Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,001
Hi, I tried this game when it's at early stage. I really liked it, stopped playing and decided to wait for it to be completed. I waited... Umm, I don't remember exactly but, around like 4 years. When it's gonna be completed? While I waiting I found a game named Mythic Manor. I liked Mythic Manor too and decided to wait for it to be completed too. The same happened for Being A DIK too. My muscles and paper towels are ready for these games but, especially for Harem Hotel. I hope one day I can see the Completed tag. Peace out, brothers.
It's going to be a long time before it's done. But there are dozens of hours of content already and many story arcs. In my opinion, waiting for this game to be completed before playing is similar to waiting for One Piece to be finished before watching.
 

hoshimota

Active Member
Sep 18, 2023
626
1,467
Hi, I tried this game when it's at early stage. I really liked it, stopped playing and decided to wait for it to be completed. I waited... Umm, I don't remember exactly but, around like 4 years. When it's gonna be completed? While I waiting I found a game named Mythic Manor. I liked Mythic Manor too and decided to wait for it to be completed too. The same happened for Being A DIK too. My muscles and paper towels are ready for these games but, especially for Harem Hotel. I hope one day I can see the Completed tag. Peace out, brothers.
Ok so among indie H games, they pretty much fall into two categories.

The first is, they pretty much know where the fuck the game is going and have a whole plan and roadmap before they start. I would say Once in a Lifetime and Long Live the Princess are examples of this. You can think of these as the 'movies' of indie H games.

Then you have others, like this one, A Struggle with Sin, etc. - where they start making the game, it gets really popular, and at some point the devs realize hmmm... if I just keep adding content people keep paying so... what is the incentive to end this? And the stories are not quite so constrictive so, it really is plausible to just keep adding shit indefinitely. These are the "TV shows" of indie H games.

Games in the first category, if you just continued to bloat the game up by adding stuff to keep Patreons paying, it wouldn't really work. Those games have a story and/or structure that kind of begs to be brought to a close within a timely manner.

But with games in the second category like Harem Hotel, there isn't really a clear ceiling on how far it can go - Runey can always just keep extending the storylines or even keep introducing more characters, hell a new floor could get built on the hotel to accommodate more rooms and residents, etc. I see no issue with this - basically it will end when either the dev gets tired of working on it or the donations dry up.
 

DigDug69

Well-Known Member
Jun 29, 2019
1,961
4,100
Ok so among indie H games, they pretty much fall into two categories.

The first is, they pretty much know where the fuck the game is going and have a whole plan and roadmap before they start. I would say Once in a Lifetime and Long Live the Princess are examples of this. You can think of these as the 'movies' of indie H games.

Then you have others, like this one, A Struggle with Sin, etc. - where they start making the game, it gets really popular, and at some point the devs realize hmmm... if I just keep adding content people keep paying so... what is the incentive to end this? And the stories are not quite so constrictive so, it really is plausible to just keep adding shit indefinitely. These are the "TV shows" of indie H games.

Games in the first category, if you just continued to bloat the game up by adding stuff to keep Patreons paying, it wouldn't really work. Those games have a story and/or structure that kind of begs to be brought to a close within a timely manner.

But with games in the second category like Harem Hotel, there isn't really a clear ceiling on how far it can go - Runey can always just keep extending the storylines or even keep introducing more characters, hell a new floor could get built on the hotel to accommodate more rooms and residents, etc. I see no issue with this - basically it will end when either the dev gets tired of working on it or the donations dry up.
Have you actually played Harem Hotel, and paid close attention to the story, and things said, in it???
It's been pretty clear from early on that at some point they were going to have to deal with the corrupt government, and the issue of elven slavery.
Little comments very early on about how wrong elven slavery was, and how they should be freed were the earliest indicators.

Also, early on, they had to deal with the corrupt government, and it came up in conversations quite a bit.
True, it is not like long live the princess where they flat out state what the end goals are, but Harem Hotel did it in a perfectly natural way, considering that the characters were being developed, and the foundations for the game were being established.

Example of realism:
Does a couple get married, knowing at the beginning that their spouse will cheat on them? No they do not.
What they expect is a happy life with the person that they love.
They learn what the future has in store for them at first in little hints and over time, as suspicion grows, they learn more details. Just as has been happening in Harem Hotel...
It is the progression of time, and their life's story that reveals their future, and what is to come.
Some times you have to go through a series of events in order to see what the future will bring.
Long live the princess and Harem Hotel both took completely different paths, but both paths are very common in story telling.

The very first warning sign that things are not going to be all sunshine and rainbows, is right in the original post in the game description, where it says,
"You've inherited your grandfather's hotel on a foreign continent where everything seems fine on the surface, but rarely is. ".

Some very famous authors are well known for using almost half of the story to establish the characters and their backgrounds, before they even really get started on the main part of the story.
And yes, there are people who do not like their stories, either, because they want books that jump right into the action.

Belle, The dev for long live the princess chose to establish at the very beginning for all to see, what the future would be.
Runey chose a completely natural progression path, where what was to come was at first hinted at, and then fully revealed to the players as the game progressed.
But people who paid attention to the actual story, saw plenty of hints of what was to come from very early on.

I cannot understand how people can say that Harem Hotel has taken an unplanned path, when so many comments were made very early on, about the evils of slavery, and the corrupt government.
They should have been a flashing neon sign proclaiming what was to come in the game, for anyone who paid attention to the story...
Maybe the early hints were just too subtle for some people to catch, and they just assumed that it was idle talk, and not a sign of what was to come.
 
Last edited:

Runey

Harem Hotel
Game Developer
May 17, 2018
3,965
20,001
Ok so among indie H games, they pretty much fall into two categories.

The first is, they pretty much know where the fuck the game is going and have a whole plan and roadmap before they start. I would say Once in a Lifetime and Long Live the Princess are examples of this. You can think of these as the 'movies' of indie H games.

Then you have others, like this one, A Struggle with Sin, etc. - where they start making the game, it gets really popular, and at some point the devs realize hmmm... if I just keep adding content people keep paying so... what is the incentive to end this? And the stories are not quite so constrictive so, it really is plausible to just keep adding shit indefinitely. These are the "TV shows" of indie H games.

Games in the first category, if you just continued to bloat the game up by adding stuff to keep Patreons paying, it wouldn't really work. Those games have a story and/or structure that kind of begs to be brought to a close within a timely manner.

But with games in the second category like Harem Hotel, there isn't really a clear ceiling on how far it can go - Runey can always just keep extending the storylines or even keep introducing more characters, hell a new floor could get built on the hotel to accommodate more rooms and residents, etc. I see no issue with this - basically it will end when either the dev gets tired of working on it or the donations dry up.
This is not true for Harem Hotel. I've known where the story is headed since I started. I've never once thought "I'll drag it out". The game will not end when 'I get tired of it', but it is somewhat true that if I can't afford to live, I would have to find work elsewhere. That said, harem hotel is also my hobby and I love working on it immensely. And a side note, 99% of products you consume did not plan everything out from start to finish. Creatives add what they want and get inspired by life events. We do plan, but no one can plan everything that will be in a product from start to finish, it wouldn't even make a better product because that's just not how the creative process works. We are actively making decisions as we write that will determine how everything else going forward occurs, and that takes a lot of mental energy, especially when you're developing 8 storylines at once that need to make sense together as a whole. I certainly wouldn't want to rush things just because I've been working on it for a long time. In fact working on a single product for a long time is a sign of my dedication to finishing it. If I wanted to drag things out and siphon money out of people, there are much better ways of doing that than working my ass off on every detail of every event and of every character's pose and face every image.

I mean, imagine if you started reading idk Lord of The Rings as it was being written. You're first introduced to Hobbits, the ring, and a strange man named Gandalf. Then the next chapter comes out and it turns out Elves exist too! And magic!? Would you call that dragging the story out? Is the writer pulling shit out of his ass? Of course not, you just started a product before it was finished and are witnessing active development. You really wouldn't say these things about any other product, but because this is a game in active development it's easy to say "Ah he's just dragging it out because it's not done yet". or "Ah, he just made update 2 because he wants more money. They'll probably introduce something stupid like fairies because he's running out of ideas!" Likewise, Tolkien didn't know what would be in book 3 as he was writing book 1. He, like other creatives, simply have a direction and plot points he wants to hit, and introduces inspiration as he develops. On top of this, books go through many drafts before release. The first draft rarely ever looks like the final draft, and this is true for Harem Hotel as well. I've gone back and remade things to improve the quality, it's just how the creative process works. Especially if the developer really cares about the thing they are crafting.
 
Last edited:

packor

Member
Oct 11, 2021
347
445
yep, the most you can do is have an outline of how you want the story to go. When you actually start writing it, things are subject to change and you also have to fill in any gaps and make connections that wasn't in the initial conception. Just like when you're playing a game, you may have any idea of what you have to or plan to do, but once you're playing, you can usually follow in that direction, but things will not play out just the way you imagined, or you find that you missed or forgot a detail and have to "wing it".
 

XHunterz

Member
May 14, 2022
123
71
When will beta3 coming out? If I'm going to boost the discord server can I get beta builds too the monthly cost about me 7$ if it's nitro +1
 

DigDug69

Well-Known Member
Jun 29, 2019
1,961
4,100
When will beta3 coming out? If I'm going to boost the discord server can I get beta builds too the monthly cost about me 7$ if it's nitro +1
One thing to remember about the beta builds is that they only contain part of the game.
Also, making saves during beta builds is never a good idea,
 
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Kiss_69

Member
Oct 2, 2021
104
451
I've been playing Harem Hotel for awhile and I finished this current update awhile ago...I thought!
I just played it again to visit the girls and found a whole section I totally missed!
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This game hilariously continues to pleasantly surprise me!
Thanks as always Runey! ;)
 

Strike-10

Member
Jan 19, 2022
326
652
I've been playing Harem Hotel for awhile and I finished this current update awhile ago...I thought!
I just played it again to visit the girls and found a whole section I totally missed!
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This game hilariously continues to pleasantly surprise me!
Thanks as always Runey! ;)
It pays to check the change log. It’s easy to play with a type of tunnel vision assuming you ”know” the path.

There was also some changes with the college girls and them visiting the onsen. In addition to all the other things listed in log.
 
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