ACT Patreon Active [MenZ Studio] Isekai Lost in Harem

[PaNiq]

Maybe I'm missing some critical detail here but, if it's an update only for the patrons, why are you posting it here?

Kind of seems like waving around a chicken nugget on a string with one hand, and a donation box with the other.

Like, I get the premise, but it's still annoying.

"Look at this update we took 5 months to make, that you can't play because you aren't giving us money."

Isn't what every dev does nowadays? Free demos are rare

 

[echelond]

Project like this happens with money so thats normal

 

[chucknoris35]

Maybe I'm missing some critical detail here but, if it's an update only for the patrons, why are you posting it here?

Kind of seems like waving around a chicken nugget on a string with one hand, and a donation box with the other.

Like, I get the premise, but it's still annoying.

"Look at this update we took 5 months to make, that you can't play because you aren't giving us money."

It's a business model. The free demos tend to be old outdated versions of the game, and devs use sites like ULMF to keep us weirdos informed on the status of their games. In this case, the post was basically "Look, we just added a bunch of new content to the game, come support us on patreon and check it out".

 

[AnotherLurker]

That doesn't sound like a business model, that sounds like giving someone money on a monthly basis while they coincidentally occasionally work on a game.

A business model is intended to make profit. This is more akin to just filling their bellies, rather than their wallets, which, sadly, is a lot more encouragement for them "not" to work on the game, rather than to work on it faster, seeing as if they ever complete it, that income may cease.

I mean, this is what things like allowances, and legal guardians used to be for, but I guess "Parentreon" just didn't have the same ring to it.

Granted, there's better ways to handle encouragement, like having payment plans per content release, rather than just straight monthly, which actually keeps the dev running on the hamster wheel since the next meal only comes when they work for it, instead of effectively receiving multiple months of free meals, and then deciding to run a few laps on the wheel when they feel like it.

 

[Strange]

*chicken nuggets from lazy hamsters*

Meh, it's fine to advertise. There are so many more worse examples of lazyness and milking.
Most of us don't bother replying to these and we see threads with only the hamster replying to itself
Not to mention some of these rodents even paywall the most basic 'progress reports' (which I usually suppose void if not null).

At least we're showing a little more interest in this one thread, which should be considered a positive sign. Keep it up dev, good to know you're alive and well; remember the real money from a game starts the day you complete and release it. Patreon money is loan money (with cows for loan sharks? ).
Of course, we cannot contribute in any constructive criticism or suggestions either. Our job gets easier!


Edit: sarcasm aside, this is the dev behind the completed Atelier Tia, and Virgin Invaders. I haven't played either, but the dev aren't your average rodent out for a quick buck-for-no-work scam: we may hope for an actual release.
Also to note, they've halted the Patreon a few months while they weren't active, that's good etiquette.

The first demo was promising. I'll try the current one if it leaks, maybe, but I won't comment on it. Neither will the 1$/month supporters, by the way. I personally think this is a very unwise model of promotion; I'll still buy it, when it's done and if it's good, but as a result I'll be much warier than with a more transparent dev's game.

 

[saga55555]

To clarify here, I'm not a type of no money on work dev type and this is my 3rd game. I finished 2 games while some devs start same year but still working on 1st game while earn more patreon income than me. But I don't deny that my work maybe slow in your view. I doing this work alone : design, draw, animation, coding, testing, bugs fix, gameplay design and etc. I try to find a way to make this game progress faster too. Still considering about commission an artist to help design+line art for H scenes. So the works can be little faster and more varieties/fresh in H scenes. I want to commission artist for 100% in H scenes like Atelier Tia but the main issue is the character in battle and in H scene in this game are nearly the same size. So if the art style+skill of me and the artist are different, the character will surely look off or look like different character.

About patreon/money thing, first thank you to everyone for all support and interesting in this game. Second, I will not said nice/dreamy words like "I develop this game for years by my love and fun. I don't need any money". I developing game because I love to do it and for extra income. I still have my office work (5 days per week) so I developing game at night and weekend. I stop to earn any support money while I finished Atelier Tia and working on this game demo because I feel guilty to earn it. I don't force anyone to give me money but if someone want to support me then I glad and thank you. Even you don't support, you can wait until game finished and buy it on DLsite or Steam. I fine with this too.

About no much update/news, some news need to "patron only" for my patrons. Yes, this is for business and I don't deny. But the main reason is from my own skill/personality. I working on both office work and developing game. So I really busy, concentrate on work and usually forgot to post/advertising. I'm not native English speaker + my bad advertising skill. I can't make a post if I don't really have good progress. I can't write dreamy post or long paragraph from tiny progress. Patrons who support me before surely noticed than my post always just REALLY game progress and end, lack of advertising.

This is all I want to clarify.

 

[dood]

TBF the patreon only development builds is a fairly common system and other devs are doing that even on this very forum. This development style isn't new to this dev either, so its a bit weird its being criticized now as opposed to before. It is however fair criticism though, it sucks to check a game you are interested in only to get a paywall.

 

[PaNiq]

TBF the patreon only development builds is a fairly common system and other devs are doing that even on this very forum. This development style isn't new to this dev either, so its a bit weird its being criticized now as opposed to before. It is however fair criticism though, it sucks to check a game you are interested in only to get a paywall.

I think this time around the criticism came because we had not a single piece of news or info in six months, then a paywalled demo got released and we still basically don't know how it looks without paying for it

 

[Larcx]

There was a demo before up until the Sister
The newest one only up to 2'nd stage Lamia Boss
Dev added totals of 10 Challenge stage , like survive in 60 sec - beat all enemies - something like a Mr Bean ring where you must avoid the wall
Dev probably gonna give another demo , still ATM there is still a little content

The only minus i think is no gallery so far. Maybe Dev will add it later~

@saga55555

If You read this , I request reset skill option
Put skill point to glove , and now I regreted it

 

[saga55555]

@saga55555

If You read this , I request reset skill option
Put skill point to glove , and now I regreted it

I planned to add reset system in later stage but it's seem it better to add early for tester.
Will add both stat/skill reset and gallery in next update. Thank you for your suggestion.

I think this time around the criticism came because we had not a single piece of news or info in six months, then a paywalled demo got released and we still basically don't know how it looks without paying for it

Ah yes, not deny it. When I'm in long period of developing I always forgot about post news or advertising, even on patreon. Will try to fix my own self about this issue.

 

[TheUnsaid]

Ooooh.

A maledom version of parade buster.
I think you're appealing to a market that definitely exists. Sexually, I'm not really into this game or Atelier Tia, but I respect the effort put into this game.

First, the game is generally well made. Animations, backgrounds, and effects and audio are great.

The story is written decently. The comedy doesn't really land with me that much, but it gives personality to the story.

I'm not a big fan of the UI though.
I think when the user mouses over UI elements they should change color or get bigger. Maybe play a sound on enter as well to dictate that the user is looking through a menu. It feels more natural that way.
The spine animations are good.
The alpha transparency of the animations as they slowly disappear is not so good because of overlapping body parts.

You can fix that, by having each enemy create a surface, and drawing themselves to that surface. Then all you have to do is lower the transparency of the surface to lower the transparency of the image as a whole. Remember to free the surface when the enemy is destroyed to stop memory leaks.

I'm also not a fan of the fact that enemies can attack simultaneously and the player has a small block range. It's literally impossible to deal with w/o stunning an enemy, which isn't guaranteed.

Overall interesting project, and I wish you the best of luck. I was just browsing games under construction when I found this. Seriously mad respect. Even though I have no interest in the game sexually, I wish you the best success. It's a sincere project with effort put behind it.

 

[saga55555]

Ooooh.

A maledom version of parade buster.
I think you're appealing to a market that definitely exists. Sexually, I'm not really into this game or Atelier Tia, but I respect the effort put into this game.

First, the game is generally well made. Animations, backgrounds, and effects and audio are great.

The story is written decently. The comedy doesn't really land with me that much, but it gives personality to the story.

I'm not a big fan of the UI though.
I think when the user mouses over UI elements they should change color or get bigger. Maybe play a sound on enter as well to dictate that the user is looking through a menu. It feels more natural that way.
The spine animations are good.
The alpha transparency of the animations as they slowly disappear is not so good because of overlapping body parts.

You can fix that, by having each enemy create a surface, and drawing themselves to that surface. Then all you have to do is lower the transparency of the surface to lower the transparency of the image as a whole. Remember to free the surface when the enemy is destroyed to stop memory leaks.

I'm also not a fan of the fact that enemies can attack simultaneously and the player has a small block range. It's literally impossible to deal with w/o stunning an enemy, which isn't guaranteed.

Overall interesting project, and I wish you the best of luck. I was just browsing games under construction when I found this. Seriously mad respect. Even though I have no interest in the game sexually, I wish you the best success. It's a sincere project with effort put behind it.

Thank you very much for your suggestion!
I'm not a pro in term of coding and never use surface except the pause menu code but will try it.
Not sure with the market taste. I think most people more like to play as female mc and you can't move/walk in this game. But it's the type of game that I want to try create long time ago but no idea how to make enemy action in 1st person view + 2D until I played Parade Buster, semi action+turn base RPG (attack charge gauge).

Wish the best of luck in your project as well

 

[TheUnsaid]

Thank you very much for your suggestion!
I'm not a pro in term of coding and never use surface except the pause menu code but will try it.
Not sure with the market taste. I think most people more like to play as female mc and you can't move/walk in this game. But it's the type of game that I want to try create long time ago but no idea how to make enemy action in 1st person view + 2D until I played Parade Buster, semi action+turn base RPG (attack charge gauge).

Wish the best of luck in your project as well

The thing with surfaces is that they destroy themselves whenever anything happens to the window.

So going from full-screen to windowed destroys all surfaces. Changing the size of the screen destroys surfaces too. The PC going to sleep destroys surfaces.
Programming surfaces basically means you always have to check if they exist before drawing them, and constantly recreating them if they don't exist.
You also have to be weirdly consistent about deleting them when you don't need them.
So when an object gets destroyed, make sure that surfaces tied to that object are also destroyed.

Regarding market taste, I think you're wrong in saying people prefer female MC.

It's less that they want a female MC, but more that they want male aggressors.
You have a male MC, and male aggressor, so I think your game's appeal is pretty high. I wouldn't put yourself down regarding that. It's harder to reach people nowadays since they're all hiding in various discords and not coming to forums though.

 

[Strange]

Not sure with the market taste. I think most people more like to play as female mc and you can't move/walk in this game.

Actually, femdom tends to sell better nowadays. It's more than current devs tend to go to extremes content-wise (ie heavy fem/maledom, furry, scat, etc.), and lower the quality for easier dev time (resulting in awful average quality, including CG galleries and/or linear VNs disguised as games.)

The interesting thing in your game, judging by the first demo, was that it's logical: winners gets to be on top. Neither femdom nor maledom, but a balanced mix of both. I'd say this is a good choice, as your game may appeal to both schools (plus the 'I don't care, I just want a good game' school I belong to).
I suggest you keep being clever with mobs (random enemies that stall your way to the boss), as good mobs make for a good RPG. As fights can and will become repetitive, having fun 'small fry' enemies to play with/against is the key. Parade Buster is one of the best examples of this I can think of; you technically won't be able to match the variety, but you can work on the personalities (like you did for the Imp), and perhaps give every small fry a chance to act slightly different (think Diablo's Elites).
Sideshows and stuff to flesh the mobs out is also a wise move (like the lesbian scene. Though giving us some choices, some leading to an ambush, could be a good idea as well).

There's a bunch you can do; hopefully you've also played other quality games, and you're not running short of ideas, nor of ability to implement them. I'd be glad to help with brainstorming; but I can't No offense intended nor taken.

 

[TheUnsaid]

Actually, femdom tends to sell better nowadays. It's more than current devs tend to go to extremes content-wise (ie heavy fem/maledom, furry, scat, etc.), and lower the quality for easier dev time (resulting in awful average quality, including CG galleries and/or linear VNs disguised as games.)

Femdom does not sell better. I don't know how you came to this conclusion, but I think you might be in a bubble.

Here's a small sample of the games that are most popular in DLsite right now.


24 games.
3 female assertive ones.

Spoiler: Sort by Best selling and you only get 1 female assertive game in the top 24 and the only reason it's there is because it costs 0 USD

Extreme content does not sell better. Extreme content is generally niche, though the definition of "extreme" varies from person to person. To some people eris dysnomeia is extreme.

The interesting thing in your game, judging by the first demo, was that it's logical: winners gets to be on top. Neither femdom nor maledom, but a balanced mix of both. I'd say this is a good choice, as your game may appeal to both schools (plus the 'I don't care, I just want a good game' school I belong to).

I agree that the game appealing to more people is intelligent, but I disagree with the claim that it's logical or balanced.

First logical. I don't think it's logical for good people to sexually assault bad people. Good guy should have a higher moral standing. Bad guys have no moral standing. To me, it's logical if the player is the hero, for him to not be the assaulter.
The game gives reasoning behind why the protagonist rapes the girls in the game, and the game presents itself as a comedy so the sting of a rapist protagonist isn't that bad. But let's not get it twisted. He is raping them. Non consensual.

Second balanced.
Not in the slightest. The protagonist can assault every girl, and only 2 girls can attack the protagonist back sexually.
The game is designed so the protagonist wipes through groups of girls. Losing is something that doesn't really happen. Saying this game is balanced sexually doesn't flly.
It clearly heavily leans in one direction.

I pretty much agree with everything else you said though.

 

[Strange]

TL,DR

Spoiler: Not again...

I am not interested in pointless debates that bring nothing to the thread, unlike your former post, which I still didn't quote for a reason. The latter does not help the dev, or anyone ftm, in any way.
I - we would be grateful if you would spend half the time spent over your usual fertile disputes, working on Sex Machines instead. Perhaps add me to your ignore list until it is complete.

Thank you in advance. [/Off-topic]

@saga55555 it slipped my mind, but the 'worst' feature in your previous demo, in my opinion, was the dungeon crawling part. It was quite slow and tedious, reminiscent of old flash games; or too big a map for the time it takes to go through it. I'm not quite sure what to suggest to improve/replace it, though. The encounter rate was fine, and somewhat broke the monotony; but less patient players might be less lenient. The occasional fun Imp helped a LOT here. Perhaps adding similar quirks to the other mobs, would also help?
I can't think of anything else that wasn't mentioned in this thread already; which is very encouraging. Maybe I'll even try Atelier Tia someday,

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being the main reason I have shunned it up until now.

 

[J300mer]

I'm all for the new game, but there are weird problems with blocking/parrying, like not knowing when invincible ends.

 

[saga55555]

I'm all for the new game, but there are weird problems with blocking/parrying, like not knowing when invincible ends.

Thank you, will think about some effect to make player notice it.

@saga55555 it slipped my mind, but the 'worst' feature in your previous demo, in my opinion, was the dungeon crawling part. It was quite slow and tedious, reminiscent of old flash games; or too big a map for the time it takes to go through it. I'm not quite sure what to suggest to improve/replace it, though. The encounter rate was fine, and somewhat broke the monotony; but less patient players might be less lenient. The occasional fun Imp helped a LOT here. Perhaps adding similar quirks to the other mobs, would also help?
I can't think of anything else that wasn't mentioned in this thread already; which is very encouraging. Maybe I'll even try Atelier Tia someday,

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being the main reason I have shunned it up until now.

I already reduce encounter rate from 20-25 moves to 28-35 moves and player can holding right click at the "flee" icon until gauge full to flee from battle. So this should be some help in map stage. I may put new demo with 2nd chapter after finish with 3rd stage.

The imp, Shiina is special one. The writer want her to be around in every boss scenes. No story for other mobs right now and it will depend on the writer. Maybe he will add some in the future but he long silence and busy with his last semester now D:

 

[J300mer]

One goofy miniboss victoryu would be slime girls that accidentally get stuck together and wind up "Tribbing" due to MC's shenanigans.

 

[saga55555]

Update Knight girl, new enemy in 3rd stage. She is an upgrade version of female guard. She has better block and shield attack that can stun player. Her shield is design from police shield for not cover her outfit design. Hope you like how she look.

New regular enemies in 3rd chapter are Knight, Cleric and Succubus. Will show their images when I finished them.