0.6 progress

Been writing away on 0.6 and it's turning out well so far.  If everything works out how I think that it should I think it will be the best content that I've written for the game so far.  0.6 is going to revolve around the recovery of Terra (either rescue or recapture depending on path) but goes much further into the backstory of Rata/Celee and the different factions.  Should be interesting and make the world of Harem a bit more vibrant.

So far I've mostly written the first of 4 arcs in 0.6 which occurs while you're traveling into Rata on the tram.  Heavily focused on Jessica and either Donnie or Tomas and how they integrate themselves into your group.  It also is the first time that the character really has had time to talk to his companions/slaves for a while and goes into his quest, backstory, and goals a bit further.

Oh yes, and of course there's a lot of sex in it.  Already added in 10 new scenes (each path will see three of them during the first arc, but they'll be very different based on the path and how you've acted to Jessica in the past).  Jessica's gotten a cock in every hole so far, and Angelica gets to introduce herself to her new companion as well.

Progress is being made, but I don't have any eta beyond months away.

And what's an update without a few teasers.

Now is the time for feedback!

Alright, with the bugs and file hosting issues pretty much taken care of, all my attention is going to be focused on 0.6.  Well once this move is finished and internet is back to a consistent thing.

But what I need more than anything else right now is feedback.  Let me know what you've thought of the game so far, either here or in either of the feedback threads.  If I develop in the dark the results won't be as good.  What work, what didn't, what you want to see expanded, what you want to see closed.  I've added a poll off on the right for a quick answer.

If you can spare a minute or three, let us know what you thought.

I'm unlikely to make another post here for a few weeks until I have something worthwhile to say about 0.6.  But I will be responding to comments both here and in the feedback threads.

Possible alternative ddl

So I have been hearing about problems with file factory, and am trying to find other download sites that I can use and gain some small commission off of.  Unfortunately most of the big ones don't allow any US resident to participate.

Rapidgator doesn't seem to have that restriction, so I'm going to try them.  For now just the Harem 0.5.1 game itself, but if it works out I will copy all the CG packs there as well.  Try it, let me know if it works properly.

http://rapidgator.net/file/6356152/Harem_0.5.1.exe.html

And as always, if you can't get either of these to work, please send me a PM on either hongfire or futunari and I'll reply back with a mediafire link.

Update : The requests that I've gotten for the MF link have gone to about 0 since adding the rapidgator link.  For now I'm going to call the downloading question answered and continue using both File Factory and Rapidgator from here on out.  The CG packs will be available on both, that should be updated very soon.

I'm still exploring donation options, possibly with extras.  Thinking of throwing in a 100% CG save for donators, maybe the unecrypted version.  But I'm not going to worry about that too much until we get close to 0.6, which is still months away.

Work starting on 0.6

So from reading the feedback, I'm fairly happy with 0.5.1 as the final release version of 0.5.  There's a bug or two left, but nothing gamebreaking enough to call for a 0.5.2.  Work will begin on 0.6.  My number of blog posts will be less over the next few weeks and months, but be confident the game is being worked on.  I have no ETA on 0.6 release at all currently, so don't ask :)

Two more people have joined the Harem team, otakujoe23 and HirotonoRei, both will be focused on editing and proofreading.  Hopefully 0.6 will not be as much as an affront to the English language as 0.5 is.  It will still be as much of an affront to human sensibilities as 0.6, potentially even more.  But that's why you all play :)  Many thanks to the both of them.

Still feel free to hit me up for mediafire links if you can't get filefactory to work.  I'm working with some ideas to better release 0.6, monetizing it to some degree while trying to give access to as many people as possible.  I'm considering a time tiered release, but it's still just in early thoughts.

I would ask everyone to play the game to come by and leave feedback on either the hongfire or futunaripalace threads.  A few reasons.  First feedback is critical to make the game better.  I need to know what worked and what didn't.  What scenes had you fapping and which ones yawning.  What you want to see happen in later versions.  Things like that are tremendously useful to all of us, both in terms of the quality of what we make and our own motivation.  It also helps people find the game by keeping it active on the forum.

And drop off a few plus reps and thanks as well to anyone in the team that's responding in the thread.  Just makes us feel good!

Thanks for playing and let me know what you thought!

Oh, if any mods over at LoK is reading this.  I'm trying to post your game there as well in the creative corner, but the mod for that sub-forum hasn't be on for a few days and the post is in the moderation queue currently.  Your board seems to be a great place for Harem and any help would be appreciated.

Other great VX games

Seems that April is the month for homebrew smut games!  Both Elysium from Seyser Kose and Despair Labyrinth by KITAmaru have been updated this month and both are well worth your attention as being very well made adult RPG-VX games natively in English.  There's definitely some similiarites between them and Harem.  Very much worth your time to play.  You'll find them both through the links at the bottom of the blog.

And in between debugging 0.5.1 (found a few, but nothing that demands a new version yet) I've been starting on 0.6.  Probably going to be my most linear update as I'm focusing heavily on story and character development in this.  And slowly coming to grasp with basic picture editing so I can start doing multiple images merged to show clothing damage beyond what the actual .tah has built in.  Let me know how they look

Bug found in 0.5.1

There is an out of order bug in 0.5.1.  It's a little bit to narrow of a bug to justify a new release, but let me know if you feel otherwise.  I might do a request only 0.5.2 for the few people affected by this.

Random encounters are turned off after re-entering the Corsix mines after defeating the tentacle king, with no way of turning them back on. This will prevent you from fighting enough of the jungle orcs to find their village in side quest 2. You HAVE to finish the sidequests before re-entering the Corsix mine after the party.

0.5.1 released

Ran into enough bugs to justify fixing and re-releasing.  I'm going to use the filefactory link because when I give the choice, 85% of people are choosing mediafire.  If you need the mediafire link, send me a PM on either hongfire or futunari and I'll send it to you.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/33p6pt7zoerx/n/Harem_0.5.1.exe

CGs remain the same:

CGs from game (100% detail, no reductions or conversion) Broken into content versions.  Some images from scenes that didn't make it into the game.

0.1-0.3 http://www.filefactory.com/file/679025wwmpor/n/0-3_CGs.rar

0.4  http://www.filefactory.com/file/5qbx3tk2y5tj/n/0-4_CGs.rar

0.5 http://www.filefactory.com/file/h01gorpxonb/n/0-5_CGs.rar

0.5.1 bug fixes
A set of conditions could have you see the flame wall, be told to talk to Phoebe at the brothel, and have nothing happen.  Fixed
Sarah's poison quest would only finish if you brought powder, fixed.
A few bugs with the sidequests fixed
Angelica's bonus quest no longer repeats
Ariel's voting text fixed (she was voting properly, just saying that she wasn't.)
Jon "Tax collector" appears before you talk to him
Ralph is actually under house arrest now, can't leave mansion.
Francis will recognize the fact that he's no longer talking to Samantha
Frenja doesn't know about Kathleen's condition before you meet her
You can wait to enter Corsix now where the screen comes back on.
Mayor's amulet disappears properly now
Can no longer repeatedly get elemental cloaks
Numerous grammar fixes (but not all)

Most of these should work with a 0.5 save.
Any kind of content skip will be part of 0.5.2

File factory down, mediafire link from download

Seems that file factory has gone down, I'm going to use my mediafire account temporarily to distribute until it comes back up.

Links updated in download area.  CGs will have to wait.

First bug in 0.5 found

First bug has been found. If you choose to poison Sarah and the barter Samantha, Lex will disappear before you can reclaim Samantha. Don't barter her, that will be fixed in 0.5.1

For now, either just pay for the poison or find his powder.  Don't barter Samantha.

Make that two bugs.  Don't investigate the burning village (sidequest started in Eleen) with Terra joined but not Sarah or the sidequest will not be completable.  

0.5 released!

The vapor has condensed into a solid, playable game!  0.5 is released!  As well as the graphics used in the game.

Game :  http://www.filefactory.com/file/4dwmcl1uwqyt/n/Harem_0.5.exe

CGs from game (100% detail, no reductions or conversion) Broken into content versions.  Some images from scenes that didn't make it into the game.

0.1-0.3 http://www.filefactory.com/file/679025wwmpor/n/0-3_CGs.rar

0.4  http://www.filefactory.com/file/5qbx3tk2y5tj/n/0-4_CGs.rar

0.5 http://www.filefactory.com/file/h01gorpxonb/n/0-5_CGs.rar

As usual, any and all feedback is welcome.  I'd prefer any bug reports on one of the linked forums just as comments aren't a good spot for them.

Very close

We should be within a few days of release.  I'm sorry for how long it's been since I've had a real content patch, but if you can just wait a few more days, I think that you'll find that there's a huge amount of new content coming in.

0.5 will bring
-Scene count up to 148.  This more than doubles the number of scenes in the game.
-Corsix (Proper or Ratan) major zone added with unique quests for every character.
-A dramatic upgrade in many of the systems underlying the game.  Grammar should be far better, combat should be less awful (notice I didn't say good), and music should be better (I usually play RPG maker games muted and had simply forgotten about it).
-A epic sidequest that winds through the 0.4.2 and before content.
-Introductions to 7 new characters, one capturable.
-Two existing characters will finally join the fold.

A repeat of an old message.  Your old saves will not work in 0.5.  Regrettable but necessary.  Initially chapter skip will be disabled while you all find the bugs that we missed.  I will try to have a 0.5.1 release within 2-3 weeks of the 0.5 release that will enable chapter skip again.  But I think the amount of new content in old zones should justify the replay.

I will be switching to filefactory for the hosting.  Harem is free and I have no plans to charge for it in the future, but if I can make a few dollars and not inconvenience anyone, well I don't see any reason not to do it.  If it's a big issue for people I'll release side by side with mediafire, but I'd prefer that you use the filefactory link.

Here is the 0.4.2 link if you want to make sure that it works for you.
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2gvthnhu7hph/n/Harem.exe


Also if anyone knows of a blogging site that would let me have advertisements and income generated by the blog, please let me know.  Assuming that it's not a pain in the ass of course (no pop-ups or aggressive banner ads.  Evidently you all enjoy this game enough to check this blog on average 150 times a day.

New download link.

I'm trying a new site to download Harem, and want to give it a bit of a test run before I release 0.5 (which will happen in a few days).  I do get paid a bit for your downloads but I want to make sure that they don't inconvenience the people who play my game.  So let me know if there's any issues with the new service.



edit : removed turbobit link


And just to clarify - I have no intentions of charging for Harem.  The game is free, all that I'm doing is making a bit from the distribution.  I may also be moving this blog in the future to one that I can draw some income from as well.  If anyone would know of a good blog host that allows you to monetize a adult blog, please let me know.

Edit : actually never mind, evidently they are fine to let you create an account and upload a file from the US, just not actually download it.  Dumb.  Mediafire links put back.