Makin' Money Gettin' Paid

Okay, despite my lighthearted title, this is actually a serious discussion. So please, hear me out, and then get on that comments button or fire me off an email or something, because I really do want to hear back from everyone concerning this.

First of all, I really appreciate how much everyone is enjoying the game. I put in about four hours of work on this game a day and it's really nice to see that work pay off in terms of your support.

Those of you who have been following this game for awhile may remember me mentioning that I was laid off back in May. Since then, I haven't had any really good prospects come up. While I'm not in dire financial straights or anything (Nekochan makes more than enough money to support us both) it has made be examine my priorities and try to figure out what the "next step" in terms of my life plan is, and I'm taking a serious look at making No Moshing's Games a for-reals game company.  I would love to be able to do this for a living, and make Harem Collector (and future projects) a full-time job that I can focus on. Plus, it'd be nice to send Gurotaku a little cash for all the images he's worked on for the game.

The business plan that I'm roughed out is highly inspired by the existing plan that webcomics and webshows use. Basically, the core content (ie, the games themselves) would be free, and I would attempt to make money by selling related merchandise. Oh, and I should probably lay this out officially: Harem Collector is, and will always be completely free to play with no DLC or paid content.

I like this plan because 1) I don't have to fuck around with DRM because in-game DRM is bullshit and I don't have the resources or patience to chase pirates and 2) It's a proven business model.

There are some complications though.

First of all, the images of the characters in game are made using sprite builders and face generation programs, and I don't know how much ownership over my characters and images the creators of those programs have.

Second of all, a number of people have very generously donated money to the project, and they still need to have their financial support recognized and rewarded, even if as an official for-profit company No Moshing Games would be unable to accept donations any more.

Third of all, I don't know how many people would be willing to have t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets or whatever of a hentai game.

So, I want to hear from all you guys, donors, fans, and casual players alike. I want to know what you think. What kind of merch you'd be interested in buying (if any). If you think this is selling out and me doing this would cause you to drop the game entirely, let me know. If you think a t-shirt featuring the hero on a throne surrounded by girls and the words "I'm A Selfish Guy" on the back is a pretty awesome idea, let me know. If you've previously donated and think you deserve your money back if I go for-profit, let me know.

Any huge changes are many many moons away, so take your time with the replies, but bottom line is that I want to hear from you.

July 2013 Public Release

Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?x5pueafa2aj74bj


Changes in the new version:

-The hero has a new sprite and faces. This took hours and hours for me to change. If you want to know why there isn't a big quest or something awesome in this update, it's because of this. Fuck.

-Meline also has a new sprite and faces, though not all of her faces have been implemented yet.

- For balance reasons, Death no longer prevents characters from gaining any XP.

-Several skills have had their momentum and mana costs changed.

-The Gang Leader's stun strike has been adjusted to be 66% effective instead of 90%.

-The drop rate of monster drop-only gift items has been doubled.

-There is a new (small) quest, started by trying to invest in the Eastfort drug dealer.

-A new character has been implemented. He joins your party outside your manor.

-The first sex scene with Meline now has CGs

-The second sex scene with Alina (currently plays after the package delivery quest) now has CGs.

-Some CGs have been replaced by new, improved versions by our new official CG guy, Gurotaku. I enlisted him because I kind of suck at doing CGs and he is pretty experienced with 3DCG and helping me out.

 By the way, next will there will no be the customary "Stuff in the next version" list, because I'm deviating from those pretty frequently. All I'll say about the August update is that it's going to be big.

July Donor Release is Live

If you found it in your heart to donate to Harem Collector, the email with the link to the Donor's Pack should be in your email. If it isn't, check your spam folder, or the email you use paypal with in case it's something different than your normal email. If you still don't have it, email me and I'll rectify the situation. Same deal if for some reason you can't open a .rar.

The rest of you have to wait a week. Adios!

Game Balance By Any Other Name

So, after extensive testing, I think I've figured out what's going on with all the balance issue complaints.And by extensive testing I mean extensive- a week of playing and replaying the game, attempting events in different orders and testing different configurations of characters, items and skills.

After so long testing, what I discovered is that it's not the game itself that is broken. Rather, the game gets significantly harder depending on how many party members you have when attempting various quests. The Night of the Raping Dead is meant to completed with four party members, going through Elvo's manor all but requires three, and clearing the orc encampment is either challenging or insanely difficult depending on whether the hero attempts to solo it.

So how did I solve it? Well, the July release will feature a new character who gets forced into your party at some point. This new character won't have a lot of dialogue and such yet, but will eventually be a fully-fleshed-out member of the cast. I'm actually looking forward to writing for this character- it's very much a horse of a different colour compared to the other cast members and should provide an interesting new perspective.

Again, for many reasons this will be a smaller update, but at least there will lots of new CGs. I've enlisted helpful fan Gurotaku to help we with making the CGs because I kind of suck at it. He has made some new CGs for the release, as well as re-made some of the older CGs that were kind of lame.

If you're a donor, you will be receiving a new version of Harem Collector sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening.

A conversation

This may or may not have happened while I was working on the Player's Guide.

Me: Why don't any of the monsters in the Mourning Wood have MP? They're not going to use any of the skills you assigned.
NoMoshing: Huh.
Me: You want me to fix it?
NoMoshing: Okay.
Me: *sighs* You're already getting complaints about the balance...they're gonna think you're doing this on purpose.
No Moshing: I didn't do it on purpose, you did. You just did it.

On another note I still can't say Mourning Wood without giggling like a schoolgirl. Because I am a mature woman!

Maybe If I Shaved It'd Look Bigger....

Looks like next week will be the smallest update so far. I've been bogged down this last month with balance issues and bug fixing, and between that and the incredibly time-consuming task of replacing all the hero's dialogue portraits with new ones, I haven't had a lot of time for new content. There will be a couple thing though, so look out for that.

I had my first real "NEVAR PLAYING AGAIN" complaint in the last month. I have to say, I'm very surprised that it look five months for someone to start acting like a person on the internet. Especially given the nature of Harem Collector. Who knew that people who followed porn games were just so damn nice.

It's kind of funny that I haven't received any hate mail yet, especially considering the rape-y content of HC. Maybe it's just because of where I'm running my PR threads.

Anyway, sorry if I've taken a lot longer to respond to threads, comments and emails lately. Now that I have four threads to read, and Hongfire is less an internet forum than a manufactorium where the servants of the God-Emperor churn out an endless supply of comments, it takes awhile to catch up.

Donor release is next Wednesday and I have a whole lotta work to do, so until then, happy playing.

Plans for July Release

Work proceeds on the next version. There were so many bugs related to the item table changes that unfortunately I didn't get much progress done, but next month should feature a new quest (about the same size as One Is the Lonliest Party) and few other things added.

The big change that will no doubt be a bastard in terms of bug reports- I have a new sprite and faces for the hero and Meline I'm working on adding to the game. Also, the way the Seeker's Stone works might change if I have time, becoming an infinite-use item that makes sparkles appear where there are hidden items.

Honestly, I wish I had started making custom sprites and face sooner rather than later. The majority of my development time seems to be taken up by re-doing things I've already done, then paging through all the events in the game to make sure it all looks the same (with mixed results). Hopefully as I catch up with myself, my work time will improve.