Category: Harem Collector

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Progress Updates and Design Goals for March

First of all, a few quick updates.

So far the new year has been good to me. As of this Monday I’m off the leash (time-wise) and working on the next update. First up: a quest called “Research Materials” which will finally see Kyrie join the party, and (if you’re clever enough) a sex scene that many of you have been asking for. Gurotaku’s already on the images, I’m about halfway done mapping the dungeon, and everything is clicking along a-ok.

If you’re a monster girl fan who specifically like reptilian ladies, I have a new waifu that has softened me somewhat on reptilian girls.

<3

Will one end up in HC? I don’t know- a lot has been set in stone already and if one does end up in, she’ll be in a non-combat role. But if I get to the end of the game and have room of one more-definitely.

Also, as of Monday I’ve officially launched a Patreon campaign! If you enjoy Harem Collector please consider supporting my work on Patreon. If you were a backer on the old Paypal donate system, please check your email- I had sent an email last Friday explaining how you’ll be integrated into the new system- suffice it to say that you should experience no difference in service. Harem Collector, of course, will remain completely free to play. Cypress_z has also started a Patreon for Overwhored- you can find that here.

I’ve also gotten hooked on Lord of Valkryie, an online hentai idle-browser-card game sort of thing. It is definitely not sleazy like most F2P games with microtransactions, and I feel it’s well worth checking out. If you do, click on this link to let me refer you so we both get a little bonus gold. (Turns out you only get 20 referrals, and I’m closing in on that cap, so this link might not work- instead, see if someone else put a referral link in the comments!)

Fairy Side was finally released on Monday, as well. Please check it out over here. Sorry for last week’s miscommunication.

Now, onto new project goals.

There are three quests I want to complete for the next release- Research Materials described above, a quest centred on the mysteries of Huntervale, and the first quest of the elf plot arc. I still do not have the unique assets I need for the latter two quests, but I can live with placeholders for now. More importantly, this should contribute to a much smoother play experience, without the gaps in leveling that come after level 7 or so. I also hope to add the first arena tourney (other than the one for Hour of the Beasts), add a bit more content to Finishing Unfinished Business, and revamp the random daily quest system. We’ll see how much of that gets done, though. Given the number of delays that have plagued this project, I’m not saying that anything is certain.

As some of you have gathered from the recent release, I’m also trying to focus more on main game content than love quests. Sorry if your favourite character doesn’t have a personal quest yet. It’ll come eventually, but I’d rather work on main game stuff right now. I want to focus down a little and save more love quests for late-game.

Anyway, that’s it for now- have a great Wednesday, and happy fapping!

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Difficulty Adjustment

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the latest release of Harem Collector. While I have not been able to address all the bug reports, I have made a few changes regarding the accessibility of new content. Namely, Quest for a Cure has been rebalanced for level 12 and Bewitchy Women has been rebalanced for level 15. You can get the new version at the same Harem time, same Harem channel.

Please don’t think of this a nerf, I simply didn’t take into consideration the general flow of the game when releasing new content, and I’ve endeavored to correct that. Please enjoy, and check back next week for a big announcement.

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Harem Collector Fairy Side Release!

Well, that’s annoying. Apparently my comment-approval thingy isn’t emailing me when there are comment in queue anymore. So, sorry if you commented last week- they’re all up not, I wasn’t trying to censor anyone. And here I was, wondering why nobody seemed to be commenting on the blog…. Anyway, I think I’ve fixed, and even if I haven’t I’ll start checking back daily.

Anyway, I’ve been really busy with visiting family and assorted other bullshit this holiday season. Man, if this is the season of joy or whatever, why do I have to spend twelve hours a day hanging out with people I barely know and don’t share any of my interests? Anyway, I probably won’t be able to properly “get back to work” and address some of your concerns until the 1st or 2nd. I put out a new version of Harem Collector yesterday that featured a ninja in the Northmarket bedroom who will remove the requirement for Female!Gargan in the party if you’re having difficulty with that.

I’ll handle some more bugs and more importantly, the balance issue, and put out another version in maybe a week, hopefully less. And don’t be too hard on commenters like Jash- he might be saying harsh things, but he has a point and I made a pretty critical mistake with regards to game design and balance this update. These things happen.

Anyway, if you need something to whet your palates in the meantime, I have good news! Chibi is all set to release the newest version of Fairy Side sometime today. This one is highly polished, but even if it’s still just the intro quest everything is still there- including CGs. Plus, after getting the story part of the opening mission on, there’s a random dungeon that Chibi and I collaborated on that I’m pretty proud of, so please check that out. If you like futanari or girl-on-girl and Harem Collector never scratched that itch for you, you’re going to want to check out Fairy Side.

Anyway, like I said, I’ll get moving on the new version of HC tomorrow or the day after, depending. At the same time I should be able to finally release this year’s Backer Christmas Gift- better late than never, right?

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The Process (Okay, For Real This Time)

Okay, so it looks like nothing in the Backer’s Pack requires my immediate attention, so I’ll try to lay down a real blog post. If you’ve ever wondered just what goes on to get a release done, this week I’m gonna tell you.

    Step 0: Play Games

You might think I’m kidding, but this is probably the most important step. You need to know the medium you want to work in, so crack open Steam or GOG or your FLGS or even Abandonia and get playing. Here’s the important bit, though- one, you must pay careful attention while you play, and two, you must have to get outside your comfort zone. That might mean examining old favourites with a newly-critical eye, or trying truly new experiences. The important thing is to leave the familiar behind, and examine the games you play with a critical eye. You never know what game mechanic or experience will inspire the next great part of your game, so expand your horizons.

    Step 1: The Plan

Sometime during the closing weeks of the previous release, I grab my notes and head to a local coffee shop. I keep two simple spiral notebooks for each project I’m working on, one for planning and another to record notes in as I work. While rocking some coffee and free from distractions, I’ll lay out the plan for the next release.

Generally, “the plan” is divided into several parts. Most important are the Quests, which are the set pieces and foundation stones that Harem Collector is built around. I also brainstorm the events (generally whatever I think is important but doesn’t involve a quest or dungeon), character notes (for chats, banter, new characters, etc), new investments and items, and whatever else I think I’ll need.

Notes on the next release

After laying out the general plan, I’ll start to go into specifics about the big stuff- quests, dungeons, big animated sequences, that kind of thing. I generally end up with a page of notes each individual quest or sequence- you can check out a page of my notes about a dungeon above. It’s important to remain flexible from here- things don’t often work exactly how you plan, and you never know when something different will inspire you and you’ll end up working on something completely different.

    Step 2: Art and Visuals

Before actually opening up the editor, I take the first big chunk of content and figure out what art I’ll need for it. This can be something as simple as a style or specific look I want the maps to capture, or it might mean looking for free to use sprites online, asking Chibi for custom stuff, asking Gurotaku to get started on CGs, and assembling face sets.

Art is a serious weakness for me, so even when I give art priority, it’s very easily for things to fall apart at this step. As always, remain flexible- you have to be about deal with that kind of setback and still move forward.

    Step 3: The First Quest

Next, I take one of the big, meaty chunks of content and, well, get it done. Usually I start with the middle- crafting the dungeon, placing encounters, and designing the boss fight- first, and then fill in the pre-dungeon dialogue and investigation and post-dungeon dialogue and rewards. Often, I play through the dungeon a couple times on my own, just to make sure the sequence of events feel right and any weird new ideas I have actually work. After a revision or two, getting one quest finished takes about two weeks when I’m working at my peak ability.

The reason why I tackle things one quest at a time is twofold- one, if a crisis occurs I’ll have at least one small piece of content to show for it, and two, I focus intensely on one piece at a time, so as not to get distracted.

    Step 4: Moar Content

Provided I don’t fall ill or stab my wife in the eye or whatever, I’ll finish with that first quest and move on to the next. And then the next, etc, until I’m about two weeks away from Testing Week.

    Step 5: Dangling Threads

Time for cleaning up! This is where I make sure the new quests are properly hooked into the game and accessible, update the quest log, and generally round off the corners and make sure everything fits. Once everything is ready for Test Week, I’ll move on to step 6, even if it’s not actually Test Week yet- what I’m doing doesn’t change.

Adding sex scenes occur as part of this step, btw. I like giving Gurotaku and Kakurine as much time as possible to work.

    Step 6: Soft Content

While Testers are busy testing and going into the week between the Backer release and the Public release, I do all the stuff that isn’t really programming intensive that I’m reasonably sure I’ve mastered- investments, chats, shops, banters, etc. Not only does this mean that testers are focused on the content that’s most likely to break/have bugs/have weird exploits in it, it means I get to have a break, relax and do some easy stuff for a change. It’s at this time I also start on Step 1 for the next release cycle, as well.

Well, hope that was interest for you all. I’ll see you next week for the public release!

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Backer Pack is Out!

If you’re a backer, you should have received your Backer Pack.

I’m kind of really tired and dead right now, was up all night working on Fairy Side and sending out the Backer’s Packs. If you’re a Backer and didn’t receive your pack please contact me immediately- I only had one email bounce this time, but it could be that your paypal address is different from your regular address or something.

I might not get around to a better blag post than this- I’m up really late, no doubt tomorrow I’ll have a bunch of fresh bug reports and such to parse through, and at some point tomorrow I have to make a 3 hour road trip. =/ I’ll try my best, though!

Until then- thanks for your patience, please enjoy the game, and please come back for the public release on the 24th.

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The Monster Girl Situation, Revisited

Game Update: Testing week begins tonight. I still have a bit of work to do (realized late last night that I forgot to upload a bunch of new face images, including Gargan’s, and have to code the new harem girls into the gift giving script) but most of it won’t require testing- worst case scenario I can send the game to get tested and finish polishing up before the backer release.

Health Update: My cough has gotten worse, but the medication is helping. I’ll be going back to the doctors’ later this week, once the release is ready. On a positive note, I’ve adjusted to this medication, so I can put in full workdays again. Yay!

So I’ve been thinking lately of examining old promises and statements about what content will be in Harem Collector, and sort of updating them. This week, I review an old post regarding monster girls that will/may/will not appear in HC at some point, and update you on them. BTW, you can find the original post here.

Angels
Well, yeah. You can already fuck one of the capital-A Angels. I might throw in a character based on one of the angelic servitors, because the Hero might figure out a way to control one.

Alraune, Dryads, Mandragora
I’m still passing on the predatory aspects of the Alraune and Mandragora. They might appear as enemies, though.
Dryads are a different story. I don’t know what I’m going to do with a dryad-girl yet- if she will appear in a one time scene, if the Hero will transplant her tree to make her part of the harem, if I’ll ignore the whole “home tree” thing and just make dryads more generic wood- or tree-elementals.

Spider girls, spider girls, friendly neighborhood spider girls
Sorry, but anything spider-related still gets all my nope.

Centaurs
This has actually changed to a no, mostly because Chibi has threatened me with bodily harm if the sex organs of said centaur are in the wrong place.

Classic Elementals
I’ve warmed up to the idea of elementals lately, though simply throwing in the classic elementals and just saying “gotta catch ’em all” still seems a bit lazy. What might be fun is to make elementals of the magic elements that exist in the game. Elementals of fire, cold and lightning are easy to imagine, but what about acid, psychic, sonic, and poison? If you have any ideas, I’m all ears.

Demons
I’ve recently been called out on inconsistencies regarding my demon-policy, so the new official word- all demons have sexual characteristics, only succubi can interbreed with other races. So, not only will you fuck a demon, I’m leaving open the possibility of having half-demon characters who will be easier to reason with and control.

Dragons
There are now two kind of dragon in HC’s canon. The lesser dragons are basic big, flying, energy-breathing dinosaurs that are about as smart as a primate- so they’re not going to be fuckable. However, the greater Dragons have the ability take a humanoid shape. Some of them might become fuckable in the future, though, like the capital-D Demons and capital-A Angels, are of too high a power level to be properly enslaved.

Fairies
Fairies will probably make it into the series in some form. This is something Chibi is particualrly excited about, so I’m leaving room for her to develop her owns ideas, which I will cherry pick from.

Gazebo, weird D&D monsters, weird LoZ monsters
I don’t have any specific plans yet to include something like this yet, but you can expect sooner or later there will be a flumph-girl or something just for the lulz factor.

Ghost
I promised a ghost girl “soon” in the original post, and I still intend to have one in HC, it’s just that other stuff keeps on taking priority. I think there will be a ghost girl in the game sometime early-middle 2015, but I can’t say exactly when.

Golem
Next update will feature the promised “artificially created creatures you can fuck”. These are nymphs- basically semi-living sex dolls crafted out of various elements or concepts. There’s even a scene involving one.

Kitsune
There is something kind of like a kitsune going into HC2 for sure. Nekochan even did some concept art for her.

Orcs
Orcs are already in the game as a mono-gendered, asexual race that “spores” other species with orc fetuses. I was thinking of including hobgoblins or something (maybe firmir?) as an orange-skinned anti-orc- a mono-gendered race that always appears female and requires sperm from other species to procreate, but is still fundamentally asexual.

Slimes
There will be a slime girl in HC. That hasn’t changed. By big hold-up right now is that nobody who makes decent slime girls sprites will get back to me when I ask about using them.

Trolls
Trolls will be included to I get to make more Homestuck jokes. Might throw one in the harem if I can think of a decent character idea.

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Potential Delay, Maybe Not

So, it turns out that I have some kind of upper respiratory infection, which is why this alleged cold isn’t going anywhere for at least another week. I have a couple different medications to keep it under control, but the stuff I take to help me sleep turns my mornings into this dazed, muddled mess, and the stuff I take so I can breathe properly makes me lightheaded and gives me the worst case of ADD. Seriously- last night I overcooked dinner because halfway through I remembered that we were almost out of soap in the shower and while I was doing that I suddenly realized I had to take out the garbage. I feel a lot better with the medication than without, but it makes that whole “being a productive human being” thing pretty difficult.

I just about started doing the dishes instead of finishing this blog post- the worst ADD, you have no idea.

The good news is that I probably only have to take the medication for about another week. By then, either I’ll have gotten better or the doctor will be able to make a more accurate diagnosis and give me better-targeted medication.

The upshot of this is that progress on HC has slowed to a crawl. I’m still picking away at it, but at this point I’ll be lucky if I get the current dungeon finished with all four new sex scenes in time for testing next week. I’m prioritizing gameplay, though, so that if I can at least get the dungeon done I can ship to the testing team and finish the sex scenes while addressing bugs.

Worst case scenario, I might have to delay release by a week. Well, okay, that’s not the worst case scenario, I could always get hit by a car or something, but that’s the worst thing I’m planning for.

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Update on December Progress

It’s been awhile since I went into game progress in detail, so let’s do that here.

I finished the first quest I wanted to have done. There may be some bugs I haven’t found, but it’s top-to-bottom finished, which I am very pleased about. It’s something of a side quest though, so not all that important in the grand scheme of things.

The quest I’m working on right now is part of one of the main storylines, though. And it’s big- the dungeon will be the biggest dungeon to date, consisting of no less than three visually distinct areas and containing four boss fights, plus another half-dozen varieties of normal enemy. And there will a total of four sex scenes that are unlockable as a result of those events. Depending on how things go with the art, they might not all be immediately available.

Finally, from what I’ve heard from the art guys, things are looking pretty solid for the elf village/party character/first elf quest being included in the next update. As always, things can go wrong at the last minute, though- and if they do, I’ll be working on Doll’s love quest instead.

If after that herculean amount of content I still, somehow have time leftover, and I have an idea for a fun event with Therese and a small extension to liven up Elaiya’s love quest. Also, I still have this year’s Christmas Gift for backers to do, and I already have something in mind that should make for a fun hour or so of play. So if you want in on that, make sure you donate by December 25th.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I’m off to keep working away!

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Progress Highlights (And Mugs!)

So, between the public release last week and today, I massacred an entire quest. Just straight-up, no problems, no delays, set-em-up-knock-em-down blasted that shit into existence. I’m pretty proud of that, yeah. Woo!

For the next release, I am hoping to have not one, not two, but three quests for your gaming pleasure and all the associated scenes and stuff, but we’ll see how it goes. Just because I was able to rock this one quest into existence over the course of a weekend doesn’t mean I will necessarily be able to keep up that pace, but here’s hoping.

I really can’t think of anything else to rant about today- guess I’m just too eager to go and make more Harem Collector for you. So, sorry, I guess?

Something you should know about- we are holding a preorder drive for sweet Harem Collector mugs! If we receive 30 preorders by November 9th, I’ll be able to order up some sweet limited edition Harem Collector mugs, and that would be great. Check out the Bad Kitty Games main page and relevant forum thread for more details.

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Harem Collector Public Release – October 2014

The Relevant Link

Man, it’s been awhile. Well, enjoy.

!!!IMPORTANT NOTE: Do NOT transfer a file where your game is save on the Middle Kingdom, Eastfort or Lumberhill maps!!!

Changes in this Version

Meline’s Love Quest is complete and implemented.

Lumberhill and Eastfort Military District have been made over.

Daily Dungeon maps have been given a small makeover.

The world map has been shifted and made over.

Chimei and Doll now has on-demand sex scenes.

The Stagger Skill now penalizes Evasion rather than Agility.

Sacred Ward now only affects Therese, but makes her immune to all magic
damage.

Therese has a new skill, Shining Strike, which is a Radiant-element
physical attack that simultaneously casts a healing spell on a random
party member.

Elaiya’s Assassin Strike has been renamed Headshot.

Kneecap’d has been replaced with a self buff that increases Elaiya’s hit
rate.

Kyrie’s Ice Armor does the same thing, but with a consolidated state
rather than a separate defense buff.

Meline has a new skill called Beckon Mana, which makes one target take
more damage from magic.

Probably numerous other changes I’ve completely forgotten.