- Mar 11, 2018
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- Jul 11, 2017
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Well over 6 weeks has passed since Chpt 11 got released for patrons and it still isn't released for free yet. Funny how the DRMed to hell release is getting milked for all it is worth.
Now that Palmer has his "uncrackable DRM" you can expect more shenanigans like this in the future. He is going to he worse than EA by the time this is over with.
Now that Palmer has his "uncrackable DRM" you can expect more shenanigans like this in the future. He is going to he worse than EA by the time this is over with.
It's probably not all that hard to crack, well not in comparison to things like Denuvo. It's just that it might be only one or two people trying to crack it, as opposed to reams of people working on cracks for AAA games.
- Sep 5, 2017
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Chapters are free released ~6-8 weeks after patreon release. Only 1 chapter was free released >8 weeks.
- Mar 11, 2018
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like what do you expect from Palmer when some numpty says your security sucks and is so easy to crack lol
- Jul 11, 2017
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Ignore it because, as you say, they are a numpty and it doesnt matter what they think?
Better yet, not DRM your game in the first place?
- Jul 15, 2017
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Don't put DRM on YOUR games then. I find hilarious how some people get mad because they can't have for free what they want - as it were a established right.
Fun fact: Their security still sucks. I played the Ch.11 full online with the link provided in this forum, downloaded and decoded the encrypted source files in just a couple of days.
The problem? I have little to no knowledge of js, and as a "game-maker-wanna-be" myself would be unethical to crack and share it, more taking in count that in theory it would be free "soon".
But seriously now, I won't call custom base64 encoding "uncrackable DRM", just that no one is trying to crack it. So, if someone wanted to do it but was discouraged by all the "it's ultra hyper protected and encrypted now"...no, it isn't, give it a try.
Teach me your ways, RurouniCoder! 
I'm all for the cracking when it happens, and I'm grateful for two things: that it happens, and that Palmer lets it (and that there's no change in release behavior when it happens, unlike a "punishment" hissy fit like what other developers might do). Hell, I'm also grateful he releases these for free at all. Normally that's seen as antithetical to pay-based releases (why buy the cow, etc) but here he is doing that anyway.
But getting mad at him for protecting his games during the protected pre-free release period is some kind of entitlement.
I'm all for the cracking when it happens, and I'm grateful for two things: that it happens, and that Palmer lets it (and that there's no change in release behavior when it happens, unlike a "punishment" hissy fit like what other developers might do). Hell, I'm also grateful he releases these for free at all. Normally that's seen as antithetical to pay-based releases (why buy the cow, etc) but here he is doing that anyway.
But getting mad at him for protecting his games during the protected pre-free release period is some kind of entitlement.
- Oct 13, 2016
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of course it can be cracked, but why? i dont find this game that good and theres a schedule to be released in the future. meanwhile we play other games. also, if the dev want to protect his game, well, let him. he think he will get more support. you can always give him a buck and play the game.
I agree with you except in one thing: The game is good IMHO. The writing and character design is so good that is the reason why I play this game, not for the adult scenes. Seriously.
Sorry, but I already explained why I didn't share "my ways". Either way, as the people that played from the link before they meat-spinned it said, playing from the link is really buggy and you will have to load the game constantly to get to the end, so you would get a better experience if you wait a little longer for the free version :coldsweat:Teach me your ways, RurouniCoder!
- May 28, 2017
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Some context...
Long ago in a forum far, far away, @Palmer shared his masterpiece of AIF "Emily: Sister Attraction." It was a passion project literally dedicated to the earlier works of Goblinboy and is a no-brainer hall-of-fame title from the tail end of what I consider to be the 3rd-generation of adult game creators along with Goblinboy, Lucilla Frost, @BBBen (still active!) and many others. (The 2nd generation included Christopher Cole, Newkid, A Bomire, A Ninny, Sly Dog, and others--the 1st generation predated 1998 or so--basically before the internet as we know it, and those games were rather scattered and mostly unmemorable (with some exceptions)) ((Sorry for all the asides, but I should mention that devs like Tlaero and
Anyway, the response to ESA was overwhelmingly positive (except for perhaps the creepy rape scene with the random track girl the MC "accidentally" knocks unconscious--back then it was kind of a WTF?! thing, but kind of vanilla now and definitely made for an interesting lens into Palmer's brain given future scenes in his newer games).
Back then Palmer was active in older forums, explaining in engaging detail all kinds of things from his personal creative motivations to the technical aspects of ADRIFT coding, from walkthrough assistance to details of asset use. Years ago I had multiple email exchanges with him, and he was... cool! He loved making games, he loved talking about his games, he loved helping people enjoy his games, and he loved that people loved his games!
But he also had a rather unusual sensitive side when it came to criticism, at least compared to other game creators at the time. He was... protective I guess is a good word, about his creation. It wasn't that he took it personally--I don't mean "sensitive" in an a emotional or immature sense. Not at all! It was just that, at a time when other game authors involved in the AIF community took valid criticism on the chin and shrugged off oddball comments with a hearty "cheers!", he responded at length to comments that 90% of the other forum members probably shrugged off as lazy commenting at best if not outright trolling.
Then, after some ESA2 teases, he announced he would be working on a new project, a "4G project" if you're catching my drift, called
Palmer saw the future and, I might be mistaken, so if anyone wants to correct me please do, but to my knowledge he was one of the first of the "old guard" AIF creators to shift his focus to creating 4G games dependent on Patreon funds. In other words, he stepped out of TADS and ADRIFT and released a game using cutting-edge interactive programming and said, basically, "This is hard work. If you like it, consider supporting me with money." (It should be noted, crucially, that he has always been consistent with releasing games for free eventually. One day everyone will be able to play DFD without having contributed a single dollar).
One result of his vision to ask for contributions for working hard to create products people liked was that his game topic was removed from the popular games thread of the old forum to a newly created "other games" thread. He did not take well to this. It's funny looking back on it now, and I'm pretty sure if Palmer is reading this now he would agree that his response to this "demotion" was a bit overblown. He wrote a lengthy diatribe I won't share here, but he came across as rather apoplectic about it. All of the minor, smaller, insignificant defensiveness boiled over. He basically rage-quit a previously supportive forum because he had the gall of asking for money for his hard work, and he got shuffled off.
And so here we find ourselves in 2018 solidly in 5g-game territory, and Palmer is living out his dream of making a decent living from creating and writing and producing and sharing high-quality sex games. I would argue he's earned it. To turn this post back to its beginning, it's both a miracle and a shame that Goblinboy didn't earn a dime (as far as anyone knows) for creating multiple masterpieces, and now 4th-rate hacks make hundreds a month from idiotic faptantasies. No one should give Palmer too much grief for making some money working on a game that will ultimately be free to play once it's finished.
Palmer was ahead of the curve then, and he's ahead of the curve now. Kudos to him for figuring out how to monetize quality in a sea of pirates. Respect.
ETA Haha I posted this without making what was my original point in what I originally thought would be a 200-word response (oops):
I wonder if Palmer would be as actively aggressive with thwarting piracy attempts if he hadn't felt so disrespected by the previous primary forum for sharing adult games? I honestly think the hours and the effort to make the game harder to crack is a result of being rejected by people he thought were his peers. I'm not judging that response one way or another... It's just that when I started my post with "Some context..." this is the point I wanted to get to and got a bit derailed.
Long ago in a forum far, far away, @Palmer shared his masterpiece of AIF "Emily: Sister Attraction." It was a passion project literally dedicated to the earlier works of Goblinboy and is a no-brainer hall-of-fame title from the tail end of what I consider to be the 3rd-generation of adult game creators along with Goblinboy, Lucilla Frost, @BBBen (still active!) and many others. (The 2nd generation included Christopher Cole, Newkid, A Bomire, A Ninny, Sly Dog, and others--the 1st generation predated 1998 or so--basically before the internet as we know it, and those games were rather scattered and mostly unmemorable (with some exceptions)) ((Sorry for all the asides, but I should mention that devs like Tlaero and
You must be registered to see the links
were crucial 3.5 generation developers that changed how we looked at adult games.)))Anyway, the response to ESA was overwhelmingly positive (except for perhaps the creepy rape scene with the random track girl the MC "accidentally" knocks unconscious--back then it was kind of a WTF?! thing, but kind of vanilla now and definitely made for an interesting lens into Palmer's brain given future scenes in his newer games).
Back then Palmer was active in older forums, explaining in engaging detail all kinds of things from his personal creative motivations to the technical aspects of ADRIFT coding, from walkthrough assistance to details of asset use. Years ago I had multiple email exchanges with him, and he was... cool! He loved making games, he loved talking about his games, he loved helping people enjoy his games, and he loved that people loved his games!
But he also had a rather unusual sensitive side when it came to criticism, at least compared to other game creators at the time. He was... protective I guess is a good word, about his creation. It wasn't that he took it personally--I don't mean "sensitive" in an a emotional or immature sense. Not at all! It was just that, at a time when other game authors involved in the AIF community took valid criticism on the chin and shrugged off oddball comments with a hearty "cheers!", he responded at length to comments that 90% of the other forum members probably shrugged off as lazy commenting at best if not outright trolling.
Then, after some ESA2 teases, he announced he would be working on a new project, a "4G project" if you're catching my drift, called
You must be registered to see the links
. Not long after, he let it be known he would be soliciting payments on some newfangled website called "Patreon" (wtf?!) for additional releases. It's important to note that this was in early 2016, well before DMD or BB or DOD or any other high-profile game was making thousands of dollars per month (and, I think before F95 even existed!).Palmer saw the future and, I might be mistaken, so if anyone wants to correct me please do, but to my knowledge he was one of the first of the "old guard" AIF creators to shift his focus to creating 4G games dependent on Patreon funds. In other words, he stepped out of TADS and ADRIFT and released a game using cutting-edge interactive programming and said, basically, "This is hard work. If you like it, consider supporting me with money." (It should be noted, crucially, that he has always been consistent with releasing games for free eventually. One day everyone will be able to play DFD without having contributed a single dollar).
One result of his vision to ask for contributions for working hard to create products people liked was that his game topic was removed from the popular games thread of the old forum to a newly created "other games" thread. He did not take well to this. It's funny looking back on it now, and I'm pretty sure if Palmer is reading this now he would agree that his response to this "demotion" was a bit overblown. He wrote a lengthy diatribe I won't share here, but he came across as rather apoplectic about it. All of the minor, smaller, insignificant defensiveness boiled over. He basically rage-quit a previously supportive forum because he had the gall of asking for money for his hard work, and he got shuffled off.
And so here we find ourselves in 2018 solidly in 5g-game territory, and Palmer is living out his dream of making a decent living from creating and writing and producing and sharing high-quality sex games. I would argue he's earned it. To turn this post back to its beginning, it's both a miracle and a shame that Goblinboy didn't earn a dime (as far as anyone knows) for creating multiple masterpieces, and now 4th-rate hacks make hundreds a month from idiotic faptantasies. No one should give Palmer too much grief for making some money working on a game that will ultimately be free to play once it's finished.
Palmer was ahead of the curve then, and he's ahead of the curve now. Kudos to him for figuring out how to monetize quality in a sea of pirates. Respect.
ETA Haha I posted this without making what was my original point in what I originally thought would be a 200-word response (oops):
I wonder if Palmer would be as actively aggressive with thwarting piracy attempts if he hadn't felt so disrespected by the previous primary forum for sharing adult games? I honestly think the hours and the effort to make the game harder to crack is a result of being rejected by people he thought were his peers. I'm not judging that response one way or another... It's just that when I started my post with "Some context..." this is the point I wanted to get to and got a bit derailed.
- Aug 6, 2016
- 7,793
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*Takes off moderating hat*
@fauxplayer I agree with most of the points.
- GoblinBoy deserved more than he got.
- Some of the "old guard" who are still producing hits like Tlaero have evolved along with Palmer but in other directions. But! They moved in more of an "evolutionary" style where it seems like logical progression. Not so with Palmer.
- Palmer is a trailblazer. Point in case- a couple years ago, he tried to blend anime traits in a 3d model without triggering "uncanny valley". That's called pushing the envelope and it's what I consider a Palmer "hallmark". He'll push what he can to the edges and then nudge it just a little more just to see where it goes.
- And yes, in spite of the respect Palmer rightly deserves, he does need to take a chill pill and remind himself of where he came from and give back to his fans. His fan base is among the most loyal I've seen besides Otto Maddox/Jag27.
To recap, Palmer does deserve credit but at the same time, he could take a breath, calm down, and give back to the those who reward him. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
*Puts mod hat back on* Back to crackin' folks!
@fauxplayer I agree with most of the points.
- GoblinBoy deserved more than he got.
- Some of the "old guard" who are still producing hits like Tlaero have evolved along with Palmer but in other directions. But! They moved in more of an "evolutionary" style where it seems like logical progression. Not so with Palmer.
- Palmer is a trailblazer. Point in case- a couple years ago, he tried to blend anime traits in a 3d model without triggering "uncanny valley". That's called pushing the envelope and it's what I consider a Palmer "hallmark". He'll push what he can to the edges and then nudge it just a little more just to see where it goes.
- And yes, in spite of the respect Palmer rightly deserves, he does need to take a chill pill and remind himself of where he came from and give back to his fans. His fan base is among the most loyal I've seen besides Otto Maddox/Jag27.
To recap, Palmer does deserve credit but at the same time, he could take a breath, calm down, and give back to the those who reward him. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
*Puts mod hat back on* Back to crackin' folks!
- May 28, 2017
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This point makes me nostalgic for the old forums, where people like you made points like this that made me go "WOW! You're right! I hadn't thought of that in those terms, but now that you mention it I recognize it. Thanks for putting into words the things I appreciated but didn't consciously realize and, even if I did, didn't know how to express."
I 100% agree with the needing to take a chill-pill comment, and I enjoyed your bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you reference @muttdoggy
But I would add that I was a $10 patron for over a year while he was mostly focused on a project I wasn't that keen on, hoping he'd use the support to work on ESA2. He didn't, so I stopped pledging, and now he's got himself a lot of supporters for what he's doing, so it's fair to say he IS giving back to his fans (errr, pledgers). But yes, I dearly wish he'd remind himself of where he came from and give back to his original supporters. But I guess Praise for a game like ESA is less support than $$$ for what he's doing now...?
Anyway, it will come to no one's surprise who follows me here, but I sometimes suffer from manic episodes. Tonight is probably one of those times where I shouldn't be posting at all haha. But when I started my response, my initial intention assumed that it was clear to others that Palmer needed to chill, and I wanted to provide context into why Palmer might be a bit high strung given his perception of how he was treated by the "old guard" when he made the move to Patreon. I went off the rails there a bit, but I hope some it was educational.
I appreciate you doffing the moderator hat for a moment!
- Jul 15, 2017
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Good for you if you managed to play Ch11 in a break format while that hole was still opened. But seriously, if you really think that the DRM has something to do with the custom base64 behind the script files, you actually know nothing. This is a 100% client-side HTML5 game. It means nothing if you can have the files (they are free to access!). As the developer of the game, I find very fun that you're trying to detract my work using some pseudo-technical words to try to show that you know what are you talking about. In fact, I think you're far behind of being able to really crack the game and distribute it as a downloadable functional executable.
- Sep 26, 2017
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@fauxplayer @muttdoggy Thanks for your comments guys. There's a lot I'd love to respond to but I'll just pick a few pieces due to being short on time.
Goblinboy was indeed a legend, and both me and AW loved his works. AW and him actually made an AIF game called Bad Sister, which I continue to recommend to everyone who likes AIF. Also, I did try to reach out to Goblinboy for him to join our little studio, but unfortunately I think he's left this genre behind him and he probably never saw my email. About chilling? Yes, I most definitely have to. I think this is true for everyone who is passionate about what they do.
The thing on Shark's a couple of years back was indeed very silly and would never happen today, but it was actually started by a moderator of the forum who personally attacked me in the ESA thread. It should still be up there. That's really what started it, and naturally we felt bad about PWU Ep1 being sent to a section of the forum no one read because it contained a Patreon link to our site. Shark didn't like this because he felt it threathned his financial income. He did this to other games as well, which is part of the reason that forum is now very inactive. The guy even banned the word "patreon". Again, I would have handled that very differently should it have happened today.
I love constructive negative feedback by the way. I ask my patrons often for it. There's also a reason AW (Another Wannabe) is writing for us now and has become a friend, that most people don't know: he posted a lengthy review of Emily: Sister Attraction that was negative. Basically he didn't like the game. I loved that, and had to chase him for a while in order to get him to write for us. We even held an "insult Palmer" contest on our Discord once, which was hilarious
About giving back to the supporters: I can't think of anything else I can do than what I'm currently doing. I am always available to chat with on Discord, we post our games for free, we post content updates, and we are looking to expand what we do. We even hold contests on Discord with small and fun prices, and a few of us are looking into holding proper streams regularly, if there's time. This is open to anyone, regardless if they're a patreon or not.
Goblinboy was indeed a legend, and both me and AW loved his works. AW and him actually made an AIF game called Bad Sister, which I continue to recommend to everyone who likes AIF. Also, I did try to reach out to Goblinboy for him to join our little studio, but unfortunately I think he's left this genre behind him and he probably never saw my email. About chilling? Yes, I most definitely have to. I think this is true for everyone who is passionate about what they do.
The thing on Shark's a couple of years back was indeed very silly and would never happen today, but it was actually started by a moderator of the forum who personally attacked me in the ESA thread. It should still be up there. That's really what started it, and naturally we felt bad about PWU Ep1 being sent to a section of the forum no one read because it contained a Patreon link to our site. Shark didn't like this because he felt it threathned his financial income. He did this to other games as well, which is part of the reason that forum is now very inactive. The guy even banned the word "patreon". Again, I would have handled that very differently should it have happened today.
I love constructive negative feedback by the way. I ask my patrons often for it. There's also a reason AW (Another Wannabe) is writing for us now and has become a friend, that most people don't know: he posted a lengthy review of Emily: Sister Attraction that was negative. Basically he didn't like the game. I loved that, and had to chase him for a while in order to get him to write for us. We even held an "insult Palmer" contest on our Discord once, which was hilarious
About giving back to the supporters: I can't think of anything else I can do than what I'm currently doing. I am always available to chat with on Discord, we post our games for free, we post content updates, and we are looking to expand what we do. We even hold contests on Discord with small and fun prices, and a few of us are looking into holding proper streams regularly, if there's time. This is open to anyone, regardless if they're a patreon or not.
First of all, sorry if my way of saying that your "DRM" is far from "uncrackable" has offended you, not my intention.
In other hand, you said it like that hole isn't opened anymore, so I take a screenshot right now of how I can still launch the game with the exact same link posted here almost a month ago.
About the "pseudo-technical words"...what? You used a custom base64 alphabet to encode some of the files (the scene files). In fact, all you did was change this characters:
'-' to 'W'
'@' to '0'
'_' to '='
'S' to '§'
'I' to 'Í',
'A' to '#',
'C' to 'Ç',
'!' to 'i'
About the source code, you hexadecimal encrypted it and maked it a little more complex so it was unreadable. But your mistake (well, not really, you need to do it for the code to load faster) was minify the JS. That allowed me to revert the encoding in the function array and with a little command line program parse any call to the variable "_0x6e3d" to the real function and make it readable again. By the way, I liked how you added 172 to the index, very clever, it toke me a while to figure it out.
The result was all the files in a readable format and even if you complicated the code a little more, if you compare the functions of Ch.11 with Ch.10 for example, you can pretty much read it and see what is doing what, and pretty sure with a little of studying and time you don't even need any reference.
Now again, even getting this far, can I crack it right now? No, because you are right and I said it myself: I don't have the right knowledge. I don't know more than basic JS, and I never used GameMaker: Studio so I don't even know how the game is executed. It is as uncrackable and protected as you and others are claiming here? I don't think so, less since you say is a "100% client-side" game.
But yet again, I don't even tried to do it for the reasons given, so maybe there is some kind of unbreakable protection hidden far in the code that I don't know about. But seeing that was the "super encrypted source files" what discouraged people that wanted to crack it, I only said that it isn't that protected (again, the source files at least). That's all. If you are so sure that even with it no one can crack it I can share the decoded files so anyone that want to do it can give it a try with a head start, if you agree.
So again, I already said that I can't crack it because I don't have the right knowledge among other things, and taking in count that right know I'm learning Vulkan and developing a graphic engine based on it in Kotlin, I prefer to put my time in my own project that trying to make other game maker lose some patreons for a game that he will release free.
Again, sorry if you think I was "trying to detract your work", but as you can see I wasn't just using some "pseudo-technical...?" word to make me look smart, just talking about what I know.