VN Ren'Py Harem Hotel [v0.18.2] [Runey]

[wjfbbs]

Hello, game developer! Thank you for creating such an excellent harem-themed game. However, as an Android player, I have some concerns.

In a certain plot, the protagonist suddenly faints and has a fever. Then Android instructs everyone not to approach the protagonist and helps Lin make a cake for the protagonist to eat in order to regain his health.

Hmm, setting aside the issue of not going to the hospital when sick, I don't think eating cake when having a fever is a good idea. It would be better if it could be changed to a bowl of steaming white rice porridge.

Lastly, I truly appreciate you creating this outstanding work. Please keep up the good work!

 

[thelastone98]

The insults are totally unnecessary. We get it, you don't want story, you didn't pay attention to it at all, you ignored all of the foreshadowing because you wanted my game to be something it's not. Go play another one. There is no point in arguing on a forum of a game you don't like, it's a waste of your time.

This guy was skipping story? Man, the first time I played this I was enjoying the story so much I was skipping some sex scenes

 

[Runey]

Hello, game developer! Thank you for creating such an excellent harem-themed game. However, as an Android player, I have some concerns.

In a certain plot, the protagonist suddenly faints and has a fever. Then Android instructs everyone not to approach the protagonist and helps Lin make a cake for the protagonist to eat in order to regain his health.

Hmm, setting aside the issue of not going to the hospital when sick, I don't think eating cake when having a fever is a good idea. It would be better if it could be changed to a bowl of steaming white rice porridge.

Lastly, I truly appreciate you creating this outstanding work. Please keep up the good work!

Thank you
People don't go to the hospital for every minor sickness, only when it's serious. He had the flu

 

[Smarmint]

I don't know what to tell you. For me, every update has been building up to this, from the elf slave story slowly progressing with more elf colonies you find out about, some that enslaved others. Android's glitching revealing mysterious entities in cyberspace, and the storyline of society's increased use of robots and AI to perform tasks the elves are currently performing, making their existence more precarious. This story doesn't seem like the type to just kill or imprison all the elves as the endgame, so a revolution is the only solution.

Plus, remember the breeding of elf clones for their blood? This was revealed 2 or 3 updates ago, and couldn't just stand unremarked. I am only a little surprised Kali and most of the others seem overall OK with it.

I think most of us players weren't at all surprised by the turn toward darkness. Sorry you missed it. Maybe you should read more books. Other than the fluffiest young adult novels, the good ones have layers of story that aren't immediately apparent from the first chapters.

It's true that there is a major change in theme from the happy Harem Hotel, to the world being taken over by an AI overlord, but for me when the Hotel was invaded by the cops, I knew the shit was about to hit the fan in a big way, and nobody would be unscathed. It is basically a heavily foreshadowed plot twist, that for me just makes the story more interesting.

After a handful of updates introducing and getting to know the main characters, all AVNs need some propulsive mystery or plot element to keep the story fresh update to update. Just having everyone happy and the MC playing musical hotel rooms with all the LIs for the next 10 updates would be rather boring, wouldn't it?

 

[Quetzzz]

Plus, remember the breeding of elf clones for their blood? This was revealed 2 or 3 updates ago, and couldn't just stand unremarked. I am only a little surprised Kali and most of the others seem overall OK with it.

Even much earlier, during the early game freeroam events in the city, the MC comes across elements of this story.

Concerning the blood-camps, I think Kali is being gaslighted by her father, and in turn convinces the others that the elves have it better in those facilities.

 

[DigDug69]

Even much earlier, during the early game freeroam events in the city, the MC comes across elements of this story.

Concerning the blood-camps, I think Kali is being gaslighted by her father, and in turn convinces the others that the elves have it better in those facilities.

Probably in a similar way to how some people claimed that slaves were better off as slaves before the American civil war.
They weren't, but it made those people feel better about slavery when they said it.

 

[Rome5555555]

Thanks for your hard work devman, I'm looking forward to the next release

The more people donate, the faster the new release of the game will come out

 

[Cockva]

The more people donate, the faster the new release of the game will come out

Rather the opposite

 

[SomeoneX22]

Rather the opposite

There should be research how Patreon income affects developers desire to complete game, and what's the "sweet spot". My bet would be around 1000$/month, anything extra and why would any sane person choose to lose his milking cow? Anything less and there would be not enough motivation to work on game and complete it at all.

 

[Runey]

The more people donate, the faster the new release of the game will come out

Not quite, so long as all expenses are paid, then they're able to treat it as a full time job. Anything more is motivation to keep going.

There should be research how Patreon income affects developers desire to complete game, and what's the "sweet spot". My bet would be around 1000$/month, anything extra and why would any sane person choose to lose his milking cow? Anything less and there would be not enough motivation to work on game and complete it at all.

I know a lot of developers become lazy as time goes on, but this isn't the case for me, as I absolutely love what I do and really enjoy the feedback I get. I've increased my work load and detail as time went on. This year has been rough for me so it's been a bit slower than average but I'm finally back to working. $1,000 a month is not enough for any developer to go full time, especially for someone in America. I would guess $2,500 per month is enough to have all expenses paid and for a developer to treat this as a full time job, which was my original goal and that has been met a long time ago. I think $1,000 a month is not enough for anyone to have a decent life in America as most monthly rent for a bare-bones apartment is $1,500 - $2,000 per month now, unless you live in a very small town. $1,000 per month is less than the federal minimum wage in America. That's not enough for groceries, car payments, gas, utility bills, insurance, and medical bills. That's why so many are having such a hard time getting by and most are in debt. So I would wager $2,500 is the minimum for any developer to treat this as a full time job.

 

[SomeoneX22]

So I would wager $2,500 is the minimum for any developer to treat this as a full time job.

Problem is treating developing game like full time job just makes it worse, because why whould anyone want to lose his full time job and start new risky project with probably less income? So developer inclined to stretch time to complete the game as long as possible.

When it's just hobby with not enough money to make living there is desire to grow and improve on his work, attract new people by showing dedication and ability to complete games. Also main work gives financial stability to be less dependent on Patrons opinions and have more creative freedom.

Also let's be honest no porn game developer works 40 hours a week on his game.

As cynical as is sounds imho developers works best when "patreon as full-time job" is just carrot hanging in front of them.

 

[c3p0]

I know a lot of developers become lazy as time goes on, but this isn't the case for me, as I absolutely love what I do and really enjoy the feedback I get.

That I can fully attest to it. Runey is one of the, I say, hard working devs. Although even then, this doesn't mean you get updates in constant matter at an useful time table, but not in the case of Runey. He doing 3-4 updates a year with a lot of content and thus, in is in the ranks of dev, I can and will usually say, support him if you want and can.

$1,000 a month is not enough for any developer to go full time, especially for someone in America.

As you say, it depens on where you life. Eg. Switzerland is very expensive. Minimum wage, if their is one in the Canton you life, is at least 3'500 and even with that amount of money at the end of the month you don't have much. (cheap simple one room flat may be already over 600, mandatory health insurance another 300 and so on...)
Especially if you live with minimum wage and around the edge of what is countent as being poor, you don't have reserve. As self-employer that is very risky, thus I would strongly advise to have a little buffer, in case some shit hits the fan.

 

[c3p0]

As cynical as is sounds imho developers works best when "patreon as full-time job" is just carrot hanging in front of them.

If you say so...
But here is not the right place for that discussion.

 

[Runey]

Problem is treating developing game like full time job just makes it worse, because why whould anyone want to lose his full time job and start new risky project with probably less income? So developer inclined to stretch time to complete the game as long as possible.

As I stated before, in order to treat this as a full time job, a developer would first need at minimum $2,500 I would guess, for the majority of us. They wouldn't quit their job to start treating their hobby as a job first, their hobby would need to first become a job for the developer to quit their previous source of income. Stretching content doesn't mean you get more money per month, it only means less updates per month. A developer is inclined to release more content as fast as possible to get more eyes on their product.

When it's just hobby with not enough money to make living there is desire to grow and improve on his work, attract new people by showing dedication and ability to complete games. Also main work gives financial stability to be less dependent on Patrons opinions and have more creative freedom.

Also let's be honest no porn game developer works 40 hours a week on his game.

As cynical as is sounds imho developers works best when "patreon as full-time job" is just carrot hanging in front of them.

That's a big misunderstanding of the industry as a whole. Maybe you can say most porn game developers don't work over 40 hours a week, as most can't afford to treat this as a full time job, but me for example, I worked from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep for months when I first started, so much that it started badly effecting my mental and physical health so I had to limit myself to stay healthy. Being creative work, the quality of this product heavily depends on the quality of my state of mind, so more hours spent working will never equate to more quality content. This is the same for any artist. Inspiration doesn't strike at the end of an 8 hour work shift, it strikes at random. Stocking shelves is not the same as composing music or painting a masterpiece. Sometimes I wish I could be told exactly what to do and mindlessly stock shelves because being creative is mentally stressful, especially when people expect you to work as if you are in the fast food industry. It's just not the same.

What you're saying is that a developer should have two jobs and not have any time for friends, family, etc, and that would somehow equate to more quality, but it's the opposite. Keep in mind, I'm a developer with insight into how this works.

That I can fully attest to it. Runey is one of the, I say, hard working devs. Although even then, this doesn't mean you get updates in constant matter at an useful time table, but not in the case of Runey. He doing 3-4 updates a year with a lot of content and thus, in is in the ranks of dev, I can and will usually say, support him if you want and can.

As you say, it depens on where you life. Eg. Switzerland is very expensive. Minimum wage, if their is one in the Canton you life, is at least 3'500 and even with that amount of money at the end of the month you don't have much. (cheap simple one room flat may be already over 600, mandatory health insurance another 300 and so on...)
Especially if you live with minimum wage and around the edge of what is countent as being poor, you don't have reserve. As self-employer that is very risky, thus I would strongly advise to have a little buffer, in case some shit hits the fan.

Yeah lol, one kilogram of peaches in switzerland is like $30 IIRC, but that example is on the higher end and nowhere near average.

 

[c3p0]

That's a big misunderstanding of the industry as a whole. Maybe you can say most porn game developers don't work over 40 hours a week, as most can't afford to treat this as a full time job, but me for example, I worked from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep for months when I first started, so much that it started badly effecting my mental and physical health so I had to limit myself to stay healthy. Being creative work, the quality of this product heavily depends on the quality of my state of mind, so more hours spent working will never equate to more quality content. This is the same for any artist. Inspiration doesn't strike at the end of an 8 hour work shift, it strikes at random. Stocking shelves is not the same as composing music or painting a masterpiece. Sometimes I wish I could be told exactly what to do and mindlessly stock shelves because being creative is mentally stressful, especially when people expect you to work as if you are in the fast food industry. It's just not the same.

What you're saying is that a developer should have two jobs and not have any time for friends, family, etc, and that would somehow equate to more quality, but it's the opposite. Keep in mind, I'm a developer with insight into how this works.

From my experience most devs work more than 40 h, some even beside a 100% normal job (because they can't live from it). Pulling a lot of hours per weeks may for some of them work, but from the few example I have and my own experience, as well as general common understanding, working yourself to the bone, will do quite literaly do that.

Yeah lol, one kilogram of peaches in switzerland is like $30 IIRC, but that example is on the higher end and nowhere near average.

I never said otherwise, but I try to talk about the few things, I actually have a clue

 

[Lolicon Kami]

Also let's be honest no porn game developer works 40 hours a week on his game.

As cynical as is sounds imho developers works best when "patreon as full-time job" is just carrot hanging in front of them.

But then again, I bet you that most people in the entertainment industry don't work a traditional 9-to-5 routine either.

Like most sport athletes. They only "work" a few hours a week playing their sport, and none in off-season. You may argue that they work more than a few hours because they train for their sport; yet again, I can argue that Runey probably does alot of things that sparks imagination to "train" for producing the storyline of the game, that doesn't necessarily correlate to literal game-coding.

Or like Stephen King or J K Rowling. Do you really think they structure and work on their books 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year? Creativity doesn't work like that. They probably work insane hours some weeks, hardly any other weeks, and somewhere in the between most other weeks.

A 40 hour week regime is only for the corporate world. IMHO a corporate work schedule has no business in the creative realm, because spontaneity, creativity, and imagination cannot be bounded to a strict regiment.

 

[Quetzzz]

I can argue that Runey probably does alot of things that sparks imagination to "train" for producing the storyline of the game, that doesn't necessarily correlate to literal game-coding.

Exactly. Even programming in itself is 80% thinking about a problem and possible solutions/implementations, and 20% coding. And when you're self-employed, that 'thinking'-part isn't limited to company time. You're thinking and taking notes constantly because you want your product to be the best it can be. So some might think that Runey is a lazy bum when they see him sitting on the sofa, staring into nothingness... But a brain scan would show he'd be working hard.

 

[TheDevian]

Not quite, so long as all expenses are paid, then they're able to treat it as a full time job. Anything more is motivation to keep going.



I know a lot of developers become lazy as time goes on, but this isn't the case for me, as I absolutely love what I do and really enjoy the feedback I get. I've increased my work load and detail as time went on. This year has been rough for me so it's been a bit slower than average but I'm finally back to working. $1,000 a month is not enough for any developer to go full time, especially for someone in America. I would guess $2,500 per month is enough to have all expenses paid and for a developer to treat this as a full time job, which was my original goal and that has been met a long time ago. I think $1,000 a month is not enough for anyone to have a decent life in America as most monthly rent for a bare-bones apartment is $1,500 - $2,000 per month now, unless you live in a very small town. $1,000 per month is less than the federal minimum wage in America. That's not enough for groceries, car payments, gas, utility bills, insurance, and medical bills. That's why so many are having such a hard time getting by and most are in debt. So I would wager $2,500 is the minimum for any developer to treat this as a full time job.

There are some who get lazy, but a lot of people mistake people working harder and taking time to make a better quality product for "being lazy", because they have no idea what really goes into it, they just compare to others, and only care about speed.

 

[DigDug69]

At the same time, it is a bit questionable for some of these to end up being projects that go on for five years after getting significant support. This is kind of the point where that fact that these projects get started with no long term plan (because success is so uncertain) starts causing some issues.
I really wish the subject wouldn't get so heated though.

The time that it takes to put out releases can and will vary from Dev to Dev.
Some Dev's are single, and really have not much of a personal life.
Some Dev's are more skilled with the software that they use to create the graphics, which translates into faster image creation.
Some Dev's may have busier real life work schedules.
Some Dev's may have more powerful PC's to use for graphics creation.
Some Dev's may have a family who they need to spend time with, along with a busy work schedule.

Simply put, not all Dev's have the time and resources to put in a lot of time into creating games for us...
Obviously, some people are unwilling to consider any of those possibilities, and prefer to think that Dev's need to spend every waking moment slaving over the PC to create games for them.
No matter what the Dev's real life circumstances may be...

Should people with more limited free time stop making games, simply because they do not release updates as quickly as these people are demanding them to?
If anyone says yes to that, they would be missing out on some great games...

And now that I have typed this out, I have bookmarked it, so that I can re use it in the future...

 

[c3p0]

Also you yourself decide if and when you want to support a dev. Neither Patreon or Subscribestar force you and you can either stop after a month or a year, but it is totally up to you, if you go for a yearly payment.
If you don't like how any dev doing their things, simple stop supporting them. And be always aware that you can't force others to support or not support any dev at all.