Oh hi bupo long time no see. Sorry that I missed your message until today, I don't visit here often.*Edit* For the slew of people who just contacted me, I am Retired to the masses. projectheliu doesn't have to worry about me either.By the way projectheliu, if you implemented any of the things I suggested you'd easily delay. See how simple it'd be? Told you. You wouldn't even need ElecKey. You could also customize the Pak compression and cryptographic routines (7z out of box is good enough and can encrypt). You'd probably set back anyone. 7z is GPL too. *shrug* I would also seriously not rely on Steam's DRM. It is incredibly easy to get around.
Is it that much of a problem? I felt like piracy receded a lot in the past decade with Steam just being very convient and often having nice sales. (Though it probably came back a bit because of Epic exclusives in the past year.)Oh hi bupo long time no see. Sorry that I missed your message until today, I don't visit here often.
You are absolutely right, and I am aware that from a commercial perspective we ought to add more intense protection to the releases. But as a small indie team I think it would be a more responsible choice to invest the time and resources in the development rather than protection. Every hour spent in countering piracy is an hour took off from actually adding contents to the game, and we are already spreading ourselves way too thin.
We will add stuff like group sex and multiplayer harem mode so legit players can have some more fun over pirates, and that is it. However porn games are never console friendly hence are especially venerable to cracking, so if it turns out that the project is not self-sustainable under overwhelming piracy we may have to turn the focus to the online mode in the future like cd project red's escalating emphasis on 2077's multiplayer contents (yeah they are adding micro transaction now lmao).
Just to clarify, i personally hate the game as a service mindset (and left bethesda right before FO76) but if that's the only option left for the project to survive we may not have much of a choice.
Personally I wouldn't have found this project if it wasn't for this forum. While I'm not a patron I do plan on getting it (pledge or on steam) after a proper release is made. While not all pirates make it profitable this site does seem to bring more awareness to the game and a small influx of potential customers. I do hope this project succeeds and your base to grow as this is certainly something great and new to this kind of platform.Oh hi bupo long time no see. Sorry that I missed your message until today, I don't visit here often.
You are absolutely right, and I am aware that from a commercial perspective we ought to add more intense protection to the releases. But as a small indie team I think it would be a more responsible choice to invest the time and resources in the development rather than protection. Every hour spent in countering piracy is an hour took off from actually adding contents to the game, and we are already spreading ourselves way too thin.
We will add stuff like group sex and multiplayer harem mode so legit players can have some more fun over pirates, and that is it. However porn games are never console friendly hence are especially venerable to cracking, so if it turns out that the project is not self-sustainable under overwhelming piracy we may have to turn the focus to the online mode in the future like cd project red's escalating emphasis on 2077's multiplayer contents (yeah they are adding micro transaction now lmao).
Just to clarify, i personally hate the game as a service mindset (and left bethesda right before FO76) but if that's the only option left for the project to survive we may not have much of a choice.
It's just picking scenes from a menu. They are great though. Zero gameplay yet.So I get " transitory game builds" and "concept prototype", but does that extend to being any actual gameplay yet? Or is it just select a scene from the menu and watch the sex?
(Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm looking forward to seeing some plot to go with the smut).
Subverse. They already send out keys, so it's in my library, but it's not yet available to download.Whats your other steam game?
Ugh, well, it is. There are already three unauthorized attempts to upload the game to Steam store and as you can expect it is a really frustrating experience to file a DMCA takedown notice for some shady guys trying to sell a cracked game you made. Not to mention that somebody (I skimmed the thread and now highly suspect that this somebody is the guy asking for the AES code after every crack and is still lurking here) is constantly trying to extract the game assets and sell them.Is it that much of a problem? I felt like piracy receded a lot in the past decade with Steam just being very convient and often having nice sales. (Though it probably came back a bit because of Epic exclusives in the past year.)
Here is probably not the best place to discuss this, but tbh from the sub and visit statistics at my disposal the awareness brought by piracy actually caused way more harm than good.Personally I wouldn't have found this project if it wasn't for this forum. While I'm not a patron I do plan on getting it (pledge or on steam) after a proper release is made. While not all pirates make it profitable this site does seem to bring more awareness to the game and a small influx of potential customers.
Damn, that sucks. Thanks for the insight from a dev perspective!Ugh, well, it is. There are already three unauthorized attempts to upload the game to Steam store and as you can expect it is a really frustrating experience to file a DMCA takedown notice for some shady guys trying to sell a cracked game you made. Not to mention that somebody (I skimmed the thread and now highly suspect that this somebody is the guy asking for the AES code after every crack and is still lurking here) is constantly trying to extract the game assets and sell them.
Or maybe you actually make the damn game with all the money you got?Oh hi bupo long time no see. Sorry that I missed your message until today, I don't visit here often.
You are absolutely right, and I am aware that from a commercial perspective we ought to add more intense protection to the releases. But as a small indie team I think it would be a more responsible choice to invest the time and resources in the development rather than protection. Every hour spent in countering piracy is an hour took off from actually adding contents to the game, and we are already spreading ourselves way too thin.
We will add stuff like group sex and multiplayer harem mode so legit players can have some more fun over pirates, and that is it. However porn games are never console friendly hence are especially venerable to cracking, so if it turns out that the project is not self-sustainable under overwhelming piracy we may have to turn the focus to the online mode in the future like cd project red's escalating emphasis on 2077's multiplayer contents (yeah they are adding micro transaction now lmao).
Just to clarify, i personally hate the game as a service mindset (and left bethesda right before FO76) but if that's the only option left for the project to survive we may not have much of a choice.
You apparently have no idea how much it costs to make a decent game. Wild Life was getting way more money than PH yet three years have past they still only have a skeletal concept demo to show. Comparing with that I'd say PH has already done an honest job.Or maybe you actually make the damn game with all the money you got?
I so so like that your supporters don't see the apparent lack of updates vs. all the money they poured into a game.
Guess you can't change the patreon mindset.
And you're over-blowing the production costs and net weight difficulty of those two, not to mention the only reason why wildlife is where it was 3 years ago is because their studio employs the same tactic of "milk every cent out of willing herd".You apparently have no idea how much it costs to make a decent game. Wild Life was getting way more money than PH yet three years have past they still only have a skeletal concept demo to show. Comparing with that I'd say PH has already done an honest job.
Besides, a basic rule of business: if you have to make a game with all the revenue you can get during a game's life cycle, there is literally no room for any hope of a next game.
Dude, I think wildlife is a star citizen style scam as well, don't get me wrong. My point is PH has been on the reasonable side so far compared with that. To be fair, I doubt if you can find many patreon game devs more honest than them (grimhelm might be one, but I can't name anyone else)And you're over-blowing the production costs and net weight difficulty of those two, not to mention the only reason why wildlife is where it was 3 years ago is because their studio employs the same tactic of "milk every cent out of willing herd".
Yes, game development is no easy feat and there are too many factors to take into account; that does not make it OK to use the "industry leading standard of ripping people off" while doing a game.