News From the Six Realms #79 - Pie charts on pie charts on pie charts (Patreon)

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a good holiday and new year. With that out of the way, everyone at VN is back at work, working hard to get this month's release out on time for the 29th. That is also going fine, but I'll be taking a break from discussing that today as usual, since I promised to talk about the survey results, and we have got quite a lot to get through. So we best get to it. :)

First up, the demographic stuff. I won't be spending too long on this since it is quite boring, but it checks out pretty much as you would expect. Our player base is mostly male (88.8%), between the ages of 18-36 (80.1%) and straight (64.7%), followed by bisexual (24.8%), and gay (3.9%), and located in the West (80.6%).

Moving on to the more exciting gameplay questions, the results are pretty positive. A whopping 96% of players either strongly enjoy (40.8%) or enjoy (55.2%) the game in its current form, and there is a massive amount of interest in upcoming content, with 55.8% being very interested, and 35% being interested. A large majority of people feel the game does give you enjoy freedom (83.3%), that the game doesn't force you to make decisions that ruin that enjoyment (72.9%), and that decisions in the game make you feel engaged (90.9%). In terms of the current level of management involved in the game's mechanics, most people feel it is fine (69.1%), with the majority of people who don't feel that way think there is currently too little (20.9%). The vast majority also choose to play with NTR turned on (91.9%). Finally, the most popular potential gameplay elements for act 2 (responders were allowed to choose 2) are:

The ability to see Bloodmeen castle change and grow as the player expands it - 68.1%
A region that evolves around your decisions - 64.1%
The ability to place my allies in strategic positions, build up Rowan's power base - 43.7%

Now narrative - it should come as no surprise to anybody that follows this game that the vast majority of people think Alexia should be able to fuck whoever she wants (79.5%), followed very far behind in second place by Rowan's permission required (9.2%). Again, the vast majority of people (93.7%) are happy with the game's current narrative, with 41% strongly liking it, and 52.7% liking it, and most people (59.5%) think the game currently has enough narrative, with 24.5% thinking it has neither enough nor too little, and 10.3% thinking it has too little. Most people think the narrative pacing is paced well (83.6%) with 12.5% thinking it is too slow. And, in terms of potential endings, evil triumphing with Rowan joining the twins is just about the most popular with 41.4%, with Rowan supplanting them as a villain a close second (38.2%).

Moving on to current narrative arcs, the most popular routes for the Orciad were escape (18.8%) followed by Tarish's plan (17.4%), and most people would like to see Tarish again in the future (82.4%). In regards to Rastedel, most people (29.5%) didn't find any argument sympathetic, but of those who did, Patricia's was highest (26.5%) followed by Jacques (16.7%). Similarly, most people chose to ally with Patricia (64.3%), either turning her into a slave (34%) or helping Ameraine corrupt her (30.3%),  followed by Jacques far behind at 12.8%. In terms of allies, more people chose to side with Maud (49.5%) than Alain (23.1%). And lastly, the most popular characters in the question of who people would like to see reappear in the future are Juliet (55.2%) and Delane (52.5%).

For the currently in-progress narrative arcs, the most popular and least popular Blackholt goblin are both very close because the majority of players have not reached that storyline yet. But for most popular, Tue-San is slightly ahead with 9.7% of the vote, and least is Tue-Row with 11.3%. However, most people are glad we added the plotline to the game (36.5%), while some were only partially happy (20%) as they would like to see us move on to act 2. In comparison, 61% are glad we are adding the Fae plotline, with 12.1% partially happy.     

In terms of Rowan-related questions, the most popular responses to how people make decisions for him (and Alexia) are (again, allowing 2 responses); roleplay (55.7%) and hedonism (50.3%). The most popular reason for serving the twins (just!) was because of Jezera's argument (36.5%), followed by seeing Alexia again (35.1%). Unsurprising due to the largely straight player base the most popular twin to serve in the prologue by far was Jezera with 72%, with Andras netting just under 20% of the vote. Most people also choose to kill the poor elder (74.2%). 68.1% of players think that his personality is just about right, with 27.9% thinking he is too passive, with 51.5% believing that player choice and his character consistency are equally important, 18.1% believe freedom is more important, and 13.8% believe consistency is more important. His most popular roles (with 3 choices allowed are):

Corruptor: Perverting other NPCs, slutting them up - 64.2%
Steward: Improving the castle, building up my power base - 40.4%
Judge, Jury and Executioner: Deciding the fate of named and unnamed NPCs - 36.3% 

Most straight people (54.4%) enjoy both dom and sub Rowan sex scenes, with dominant being the most popular of the two solely (31.4%). The outcome is the same for gay Rowan scenes, although the gap between both and dominant, and the gap between dominant and submissive are smaller. 

Finally, I hear a bunch of you cry, Alexia. In terms of where her preferred loyalties lie, Rowan just eeks it with 42.9%, with red demon daddy nipping at his heels with 40.6%. Nearly everyone (95.3%) enjoys having her work in the castle, and a small majority (57.1%) would like to see more scenes with her, even at Rowan's expense, with 34.6% thinking the current balance is fine. When asked what she really needs, the most popular answers were more sexual partners (73.7%), to finally get pregnant (69.4%), and a master or a mistress (62.1%), and the most popular sex scenes for her are NTR with Andras (55.1%), NTR with others (48%), and filthy debauched sex with Rowan (47.5%). The majority of people are interested in her Andras NTR arc, with 34.9% loving it, and 29% liking it, and the most popular future developments are hardcore cuckoldry (24.6%) with Andras and Alexia humiliating Rowan, and rivalry (23.7%) with Rowan being able to win her back and punish her for her infidelity.  

In regards to Rowan's other redhead, Helayna, the vast majority of players choose to claim her at 82.4%, with the most popular background options being teacher/student (60.4%) and old friends (28.3%). Most people also convince Helayna to stay (59.7%), with 34.2% allowing her to escape. 

Moving on to the other NPCs, of the twins Jezera is the most popular of the pair, with 44.7% strongly liking her, and 42.3% liking her. In comparison, 32.7% of the player base strongly like Andras, with 32.2% liking him. While only 2.6% either dislike or strongly dislike Jezera, 15.8% dislike or strongly dislike Andras.

In terms of female NPCs, unsurprisingly the most popular is Alexia with 46.1% of the vote, followed by Cla-Min (11.7%) and Jezera (11.6%). In terms of least favourite, the forerunner is Mary (23.6%), surprisingly followed by Cla-Min (18.2%) and X'zaratl (14%). The character people feel needs more content is Alexia at 22.1% (despite the fact she already has the most by far) followed by Cliohna (18.1%) and again, surprisingly X'zaratl (14.3%). Ciohna (59%) and X'zaratl (55.3%) are the characters people would like to learn more about, and if Rowan were to leave Alexia and pursue a romantic relationship elsewhere, the most popular options are Helayna (59.4%), Jezera (53.5%), and Cla-Min (36.8%). 

When it comes to the guys, unsurprisingly everybody's favourite bro, Greyhide is in lead (44%), but only just, with Andras not too far behind (40%). Again, unsurprisingly the least favourite character is Skordred (38.3%), followed by Draith (24.7%). The most popular potential romance options are Greyhide (67%), Draith (44.9%), and Andras (43.8%).

Finally on NPCs, most people (39.7%) would choose not to remove any characters from the game, but from those who chose that they would, the most popular choices for removal are Skordred (21.3%), Draith (13.5%), and Nasim (8.9%). And,  the most popular choices for NPCs to take Rowan's side as an ally, friend, or subordinate are Helayna (53%), Greyhide (47.1%), and X'zaratl (43.8%).

On to our final section (thank the gods), sex! The top 5 fetishes chosen by the player base are...

Corruption - 62.1%
NTR - 48.4%
Pregnancy / Breeding - 38.6%
Monsters / Monstergirls - 33.8%
Futa - 28.8%   

The most popular races (with choosing up to 4) people would like to see more of in the future are:

Dark Elves - 57.2%
Beastmen - 48.2%
Minotaurs / Cowgirls - 47.6%
Tentacle Beasts - 32%

So TLDR, that is all for today. Next month I'll be talking a little about plans for dev in 2023, but until then we'll be focusing on getting this release out on time as usual.