Should I rise to the bait!

For the most part, I have loved reading through the survey answers. Almost everyone has been really supportive and I do encourage you to be honest, but I could not let this one go past without clarifying some things:

Deluxe edition is a mistake that will lose you money. People funded you to make the free version of the game; telling them they have to pay to get the 'real' game is an extended middle finger and just going to get your game pirated heavily. You guys seriously want to try and police the entire Internet to get links taken down after release (spoliers: you'll fail)?

If you insist on this route, wait 6 months after initial full release to launch the deluxe edition. It'll be less of a "FUCK YOU" to the people who funded you, and people who want more may be more willing to pay.

Seriously, you don't get a gallery without paying? You guys serious?

1.  The deluxe version may lose us money, but we are SELF funding the extra bits. It is OUR money. We are NOT using the money from the crowd funding to pay for those extra bits.
2. While I have not made it widely known perhaps, the people who donated money have already been informed that they will get the deluxe version for free. These people saved the project and we are certainly not going to insult them by hitting them up for extra cash.
3. I fully expect it to get pirated to some degree. As much as you hope that does not happen, we know that it will. Research shows though that it can be helpful in the long run. If it is worth pirating, a lot of people will decide it is worth paying for. Ultimately, if people want to pirate from us, that is their problem.
   
   We practice what we preach. The art work we make is based on building blocks purchased from small artists through online stores. We have paid for everything that we have used. If we did not make it ourselves or it was not freeware, we paid for it.
4. I have never considered a gallery core functionality. I was not even going to do one until a couple of people asked. There is no DRM on our game and you can easily browse to the folder where the scenes are kept.
5. The standard version is the 'real' game. As we have been working on the game, we have seen an opportunity to do something more, to go beyond what we promised. It will cost US more in time and resources, but the comic will cover some of that and the rest is based on people buying the game at the end. Also, it makes sense for us to do the extra content while we are working on scenes, while the inspiration is there and not go back after.

Our goal has always been to be open and honest, and to treat people as we would like to be treated ourselves.

Everyone on the team, commissioned or volunteer has gone way beyond what was expected of them. They are passionate about what they do. They thrive on your praise. It keeps them motivated. Not being able to work on something this month because they can't yet afford the required resources or have to use something that does not really fit as a replacement instead, is demotivating.

I hope that clears up things. If any of you still think we are wrong to do what we are doing, then we will have to agree to disagree.

I apologise to the anonymous survey respondent for using your words without attribution or permission. You left no contact details.

Redemption of the Crimson Empress - The Survey

Ok, so this sounds boring, but answer this survey and you could join our 77 Offbeatr contributors, getting access to the supporter's web site and RotCE Premium when it comes out.

Ok, Ok, I am getting ahead of myself aren't I? I did mention in the last post that we are looking at two versions.

RotCE Standard: This is basically what we promised in our crowd funding.

RotCE Premium: We are looking to pull in some of the features from our extension goals as well as other goodies and get them done in parallel with the standard game.

We have yet to nail down all the differences, but for Premium expect double or triple the images for each sex scene from what was in Part 1 with some animations thrown in. Standard will be like Part 1.

You can have a say in what is Premium. Help us work out how much and what kind of things we can put into the Premium version: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19VvVbIymUHdaxFVUfm_w20B8gAnZyrBEzvGuOArsdSY/viewform

Enter you EroticArtZone user name (free registration if you don't have one) to have a chance to win access to the supporters web site. (One entry per person please.) Entries close 3rd November 2013.

Why do this and why now?

We can do it now for a reasonable cost. It is much easier to add additional images into the scenes while we are in there than coming back later.

We are having fun doing it, but if we keep doing extra scenes the way we have been, we will run out of funds before we finish. We either have to stop or find a way of paying for it.

We also have more than one game in us and we are hoping to put some funds together to get us started on the next one when the time comes.

Weekly Update

It has been another interesting week for us. Those of you who donated $20 or more to our crowd funding received a visual novel version of the Part 1. That visual novel uses the same engine as the game and not so popular with some of the eCommerce sites. So, we are going to do a PDF version. If you already have the Visual Novel, you will get it free. For everyone else, you will be able to buy it at the EAZ store when we have the it ready if you feel so inclined.

We are also looking at some new options for taking the game further. If you followed the crowd funding then you will be aware that we did not make any of the extension goals, but if we can raise the funds in other ways then we would still like take on some of those things, like the animations in the previous post.

Our intention is to keep the basic game free, but we may also release make a deluxe version that will be available for a modest amount at the EAZ store.

We are keeping our options open, but the deluxe version will probably have extended scenes, animations, a gallery, and an alternate card set to name a few things.

Anyhow, I want to see how you feel about all that, so keep a look out for a survey in the next few days.

I am almost finished with the Part 2 intro sequence, well I thought I was finished, but our art director pointed out some deficiencies in my art work. This is what happens when you let your coder near an art program. :D

Still, with luck I will have something out this weekend. I have some free time coming up, so I am hoping I can make some more progress now that I have gotten the initial artists briefs out of the way.

So, to contrast the sexiness of the previous post, here is a frame of the comedy relief kind. :)

Yes, Bailey is trying to squeeze into Kal's armour and it is not going so well. :)

Alluring Dzazd

I share with you my test animation of Dzazd.

Weekly Update

They year is flying by. Spring has sprung, the days are getting warmer and Christmas is just around the corner. I am looking forward to the break because it will give me a couple of uninterrupted weeks to focus on Redemption.

The artwork is coming along well and here are a couple more cards for you to enjoy, Zarielle by Elynda, and Kitaxxa by jclyde6108:

Weekly Update

It has been another busy week. Going from a team of two to a team of eight has taken a bit of adjustment. We have been working to get everyone on the same page with the story and with graphical representation of the characters.

Here is another BGrisset image for your enjoyment.

Stay tuned. There will be lots more to come this month. :)