Haven's Port and the Future - Mildly Important (Patreon)

TLDR Version: The poll is to help me get an idea what all my patrons are here for. So I can better figure out what I should do when Haven's Port eventually finishes. Please vote.

Okay folks, time for that talk I've been hinting at/promising for a bit! First, before I say anything else, let me reassure you that Haven's Port isn't going anywhere immediately. There is at least one more full build required after the currently-in-progress build. And, in truth, I actually expect there will likely be two more full builds. That means that I'm well out in front on getting everyone properly warned about the game's upcoming ending. But it needs to be talked about eventually and I'm well aware that not everyone reads every post. So if I start now, by the time the game fully winds down, hopefully everyone will be on the same page.

With that bit said, I'm next going to cover the three reasons that the game is ending at all. After all, given the format of Haven's Port, couldn't I just keep adding to it forever? Well...the answer to that is complicated and actually 'no.' So...reasons.

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1) We're reaching the end of the originally planned content for Haven's Port. The game was always intended to have four islands. The Port/Starter Island, the Main Island (technically called Haven's Home, though it's name is rarely referenced in-game), Rose Garden and Jerta. The last two were originally envisioned as places to expand specific content types, such a race/species groups (like the Centaurs). (Interestingly enough, making those two islands faction-specific actually wasn't part of the original plan. That was a suggestion from one of my longest-running Patrons, Dark Jade. The idea made so much sense, though, that I immediately adopted it into my planning.) Likewise, I've hit most of the content types I planned for, even if not quite as in-depth as I'd hoped for in some places.

2) The game is reaching the limits of the TWINE engine. For those of you who were around when I made The Dungeon of Lewdity, you might remember my unpleasant surprise to discover that there actually is such a thing. TWINE is a wonderful engine for what it is, but it isn't actually designed to tell such massive, sprawling stories. As I discovered with The Dungeon of Lewdity, there's a sort of soft limit on size from a pure memory point of view. There's been some improvements to the engine in the years since I made that game...but even so, I've hit the point where the TWINE app itself lags when I work on Haven's Port's code. It lags pretty badly, in point of fact. And it's only going to get worse with a couple more builds worth of content. I'm expecting after another couple of builds that, frankly, it will probably be bordering on non-functional. 

It's sort of hard to blame the engine, honestly. As of Build 19, Haven's Port has over 270,000 words and 811 'passages.' It's easy to lose sight of just how big the game actually is if you're looking at it build-to-build. But when you look at it more objectively, it's one of the largest games out there. A few games, like the long running Trials in Tainted Space, are bigger...but games like that are basically the only competition Haven's Port has for sheer scale. And most of them are pure/near pure text games.

3) On a personal level...I've grown past Haven's Port. As I think I've shown with Left Hand Magic, my ability to get good graphics out of Daz3d had grown massively since I first started Haven's Port. And that's not even talking about the switch from purely still-images to fairly high-quality animations. Moreover, from a Writing standpoint...Haven's Port was actually sort of frustrating from the onset. Even when I first started it, the framework I designed for Haven's Port just didn't allow me to get the most out of my writing ability. The 'Date' mechanic was, in fact, originally not a thing. I added it to the game out of pure frustration with not being able to do some slightly more involved relationships. Add in the limitations of what the TWINE engine will actually allow me to do and you get a formula without much room for farther improvement.

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For these three reasons combined, the end of Haven's Port as an actively developed game is coming eventually. Given how long it's been running, that's a little sad...but only a little. I think I can call the game a pretty successful undertaking at this point. And it will be nice to be able to label another game as 'finished.' It's also hardly the end of the road for the Patreon, which is the real reason I'm bringing this up. And the reason that this post is a poll. The poll, this time, is for purely fact-finding purposes. To help me prepare for what happens after Haven's Port. 

Obviously, even once Haven's Port wraps up, Left Hand Magic will still be in production. That's not going to change. But what I don't know, is how many of you  are here for one game or the other. Frankly, I have no frame of reference, at all, for how popular the two games are. They are very different animals, after all. With Left Hand Magic being a fairly traditional Visual Novel. And Haven's Port being a Free Roamer style game, with little in the way of plot but a lot of exploration/variety.

This means that, currently, I'm struggling to figure out what to do after Haven's Port is finished. To be brutally honest here, what I would like to do is simply double down on Left Hand Magic. To do monthly releases of that game and finish it much more quickly as a result. I originally started the pattern of making two games simultaneously when I was first trying to break into the adult gaming community. And not all of the reasons I did that are relevant any longer.

At the time, I didn't want to chance losing people's interest when I ended one game and started another. The start of virtually any game is pretty weak, after all. How many of you routinely skip over games because they are first releases? Version 0.01? Often from unknown and unproven developers? I know I'm certainly guilty of doing that! And I'm not particularly ashamed of doing so, either. There are a lot of games that get abandoned after one or two small releases. I typically won't even play something until it's had at least three content releases, as until that point I don't have any faith that the game won't be randomly abandoned when the developer realizes 'oh wait, this is actually hard, and not an instant road to $$$.' I'm quite willing to make exceptions to that loose rule for new games by known quantities. But that's another kettle of fish entirely...though a somewhat relevant one, given that I'd like to think I'm a known quantity at this point.

Regardless, back then, working on two games was my way of overcoming this problem. By staggering when I started them, I could guarantee than at least one of my actively-in-development games would have a significant amount of content at all times. Allowing new games the chance to get off the ground without all my patrons losing interest. Originally, I even developed them side-by-side, releasing content for two different games every month. Though I eventually did away with that idea as too unwieldy. 

All of that, however, was...several years ago. I'd like to hope that I've long since proven I'm not the type to randomly vanish mid-game, leaving people unsatisfied. And at this point, each of my game projects are big enough (with the exception of The Morning After, which was deliberately small) that only updating them every-other-month is becoming a liability. Not only does it make fans of any given game wait longer between releases...but it also forces me to put one thought-process down and pick up another every month. This results in making it easy for me to forget exactly what I was planning build-to-build. No matter how good the notes I take are. From my perspective, switching to a one-game, every-month release cycle would be the best call. I could finish games quicker and move onto the next one faster. Instead of a game taking 2+ years from start to finish, I could do something closer to a game a year. Which would be nice for everyone, I think.

HOWEVER. 

I...don't actually know what all of you are here for. Left Hand Magic may be the more technically advanced/higher-quality game. But it's also a more traditional Visual Novel, in a market saturated with a lot of games of that style. Haven's Port, Chastity Quest, The Dungeon of Lewdity...and even Eros Academy and The Sexy Cosplay Cafe? All of them are in the more free-roam style experiences. Which are pretty rare birds, as adult games go. If that vast majority of you are here for that sort of game, then it would behoove me to start up another game in that style after Haven's Port ends. Now wouldn't it? 

So...RESEARCH TIME! 

Please take the time to vote in the attached poll. I've kept it restricted to single votes per person intentionally, because I want to know what you all are, collectively and individually, MOST into. Though you'll note I include some options that are combinations. If you are, for example, into both games fairly equally. There's also an option for it being the kinks rather than the specific game that you're here for. I wouldn't exactly be surprise if a lot of you are here for, in example, Chastity content. I'm one of only two creators I know of that uses that theme significantly. And it shows up in...basically all of my games. Likewise, I provide a lot more Bondage content than...pretty much anyone else, full stop. 

If there isn't an option that you feel fully fits what you like/dislike the most, feel free to comment with more detail! For that matter, if you simply want to provide more feedback or have an opinion to add, comment! Heck even if you just have a question about any of this! Than feel free to comment for those as well! The purpose of this post is to gather in as much feedback as I can, so that I can begin the planning process for what will happen when Haven's Port is eventually finished. I will also happily respond to Direct Messages, if you don't feel comfortable commenting publicly.