Author: NoMoshing

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Let’s Rock

So, uh, sorry for the lack of blog lately. I know it’s the primary way we try to communicate with you the progress on the game, but things have been a little hectic, and honestly, saying “We’re still behind but less behind than we were last week”, even if accurate, doesn’t feel great. But, something major did happen last week that is great news for all Harem Collector fans- a generous backer who wishes to remain anonymous stepped forward and gave us an absurd amount of money expressly to get the soundtrack finished.

To quote this incredible person: “I’ve been impressed with the quality of the game, the artwork is fantastic, and I feel you’ve been sincere in almost every interaction with you. I wouldn’t offer to throw money at you if I wasn’t impressed. … My only real regret is that I can’t offer more to help.”

Thank you, sir/madam. Everyone on the team is humbled by your donation, and we will do our best to make the most of what you’ve entrusted us with.

For now, we’ve sticking with Clara as our composer, as I can’t easily give up on the person who brought us “Rescue Me“. We’ve had an in-depth talk about what is expected of her and she is going to give it her all this year. Already she’s working on some new boss battle music, as well as a sex scene track that fits more emotional or sensitive scenes better than “TLR” and “Love and Mercy”.

So what does the future of music for Harem Collector look like so far? Here’s the list of “wants” we have:

Town Music- Lumberhill (nice), Huntervale, Elf Village, Southport University, Southport Docks, Orctown, Sunnyshore theme

Event Music- Triumphant trumpety music, Generic military music, Fancy castle music, Sensitive sex theme, Boss Music, Final Boss music, Anime-style opening

Dungeon Music- “Beast” dungeon theme, “Nature” dungeon theme, “Spooky” dungeon theme, “Mountain” dungeon theme, “Criminal” dungeon theme, “Arcane” dungeon theme, “Military” dungeon theme, “Swamp” dungeon theme, “Hell” dungeon theme, “Hot” dungeon theme, “Weird” dungeon theme, “Magitech” dungeon theme

You may notice a few things. First off, there’s no generic fight music. What we’re going to attempt is to have a battle remix of each dungeon variety’s theme song to be the combat music for that dungeon. This will take a little big of extra coding infrastructure, but shouldn’t be too onerous, as it can be arranged at the same time we go to fix the battle backgrounds.

Second, we’ve group dungeon tracks by theme. Rather than have unique themes for each of the dungeons in the game, we’ve separated them out by theme. For example, the third track of music I’ve asked Clara to start working on is the “Criminal” dungeon theme, for use in the Bitch’s Sixth Tit, Deliquent Hideout, Tartufo Manor, and a few other places. We’ll also work something out so that the random dungeons are themed according to the enemies you face. And of course, all music will be selectable in-game as manor music, so if the Hero chilling out as a criminal overlord appeals to you….

This is the plan we’re going with so far. As always, we may need to revise our expectations along the way. But we have the talent and, finally, we have the budget. It’s going to be an even more exciting year for Harem Collector, that’s for sure.

Our donor has already given the go-ahead to throw any money we have in excess at the art budget, so once the music is done we might also get some additional scenes finished. In terms of relevant Patreon campaign stuff, we’ll be making early music track access a benefit of the $5/month tier. For our goals, we will be changing our $2,500/mo. goal, just as soon as we get caught up on the SAVIOR release (I cringe even saying that) and get a good lead on the RICHES update.

Anyway, hope that’s enough Harem Collector news for you all to look forward to. I’m going to stop slacking off and hop-to. See you next Wednesday for the public release!

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Play More D&D

To hear some people say it, one of the reasons that you all keep coming back to Harem Collector is that I’m actually pretty good at writing characters and making engaging dialogue. I am very happy that people feel this way, and I’m glad to entertain. I don’t really feel like I’m an expert at all, though. I haven’t really finished any big artistic projects except for My Isekai Life in D&D Book One. While the end is in sight for Harem Collector, it’s still not complete, so I really don’t think I can call myself very accomplished as a writer.

Still, sometimes people ask me how they can write better. I honestly don’t really know what to say a lot of the time. I barely know what I’m doing at the best of times. But one thing that I’m pretty sure has positively affected my writing is playing roleplaying games. Like, actual, in person tabletop RPGs. It’s almost a way of gamifying writing- by putting yourself in another character’s shoes, learning to comprehend another person’s challenges, you learn how your characters act and behave and how to portray that whether you’re roleplaying, writing, or designing a game.

So that’s it, that’s the advice- to improve at writing play more RPGs. Pay attention to what your characters’ needs and wants would be. Push yourself to make characters who consider things that you think are silly to be important, like codes or honour or religious taboos. Also, avoid just outright goofiness- I understand that comedy RPG campaigns are in vogue because they make for better podcast material but they don’t generally push you as a writer, in my experience.

So yeah. Give it a shot, and I hope that helps some aspiring writers or game designers out there!

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SAVIOUR Version Update

Hey all, just NoMoshing here with a brief discussion on how the SAVIOUR update is coming along. Unfortunately, due to various reasons I’ll get into, I’ve had to call it and delay the SAVIOUR mini-release to next Monday, June 29th. The game is not at a place where I’d like it to be, and with the public release happening on a month that ends on a Tuesday, we’ve only had two weeks to get really deep into new content. I apologize deeply for letting everyone down who was waiting for this. But, there is some good news.

In terms of my work- The new dungeon is proceeding rather smoothly, but is going to require a surprising amount of new assets as there’s a shift in perspective that I failed to account for and we’re going to need some new art assets just for this one dungeon. So, when the mini-release does happen, it’s going to look a little weird in there, but please bear with it for now. It’s shaping up to be a fun little dungeon, with a lot of fun call backs to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as well as original content to explore.

My sex scene writing has been held up, though. I have two sex scenes to write wholesale as well as some tweaks I need to make to several older scenes. The reason why is that a very generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous has commissioned new art for every existing scene with Meline including her Sex a la Carte menu. So, please comment with your thanks to him if you like and I’ll pass screenshots on.

The upswing of this is that while there won’t be very many brand new sex scenes in the next version, but it’s probably going to be the biggest update in terms of new art assets. So far, finished (and waiting on some degree of writing) are: Meline’s introductory sex scene, Chimei’s first sex scene, Meline and Larelle’s double blowjob, Diadira’s 4th Scenario Sex a la Carte scene, and Doll and Elaiya’s scene together. Currently getting worked on is Meline’s threesome with the Angel of Love and Peace, Meline’s vacation scene and one of Yeon’s Sex a la Carte scenes, not sure yet if I’m going to run it as her 4th Scenario or her “Be Nice” scenario. And before the end of next month we should also have the Alina + Therese threesome, Meline’s footjob scene, and some more Sex a la Carte for her. So yeah, that’s quite a bit, Hilent is getting a bit of a workout but so far she’s on top of everything.

Conash is currently working on a revamp to some of the chat options in the game. Now, if you want to discuss other harem girls with a harem girl, you’d be able to toggle between the current random system, or picking from a list. If you want chatting with your followers to be more natural and off the cuff, stick with “random”, but if you want to hear every last scrap of delicious dialogue in the game you’ll be able to cut out the RNG entirely.

So yeah, despite the delay SAVIOUR is shaping up to be one hell of an update. Please look forward to it!

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Harem Collector v0.46 CHILL!

Get it here!

Changes in the CHILL update:
-New quest for the Save the Elves plotline. An orcish emissary has arrived in the elf village with news, you should probably check it out.
-Mod support has been implemented. There are probably a lot of kinks to sort out, but if you’re interested in diving right in and starting out with mods, please join us on our Discord server and hit up the relevant channel. More information on mod creation can be found on the forum and you can check out our favourite mods here!
-Vignettes have been implemented! You can new use the Satisfaction menu to witness scenes between your harem girls that Hero isn’t necessarily privy to. Right now there are four to experience: a shared drink between Alina and Therese, Larelle teasing Felix, Florine making an illicit sale, and Princess Quinta hosting a tea party.
-New sex scene art for a bunch of Doll’s sex scenes, Therese’s Sex a la Carte, and Evanie’s sex scene.
-New sprites for Meline, Florine, and Doll.
-New banters for Therese and… everyone, plus Felix x Bronwyn banters
-Bell, Therese, Alina, Quinta, Chimei, Lilac, Violet, Larelle, Eulania, Nerys, Yeon and Elaiya have expanded chat options.
-Temporary skills will now be highlighted purple in your skill menu for easy reference.
-The bug that made some enemy bosses invincible should be resolved. Not the Dorm Guardian though, you’re still out of luck there.

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Road Map to Victory

The backer release is just getting the last little bit of polish courtesy of Conash right now, so while you’re waiting on that, I figured I’d discuss a little bit of the future of Harem Collector.

So we finally have something of a road map to version 1.0 of Harem Collector. Like so many things we’ve been using as guideposts in this long, long adventure, it’s rough and kind of crude, but it’ll get us there.

I’ve had dysthymia creeping up on me all day today, so please excuse me if I’m not exactly wordy and eloquent about all this, but the plan looks something like this:

July 2020: v0.47, the SAVIOUR update
The last two quests in the Save the Elves questline go live. Meiriona is added to the harem.

September 2020: v0.48, the RICHES update
Jalila, the elf village shopgirl, is added to the harem. Florine can be freed from the dungeon. Florine’s love quest will be available. Game economy is re-examined and re-balanced. The final push on the Ancient Mysteries quest line begins.

November 2020: v0.49
The Iron Waifu themed update, with the Iron Waifu winner’s love quest. More progress on Ancient Mysteries.

January 2021: v0.50
The last Ancient Mysteries quest is in, and the end game events begin. Brigandine and Hanelore are added to the harem. A new enemy arises, taking advantage of the chaos in the declining Middle Kingdom.

March 2021: v0.51
May 2021: v0.52
Updates covering the end game quests. A new enemy arises, a resistance is formed, a betrayal occurs, old enemies become allies and fallen foes return, and a desperate battle is won. The last few mechanical overhauls take place. Also, in May will be the last ever Iron Waifu for the first Harem Collector.

July 2021: Harem Collector v1.0
The end game is done. The final harem has a big ol’ orgy. Credits roll.
Also we’re going to have a big fucking online party and all HC fans will be invited.

September 2021 and Beyond: v1.x
Fitting in the last few side quests, Love/Respect Quests, and art updates while we plow forward on our next project, I Live to Serve, Dungeon King!! Might not be a proper, fully featured 1.0 but who the fuck are you going to call, the version police? The main story is done.

I’ve also broken out the leash and collar and will be chaining Nekochan to her drawing table so that in the v1.0 release we will have the end game orgy scene complete and available to be enjoyed.

So yeah, that’s it. I’m going to go send out that backer release. See you all next week!

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Testing Week Updates

Hey all, just a few quick things because it’s testing week, and I still have a ton of dialogue to write.

As of today, I’m temporarily removing the “Megafan” tier from Patreon. It will be back next month with a new poster featuring completely new art by Hilent, this time featuring everyone’s favourite necromancer, Larelle! The reason for this is that Patreon tracks Merch for Membership by how long someone has been supporting at a given tier, so in order to offer a new poster we effectively have to reset the Megafan tier entirely. But please check back in June for a brand new, awesome poster design!

Another Patreon-related note, please be aware that as of next month Patreon will also be charging sales tax for all tiers of membership in most areas. This sucks for everyone affected, I know. Please be aware this is in addition to you normal pledge amount- if you’re pledged at $2 and your sales tax rate is 13% you will be charged $2.26. If you want more information on what areas are affected and how much you will be charged, please consult this FAQ.

On our end, we’ve adjusted our settings so that the impact has been minimized. For example, in most places sales tax can’t be charged on having your name in the credits of the game, so I’ve indicated that a certain percentage of your pledges goes towards that benefit.

Development continues. Today we’ll be rolling out the newest build to testers, in preparation for the backer release next week. There’s still a lot of dialogue that I want to get done, but as of this moment the important stuff is all in there.

Finally, I’m happy to announce that we’re planning the new content for v0.47, and that will be an update that you won’t want to miss. Let’s just say, it’ll be a crowning moment for the Hero and friends, so there’s no way in hell you’re going to want to miss it!

Any please keep your eyes open for Harem Collector v0.46 CHILL, out next week to backers!

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Iron Waifu Updates

I’m going to have to go back to weekly blog posts, doing them every other week makes it way too easy to forget.

And before you say “why don’t you just set an alarm or a calendar alert or something NoMoshing?” I’ll have you know that I can’t remember dick fucking all and I get through the day thanks to no less than five alarms and multiple calendar appointments per week already, so I’m not having my smartphone chirp at me *even more* thank you very much.

So anyway, it’s May and that means that Iron Waifu is on! In fact, today’s match up between Lilac and Apple Kid is really close right now so please take the time to vote if you haven’t already! And as we draw closer to the end of Round One, it’s really starting to heat up, so let’s take a look at where some of our past heavy hitters are.

Yamamaya looks like this this year she’ll be able to cruise into the quarterfinals thanks to lucky placement. The only other party member in her quarter has already been eliminated, and while she’s sharing her quarter with several girls who have made the quarterfinals in the past, none of them have reached Round Three nearly as consistently as the catgirl berserker.

Meline has had a checkered history with Iron Waifu, and either seems to do very well or incredibly poorly. Half the time she makes the quarterfinals, overcoming some mid tier characters on the way, the other half the time she gets knocked out early by low tier characters. This year on the 18th we will be seeing no less than the third faceoff between Renfeld and Meline, both girls are 1-1 with one another. It’s hard not to see a future where Meline gets taken out by Brigandine or maybe even Bronwyn, who are also in her quarter, but at least she’ll have a notable rematch along the way.

Speaking of whom, Bronwyn is also staring down the barrel of a rematch with Brigandine, provided the elven ranger beats Ino tomorrow. While Brigandine has triumphed each other thing the two have faced off in Iron Waifu, don’t count Bronwyn out yet- Bron has an impressive kill count including Chimei, Yeon, and an incredible early win against Raina in 2018. Bronwyn also has only even been defeated by top-tier contenders Kyrie, Brigandine, and eventual Iron Waifus Larelle and Alina. Her record might not be that impressive, but Bronwyn is always a girl to watch.

Fan favourite Raina is looking at a rocky road to the finals this year. She has a tough match-up in round one against Florine, a strong mid-tier performer with a dedicated fanbase and exactly the kind of character that Raina seems to be weak to. If Raina can overcome that, she’s up against Meiriona, who hasn’t performed super well but has only ever been defeated by solid contenders Bronwyn and Florine, and managed to chalk up a devastating upset against fan favourite Yamamaya in her debut match. And if she can get through that odds are good that Raina is looking at a quarterfinal against Kyrie and a semifinal against Brigandine. Raina is the underdog contender this year, with difficult match-ups the whole way, but a strong contingent of supporters out lobbying for her. My advice: No matter who you vote for, do. Not. Miss. One. Single. Raina. Match. This. Year.

To give the southwest quarter a little love, everyone still in the race there has been at least a quarterfinalist in the past, lots of strong mid-tier girls in general. My personal favourite to make the semis is Elaiya- she has a strong fan following, people know that her lesbian sex scene with Doll is in the works, and while she has never finished strong, except for one embarrassing defeat against Doralice, she has her own impressive kill count and usually loses to strong contenders. My dark horse for this quarter is Chimei, who is fresh off a new love quest, has finally been able to communicate with the Hero, and will have her redesign concept art shared to backers before her next match against Yeon. I don’t think anyone here is going to take the crown in the end, but it’ll be an interest run as the mid-tiers duke it out for the semifinal.

Finally have have the two remaining top tiers, the two titans who are the real contenders to watch this year. Brigandine, the only girl in all of Iron Waifu to have only been defeated by Iron Waifus, who has never done worse than the quarterfinals. Only one half step behind is Kyrie, who except for a single loss against Raina in 2016 can say the exact same thing, and has been to the finals more than any other character save 2017 Iron Waifu winner Alina. Both characters had passionate fanbases, but while Kyrie is coming off the strength of a lot of new content in the last year, Brigandine is by far the most consistent performer. For a lot of fans, the real finals will be happening on the 30th, where unless there is an upset these two S-rank contenders will have their first head to head match-up ever. DO NOT MISS THAT MATCH!

That’s how things are shaping up so far. We have four more matches left in Round One, and after that the reward lists for every girl who has made it to Round Two will be revealed- including some new developments that are sure to excite! For now, this is NoMoshing signing off.

EDIT: Correction, Bronwyn has only faced Brigandine once before.

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Harem Collector v0.45.5 HORTICULTURE Update

Get it here!

-Two new Love Quests, for Chimei and Doll, are now available if you have their affection at 100 or higher.
-New art for Apple Kid’s Sex a la Carte menu, Therese’s Dungeon sex scenes, and Doll’s Unwanted Blessings sex scene!
-One new sex scene for Doll’s Love Quest!
-Apple Kid, Evanie and the Northmarket cat have new sprite art.
-The new minimum amount of momentum during combat scales with your level, up to at least 15 momentum at level 45.
-Attack, Guard, and a few other physical skills now give more momentum
-Momentum gained from taking damage has been decreased to 80% the rate that it was before
-All magic will now give players momentum equal to 1/5th of the Mana they used for the magic
-Chimei and Nerys now have gain momentum at an increased rate to compensate for their lack of options
-Transfer Essence now gives the Momentum Regen Status instead of giving 10 momentum directly
-Stagger now decreases Momentum 10 per turn instead of 2 per turn
-Nausea now decreases your momentum generation rate by 50% while active
-Chimei’s Enervating Bolt will no longer give enemies hit momentum, and will deal momentum damage equal to 80% of their current momentum on top of the HP damage it does.
-Bronwyn’s arrow accessories will now be equipped to her off-hand instead of her accessory slot, and a new second type of arrows may be found somewhere in the world!

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Bad Kitty Games and COVID-19

Welp.

So as everyone who doesn’t live under a rock in the Yukon hinterlands is well aware, the world is undergoing a bit of a thing right now in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple countries are on total lockdown, people in general are advised to stand home and isolate themselves, and lots of people have uncertain employment. Nobody knows how long it’s going to be, estimates range from a few weeks up to a year. None of thise is really news for Harem Collector fans, I’m sure.

The first thing I want to get out is a clear message for backers: We get it. You might be looking at multiple weeks without shifts or being out of a job entirely. Or maybe you’re just feeling anxious and want to cut costs as a preventative measure. Our desire in situations like these is for all fans of Harem Collector to take care of themselves first and foremost. Please do not feel the need to apologize or feel bad for ending your pledge to the Bad Kitty Games Patreon campaign. We understand, please take care of yourselves.

If you desire to still help us out, however, please when you do end your pledge fill out an exit survey and specifically mention that you’re doing it because your financial situation has changed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Canadian government is rolling out new financial protection for small businesses every day and that kind of data may be useful to us in the near future.

Second thing: We are still planning on releasing Harem Collector v0.45 to backers next week. It might not be right on time as, well, we all got our shit rocked with regard to stress and anxiety, but for now things are proceeding as planned. Future releases might change as the situation develops, however. We’re going to keep working, and there are currently no threats to our being able to stay open, but obviously the possibility of sudden deaths in the family and other such things to disrupt our workflow is as strong as ever. As always, stay tuned for more details.

Third thing: Please, now more than ever, take care of your mental health. Take it from someone who was once under house arrest for a year- maintaining this level of isolation us not easy. Sure, everyone’s joking about Pornhub and Xbox now, but that will change if the situation doesn’t resolve quickly. So please, if you haven’t already, join the Bad Kitty Games Discord. It’s a great part of the community, and there’s usually lots going on. Board games on TTS, streaming, speedrunning, and people just hanging out and exorcizing some of their anxiety about the situation. We’re all doing a lot to try and make sure everyone is supported and feels like they belong.

And that’s it for now. As always, we’re cooking up interesting stuff for HC fans to enjoy, and there are lots of exciting things to look forward to. So stay safe, stay healthy, stay sane, and hopefully I’ll see you all next week for the backer release!

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Sunshine and Rainbows

Haaa, I don’t want to be too optimistic just yet, but it seems that, finally, the cloud of depression I’ve been under since last summer has finally gone away. I’m feeling good, I’m being productive, I’m getting more sleep, I’m cleaning things when they become dirty instead of when people come over…. All in all, I’m doing okay. I look forward to channelling some of this new energy into Harem Collector for you all!

I don’t mean to harp on my mental state so much, but I get very easily frustrated when it comes to my mental state. Obviously, it’s not impossible for me to be creative when I’m stuck in the fog, but it is very difficult for me to be creative in the specific way I want to be creative. Focus becomes very difficult.

But now I’m feeling a lot better, so hopefully I can focus even better and continue doing good work for everyone who follows my various projects.

I’m thinking of starting a Kofi account to support my writing, not for Harem Collector but so that I can (hopefully) get some artwork done for My Isekai Life in D&D. Art is expensive after all, and Patreon frowns on people who run separate accounts for different projects.

Things are looking good for the mini-release today. It might be a challenge to get in all the new sex scenes, but for that I’m just going to prioritize the stuff I currently have art for. Hilent’s been busy, but as of last night Apple Kid’s sexy a la carte scenes are all done. I might luck into getting the latest Doll stuff from her later, and then it’s on to some accelerated Therese art before returning to Doll.

Anyway, I’m going to get back to work. Happy fapping, and I’ll see some of your tonight for the mini-release!