For the future of this studio


Hi everyone.

I'll be honest and real for a moment.

For the past few months, since Itch banned us from the ranking pages of tags and searches, things have not gone well in our studio.

We lost almost 90% of our traffic and revenue, which really affected our finances and our ability to properly compensate our team members, which resulted in a lot of them leaving and joining other studios, or starting their own. They're all talented and I don't want to promise them something I can't guarantee, especially with the state of things with Itch io.

Now, we're still working on our games.

Despite the lack of considerable manpower and skill required, we're still working on our games.

However, we're burnt out.

I'm burnt out.

We've released a few updates since the shadowban and they received some decent success, but not quite good and honestly very far from the response we were getting before the shadowban.

This is really not helping us, especially since working on them for months without any end-game reward is making us all very upset.

Anyway, the point of this post and poll is to ask you guys what you think of our situation and how we'll move forward.

Whatever you guys decide we'll deeply consider and we would appreciate it.

Cheers,

~SG


https://forms.gle/VLQiDdnSZMtAjbUeA

Get Lovecraft Locker: Tentacle Lust

Download NowName your own price

Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

If things still go badly, how I hate to say it...maybe transfer this game to other developers or the remaining studio will join another one that will take on this project

(2 edits) (-3)

I have some ideas about the game. 1 I noticed one oddity that when the trainer in the "pool" location is left without clothes, her breasts become small, I guess that a different model was used for her, but I hope this will fix it,2 There is an idea for a futa girl where there will be a variation that the tentacles will also jerk her off and fuck her at the same time or just fuck her 3I suggest adding a kindergarten where you can catch lolis๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜†,also the ability to hide girls not only behind cabinets but behind those objects where they can be hidden or where no one can see them,and locations like:house of maid,laboratory, a barracks where female soldiers train, and a school of magic,In the end, I had to become a future Cthulhu girl walk around the city and defend yourself from girls who attack with magic and catch them,or something like that,but it's just an idea but now this is not the topic... try to distribute your project on other platforms that are popular or you can arrange support for the development team there with monetization and plus incentives access to the game full version,Want a futa girl, here she is for you๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚

To be honest, I feel sorry for you, because you try, invest effort and time into the game, and I would like to see many more mechanics in the game, girls, plot and locationsI want to support you but I am from Russia and I don't have the currency that you have,I wish there was an alternative to buying a game that supports another currency/currencies

(+1)

Its been a few months since you made this announcement, how are things still going there? 

Did the studio recover from this situation or is it the same?

Either way, please stay safe โค๏ธ 

(+1)

I feel like their tentacles are getting weaker and weaker, CGs used to be random, but then lost that tradition, and one of the generations I remember a premise where grabbing naked girls would make them come out naked Now I don't know why it seems to have been deleted (the earliest generation is also the same)It's a fun setting, but I don't know why you cut it, and she's getting more and more boring, and I hope you guys can see that

As the developer said, he is in crisis and burnout, the team is falling apart and the future fate of the studio and the project as a whole is not really known, but the mechanics of undressing remainI hope everything will work out )

(+1)(-1)

the shadow ban was probally cause most characters look like kids/teens or are under 18 (Hatsune Miku),  just cause you say there over 18 dosnt mean they are. wasting resources on clone games was probally not the right thing to do, rather making your main game NOT look like its pedo-bait would of been the better option i think. =|

(+1)

Nah, it was because itch said they were "manipulating the algorithm"

(1 edit)

๋ฌด๋ฃŒ๋Š” ๋งˆ์ง€๋ง‰๊นŒ์ง€ ๋ชป๊ฐ€๋Š”๋ฐ ์ข€ ๊ทธ ๋’ค๋Š”  ์ง€๋ฃจํ• ๋ฟ ์ด๋„ค์š” ์•„์‰ฝ๋„ค์š”

(1 edit) (+11)

I played most of your games, also bought most of them. I think You need to focuse more on each concept. Don create the 4th Locker clone. Try to improve the existing one. Right now Lovecraftian locker 1 has still many bugs and 2 has no real end goel. But both are still good games. So Maybe add to them, polish them, maybe sell a DLC that contains new chapter or more interaction options.  If you do "in game" purchases you also might find a way around the itch io payment issue. Also it is better to do smalle items/DLCs than big ones. I rather buy 5 2$ extensions than 1 10$ one.

Besides that, get some rest. The fans you got are not leaving if you and your team take a break.

And in general, I think that all those games and mechanics can be added to part 1 because it will be easier for them there and because of burnout there are risks that they will no longer work on any games because those games are still unfinished, but I hope everything will work out for them, good luck to them and I wish them to get out of the situation

(+2)

Do what you need to do for you. I'll be good with whatever decision you go with. But definitely get some rest.

(+7)

There are a few things worth considering:

1st: Given that Itch seems to be tolerant of adult material, determine what it is that got you in their crosshairs to begin with. Simply changing gears won't necessarily stop you from being delisted again.

2nd: If able I strongly recommend taking a break to both unwind from the crunch and the stress.

3rd:  Consider other content options.

4th: Consider spreading your tendrils to other platforms.

Obviously none of these are a guarantee of success and I'm sure you have already considered some or all of them. But these are in case you have not.

I do know that North America focused credit card services are going after adult content providers. I imagine it won't be long before Paypal follows suit on being unwilling to work with adult content. So where able I'd also recommend looking at alternative payment options.

Don't know what steams model is like but they seem the most stable. At least as far as a western audience is concerned.

Regarding other platforms, it's a good idea, they shouldn't ban this project there and overall it's good, but the most important thing is that there aren't people who decide to ban the project because of its unacceptable nature

(+2)

Maybe move to another game platform and/or make a non adult game that will show up on searches so you can monetize that. You clearly have the talent to make fun engaging game content. Does it all have to be adults only?

(+1)

the being adult games isnt what is effecting it, its somehting else

(+1)

Itch does not mind Adult games on the platform, its likely something else.

(+5)

Well taking a bit of a break could go a long way to helping in the long run, if your getting burnt out than forcing yourself to keep working on the game may have adverse effects on both the game and, more importantly, your health.

It could also give Itch some time to cool down and figure their own stuff out but I wouldn't put too much stock in that idea, none of these content websites seem to ever figure their algorithms out.

(+2)

Sad to hear that, I've been a big fan of the Lovecraft Locker games. I hope yall can turn things around.

(+1)

Welcome to the games world also wtf did you get a ban for anyway

Probably for "problematic" characters

(+5)

Actually, we were banned for "manipulating the algorithm".

(+2)

The hell?!  This ain't youtube

We can do that how do I do that ๐Ÿค”๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ

(1 edit) (+4)

I think by releasing many games with identical names, so when you click on one, the algorithm will suggest others (guessing)

(+3)

I mean that's fair but names are difficult in the industry but that's not a reason to ban someone

(+1)(-1)

Hey I appreciate it thank you for letting me know I'm not no game developer I'm just trying to be a YouTuber but then again thanks

(+1)

It's an ecchi game how in the hell is that Manipulating the algorithm

Did you get more detail on what was done exactly ?

(my guess would be "having a really high rating from a decent amount of people at every release", which may be sketchy depending on how it was done)

I wish you the best.