- Jan 20, 2020
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It's not a blanket rule. It was bought in for those like ICSTOR who kept payments on and made a patreon post every 6 months saying it was being worked on.
Maybe I'm wrong, but there is a huge difference between the concept of abandoned, which means the game is no longer developed and on-hold, which means the game is still developed, but no one knows when the update will be released.
So I wonder, is abandoned the right tag? To me no, because it is really misleading.
So I wonder, is abandoned the right tag? To me no, because it is really misleading.
- Jun 17, 2019
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It is in this case, but let's be honest: 18 months without releasing any new content is a quite sensible period to call a game out, no matter what the dev says. As long as it's enforced consistently, as it is, and the tag is removed as soon as something actually comes out, I'm OK with the rule, even though it means that every once in a while some games get this 'unfair' treatment.
- Aug 8, 2017
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Rules are rules.
Abandoned tag will be applied to games/VN's when:
1. No contact from the dev either on here or there main site for more than 90 days.
2. Regardless of post from dev's if no game/VN update in 18 months then the abandoned tag goes up until an update to the game or VN comes out.
95% of all mods follow this set of rules and so should all on here.
But I get it that loyal followers don't want to go by the rules.
- Sep 28, 2018
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Notty isn't milking or doing anything like that, does she even take payments? And this game isn't abandoned either.
But this is what I was afraid of happening a while back, she's too much of a perfectionist for this game to be completed. Once developers start reworking stuff and taking a really long time between updates, I don't think I've ever seen a one recover and go back to regular updates or complete their game.
But this is what I was afraid of happening a while back, she's too much of a perfectionist for this game to be completed. Once developers start reworking stuff and taking a really long time between updates, I don't think I've ever seen a one recover and go back to regular updates or complete their game.
I think most of us are just kind of rolling our eyes about it because you care and most of us don't. The "Abandoned" tag will be up for a bit and then it won't, that's all. You do you though, Champ.
I don't share your fear that this game isn't going to be completed, but I also agree that something Notty needs is (as someone commented on her latest Patreon post) a producer/editor to drag her by the scruff of the neck and say "it's good enough; it's done!"
Notty's car crash is what precipitated this whole-cloth retooling, and I think that in the end there's going to be some real improvements. Removing the 4th wall breaking Becca and Jane scenes is just sensible. But after Chapter Five comes out, if Notty starts to glance backwards and say "maybe I should update the earlier chapters to include these new gizmos I've just thought of..." that's the point where I think some of us loyal fans will have to kindly tell her "no. Stop." I mean it's her game and her life and she can do what she wants, but at some point she risks becoming George Lucas, never content with what he's produced, to diminishing returns.
- Mar 30, 2018
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I for one will surely miss the chapter breaks with Becca. For me it was Notty's alter ego (I actually wished she'd design it more to her actual physical likeness), and Becca was doing a nice job of setting the stage for whats to comer and .. flirting with me, the player. The "it breaks the immersion" only holds true of you play multiple chapters in sequence. if you - like me - continue playing after waiting for 6-12 months since the last chapter, a little setting the stage was actually appreciated. And since Beccas dresses became sluttier over the chapters, I always wondered if you can actually successfully hit on Becca, which would be a nice "never been done before" moment since a bit of the Dev went into her character..
I will see how the new version works before final judgement, but I will miss Becca's bantering.
I will see how the new version works before final judgement, but I will miss Becca's bantering.
- Jun 10, 2017
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I'm not sure that it will happen, and I talk about the "maybe I should", not about people telling her "no" ; or, more precisely, I'm almost sure that she will have those "maybe" thoughts, but they'll probably just stay thoughts, like it was before the car crash. This simply because it's something that she always had. Replacing Becca/Jane tutorials by in-game content, it's been more than two years (from memory) that she talk about it. Improving the VR, she never was satisfied by it. And so on.
But, like you implied, without the car crash this would never have happened ; or at least not before she finished the game and decide to make a "deLuxe edition". She was regularly talking about this on her Patreon post, on her forum, and few times on twitter, but it's only because for some times she wasn't able to do much more than thinking, that it became a reality ; some kind of, "well, since I can't really works on the game, let's take a look at all those 'maybe I should' that I've accumulated, and see where they lead me", that she always reported before by lack of time.
And like the said car crash make her totally miss the delay, why not go full course ? She's late and she know it, she can't be more late anymore, so at least she want to make it worth it.
- Jul 22, 2018
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(OOooo. . .I just can't help myself.... I just gotta point it out...)What if is this theYou must be registered to see the links?
I think you hit the nail on the head!!! . . .as to why there is such a impassioned following of this one Dev's long running production of a game that, while having excellent images and a seemingly impressive intended story, has gone almost nowhere forward in the plot and keeps re-working and re-writing previous work.
I think you guys are psychologically in love with Notty's image!
Other Devs get roasted for not producing or 'milking' the story...but not here!! How else could you explain 1235 pages of this thread for a 3 year old game where chapter 4 is still 'setting up' the plot, the last update was 18 months ago and if someone points out the obvious, they're the ones who receive the 'tar and feathers'?
Ok guys you can form up the firing squad now... I'm ready.
- Apr 30, 2020
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The last two updates have made me think that a lot of this game is style over substance. 4 chapters in and it still feels like we are in the prologue. Even if you find that to be exaggerated, you have to agree that the plot is still in it's early stages. Do we really need a billiards mini game when that's the case?
The updates already feel stretched thin anyway. If you don't want to play this multiple times, you'll find the game to be pretty short on a single playthrough. And you shouldn't have to play a game multiple times for it to be fun. It should be fun separately on every one of them separately if replayability is what the dev is going for.
And let's be honest, this is going to sound harsh, but the models in the game definitely look dated as well.
I was intrigued by this game when I played it for the first time, but over the years it has waned. I want to defend this game but it's getting more and more difficult.
- Aug 8, 2017
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So there was 8 months of milking.I cannot answer for what you've seen happen to "other devs", but in my experience the ones who get roasted are still taking payments, despite not producing anything. Therefore "milking" is an appropriate accusation.
This dev stopped taking payments more than 10 months back, so there is no milking here.
Perhaps that's why people don't mind waiting, because it's not (unjustifiably) costing them anything to do so?
Perhaps people just enjoyed what they played so far & are happy to wait for the dev to produce it to the standards they want?
- Jan 3, 2018
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If you say so, hero.
There has still, indisputably, been none for over 10 months.
Yet you're still here screeching about it.
If you dislike it that much, it's quite simple: stop visiting the thread.
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- Jun 17, 2019
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I totally agree... because that's just how it's supposed to be. The story itself is planned out so that the canon main story last 10 chapters. Of course, playing only 4 leaves you thinking that things are still at a starting point since we are precisely at that point: you have arrived at the station, met the crew, and started looking around to fix what's broken, which is not an obvious fault (if it were, you wouldn't have been tasked to go there to begin with); meanwhile, you also start to know some secrets regarding the station and the crew. So yeah, it's the intro stage.
But that's exactly the point of this game. Do we need the billiards minigame? Probably not, but that's a dev's choice, her artistic view. Surely that scene could have been designed as a simple menu choice and it would have saved the dev lots of time, but then it wouldn't be the game she had envisioned. Do we need the videogame inside the videogame, or the tabletop RPG game, taking all that time and effort from the dev? She thinks she needs it, and we only can join in for the ride or walk away if this is not how we like our games. Because she's not going to change - and why should she?
Obviously, developing all of the game's multiple paths at once means that a single playthrough feels short and things don't seem to advance enough to make them fun (at least for you). But you'd also have to agree that, due to this design and how she implements it (see above) there's a fuckton of content already available for those players who actually like to play a game multiple times because that's precisely what they think it's fun. And there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that, it's simply enjoying a different playstyle.
Maybe it's just that you're playing a game not exactly suited to your tastes at a point where it still can't deliver what you expect from this game. Maybe when the game is completed and you can take a certain path and follow it till the end, you'd find those paths are actually fun separately. Maybe they're not. But, as of now, it's just an ambitious work in progress with all the logical 'flaws' and shortcomings one could expect from a game of this scope, and not everyone likes to play those.
As players, each one of us should analyze what we want and what we're getting from a certain game. I get that sometimes we see games that we think have 'potential' (as in they could potentially give us what we seek) but devs are apparently doing something wrong; most of times, though, they aren't: they are just doing what they want, which sadly is not what we'd actually like them to do. But we (and our feelings, tastes, and expectations) are not the important ones here. So, as I said before, we can either accept what we are getting or simply walk away and let others, whose tastes are more aligned with dev's than ours, enjoy themselves.
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Just wanted to reply that I expect you're totally right about this. I also don't think that Notty's going to have another full makeover of the game before it's all out.
- Jun 10, 2017
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It's a thriller-like story, except that in place of having a murder as starting point, it's a space station having strange issues. And like with any thriller, the prologue ended the instant MC was put on the case, therefore here when (s)he boarded the Vanguard. Everything that follow is the investigation, with its unrelated mysteries, false leads, usual and unusual suspects, and so on.
Therefore, what are you expecting from the plot exactly ?
You are on a space station, with for mission to fix it and decide of its faith. To this add some optional tasks, like finding if your orders are legit or not, uncovering the crew secrets, if even they have some, uncovering some of Ophions' secrets, if there's some, not killing biscuit, and so on. But as said, they are optional tasks, and you can just do the minimal, fix nothing, enjoy a holidays week, then say that the station can't be fixed and need to be closed.
Everything is up to you. While the game mechanisms aren't exactly common, it's a pure sandbox story. You are presented some paths that can be followed, and it's you to decide which ones you'll care about, which ones you'll totally ignore. Whatever the choice you make, it's a legit choice in regard of the story.
Of course, what is interesting is to try to understand what is happening, what is hidden, what is everyone motive, and all. But none of this is mandatory ; it's just an option gave to the player. And, as I said, even doing nothing is a legit option. Strictly speaking there isn't wrong choices (except when you try to seduce Chris in the spaghetti route). You use the pieces that Notty crafted to build your own story, and build it the way you want.
This mean that anyone who expect the story to be fully set up is missing the point and waiting for something that will still not have happened when the game will be finished. Simply because you are waiting from Notty to do something that she decided as being your task. It's you who set up the story, with the choices you make.
If you want, see it as a real time mega poll with personalized results. Each time you have to make a choice, it's Notty asking you "ok, about what should I write next ?", and you answering what you want the story to be about.
Being one of the people in the constant chat, seeing how it goes, I will say that IF she has another idea like that, she will do it the same way as before, she will talk about the idea with her supporters, get some feedback, if they are curious about it then she will do some test examples, and IF her supporters approve the change, then she will work it in.
While she is prone to doing things on a whim on occasion, she doesn't do big stuff like that without talking to her supporters first, and asking what they want.
- Jan 3, 2018
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lol You just reminded me of those old Fighting Fantasy books (I think back in the '80's) where you had to choose a page number, depending on which story choice you made, to progress.
e.g.
If you choose X, go to page 20.
If Y, go to page 29.
- Oct 10, 2017
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