Harem Hotel (18+) NEW UPDATE!
Dev Diary #1
Hello everyone! I would like to start posting Dev Diaries every other Monday or something to get feedback on some of my plans. As the game is currently in early development it can be hard for my intentions to be clear so I would like to start posting my intentions and hear what you all have to say.
Plans for v0.17 and beyond
There are many concepts being workshopped in my head, both story and mechanical. I want to make Harem Hotel as enjoyable as possible, much more than it currently is. Right now this means increasing the available choices you have at any given moment. So what will this look like?
A Farmable Garden:
- As many of you probably know from my v0.16 dev post, I intended to add a farmable garden to hotel, behind the currently accessible Garden area. But this was delayed for many reasons.
- A farmable garden would be an active source of income and usable items, which would later unlock into a passive source in Jin's storyline once she takes over.
- Maintenance would be required through watering, bug spray, fertilizing, etc. First done by you, then by Jin automatically.
- Actively gaining income can be fun to an extent, but when grindy becomes a chore. This is why it will be active in the early game when that money matters more, but passive once the income is negligible.
- The garden could include food crops such as potatoes, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, etc. This will save you money, as there are so many mouths to feed.
- The garden could include cash crops such as Tinu, Hops, or maybe even an ingredient for Naki.
- The garden could include stat crops such as lust beans to increase lust manually, or something that causes an experience multiplier to stat, such as gaining 2 anal points during a single action instead of 1.
Interactive Mobile Phone:
- Can provide extra context before and after story events
- Characters can send you nudes after unlocking certain stats
Making Sex Completely Optional:
- Could unlock a SFW path (not that you would want to)
- Allows for a possible SFW version of the game to be released in more markets (for free)
- Gives you more choices to play how you want, and skip content you don't want to see.
Expanding the "How are you?" Dialogue:
- The "How are you?" dialogue changes as you advance each character's story, but not enough.
- Can add context to how a character feels after each event or major action.
- It shouldn't be more than a handful of lines for each new response, keeping it to the point.
- Should make the characters feel more alive.
Adding Themed Music:
- The music options are currently very limited, this is because sound files can bloat the filesize.
- But an optional "DLC" could be downloaded if that becomes an issue.
- Many story events and locations could benefit from themed music, which would increase immersion.
- Does anyone here know how to compose music?
Remakes, Remakes, Remakes:
- Many scenes are still in need of improvements, some visually, some through better writing. Android's early content specifically has begun to stick out now that most of the other content has been remade.
- My goal is never to remove, but improve.
- Some repeatable sex options, exhibitionism options, and most of the dungeon content could probably be remade. I will need help finding inconsistencies.
Side Character Content:
- Side characters like Kate, Vanessa, Ellen, etc are planned to get repeatable content in the hotel. As well as their friends.
- The Hot Springs is a place for outsiders to enjoy your hotel, soon you'll be able to enjoy them ;)
- Dungeon content is on the table.
More Explore Content:
- The "Explore" feature is only 25% - 33% done
- More locations will be added when they are ready, current ones will be expanded.
- As well as a new "District" with three locations to visit. This district would be in a nearby forest with a cave.
- This would allow more perspective to be shown, including with Drows and more rural people.
- Eventually all Explore content will be replaced with Tier 2 Explore content, which will allow you to revisit the same places after they have changed.
Holidays:
- Holidays provide great opportunities to show off a culture and what they value most.
- A calendar system may be added, in which case birthdays may also be mechanically present.
- Some Holidays already exist, but they don't always have much significance. That can change.
- Some Holidays will be story based, and some will be mechanical (Such Lin's Midlari)
- Unification Day - In some ways like an 'Independence Day', but in other ways the complete opposite. This is a day when people dress up like it's the medieval era (When Syl'anar was founded) and recreate the culture "Cowboys vs Indians" style.
- Elvish Cultural Holidays - Each culture has their own holidays, such as the Common Elf's Midlari, or the High Elves worship of the moons. These can be expanded upon as well.
A new Main Character:
- Yep, that's still coming.
Gallery updates:
- Yeah, I'll get to it. Eventually all events will be available.
And that's all for now! Please let me know what you think. Suggestions are always helpful as well :)
All of this is only possible due to your support, I would not be able to do this otherwise. So thank you!
Stay updated with HH on Twitter and Discord
And don't forget we have a WIKI!
Comments
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Sorry if this has been asked before, but what is your timeline for v0.17 release? Looks like a lot of content
Hey, Runey! I have a super important question!
Tits or Ass?
This all sounds great. The thing that stick out most to me are the holidays. I really love the history and worldbuilding of the game so anything that expands on it is great. Personally I would love for the story to get really wild and bombastic. Like maybe I'm going crazy, but I feel like the story is building towards some sort of war or coup and I love it. Also, I can't wait for more Vanessa content shes my favorite.
And I wish I knew how to actually compose music cause I would love for the game to have it. But I've only made some wanky instrumentals that are really hit or miss. Keep up the great work.
For money making, what if you could gamble with Elves if you loose you can either F* their elves or choose the money as reward. And then buy their own elves with their own money... sounds so funny on paper at least ehh.
I'm super excited for the update/continuation of Jin's story that you seem to hint at in the picture above!
Something occurs to me. There are times when we can have sex with Lin in her room while Jin also appears in the room. By "times," I mean all the time after we get Jin. So it looks like we're having sex with Lin in front of Jin both before and after Jin begins her road to recovery.
Question 1: Are you planning to make modifications/additions to Lin's sex scenes that take Jin's presence into account? I'm not saying they should be radical, but having Jin be present while you're having sex with Lin and just having no reaction at all feels like something is missing.
1. At the beginning, when Jin is still on the hormones, I'd expect her to be envious. And given the way she swapped cum with Lin in a kiss (extremely hot), not to mention how willing she was to train Lin for the dungeon event (also extremely, face-meltingly hot), I'd expect her to be more than willing to get physical. (I'm 150% open to more Lin/Jin intimacy, by the way. I'd really like to see that discussed in the future story, too. Like, how did Lin feel about having her sister be so intimate with her?)
2. When Jin is going off the hormones and has to abstain from sex for a week, having sex with Lin while Jin is present in the room would pretty much demand some sort of reaction from her, I'd think. There's great potential for drama there.
Question 2: I have the same question about sex with Maria or Hana after they start sharing a room. Are you planning to modify their scenes at all to better reflect each other's presence in the room?
As a side note, there's an event where the MC forces Lin to eat out Kali as a punishment. The way it was presented rubbed me slightly wrong, because it felt like we were forcing Lin to do something sexual she wasn't really into (at the time). Plus, you make it clear that Kali isn't bisexual. Given how hard Lin tries to be a good maid, it just felt slightly out of character for the "good" MC you've been trying to build. I'm not saying to cut the scene entirely, lol, just offering some feedback to consider, in light of how you revamped so many of the Android's early scenes.
Question 3: As the Sanctuary keeps getting more tenants, and the sources of income increase (like from Jin gardening), are we going to see upkeep costs be introduced for the Sanctuary? Seems logical that feeding and supporting all those elves should cost something.
(EDIT: I did it again, didn't I? Up above, the "Remakes, Remakes, Remakes" bit probably covers all of these questions. Sorry, lol. Don't mean to take up your valuable time.)
love Kate, is there any way to make her a main character, rather than a side also really accurate depiction of autism love the rep
I'm looking for the hot springs eventos. I think the hot springs was a feature with great potencial. It could be enjoyable if You add some activities with the girls too. Like lewd scenes, sex scenes or Even some background stories from the girls to know a little more about them. I like the threesomes with some girls, si it could be added for the hotsprings too. And still waitin for the fairy content, they are out for the moment it seems but still waiting how they Will join the story of how we Will interact with them in the future. +_+)b
I've been playing since early on and have been hooked from the start. You've had many amazing ideas so far and i think an SFW path would be awesome so i can play on the go. I appreciate you taking the time to create a dev diary for us and keep up the great work!
Hello,
i love your game. The character development is great and I like the story.
What I would wish for is that there were more items and upgrades (especially for Android, is my favorite character) to buy.
I think your idea with the garden is very cool. Maybe you can also add a fruit tree to take care of, which will then bear fruit that you can harvest.
For more variety, you could also add pictures, other wallpapers or furniture, which you can then buy or unlock.
I just wrote down a few ideas, don't know if that's even feasible, but I hope I could give a few suggestions.
I'm really excited to see how the game develops and I apologize for my bad English. :D
I wish you a nice day.
Really enjoying what you have done so far. The Explore feature is fantastic, really expanded the enviromental atmosphere. The tweaks you've been making to the characters and stories are making it feel more fleshed out and thought over. Looking forward to seeing more of that done.
You probably already have the next charater's traits thought over but I think it would be neat if the next main character (or Guest/Elven Charater) was headstrong and took the lead/initiative in interactions because they only trust themselves or has their guard up constantly. I think this because similar to how Android is shy/cautious about Oral and how Autumn is waiting on vaginal, that character would be ready for Submission only beause they have opened up and have statted to trust because of all the interactions with the Main Characters.
Was on my mind because I've noticed you've changed the pacing and when each character is ready for something new over the course of your updates. I think it's wonderful and further makes each character feel unique.
In regards to Garden Farming and Money, I like the idea of being able to up a stat a little faster but I feel money has a weird pace in the game. Many things are extremely cheap or feel oddly priced and then huge sums of money just pile up and eventually money means nothing. Maybe increase food/date costs, a gift shop that sells stat boosters related to dating/sex/dungeon or other events, and slow character events down when story resonable.
Kali is my favorite main girl and Kate is my favorite side. Great game. Looking forward to more.
Thank you for the feedback!
My mind must have blanked out. I literally describe Felicity's storyline. LOL.
Great work, looking forward to more content.
The game is FANTASTIC but what could be the time period that we could expect the next update if there is not a rough time period then that's okay
Having an in game phone that the girls can send nudes to will be an awesome addition!
Hi, Runey! I like all the ideas, although the "SFW mode" one isn't something I see myself using. Haha
One thing that I'd like to be able to do is to visit Moon, since she said we could do so anytime. And her place looks reaaly nice. More content for her also will be nice. And Kate. I think they are the best secondary characters.
Another thing I'd like to point is that the vending machine at the lobbyfeels kinda useless. This could be the thing that give buffs to stats like you said.
No more from me for now. I love your game. Keep the good work!
It isn't a safe for work mode. It seems people are very confused by what I meant. Just as anal is optional, so too can vaginal be optional.
Making that optional allows me to make a SFW version that can be played elsewhere. It's not something you have to consider at all.
Making Sex Completely Optional
In my opinion, this game is the one that have the most balance in sex and plot content. Other games sometime have amazing plot but sex seems out of place and felt like porn. Some game have awesome and various sex content but the plot is hardly enjoyable.
Harem Hotel on the other hand, kinda balances that and the sex content seems to provide more depth to the character instead of just being a porn content. Example to this are Maria and Felicity. They discover their own self by experiencing their own sexuality. My point is, sex in this game bring the player and the characters more closer to each other. Most of em get to know player more after sex. When you have the character development and sex content in balance, the game felt more lifelike.
So, if you take out the NSFW content, it might cause a gap in characters development and plot. SFW version should have an indicator that implied the player have sex with characters, if chosen to continue the relationship but simply skipping the H content ahead. Also, I'm reminding you here, your characters stats are based on sexual traits. So, making this game SFW might take most of your content out of the game. The plot for SFW version also have to make sense without NSFW content.
I'm not exactly opposing you making SFW version here, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying there's a lot of things to consider here than simply removing the NSFW content to make SFW version. Another thing to add is if it's time consuming for you to to convert this to SFW version. I'd rather you making progress on the game just like you already planned.
But in the end, this is still up to you. I've like everything you've done so far and other things you have planned in the diary, so don't let my opinion stops you from making decision that you think is the best for the game. I will always be rooting for you, Runey. Wishing you all the best.
I'm not taking anything out of Harem Hotel. I am making all sex optional.
Phew..ok. Oh, you're emphasizing the 'skipping' part, by making it optional. Sounds less of work. Gotcha, gotcha. Go for it then.
Any plans for more public and submission content? Also, have you considered to add MFM, DP, gangbang, blowbang and bukkake scenes in the later stages of the game?
I don't fell like I'm alone on wanting some Juliet content. Just putting it out there.
Yes!
For me the best visual novel in 2022, thanks 💗
Honestly, the best part of this game is the cast of characters. They are all really well written and their development is great. Having a SFW version of the game would be nice for sharing the game with people who don't like hentai games
Good stuff, good work, love ya
I really admire the effort put on this game, keep going.