Dev Diary #12
Hello everyone!
After listening to your feedback, I heard that what Harem Hotel is lacking most right now is gameplay. The story has received so much attention over the years, that the actual "game" part of this game has begun to suffer. While I've included stuff like the bowling tourney and the farm, these are more like minigames than something we would consider apart of the core gameplay loop. This gameplay loop is what I took a very hard look at after v0.19 completed.
But first, let's back up and look at the game objectively.
In Harem Hotel, there are currently four hub locations. The lobby, 1st floor, 2nd floor, and utility room. These locations are naturally visited often, so let's take advantage of this.
Above, you'll see that our lovely maids are now cleaning on each floor! As well as some signs of life from our residents and guests. Characters will now also leave food outside their door, depending on their personality. You'll see Kali leaving food out her door a lot more than Ashley for example.
After you see a maid cleaning, she'll leave. Food will stick around outside a door for the whole time slot though, until one of the maids gets to it. This way, the flow of gameplay is not possibly interrupted. These are just cosmetic features to add flavor to the gameplay loop.
Introducing Tourism!
Tourism is a new gameplay mechanic coming to v0.20 that allows you to officially open up your hotel for the first time! Optionally.
When you enable tourism, a random unique guest will show up in the lobby and attempt to make a booking. If you choose, you may interact with them, hear a bit of who they are, and accept or reject their booking personally. Otherwise, you can ignore them all day and Ellen will automatically assign a room to them. This system is as passive as you would like it to be.
You may really piss some guests off if you reject them though...
If you played v0.19.1, you may have noticed a strange and unique addition that stood out of place. That being, the addition of the second floor visually being upgraded:
This was also a precursor to the new 3rd floor! The guest floor. Which you probably noticed Lin cleaning above.
The 3rd floor will be a guest only floor containing three guest rooms, and a storage room.
You can even enter each of these rooms with the guests inside and interact with them. And you'll be able to upgrade these rooms as well!
You'll see some familiar and unfamiliar faces.
Which guests visit your hotel is completely determined by your hotel's star rating. Poorer guests will not visit a 5-Star hotel as it exceeds their expectations and finances. You could keep your hotel open to the less fortunate if you'd like, or shoot for 5 stars if you've got that profit motive. Every part of this mechanic is completely optional at every step of the way.
This rotating cast of guests also keeps things fresh. As you naturally progress the game, the hotel will continue to evolve and feel more popular.
This is a system largely only possible due to how big the game has gotten. Over time, I've naturally needed to fill this world and community with all sorts of people and regulars. This has given me a huge cast to play with, cutting down development time by a lot. If you're inclined, you'll also be able to learn more about these people. There will be new characters made for Tourism as well though!
Introducing the star system! Another new gameplay mechanic coming to v0.20.
The new star rating mechanic will tie into the normal progression of the game and give you objectives which would naturally be unlocked in previous updates, such as purchasing the bar being a requirement for a 2-Star hotel. Developing the garden and hiring Jin will provide the kitchen fresh produce, which will allow you to achieve a 5-Star hotel. This system acts in the background and gives you a clear and natural goal at any given time.
Reaching 5 Stars isn't the end of the game though, it's more of an achievement. Your hotel could very much remain locked to your favorite residents forever.
There are many new upgrades as well!
You may have noticed a side character on the left side of the lobby. These are characters getting breakfast! You'll only see side characters and their friends doing this, so the further you are into the story, the more alive the hotel will feel!
To enable the new breakfast buffet amenity, you must first reach a 3-Star hotel. Doing so will not only give you profit, but add life and flavor to your typical gameplay loop. The hotel will never look the same from one moment to another. There will always be something or someone new to see.
And finally, to tie everything together, a new end of week report screen! (Work in progress)
Most of the UI hasn't been fully developed, but you can see what I'm going for. A comprehensive list of all of your passive income, totaled up in one spot (totaling coming soon).
So this is what I've been up to since v0.19 released. Thankfully I've had a lot of time to work recently so I've been taking advantage of that. All of these system are still in development though, so anything you see is subject to change. But it will certainly be some of the first features to be released in v0.20!
There is a lot more technical stuff going on in the background, but I need to keep this post digestible, so thank you all for joining me in this dev diary!
As always, thank you all so much for supporting me and playing Harem Hotel.
If you would like more, you can follow my Twitter and join our Discord
Comments (33)
Hello. Havn't heard anything about any new versions for a while. Wondering if everything is ok? So i was wondering if there is any news on V0.21.
dont wanna make it seam like i rush u really love the game but in what time span can we expect the new update
So... Is this game dead now? After so much?
I actually never thought gameplay was lacking as this is a visual novel style "game". I got really invested in Lin's movement, Nia's escapades, Ashley's struggles, Maria's little plot twist, and so on. That, and I REALLY wanted to fuck Autumn and her sister.... Don't get me wrong, more content can be good, and obviously I am the minority. But, I've been kind of waiting for major story updates before jumping back in. I think I recently lowered my pledge, but that's mostly for financial reasons.
Loving the idea of adding a bit more 'life' to the hotel so it doesn't feel so empty, also can't wait for the 3rd floor and for some of the girls that are doubled up to potentially get their own room. The only thing I think I'd recommend would be with regard to the elves in the sanctuary, at present Sylvia is the only one actively working in the hotel and while Nia has her other responsibilities it would be nice to give some of the others something to do during the day instead of standing around the bedroom area. It could lead to some interesting story moments such as Ashley and Maria meeting Ann and discussing dark elf heritage for instance.
Wow that was a very in depth update, gotta say very intriguing cant wait to see the finished product
Hi. I'm the kind of supporter that's not really paying much attention in between updates, but this one caught my eye. It's nice to add actual "game" content, and it obviously stem from feedback, so it's all good. I just want to voice a bit of worry. I hope it won't get too much in the way of actual progression. It seems there's already provisions to make some of these new features not too intrusive, so it's all good. But I've seen some other projects leaning a tiny bit too much on grind and tedious tasks to pad playtime, and there's definitely some players that would enjoy this kind of thing in moderation. What I want to say, basically, is to maybe not overcompensate too much in the other direction. Some engaging features are always welcome, but I know I'm here more for the story (and the visuals… obviously) at this point. I'm also worried about having people show up in the hotel, since some parts of the story really lean on the "not much visitors" trope, but I'll trust you know what you're doing, since it worked well so far :)
Harem Hotel is primarily a visual novel, so the focus will always be on the story, and the story will never require more than waiting a bit for the event to appear, and rarely someone else's level. These systems work in the background and are as passive or active as you'd like them to be.
looks amazinggg when is it gonna drop
Please tell me the vacuum won't be held like that in the final version.
I am open to feedback. (If you're referring to the header image, that was not made by me)
Wait is that the drunk lady from the bar ? =) i wanted to ask for a custom art of here since i started supporting you on patreon would be great to have that possible again =), also great idea to add more stuff going around at first when you havent progress much in the story the hotel do feel very empty so a much welcomed addition =)
Yes! That's the same woman. Custom art is still available, you can request any time :)
This sounds amazing for a single update. A lot of devs would take several updates to introduce so much new stuff. And the fact that so much of it is based on user feedback just makes me feel warm inside. Thank you!
Adding men as hotel guests is bad news. I'm glad it can be disabled.
I see where you're coming from, that's why I wanted to make everything optional.
Okay, this seems awesome. Leaning into the Management for those of us who like those mechanics are great, but I also appreciate the option to say "fuck it, let Ellen handle it." There is a MINOR concern that during one of Autumn's early scenes, she says that the hotel is women only, so you might need to correct or address that.
I love all of this. These are gonna be great additions!
joder, si le sabes
I love everything in this. Can't wait for the update to be finished!
Looks really good, and glad to see we're getting a bit of hotel sim in it. Do you know if there will be happy fun sexy time with any of the guests? Or if that's a plan down the road or just sticking with that to the main cast and their close personal friends?
I think it's certainly possible, but my priority for now is getting these systems fully implemented. Then it can always be added on to
All of this sound really fun to play plus will add a lot of realism to the hotel. I will admit that I almost did not make it past the part of Ashley leaving food outside her door. This had me laughing too hard to continue. The idea of Ashley ever leaving any food was beyond belief. The five star system especially sounds good, although I would hate to get locked out from some "guests" for any reason. Especially after reaching 5 stars. Loosing my favorites would be cruel and unusual (the unusual being that I am pretty good at this game).
Looking forward to this update. Crazy to see the progress back from several years ago to now. The breakfast bar is a nice touch too. Keep up the great work, Runey.
.... God I really hope I can make it back in time for this release
Guest seem interesting but I am not sure I want some creepy guy hanging around all our girls...is there any chance of making a female only hotel or will we just turn down the make guest manually?
You could manually decline all men, or just turn it off entirely. It's also possible that random people could see the main characters naked if you have that enabled. But that's why they need exhibitionism! Guests won't ever interact with residents.
I really love the ideas with star rating and breakfast for the side characters. Especially the breakfast adds more life to the hotel!
This does sound really cool and I look forward to seeing the new updates.
Looks good, I’m excited for this new version. Keep up the good work.
It seems incredible to be proud to have followed this game since the beginning.
Everything looks awesome
I was going to say, when I saw the beginning of the post, "Gameplay? It's a visual novel, the story IS the gameplay" but the systems and activities you're adding sound pretty great. Might end up pushing what the engine is capable of lol