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"Lord of the Manor" - an erotic gay furry game
5 years ago
General
Hello everyone. I'm very pleased to announce my new project: Lord of the Manor, an erotic gay furry visual novel.
It's something I've been working on for a good while, and as I've laid out the foundations of the world, I've grown more and more passionate about it. I believe I have a fun, intriguing and enjoyable story to tell, filled with characters to care for - and then fuck. Thus, I've decided to take the (terrifying) step of opening a Patreon to allow all of you to begin sharing in the creation of this thing with me.
I am expecting many questions, and I've tried to answer all of them below.
What's it about?
In Lord of the Manor, you will play as a gay young stallion, recently graduated. The final stretch of your studies left you exhausted, and a friend recommends you take a holiday at a country manor called Paardenrust. He assures you that you'll enjoy yourself there. A lot.
You'll spend two weeks at Paardenrust, where the helpful staff will ensure your every need is catered for. Spend your days exploring the manor and its grounds, or the nearby forest and the...attractions therein. Or pop down to the local village and get to know the locals. You might even overhear some rumours about some sort of creature that's been spotted in town - although nobody can quite agree on what it was. Perhaps that's a mystery a visiting stallion may wish to dig into...but that's up to you. After all, the attractive buffalo back at the manor said he'd teach you to cook if you came by his kitchen later - and you're sure you saw the awkward otter porter checking you out when you first arrived. You've met more than ten others since then - how many are there to find?
So many characters, so little time...
What's special about it?
If I had to boil it down to one phrase: it's a visual NOVEL, not a VISUAL novel. The writing will be fundamental to the game, not an afterthought, and even though the art is a critical component, it will only enter the picture when the entire story is ready.
Beyond that, the game's locations and characters are inspired by places I've been and animals I've seen in my travels around Africa, my home. The locations, the species, the cultures...they're very under-represented in the fandom. I know that's ironic coming from someone who writes the same species over and over, but let's look past that :P I see a wellspring of interesting designs and behaviours on the continent that can be used to make more original and arresting characters in my story. Why bulls, when you have buffalo? Why a red fox when you have a bat-eared one? Why hyenas, when - oh wait, never mind that one.
This is also a fantasy story, though, and fantasy creatures dwell within. This is a world with centaurs, satyrs, gryphons and dragons. Which will feature in the final story? That's for my patrons to help decide.
Whatever the final spread of characters ends up being, you'll be able to seduce them all. There is a LOT of gay sex in this. It's super great.
Does the fandom really need another VN?
Perhaps not. But what it does need is better-written VNs. I applaud anyone creating a VN out there; it's a lot of work, and I can't just waltz in and say any of them are lacking. But: it is objective fact that many VNs lean heavily on the "visual" part and suffer on the "novel" part. This is understandable; as a furry porn writer, I know painfully well that art is what people want. No matter how many people there are who appreciate stories, there will be ten times as many who just want art. So, naturally, art gets the limelight and the big bucks. But that means that deficiencies in a story are glossed over to get to those yummy porn scenes, and often there's not really much of a story at all. I don't believe this is a compromise that needs to be made, and I intend to prove that.
Bro, do you even know how much work making a game is?
I do, actually. I have developed another game (in a completely different genre) which has been successful. For privacy reasons I can't give the exact name, but does "Shmestiny 2" ring any bells? Good, because it was nothing like that.
I understand that simply taking me at my word may not be convincing for some, but all I can say is: yes, I am painfully aware of the complexities and hidden costs involved in game development. I personally have all the skills needed to bring it to fruition, except for the ability to draw. I have been developing software for a quarter of a century. My day job is managing very large software projects; the biggest has been a running concern for eleven years. I know how to plan. I know how to architect. I am an extremely skilled programmer and project manager - and I won't have to split responsibilities with anyone else except the artist, thus eliminating most communication overhead. In the words of NC-17 Nike, I can just fucking do it.
Who's drawing the art?
I have partnered with an incredibly talented artist by the name of Tanutanuki for the art. Many of you have likely heard of her, and many more have seen her art before. I have worked with her many times in the past, and I just know she's got all the chops needed to bring this world to life in fantastic quality and detail.
Why are you doing this now? There's kind of a lot going on in the world.
Tell me about it. It's pretty shit, right? But there is never a better time to commit to an achieveable long-term goal than the present. I originally intended to do this much later in the year, after spending many months figuring out all the nitty-gritty plot elements and characters and so on. I thought it would be much more impressive to slap my big fat writing-dick down on the table with something to show for it. And maybe it would be.
But. I found myself talking about the game openly for the first time with some people I know, and they had some really positive feedback that made me realise that this was a project people liked. It's a weird time in a creator's life when you realise the thing you've been growing attached to in your own mind is something others also like. It's an exciting time, too. It gives you renewed hope that you're onto something. So I thought, well, I could spend the rest of the year working on this in silence and then ask for the money needed to complete the art, with everything else decided and locked in - or I could make it more collaborative. Get you involved at all phases to give the characters more life, more interest. And I liked that idea more. I have had a great time soliciting ideas for my porn stories from people; someone else always thinks of something I never would have. I want to tap into that river of creativity.
I don't even know who you are.
If you are unfamiliar with my writing, here's the Cliff notes: I began writing furry porn when I [re]joined the fandom in 2017, and I've not stopped since. Until this year, I maintained a steady output of two stories a month, with lengths varying from a couple thousand to fifty thousand words. None of my works have been for profit; I have written them all purely for the love of it.
I can't stress enough how much I love doing it. It's a huge amount of fun. I love furry characters, I love the worlds they inhabit, and I LOVE making them fuck. I've written over half a million words since then, and while it's not for me to put words into the mouths of my readers, people really seem to like the way I write, and what I write. If you'd like a single example of a story to convince you I'd be capable of writing a good game, I'd suggest this one: To Touch the Sky. It's about a heartbroken centaur, searching for his lover. It has a lot of sexy times.
There is also a comic adaptation in progress of another of my works from a different, but equally talented, artist.
How long do you expect it to take, though? Like six months, or...?
Most likely two and a half years - if I hit the Patreon goals I am hoping for. Perhaps longer if the funding is slower. I'm going to keep working at it until it is done.
Games take a long time and cost a lot. My incredibly rough estimate for the cost of what I have planned are between ten and twenty thousand Euro - with a very high likelihood of being towards the lower end of that range. Optimising that cost will be the key between sitting in development hell forever, and delivering a completed product. It will mean evaluating the progress of the game at every significant milestone, and deciding if what was planned is still viable - and if not, cutting some things, or changing them. That's one of the reasons I see value in a Patreon: by offering your money to me, your opinion matters. If you so wish, you can help me make the hard decisions when a darling has to be killed - or you can just come along for the ride, and watch this thing come to life, brick by sexy brick.
That's too much money...
Maybe. Patreon will not be the sole source of funds, even though it will be a critical one. I have a day job; in another time, I might have been able to fully self-fund this. But I live in a developing country, and our exchange rate bucks around more than a twitchy bull in a nest of fire ants. COVID was the last straw; the exchange rates have dropped so much that I simply have no hope of my little pile of Rands having a material impact on the cost of quality art. It will likely be more than half a decade before the exchange rate properly recovers, and I don't wish to wait that long.
I feel it is very important to state here - and you really have nothing to go on but my word - that this project is not an attempt to establish a personal piggy bank. The funds from the Patreon will be used for game assets, not personal enrichment. I don't really know how to prove that. Perhaps monthly summaries of the state of the finances?
If I want personal art, I have the means to save up and get some. Not as much as before the current crisis, certainly, but that's life. Part of the reason I'm starting this Patreon up so much sooner than originally planned is to begin accumulating the funds needed to complete the project; abusing the trust of my patrons to use their money to buy a picture of Bucephalus fucking himself with a cucumber or some shit would only serve to undo that trust and kill the project. I want people to feel that every cent they contribute is, in a very absolute way, inching the game closer to gloriously lubed completion. I have plans in place for what to do if the project somehow, unbelievably, starts making too *much* income. More sex scenes; more characters; custom music. That's where extra funds, should they start accumulating, will be spent.
In addition, I will be offering people the chance to have their own characters in the game. It will be offered to patrons preferentially, and then opened up for bids if no patrons are interested. It is not critical that every character in the game be a real fursona; I'm perfectly happy making them all original characters of my own. But this opens up an additional source of funding that benefits both the project and its fans.
What are you going to do first?
My plan for the year is unchanged: to work on the story and the characters, to flesh them all out, determine their routes, and integrate them all. There's no point in working on art before I know exactly how I want the game to play. The difference is that now I'll be doing that while talking to my patrons, and running polls, and exploring options that I might never have considered otherwise. I am also spending time becoming familiar with RenPy, the engine I'll be using to make the game.
Will it be for sale eventually?
I certainly intend so. All patrons will get a free copy, but everyone else can simply buy it directly one day.
I'm still not convinced.
That's fair. Feel free to ask for clarification in the comments below, if that will help. I will also be mentioning the game on a semi-regular basis on my accounts going forward; I hope that future progress may demonstrate my commitment and capabilities to your satisfaction in future.
But if you like what you read above, then I invite you to join me: Lord of the Manor
It's something I've been working on for a good while, and as I've laid out the foundations of the world, I've grown more and more passionate about it. I believe I have a fun, intriguing and enjoyable story to tell, filled with characters to care for - and then fuck. Thus, I've decided to take the (terrifying) step of opening a Patreon to allow all of you to begin sharing in the creation of this thing with me.
I am expecting many questions, and I've tried to answer all of them below.
What's it about?
In Lord of the Manor, you will play as a gay young stallion, recently graduated. The final stretch of your studies left you exhausted, and a friend recommends you take a holiday at a country manor called Paardenrust. He assures you that you'll enjoy yourself there. A lot.
You'll spend two weeks at Paardenrust, where the helpful staff will ensure your every need is catered for. Spend your days exploring the manor and its grounds, or the nearby forest and the...attractions therein. Or pop down to the local village and get to know the locals. You might even overhear some rumours about some sort of creature that's been spotted in town - although nobody can quite agree on what it was. Perhaps that's a mystery a visiting stallion may wish to dig into...but that's up to you. After all, the attractive buffalo back at the manor said he'd teach you to cook if you came by his kitchen later - and you're sure you saw the awkward otter porter checking you out when you first arrived. You've met more than ten others since then - how many are there to find?
So many characters, so little time...
What's special about it?
If I had to boil it down to one phrase: it's a visual NOVEL, not a VISUAL novel. The writing will be fundamental to the game, not an afterthought, and even though the art is a critical component, it will only enter the picture when the entire story is ready.
Beyond that, the game's locations and characters are inspired by places I've been and animals I've seen in my travels around Africa, my home. The locations, the species, the cultures...they're very under-represented in the fandom. I know that's ironic coming from someone who writes the same species over and over, but let's look past that :P I see a wellspring of interesting designs and behaviours on the continent that can be used to make more original and arresting characters in my story. Why bulls, when you have buffalo? Why a red fox when you have a bat-eared one? Why hyenas, when - oh wait, never mind that one.
This is also a fantasy story, though, and fantasy creatures dwell within. This is a world with centaurs, satyrs, gryphons and dragons. Which will feature in the final story? That's for my patrons to help decide.
Whatever the final spread of characters ends up being, you'll be able to seduce them all. There is a LOT of gay sex in this. It's super great.
Does the fandom really need another VN?
Perhaps not. But what it does need is better-written VNs. I applaud anyone creating a VN out there; it's a lot of work, and I can't just waltz in and say any of them are lacking. But: it is objective fact that many VNs lean heavily on the "visual" part and suffer on the "novel" part. This is understandable; as a furry porn writer, I know painfully well that art is what people want. No matter how many people there are who appreciate stories, there will be ten times as many who just want art. So, naturally, art gets the limelight and the big bucks. But that means that deficiencies in a story are glossed over to get to those yummy porn scenes, and often there's not really much of a story at all. I don't believe this is a compromise that needs to be made, and I intend to prove that.
Bro, do you even know how much work making a game is?
I do, actually. I have developed another game (in a completely different genre) which has been successful. For privacy reasons I can't give the exact name, but does "Shmestiny 2" ring any bells? Good, because it was nothing like that.
I understand that simply taking me at my word may not be convincing for some, but all I can say is: yes, I am painfully aware of the complexities and hidden costs involved in game development. I personally have all the skills needed to bring it to fruition, except for the ability to draw. I have been developing software for a quarter of a century. My day job is managing very large software projects; the biggest has been a running concern for eleven years. I know how to plan. I know how to architect. I am an extremely skilled programmer and project manager - and I won't have to split responsibilities with anyone else except the artist, thus eliminating most communication overhead. In the words of NC-17 Nike, I can just fucking do it.
Who's drawing the art?
I have partnered with an incredibly talented artist by the name of Tanutanuki for the art. Many of you have likely heard of her, and many more have seen her art before. I have worked with her many times in the past, and I just know she's got all the chops needed to bring this world to life in fantastic quality and detail.
Why are you doing this now? There's kind of a lot going on in the world.
Tell me about it. It's pretty shit, right? But there is never a better time to commit to an achieveable long-term goal than the present. I originally intended to do this much later in the year, after spending many months figuring out all the nitty-gritty plot elements and characters and so on. I thought it would be much more impressive to slap my big fat writing-dick down on the table with something to show for it. And maybe it would be.
But. I found myself talking about the game openly for the first time with some people I know, and they had some really positive feedback that made me realise that this was a project people liked. It's a weird time in a creator's life when you realise the thing you've been growing attached to in your own mind is something others also like. It's an exciting time, too. It gives you renewed hope that you're onto something. So I thought, well, I could spend the rest of the year working on this in silence and then ask for the money needed to complete the art, with everything else decided and locked in - or I could make it more collaborative. Get you involved at all phases to give the characters more life, more interest. And I liked that idea more. I have had a great time soliciting ideas for my porn stories from people; someone else always thinks of something I never would have. I want to tap into that river of creativity.
I don't even know who you are.
If you are unfamiliar with my writing, here's the Cliff notes: I began writing furry porn when I [re]joined the fandom in 2017, and I've not stopped since. Until this year, I maintained a steady output of two stories a month, with lengths varying from a couple thousand to fifty thousand words. None of my works have been for profit; I have written them all purely for the love of it.
I can't stress enough how much I love doing it. It's a huge amount of fun. I love furry characters, I love the worlds they inhabit, and I LOVE making them fuck. I've written over half a million words since then, and while it's not for me to put words into the mouths of my readers, people really seem to like the way I write, and what I write. If you'd like a single example of a story to convince you I'd be capable of writing a good game, I'd suggest this one: To Touch the Sky. It's about a heartbroken centaur, searching for his lover. It has a lot of sexy times.
There is also a comic adaptation in progress of another of my works from a different, but equally talented, artist.
How long do you expect it to take, though? Like six months, or...?
Most likely two and a half years - if I hit the Patreon goals I am hoping for. Perhaps longer if the funding is slower. I'm going to keep working at it until it is done.
Games take a long time and cost a lot. My incredibly rough estimate for the cost of what I have planned are between ten and twenty thousand Euro - with a very high likelihood of being towards the lower end of that range. Optimising that cost will be the key between sitting in development hell forever, and delivering a completed product. It will mean evaluating the progress of the game at every significant milestone, and deciding if what was planned is still viable - and if not, cutting some things, or changing them. That's one of the reasons I see value in a Patreon: by offering your money to me, your opinion matters. If you so wish, you can help me make the hard decisions when a darling has to be killed - or you can just come along for the ride, and watch this thing come to life, brick by sexy brick.
That's too much money...
Maybe. Patreon will not be the sole source of funds, even though it will be a critical one. I have a day job; in another time, I might have been able to fully self-fund this. But I live in a developing country, and our exchange rate bucks around more than a twitchy bull in a nest of fire ants. COVID was the last straw; the exchange rates have dropped so much that I simply have no hope of my little pile of Rands having a material impact on the cost of quality art. It will likely be more than half a decade before the exchange rate properly recovers, and I don't wish to wait that long.
I feel it is very important to state here - and you really have nothing to go on but my word - that this project is not an attempt to establish a personal piggy bank. The funds from the Patreon will be used for game assets, not personal enrichment. I don't really know how to prove that. Perhaps monthly summaries of the state of the finances?
If I want personal art, I have the means to save up and get some. Not as much as before the current crisis, certainly, but that's life. Part of the reason I'm starting this Patreon up so much sooner than originally planned is to begin accumulating the funds needed to complete the project; abusing the trust of my patrons to use their money to buy a picture of Bucephalus fucking himself with a cucumber or some shit would only serve to undo that trust and kill the project. I want people to feel that every cent they contribute is, in a very absolute way, inching the game closer to gloriously lubed completion. I have plans in place for what to do if the project somehow, unbelievably, starts making too *much* income. More sex scenes; more characters; custom music. That's where extra funds, should they start accumulating, will be spent.
In addition, I will be offering people the chance to have their own characters in the game. It will be offered to patrons preferentially, and then opened up for bids if no patrons are interested. It is not critical that every character in the game be a real fursona; I'm perfectly happy making them all original characters of my own. But this opens up an additional source of funding that benefits both the project and its fans.
What are you going to do first?
My plan for the year is unchanged: to work on the story and the characters, to flesh them all out, determine their routes, and integrate them all. There's no point in working on art before I know exactly how I want the game to play. The difference is that now I'll be doing that while talking to my patrons, and running polls, and exploring options that I might never have considered otherwise. I am also spending time becoming familiar with RenPy, the engine I'll be using to make the game.
Will it be for sale eventually?
I certainly intend so. All patrons will get a free copy, but everyone else can simply buy it directly one day.
I'm still not convinced.
That's fair. Feel free to ask for clarification in the comments below, if that will help. I will also be mentioning the game on a semi-regular basis on my accounts going forward; I hope that future progress may demonstrate my commitment and capabilities to your satisfaction in future.
But if you like what you read above, then I invite you to join me: Lord of the Manor
As a gamer, (may be rambling at this point) I’m tired of seeing lots of today’s titles flop belly up, so this could be a breath of fresh air... even though it’s a gay erotic game. ;P
Anyway, I’ve been following you long enough, so you have my interest... you handsome stallion. Will catch up later when I’m not on my phone. :P
Think about it...