On Valentine's Day this year, Nekochan gave me Pokemon Y.* I've been pretty engrossed in it ever since, and yesterday I noticed something startling- I've spend 45 hours on the game so far.
Forty-five hours- almost two full days of time- and I was only on Route 10. I had spent all that time grinding around seventy pokemon to level twenty, and my "main party" of favourites to level 30.
Not bad for a guy who has repeated said he hates grinding. It stills boggles my mind.
So, I found grinding to be fun, and even fulfilling. How did this ever occur? I have a few thoughts, and I'd like to share them with you now.
Rule #1: Grinding Must Be Easy
With Pokeymans, especially in the newer versions, you're generally earning a level every 2-3 battles against an enemy of equal level. This is nice and fast-paced, and you never feel like you're wasting your time.
With the help of an item called the "Exp. Share" every players automatically gets around level seven, your whole party of pokeymans get half XP even when they don't participate in the battle. Not only does this help a great deal with leveling that Magikarp, it also means that if you want to level a pokemon you don't have to do anything more complicated than having them in your party.
Rule #2: Grinding Must Give You Something New
On top of getting the normal stat-ups associated with a level, every 4-5 levels a pokemon will learn a new move. Granted, you're not going to be taking every every new move that comes along, but the important thing is that every twenty battles or so, you have to make a decision that could give you something new to play with. But even this can get out of control...
Rule #3: Grinding Must Be Simple
The one time I tried World of Warcraft, shit got out of hand pretty quickly. Not just because of grinding- I had friends to play with, and was prepared to deal with grinding if it meant I could roll with my peeps- but because once you level to a point where you finally saw a skill tree, it was just too complicated. On top of spells that must be bought from trainers, this new skill tree that starts at level ten, and recipes and skill levels for crafting, the grinding became too complicated.
When leveling up means having to tab out to consult a FAQ or figuring out how best to spend skill points so that your character doesn't end up piss useless, that's too much shit.
Rule #4: Grinding Must Have a Point (More Than Getting Stronger)
This is going to be the hard one for most games. In pokemon, you have the pokedex. By catching or evolving your pokeymans, you fill entries on the 'dex. If you want to have caught them all, it's your pokedex that will track your progress and let you know. So on top of getting something new every twenty levels or so when a pokeyman evolves, it all contributes to a greater purpose- filling out the pokedex.
And Pokemon is hardly the only game that uses this. Lost Odyssey made grinding fun because it was all about your immortals learning skills. Your immortals not only got stronger through level-ups, but from learning skills from mortal characters, who (in the process of grinding) would then level-up and learn more skills to teach to the immortals. Collecting those skills took a lot of the bite out of grinding, because it really felt like you were getting somewhere. And heck, if it matters, there are achievements to be had as well.
Final Fantasy X-2 did something similar with it's job. system (and I can heard you snickering- yes, the game's story is a complete shit sandwich but goddamn did Square ever hit one out of the park with the job system). However, because grinding in that game wasn't easy, it is overall less attractive.
Now, obviously the individual tastes of people differ, and if millions of Warcraft players are any indication I think I'm in the minority of gamers who think grinding sucks. But these are just my findings that I thought I'd share with you.
*I got her the Play Arts P4 Arena Elizabeth and Grim Grimoire, in case you were wondering.
Wednesday 26 February 2014
Wednesday 19 February 2014
Website Launch and Harem Collector February Release!
Check out our website and get the latest version of Harem Collector!
The hard work of weeks and weeks finally pays off!
New Stuff in February Version of Harem Collector
-The Southport Docks can now be entered (though there isn't a lot there yet) and there is a new quest waiting for you at the Southport Adventurer's Guild.
-The Northmarket Slums have been redesigned.
-There are now at least 20 Dark Seeds in the game and a corresponding Dark Seed reward.
-There are two alchemists in the Westcastle Alchemist Guild for you to invest in and reap the rewards from. Note: The related quest "Hero Baker and the Philosopher's Stone" cannot be completed yet!
-A, S and D can now be used to set your speed directly, without using the shift key.
-The CTRL key can now be used to auto-forward text.
-There is a new random sex scene that features Randi, which will trigger if you complete a quest in the Eastfort area.
-Serade and Gargan now have CGS for their scenes!
-The Carriage Hire was re-added to the Northmarket Wealthy District
-You can now sell armour! And use the Harem/Followers menu without crashing the game!
-Menu healing has been re-enabled, and you can only use menu skills from people in your active party!
-Luck and Agility buffs and debuffs now also affect your evasion, hit rate, critical chance and critical evade!
-A mysterious new place, the Village of Huntervale, can now be visited!
-Raina will now be present in your manor after the Journeyman party, and can fight alongside you and be gifted! (Note: In order to have her in your party, you cannot use a save made after the Journeyman ceremony).
The hard work of weeks and weeks finally pays off!
New Stuff in February Version of Harem Collector
-The Southport Docks can now be entered (though there isn't a lot there yet) and there is a new quest waiting for you at the Southport Adventurer's Guild.
-The Northmarket Slums have been redesigned.
-There are now at least 20 Dark Seeds in the game and a corresponding Dark Seed reward.
-There are two alchemists in the Westcastle Alchemist Guild for you to invest in and reap the rewards from. Note: The related quest "Hero Baker and the Philosopher's Stone" cannot be completed yet!
-A, S and D can now be used to set your speed directly, without using the shift key.
-The CTRL key can now be used to auto-forward text.
-There is a new random sex scene that features Randi, which will trigger if you complete a quest in the Eastfort area.
-Serade and Gargan now have CGS for their scenes!
-The Carriage Hire was re-added to the Northmarket Wealthy District
-You can now sell armour! And use the Harem/Followers menu without crashing the game!
-Menu healing has been re-enabled, and you can only use menu skills from people in your active party!
-Luck and Agility buffs and debuffs now also affect your evasion, hit rate, critical chance and critical evade!
-A mysterious new place, the Village of Huntervale, can now be visited!
-Raina will now be present in your manor after the Journeyman party, and can fight alongside you and be gifted! (Note: In order to have her in your party, you cannot use a save made after the Journeyman ceremony).
Thursday 13 February 2014
Free Civ V!
Hey everyone, I'd just to share that dedicated fan Capi Duffman had generously donated a copy of Sid Meier's Civilization V for a little contest this weekend, open to backers only. So, if you happen to donate, this weekend ONLY, you'll have a chance to win! That's on top of all the usual perks of being a donor! Much excite!
Link's on the right!
Link's on the right!
Wednesday 12 February 2014
Alpha Protocol
As I've mentioned before one of the perks of doing this is that I get recommended a wide variety of games, anime, and whatever else else that fans of Harem Collector tell me are good. Well, for today let me tell you about one of my favourite games- Alpha Protocol, which is available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Alpha Protocol is a spy thriller RPG set in the modern day. You play as Mike Thorton, a recent recruit by the titular shadowy government agency to be it's newest agent. Alpha Protocol, the organization that is, is completely secret in the US intelligence community- they operate without a budget, with no oversight, and thus, without being a political liability to the US. They get what they need by trading secrets on the black market, and are a completely deniable asset for doing really shady stuff like high-profile assassinations, sabotaging America's economic rivals, that sort of thing.
As Mike, you undergo training and orientation, and then get sent to Saudi Arabia under orders to find and then assassinate Shiekh Al-Shaheed, the leader of a terrorist organization known as Al-Samad who is suspected of masterminding a missile attack on an American jetliner a few weeks earlier. When you find Al-Shaheed, however, he claims that he was given the high-tech guided missile used by it's American manufacturer for the express purpose of carrying out terror attacks.
Al-Shaheed's words prove true when, shortly after contacting his Alpha Protocol handler, Mike barely escapes a trio of guided missiles sent to destroy his position. Immediately after, Mike is labelled as a rogue agent by Alpha Protocol, and sets out on his own to investigate what's going on and clear his name.
Now, AP isn't a great game, strictly speaking. It has more than it's fair share of technical problems and design flaws, and will never be counted as influential. But it's a fun game with awesome ideas and a lot of potential that got shafted by timing.
So, what went wrong? Well, allegedly the AI is terrible... but hey, I don't play FPSes so I wouldn't know. The games freezes on occasion- not often, but you're going to experience it at least once a playthrough- but hey, at least this only happens shortly after the game autosaves. The game's design is flawed, and suffers from a similar problem to Deus Ex: Human Revolution- namely that, a stealth character is only viable until you have to fight a boss. Being a gadgeteer has similar problems, and ultimately plays mostly like a mix between the combat and stealth classes anyway, only using gadgets to make up in the shortfall in skill points.
However, what the game gets right is amazing.
First of all, the game actually responds to your choices in a way that even Bioware games don't do as well. You're occasionally asked whether or not you want to execute an enemy or let them go in exchange for extorting help from them, and your choices in this regard come up constantly. Your choice of specialty comes up a lot- for example, after being told that there are a lot of elite guards in the next mission, a stealth operative will be told "Not that it will be a problem for you", and a gadgeteer character does all their own hacking rather than relying on their handlers to do it for them. The game will even know and respond when you're trying to do a pacifist playthrough, or manage to ghost your way through missions without being spotted.
Hell, it's entirely possible to go through the game and kill literally every other significant character other than Mike. Or, win the respect of your enemies, the admiration of your allies, and finish the game on good terms with everyone (despite having blown up the enemy base and whatnot). A little like Dragon Age, there are only four or so actual endings, but about 2-3 options for little ending blurbs for every other character in the game, so it's going to take a lot of playing to see every possibility.
Your allies and enemies are pretty interesting and flexible as well. Through the game, you will meet up and potentially recruit the aid of a sexy photojournalist, the leader of a Taipei triad, a Russian industrialist, a trigger-happy German mercenary, an extremely well-funded private intelligence organization, the president of Taiwan, and an aging security expert who was once a rogue agent from Alpha Protocol himself. All these people can be allies or enemies, depending on your actions, and all are deeper and more interesting than what I've listed here (except maybe the German, she was never the best characterized and I got the impression that they game's producers decided somewhat last minute that they wanted a fourth love interest in the game and so implemented her).
As an example of what I mean, take the previously mentioned Shiekh Al-Shaheed and his organization, Al-Samad. At first they seem to be pretty basic expies of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, but it becomes clear over time that Al-Samad is a mainly secular, politically-motivated organization that is being manipulated by an American weapons firm. Al-Shaheed is an asshole, but he wants to escape the grip of said weapons firm and is willing to help you. So after first meeting him, you have the choice of executing him outright or hearing out what he has to say. Your options then become a) kill him anyway, b) use him for information and then kill him, c) part ways and never speak to him again, or d) become mutually-respectful allies, in which case he'll help you out on the final chapter of the game. I haven't played many modern military shooter or spy stealth games, but to go so deeply into a Middle Eastern terrorist organization's motives and the personality of it's leader was something new and fresh to me when this game came out in 2009.
The real star of the show is the social system, however. Every time Mike gets to respond, he can pick between three or four "styles" of response. These were referred to in development as the "three JB's"- you can pick from a James Bond-esque suave option, a Jason Bourne-style professional and to-the-point option, or a Jack Bauer-type angry, threatening and no-bullshit option. Unlike, say, Mass Effect, the game outright says that Mike Thorton is an expert manipulator and can switch from style to style freely depending on what he wants the other person to see. And there are advantages to either one- for example, that ex-Alpha Protocol aging security expert I mentioned before? He's too genre-savvy to fight you directly... unless you piss him off enough that he wants to settle things personally. Or, alternately, you can earn his respect to the point where in the endgame, you can appeal to his sense of honour ask him if keeping his word to a bunch of shady industrialists is really worthwhile. Doing so with a high enough relationship means that that NPC will help you out in the final battle. Every relationship is tracked separately, and while some NPCs are more useful than others, you never know until you've played through the game.
And of course, there the fourth option- you can also choose a background that gives you additional conversation options. You can choose to be a Recruit, which starts you off with a little less skill points, in exchange for "inexperienced" conversation options that either involve fresh ideas, or at least lets you impress your allies by saying "I know I'm new at this, but... *extremely good logical deduction here*". Once you've played through the game once, you also get the option of being a Veteran, which not only gives you bonus skill points, but also gives you a conversation option that reflects a grizzled old campaigner, with the experience necessary to stay one step ahead of his enemies.
The game even gets Social Justice Points (tm). One of the more interesting characters, who is also one of my favourite NPCs and an extremely effective villain, just kind of happens to be gay. You won't know unless another NPC tells you, or you deduce from his love of classical statuary (dude has a lot of marble statues of naked athletes in his home), but he remains a cold, calculating, and ruthlessly terrifying man... who happens to <3 the cock in his spare time.
Now, the reason why you've probably never heard of this game, is because it got delayed. Alpha Protocol was originally previewed way back in 2008, and had it come out in a timely fashion, it would have compared favourably to other shooter RPGs like Mass Effect and Bioshock. But the game got stuck in development hell and didn't see a firm release date until 2009, which still wouldn't have been that bad, AP would have to competed against Fallout 3 in the shooter RPG category but that wasn't necessarily terrible. But instead, it was delayed further to June 2010, which was it's death knell. You see, five months before, in January, Mass Effect 2 was released and it was pretty effectively a game-changer. Alpha Protocol stills played like an early Xbox 360 game, and simply couldn't compete.
Anyway, I've fanboyed long enough. If you're interested in anything I said and can overlook some flaws in a game with truly unique storytelling and a few really innovative mechanics, try and look up Alpha Protocol.
Alpha Protocol is a spy thriller RPG set in the modern day. You play as Mike Thorton, a recent recruit by the titular shadowy government agency to be it's newest agent. Alpha Protocol, the organization that is, is completely secret in the US intelligence community- they operate without a budget, with no oversight, and thus, without being a political liability to the US. They get what they need by trading secrets on the black market, and are a completely deniable asset for doing really shady stuff like high-profile assassinations, sabotaging America's economic rivals, that sort of thing.
As Mike, you undergo training and orientation, and then get sent to Saudi Arabia under orders to find and then assassinate Shiekh Al-Shaheed, the leader of a terrorist organization known as Al-Samad who is suspected of masterminding a missile attack on an American jetliner a few weeks earlier. When you find Al-Shaheed, however, he claims that he was given the high-tech guided missile used by it's American manufacturer for the express purpose of carrying out terror attacks.
Al-Shaheed's words prove true when, shortly after contacting his Alpha Protocol handler, Mike barely escapes a trio of guided missiles sent to destroy his position. Immediately after, Mike is labelled as a rogue agent by Alpha Protocol, and sets out on his own to investigate what's going on and clear his name.
Now, AP isn't a great game, strictly speaking. It has more than it's fair share of technical problems and design flaws, and will never be counted as influential. But it's a fun game with awesome ideas and a lot of potential that got shafted by timing.
So, what went wrong? Well, allegedly the AI is terrible... but hey, I don't play FPSes so I wouldn't know. The games freezes on occasion- not often, but you're going to experience it at least once a playthrough- but hey, at least this only happens shortly after the game autosaves. The game's design is flawed, and suffers from a similar problem to Deus Ex: Human Revolution- namely that, a stealth character is only viable until you have to fight a boss. Being a gadgeteer has similar problems, and ultimately plays mostly like a mix between the combat and stealth classes anyway, only using gadgets to make up in the shortfall in skill points.
However, what the game gets right is amazing.
First of all, the game actually responds to your choices in a way that even Bioware games don't do as well. You're occasionally asked whether or not you want to execute an enemy or let them go in exchange for extorting help from them, and your choices in this regard come up constantly. Your choice of specialty comes up a lot- for example, after being told that there are a lot of elite guards in the next mission, a stealth operative will be told "Not that it will be a problem for you", and a gadgeteer character does all their own hacking rather than relying on their handlers to do it for them. The game will even know and respond when you're trying to do a pacifist playthrough, or manage to ghost your way through missions without being spotted.
Hell, it's entirely possible to go through the game and kill literally every other significant character other than Mike. Or, win the respect of your enemies, the admiration of your allies, and finish the game on good terms with everyone (despite having blown up the enemy base and whatnot). A little like Dragon Age, there are only four or so actual endings, but about 2-3 options for little ending blurbs for every other character in the game, so it's going to take a lot of playing to see every possibility.
Your allies and enemies are pretty interesting and flexible as well. Through the game, you will meet up and potentially recruit the aid of a sexy photojournalist, the leader of a Taipei triad, a Russian industrialist, a trigger-happy German mercenary, an extremely well-funded private intelligence organization, the president of Taiwan, and an aging security expert who was once a rogue agent from Alpha Protocol himself. All these people can be allies or enemies, depending on your actions, and all are deeper and more interesting than what I've listed here (except maybe the German, she was never the best characterized and I got the impression that they game's producers decided somewhat last minute that they wanted a fourth love interest in the game and so implemented her).
As an example of what I mean, take the previously mentioned Shiekh Al-Shaheed and his organization, Al-Samad. At first they seem to be pretty basic expies of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, but it becomes clear over time that Al-Samad is a mainly secular, politically-motivated organization that is being manipulated by an American weapons firm. Al-Shaheed is an asshole, but he wants to escape the grip of said weapons firm and is willing to help you. So after first meeting him, you have the choice of executing him outright or hearing out what he has to say. Your options then become a) kill him anyway, b) use him for information and then kill him, c) part ways and never speak to him again, or d) become mutually-respectful allies, in which case he'll help you out on the final chapter of the game. I haven't played many modern military shooter or spy stealth games, but to go so deeply into a Middle Eastern terrorist organization's motives and the personality of it's leader was something new and fresh to me when this game came out in 2009.
The real star of the show is the social system, however. Every time Mike gets to respond, he can pick between three or four "styles" of response. These were referred to in development as the "three JB's"- you can pick from a James Bond-esque suave option, a Jason Bourne-style professional and to-the-point option, or a Jack Bauer-type angry, threatening and no-bullshit option. Unlike, say, Mass Effect, the game outright says that Mike Thorton is an expert manipulator and can switch from style to style freely depending on what he wants the other person to see. And there are advantages to either one- for example, that ex-Alpha Protocol aging security expert I mentioned before? He's too genre-savvy to fight you directly... unless you piss him off enough that he wants to settle things personally. Or, alternately, you can earn his respect to the point where in the endgame, you can appeal to his sense of honour ask him if keeping his word to a bunch of shady industrialists is really worthwhile. Doing so with a high enough relationship means that that NPC will help you out in the final battle. Every relationship is tracked separately, and while some NPCs are more useful than others, you never know until you've played through the game.
And of course, there the fourth option- you can also choose a background that gives you additional conversation options. You can choose to be a Recruit, which starts you off with a little less skill points, in exchange for "inexperienced" conversation options that either involve fresh ideas, or at least lets you impress your allies by saying "I know I'm new at this, but... *extremely good logical deduction here*". Once you've played through the game once, you also get the option of being a Veteran, which not only gives you bonus skill points, but also gives you a conversation option that reflects a grizzled old campaigner, with the experience necessary to stay one step ahead of his enemies.
The game even gets Social Justice Points (tm). One of the more interesting characters, who is also one of my favourite NPCs and an extremely effective villain, just kind of happens to be gay. You won't know unless another NPC tells you, or you deduce from his love of classical statuary (dude has a lot of marble statues of naked athletes in his home), but he remains a cold, calculating, and ruthlessly terrifying man... who happens to <3 the cock in his spare time.
Now, the reason why you've probably never heard of this game, is because it got delayed. Alpha Protocol was originally previewed way back in 2008, and had it come out in a timely fashion, it would have compared favourably to other shooter RPGs like Mass Effect and Bioshock. But the game got stuck in development hell and didn't see a firm release date until 2009, which still wouldn't have been that bad, AP would have to competed against Fallout 3 in the shooter RPG category but that wasn't necessarily terrible. But instead, it was delayed further to June 2010, which was it's death knell. You see, five months before, in January, Mass Effect 2 was released and it was pretty effectively a game-changer. Alpha Protocol stills played like an early Xbox 360 game, and simply couldn't compete.
Anyway, I've fanboyed long enough. If you're interested in anything I said and can overlook some flaws in a game with truly unique storytelling and a few really innovative mechanics, try and look up Alpha Protocol.
Tuesday 4 February 2014
The Monster Girl Situation
So, I frequently get questions about what monster girls will make it into Harem Collector. I often respond with "maybe" or "wait and see" but here's the thing- I'm not interested in the vast, vast majority of monster girls, from the encyclopedia or elsewhere. But hey, some of them are nice, and I've already said that there will be a slime girl at point.
There are many problems with implementing monster girls, though- they need to exist as 3DCG mods, and I need to find or commission a sprite to match. Because of this, I'm not going to be going the extra mile to put a given monster girl in the game unless I feel very motivated. Very little of this applies to Fairy Side, though, MagicWhiteLady might have her own priorities.
So, let's run down- I'll list off the primary monster girl varieties and tell you the chances that they're going to appear in a Harem Collector game. If I don't mention one here, the answer is probably "I don't care one way or another, so my apathy probably means no". If there's something specific you'd like to inquire about, stick it in the comments and I'll get back to you.
Alraune, Mandragora, etc: I don't plan to. I don't have anything against alraune but if I'm going to put a plant-girl-type in the game, it's probably going to be a dryad and pass on the predatory aspect of the alraune.
Interestingly, the Monster Girl Encyclopedia wiki describes the alraune's disposition as "voluptuous". I'm not certain if it's "voluptuous" or "disposition" that's the problem, but one those words doesn't mean what you think it means.
Arache, Driders, etc.: I have a theory: Anyone who thinks that spider/girl hybrids are hot were actually born on Antarctica and have never seen an actual spider. Like, god damn. They're literally the single most alien, horrific things ever and some guys want to put their dicks in one, as long as it has tits. I mean, look:
Every time I see this, I throw up in my mouth a little.
Cancer: Ugh, no. A girl shaped like a tumour? Forget it, I mean, how insensi-
Oh. OH. It's a crab.
...No.
Centaurs: Hmm, maybe. One of my earliest video game crushes was May from Shining Force 2. The question then becomes, would the girl's pussy be in an anatomically correct position for a girl, or a horse? Probably the former, but I might change my mind. So, there will probably be a female centaur at some point, but not in the first installment of the series. Also, the chances of a centaur being in Project Norn are high.
Classic Elementals: Elementals were in the "no" zone for awhile. Slyphs and Nereids are covered by the Monster Girl Encyclopedia already, so there's not much to say there except that they can be hot. It's also not hard to think of a sexy fire elemental without it being a salamander or dragon or whatever.
The problem arises because you need the complete set. I want to put a set of classic sexy elementals in Harem Collector. However, the question is how to do a cute earth elemental, without being lazy doing the "plants = earth" thing. Dirt and rocks, however, aren't terribly sexy. Or even feminine.
The solution I came up with? Gems and precious stones. Observe:
Pic courtesy of MagicWhiteLady. Hopefully that makes up for the earlier disturbing spider pic.
Demons: The Monster Girl Encyclopedia lists a number of different demon girls, with varying degrees of sexiness. If you read the lore in-game, there will obviously be demon girls of several varieties. Some of the demons are dudes though- and I know that's mostly been what's in the game so far. But there will be demon girls, and even in the first installment, too.
Dragons: Dragons will play a large role in Harem Collector, but I don't know how likely they are to show up as sexy girl dragons. If I feel like it, one or two might show up in later installments of the series, but it's not a priority.
Dryads: The chances of a Dryad showing up at some point in Harem Collector and Project Norn both are very high. I don't have any plans at the moment, but I like Dryads, they're sexy tree ladies, and that's awesome.
Dullahan: I don't see the appeal in having sex with a headless girl. So, no. Which is too bad, I can't imagine it would that hard to implement in 3DCG given the number of guro mods.
Fairies: As you can tell from Fairy Side, the fae are going to play a big role in the setting. In terms of actual small pixie-type creatures, my main problem is the limited possibilities. Your basically have the pixie giving the Hero's dick a full-body massage sort of thing, or bukkake.
Gazebo: YES. HELL YES. There will a gazebo girl at some point, and it'll be AWESOME.
Ghost: I've said there will be a ghost girl in the game at some point, and that point is soon.
Goblin: I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do concerning goblins. I'm definitely going to stick to my policy of no loli and nothing that can be construed as loli, and that might reduce the appeal for some guys. So, this one is a "maybe".
Golem: Depending on what part of "golem" is important to you, there may already be something in the works to satisfy you. There will be "artificially creature girls that you can also fuck" but I don't know about anything more true to the actual golem legend, or the Monster Girl Encyclopedia version.
Harpy: They might appear as monsters, but probably not as harem girls. Those bird legs and wings instead of arms kind of weird me out.
Kitsune: Very likely. I don't have any plans as of yet, but they'll probably appear in part 2.
Lamia, Snake-girls, etc: Even as I was about to say "not likely", Nekochan is standing over my shoulder talking about how awesome Bleu was in the Breath of Fire series. She's nagged me into including stuff before, so I won't say "never".
Like-Like: It might be funny to have this girl, who is just a naked girl with a mouthful of weird teeth and the disturbing shade of pink skin, that just hangs around in a dungeon nomming on shields all day. Maybe she can block a door, and you have to give her a shield to proceed, and if you didn't bring one extra, oops, sorry Therese.
Matango: Not as such... The chances are high that a fuckable Mycon Queen will appear in a later game, but not for the first Harem Collector game.
Mimics: The concept of opening a treasure chest with a girl inside and having sex with her amuses me (You received "Sexy Time"!), but that's probably not the same thing.
Modrons, Drelb, Thought-Eaters, Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing, etc.: Noah Moshing's recipe for comedy: Take one (1) obscure D&D monster. Turn into cute girl as parody of the whole monster girl encyclopedia thing. Serve while hot.
Ogre: Ogres in HC are already pretty standard Ogres. It might be fun to have female ogres actualy be sexy later, but I don't think the Hero will actually fuck one.
Orcs: The whole orc thing has been gone over in Harem Collector, so, no..
Owlbear: I promise you there will be an owlbear girl, but only because it'll be funny.
Slimes: You just skipped down here after reading the title, didn't you?
Trolls: Trolls will probably make it in, just so I can make fun of Homestuck more.
Vampires: Kind of in a weird place right now, actually. MagicWhiteLady and I both want to use vampires in our games, but we've yet to sit down and actually figure out what canon vampirism is. So, yes, it will happen, in what form though? Read and find out.
Were-[blank]: [Redacted]
Yuki-Onna: Very high. Very, very likely to happen. It might not be a legitimate "ghost" but more "cute ice fairy or spirit or something" though.
Zombies: Yuck.
There are many problems with implementing monster girls, though- they need to exist as 3DCG mods, and I need to find or commission a sprite to match. Because of this, I'm not going to be going the extra mile to put a given monster girl in the game unless I feel very motivated. Very little of this applies to Fairy Side, though, MagicWhiteLady might have her own priorities.
So, let's run down- I'll list off the primary monster girl varieties and tell you the chances that they're going to appear in a Harem Collector game. If I don't mention one here, the answer is probably "I don't care one way or another, so my apathy probably means no". If there's something specific you'd like to inquire about, stick it in the comments and I'll get back to you.
Alraune, Mandragora, etc: I don't plan to. I don't have anything against alraune but if I'm going to put a plant-girl-type in the game, it's probably going to be a dryad and pass on the predatory aspect of the alraune.
Interestingly, the Monster Girl Encyclopedia wiki describes the alraune's disposition as "voluptuous". I'm not certain if it's "voluptuous" or "disposition" that's the problem, but one those words doesn't mean what you think it means.
Arache, Driders, etc.: I have a theory: Anyone who thinks that spider/girl hybrids are hot were actually born on Antarctica and have never seen an actual spider. Like, god damn. They're literally the single most alien, horrific things ever and some guys want to put their dicks in one, as long as it has tits. I mean, look:
Every time I see this, I throw up in my mouth a little.
Cancer: Ugh, no. A girl shaped like a tumour? Forget it, I mean, how insensi-
Oh. OH. It's a crab.
...No.
Centaurs: Hmm, maybe. One of my earliest video game crushes was May from Shining Force 2. The question then becomes, would the girl's pussy be in an anatomically correct position for a girl, or a horse? Probably the former, but I might change my mind. So, there will probably be a female centaur at some point, but not in the first installment of the series. Also, the chances of a centaur being in Project Norn are high.
Classic Elementals: Elementals were in the "no" zone for awhile. Slyphs and Nereids are covered by the Monster Girl Encyclopedia already, so there's not much to say there except that they can be hot. It's also not hard to think of a sexy fire elemental without it being a salamander or dragon or whatever.
The problem arises because you need the complete set. I want to put a set of classic sexy elementals in Harem Collector. However, the question is how to do a cute earth elemental, without being lazy doing the "plants = earth" thing. Dirt and rocks, however, aren't terribly sexy. Or even feminine.
The solution I came up with? Gems and precious stones. Observe:
Demons: The Monster Girl Encyclopedia lists a number of different demon girls, with varying degrees of sexiness. If you read the lore in-game, there will obviously be demon girls of several varieties. Some of the demons are dudes though- and I know that's mostly been what's in the game so far. But there will be demon girls, and even in the first installment, too.
Dragons: Dragons will play a large role in Harem Collector, but I don't know how likely they are to show up as sexy girl dragons. If I feel like it, one or two might show up in later installments of the series, but it's not a priority.
Dryads: The chances of a Dryad showing up at some point in Harem Collector and Project Norn both are very high. I don't have any plans at the moment, but I like Dryads, they're sexy tree ladies, and that's awesome.
Dullahan: I don't see the appeal in having sex with a headless girl. So, no. Which is too bad, I can't imagine it would that hard to implement in 3DCG given the number of guro mods.
Fairies: As you can tell from Fairy Side, the fae are going to play a big role in the setting. In terms of actual small pixie-type creatures, my main problem is the limited possibilities. Your basically have the pixie giving the Hero's dick a full-body massage sort of thing, or bukkake.
Gazebo: YES. HELL YES. There will a gazebo girl at some point, and it'll be AWESOME.
Ghost: I've said there will be a ghost girl in the game at some point, and that point is soon.
Goblin: I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do concerning goblins. I'm definitely going to stick to my policy of no loli and nothing that can be construed as loli, and that might reduce the appeal for some guys. So, this one is a "maybe".
Golem: Depending on what part of "golem" is important to you, there may already be something in the works to satisfy you. There will be "artificially creature girls that you can also fuck" but I don't know about anything more true to the actual golem legend, or the Monster Girl Encyclopedia version.
Harpy: They might appear as monsters, but probably not as harem girls. Those bird legs and wings instead of arms kind of weird me out.
Kitsune: Very likely. I don't have any plans as of yet, but they'll probably appear in part 2.
Lamia, Snake-girls, etc: Even as I was about to say "not likely", Nekochan is standing over my shoulder talking about how awesome Bleu was in the Breath of Fire series. She's nagged me into including stuff before, so I won't say "never".
Like-Like: It might be funny to have this girl, who is just a naked girl with a mouthful of weird teeth and the disturbing shade of pink skin, that just hangs around in a dungeon nomming on shields all day. Maybe she can block a door, and you have to give her a shield to proceed, and if you didn't bring one extra, oops, sorry Therese.
Matango: Not as such... The chances are high that a fuckable Mycon Queen will appear in a later game, but not for the first Harem Collector game.
Mimics: The concept of opening a treasure chest with a girl inside and having sex with her amuses me (You received "Sexy Time"!), but that's probably not the same thing.
Modrons, Drelb, Thought-Eaters, Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing, etc.: Noah Moshing's recipe for comedy: Take one (1) obscure D&D monster. Turn into cute girl as parody of the whole monster girl encyclopedia thing. Serve while hot.
Ogre: Ogres in HC are already pretty standard Ogres. It might be fun to have female ogres actualy be sexy later, but I don't think the Hero will actually fuck one.
Orcs: The whole orc thing has been gone over in Harem Collector, so, no..
Owlbear: I promise you there will be an owlbear girl, but only because it'll be funny.
Slimes: You just skipped down here after reading the title, didn't you?
Trolls: Trolls will probably make it in, just so I can make fun of Homestuck more.
Vampires: Kind of in a weird place right now, actually. MagicWhiteLady and I both want to use vampires in our games, but we've yet to sit down and actually figure out what canon vampirism is. So, yes, it will happen, in what form though? Read and find out.
Were-[blank]: [Redacted]
Yuki-Onna: Very high. Very, very likely to happen. It might not be a legitimate "ghost" but more "cute ice fairy or spirit or something" though.
Zombies: Yuck.
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