Nobody Was Snapped In The Making Of This Endgame

I've been very happy to hear all the good feedback we've received regarding the recent update! I'm glad that so many of our longtime fans have felt rewarded for their patience, and I'm really looking forward to proving to you all that, hey, BKG is back and better than ever. I thought for today I might take a moment to discuss the story direction of Harem Collector's endgame

Beware of unmarked spoilers going forward.

The story of Harem Collector was never meant to be a single, cohesive narrative. Those of you who have been following HC from the very earliest days might recall that the original plan was to have all 151 girls in a single game, which had it's own mini-storylines connected to different geographical areas. Originally, the Middle Kingdom was meant to be the "intro" area of the game, the Green Hill Zone from which you would eventually explore Kellos, Inferirieux, the Moon Kingdom and other places which would have much more robust storylines. However, the scope of that game was far too large (imagine still being committed to that when it's taken us so long just to get the intro area right!) and early on I made the decision to chop off the majority of the game and just focus on the beginning of the Hero's story.

The problem with that is that the beginning of the Hero's story didn't have much structure beyond "get girls, learn about world and mechanics, move on". So, organically, development of the plot came to focus on the characters at play and their individual conflicts rather than a more traditional story arc or hero's journey. It introduces the Hero as a conniving, blackhearted, greedy and rapacious bastard living in a world where the people in power are just as dastardly, where the cheery veneer of most JRPGs is only skin deep covering a world of deep inequalities and exploitation. While in part inspired by Rance, the (in)famous main character of Alicesoft's flagship series, the Hero was intended to be an outlet for the player's id, and to act in a way that's consistent with how most people play video games- going left when told to go right, helping themselves to other character's personal property, wanting to score a huge fortune and lots of power, and, of course, wanting to fuck every cute girl in sight.

How to construct a satisfying endgame for a relatively simple character was a challenge. Certain elements of the Hero's story came rather naturally- explaining the Hero's motivation to have a harem as being inspired by his own upbringing with a working mother and an absent father, for instance. But a villain inspired mainly by the Hero's past had the fatal flaw of not really tying in all elements of the story very well, so I had to think more broadly. The conclusion that I came to was to have the story hinge on the consequences of the Hero's own actions, the direct result of his bad behaviour and stupid decisions. But this had to be done carefully- I didn't want to beat players over the head with moralizing about the shit I've been encouraging and rewarding the entire game, nor did I want an endgame villain who was "really the actual good guy all along".

The solution was the Final Wish. She ties in all the main plot arcs of the game, being  awakened by the Hero's blundering in ancient ruins (ancient mysteries arc), created by an ancient orcish civilization (save the elves arc), taking advantage of the power vacuums that the Hero helped expose (demon cult arc and kellos invasion arc), and assisted by the one person the Hero has never been able to defeat in direct conflict (kellos invasion arc again). Inspired by the infamous "Dead Hand" defence system devised by the USSR, eventually the Hero learns that the Final Wish was, effectively, an act of outrageous spite, part of an "if I can't have it then nobody can" attitude... that, let's be real, wouldn't be out of character for our main dude.

Now that we have our villain and our hero, we need a conflict. The Final Wish still feeling the desire to destroy the world that they were programmed with was going to be her main motivation, but now that she finds herself in a position where she needs assistance from a right hand man. And given what she promised to Barst the Lion, why would the Hero not volunteer? Ruling the world and indulging in endless sexual perversion would be right up the Hero's alley, and who cares if the world ends after he's had a lifetime of debauchery?

Well, come back next month and find out.

The next update, which I really am hoping to have out in early February, involves the Hero pulling together a concerted effort to bring down the Final Wish once and for all. And if he manages to bring down Barst before defeating the main villainess, she's probably going to look for a replacement, and recruiting the Hero would also serve the double purpose of removing the greatest threat to her power....

Anyway, I hope that serves to entice you and provides a little insight into the history of HC's development and the weird, unconventional, inefficient ad-hoc way I go about my writing. As before, I'll check in Friday/Saturday to check out your comments.