Sunday, June 28, 2015

Rethinking stuff

Hey guys and girls!
Lately I got the impression that LDH is not being received that well and... yeah.
Obviously I couldn't get all those things off my mind, so I thought about doing a vote in order to gather some information and then think about that. LDH was intended to be just a testgame, and if people are not that interested in it, I think we should move on.


In the vote I'll give you the options to:
  1. Vote for Last Demon Hunter
  2. Vote for Deathblight Apocalypse
  3. Vote for Paperheads 2
  4. Vote for a not existing RPG Maker game that we could start if demand is high.
  5. Vote for us doing an entirely new game, and tell us what you like in the comments.

The RPG Maker game idea came to mind when we thought about Crescentias artistic abilities and the fact that CGs are super important in RPG Maker games.
And Paperheads 2 was an idea that I had on my mind since Paperheads 1...
As the name suggests, it's basically Paperheads just VASTLY improved on all fronts.
(better graphics, better CGs, better gameplay etc.)
But we're obviously not limited to that.

I'll be blunt here:
No matter what game you guys and girls (the community and fanbase) want us to work on, we're okay with working on nearly everything!
So we'll gladly work on the game that YOU want to see.
But we can't do that without money to buy food and pay bills.
This is actually the only thing that keeps us from going "all out" on game developement.
Despite the fact that with only about 1500 $ per month we could already go "all out".
Yeah, 1500 $ won't make us rich, we won't be able to buy everything we want to, but that's fine.
It's enough to cover the basic needs, and we lived from that amount the past months, so we're used to it.


So yeah, why should you support us on Patreon?


Let me give you a couple good reasons:


We've got a reputation and skills:

We've been working on hentai games for more than 3 years now.
Yeah, there had been a break, but the point is we're no strangers, you know who we are, what we did in the past and if you look at our old games and compare them to our new games you can see a lot of progress. During those 3 years we improved CONSIDERABLY on all fronts!
Programming, Artworks, efficiency overall.

Since art is an easy language everyone understands, let me show you a comparison of Crescentias progress over all these years:


old version of Verdani 2012/2013
new version of Verdani 2015


Fun fact:
The new artwork took the same time to be created as the old one.
(no kidding!)



We've build up quite the team of skilled people:

A professional game designer, a very skilled music composer, and several writers, just to name a few.
Since we've been working on a lot of projects together over all these years, we managed to get the team work very efficiently. We know each other, we get along really well, we trust each other and we love creating hentai games!



We're quite the fast workers:

Over time we improved on our quality, as well as our working speed.
I'm confident that we're able to produce a lot of content in a short time spawn.
Of course, given that we are able to focus on our work, and are not distracted with doing commissions and hired work in order to earn money for our daily needs.



We can produce good results with low funding:

This is actually somewhat tied to the "we're quite fast workers" point.
Since we're fast, we can be cheap.
Currently we're living of around 1500 $ per month, it's not much (since we're more than 1 person!), but it's enough for our basic needs (food, paying bills etc.).
Reaching that amount would allow us to drop commissions and hired work on a large scale.
It would enable us to add another ~10 work days to working on hentai games per month, that's quite a lot! At the moment we're ONLY working on 1-2 days per month on hentai games, no kidding.
Imagine that big difference in work time, we could do so much more!
(the other days of the month we're working on our webcomic, which is already fully funded)

Of course it would be nice to have even more funds.
It would boost our productivity in several ways:
An appartment and working place of our own would be neat. (no distractions by parents/housemates)
We could hire additional artists and programmers, or have existing teammembers join us full time.
Possibly an office for our team to work in, it would boost working speed even more!



We're honest and talking openly about our stuff:

In the past years, we've been always talking openly about what's going on.
Be it progress reports of our games, or issues we've ran into.
Game developement is a very complex process with lots of troubles, but also lots of joy!
We want to stay true to our honest ways and we're also continuing to do our best when creating hentai games, even if the trouble we run into is of major magnitude.
In the end, we always get stuff done!


In the past the only thing that kept us from going all out were little to no funds.
But this can change today!

With only as little as 1500 $ per month, we can already get VERY far!
So if you want to support us, spread the word!
The more people hear about us, the better!

51 comments:

  1. My Vote for LDH and Paperhead 2
    i'am not fan rpg maker
    thank you for your work on the games and site

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much!
      Your kind words motivate us to do our best!

      Delete
  2. My vote is Paperheads 2 / Deathblight Apocalypse. However any game is fine as long as it has Crescentias art.

    Been lurking for a very long time on the blog and would like to say thanks for the hard work and dedication. Best of luck on your future projects.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you like her art that much!
      And thank you very much, it helps to stay motivated.

      Delete
  3. Paperheads 2 all the way, more enemy variety and variety of animations as well. I really liked the grab system for Paperheads 1. One thing I could suggest is have an option where the player can choose between the old Paperheads 1 grab system or more simplified system that favors a more arcade style gameplay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uhm, you do know that the tentacle monster in Paperheads has 10 animations and a lot of other unnecessary extra animations?
      I don't think it makes much sense to go even further.
      Especially because most people don't seem to notice the bunch of animations that had been used.
      (it was the main reason why there were only a handful enemies, since nearly every enemy had such a high animation count and it was a lot of work doing all that)

      The grab system was also flawed, and I already know how to "fix" it.
      I'll spare the details since it's too much for the comment form.
      Thank you very much for your suggestions!
      And I'm happy you liked Paperheads so much!

      Delete
  4. Well I voted for Deathblight Apocalypse, as that was the game which created that huge character list way back.

    (opinion on others)
    LDH - I found it slightly amusing. Best memory of it was opening a door and a ape demon (first time seeing one) immediately charged me; which did startle me. Though there wasn't much reason to continue playing it. If it had a little story and possibly had the levels go down a path with a end, then it might have more sense of success once clearing are the levels. For the most part it was left to the player to guess what to do. (rank 3-4)
    Paperheads 2 - (don't know what to say) I seem to be neutral to this option. (rank 2-3)
    RPGMaker - This is a bit iffy. I like there being multiple paths. Example: Going though the game without once having the character H ( :3 I just don't like being roped into unavoidable H scenes). Of course the more features the more appealing it is. A good RPGMaker game as a example is "Dungeon and Prisoners" a work in progress. Simply said this can be very good or very bad. Also preferably a part of the Deathblight universe. (rank ~1-4)

    Anyway I look forward to seeing what gets chosen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hrm (idea popped into head)

      It might be a little early for a game like this, but perhaps a game where the player is playing the villain (example: Failure or Demon King). It can theoretically be any game type, though would probably be more H scene heavy than most others.

      Delete
    2. Yeah, LDH would need some more stuff like a bossfight and an escape mechanic.
      But I think we'd rather move on to Deathblight Apocalypse instead of continuing work on LDH.
      (one last LDH patch will be released though, music and sound as well as a new enemy will be implemented, it's all being worked on for some time already, so we don't want to waste this, but right after that one we'll continue with DA)


      Regarding the RPG Maker Game with Failure or some other Demon King/Queen:
      I'm not so fond of games where you play the villain, raping others.
      I know this is purely personal taste, but most likely we'll not do games like that.

      And yeah, Dungeons and Prisoners is great!

      Delete
  5. Thought this through a little bit, and I came to the conclusion that I like LDH for a few reasons: it's a simple, straight-forward game that's easy for you to add new content, it has Crescentia's fantastic art, and text-driven game over scenarios that hit the right buttons for me.

    Then I thought about it a little bit more and realized that the game play of LDH doesn't do anything for me, not really. The simplicity of it means that I don't mind grinding through to either try to accomplish something or just find the ending that I want... but it's that art and those stories that I'm really looking for.

    That's why I'm casting my vote for an RPG Maker game, and I think it's why everyone else should also. An RPG is the best way to blend the elements that I've really come to hope for in your games - I want to enjoy the visual experience, and I want to enjoy your narration. I didn't play Paperheads, so I can't comment on the game play there, but I did enjoy what you'd started with Geisterhand, and, again, I do appreciate the simplicity of LDH. I don't want you to think that I'm knocking your game design skills, because that's not what I'm trying to say, but the biggest draw for me is really your H-scenes.

    It doesn't have to be a conventional RPG - an adventure game in the style of Exorcist Rio I think would highlight those abilities. Or a game with an in-battle rape system could also do the artwork justice.

    Either way, you guys clearly have a desire and the strengths to tell visual stories, and I think you should go with it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much!

      And yes, that was the reason why we thought of RPG Maker games in the first place.
      The CGs and narration can be used quite well in those, while the gameplay would be fairly "basic".
      Well, I would aim for some sort of hentai combat system.
      Probably something along the lines of Ahrimans "defender of public morals" game?
      Also with capture mechanics and stuff.
      (and of course, multiple playable characters/party members)

      At any rate, looking at how the vote/poll looks right now, we'll have to delay the RPG Maker stuff for now.

      Delete
  6. I'd vote for a new Paperheads any day, I only ever got the demo but even that was still lots of fun.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My Vote is some other Game and this would be a Game Version of the current Web Comic ^.^ Wouldn´t that be Awesome? ^_^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uhm... that's basically Deathblight Apocalypse, I guess?

      Delete
    2. But they are still diferent °.°

      I thought of a game where all hapens like in the Comic °.° like . . . you know what we read but in Game °_°

      Delete
  8. Personally, I voted for DA, since you have already started working on this game a while ago, so I think it would be easier to just pick up where you left. Maybe Paperheads 2, since you said it would be an improved version of Paperheads 1 (so I guess you wouldn't start from a scratch).
    RPG maker doesn't sound bad, especially with a villain as a main character, like Nagashofchaos suggested. But, I think it would be better to finish what you started, than move on.
    Lastly, I hope whatever you choose works out for you guys (you, Cres and nameless sidekicks)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If we would do Paperheads 2 we need to start from scratch.
      All the code will be made anew, as well as all the graphics.
      (and music as well as SFX)
      In fact, not a single asset would be reused.
      The old stuff doesn't live up in quality anymore, so that's why we would start from basically "zero".
      I'd also have to go through all the planning stuff again, as level design, enemies, bosses etc. etc. will all be redone.
      (I mean, none of the old bosses would make their appearance as boss)

      The only 2 things that would probably stay the same is:
      - Verdani probably being the main heroine (with new graphics of course)
      - the game being a Brawler (with... less flaws overall)


      And yeah, I think it's probably best to go back to DA first.

      Delete
  9. Wolfie, whatever you and Crescentia post is fine with me, You both certainly put effort and love in your art and work that it's highly palpable in your works. Also the care you invest in us your fans and supports is endearing enough as it is. As such, I abstain to vote, but know that you'll probably have a solid longtime supporter in me.

    (ps, i'm that razgriz gundam fellow on patreon)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very very much for these kind words!
      It really means a lot to us, and of course we're continuing to do our best.
      Thank you very much! ^^

      Delete
  10. Deathblight Apocalypse is the way to go. While Last Demon Hunter does have a nice touch with the "character view" ui, It becomes very limited in terms of hard development and delivering things such as detailed animations and fluid gameplay mechanics and twists that aren't just top-down touhou styled spam shooting.

    Paperhead relies on CG far too much to the point where players are inclined to just speedrun & kill themselves against all of the different enemies instead of actually playing the game. The effort made into CG's could instead be pulled towards the comic or creating more and/or higher quality CG's for other games that don't rely on them too much.

    RPG Maker games are also extremely saturated in the current H-market and creating something big from scratch does not suit your current budget. Had some experience with this myself and I hope I managed to at least make some sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much!
      Yeah, I think DA is a good choice since it uses CGs but it doesn't rely on them too much.
      By that I mean, there's a good number of CG scenes planned, but not too many (and not too few).

      So this hopefully drives the player to get into the game further, instead of focusing on suiciding all the time.
      But.. we'll have to see about that.
      (good thing is, with enough feedback while developing the game, I think we should be able to manage to get this right)

      Delete
  11. H.F.Sh!!! 1500$, it's 75000R. LOL.
    I work in the hospital and my official salary is 7000R(140$) per month. Per week i use 60$(240-300$ in month)
    Where you live, live is expensive.
    Paperheads2 its good idea, many peoples know Paperheads, and after first part game must have many buyers.
    Want see new adventures of Verdani :-)
    Good Luck Wolfenstahl)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'm living in a very expensive country.
      On average the "common" people here earn around ~1500-2000 $ per month.
      But Cres and I are actually two people, so if we get 1500 $ that would be 750 $ per person.

      I'm glad you like Paperheads and Verdani that much! ^^
      Thank you very much!

      Delete
  12. I voted for Paperheads 2, but looking back I think Deathblight Apocalypse has the best chance of coming out sooner.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, Deathblight Apocalypse has already a decent amount of work done on it.
      Of course there's still so much more to do, especially the artworks and game graphics.

      But we're pretty close to releasing some alpha-version (or rather prototype).
      So DA is the better choice probably.

      Delete
  13. I personally loved LDH, and I was more of a fan of Geisterhand because it was coloured and had more minor details. I think if there were more CG images, more color in those images, and more of a part of what happened after the last bits of dialouge, like a months after epilouge to the scenes, it'd be much more popular, and I'd pay money to see all that in LDH. If I had to vote however, I'd still go for LDH. I crave the tentacles!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I personnally really like LDH which is my favourite of the games that you did up to now. I like the interface, i like the difficulty rating which makes it relatively challenging but not overall impossible ( i am not a fan of hentai games which are so difficult that you basically see all of it since you keep losing again and again in the beginning), i like the gameovers and the fact that you can rewrite your own versions if you like, i have almost as much fun trying to rewrite some other stories to match the images of the gameovers and trying them out as in playing in a classical way.

    And for all of these reasons i voted... For deathblight apocalypse... Okay, not very logical, i'll give you that, but i must say, it felt from what you were saying that deathblight apocalypse was going to be your major project, your baby, and i can't wait to see that, i just hope that it will be filled to the brim with a lot of humiliating gameovers and sexy CG...

    Anyway, whatever you throw at us i'm curious to see what it will be and i am pretty sure that i'll enjoy it.

    Cheers...

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just want to let you know that I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Paperheads. The theme, the whole slave aspect, and the whole idea that you are fighting this organization knowing that you yourself could fall into its hands, I love it. I would love to see Paperheads 2 and I do hope that it comes out soon, and I know that you haven't started on it yet but my dream will still go on. ;A;
    I actually liked the mechanics and how the enemies can grab you. It was actually quite difficult to get out of their grasps after failing the fight back mechanic and playing on the harder difficulties. The CGs were well done as well and I loved how the protagonist is portrayed in them, falling victim and helpless even though she had this goal to defeat them. One aspect that I really liked was that I personally saw there being a balance between gameplay and the hentai. I never saw either one dominate the entire game which is a wonderful thing. I had to learn the movements of the enemies, especially the bosses attack patterns, in order to defeat them and continue onward. At the same time though, the hentai mechanics of the enemies doing what they wish to you, via the grab mechanic and failing the fight back mechanic, and the CGs after victories and failures kept the hentai aspect alive and I loved that as well. I hope that once Paperheads 2 comes out, it will remain relatively the same with a balance between the two as present in Paperheads 1 and not siding too much on one particular side. Another bonus was the CG gallery. After completing the game, I found it fun to try and unlock all the pics in the gallery. Yeah I could have just looked into the pic folder, but where is the fun in that? :0
    Exploring the map, finding unlocked doors to see what surprises await me behind them, these were also very fun times for me.
    Whatever you decide on though, whether it be working on Paperheads 2 or any other creation, I'm just glad and very happy to see more of your work. After reading most of the posts, this is your dream and I hope that you and the entire team reaches that dream. Do what your heart desires and never give up. ^_^


    ps. I hope that Paperheads 2 will come out one day, if not next then one day. ;A;
    *the dream will stay alive*
    *lols*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. The number of times I said "mechanic" lols XD
      Sorries ;A;

      MAY ALL YOUR GOALS BE REACHED!
      YOU HAVE MY SUPPORT!

      Delete
    3. DA, Deathblight Apocalypse, seems like a GREAT GREAT GAME TOO! :0
      The anticipation and excitement are soooo real. ;A;
      DA might be a good choice since you already have work done on it. :0
      I also have a love for rogue like games as well so this will be a fav.
      Either or, I am excited for both and don't mind whichever you guys choose.
      Looking at the votes, it seems to be a very close race. >w<

      Delete
  16. I suggest adding animation gallery and chance to find captured girls, in Paperheads viewpoint it's will be very fapability.
    Oh, in new dress Verdani very hot!!!
    Good Luck Wolfenstahl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. And dressing... i know how that hard(once made free hentai game with analog function, for torrents) but peoples love this function.
      For example: normal dress, old dress, shcool girl dress, slave dress, dominatrix dress.
      Dresses unlocked when finded secret location with this dress.
      And good idea is "additional defeating levels" which needed defeating from scpecific unit on special location.

      Delete
  17. 3 days left, and less than 10 votes difference between awesome sexy platformer game....or fat men with bags on head game. I'm a little confused as to why this is such a common kink. As biased at it may sound, If you can, I would look back at the records of the votes to see if either option had any sort of abnormal surge in a short period of time. It wouldn't be the first time a poll has been hacked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It´s pretty simple though ^_^ Paper Heads were more Popular then all thought The only reason why It didn´t got sold so much were that someone did everyone download it for free last time = / you know what I mean = P

      Delete
    2. There is a chance that the votes could have been hacked, not saying that they were, but I do see reasons as to why people would vote for Paperheads 2 rather than DA and why the vote count is so close. Now I'm in no way bashing DA, I'm actually very excited for both and wish the team the best of luck. :0
      I love the fighting mechanics in Paperheads but also love rogue like games like DA.

      Reasons:
      1. Paperheads 1 was obviously released a lot earlier, it was the teams first game actually, therefore more people know of it than DA.

      2. Because sequels are generally based off of the previous version, not saying that they are exact copies, there is a better understanding of what the game will be like and areas where improvements and changes can be made.

      3. The post gave screenshots of the old protagonist in Paperheads 1 and how she would look like in the new one which, in my assumption, sparked excitement in many because of the very nice and beautiful updated art style.

      4. The theme of the game which like you stated a good number of people like, I myself like it but I also like DA's gameplay and features as well. ^_^
      Now I know what you meant when you said "fat men with bags on head" so please do not think I am playing smart, honestly I'm not Q.Q, but I think Paperheads focuses more on the idea of helplessness and surrendering to these enemies rather than "fat people being the enemies". In any case, the games so far that have been released, which by the way are all amazing sauce :0, the protagonist is "forced" or feels "helpless" in someway whether it be a man or a monster. As a result, the theme is present throughout all titles it's just a matter of what is involved in the theme of the particular title, aka the enemy and protagonist.

      In the end though, they are both amazing games and I hope only the best for the team behind them. No matter which title is released first, they will both be amazing and hopefully all will be able to enjoy them. ^_^

      ps. I SO EXCITED AGH!! \(;A;)/


      Delete
    3. Hey! Why we can´t get just the two most rated?? >.<

      Ps: You´r SO cuteeee! >_<

      Delete
    4. YES!
      I WOULD LOVE THIS! \(;A;)/
      WONDERFUL IDEA!

      Delete
    5. THANKS!!! -^.^- . . . But unfortunately it woldn´t went like this = /
      because this would mean that they would need the double Time to finish both of them just to relise them at the same time = / and then they would be damn busy >_<
      so it would be better to finish one and then the other one ...

      Delete
  18. YAY! Hurry up! Only six more ratings for DA! XXDD

    ReplyDelete
  19. Replies
    1. Don't panic, all right.
      I hope that the author will make the game in turn, one after one)

      Delete
  20. Thank you very much everyone for the nice comments!
    We appreciate it a lot, and it helps us stay motivated, thank you very much!

    I've read all the comments and I'll do a blogpost probably next week.
    Lately just too many things happened, so I can't get to that earlier.

    At any rate:
    I don't think the poll has been manipulated on a large scale, as the numbers were rising pretty slowly and I can see both DA and Paperheads 2 being very popular games to vote for. Actually the poll pretty much turned out as I expected.

    At the same time we did the same poll on Patreon, which had DA win with more than 50% of the votes. So I think it's safe to say that we'll continue with DA. However, this is not as easy as simply continuing with DA like, next week or something.

    First of all we'll finish the last patch for LDH we've been preparing since last month.
    (which will add music and sound and probably some other stuff)
    Though I see that it doesn't make much sense to continue on with LDH much longer.
    We just don't want to waste the amount of work that has already been done for LDH last month.

    After that it will be very tricky to make decent progress on DA.
    This is because at current Patreon support level we're able to only invest 2-3 days per month into DA. (maybe even just 1-2 days if lots of pledges don't go through, which happened this month btw.) LDH progress was "easy" (kinda) as it all was just sketches and stuff.

    But DA is something else, with full quality CGs, we'd need at least 2 days to do one of those. Which means, yes... it's impossible to release DA patches once per month.
    Most likely there will be a patch every 2-3 months.
    (This will change when we get more support on Patreon, but I think it will have the opposite effect and in fact causes many supporters to leave because of slow progress)

    We're currently thinking about various possibilites to "fix" this situation.
    So we can continue working on DA more efficiently as soon as possible.
    (and yes, this is the reason why we've not been working on DA all the time, and instead pushed progress on LDH in order to gain more support)

    At any rate, I'll do a proper blogpost about this next week or so.
    I just thought it would be a good idea to tell everyone what's going on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Donate is donate))) If Patreon users voted for DA, make DA for prosperity of group right. Recently look on one CG from DA, very not bad)
      Wait for DA demo)))
      But i hope you make Paperheads2 later)))
      Good Luck Wolfenstahl)

      Delete
  21. Damn, I missed the Patreon poll. I should really check here more often - but at least I finally raised the pledge. And, well, I am sorry to hear about your loss, I hope you are doing as good as possible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much.
      I'm doing fine and I'm back to working on stuff!

      Delete
  22. Noooooo! >.< Girls have to be sexy!! And specially the lesbian ones!!! I mean, i am a lesbian and i am neither a fat ugly cow nor an old rotten granny! >= O I refuse to play a game with fat/old Girl enemies! >o<

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. relax, its a video game.. no need to get all offended if they do put those enemies in the game.

      Delete
    2. Who said that I am offended? It just would be waaay too disgusting for a Hentai Game! And i never could get erected by a fat lesbian or an old granny! >~< . . . so please, please! Don't implement them! Q.Q

      Delete