toxicTom: I disagree here here. Static art (like most VNs) just needs skill and indeed there is the odd diamond buried in the muck. And nobody can tell me that companies like Illusion lack for money with products like Honey Select which are indeed AAA porn game productions.
Static art not only needs skill, but the developers still need time - which costs money. Every day spent on writing dialogue, and preparing art to match, is going to cost a fair bit of money for each person involved. Further, a VN needs extensive translation and according cost if they leave their own lands. The point is, VNs are not a easy medium to work with. A hentai game, be it with "standard" or "VN" gameplay, isn't trivial to create. No different from a traditional game.
Further, I am not talking about Honey Select. There are many smaller Circles in Japan and upstart developers in the west who are now learning the ropes of being a viable company. Many of them appeared in only the last 15ish years, and most of them folded. Unlike your standard indie, they could not operate in "public" venues like Steam. That means less money, more difficulty finding and recruiting talent into lasting companies, and so on.
There are people who say that hentai games lack artistry or whatnot, therefore the medium should be banned. Thus, hentai developers are not able to obtain the means to become artisans. This is deliberate catch-22 by the moralists, meant to prevent perverted people from having a livelihood, and the opportunity, to create explicit masterpieces.
I believe that hentai is just as worthy of respect as any other medium, but all mediums need resources to fulfill their potential. The "starving artist", is a notion meant to kill art in the cradle. My argument is that ability is strongly impacted by financial resources, and many hentai developers simply couldn't secure enough fiscal support. That means many h-games suck, simply because developers can't devote as much time to mastering the craft.
