Novus
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June Poll Results!
🕑 Added 2022-06-09 12:41:46 +0000 UTCAlright! Polls ended at midnight last night. So, before I crash for the day being the nocturnal creature that I am, I figured I'd give myself a headache by doing the math for the Short Story Poll. And, once that's done, there's just not much point in putting off posting the results. Without further ado...
The Left Hand Magic Focus Poll
This was...interesting. Mostly, as it was the first indicator I've had of the popularity of the various girls. I'm actually rather gratified by Trix being the winner, as she's my own favorite ;-). And no, it's not actually because of her particular fetish. I actually just think I nailed her character design better than any of the others. Not that any of them are bad, I refused to accept anything less than high quality of LHM. I just think she might be a slight cut above the others, save possibly for Talia. And futas, as I've mentioned before, actually aren't really my thing. They don't bother me, but they aren't something I seek out most of the time either. So, yeah, Trix is my own favorite. Though, for the curious, I chose not to put my own input on this poll, as I wanted as accurate as possible a view of what patrons wanted.
Anyway, the final tally was:
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Trix's Route - 36%
Talia's Route - 27%
Arianna's Route - 27%
MC Masturbation Options - 9%
Revina's Route - 0%
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Poor Revina! I might have to ask some questions of you guys about why she performed so poorly! I admit I was surprised there was a girl that got no votes, even if the overall vote turnout was lower than I'd have liked (Only 22 people voted). Regardless of that aside, though...this means that Trix will be getting her Week 3 content in this build. To be honest, at the rate things are going, I think it will probably only be Trix...which might be for the best as the runner-up was a tie. I think, if I manage to squeeze an extra animation beyond Trix's Week 3 content in, I might go ahead and put in another MC masturbation option. Just because having another of those in-game will prevent problems down the line a bit.
Anyway! That's it for the very first Focus Poll for Left Hand Magic. But keep your eyes on the Patreon. Sometime in the next couple of days, I'll be initiating the first poll regarding Trix's content as well. Specifically, what, if any, secondary kins (beyond the chastity thing) she might have...
The Short Story Poll
Results which simultaneously didn't surprise me, and actually kinda did a bit. The unsurprising bit came from the two shorts that were on top of the heap last month...ended up at the top again this time. The slightly more surprising bit came from just how the wind seems to be shifting as far as people's content preferences. Before, stories with chastity content tended to be the ones that won most often. I suppose, with Chastity Quest no longer being one of the primary products of the Patreon, I should have expected to see a bit of a shift in short story preferences? But given how strong the liking of that content type seems to be in the other polls, it still caught me a bit off guard. Not a bad thing, as I'm actually quite happy to expand my niche a bit more anyway. And it's not like the chastity-themed stories didn't perform well. Still, just a slight bit of surprise to go with the unsurprising bit. With that bit of rambling rambled, the results were:
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An App for That: 101.67
Mass Effect - Final Error: 72.17
Alyia and the Magic Shop: 51.67
Lyriel's Adventures: 20
Andrea of the Silver Key: 20
The Naughty Aunt's Notebook: 10
Galactic Nomad: 0 (Ouch)
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So, An App for That, takes another win. And I've got to be honest with you, I kinda saw it coming. Everyone seems to really like that particular story. As such...I kinda already started on it. I've got the first 2,500 words done, in point of fact. With the plan being to knock out the rest this weekend. I figured worst case, even if it lost, it could be the second monthly short. And it let me get a bit of a headstart when I wasn't up to working on other bits that need doing. Hopefully, that means you'll see it come Monday or so. As for the second short...I'm strongly considering going ahead and updating Mass Effect: Final Error as well, since it's taken a strong second place twice in a row. The only problem there being that, of all the stories, it has the most involved planning time. The price of working within the framework of someone else's world means that I've got to do the research to make sure things make sense. Well, I suppose if I was a sloppier writer that wouldn't be the case. But it offends me on a fundamental level not to at least a solid effort. That means that I'm not promising to do ME:FE as the second short. But...I'll strongly consider if it's practical. If it's not, it's likely you'll get Alyia's Magic Shop instead, as I've already got a decent outline for the next part of that story.
Mixed Media Poll
I legit had zero idea how this one would go. In the end, though, continuing into a second arc of Silas Station won with 60% of the vote. Which...isn't quite as decisive as it seems, given only 5 people voted. But that's not that atypical of this particular poll, given that it's restricted to Royalty Tier patrons...and at any given time I usually only have about 10-12 of you. Regardless, I'm hardly displeased with the result. It's actually the easiest on me, asset wise, since I've picked up a lot of random Sci-fi assets in 'mega sales' and other nonsense over at Daz3d.com, with a mind to their possible use in multiple projects. Silas Station just so happens to be the most likely to use them, currently. That doesn't mean I won't need to acquire anything new, just...fewer new bits. Which is good this particular month as Left Hand Magic is rapidly proving to need lots of new assets this month. Anyway, I'll start renders on this sometime this weekend...hopefully using the new laptop that is supposed to arrive tomorrow! Seriously, rendering the comics and mixed media shorts on my current aging laptop (while the render desktop does the heavy lifting that is the game renders), was getting painful.
Comments
Novus
Eh. Not sure I agree or not on the racism thing. But also not a subject I'm going to delve into, as there's nothing I can do about it if that is someone's instinctive reaction. As for the necromancy thing...that's a very strange argument to me. Not because I disagree on it being depicted as bad or evil...but because I choose every single magic for each of the girls off the same sort of proverbial list. Blood Magic, Summoning, and Necromancy are all 'bad' magics (Arianna's Spirit magic is the closest to neutral and is still pretty dark grey). Literally the entire premise of the game is related to that fact. I've been a bit surprised that more people haven't realized what I was getting at with the Left Hand reference. The game's title (as well as that of the company), refers to a common method of separating types of magic, dividing them into Left and Right hand magics. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-hand_path_and_right-hand_path). Though the definition changes depending on the source.
Novus
@Diuuuuu It's fine :-p, a single vote either way wouldn't have changed anything anyway. Good to know she wasn't completely without fans, though! @Bababbak That makes sense, actuallly. I think that will change with this update. There are lore reasons why she came off that way, which her content for the current build will reveal. She's arguably the slowest to build of all the characters, so I suppose it only make logical sense that she was/is the slowest to build a following.
Bababbak
I don't think whitewashing/ racism is a problem at all, it's just that her character feels kinda shallow at the beginning, like the dialogue doesn't show her quirks that much really. On top of that i didn't really notice her bondage fetish much until the last update, and she would have been my second choice. It's just that there probably are many bondage interested people that are more interested in chastity content on here.
Oops, it’s been a while since I played and I mixed up Revina for Arianna! So I picked Arianna in the pill whereas I actually wanted to pick Revina. Sorry for messing up the poll! I’m also surprised why there wasn’t anyone else going for her… I loved the exhibitionism and the experimentation aspect that was needed to get her back to “normal”. She also seems like the type that would transform her body to her needs which is exciting. So yeah, can’t wait to see more of Revina, keep it up!
BL4DE
Keep in mind many of your patrons originate from countries where racism is a more or less prevalent problem. And no human being can completely set aside a thought. It may linger around as a subconscious feeling that the person itself is not fully aware of. Meaning a person can feel somewhat compelled to do something "by instinct" or "learned behavior" that seems illogical to others but completely normal to him / her. In this case a subconscious feeling that Rev is not their type even if she'd normally be. Similar reservations likely are felt about necromancy as a whole. Thing is that school of magic regardless of media usually is depicted as bad or evil. Rev being a practitioner and product of that school may trigger some "I don't like that" subconscious feelings. I did not mean "whitewashing" that literal. To me it is only part skin color and part "tries to fit in somewhere where s/he is not fitting for". I have no doubt it will become clearer and more "normal" in the future but right now ...
Novus
Hmm, undead girls have their own niche, I thought. And...Rev's also not really undead in the same sense as a traditional lich. I thought I'd made that clear in-game specifically to avoid squicking those people out. Might need to clarify that. Thanks for bringing that up. I didn't realize I might not have made it clear enough that her process actually DID succeed to a large degree. She's actually not physically dead the way a traditional undead is. She's only still labeled a lich because her process fucked up enough to to both half-alter her physical body (such as loss of sensation) and register her that way to magic. She registers as a soul possessing her own body, even though that body is still alive, unlike a traditional lich would be. Essentially, she registers something like if Arianna were a psychopath and ripped someone's soul out of their body, then shoved it back in sideways before the body expired for lacking a soul. If that makes sense. I'm actually a little curious about your backstories and powers thing, though. Since Revina...is actually the only one whose backstory I've really told so far? I've hinted at Trix's, but Talia's isn't planned to be introduced in full for at least two more updates. And Arianna's is currently very basic, though will be expanded some in this update. And as for powers...I thought Necromancy being used for good was actually the most fascinating myself. Since all three of the others are actually easier to do that with. So I suspect that's a personal perspective thing? *blinks* Okay, the whitewashing thing is REALLY a weird stretch to me, but I suppose I could see it literally in her case? Good to keep in mind, but not something I'm going to address. Mostly as having that reaction to her would be genuinely bizarre to me, given I've never even shown what she was like before becoming a lich. And, well, she's a lich. I was actually more worried about whitewashing accusations with the MC, Trix, and Arianna. Even if two of them are elves, their skin tones are pretty 'white.' I almost redid Arianna as another type of elf at one point to add more skin-tone diversity, but ultimately decided against it since I'd already introduced her... The last point I'll leave alone, since addressing it would spoil the current build's content a bit ;-). So if it's the issue, maybe people will change their opinion a bit as the story goes on. It's technically still pretty early days. Thanks for the feedback!
BL4DE
That Rev got no votes likely has a number of reasons and not just one. She is a lich and thus undead. People tend to not be keen on that. The other girls are way more interesting with their backstories and powers. She has almost blindingly white skin. Albeit it is fitting her backstory and being unnatural, don't discount RL racism and whitewashing thoughts that maybe seeped into the poll. Her behavior is both cold and nymphomaniac at the same time, which is a turnoff for many.
