v2c3m1 officially in testing, Patreon early access change

So finished up the last of the coding for 3m1 today and have officially started the testing cycle which usually takes a week or two.  So expect an early release mid-March for the new content.

I've also redone the early access window for Patreon trying to take your suggestions into account:
1.  Patrons will get it when it's done and after the pledges clear.  While I'd hope to try to get that before the 10th, I'm going to expect most releases to fall between the 10th and 15th.  Assuming that everything works how I intend, an assumption that will likely make an ass of me at some time.
2.  Public release will the be the last Sunday of each month.  Nice and predictable.  While it'll be a longer wait then the 1 week that it was, it's significantly less than the month I was thinking of.  It should be a 2-3 week wait on average.

And one more shameless plug:  If you want to get the early access to the 3m1 release, tonight is your last night to pledge!

Chapter 3m1

Sorry for missing last weeks blog post, got a touch of the flu and have been feeling very run down for a while now.  But have been working on the code and trying to get the next release ready.  v2c3m1 should be ready by the middle of March.

It's going to be the first real side-quest focused release I've tried.  Lesser Corsix will still be sealed off, instead you'll have numerous opprotunities to explore Celee further.  There will be another set of quests available from Vercin in Eleen which will end with acquiring a new minor slave.  Phoebe will have 3 quests to explore some of the history of the land and get some pretty awesome loot as a reward.  And a reward for her as well!  There will be two sidequests from Eowen that will open up a new vendor and hint a future slave.

Looking about about 8 different quests to work on, 6-8 new scenes and maybe a 100 pages of new writing with about 50 new images.

On the Patreon/Public release timing I think I'm going to do a half and half.  Patreons will get it as soon as it's ready and then the public release for it will be April 1st (no joke).  I'll see if that works well in both encouraging pledges while getting content out to every at a regular pace.  And just a reminder, if you want the early access version during March, you'll have to commit your pledge before the end of February.

Chapter 3 public release!

Harem Chapter 3 released!  v2c3m0.

We've completed the rewrite of the Mountain Glory content and everything is ready to go for public release!

Base game, requires RTP installed separately.
http://www.filefactory.com/file/5sq4lcz7iklt/v2c3m0.exe
http://rapidgator.net/file/f7079e1ef5d2f362d3b3809a5d4f344c/v2c3m0.exe.html

Game w/ RTP, requires no other installation but significantly larger
http://www.filefactory.com/file/5blg1jhv81vf/v2c3m0%2BRTP.exe
http://rapidgator.net/file/71b5f1a3eeb58e9e9fcf28e949fd9724/v2c3m0_RTP.exe.html

I do have a Patreon page up and running.  If you enjoyed the new content and wish to support further development, any donation will help out a great deal!
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2583450&u=2583450&ty=h

Content Additions

2 new slaves for the base

Hints on 2 more slaves

Mountain Glory subzone open for exploration and primary questing

Sidequest line (Celeean Swords) open in Eleen

19 new in game scenes, 3 more non-canon scenes

329 pages of text (per Word)

308 new images

And all that to add about an hour to each route!

Credit to the people who helped out with their time!
Copy Editor and Sanity Checker -HirotonoRei
Testing - Hunter769, DoomPanda, Avikash, Matt, Omnibomb, Gegrafsd and Sacr3d

Even if you don't feel like or can't donate via Patreon, your feedback is still critical to the development of Harem.  Let me know what you thought.  What you liked and what you didn't like.  What you'd like more of, what I should focus more on and even what you thought I spent too much time on.  The quality control I get from negative feedback is critical and the morale boost I get from positive feedback moreso.

Chapter 3 to Patrons, Changes to Releases and Patreon Tiers!

First and foremost, Chapter 3 just went out to my Patrons!  Thank you for the support and the public release of Chapter 3 will be 2/15.

New release and Patreon tiers

So as I’ve been working on Chapter 3 I’ve been thinking about how to better do the release and Patreon rewards and am thinking of doing it slight different than before.

First I’m going to be changing my release pattern a bit.  I had talked a bit about minor releases and have decided that the idea is solid.  How it will work

Chapters are what you’re used to.  Massive content chunks with new zones, major plot movement and character additions.  Focused on moving the main story along the route.  The events unfolding in Lesser Corsix will be the Chapter 4 release.  You can think of them as the major releases and hope to have them out every few months.

Minor releases will be the new thing.  Essentially the work I’m doing in the existing world while developing new content.  This will be heavily focused on side-quests and additional character development but will take place completely within existing areas.  What I’m thinking of for the first series of minor releases: 

Continuing the Celeean Swords line, both in Eleen and adding one in Eowen

The Fenja/Goblin arc from version 1

A line of sidequests from Phoebe, both creating a bit of a backstory for the tentacles, adding more to the history of the land you’re as well as fleshing out her character further.  And of course getting to know her flesh of her better as well.

Further development of Cecilia.  While her arc will still have the same milestones that it did in version 1, there’s a lot of complexity to her character just hinted at in version 1. 

My actual development cycle shouldn’t be heavily affected by this.  I’ll still be doing most of my work on the major release but as I get a good idea for the minor I can take a break and work on existing content.  The big difference is it lets me take a day or two at the end of the month, roadblock future major content, do a quick test on the minor content and then release it when the Patreon pledges go through.

Along with this, I’m going to be making a few adjustments to the Patreon tiers.  First, the early access will go from a week to a month.  Since we’re doing monthly releases it will work out nicely putting the Patrons one version ahead of the public release at all times.  While this might sound a bit harsh to non-patrons, keep in mind that without their support I wouldn’t be able to develop content at anywhere near the current pace without their support.  V1 was lucky to see an update every 4-6 months and monthly updates would be laughable.  Everyone will end up getting more.

I will also be flipping the $50 and $100 tiers.  A $50 pledge will let you commission/design a custom scene every month and then choose if it goes into the game itself (if it doesn’t violate canon and works in content), available to all non-canon Patrons or be yours alone.  Please email me at haremrpg@gmail.com before the pledge goes through with the scene concept and your decision so I can make sure I can develop it.

The $100 tier will be a shop talk.  We’ll arrange a skype/google hangouts time where you can sit down and talk shop with me.  You can chat with me about the game, watch me develop new content or I’d be glad to help with any content you want to develop and help you make it work better.  Really up to you.  I’ll commit to at least an hour of time for it.

And just to be clear, all these changes are going forward.  If you had pledged in January, you will be receiving the rewards as described when you pledged.  Likewise, the public release for chapter 3 will be on Feburary 15^th, one week after the Patron early access.

As usual, any feedback is always appreciated.  Let me know what you think!