Island Vacation Post-Mortem

So, that was a learning experience, at least.

Back when I was first working on Harem Collector, in the “lol throw it in” phase of the game’s design, I thought it would be a good idea to include two vacation events. I figured that a) going on luxury vacations played into the fantasy of being a rich, successful adventurer, b) there could be a ton of vacation-themed sex scenes, and c) it would put a lot of the harem girls in a new situation, in order to inspire new and more interesting dialogue. I had Gurotaku make up some CGs for all the available girls (at the time) having sex in various swimwear, drew up some basic ideas, and resolved to revisit the vacation later, when I had time.

Two years later, we throw up this poll asking what quests should be done next. I plan the next few updates after the results of that poll, and behold, the beach vacation is number two on that list. I was about two weeks into developing the new content when I suddenly realized that this just doesn’t work.

You see, the vacation as a whole doesn’t feel like part of Harem Collector proper. It’s just kind of… bolted on to the side of everything like ill-fitting DLC. I eventually came to kind of resent the vacation content and wish I was actually making progress on parts of the game that contributed more to the whole. But, because of the poll and the fact that the vacation was part of the plan from the start, I didn’t feel like I could just cut my losses. I’m beholden to my patrons to at least attempt to deliver on my promises, so I pressed on. And things did not go well, drawing out the process of working on the thing I’d rather not be working on. Not an ideal situation by any means.

Either way, the vacation is mostly finished at this point- just have to write dialogue- except for adding a few more sex scenes once pics become available. But this is why I’m cutting the second vacation, why I’m not happy with this update, and why more 3DCG sex scenes are getting added to the game.