Ren'Py Dark Magic [v0.18.0] [F. Lord]

[Chimba]

View attachment 3456664
Don't think this came out as well as he hoped it would. The implication being he indeed hasn't been working on it lately. Oh well, as long as he found his groove again, It's better than straight up abandonement. Though we shouldn't expect an update anytime soon.

that reads like, "shit I haven't done anything in this game for so long that I forgot that I liked working on it, I guess I'll have to do something now"

 

[rash69]

View attachment 3456664
Don't think this came out as well as he hoped it would. The implication being he indeed hasn't been working on it lately. Oh well, as long as he found his groove again, It's better than straight up abandonement. Though we shouldn't expect an update anytime soon.

Maybe took a month or 2 off

 

[Alanthos]

Another Ecchi Sensei case. u.u. Sad to see this game go to a SUUUPER slow process in development, up to a point where even if an update happen, it feels as if nothing was added. (Or like Ecchi Sensei... just nothing)

For the moment I'll say RIP Dark Magic till new (REAL) content arrives hopefully.

I remember when Ecchi Sensei said they wanted to do 365 days of story, yet it took them almost a year to get a week done. Those devs are STILL alleging they will continue with the story eventually even though nothing has been done in more than 2 years, and fans have done some of the hard part compellation they wanted to do for them. Burnout from lack of scope in projects is real, but sadly so is milking of supporters. I want this project to end right, but they need to buckle down and start wrapping up some storylines. If he ends it right he could create a slightly more open world sequel or something, but after being burned by Ecchi Sensei Patreon, I am very hesitant to jump on the patreon of another devv who has yet to show he will complete a project.

 

[Jonney3541]

does mc get to fuck the queen yet ?

 

[iluvclamp]

does mc get to fuck the queen yet ?

No

 

[banas]

View attachment 3456664
Don't think this came out as well as he hoped it would. The implication being he indeed hasn't been working on it lately. Oh well, as long as he found his groove again, It's better than straight up abandonement. Though we shouldn't expect an update anytime soon.

Cool, I need more Hitomu contents

 

[gooner72]

Even if I have to wait 2 years

 

[pearsman]

Bruh I remembered this game had already been in development for many years and it's not finished yet?

 

[trauts]

Abandoned!! for real?! Bummer! This was ONE of a very few sandbox VN/game that I enjoyed reading/playing. well, R.I.P. it was good while it lasted.
it was a good story, but had a feeling the dev was over expanding. making it sandbox made it exponentially harder to maintain.
not many developers realize how intricate it can become, location condition met, time of day condition met, day of week condition, and whatever else condition(s) met & etc. so yeah, it can be overwhelming.

 

[RDFozz]

Abandoned!! for real?! Bummer! This was ONE of a very few sandbox VN/game that I enjoyed reading/playing. well, R.I.P. it was good while it lasted.
it was a good story, but had a feeling the dev was over expanding. making it sandbox made it exponentially harder to maintain.
not many developers realize how intricate it can become, location condition met, time of day condition met, day of week condition, and whatever else condition(s) met & etc. so yeah, it can be overwhelming.

Again, games here get the abandoned tag not always because the dev has explicitly abandoned them, but because there has been either no update released for 18 months, or no communication regarding the game for three months. And in those cases, the mods are not necessarily watching for that to happen, but relying on someone reporting that the game has reached that status, which is why at least one person here can almost certainly say, "But Dev xyzpdq hasn't mentioned the game or been actively talking on their Patreon for six months"; dont tell us, tell a mod or just be patient....

 

[Rosen King]

Again, games here get the abandoned tag not always because the dev has explicitly abandoned them, but because there has been either no update released for 18 months, or no communication regarding the game for three months. And in those cases, the mods are not necessarily watching for that to happen, but relying on someone reporting that the game has reached that status, which is why at least one person here can almost certainly say, "But Dev xyzpdq hasn't mentioned the game or been actively talking on their Patreon for six months"; dont tell us, tell a mod or just be patient....

And the dev just made a post on their Patreon talking about continued progress of the game, so yeah, there's no real reason to think it's abandoned.

 

[LochRaven]

Shame the dev has hit such a slow pace but at least it's not completely abandoned. Fingers crossed they get their groove back eventually. Won't be supporting on Patreon anytime soon, but no reason to lose interest entirely just yet.

A few pages back a post was shared where the dev teased a new Yamiyo scene so rest assured I'll be here whenever the next update finally drops.

 

[Crevanille]

After reading the dev's latest post... I, honestly have no clue what to think or feel.
Okay, indie dev, hard times, the struggle is real... I get all that, and I 'do' sympathize... but... at the same time, is it worth even expecting anything from them at this point? Cynical, I know... but can you blame me?

Well, here's to hoping things turn out better for them in their personal life, if nothing else.

 

[my5tyfixx]

how....why....NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! makes me so sooooo sad to see one of the best honesselect games being abandoned...

wack days inc. bois

 

[Joey's Conscience]

After reading the dev's latest post... I, honestly have no clue what to think or feel.
Okay, indie dev, hard times, the struggle is real... I get all that, and I 'do' sympathize... but... at the same time, is it worth even expecting anything from them at this point? Cynical, I know... but can you blame me?

Well, here's to hoping things turn out better for them in their personal life, if nothing else.

I've learned to sympathize at this point. Sure, there are scummy devs out there, but I think most of them do have good intentions but face problems along the way.

If you develop as a side-job, having the willpower to work on something on your free time when you're supposed to be resting is hard enough. If you do this full-time, you probably can't talk about your job with friends and family, and have to deal with hundreds of faceless clients giving some constructive, but mostly destructive criticism.

You go in hoping to make figures like DarkCookie, and end up making a few hundred bucks a month, realising the market is super crowded, and your game doesnt stand out like you hoped it would.

Not saying being a dev is a horrible job or anything, but I can see why so many games get abandoned. I think a lot of people (aspiring devs included) picture this as being way easier than it actually is.

 

[Akabakka]

I've learned to sympathize at this point. Sure, there are scummy devs out there, but I think most of them do have good intentions but face problems along the way.

If you develop as a side-job, having the willpower to work on something on your free time when you're supposed to be resting is hard enough. If you do this full-time, you probably can't talk about your job with friends and family, and have to deal with hundreds of faceless clients giving some constructive, but mostly destructive criticism.

I dunno ... the minute you turn you side development project or hobby into a paid product .. be it early access , patronage or whatever ... you owe it to customers (so not even most of us F95 dwellers) to at least communicate in some form , regularly , no matter what . Exceptions being stuff like health issues obviously , especially if you got no one to communicate on your behalf .

For other non Force Majeure issues , no excuses works . Sure you might not want to give private details , especially about your daily job , family and friends ... it's fair . But simple fairly regular check-ins like "hey the project is still alive" "there will be a delay for XX time" should happen . Of course yeah there would still be criticism and some toxicity even , but still keeping people in the loop is respectful enough (Unless of course you're just stringing people along with regular false updates and commitments , like some smartasses do) .

Whatever dark times you're in , whatever the struggles , or potential burnout , or even whatever fear and anxiety over dealing with customers , there is no way someone can tell me that a dev can't take the time of a commercial ad break to message something in months .

 

[Joey's Conscience]

I dunno ... the minute you turn you side development project or hobby into a paid product .. be it early access , patronage or whatever ... you owe it to customers (so not even most of us F95 dwellers) to at least communicate in some form , regularly , no matter what . Exceptions being stuff like health issues obviously , especially if you got no one to communicate on your behalf .

For other non Force Majeure issues , no excuses works . Sure you might not want to give private details , especially about your daily job , family and friends ... it's fair . But simple fairly regular check-ins like "hey the project is still alive" "there will be a delay for XX time" should happen . Of course yeah there would still be criticism and some toxicity even , but still keeping people in the loop is respectful enough (Unless of course you're just stringing people along with regular false updates and commitments , like some smartasses do) .

Whatever dark times you're in , whatever the struggles , or potential burnout , or even whatever fear and anxiety over dealing with customers , there is no way someone can tell me that a dev can't take the time of a commercial ad break to message something in months .

Being understanding of a behaviour is not the same as endorsing said behaviour. If a poor woman steals from a store to feed her child, stealing is still bad, but I can understand why she did it. (yes, an exageratted analogy, but just to drive the point home)

Of course devs should communicate, of course they should be transparent. But I can still understand how they'd get burned out from the whole thing, and end up choosing to not deal with it. At the end of the day, anyone thats unhappy can pull their support. Sure, it sucks for Patrons that your investment didn't pan out, but that's a risk you should be aware of. You chose to put your faith in someone you don't know, but sometimes they just aren't cut out to see the project through.

 

[Akabakka]

It's fine if a project does not pan out and someone drifts away from it . But at the end of the day , being burnt out and defeated , and keeping people in the loop are separate matters . One involves having a shred of respect for others , however the project ends up . Even if its to deliver only bad news

I have zero goodwill toward someone that would go AWHOL for many months and randomly comes back to say "Hey guys please understand my life sucked !" .
That said the meter is at zero , does not mean it could never go up again . But it would take some massive effort and shift in behavior

 

[RDFozz]

I dunno ... the minute you turn you side development project or hobby into a paid product .. be it early access , patronage or whatever ... you owe it to customers (so not even most of us F95 dwellers) to at least communicate in some form , regularly , no matter what . Exceptions being stuff like health issues obviously , especially if you got no one to communicate on your behalf .

For other non Force Majeure issues , no excuses works . Sure you might not want to give private details , especially about your daily job , family and friends ... it's fair . But simple fairly regular check-ins like "hey the project is still alive" "there will be a delay for XX time" should happen . Of course yeah there would still be criticism and some toxicity even , but still keeping people in the loop is respectful enough (Unless of course you're just stringing people along with regular false updates and commitments , like some smartasses do) .

Whatever dark times you're in , whatever the struggles , or potential burnout , or even whatever fear and anxiety over dealing with customers , there is no way someone can tell me that a dev can't take the time of a commercial ad break to message something in months .

Lots of people can relate to the following: there's someone you intend to be in contact with. You get busy, and suddenly realize that you haven't been in touch for a long time. The weight of making contact again becomes that much bigger, and gets scary. You find it easier to put off than to do. Every time it pops back into your head, it becomes that much more important, and that much harder to do.

Also - if you've ever been really depressed, you know that the hardest thing to do is to talk yourself into doing things that could resolve your depression.

Neither may exactly correlate to why devs fall out of touch with their audience, but I do suspect they should inform the discussion.

 

[Motoko Kusanagi]

No one is ever too depressed to pick up a Patreon check though.