VN Ren'Py Halfway House [Ep.11 - Bonus 7-8] [Az]

[bauman]

i quoted him on being quiet.
all other activities than real game progress are irrelevant and we are comming to 2, max 3 updates per year. such way he can extend completing game in period of 3-5 years.

however this dev is not (big) problem - i've been following him from the beginning. it is business model. i can see pattern (including here). devs start with regular updates and when patrons money starts pouring they are pushing updates further and further and extends life spawn of the game to earn more money. so this (i mean in global) siezed to be patroning and turned to be subscription - monthly recurring billing where you don't know when (or will you at all) get new content. all you get are posts, polls, arts, unverified problems, apologies... imagine any other subscription site (porn, netflix, media...) having this policy. how long subscribers would stay on it?
in the end patron system become beneficial to everyone except patrons.

The other small projects and bonus renders are very relevant if his patrons are happy with them since they are the people funding this project. Az has been on the slow side as far as game developing goes since the start of this project, even before HH blew up on Patreon. I doubt his MO will change. It's not that uncommon anymore either, it seems like more and more devs are releasing updates only 2 to 4 times per year.

 

[leg28]

It's not that uncommon anymore either, it seems like more and more devs are releasing updates only 2 to 4 times per year.

exactly my point. and it is just because of money. if patron system just change billing system (what is not going to happen) in recurring after each update, not monthly, i'm sure there will be more frequent updates (not from everyone, but significant part) what might add more patrons and milkers would be history.

 

[J.R.]

exactly my point. and it is just because of money. if patron system just change billing system (what is not going to happen) in recurring after each update, not monthly, i'm sure there will be more frequent updates (not from everyone, but significant part) what might add more patrons and milkers would be history.

This system already exists on Patreon (I even had a dev who used this "payment for each update"). But: there is then also the risk that the updates will be split again into smaller ones - and of course you will be charged for each of them...

 

[leg28]

This system already exists on Patreon (I even had a dev who used this "payment for each update"). But: there is then also the risk that the updates will be split again into smaller ones - and of course you will be charged for each of them...

there is no perfect system and yes it is risk, but patrons should punish such actions.
on the other hand they allowed such devs' attitude by blindly chipping some known milkers and/or scammers (like milfy city, fem.agent, awam...). so i might be expecting too much from patrons.

 

[Aristos]

July and still "a long way" to go.

Once again, I'll remain silent.
I said enough back in the day.
$4,000 a month...

 

[kazhir]

Just found this game days ago, just to say, it's quite good.

 

[leg28]

he's really active on his discord.

i can't see how discord chatting can replace prolonged updates (and i'm talking in general, nothing personal on az's style of work, though his pace is for me too slow to support). that is not special activity. it is simply marketing, propaganda.

 

[Abhai]

i can't see how discord chatting can replace prolonged updates (and i'm talking in general, nothing personal on az's style of work, though his pace is for me too slow to support). that is not special activity. it is simply marketing, propaganda.

and obviously a good one.

everything is a "product", as long as there are people buying/paying for it.
regardless if it is a game update, wallpapers, "special" renders, or discord chatting/marketing.

 

[AngelsAfterDark]

I had this game a while back but the MC looked like a rapist lol so I deleted it.. Im thinking of giving it another shot for the story but is it worth it?.. And is there any NTR content? cuase if so I'ma have to pass again

 

[Deleted member 3313072]

I had this game a while back but the MC looked like a rapist lol so I deleted it.. Im thinking of giving it another shot for the story but is it worth it?.. And is there any NTR content? cuase if so I'ma have to pass again

No NTR, only a few short lewd scenes with Ashley and one or two with Samantha. Emily is the only love interest in the game and in the end, it's only her score that matters for a proper ending, so you still can be a flirt to every girl OR be devoted to Emily, as I am.

It's a good story despite the fact that Az wrote the MC like some thug wannabee, but he was written like that for a reason from what we've heard.

We're still waiting on Episode 9. There's a few walkthroughs available for the game and a WT mod which I personally use as well. So it's worth it I think.

Here's the mod thread link if you want it:

https://f95zone.to/threads/halfway-...nlocker-cheat-improvements-mod-ep-8-az.57342/

and the walkthroughs are in the original post of the thread. Enjoy, or at least I hope you do.

 

[andrew david irving]

Abhai, no the marketing strategy is not a 'good one' because it has become contentious, deliberately scamming funders is probably a felony if anyone pursued it and calling it a marketing strategy would not provide a mitigating circumstance. Outcomes to such behaviour could possibly involve litigation if the funders/patrons feel that they have been cheated by a developers dishonest behaviour ... for instance 'this is not what I signed up for, and it may be that Patron have not regulated product development.' Yes they do regulate products developed on their site on a regular basis. You make it sound that there is no consequence at all for developers that 'scam' by deliberately underproducing their product to continue their revenue stream. Reputational damage is one obvious outcome, which can be significant as in the case of Gumdrop, but the developers may be subjected to other forms of adverse consequences downstream. All of lose in such scenarios.

 

[AngelsAfterDark]

I didn't expect it to be this good, I'm really digging this VN..Emily is just adorable with her wife like ways towards you and Ashley well I feel like theres still alot to do with her, most of our encounters with he has been sexual, but I really hope we get to see her deeper side, it seems like the MC is the only one who has some kind of influence on her even if she won't admit it but she feels comfortable enough around him to be vulnerable and I like that, makes Ashley's story intresting

One thing I hate tho is how much of a wimp the MC is when it comes to women trashing him.. He's supposed to be this tough kid but whenever Ashley trash talks him he barely defends himself, or even worse when Ashlyn treated him like garbage he literally did nothing about it.. I wish he could stand up more for himself and God he needs to grow his hair out, the shaved head looks awful

Also I'm wondering if Ashlyn will be a love interest for the MC in the future?.. I mean so far she's only treated him like trash then literally tried selling her virginity to the him in exchange for his help yet she keeps throwing Jabs at her sister for being a "call girl" back in the days

 

[HornyyPussy]

Abhai, no the marketing strategy is not a 'good one' because it has become contentious, deliberately scamming funders is probably a felony if anyone pursued it and calling it a marketing strategy would not provide a mitigating circumstance. Outcomes to such behaviour could possibly involve litigation if the funders/patrons feel that they have been cheated by a developers dishonest behaviour ... for instance 'this is not what I signed up for, and it may be that Patron have not regulated product development.' Yes they do regulate products developed on their site on a regular basis. You make it sound that there is no consequence at all for developers that 'scam' by deliberately underproducing their product to continue their revenue stream. Reputational damage is one obvious outcome, which can be significant as in the case of Gumdrop, but the developers may be subjected to other forms of adverse consequences downstream. All of lose in such scenarios.

That's not how Patreon works, you support the development of a project, nothing else. There is no guarantee that you get anything you like/want in return. There will never be any ground for legal repercussions just because a supporter doesn't "get what he wants". If you think a Dev takes to long to release updates, stop supporting them, easy as that.

 

[andrew david irving]

Hi HornyPussy, I hear what you say, but we all know that Patron do get involved with every project on a regular basis, at a minimum to verify that their rules are not being broken especially with porn projects... there are very numerous examples of this on this site, especially when people are thwarted by Patron. I agree that the easiest way is to stop supporting the developers; but in the land of 'don't get mad, litigate!' both the devs and Patron may be subject to legal challenges if that's what the funders want to do if they feel that they are being cheated for sure the lawyers will be only to happy to bring such cases ... and yes there are laws to protect against fraudulent and/or deceitful business behaviour in every country. But this is getting somewhat off topic and has little to do with the game which is good imo.

 

[HornyyPussy]

Hi HornyPussy, I hear what you say, but we all know that Patron do get involved with every project on a regular basis, at a minimum to verify that their rules are not being broken especially with porn projects... there are very numerous examples of this on this site, especially when people are thwarted by Patron. I agree that the easiest way is to stop supporting the developers; but in the land of 'don't get mad, litigate!' both the devs and Patron may be subject to legal challenges if that's what the funders want to do if they feel that they are being cheated for sure the lawyers will be only to happy to bring such cases ... and yes there are laws to protect against fraudulent and/or deceitful business behaviour in every country. But this is getting somewhat off topic and has little to do with the game which is good imo.

The thing is that it's not "fraudulent" to accept support on Patreon without giving anything back. There is no rules stating that dev's have to produce anything. Hence you can throw all the lawsuits you want at them, they are not gonna stick.

 

[andrew david irving]

The thing is that Patron has rules and monitors them as we know, and because of the enforcement of those rules there is a reasonable expectation on the part of the funder that, in particular, game updates will be provided according to the rules, and if the dev persistently and manifestly does not comply with the rules then their behaviour can be declared as fraudulent and remedial action taken, whatever that is. I believe that most judges would take a dim view of the attitude that a dev can scam their funders with impunity and would most likely lean towards reparations to the appellants ...

 

[HornyyPussy]

The thing is that Patron has rules and monitors them as we know, and because of the enforcement of those rules there is a reasonable expectation on the part of the funder that, in particular, game updates will be provided according to the rules, and if the dev persistently and manifestly does not comply with the rules then their behaviour can be declared as fraudulent and remedial action taken, whatever that is. I believe that most judges would take a dim view of the attitude that a dev can scam their funders with impunity and would most likely lean towards reparations to the appellants ...

Sigh.......there are no such rules on Patreon, period! Legal action against a dev for not delivering what some supporters think are their right is not possible in any form.

There, enough of this carousel now.

 

[andrew david irving]

Well unfortunately you seem to be convinced that devs like Gumdrop are above the law which they are not and I at least could envisage a class action against them; so I feel sorry for you. As I said earlier, this is off topic and and I will not respond further.

 

[kartolas]

Five months already. Sad, I really like this one.
Good luck.

 

[Deleted member 3313072]

Five months already. Sad, I really like this one.
Good luck.

Yeah my eagerness for this game and it's continuance has certainly diminished. I really want to see what happens with the MC & Emily but thankfully I've gotten a shit-ton more games since finishing this update so it's not too unbearable of a wait anymore. Waited two years for Milfy City. Five months is nothing compared to that