- Jun 5, 2017
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Paywalls are fine. I'll wait a month to receive what other get earlier because they pledge, Yours however, no.
I'm sorry you guys feel that way but, in the end... we do need to make some money and our workload is slammed because of how much we are trying to accomplish here. We've done things like allowing guest characters for monetization but we simply cannot push that as our primary funding source since that would end up with feature bloat... stretch goals and such? Well, again, unless we have mile in the high goals that can hire people for full-time wages we simply can't do that either.
We chose a model based off of what nearly every other project we see out there is doing and we honestly don't see what we are doing is any different? Voting for upcoming content and then staggered public release... that's what we see across most the patreon community so if we are EA of Patreon then, I guess we all are? Some games have three separate versions for different tiers of payment (one has six for instance) and others have years between public releases so, I thought we were doing pretty well in keeping the option open.
In the end, this funding is what largely what lets us have such a focused dedication to this project... without said funding we can't put nearly as much focus or dedication on this. And much of the funding now does go to contract work to make this a better game, what's left over is what some of us get for groceries, basically. It's a good thing Arbuz likes Ramen so damn much!
So if there is a better system you know of that we can do that won't drastically increase feature bloat we are open to hearing about it. And on that note, we are open to hearing any and all criticism, critiques, and suggestions on the discord, here, other forums etc, we are trying to be much more reactive and responsive than other dev teams and dedicate a lot of our time to giving people access to our people.
So as much as it pains me to see people upset with how we're operating and functioning... there's simply no other way we can see. Every other project with similar scope works the same way, and some much, much simpler copy paste games do the exact same business model... which, this is what it is, we are looking to making more than just this game after we are done and making this a career. We don't expect to get rich and let me tell you, we sure as heck aren't getting rich off this project now haha, but we do want to make it so we can live off of this studio as gainful employment.
But I am going to get on topic on the actual state of the game.
Going Forward:
We've already begun spurring up the next updates before the release of our last patch. Writing department was finished pretty and already began working on the layout of the next two companion quests, and more importantly, a village that will feature our first intrigue and mystery quest (moved away from The Velvet Oasis so we can have a more matured method for that quest) and several busy work quests with lore and general dialogues.
We expect updates to return to normal scheduling from this point onwards, our last update took a lot of infrastructure, architecture, and base programming updates and retooling. The inventory system went from non-existent to functional, our quest system needed an overhaul, enemy AI needed to stop agro'ing through walls and objects (no small feat in a painted isometric game), combat is actually working now and isn't just absolutely broken... just completely unbalanced haha. We have the levelling system actually framed out. Others include;
As said earlier, we expect out upcoming updates to return to a more stable schedule. We will be having a poll soon to ask what sort of update schedule would they prefer, after which we will internally discuss the situation more on an internal level.
As for those supporting us, as always, thank you so much for that. Without you, this project would not exist.
We chose a model based off of what nearly every other project we see out there is doing and we honestly don't see what we are doing is any different? Voting for upcoming content and then staggered public release... that's what we see across most the patreon community so if we are EA of Patreon then, I guess we all are? Some games have three separate versions for different tiers of payment (one has six for instance) and others have years between public releases so, I thought we were doing pretty well in keeping the option open.
In the end, this funding is what largely what lets us have such a focused dedication to this project... without said funding we can't put nearly as much focus or dedication on this. And much of the funding now does go to contract work to make this a better game, what's left over is what some of us get for groceries, basically. It's a good thing Arbuz likes Ramen so damn much!
So if there is a better system you know of that we can do that won't drastically increase feature bloat we are open to hearing about it. And on that note, we are open to hearing any and all criticism, critiques, and suggestions on the discord, here, other forums etc, we are trying to be much more reactive and responsive than other dev teams and dedicate a lot of our time to giving people access to our people.
So as much as it pains me to see people upset with how we're operating and functioning... there's simply no other way we can see. Every other project with similar scope works the same way, and some much, much simpler copy paste games do the exact same business model... which, this is what it is, we are looking to making more than just this game after we are done and making this a career. We don't expect to get rich and let me tell you, we sure as heck aren't getting rich off this project now haha, but we do want to make it so we can live off of this studio as gainful employment.
But I am going to get on topic on the actual state of the game.
Going Forward:
We've already begun spurring up the next updates before the release of our last patch. Writing department was finished pretty and already began working on the layout of the next two companion quests, and more importantly, a village that will feature our first intrigue and mystery quest (moved away from The Velvet Oasis so we can have a more matured method for that quest) and several busy work quests with lore and general dialogues.
We expect updates to return to normal scheduling from this point onwards, our last update took a lot of infrastructure, architecture, and base programming updates and retooling. The inventory system went from non-existent to functional, our quest system needed an overhaul, enemy AI needed to stop agro'ing through walls and objects (no small feat in a painted isometric game), combat is actually working now and isn't just absolutely broken... just completely unbalanced haha. We have the levelling system actually framed out. Others include;
- Fog Of War
- Atmospherics
- Bug Chasing
- Collectibles
- Looting
- Exploration
- Interactable Objects (beyond just looting)
- Card Behavior
As said earlier, we expect out upcoming updates to return to a more stable schedule. We will be having a poll soon to ask what sort of update schedule would they prefer, after which we will internally discuss the situation more on an internal level.
As for those supporting us, as always, thank you so much for that. Without you, this project would not exist.
- Jun 5, 2017
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Nah mate this just isn't true. Look at the top 10 2dcg devs on patreon and tell me how many lock content behind a paywall. They just don't. The most common model is to delay the dates for the public by either a month or a whole version, But after that they give the full game to the public without this gimmick. Of course they have other rewards like high tiers get cheats and voting, and that's fine, at least the public still gets the full game later.
Honestly I think this kind of moves hurts you more then it helps you. When I go to support a dev I look at things like this, and I'm way more unlikely to support someone with a model like this, no scratch that, I wont. If I had a choice on whether to spend my money on a developer who hides content behind a paywall and one who puts it a month/update behind its not even a choice.
Again this just isn't true. I honestly think you guys deserve 10x more then what you're getting but this isn't helping. All this is doing is crushing any goodwill.
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Ah I see what you mean now, my bad, I apologize for misunderstanding. The issue is with the staggered release of our full unlocked content vs the public version which excludes a few of the H-Scenes. It's going to sound a bit off but we are actually planning on this game being finished and release and not billed as a "game by service" or the "perpetually locked in Patreon" stage.
It's a real bummer that our model pushes you away from our project, but we aren't "hiding" content per say, we are offering the full game in terms of mechanics and the major features, and eventually, those free H-Scenes will be brought public in the next version. These are H-Scenes so if you have seen our others you should know what to expect, we're not attempting to hide or Tom Howard this game onto people with how we do our updates. You see the main architecture and functionality of our game, how we write, and how we will be developing this game.
We'll discuss internally what you've told us here, and I really appreciate the conversation and seeing your point of view on the situation. But going forward we're going to stick with this model, we're really young as a studio and we'll have some growing pains... this may be one of them, but the consensus is this could be what allows us to make the game to the content and polish that we need to make the game. We want a quality game that people can really dig into and enjoy, an actual game, not just an H-Game but a real fully realized project.
I feel we can deliver this, and I hope others see that. Thank you for the support you've given us in the past, hopefully, we can deliver in a way that you will feel we're worth supporting again... but in the meantime its back to the grindstone. Take care Red.
- Jun 5, 2017
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Wait, wait, wait, so the patreon locked scenes will be on the public version in the next build? So if i'm understanding it right, each version will have a set of locked scenes, but when the next build comes out it will be free?
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Well, yes we've actually already done that twice now. We keep the patreon scenes locked for abit and then will unlock them later as we roll new scenes out. We will continue to do this until we get to the point where we prepare to push the final game, of which we are going to give backers either steam keys or other platform keys.
We're still formulating how we will work with the model late in the development, a few theories and such right now on how we will have that play out but backers will get the final version as that's only fair. The people who empowered us to actually make the final game deserve the game in its final state.
- Jun 5, 2017
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Ok then most of this was a misunderstanding and I apologize. It still does kind of leave a bad taste in someones mouth to see locked scenes in the gallery that you cant unlock for another month just taunting you, but its still well within the realm of reality. However in some ways its better then most Devs, we get the build after only a week and get 75%, with the other coming with the next build. I guess you can ignore all of my previous statements. Maybe make this more noticeable/understandable on your Patreon page?
As for how it will work later on in development maybe during lets say, the last 2 builds/months you don't release a public version. So for example by build 20 you guys finish the story, but maybe you need 2 updates of fluff to flesh out side stories or just add more H-content. You don't release those to the public but instead when you finish build 22 you then release it to steam. So this wouldn't leave too big of a gap of between public releases and it would also be fair to the backers. That and free keys of course.
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We'll take that and move forward with the suggestion, the patreon is written by Arbuz who is Ukrainian and English is his second language so sometimes we miss somethings on translation. He's a very good English speaker and writer tbh but its a second language.
Something like that is possible, there could be the option of stopping the MSQ at a certain point as well and keeping sidequests and content going and ending the patreon, there's a lot of possible ways of handling it depending on what out situation is like nearer to release.
@RedPillBlues We're still trying to find a model that works of course and we don't know if the current brothel scenes will be made public exactly one month or if the Velvet Oasis might be a thing reserved for patrons, but we are endeavouring to make this both a fair system that at the same time gives us the ability to fund this game with rewarding content for those who do choose to support us. This is us finding out feet still. I just wanted to make sure to say that so nothing blindsides anyone and there's no absolute dedication yet. A lot is going to decide also on a soon to be run poll to see how people want us to handle updates.
Something like that is possible, there could be the option of stopping the MSQ at a certain point as well and keeping sidequests and content going and ending the patreon, there's a lot of possible ways of handling it depending on what out situation is like nearer to release.
@RedPillBlues We're still trying to find a model that works of course and we don't know if the current brothel scenes will be made public exactly one month or if the Velvet Oasis might be a thing reserved for patrons, but we are endeavouring to make this both a fair system that at the same time gives us the ability to fund this game with rewarding content for those who do choose to support us. This is us finding out feet still. I just wanted to make sure to say that so nothing blindsides anyone and there's no absolute dedication yet. A lot is going to decide also on a soon to be run poll to see how people want us to handle updates.
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- Jun 5, 2017
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I might be a little careful about that one if I were you guys.
Anyway as long as once the games released it has everything in it, I guess it doesn't really matter since I will be buying it. Also do you guy plan on releasing on other platforms besides Steam (itch.io, Dlsite?) Not a huge fan of having H-games on my Steam.
Edit- Just got around to actually playing the game, and what can I say, its 100x more polished then it was before. Also you guys actually added lady wolf, that's a instant +1. If I can critique anything though it would be the looting. The mechanic itself is nice and so is the UI along with it, it works really well, so use it more. In games like this looting is a favorite pass time of everyone; the more loot you add, even if its come junk or a few copper gives the player a sense of accomplishment. I noticed this a lot in the beginning areas.
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- Sep 12, 2018
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Finished game when sold will contain everything in one package, no preorder\early supporter\patreon exclusive content. We still consider other platforms besides Steam, there's not much insentive to go exclusive on just steam.
Looting and collectible hunting will be added to the rest of the world in future updates, we just didn't have time for it given that update was delayed twice already. Thanks for the feedback.
Looting and collectible hunting will be added to the rest of the world in future updates, we just didn't have time for it given that update was delayed twice already. Thanks for the feedback.
In the first level of the new release I seem to be stuck I think theres a bug with the monster near the statue... he just stand there... doesn't do anything I think it's linked to why I cant progress.
- Sep 12, 2018
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Thats a weird behavior but you dont need to kill monster to progress. If you lack the key, try searching around in linked rooms. Only scripts requiring fighting to proceed are bandit ambush.
If possible can you provide screenshot of stuck monster and general steps which happened before the monster bugged out? It will help us recreate the bug.
If possible can you provide screenshot of stuck monster and general steps which happened before the monster bugged out? It will help us recreate the bug.
- Aug 18, 2018
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YEa I see I got past it.. but only to realize that content from a previous version is now behind a pay wall...… This feels a bit weird to me when most other games on here don't use this practice.. Any how other than that I like the art style. I am cringing a little bit on this business model.. It reminds me a bit of EA. But any how once the full game is out with out any pay for this scene stuff then I will give this game a try again until then I will wait. hopefully I wont forget about this game by the time the full game is out.
- Dec 21, 2017
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@Isamu This is a misunderstanding. The build on this topic (patreon build 6) was never meant to be public, it was ripped from the patreon. The previous public build was from April. The new public build released in December adds a bunch of new girls and the introduction quest, nothing was retroactively removed.
The huge delay between the two public builds was not intentional, and mostly due to the team focusing on this big update that was just released. Thank you for the kind words though.
@Marlin Brandy Next to the Inn, in the Gatehouse.
- Aug 30, 2016
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that last pic looks like ahri and illaoi from league of legends.
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- Sep 12, 2018
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