Unreal Engine Fallen Doll: Operation Lovecraft [v0.4.9 Cracked] [Project Helius]

[SortaLewd]

I mean i kinda get it, but then i also kinda dont? VR/Singleplayer hasn't been dropped, its been postponed as he focuses on Harem.

I know its just promises, but nothing has changed since you originally pledged tbh. No more money has been asked of. We're still going off a dream of the game. No one really wants the online play but Helius wants to make it a thing. The old demos still work and hes still actively developing, despite the scam accusations.

The game has definitely changed since 2019-2021, the game wasn't going to be online only, the online portion was going to be optional. Gallery was actually being worked on at the time and there was going to be a singleplayer version of Harem that Helius called Dormitory mode. Last I've seen Dormitory mentioned in the Discord server Helius himself said it was cancelled though it might be picked up again in the future. If you're in the Discord you can search for his messages or filter for mine here, I think I screenshotted a quote of his saying it. The issue with the demo is that it's demonstrating Gallery, which Helius again also said won't be getting any further updates. So it's attracting people based on an abandoned game mode, and then people subscribe to their Patreon because their Patreon page doesn't mention any of this or accurately describes the current state of the game, and then they come to find out what they pledged for isn't actually what they're getting. The Scam accusations likely come from the fact the Project Helius team just comes off as shady. They censor negativity and mute or ban folks that talk out of turn on the forums and discord, and they've made some big changes compared to what they originally pitched to earlier supporters. The fact they added Denuvo to a tech demo to ward off piracy also probably contributes. It's also not surprising people are starting to question VR being dropped. A reoccuring theme with Helius seems to be going quiet on a mechanic and either dropping it entirely or completely changing it(combat drills going from Xcom to Real time, Campaign going from NSFW to SFW back to NSFW and on and on, Dormitory being cut, Gallery being cut, etc)

As far as not asking for any more money, they changed the patreon tiers and lessened the rewards or benefits someone would get for pledging. You could view this as encourgement to pledge within a certain time I guess, but Fallen Doll is nowhere near being completed so altering the pledges to give less rewards to me just comes off as Helius trying to squeeze people for money later by buying DLCs versus offering most of them in the Patreon tiers like they used to. I could see if they were nearing a full release, but Helius still hasn't shown even a screenshot of combat drills gameplay, there's only 2 maps for Harem, the game is still fairly buggy, and performance still needs some work. He also plans to upgrade to UE5 and VR support still needs to be implemented if that hasn't been cancelled as well.

 

[Nihil5320]

I mean i kinda get it, but then i also kinda dont? VR/Singleplayer hasn't been dropped, its been postponed as he focuses on Harem.

I know its just promises, but nothing has changed since you originally pledged tbh. No more money has been asked of. We're still going off a dream of the game. No one really wants the online play but Helius wants to make it a thing. The old demos still work and hes still actively developing, despite the scam accusations.

I'd say the thing that has changed is that now they aren't even pretending to work on single player and/or an actual game, and coupled with the complete lack of any showing of any of the single player elements it really calls into question whether they were ever working on it.

So it's now pretty questionable as to whether they were working on it in the first place, if they were it's questionable as to whether they're actually capable of delivering given the lack of progress and we've got the fact that even if Helius isn't full of shit (an unlikely proposition) it won't be worked on again for a few years at least.

I personally wouldn't describe that as nothing changing. Unless you mean it in the sense that no progress has been made since 2016, in which case yeah. That's kinda the point.

 

[benisfug]

I'd say the thing that has changed is that now they aren't even pretending to work on single player and/or an actual game, and coupled with the complete lack of any showing of any of the single player elements it really calls into question whether they were ever working on it.

So it's now pretty questionable as to whether they were working on it in the first place, if they were it's questionable as to whether they're actually capable of delivering given the lack of progress and we've got the fact that even if Helius isn't full of shit (an unlikely proposition) it won't be worked on again for a few years at least.

I personally wouldn't describe that as nothing changing. Unless you mean it in the sense that no progress has been made since 2016, in which case yeah. That's kinda the point.

Helius actually mentioned single player in a Patreon reply recently but only so he could use it as an excuse for another feature not being done. And he ignored the questions about things that would make him look bad like calling reused scenes new, abandoning the gallery, and missing backer content. Then he just bailed when the guy started pressing for more specific answers.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Mhiggey]

I mean i kinda get it, but then i also kinda dont? VR/Singleplayer hasn't been dropped, its been postponed as he focuses on Harem.

Not to pile on you with others already addressing these 'promises', but there's a bigger factor for me in this game going always online:

If Helius decides that it's no longer profitable to keep his AWS servers up for the game and just bails, you lose access to the game completely. This wasn't a concern with the original product that many people backed.

 

[coolgy]

Not to pile on you with others already addressing these 'promises', but there's a bigger factor for me in this game going always online:

If Helius decides that it's no longer profitable to keep his AWS servers up for the game and just bails, you lose access to the game completely. This wasn't a concern with the original product that many people backed.

No one is piling on me, we're having a discussion.

Even if he leaves, we still have the old demos.

But this is the risk with pledging on Patreon, you're not really owed anything 100%. You're hoping the creator is reliable and delivers on their promise.

In Helius' case i dont think it makes sense for him to vapourware this milk machine, and maybe I'd feel this game was legitimately being milked a couple of months ago. But the latest build has made the rebuild worthwhile because people who were getting slideshow framerate are now getting 40-60 fps. I was getting 70 FPS on a 7800x3d and a 4090 at 1440p and now im getting a 165 flat and my gpu fans dont even turn on.

If this really was a scam Helius didnt have to release any update and keep milking.

That's just my personal view, like i said i see where people are coming from and the fact that the development changed after their initial pledge made them bitter. But thats Patreon in a nutshell.

Im sure if Helius went full furry/gay id be upset too.

 

[SoloDallaS]

It just looks gorgeous, I wish there was a farm or a breeding and selection system here

 

[benisfug]

No one is piling on me, we're having a discussion.

Even if he leaves, we still have the old demos.

But this is the risk with pledging on Patreon, you're not really owed anything 100%. You're hoping the creator is reliable and delivers on their promise.

In Helius' case i dont think it makes sense for him to vapourware this milk machine, and maybe I'd feel this game was legitimately being milked a couple of months ago. But the latest build has made the rebuild worthwhile because people who were getting slideshow framerate are now getting 40-60 fps. I was getting 70 FPS on a 7800x3d and a 4090 at 1440p and now im getting a 165 flat and my gpu fans dont even turn on.

If this really was a scam Helius didnt have to release any update and keep milking.

That's just my personal view, like i said i see where people are coming from and the fact that the development changed after their initial pledge made them bitter. But thats Patreon in a nutshell.

Im sure if Helius went full furry/gay id be upset too.

He only resumed regular updates after Patreon tanked due to the year long hiatus leading to the "big" Denuvo update and semi-large youtubers making extremely critical reviews of the game. He wants to milk it but current circumstances are forcing him to actually work on the game again to maintain profit.

 

[Nihil5320]

He only resumed regular updates after Patreon tanked due to the year long hiatus leading to the "big" Denuvo update and semi-large youtubers making extremely critical reviews of the game. He wants to milk it but current circumstances are forcing him to actually work on the game again to maintain profit.

This is my interpretation as well. The idea that they spent 14 months primarily on optimization work, including supposedly hiring a third party firm to assist, and still have the kind of low hanging fruit to deliver a 100% improvement with no visible loss in visual fidelity a few weeks after release... is insane.

In fact that they were struggling with optimization at all in what is essentially a UE4 demo with a single small map and a few models is pretty out there. Let alone when you consider the premise that Helius is meant to have been working on this with a small team for 7-8 years.

I don't think it's an outright scam in the traditional sense, Helius clearly intends on delivering something now even if it isn't what was originally promised, but I definitely think he has lied habitually about the work they've done, the size and competence of the team and the reasons for delay.

I also heavily suspect that the only reason they are now working toward releasing anything is because they couldn't milk Patreon indefinitely and a F2P game, if they could actually pull it off (no sign of that mind you), would keep generating that continuous revenue with minimal dev effort over time. It would not surprise me if Helius is the only real core dev excluding occasional contract work with artists and people like UC when he needs assets or someone to fix stuff he's fucked up (like using a fucking REST API to update player positions).

 

[benisfug]

This is my interpretation as well. The idea that they spent 14 months primarily on optimization work, including supposedly hiring a third party firm to assist, and still have the kind of low hanging fruit to deliver a 100% improvement with no visible loss in visual fidelity a few weeks after release... is insane.

In fact that they were struggling with optimization at all in what is essentially a UE4 demo with a single small map and a few models is pretty out there. Let alone when you consider the premise that Helius is meant to have been working on this with a small team for 7-8 years.

I don't think it's an outright scam in the traditional sense, Helius clearly intends on delivering something now even if it isn't what was originally promised, but I definitely think he has lied habitually about the work they've done, the size and competence of the team and the reasons for delay.

I also heavily suspect that the only reason they are now working toward releasing anything is because they couldn't milk Patreon indefinitely and a F2P game, if they could actually pull it off (no sign of that mind you), would keep generating that continuous revenue with minimal dev effort over time. It would not surprise me if Helius is the only real core dev excluding occasional contract work with artists and people like UC when he needs assets or someone to fix stuff he's fucked up (like using a fucking REST API to update player positions).

I honestly do think they will get something out soon-ish if only because the Patreon grift is unsustainable and they need a new cash cow. Something along the lines of reducing the scope just to get a minimum viable early access version shipped on Steam and drip feed content from there.

 

[SortaLewd]

I honestly do think they will get something out soon-ish if only because the Patreon grift is unsustainable and they need a new cash cow. Something along the lines of reducing the scope just to get a minimum viable early access version shipped on Steam and drip feed content from there.

I honestly think they aren't going into early access simply to avoid reviews being posted. I'm not just saying this because I think the Project Helius team is shady, but once reviews are open and people can state their opinions freely there will be nothing the moderators can do to stop critique from spreading and people seeing what's really going on with the game without having to become a patron first. I dunno if you guys here occasionally look at the Steam discussions on this game every now and then, but they literally delete just about every thread critiquing the game or sharing negative opinions. Once reviews are open there will be no more of that.

 

[BobbyMoore2]

I honestly think they aren't going into early access simply to avoid reviews being posted. I'm not just saying this because I think the Project Helius team is shady, but once reviews are open and people can state their opinions freely there will be nothing the moderators can do to stop critique from spreading and people seeing what's really going on with the game without having to become a patron first. I dunno if you guys here occasionally look at the Steam discussions on this game every now and then, but they literally delete just about every thread critiquing the game or sharing negative opinions. Once reviews are open there will be no more of that.

Just to add to the not going to early access. Launching as a early access game would also bind them to follow some rules or risk getting the boot.

Pretty sure one of them is to not make promises on features that don't get delivered and another is to not set false expectations.

I don't think they'd last 2 months, being generous there...

Considering I remember a mod posting that you cannot get NEP (in-game premium currency) for your pledges after a certain cutoff date to avoid being called a gacha. Low and behold they update the totally official source 100% legit faq discord channel when people find out they're still getting their NEP.

 

[yessiyuri1]

Gif linked "

You must be registered to see the links

"
User of account that posted gif "

You must be registered to see the links

"

 

[Lyfris12]

so basically no progress except lowering EXP

 

[nelson969]

so no intention to make the game free to play

 

[SortaLewd]

so basically no progress except lowering EXP

Here's the full post. Helius probably edited it sometime after yessiyuri took their screenshot.

Seems like they're going to look at the suggestions channel finally but of course all the past suggestions that had many upvotes will likely be ignored.

Making the game slightly less grindy and time consuming is a step in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go. I doubt they'll ever get rid of the battle pass and gacha mechanics entirely unfortunately. It seems they're also going to begin working on VR and UE5 soon.

 

[HardcoreCuddler]

HURRY UP GUYS YOU ONLY HAVE LIKE 2 YEARS LEFT TO VOICE YOUR OPINIONS BEFORE THEY RELEASE!!!!1!111!!!

 

[BobbyMoore2]

Wow, they're going to listen to the community via a honest poll on their ideas?

Because that went mega well with the 5 minute discord only "community has spoken" wipe poll.

 

[vutaboss]

Here's the full post. Helius probably edited it sometime after yessiyuri took their screenshot.

Seems like they're going to look at the suggestions channel finally but of course all the past suggestions that had many upvotes will likely be ignored.

Making the game slightly less grindy and time consuming is a step in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go. I doubt they'll ever get rid of the battle pass and gacha mechanics entirely unfortunately. It seems they're also going to begin working on VR and UE5 soon.

I don't trust the VR "prioritization". It sounds like an excuse to pivot away and not deliver all the things promised for 2023.

 

[Nguyen Viet Thai]

It seems they're also going to begin working on VR and UE5 soon.

Oh, great VR and UE5 already, bruhh

 

[Nihil5320]

Here's the full post. Helius probably edited it sometime after yessiyuri took their screenshot.

Seems like they're going to look at the suggestions channel finally but of course all the past suggestions that had many upvotes will likely be ignored.

Making the game slightly less grindy and time consuming is a step in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go. I doubt they'll ever get rid of the battle pass and gacha mechanics entirely unfortunately. It seems they're also going to begin working on VR and UE5 soon.

I don't think Helius is looking at suggestions, at least not any more than he was before, he's just using it as a way of deflecting criticism. Making the game less grindy was meant to be a large part of phase 2

You must be registered to see the links

so it's not like he just wasn't aware of the feedback:


Instead of the above he made it more grindy and the only reason he's reversing a tiny, and I really do mean tiny, bit now is because he needs to try and put on a PR show as the game started getting bad press and Patreon subs flatlined.

The depressing part is going to be if this little PR push actually works. That seems to be Helius' MO down to a T. He'll implement the low hanging fruit, like putting VR back in an animation viewer UE project, but he'll drag it out and in 12 months time this project will be in largely the same position it is now maybe with a VR version of Harem mode tacked on. Then he'll do a UE5 "rebuild" and you're back at square one and all the while he's raking in ~$100k a month via Patreon.

It really is quite disappointing that nearly a decade on this mess continues to take in quite a lot of money that could be going toward real developers working on real projects that are actually going somewhere.