Sunday, July 17, 2016

The importance of forums. A Challenge. And a Reward!

So I've talked about forums a few times, but I think it's critically important to the further growth of Harem.  While I'm absolutely astounded at the support I get through Patreon and the player response to the blog, but one thing I always want more of is player forum participation.  When someone looks at my blog or Patreon page, they're already a player and it's like I'm preaching to the converted.  But a forum post, more importantly a player recommendation, can get a new player.  And that's crucial if I want to turn Harem into a sustainable project.

So I'm putting out a challenge.  I want to see 10 'reviews' of Harem in forums.  While I don't want to create a form letter for this, I'd like to see people talking about what they like about Harem.  About how they think it could be improved.  About what they'd like to see developed further.  About what they think separates Harem from the other indie developed adult RPG games out there.  I'm active in a few different locations, here's the threads I'm active in.
Hongfire
Fenoxo
Ulmf
Legend of Krystal
Hypnopics-collective
Loverslab

Also, if you create or point me to a thread on a board that I'm not on would definitely count as long as you leave feedback about Harem on it and link it to me here in comments.

And there would be a reward for your work!  If I get the 10 reviews, I'll bump the public release of 4m2 up a week.  From  7/29 to 7/22.  So if you've been wanting to support the ongoing development of Harem for a while but can't do so financially, here's a great chance for you to both help me promote Harem and get earlier access to the new 4m2 content as well!  I just ask that you take the time to write out something meaningful.  Something that someone whose never played Harem would read, pause and take the time to download and try the game!

If this does generate more conversations and interest in the forums, I'd definitely be interested in making this a recurring challenge with the same reward ongoing.  Although I will admit that I might raise the bar over time ;)

(one post per person please)

24 comments:

  1. Yeah, it always seemed strange to me that there are so few discussions of Harem outside this blog. Forum threads are very inactive. I often want to write something, but do not know, what to say )

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    1. So if you look at most responses to game threads they fall into two categories.

      1. It's broken! Fortunately I have a good testing team and most of the bugs that get into releases are fairly small.
      2. How do I do it? Thanks to Ikatashi we have a solid walkthrough that gets bundled into each game.

      Now I could introduce more bugs or not package the walkthrough into each release, but that seems self-defeating :). And I've tried asking.

      So I'm trying to incentivize. And an idea of what to write.

      But honestly, it doesn't have to be anything huge. Just talk about what you enjoyed. What you want to see in the future. What you think can be improved.

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  2. https://twitter.com/HaremVXA

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  3. I thought I had seen something on Lewd Gamer regarding Harem but I just looked to see what version it was about and found nothing. Has Lewd Gamer done a review or Lewd Look on Harem yet?

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    1. I'm planning on asking them if they'd like to do one, but I don't know anyone involved with the site.

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  4. Ker, thanks for the game, it's fun to play. Two points, one, I don't think your fenoxo post has a link to this blog. Two, have you thought about posting over at Sharks Lagoon?

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    1. Thanks, I'll be sure to add a blog link in Fenoxo.

      I've looked over at Shark's and it's a good site. But they're hesitant about Patreon funded games. I talked to their admins and the initially didn't want me there because of it. They changed their mind but they only want creators who actively participate in their forum which I really don't have time to do.

      Rather than post there under false pretenses, I'll respect their community and not do so :)

      Delete
  5. So all you have to do is post in the links you made? You dont have to find anything specific?

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    1. Well it has to be feedback. Things you like, things you didn't, things you want to see etc.

      Talk about the game. Don't just bump the thread :)

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    2. Ah, i just wanted to clarify that i was posting in the right spot. Dont you worry ill do more than just bump the thread! (Figuring out logins and whatnot. ill have it up by tomoro and ill link you to it!

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  6. Got the download done from the mega link you posted ker thanks. Also I finished the game(light side only so far) up to this point in the update. I do have a question for you though. Is there a quest tracker in the game so I can keep track of which side quests I have active and where I am in them? If so how to I access it? And if not could you put one in the next update? I kinda got a bit lost on a couple sidequests when I either took a break and forgot what I was doing or I accidentally skipped the text too fast and had some trouble finding the quest objective(in this case the circle guild quests that pointed me to NPCs in their respective villages)

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    1. It's something that I'm working on over time, but it won't be something done all at once. Currently (4m1) you access it through the main characters id ring skill but in 4m2 it gets moved to an item called 'quest log'

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  7. Kimochi's forum is currently experiencing technical difficulties of a rather one-time sort. That all should be taken care of in time for the announcement on Thursday. Once that announcement goes live, I'm free to discuss whatever I know.

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    1. OK, the announcement is now out and I am not longer held behind a do not disclose. The announcement can be found here: http://www.nutaku.net/blog/nutaku-and-kimochi-a-match-made-in-adult-heaven/

      The SHORT version is that Kimochi and Nutaku are joining. There is a LOT that still needs to be hammered out but Kimochi's appeal to Nutaku is it's distribution platform.

      Ker: I'll send you an email so we can touch bases. I'll do my best to answer any questions you have.

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    2. That's awesome! I've been playing a few games on Nutaku for a while now and would love to be part of their larger group!

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  8. Allright, my post is being looked over now, It will be on the LOKforums! Under the name of "ZeraAzimuth"

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    1. Zera, send me an e-mail at haremrpg@gmail.com please.

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  9. I have posted under the name of ZZZslayer at LOK. It is currently under review and moderation before it go public. I have compared Harem with various similar RPG. I make several references to The last Sovereign as I sincerely believe that Harem and TLS is the best Adult theme rpg out there currently and I hope some elements could be adopted. I hope that the feedback is useful.

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    1. I haven't played TLS but I think I will take a look at it later. That said I like the Legend of Queen Opala series along with Harem.(currently has the third game in beta)And also Harem Collector isn't bad either.

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    2. ZZZ, send me an e-mail at haremrpg@gmail.com please.

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  10. question is the bunnygirl in Eowen pub going to be used? seems like u where going somewhere with it but nothing happened.

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    1. If you talk to her owner you'll get a sense for her timeframe.

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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