Redemption Harem's v0.1 release seems to have gone well enough. Better than Maids & Masters did, but given that MnM was my first game when no one knew who I was, that's not much of a comparison to make. The real measure will be the public release when v0.2 goes into early access and the general public gets their hands on it. I would say I'm trying to not let my expectations get too high, but I don't really know what to expect. I know it won't be a disaster, but I doubt it'll be an explosive success either, so I'm not really giving it much thought.
That said, I am looking forward to v0.2 already. At least one bug snuck past me and into the v0.1 build that's already been identified and fixed, and there's another that I need to investigate to see if it didn't get fixed properly, but they're both minor annoyances more than something completely game-breaking.
There's also a few balance changes I want to make already. Capturing enemies in combat - particularly non-boss enemies - is harder than it needs to be. Part of that I think I'll address by updating the Tie Down skill you can learn through the training dummy so it force-upgrades the enemies Bound status rather than simply having a higher chance of applying the state, but I might end up going in a different direction with it.
I may also put some SP regeneration on the parry system so you can use techniques more often, because - especially when you're trying to capture an enemy - the optimal strategy is to sit there and Guard repeatedly to get your SP near max, then use the next 2-3 turns dumping it into your capture skills. That's... boring, frankly, and not what I want that gameplay loop to feel like. At least against the random encounter enemies, I want the capture mechanic to feel more like taking advantage of an opportunity that's presented itself rather than the "I'm actively being attacked by this wild animal, let me stand here and make faces at it for a minute or two before I do something about it" that it currently feels like. The parry system is supposed to avoid that feeling, so putting some SP gain in it might solve this other issue. I'll need to test it out to see how that actually feels, though. There might be a completely different solution that will work better that just isn't presenting itself to me right now.
I'm still very happy with the game overall, though. The day/night system feels right - sitting in the fortress doing prep work takes a day or two to fully finish, which means it's also a great way to fill time when you've hit the "come back tomorrow" points in quests. The survival mechanics feel a smidge harsh, but at least to me, aren't so harsh that it becomes a pain in the ass, it just pushes you out of the fortress to forage for supplies and explore (which is exactly what the survival mechanics are meant to do). The economy balance is in a much better place compared to the demo, and while you can theoretically do things infinitely and break the economy, it kinda sucks the fun out of it. While I was playtesting, I only really wanted to go looking for fights when there was a specific enemy that dropped a thing I needed for crafting, and it only took a few minutes for me to run into the type of enemy I needed to find and capture them to get the thing I needed. It's still a little rough around the edges, but it all fits together very nicely.
Of course all of that will smooth out even more as the game progresses and you gain access to more things and level them up, like farming giving you more food as you unlock plots and the Hunter profession giving you more loot as it gains levels for capturing enemies.
Plus the ability to hunt animals that you find outside of combat. I want that to be part of the v0.2, but I'm still working out exactly how I want that to work mechanically, which means it'll probably be the reason v0.2 still isn't out at the end of September. It's a mechanic I really want to be part of the game, though, so I'll have to figure it out sooner or later.
Anyway, v0.1 early access is out right now, and you can get it on Patreon, Subscribestar, and itch!
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