Finally the Halloween patch is out! I've also managed to get a weekly update post out on Monday for the first time in a couple of weeks now so that's also a bonus.
Thoughts on Latest Patch
Zero to Harem Hero's first seasonal update came with it lessons of preparation on my end. In hindsight, I think I started work on the Halloween update too late which resulted in a release date closer to Halloween then I would have liked. Whilst I am happy with the overall product, I think I would have preferred to release the patch maybe a week sooner, rather than having a public release 4 days before Halloween itself. I also feel like in terms of scene content, quite a lot of the scenes has similar content, a lot of it being focused are Oral & HJ content. Whilst this wasn't initially intentional and eventually turned out like that, I didn't want to disrupt the natural progression of Elara and Doll's content, with plans for Doll to receive her first actual sex scene with her companion quest in the next couple of patches. I definitely have plans for more varied content going forward and I'm still happy with the quality of content for this patch.
Going Forward
First thing I'm going to do going forward is take a break for a few days before getting started on the next update. In attempt to get the Halloween patch out in time, I've spent quite a lot of the past 2 weeks working on the game so in the interest of both my own wellbeing and the long term state of the game, I'm going to take a few days off this week so I don't burnout. Of course this is pending any significant bug fixes that need to be addressed in the upcoming days.
I'm also going to slow down a bit on the content release since patch 0.1.3 was filled with bugs which I would have otherwise found with enough playtesting and attention. The plan for the next couple of patches is going to be smaller updates, perhaps focusing on 2-3 scenes per update rather than 4 entire questlines etc.
The focus for the next couple of patches is going to be a first companion quest for Doll, Qingyan & Patrina as well as new library scenes for Belle. Additionally, I'll be making a couple new polls and surveys in the upcoming days for both Patreon members and a separate one for everyone. The one for everyone will be in a similar vain to the initial google survey I made on the game's release to get a good feel for which characters, quests and items people like and which people don't like as much.
Patreon Member Benefits
As was suggested to me, I've been thinking about the idea of creating some higher Patreon tiers. Whilst I want to ensure that no benefits are lost or reduced for all of the current members, I feel I should create some higher tiers to give people who want to support the game, even more than they already are, a chance to do so. In terms of rewards for these higher tiers, I figured the best people to ask would be all of you. My thoughts so far are for either more voting power on polls, or potentially name credits in the game, be it through nameable npcs, a signboard etc. Let me know down below or anywhere else what sort of benefits you'd be willing to pay extra for.
Personal
Now for the personal paragraph which I'm sure many of you don't care about, I've been getting into Nick Drake recently, particularly his last album Pink Moon. Kind of crazy when listening, to think that he found little to no success during his lifetime yet created such timeless music that will long outlive his more successful peers. Highly recommend listening to him if you're into any folk/singer-songwriter stuff like Bob Dylan etc. I'd say he sounds a bit like Donovan but if Donovan was extremely depressed. As for football, Arsenal are 4 points clear at the top of the table now, however I'm too scarred by the last few seasons to be hopeful yet. Although Liverpool don't look like serious contenders anymore, I'm still wary of City, Pep and Haaland. As for NFL, although I'm very much a casual viewer who watches the occasional game, it sucks to see that Skattebo injury. Not a giants fan or anything, but watching some short stocky guy run into people head first like Alistar from League of Legends was fun as hell. MLB world series started and whilst the Blue Jays winning the first game made me hopeful that the Dodgers might not win again this season, Yamamoto's complete game the very next day has quickly dashed that hope somewhat. Pretty impressive stuff from him and I think it firmly cements him as top 3 pitcher itw right now besides Skubal and Skenes, however as a Mets fan I'm hoping to see Mclean in those conversations in a couple of years maybe.
Anyway, thanks everyone for continuing to support the game and I hope you all have a Happy Halloween. Whilst I'll be taking a couple of days break, I'll still be reading any comments and suggestions here, on itch or in the discord, so let me know about what you think of the new patch and any bugs you might find.
-Z2HH Dev