Post by NunyaNunya in Harem Hotel comments

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I downloaded this version a bit ago and have been playing it throughout the week. I did actually play the game a few years ago so I was keen to see how much it had changed. While I am impressed with the amount of different story arcs and the slight improvements in overall quality, I am a little confused as to how there has been a relatively minor increase in the amount of main story content compared to the time gap. For a game that has been in development for the better part of a decade, I am surprised that the game is apparently not even 25% complete going by the release versions.

I have considered jumping back on the patreon, however I am worried at how long the wait will likely be before we get to see the completion, or even major work on, the main story arc.

I did also run into an issue with the way the stories are structured that was a little irritating, that being that I managed to complete the current extent of F & E storyline before I had even heard the name of the antagonist through Ash's. It left me both confused and a little bothered that her current arc was spoiled for me through her own dialogue at the end of the other story.

It is still a remarkably well developed and fleshed out game and world so far, so this isn't me attempting to shoot it down, I am just genuinely confused and a slight bit concerned.

RuneyGames41 days ago (6 edits) (+1)

Hey Nunya, thanks for your concern.

Version numbers aren't percentages they just count how many updates there have been. No game developer or artist has ever fully planned their project from the beginning and followed that plan perfectly without deviation. Harem Hotel is probably around 70% complete, but even I can't say for certain. It will be done when it feels complete, it's just how the creative process works when it isn't shackled by corporate greed.

I'm really starting to sound like a broken record, which isn't your fault, you're just curious, but my father died two years ago and that really fucked things up. I took a break from work, dealt with bureaucracy, and at the same time moved countries. This slowed down v0.18 tremendously. I was able to work on v0.19 more consistently, it was just a massive update bigger than most, but had still been dealing with a lot of bureaucracy, including creating my company. I think at one time I had 4 or 5 lawyers at once (a drunk driver also hit him weeks before he died), and all of it just ended last month. I also settled down with my partner and started taking vacations for the first time in my life at the same time during v0.18.

But in any case, each update comes with hours of story content, and more in gameplay. Some of these events take 30m to complete, which is a full length TV show without ads and no small feat. It can sometimes take a whole month just to create one story event, but that is more rare. Each update typically gives 1 story event to each character, which is usually similar in size to a chapter of a book. In that same sense, there are 7 books being developed at the same time.

All stories should take into account where you are with other character's stories, but something can always slip through the cracks in a developing game. To fix this issue I will need some more details though because I am not completely sure what you are describing. What level was F&E and Ashley at these points? It would really help seeing pictures of the issue or just having the exact dialogue.

NunyaNunya41 days ago

Thanks for the clarification, and I'm sorry to hear about your last few years; I understand much more than you'd expect when it comes to the world deciding to implode.

My issue was that I was able to complete Felicity & Emma's current story before I had even gotten to the point where Ashley had started looking for Ren. So I was at first confused when Manager called Dean Stoneface (as well as that entire plot in general) as well as spoiled with the Ren storyline as Ash says in the final scene of that story that he now has both Ren and Felicity. As for screenshots and events, I won't be able to help there, my save page is a mess, and they are usually hours apart from each other (late night sessions and brain function clashes)

Hearing the actual % amount is reassuring, I'll definitely keep my eye out for updates and will try chucking some cash on patreon when I can.

Thanks for offering free access over here, its a lot easier to be interested in a story when you aren't forced through a paywall to test it out.

itch.io

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