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!