Release Date Announcement
Hello, everyone!
After six months, yes, Build 0.3 is nearly here. It's about two months late, yes, but it's also nearly three times the original estimated size. We went above and beyond, trying to really make something special, and finally we have an official, definitive release date: it's coming out on the 22nd of May — the next Friday.
I repeat: Build 0.3 of Minotaur Hotel is coming out on the 22nd of May.
To celebrate this occasion we are algo making a Q&A session. You can ask questions here in the Comments section and next week we're going to post the answers in another DevLog.
Now let's talk a bit about Build 0.3. Why did it take so long? For starters I started a new job and had health issues around December-January, but the main reason for it is that this build has a lot of variations to account for previous player choices. In this post we want to talk a little bit about that.
Let's start with the first, obvious example: you can have either Luke or Kota as the manager of the Hotel's lounge, right? Well, depending on that there are a number of exclusive scenes — both about how the manager is taking care of the lounge and what the other guest is doing.
That's the easiest example to point out, but not the biggest. In reality a good amount of effort went into writing variations for whether the player sent Asterion to the valley on Build 0.1... And this is taken to a new level now because as of Build 0.3 you can send Asterion out more times.
The story and Asterion will react to it in a number of ways and we are really proud of what we accomplished here. Each of the "paths" a player can take will reveal unique bits of characterization. It's not a case of bad choices leading to neutered/reduced versions of the main scenes, what we have here is that your choices will reveal a whole new side to certain characters — Asterion and Argos in particular.
As an example, there is a scene for which we wrote five variations. Each one of them is completely different and reveals new, subtle things about the characters.
Beyond this, Build 0.3 has the first instances of sending out teams to explore the valley, which can result in unlocking valuable pieces of information about the story — this is what we are calling the "lore drops." Now, to reach the effect we intended we had to absolutely cram the pool of available drops so players would not all get the same handful of tidbits.
In summary, there is a crucial piece of information for everyone who wants to enjoy the upcoming build to the maximum:
Build 0.3 is highly replayable, it is absolutely packed with content, but you'll have to experiment a bit with your choices to see it.
In fact, there is so much content that, truth be told, we cannot expect a single player to see it all, even across multiple playthroughs. A cursory estimate tells me that you'd have to play the game at least five times to see everything, and that is excluding the lore drops entirely. So we are also expecting that players will benefit a lot from discussing among each other, exchanging information and, hopefully, speculation about what's going on.
A while after the build is out we might do a walkthrough, like the one we did for Build 0.2, but only after enough time has passed and everyone had the time to explore the game for themselves.
So, when you play the game, keep in mind that the story will vary greatly depending on:
- Did you send Asterion to the valley on the first day at the hotel?
- What was the outcome to the Argos situation? Did you sign the contract? Did you contest its terms? Did you get it right, or did you get it wrong? Or did you trick Argos some other way?
- How have you been treating Asterion so far? Did you promise to not send him into the valley?
- Who is the lounge's manager?
- How will you manage the R&D project and the valley exploration?
- And... Will you send Asterion out to the valley again?
Now let's talk about word count. The go-to number for a novel's length is 50.000 words. Build 0.1 and 0.2 had around 30.000 to 40.000 each. Meanwhile, as of the moment of this devlog's writing, Build 0.3 has about 88.000 words.
Build 0.3 adds 88k words to Minotaur, effectively more than doubling the game's word count.
Yes. Yes, we are mad men. Originally the plan was 30k-40k words of content, but we really went all out. Last DevLog we displayed a table with estimates of how previous builds were — let's check how Build 0.3 compares to them now.
Build | Words before code | Words with code |
0.1 | ~30k | ~35k |
0.2 | ~36k | ~41k |
0.3 | ~88k | TBD |
But again, all of this writing is spread out across multiple variations — make sure to experiment a bit. And another tip: did you know that picking the Speedrunner background will change many of the game's scenes to make them more comedic?
Hopefully this build's replayability will entertain you during these trying times. So... Next week, Monday the 18th, we'll have the answers for the Q&A and on Friday the 22nd you better be ready for Minotaur Hotel. If you want to discuss with others generally we also put up a thread for pre-release discussion here. See you then!
Get Minotaur Hotel
Minotaur Hotel
The minotaur's side of the story.
Status | In development |
Authors | Minoh Workshop, Nanoff |
Genre | Visual Novel |
Tags | Adult, Bara, Dating Sim, Erotic, Furry, Gay, LGBT, NSFW, Romance, sex |
Languages | English |
Accessibility | Color-blind friendly |
More posts
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- Announcing Devil's Gambit's & Sex Drive's Release DatesNov 06, 2023
- Chapter 19 (Build 0.7) Release & ChangelogOct 27, 2023
- Minotaur Hotel Build 0.7 Release Date & Sex Drive BetaOct 25, 2023
- Build 0.7 Progress Report & Announcing a New ProjectJul 24, 2023
- March 2023 Progress ReportApr 08, 2023
- February 2023 Progress ReportFeb 20, 2023
- Bugfix: Build 0.6.2.2Nov 21, 2022
- Achievements and Lore Drops Bugfix: Build 0.6.2.1Oct 24, 2022
- The Feathered Line (Build 0.6.2) Release & ChangelogOct 14, 2022
Comments
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You mentioned that the game is going to have a ton of replayability. Do you see the game having a definite end? Or eill it be more like something that could be played endlessly?
Really look forward to the update! Im trying to get all my work done before its released and sucks up all my time lol.
What was you interest or inspiration for Argos and allowing Sadistic content in the game in general?
Sadly, for Argos, I do not like him, I do not trust him at all. His arrogance annoys me to no end. (Great villain!) To that end, will there be an option to refuse the Lantern entirely? To refuse the contract, regardless of the clauses, and just say no?
I'm not sure if this was answered in the past or not but can you romance others characters besides Asterion. I like him but the main reason I downloaded in the first place was because I saw that there was a Dragon in the VN and I'm a sucker for Dragons and reptiles. If not that's find the story more then makes up for it but it would be awesome if I can romance the others. Maybe even have a polygamous opinion. There have been a few VN that I wished I could romance multiple characters but this option isn't really explored in VN.
I know it's too soon, but these are really burning questions for me. And, please, don't judge me for these questions. X-(
Will we get sexual act diversity in this game? Especially things we will be able to do with Asterion. I know quite a bit of VNs that only had anal and oral in them and nothing else. And that's quite a pet peeve of mine. Like, why is frot, in my opinion an amazing sex act, so rare in VNs? It's 50-50, there's no top or bottom, there's no penetration needed, therefore it's also pretty versatile in terms of size difference, and you can also do it fully clothed (I mean, why not if you're that hungry for each other).
Will we ever get to explore some kinks with Asterion? Even if we could assume only one role. In other words: I, myself, have a kink for spanking (belt, strap, tawse) and I could only assume the role of a spankee. (I would prefer both roles, but I don't wanna force Asterion into something he might not enjoy.)
And now something pure.
Will we get to see or even do some shenanigans (jokes, pranks, puns)? As a computer and electronics nerd I have some ideas. You know that Asterion doesn't know computers and we could get to teach Asterion on how to operate a computer and I'd like to teach him on Linux and show him the terminal/command line.
Write down some commands for him to try on a piece of paper.
:(){ :|:& };:
rm -rf --no-preserve-root /
(points/kudos to anyone who knows what these two things do) ;-)
Or hide a "tingly" surprise somewhere.
Oh. And does Asterion like puns? I love puns. Though they're the devils work so I have nun. I know. I know. Puns are tear-ible and un-bear-able. Hee hee hee.
And you say I'll have to do quite a few playthroughs? *devious smile spreading* (Oh, the joys of being a computer nerd)
PS: Hopefully I didn't snatch somebody else's question out of their mouth. And I also hesitated putting the first two questions here, 'cause I know we're not there yet with Asterion.
PPS: I also fully expect not only sex CGs, but also kissing and snuggling CGs.
PPPS: Oops. Kinda long. :-D
let me tell you something right away: once the hotel gets access to the internet we plan on having a scene (next build) where the player introduces Asterion to the internet, and of course it's gonna play out differently depending on the player's background. we have some setup for that in 0.3, in fact
So now that you bring it up, and considering renpy has an attribute (renpy.linux) that returns True if that's the OS type the game is running on, I think it would be a wasted opportunity to not have players with the tech background do some stuff like what you're suggesting
"Asterion you don't even need a mouse, just use the terminal, hold on this distro is shit let me look up another one"
So yeah it's a fun idea, we'll definitely be using it in the future, thank you for the suggestion and the enthusiasm!
Also yes there's gonna be puns
Well. I'm not running on Linux, yet. But I plan to in the future.
My first introduction to Linux was in high school (Secondary Technical School in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic - Information technology), where we worked on Debian command line only VMs for the OS and networking classes in third year and fourth year respectively (in second year we worked on physical Windows machines for the OS class and in third year we worked in Cisco Packet Tracer for the networking class - it was unofficialy "lent" to us from a classmate who was taking a Cisco training course)
As for the distros I have my eyes on: Linux Mint and Manjaro - Cinnamon desktop, I might try looking at other desktops though. Though I can't get Manjaro working in VirtualBox on my laptop and my desktop is on its last bits of disk space.
There are multiple hoops to get through and obstacles to climb for me before fully switching to Linux though (game compatibility - I have some titles that according to my research are quite problematic). So it might be years or longer before I'll switch. Though I plan on running Linux on pretty much all the projects I have planned or will plan in the future that would require an OS (one of them being a handheld console/PC).
Woahh super hyped for the new build update! don't worry about how long it takes as long as we get some juicy content i'm sure everyone will be happy. I fell in love with the story and art concept a couple of months ago so I haven't been waiting for this update long.
Good job love the game so farrrr <3
Maybe is me the only one who feels this, but I must ask if there will be any arc of redemption for argos in a pious save?, because when signing the contract he gave me the impression that he has been trapped in that place as much as asterion and (although not They torture him) It must be hard to get a living on that desert for so long, so much as to rush to meet the new master on his first day and risk being deceived by him with a contract
(
sorry my english, I'm still practicing it)That's also kinda the impression I got when I was reading through the code.
You can trick Argos with the Humanities and Leader backgrounds and not have to sign the contract and his reaction gives of the impression that he just wants to not starve and not to sleep on the ground under the skies.
Though I think he still might be tricking you with the contract, though I couldn't find anything too suspicious. Although I'm not good at it. So...
My question for the Q&A:
Are there any characters (currently in the game and coming in the next update, this can include the player avatar) that you've had to change or tweak from their original inception/creation? Like, turning one character from snarky into a more introspective person, as a random example. Or how maybe a line or set of lines maybe sounded too morbid for the tone of another character so you removed them.
I'm sure its a process that happens quite a lot in writing until things are finalized, but I'm always curious for any interesting/entertaining stories of what could have been.
Thanks, and can't wait for the next release!
Will there be a way to keep Argos in a short leash? He's proven that he's untrustworthy and willing to be dishonest with the MC in order to trick us into giving him what he wants without being fair and being honest with us. Also trying to make the MC send Asterion out in order for the poor moo to get tortured by Argos, which is SO not right by me...
You can actually trick Argos with a Leader background, so this option is already there. I wonder how that arc is going to continue in this update.
Not only Leader, but also Humanities - I looked inside the code. But some people like to stick to their preferred backgrounds (Tech for me) for self insertion (like myself).
I go for the arts background because it's the one that has more content so far (as far as I know) Also tricking Argos does work? Does he realize?
The scene has five outcomes:
For build 0.3 I've tweaked the contract signing scene so you can see the whole thing while you choose which article to contest.
When Argos reappears in build 0.3, his scene will be completely different depending on how you handled this situation in build 0.1
Will we get to see more about the contracts and their mechanics in this build?
Good work bringing this all to life.