Monday, February 20, 2012

Updated link and compromises

First a bit of clerical.  With the chaos in file host services, my multiupload link doesn't work.  Steveman on Hongfire is hosting the game temporarily, so check the thread to download it.  When 0.5 is ready I'll take a look at the situation for hosts and use a new one.  But I have time to not worry about it.

Just to quickly address one common response to this.  While I do use a SVN for development, it's not appropriate for release.  My skill in VX has grown past the sledgehammer stage, but only up to machete.  Not scalpel.  The development version is not a working version, and I like it that way.  Lets me develop more freehand and worry about the consequences during testing.  And I'd prefer to work hidden to avoid spoilers.

Also please do not use this blog for bug reports.  It's a horrible format for it.  Use the blog for either feedback or suggestions.  Use the forum threads linked for bug reports please.

On a positive note, Musca from Futanari and imercenary from Hongifre have offered their help in writing the last few scenes that I've been having issues with.  I want to thank them both.

Finally I've decided to make a few compromises in developing 0.5.  The biggest will be save compatibility, or lack thereof.  The core engines in Harem have changed dramatically during development, and trying to write correction events has turned nightmarish.  I will not be doing so for 0.5 and you will have to restart the game fresh.  Kurupt has been kind enough to do a grammar pass on nearly the entire game, so it should also be a better experience than it has been so far.

I might rebuild the chapter skip to support the new version, although that is not a promise.  When 0.5 goes in for testing I will work on it, but those tend to be very complicated events as well and buggy.  It's in the maybe pile, but you might have to restart at the beginning.  Sorry.

There is currently no eta on 0.5. 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Strange

So I've been gone for a while.  Most of it had to do with Holiday busyness, but I've also been having a huge writers block about the game for the last month or two.  To the point where I actually went onto the forums and put the game on hiatus.

I definitely over-reached with 0.5.  Both the most complex code that I've worked on, both in terms of eventing and content.  Some of it flowed easily, but with the way I've set up the content, every character needs their own story arc and some of them just won't come.  In hindsight I'm working to much on character rather than story, but there's too much content already in 0.5 for me to scrap the general idea of it.  I'm not quite sure how I'll finish the remaining arcs.  0.6 and beyond will definitely be different, I'm going to be doing a few deus ex machina moves in order to streamline the content so I can focus more on the story.

But after putting the game on Hiatus, it's actually been easier for me to write.  Rather than dealing with the arcs that I'm stuck on, it's allowed me to skip over those steps and write some of the end parts of 0.5.  So while I'm still leaving the status of the game on Hiatus, 0.5 will come out sooner or later.  I just don't have any idea of when.