ACT Patreon Active [HentaiWriter] Future Fragments

[HentaiWriter]

Is the game releasing as free now? In the rentry post, you said that it should be at the most 1-2 weeks from December 31st, which is you getting the build to Steam and Steam actually publishing the thing, but now the scheduled date is more than 4 weeks. I seriously doubt it takes a full month for Valve to publish a game to their market.

Believe it or not, it can take even past then. Some games can take as long as two months to check through if they're very dense (which ours will be); the reason I've moved the release date up is because if I put it as December 31st, it of course won't be released then per Steam checking through things, so I just put it out to January 31st in terms of giving wiggle room for when Steam would check through a game.

Just to be clear, when Steam checks a game, they don't just play through it; they go, by hand, through all the programming, script, sound effects, music, art, you name it. There's also something like 30-50 games being submitted to Steam every day or two, so that adds up real fast in terms of time they need to spend checking things.

There's also the potential we'll get rejected from Steam and have to re-submit with some content changed, if Steam has any issue with it.

free game bois

In all honesty, I'm going to run a poll to see what people want sometime in December.
As far as having the game in a fully playable state, I have no doubt we'll have that ready by December 31st.
The question though is if we'll have a *polished* version with all the content we wanted in, without bugs, etc. by December 31st.

So we'll leave it up to people on here, Patreon, Twitter, etc. across the sites we post on to see what people want.

If they vote for us to publish on December 31st regardless of the polish of the game, then we'll submit it that day and still charge for it as intended.
If they vote for us to take another 2-ish months to polish things, then we'll do that instead, but we're also still going to charge if we do this option, because honestly, $40,000 in debt isn't gonna pay itself off and I'm assuming people would want us to make more games after this as soon as possible.

Saying that we'd release it for free was pretty much a way to pressure ourselves into getting stuff done and being in full crunch mode for months, and it certainly worked, but it was also a stupid thing to promise given the massive financial weight we took on to get this game out at the level of quality it's at.

You can look at it as going back on what I promised, which it is, but I'll be the first to say I'm not perfect and I'll likely continue to make mistakes as I continue to learn what to do and what not to do with game development, even decades into the future when I'm (hopefully) still putting out games, at a rate much faster than FF took to make for sure.

In either case, you can contact me on here or on Patreon or anywhere else like that if you want a refund for your amount you've backed if you feel I've lost your trust by making such a claim and having to renege on it.

That all said, we're making pretty good progress and taking out large chunks of the game now that we've spent all this time establishing the groundwork, so I've still got total faith we can get the "base version" out by December 31st. (And to be clear, anything we put out after release will always be free DLC and free updates/bugfixes.)
I'll also continue posting updates here as usual too, of course.

 

[Hentaispider]

Just to be clear, when Steam checks a game, they don't just play through it; they go, by hand, through all the programming, script, sound effects, music, art, you name it. There's also something like 30-50 games being submitted to Steam every day or two, so that adds up real fast in terms of time they need to spend checking things.

Do you have any source for that? Because I have some serious doubts that they even play through all the games, let alone manually go through all the source code they don't even have access to.

 

[ThatWeirdGuyWithaWeirdHat]

Believe it or not, it can take even past then. Some games can take as long as two months to check through if they're very dense (which ours will be);

Unless your game is somehow over 20 GB with those ludicrous amounts of endings, I sincerely doubt it would take Valve over 2 months vs their advertised 3-5 business days (give or take a day or two since this one has sexual content they need to review) to review and then a month to publish (which this publish delay might not even happen as Steamworks documentation doesn't even mention this). So no, I don't believe you.

As a matter of fact, here's an excerpt from the

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:

Reviewing Product Build
Our review of your game or software build prior to release typically takes 3-5 business days to complete, but we ask that you plan for at least five business days to ensure that we are able to review and approve in time for release and to allow for time in case an issue should arise. We'll send you any feedback if necessary, or if none is necessary, we'll mark your product as "Ready for release".

Here's a list of things we check for when reviewing your product:

• Your product will need to start up properly.
  This means that your product must successfully launch in all supported operating systems listed on the store page.
• All supported features listed on the store page will need to be implemented in the current build.
  If you intend to add a feature in the future, you'll need to remove the selected feature in the Basic Info tab until it is implemented and released.
• Your product must use Steam Wallet for any in-game transactions.
  This means that your product cannot link to other store pages that does not offer Steam Wallet.

You can continue to make updates and changes to your build after review and approval, but you should be submitting a near-final build for review.

i.e:
Your game needs to run
Your game needs to have everything you advertised
You need to tie in Steam's transaction system for any micro-transactions (Not even applicable)

Your game isn't a AAA title with 3D graphics and an innovative game engine with RTX ray-tracing and whatnot. This is a 2D platformer with porn. It honestly sounds like you're throwing Valve under the bus as an excuse to not keep your word.

 

[HentaiWriter]

Do you have any source for that? Because I have some serious doubts that they even play through all the games, let alone manually go through all the source code they don't even have access to.

Going off of what previous devs have told me that've had similar times of getting their game checked; there's devs that've told me that visuals they had deep in their game that you can't even access normally were enough to get them flagged to have it requested to be removed.

Also been told that during submission, we'd need to give them access to the source code to check through.

Unless your game is somehow over 20 GB with those ludicrous amounts of endings, I sincerely doubt it would take Valve over 2 months vs their advertised 3-5 business days (give or take a day or two since this one has sexual content they need to review) to review and then a month to publish (which this publish delay might not even happen as Steamworks documentation doesn't even mention this). So no, I don't believe you.

No, we're aiming for more like 2GB or so in file size, but the main factors that might make it hard to chew through would be;

• 300,000 or so words
• 20+ hours of voicework across probably 10,000 files or so
• A lot of different variations of scenes and variables in general
• The in-game editor that gives players full flexibility to make their own maps, cutscenes, events, etc. (it's the same in-house one we made to make the game itself)
  • For clarification on this last one; they'd need to be extra sure that players can't inject their own art or audio, because if they could, that would change the license for the game and the game's classification because a lot of legal and licensing issues come into play when you can truly fully edit a game like that

Again, I'm going off of what people have told me in the past from their personal experiences. Most of the time, of course, it wouldn't be 2 months or even a month.

But the last thing I want to do is claim "ok, yeah, Valve is only going to take a few days to check it" and then it ends up being longer, and then people claim we're making this up to push the game out more, so I'd rather do it the other way and have the buffer period out there, and then if they finish checking it earlier, we move the release date up.

As a matter of fact, here's an excerpt from the

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:

Businesses post this kind of stuff as an average, and the average game wouldn't have near the density of files / overall content we have.
Meaning, that time estimate likely wouldn't apply. If it does though, all the better, of course.

We also have to consider that they may reject the game per content reasons or per mechanical reasons (something about the game's features is missing like controller support gives them issues, etc.)

Your game isn't a AAA title with 3D graphics and an innovative game engine with RTX ray-tracing and whatnot. This is a 2D platformer with porn.

The high level of graphics and RTX ray-tracing wouldn't increase review time; I'm not sure why you said that. A black and white text-only game with a 40,000,000 word script would take longer to review than Skyrim does.
The issue with reviewing a game is that they need to make sure that, after 30,000,000 words, you didn't suddenly start sticking content that's against Steam policies in it.
So, they need to manually review the content in the game; what if someone sneaks highly offensive voicework late into their game?

Or even worse, something political?

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After cases like this, as well as it being an adult game, this is why multiple adult game devs I've talked to have told me their review times have been pretty lengthy.

It honestly sounds like you're throwing Valve under the bus as an excuse to not keep your word.

I'm not sure how this would be "not keeping my word"; if they finish checking the game faster, we'd move the release date up to release it as soon as they finished checking it.

Or if you mean about the whole free thing, I addressed that in the last post; it was a mistake to promise that, as it was mostly for pressuring ourselves, but we realized in hindsight that it would cripple us for future games pretty badly, for years even.

If you're talking about not having the game out in 2021, we did say we were going to publish it to Steam on December 31st from the get-go; there's no way possible they'd review the entire game in under 24 hours (especially on Christmas/New Years).

 

[Justicex88]

Saying that we'd release it for free was pretty much a way to pressure ourselves into getting stuff done and being in full crunch mode for months, and it certainly worked, but it was also a stupid thing to promise given the massive financial weight we took on to get this game out at the level of quality it's at.

I can't speak for everyone, obviously, but I appreciated the idea that you were even thinking of making it for free. But, following you guys as long as we have I didn't think it was realistic to destroy your lives financially for the sake of just releasing the game - so I never expected it for free. Though, it may have been a mistake to lead people on which you have already addressed.
I was always going to pay for the game regardless of how long it took, like I will for other H-games I've been following here (the demo definitely sold me). I'm also not a Patreon/Kickstarter kind of guy, gamers have been burned there enough to warrant cautiousness. The game will release when it's released. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of hentai content being released daily that your game isn't going to destroy my life (or hopefully anyone else's . . .) if doesn't come out right on time. I just appreciate the quality content you put into it and hope that it pays off in the end. (Maybe more games in the future? Hoping for your success regardless.)

 

[HentaiWriter]

I can't speak for everyone, obviously, but I appreciated the idea that you were even thinking of making it for free. But, following you guys as long as we have I didn't think it was realistic to destroy your lives financially for the sake of just releasing the game - so I never expected it for free. Though, it may have been a mistake to lead people on which you have already addressed.
I was always going to pay for the game regardless of how long it took, like I will for other H-games I've been following here (the demo definitely sold me). I'm also not a Patreon/Kickstarter kind of guy, gamers have been burned there enough to warrant cautiousness. The game will release when it's released. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of hentai content being released daily that your game isn't going to destroy my life (or hopefully anyone else's . . .) if doesn't come out right on time. I just appreciate the quality content you put into it and hope that it pays off in the end. (Maybe more games in the future? Hoping for your success regardless.)

Messages like this really mean a lot; we are trying our best to get this out ASAP while still making it as high quality as we intended. So it's good to see some people know we're not out here trying to just milk the Patreon forever or never release it

I definitely made a mistake with the free stuff, but I'm also glad you understand it wasn't meant deceptively, it was just a genuine fuckup.

And yeah, we definitely already have plans for future games, for sure.

 

[derakino999]

It's understandable. Both sides, the fans' side and your side.
Understandable have a nice day. XD

Someone pls make this meme
"Free game?"
"No free game, sorry"
"Understandable have a nice day"

Nah jokes aside i mean it, and you know it.
As for future games i'm looking forward to Faye's game because i'm more or a melee dude, more of a Zero dude than an X dude.

Btw1: Hey HW have you seen Castlevania Netflix? How the character Sypha fights? Somehow i got the impression that would be how Talia would fight canonically haha
Sorry, too off topic

Btw2: Hey, damn, The chicks from reclam reality are of the cutest ever, but since it was a yuri only game and i'm not the biggest fan in the world i'm less sad haha

 

[HentaiWriter]

It's understandable. Both sides, the fans' side and your side.
Understandable have a nice day. XD
Nah jokes aside i mean it, and you know it.

It's really appreciated, man.

Btw1: Hey HW have you seen Castlevania Netflix? How the character Sypha fights? Somehow i got the impression that would be how Talia would fight canonically haha
Sorry, too off topic

I can't say I have, but a few of my friends have and they say it's good, so once the game's out I might watch it sometime

Btw2: Hey, damn, The chicks from reclam reality are of the cutest ever, but since it was a yuri only game and i'm not the biggest fan in the world i'm less sad haha

Yeah, I really loved the music and characters for that game, one day I might somehow revive it but I dunno, we'll have to see.

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[redx]

Or if you mean about the whole free thing, I addressed that in the last post; it was a mistake to promise that, as it was mostly for pressuring ourselves, but we realized in hindsight that it would cripple us for future games pretty badly, for years even.

Damn i guess releasing it for free could.... fragment the future of your games.

 

[NinjaStick]

Good quality work earns money. This is, as far as I can see, good quality work. Ill probably buy this since it seems to be something im interested in. Will there be a updated demo?

 

[HentaiWriter]

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Weekly Progress Report #19

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Damn i guess releasing it for free could.... fragment the future of your games.

I see what you did there.

Good quality work earns money. This is, as far as I can see, good quality work. Ill probably buy this since it seems to be something im interested in. Will there be a updated demo?

Thanks a lot for the support As far as an updated demo, we plan to release one more public demo at game launch, which would be the first level of the game entirely.

 

[HentaiWriter]

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[HentaiWriter]

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Weekly Progress Report #21 for Future Fragments: all links are for 18+ of age and older only.

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[Cyln]

I'm so hyped.

 

[HentaiWriter]

I'm so hyped.

Glad to hear it we are too!



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[dijitz]

I've gotta say for all the effort and and everything yall are putting on this, I really hope you guys make a killing on yall's return. If there was a GOTY for Hgames this would definitely be a serious contender.

 

[alias34]

I've gotta say for all the effort and and everything yall are putting on this, I really hope you guys make a killing on yall's return

I mean they kinda already have, you do realize this got monthly funding for years right?

 

[dazedanon19]

I believe the devs talked about going into debt for the development of this game actually. Now I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt based on the quality and effort that has obviously gone into this product. Here's the email I got a couple months back.

Either way, the game looks great and I wish the devs success.

 

[dijitz]

I mean they kinda already have, you do realize this got monthly funding for years right?

Like dazedanon19 said the Hentaiwriter said they went into debt for hiring all the voice talent, the music, programmer, artist, etc. Then there was the whole set back thing with the original programmer.

 

[HentaiWriter]

I mean they kinda already have, you do realize this got monthly funding for years right?

As noted in earlier posts, while we have gotten monthly funds, after paying rent/utilities/food, voice acting, music, sound effects, and splitting costs between the three of us, I'm currently personally $40,000 in debt.
So we reallllly need to get this game out ASAP because the Patreon funding isn't enough to keep us going and it hasn't been enough for a good year or so now.

Just as an idea of how much content there is that's currently in the game, there's over 3 hours of music (around 4 hours when we're done), over 2,000 unique sound effects (2,500-ish once we're done), and voice-wise we're looking at around at least 20 hours of voicework estimated (as the electric level had 4 and a half hours, and there's 5 levels in the game).

Prices also went up around the board for things like electricity and food thanks to COVID and people working from home.

I've gotta say for all the effort and and everything yall are putting on this, I really hope you guys make a killing on yall's return. If there was a GOTY for Hgames this would definitely be a serious contender.

Thanks a lot man, here's hoping it does good too so we can start on the next games ASAP and make them even better (and this time around, I don't want any future games to last any longer than 3 years in development tops, seriously.)

That said, if anyone here does want a refund with how long we've taken (or just wants to pirate the game), I'm happy to oblige for the former and I don't blame you for the latter; all I would ask is to not actively spread the game around on sites until at least a month or so of sales have happened, just as a personal request, but obviously I can't stop anyone.