Let's have a talk about fan games and modding.
Right off the bat, let me say we love it. We love that people are taking the Minotaur Hotel characters and being creative with them, exploring their own ideas and preferences, adding new content and functionalities to the game. We love it, this is a dream come true.
Because we are so into this, we wanted to take a minute to set some guidelines. We think they will help you. You see, we noticed that you guys are so polite and considerate, you care a lot about not offending us, and with this we want to assure you about what's OK (which is a lot) and what isn't (there are only a few limits.)
We also want to make it so all the modding and fan games actually get seen. By keeping this thread we hope it'll make it easy for people to find and keep track of them going forward, which can be tricky with the current forum format we have going.
Without further ado, here's the excessively long list of things concerning modding, fan games and fan stuff in general.
Fan Art and Patreon
Q: Can I make fan art of Minotaur Hotel characters and put it on my Patreon?
Yes, it's good. Shoot us a tweet or DM and we'll most likely signal boost it. We love fan art and are happy to retweet things for artists and writer!
General Modding Guidelines
- As a rule of thumb, you don't need to ask for permission from us to mod the game, but please read the Q&A section below to learn the few restrictions we'd like people to respect. If things are still unclear to you, feel free to ask questions here.
- Minotaur Hotel is a work-in-progress. Expect the code to change significantly every now and then as we continue to develop the game. Keep in mind that your mod may stop working eventually, as that's just the nature of the beast.
- Use this thread to discuss how to mod the game, brainstorm ideas and post your mods. YOU CAN STILL MAKE A THREAD FOR YOUR OWN MODS THOUGH.
- Hosting your mod on a Google Drive does the job, sure, but it's a bit uncomfortable privacy-wise and not great for preservation. I highly recommend you publish your mod on Itch.io itself, which would allow us to set up a handy collection linking to all of them. Just make sure you classify it as a "Mod" instead of a "Game" while setting up its page.
- Mind you, if you distribute your mod via Itch then people can follow your profile and be notified when you publish updates to it. And if you want to make your own original project later you'll have a few people keeping up with your works already. I'd be personally overjoyed it modding Minotaur Hotel became a launchpad for new creators to take off and do their own originals.
- Keep it gay, be creative, have fun!
- Don't mod in malicious code nor copyrighted or illegal content.
- Keep it non-commercial. Don't charge for stuff.
Important Questions & Answers
Q: Can I add a cool new quality of life function, like a counter that keeps track of this or that? You know, some kind of tool that makes my sort of play style easier.
A: Yes, sure. Have fun!
Q: Can I add an accessory, article of clothing, fur color, or any other sort of cosmetic changes to Asterion?
A: Yes, go on right ahead. We actually love that sort of stuff, we were very happy to see it happening. I particularly like it because it goes well with the spirit of the game, and we've had so many excellent suggestions of accessories that we just can't put in because of time constraints.
Q: Does this include changing how the other guests look like?
A: Yes, you can mod stuff for them too. In fact, I dare you to!
Q: Can I mod in NSFW/adult/horny content?
A: Yes, you can add adult content, but exclusively for the main version of the game (don't go adding naughties to the SFW version.)
Q: How horny can it be, though?
A: We are generally horny, kinky little gremlins ourselves so it'd be very hypocritical of us playing the moral guardian card. Generally speaking, you can go pretty horny but I'd ask you to refrain from adding scatological, gruesome and ethically questionable stuff. If you are in doubt about your idea you can ask us on this thread.
We'd also prefer if people did not make mods that change the characters' gender and/or add outright heterosexual content. You can be creative and have fun with what genitalia the characters have (Matydos, for example, wrote a fan fiction where Asterion uses some labyrinth magic to experiment with having a vagina, and that's alright with us) but please keep the game gay.
Q: So, I can add kinky stuff like Luke being a slut but I shouldn't add basic straight content?
A: Correct, and I'm very aware of how odd that is. Our reasoning for it goes back to our vision for Minotaur Hotel being uncompromisingly gay. We are making the excessively gay game we wish we had to play but never did, so we are making it with a lot of love and affection directed very specifically to LGBT players in general, and gay players in particular.
If the content you want to make is still LGBT in nature while not being specifically gay, that's alright and cool.
Q: Can I add funny stuff, like more Speedrunner shenanigans or parodying some of the games weirder events? Will I offend you somehow?
A: We have a sense of humor, we'll probably laugh along with whatever you come up with. Go ahead.
Boring Copyright-Related Questions
Q: Can I mod in another game's or visual novel's characters — for example, as guests in the hotel?
A: That's a tricky one. Not all creators will be alright with their characters being added, and beyond that we'd worry about some modded characters bringing in the wrong crowd to the game. Mainly we're wary of anything that will attract minors and very toxic, immature people. We'd also be a bit apprehensive at the idea of someone adding in a character for commercial reasons — let's say, modding in an original character from their own visual novel so people will pledge to their Patreon.
Overall, if you want to add a character to the game I'd appreciate if you ask us first with the mindset that we might say "no, please don't do this".
Q: What if it's a character from another work of yours, like nanoff's comics or Nemo's stories?
A: That'd be alright, sure.
Q: Can I add a Nintendo character?
A: Listen, I'm a basic bitch and I like Bowser too. I'm not gonna give you shit for it. I just might not promote it if we do something like a collection of mods, because I like everything being copyright-compliant.
Q: I saw a great piece of Minotaur Hotel fanart. I took it and used it on my mod without asking for permission from the artist. Is this alright?
A: No. Don't do that. Respect authors' rights.
Q: Ok, but can I do something like... Recolor a character that's already in the game to make them look like a character I really like? Like making P look like that albino peacock from that one movie I really like? Or can I add some sort of Bloodborne or Dark Souls reference, like making Wolf look like Sif? Or make Robert look like a Doom-esque demon?
A: That should be alright, it's distinct enough that it doesn't really infringe copyright to a serious extent. Plus, some of those ideas are pretty good (wink wink nudge nudge.) Just don't pull inspiration from other furry VNs, because of the reasons I outlined above.
General Fan Game/Fan Projects Guidelines
- The guidelines for modding apply here. Feel free to be kinky (with a few limits), keep it gay, respect copyright, be creative, have fun, etc.
- We are always extremely honored whenever we get fan art/fan fiction/fan projects, and we are glad that people can take our characters and use them to express their own creativity and affection to the story. That said, what would make us even happier is if people really grew as artists and went on to do their own original works. We don't want people to become stuck doing Minotaur Hotel fan stuff forever when their original ideas could flourish so much.
- In terms of what you can do... It's pretty much anything. Wanna make a roguelike, platformer, RPG, Twine interactive fiction based on Minotaur Hotel? Go on ahead. Wanna make a little visual novel exploring a scenario you find engaging, like "what if P and Argos got together?" or "what if I could date Khenbish?" It's good. The exception is stuff that tries to "substitute" the original game. For example, don't do something like "I took the script of Minotaur Hotel and changed it so Asterion is a dominant top and published it as its own visual novel".
Q: So, I can't remake the game changing it so Asterion is a top, but pairing P and Argos is alright? What's the difference?
A: That's not it. The point is that you can explore ideas and have fun, you can make a little story where the characters are different in the ways you want. We just don't want people to take the original Minotaur Hotel game, copy it entirely to change this or that and then republish it.
Q: I'm really into Khenbish/Luke/Kota/Themba/Argos/P/Storm/Robert/etc. Can I do a game where I can date them? Or, like, can I make a game where I can date many of the characters at the same time, in an intricate polyamorous network of free love?
A: Yep, go ahead. Have fun!
Q: I'm a novice game dev/artist/writer. I have this neat mechanic/idea in mind that I'd like to play with by making some sort of Minotaur Hotel fan thing, but I might also want to take this idea later and do something original of my own. Is that alright?
A: Nothing would make me happier than seeing new artists, writers, developers flourishing and taking off on their own after experimenting with their craft with our work. Please go ahead, and I wish you all the success from the bottom of my heart.
Q: But what if my original idea is commercial? I mean, the Minotaur Hotel fan stuff is not commercial, but what if I want to take some of the code I wrote for it and turn it into my own commercial game? Is that alright?
A: Similar to the point above, I'd be overjoyed if this sort of stuff goes on to improve your life financially. Achieve prosperity, my dude.
Q: MinoAnon, it's been 15 years since Minotaur Hotel was completed. We want to remake it, adapting it so it fits our modern sensibilities. We will also add some gratuitous 3D computer graphics on the background, and in our version we will be toning down how stereotypical Luke and Greta are. Is that alright?
A: No. Stop right now.
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This post may be updated as new guidelines arise. You'll find the version of the guidelines and its publishing date below:
Version 1.1 || Originally published on 30th of January, 2022, updated on 24th of June 2022 to add a topic about fan art being made for Patreon.
