1000 Princes: Born to Love You News

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Dear Princess Players,I’m Ginyan, an indie otome game developer. After I posted the announcement about “1000 Princes” transitioning to a paid model, I received many negative comments and attacks, which left me feeling deeply wronged and under pressure. One of the main points of controversy was my use of AI in development. I will be releasing a video soon to show you in detail how I make the games and how AI fits into my workflow. I sincerely hope to be more transparent and open about my development process as an indie creator, using AI to better serve players.

Previously, I stated in the game’s free version description that “1000 Princes” was free because the princes’ love for you is unconditional and comes with no strings attached. The princes have never broken that promise—they each love you deeply. However, as the developer, I broke that promise by switching to a paid model to cover costs. That was my mistake, and I sincerely apologize.

In my previous post, I only mentioned the shift from free to paid, which understandably upset players as it seemed to take away value. But I actually had another part to the message—offering players a 10% permanent discount bundle! Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to include that in the same post. I was rushing to the airport and still needed time to prepare a chart and contact Steam support about the bundle setup. I planned to share the discount info after my flight.

In my hurry, I packed my things and shut down my desktop, taking only my light laptop. Thankfully, I caught the flight. But after landing and arriving at my hotel, I realized I had forgotten my foldable phone—the one with Steam Guard installed. I usually only use that phone for testing the Android version of the game and for Steam Guard confirmations. Leaving it at home meant I couldn’t log in to Steam through the mobile app.

This past week on my business trip has been very stressful. I saw many negative reviews but couldn’t publish the discount info to explain the other side of the paid model switch. I was heartbroken by the criticism and often cried under the hotel blankets.

Now that I’m back home, I can finally log in to Steamworks again and post this. I’ve always wanted to offer players a long-term, stable discount. Steam only allows time-limited discounts per game, unless multiple paid games are bundled together—then you can set a permanent discount for the bundle. This benefits both players and me. Now that “1000 Princes” has become a paid title, I finally have two paid games to qualify for a bundle—free games can't be added to bundles.

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The name of this bundle is “Your All-Prince Husband.” It includes a group romance game (*1000 Princes*) and individual romance otome games (such as *Ling Tian*, *Howe*, etc.). Individual romance otome games will only be released once fully completed. Meanwhile, the group romance game *1000 Princes* follows an Early Access-style model and will continuously receive content updates. While in development, it will be sold at a tiered price; upon completion, it will be priced at $9.99 USD. Ultimately, each game will have the same final price of $9.99 USD and the bundle will offer a permanent 10% discount.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]According to the Steam pricing template, USD pricing is the highest among all regions, and many countries/regions will see a lower actual price.
Individual romance otome games (such as *Ling Tian*, *Howe*, etc.) are priced at $9.99 USD, with a long-term 10% discount if purchased in the bundle.
The group route romance game *1000 Princes* has a tiered price when unfinished, and a final price of $9.99 USD when completed.

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“All Your Prince Husbands” Bundle Contents
We are all your prince husbands—loving you with all our hearts is our duty! Come collect all your prince husbands now! Each handsome and gentle husband is madly in love with you, and you can’t be missing a single one! Our love never goes on sale, but our prices do! If you buy your husbands in bulk, you can enjoy up to a 10% discount!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/52249/_/
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[p]Dear Princess Players, hello!
I’m Ginyan, the developer of 1000 Princes. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has downloaded the game. Your encouragement and constructive criticism have been the greatest driving force behind my continued efforts to improve the gameplay experience.
However, I must inform you—very apologetically—that 1000 Princes will officially shift from a free game to a paid one one week from now.
While the game's visuals and music have been partially assisted by AI technology, the truth is that I’ve still invested an enormous amount of time, energy, and money into character modeling, animation, story writing, UI and coding, integrating AI resources, testing, and ongoing maintenance. In order to continue operating the game long-term and delivering new updates, transitioning to a paid model is a difficult but necessary decision.
Moving forward, 1000 Princes will be released as a paid Early Access title, with continued updates to the common route until the game reaches its full version.
Important Note: Players who download the game before it becomes paid will not be affected. You will still be able to enjoy the full game experience for free.
I am deeply grateful for the support from every one of you and hope to bring you even more rich and high-quality content in the future.
If you have any questions or need help, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me directly—Ginyan.
I’m truly sorry, and endlessly thankful that you gave 1000 Princes a try.
I bow to you in heartfelt apology and gratitude.

Sincerely,
琴研Ginyan[/p]

[This Update Includes]


1.Complete Re-translation of All Foreign Language Texts
In the old version of "1000 Princes," due to technical limitations, only machine translations were used. In this update, AI translations have been fully implemented. The game script has been retranslated into 13 languages, including English, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, French, Russian, Turkish, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Italian, and Portuguese, making conversations with the princes more fluent, text expression clearer and more accurate, and ensuring that the visual novel script is better understood by players.

 The otome game "Ling Tian 1" is also undergoing a complete re-translation of its game script, which will be completed by the end of March 2025. After the update, the 13 foreign language scripts, in addition to Chinese, will be fluent and accurate through AI translation. 

2.UI Update
After clicking the icon of the prince waving at you on the right side, a shortcut panel with a golden button will appear. This update adds a new Settings button to the shortcut panel, allowing players to easily adjust settings, including language selection, music and sound volume, and dialogue speed.

3.SKIP Fast Forward Function Improvement
In the old version, you could only fast forward to skip the game script you had already read. In this update, content that you have not read yet can also be skipped, making it easier to browse quickly. However, buttons and mini-games cannot be skipped.

4.Game Level Improvements
Some game levels in the old version of "1000 Princes" required players to save progress and then go to other rooms of the prince to find clues and answers, returning to the main story to enter a password to continue the game. This complicated design was inconvenient for players. In the new version, difficulty has been lowered, allowing players to find answers without leaving the main storyline.

 The otome game "Ling Tian 1" is also undergoing a comprehensive difficulty reduction in the game levels. The password clues and answers were too difficult, making it impossible for players to progress, and some even mistook it for a bug caused by the developer's lack of skill. Therefore, an update is underway. The new version will show a "Give Me a Hint" or "Love's Cheat" button by the end of March 2025, making it easy for players to pass through and enjoy the sweetness and happiness of falling in love with the prince while playing the game casually! 

5.Game Script Content Changes
In the old version of "1000 Princes," the player’s character was mentioned to have been an architect who renovated her house to open a restaurant and inn. The original script design was that the prince husbands would live in the inn, but this plan has been discarded. In the new version, it is clarified that you, as the main character, will use your own house to open a cafeteria, where you will become the boss and manage the cafeteria. When the time management bureau is after you, your prince husbands will protect you. During normal, safe periods, your princes, while managing their own work, will also work at your cafeteria. They will take on various roles in your cafeteria, such as vegetable washers, vegetable cutters, chefs, cold dish chefs, dessert chefs, dishwashers, waiters, electricians, plumbers, and so on, while you, as the manager, will assign tasks and actively run the cafeteria. All your prince husbands are handsome, wealthy, and gentle with you. After they enter your timeline, they are CEOs during the day and cafeteria workers at night...
I have written the plot outline for 10 episodes, and I will continue to optimize the plot. Please feel free to give me your feedback and suggestions to improve the game script!



6.Name Input Box
The default main character name "ABC123" can be modified in two ways, with names in various languages such as Thai also possible to enter.
a. Click the red pencil on the homepage to directly modify the name, which will be displayed immediately on the homepage.
b. Click the red girl silhouette button on the homepage to display your name and the score table. After clicking the red pencil, you can modify the name, but the new name will only appear after returning to the main page.

[Usage Tips]
How to save game progress? In the game, click the three princes waving at you on the right side, open the control panel, and then click the golden "Save (SAVE)" button or icon to save the game.
How to load game progress?
Method 1: Click the red heart ❤ on the homepage to load the saved game.
Method 2: In the game, click the three waving princes on the right, then click the golden "Load (LOAD)" button or icon to load the saved game.

My dearest,
Do you know how much I have missed you all these days? Life in Fang Palace feels like pure torment without you. Do you miss me as much as I miss you? You fill my mind, my dreams—everywhere I turn, it’s you.
You saved me in the snow, I dined at the braised pork rice restaurant where you worked, you changed the medicinal patch on my back, you delivered food to me, you rejected my bank card at the bank, you refused the box of money I gave you on the bus, and I helped you prepare for the royal exam in the "Prince’s Quest for Love" event... Every precious moment that belongs only to us is vividly etched in my heart, treasured frame by frame.
Day and night, I am consumed by my desire to see you again! I love you deeply, I long to kiss you, and my heart is entirely yours. I can’t wait another moment—I want to bring you to Fang Palace right away. I eagerly await our reunion in Fang Palace, in Fang Kingdom!
Love you with all my heart, kiss you.
LingTian

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2866130
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3569480

[p]Hello, princesses! I’m Ginyan, the independent developer of Ling Tian 1 and the 1000 Princes series. In this video, I want to share my thoughts as a beginner developer while making the "Find the Soap" mini-game in Ling Tian 1.


"Find the Soap" is a mini-game in my otome game Ling Tian 1. When players enter the bathroom, Prince Ling Tian needs your help to find his green soap. The inspiration for this mini-game came from an interview with a soldier I read, where he said that he could live with just one soap to bathe. I thought that even though Ling Tian is a prince, as a military academy student, he still maintains a soldier's simple and humble lifestyle.


The Baroque-style bathroom background was generated by MidJourney, and the soap was generated by Meshy. I wanted to use the gorgeous and elegant bathroom decor to give players the romantic atmosphere typical of otome games, and the prince’s white bathrobe matches the bathroom setting. Right now, the prince is holding a green mint soap, which is the soap given to every student at the military academy.


Actually, I always use yellow sulfur soap when I bathe, so I considered generating yellow soap with AI. I have oily skin, and sulfur soap is great for disinfecting and relieving itching. Also, sulfur is an ingredient in fireworks during the Chinese New Year, which can kill germs. A fortune teller once told me that if you encounter a ghost, using sulfur soap can drive away evil spirits. However, for the search mini-game, I had to use the mint green color of the soap to create a visual confusion with the emerald green color of the bathroom decor, increasing the difficulty for players. So, the soap had to be green.

The key code for finding the soap is to make the soap appear randomly within the screen area. The player finds and clicks the soap, making it disappear. The following code is the core; for programming experts, it's very simple, but for me as an independent developer with limited programming skills, this code took a lot of thinking and testing before I figured it out. First, I used x and y to specify the soap's coordinates within the area, and the values for x and y are random, using the keyword Random. The soap is also designed as a button, so I need to use the button parameter. The "Find the Soap" game keeps repeating until the player has clicked the soap five times.


I adjusted the soap size repeatedly. If the button is too big, it’s too easy to find; if it’s too small, players won’t be able to see it on a small screen. During testing, there were times when I was so dizzy that I couldn't find the soap myself. In those situations, I used Scene Assistant (coordinate helper) to cheat and move the soap to see where it was.

By the way, why does the word "gecko" appear in my code? Because at first, I actually designed the game to find a gecko in the bathroom, but the gecko's shape was too obvious and easy to find, so I changed it to a more difficult-to-find soap. However, I kept the original code and just replaced the image with the soap. The gecko element is, of course, inspired by my experience living in Turtle Country. (Turtle Country is a new country established after World War III, where Thai is the official language. It’s part of the world of the 1000 Princes series.) When I first arrived in Turtle Country, I used to scream in fear when I saw a gecko in the bathroom. But now, when I see a gecko stuck on the bathroom wall, I just greet it and say, "Alright, stop spying on me while I bathe and go play my game!" [/p]