Harem Remastered Update

Had a very good meeting with the folks at Fylokon Games to iron out the details for our work on Harem Remastered and almost all the details have been worked out. It’s officially a go! I had talked in more details about what we’ll be doing to justify calling it a Remaster before, this post most focused on how we'll do it. First, the roster. I’m finding myself getting really back into the writing and am going to be the lead writer for the project. First, going through the old writing and doing a good proof of all of it while redoing parts of it I didn’t like. Mostly small changes to keep the same cadence to the scenes, but some larger changes as I feel appropriate. TG22 is going to be our programmer, they started to take over the code inthe last version and is *far* better at it than I am. Cyice Wings will be doing our social media contacts, while all of us may come by to chat they’ll be the main point of contact. Torocku will be taking over the imaging as we update all images to KKS at much higher resolutions. Uasked4it will be taking over the business side of things as well as proofreading, helping out with some additional writing as they find time. And Thata’sae Molkot will be our jack of all trades, helping out with mapping, coding, and writing as needs develop. Having people handling the non-writing tasks is part of the reason why I’m getting back into writing imo.

*These are discord names, may be different on patreon/forums

This will be another Patreon-funded project although not with my personal account.  It will mostly follow the one I had set up with one key difference: It will be pay on release, not always monthly. Two Harem projects have fizzled out and I doing this lets us only charge for what is delivered, hopefully that will let people pledge with more confidence. Just to be clear, our goal will be to release every month. But if we fall behind the pledges stop until we catch up. Our initial minimum standard for each release will be 100 pages of updated content, 1 brand new scene/set, and any commissioned work completed. Those numbers might get adjusted as we find out what we can all do with the time we have to commit and/or we build up a buffer.

And for immediate plans: We will release a proof of concept (PoC) first. Let you all see the game in MZ with the updated graphics and writing first. This will be the introduction, hideout, and Donna’s first scene set. The new patreon page, forums, and social medias will all go up with it and I will link the new pages here. The PoC will be a public release. Finishing out chapter 1 will likely hit the standard so when its ready we’ll release chapter 1.

DO NOT MAKE ANY PLEDGES RIGHT NOW.  THE NEW PATREON IS NOT ACTIVE

Chapter 1 will start as a patron-only release with at least a new Samantha scene included. Not 100% sure how non-cannon stuff will work for Legate+ patrons, at minimum I will be updating existing NC content to MZ/KKS and/or adding it to the game as appropriate.

Chapter 2 will likely take 2-3 releases to redo and that will restart the old cadence for releases. When 2m0 comes out to the patrons, chapter 1 becomes public. When 2m1 is released to patrons, 2m0 goes public. etc. We might change release naming to avoid confusion with old versioning.

We’re still trying to figure out where discord access should go. Unlock files will be reserved for $10+, It *might* take the form of a save game. Legate and beyond will work as before but I will be providing the Evocati 5 pages/8 images monthly commission monthly instead of lumping everything into a single scene. Once the complete scene is done, then it goes into the Legate release. At release the Magister+ tiers will be locked as we aren’t doing a SVN quite yet.

And with anything I ever say, these are plans and goals not promises and guarantees.

Harem Remastered

Hey all, sorry for the delay in updates.  Health issues unfortunately, I picked up a case of the flu in early December and just as I was getting over that I caught COVID for the first time.  All while trying to finish my bachelor’s degree and everything else.  While I was able to get in enough schooling to finish my degree, something I had long ago given up on, the everything else had to take a break.  Including futzing around seeing if I wanted to get back to work on Harem.

That delay may have been for the best though.  There was a Harem remake project going on that had my blessing that was doing a bit of tweaking of the core game and updated the images using COM3D2, keeping the game itself in RPG Maker ACE.  Unfortunately it looks that hit with the leader taking time off but some of the members of the team want to reboot it and expand the project quite a bit.  And since I’m back, I’ve said I’m interested in helping out and we’re starting to make some plans.

Always want to clarify before making a list like this:  These are things we’re thinking about doing but they’re absolutely not set in stone yet.  No coming back in a few months, list in hand, saying that we didn’t deliver on promises.  No promise made here.

Harem Re-remake idea (not final name)

-Porting the game to RPG Maker MZ, the newest version.  This of course would be a massive project involving porting/rewriting massive segments of the game but there would be huge benefits to doing so

--Better player experience with things like mouse support built in

--Better combat systems, maps and sprite designs

--Better resolution support.  Was capped at 640x480 in ACE, MZ doesn’t have a limit afaik.  Should make a big difference in image quality. 

-The change in resolution would also demand remaking the images for that resolution.  Not sure if we’ll stay with COM3D2 or switch to KK/S, depends on the team still.

-The ability to fix things that I didn’t like how they turned out.  Most particularly some of the optional characters that plotwise should not have been was a massive issue for me, thinking mostly of Fiona and Rhea.  I would welcome feedback on other fixes as we get closer though.

-Adding some new scenes and events as we go on.  There would be anywhere form 2-4 writers on the team so as the coder codes we’ll have some time to work on expanding the content in earlier chapters.

-Having a larger team to work with.  While I did get a lot of help with Harem, it was me creating the game with help from others.  Being able to offload things like coding and business management completely while having assistance with writing and imaging would be a massive improvement in my QoL.

-Likely this would be Patreon supported again but we aren’t anywhere near close enough to have details on things like tiers yet.

This all is still very early in progress and nothing will go public until a significant amount of content is ready to go public, likely be a while before you’d get to play the content

Another KK pack before I leave for the holiday!

 Did Cecilia, Alena, Rhea, and Noemi&Phoebe this round.  Mostly happy with them myself but always want your feedback.  Alena is the only one with really significant changes, I didn't care for her 3dcg model.  Rhea got a bit of a clothing change to show off the Tenta marking on her back. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q3O3YQqhpHNeI1jDAWs2DaeMkDWxvRM_/view?usp=sharing

More KK models

 Still working out some new models using KK, it does feel a bit closer to 3dcg and while the tools aren't *quite* as strong, I'm getting some decent images out of it.  So recreated Donna, Sarah, Angelica, and Kathleen (Kargan's request) and redid an old scene with them.  As always, I'd love your feedback on the new models and pose styles.

My initial reactions- 

Donna is good, she's a bit babyfaced but that might just be a consistent KK style.  

For Sarah KK doesn't do side tattoos well so I moved her to a tramp stamp and arm sleeve for body tats, she seems the sort for a whale-tail as well.  Might be too modern. 

For Angelica I'm fairly happy overall, tried to give her an eye-glow under power.  Let me know how that worked out.  I can bring it up if necessary, even turning her eyes into spotlights if needbe :)

Kathleen got changed quite a bit, her character was mostly undone when her model was created.  She turned out to be one of the most sexually-forward women in the game and I gave her a outfit more fitting to that persona.  You can see it in her first frame, her hair being down is appropriate to the scene but she'll usually still have the tight braids.

Did a few different eyes for the magic; Sarah used a overall filter, Donna a pixel gradient, and Angelica an emission glow.  Let me know which you all would prefer. 

Download

repack with rtp

Further experiments with different engines.

I've spent my free time in the last couple of weeks playing around with a few different imaging programs, both Honey Select 2.  I'll agree that HS2 isn't as appropriate for the RPG maker style but the power of the engine is absolutely amazing coming from 3dcg.  And our women finally have noses... actual noses!  Did Alena and Vanessa scenes that stay fairly close to the 3dcg designs (ignore Nicole's model, that is very much WiP).  I decided to change Adeline's model significantly, having such a visually striking model for a master disguise artist/assassin didn't make much sense so redid her.  Really like the new model personally, she's more she has a bit more of an androgynous look now that makes her very unique among the harem.  But still is all woman for the people always disturbed by Laura.

I also gave KoiKatsu another try, this time the older KK instead of KKS which seems to have significantly better mod support.  Still far less than HS2 but possibly enough for me to function with, particularly as I learn to use overlays to do the body markings that are important to Harem's story.  Started with Jessica (dunno, has become a personal fave of mine recently), her dark tram scene just to get a handle on KK's maps and controls.  Did Terra's reconcile (c4 light to dark route) scene to test out some of the overlays and did Sam and Terra with Aries to work more with the male models (neither of those are anywhere near complete.

As always, would love your feedback.  Focus on the models themselves, I'm sure I'll get plenty of comparative feedback between the two engines regardless.  That will likely be decided by a poll that I'll create if I decide to work on Harem again, as opposed to me just playing around now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17RB3QEgZEf2NtHb3arGEKOgqPL9TTmE7/view

 

Personally things are going fantastic for me.  Back in school, going to finally finish my Bachelors after many years and am looking into various grant programs to earn various medical technical programs that sound very interesting to me.  And would be quite lucrative.  Spending so much time with the family again has been fantastic for my mental health as well.

Experimental pack 1 updated

 So I'm continuing to play around with the imaging software and have mostly settled on HS2.  KKS is a bit closer to the 3dcg style but still significantly different and is missing a few creative tools that would make a night and day difference in workflow.  Ditto for COM3D2 but the mod support there is massively shorter in mods, particularly in tattoos and body markings which Harem used extensively.  I'm still listening on the imager topic; but unless the imager has a solid static studio and pose manager, overlay system, and inline map editor HS2 is likely to win.

From the feedback on the first set of trial scenes I did and have an updated version with some model changes and new scenes.

Experimental 1.2

 -Fixed a fixed poor picture calls, should follow scene better
-Revised Noemi, Terra and Jessica models, feedback please
-Added scenes for Cecilia, Rhea, and Angelica.  Again, feedback please

I know that some of the text doesn't match events, like Angelica grabbing carpet on a wooden floor.  Don't report those, these aren't replacement scenes.
Lighting before Terra is bad, still learning that system.  And Angelica's hair is too plasticy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RC3sARf6c0XqLe65zTWbHuJ3QNZwlccy/view?usp=sharing

 

Also working on a few new models, the feedback cycle has been useful to revising models.  Both here and in discord.  Keep them coming, and keep them constructive!  I have Vanessa and Alena model scenes started, would be open to suggestions for two more slots for the 2nd set of scenes.  

Experimental scenes

When I came back, I said it would be quite a while before I would/could decide if I would return to developing Harem.  Part of that is me figuring out if I even can do so, I deleted my 3dcg installation before my attempt and much of it is irreplaceable.  While I community member did offer their copy and I do have some mods from it still stored, I have lost many of the mods, and all of the models and scenes used to create the game.

So I’ve been looking into different, more modern, imaging programs.  I played a bit with the COM3D2 and wasn’t especially impressed with the variation of models it can create and the size of the mod community.  Tried HS2 and was far more impressed with both its modding community and studio program.  While stylistically it’s far from the VX ACE design and 3dcg, the results are very good.  I’ve always been very sensitive to uncanny valley issues in imagers but so far I’ve been able to clear the valley and been happy with the results.

I’ve spent a few days this last week recreating characters and scenes from Harem and would like to share them with you all for feedback.  Not as much as technical issues like clipping and lighting, but what you think about the models replace the 3dcg models and the mechanics of the scenes.  And what you’d think if I were to use a more photo-realistic imager instead of the more anime-styled 3dcg or CMD32

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cXciZhrLhNF8yF4WG4w5A2lQCg4794NQ/view?usp=sharing