, but this would probably be my starter. My biggest issue is I'm envisioning these as VR titles, which, on top of shrinking the potential playerbase, comes with a host of OTHER design issues. I would probably try to have flatscreen versions if possible, but I really like the idea of more VR hypnosis titles.

I'd make a distinction between, say, three angles.

A) A game using hypno as story theme/flavour.
Basically, gameplay itself is largely "normal", but the "set dressing" is hypno.
Most prominent example being most visual novels, but could easily be an RPG with hypno themed battles or something like HDoom.
In such case, being a good "hypno game" is up to delivering the story/art and not fumbling the gameplay.

B) Wish fulfillment sandbox thing.
Just, concentrated power fantasy of dominating other characters so players can play out what they want.
Here it matters to provide variety and make the player feel in control instead of "led by the hand" by the game.

C) Games where mind control is a direct mechanic.
Funnily enough, most games like that exist outside the fetish community. (My go-to example is Streets of Rogue)
But either way, mind control and possession can be and often are expressed in gameplay quite interestingly.
Both as a powerful tool or the basis of puzzle challenges.
What remains here is to find a way to integrate these mechanics into something that works as a hot story in addition to just the fun of getting to control the actions of NPCs.

That's for the controller side.
On the controlled side, you want to play the mechanics and theming in such a way to emphasise the loss of control or compulsion, however it might manifest.
...I feel like you may want to borrow notes from Depression Quest there.

You need to think long and hard about That angle. You'd be making niche fetish games for a niche gaming system that takes hundreds of dollars of investment upfront from the players even if your games are completely free and funded out of pocket.

How will you keep motivated, when there are like, a dozen people on the planet who have that setup already And are interested in your beta? Who's gonna test it, who's gonna keep the lights on while you develop?

And once it does come out, and the fanbase swells to a couple hundred people, will that satisfy you?

I very much agree with this because, the thing is, in my case, when I play a hypno-themed game, it's because I want some interactivity, not because I want some challenge like when I play regular games, so whenever I find that I need to grind, or fight or go to quests before getting the next hypno scene, it does get very annoying. As implied, this is the opposite of what I want when I play regular games, so yeah, what Ayvuir said is right on spot. It's possible that that's just me, however, and probably there are hypno-fans who don't mind having some challenges and then a hypno scene as a reward. But as Origamiswami said, it's best if the hypnosis/mind control are part of the gameplay itself and not just the reward.
One type of challenge that doesn't bother me as much in a hypno-game and that, in fact, I actually sometimes enjoy a lot, is when it's about figuring out how to get your target under your control. I've always loved stories where the mind control element has clear powers and limitations, and the controller needs to play it smart to figure out how to achieve their goal with what they have. Examples range from Thrallworks: Orientation, in which you need to carefully decide where to lead the conversation and find the perfect moments to record the neural activity when you think the subject is feeling the emotion you want; to Nano-Control, in which you need to find a way to get your targets to take a drink with the nanobots in it. The latter does ask you to grind, though, but a similar general concept could be pretty cool if improved upon.

Oh, and also, like Hypnoshadow said, do very much put emphasis on the facial expressions and the hypnosis/mind control itself.

The gameplay has to be focused around the mind control, though I can't really think of any games that really manage to pull this off. Adventure High's concept of allowing you to freely change the personality of your slaves was a good idea, shame the actual gameplay is very poor.

I think mechanically a lot depends on what sort of setting and mind control you're going for, it's hard to just throw out ideas in a vacuum.

I agree. This sounds reductionist, but I'm reasonably certain that things people look for in a hypno game are things that caters to their own specific sub-fetish(es), and which ones you end up going with should inform how your game plays.

Yeah, what's the goal of your game? Is it to cater to your fetishes? To make money? To polish an existing game you wish was better? What kind of mind control do you want to do, and why?

Making a game for yourself is a lot different than making one aimed at the general hypno-fetishist audience.