Jet_Pilot

Newbie
Jun 30, 2021
34
92
this was the last email i got from TLG 5 months ago



Hi everyone, it's been 2 weeks after the release of CHP. 5 and I'm here to share extended thoughts on the project.
1. ABOUT CHAPTER 5
First, the journey to complete this chapter had been daunting. Initially, I wanted to add the changes to the prologue chapter along with this chapter, but with how many bugs there are currently on chapter 5, it's honestly a good idea to push the changes back for another time. I can't imagine how much more buggy it will be otherwise.
To be frank, I've overworked myself to complete this chapter. With the number of renders and animations, this chapter is significantly tougher to complete compared to the previous chapters.
On average, I had to finish at least 30+ finished and edited renders a day with the appropriate script that accompanied them, this includes weekends and holidays. Animations are a whole other beast to handle, each animation easily taking a day or more to animate and render. This doesn't include scenes that didn't make the cut, or scenes that have to be remade.
I know that a lot of other developers are way better at this job than I am. Even if this is my first project, there's no excuse to not do better.
2. Chapter 6
Chapter 6 will be the last chapter for the first season of AoA academy. It will come in 2 parts, the first coming in August, and the second part will be in December. There will be endings based on each of the main LI's.
3. Closing words and my gratitude.
I don't want to make this post to complain, because I'm not. It's a part of the job (And my job is hardly the hardest job in this world).
In fact, I'm extremely lucky to be in this position today, and all of it is thanks to you who have supported me, despite my flaws. I felt that you deserved nothing but my best efforts in return.
I believed I've done all that I could in terms of the visual aspect of the actual product, particularly with the renders and animations.
In terms of writing, story, and the other aspects that surrounded this project, I fully acknowledge that none of those are my strong aspects as a developer.
Being social is genuinely difficult for me to do, and combined with my intense work schedule, I simply couldn't provide the proper community experience to all of you. To compensate for that, I strive to do more with the actual content itself. That's why I kept pushing further, despite knowing how much more work it would give me.
I love this project. I love the characters, they're all flawed, but interesting people. I sometimes hated that I couldn't give all these characters their proper storyline.
That being said, Thank you for all of your support! I want to use this post to own up to my mistakes and shortcomings, and to be crystal clear with my thoughts on this project.
 

StingerWolf

Well-Known Member
Sep 5, 2017
1,281
1,774
this was the last email i got from TLG 5 months ago



Hi everyone, it's been 2 weeks after the release of CHP. 5 and I'm here to share extended thoughts on the project.
1. ABOUT CHAPTER 5
First, the journey to complete this chapter had been daunting. Initially, I wanted to add the changes to the prologue chapter along with this chapter, but with how many bugs there are currently on chapter 5, it's honestly a good idea to push the changes back for another time. I can't imagine how much more buggy it will be otherwise.
To be frank, I've overworked myself to complete this chapter. With the number of renders and animations, this chapter is significantly tougher to complete compared to the previous chapters.
On average, I had to finish at least 30+ finished and edited renders a day with the appropriate script that accompanied them, this includes weekends and holidays. Animations are a whole other beast to handle, each animation easily taking a day or more to animate and render. This doesn't include scenes that didn't make the cut, or scenes that have to be remade.
I know that a lot of other developers are way better at this job than I am. Even if this is my first project, there's no excuse to not do better.
2. Chapter 6
Chapter 6 will be the last chapter for the first season of AoA academy. It will come in 2 parts, the first coming in August, and the second part will be in December. There will be endings based on each of the main LI's.
3. Closing words and my gratitude.
I don't want to make this post to complain, because I'm not. It's a part of the job (And my job is hardly the hardest job in this world).
In fact, I'm extremely lucky to be in this position today, and all of it is thanks to you who have supported me, despite my flaws. I felt that you deserved nothing but my best efforts in return.
I believed I've done all that I could in terms of the visual aspect of the actual product, particularly with the renders and animations.
In terms of writing, story, and the other aspects that surrounded this project, I fully acknowledge that none of those are my strong aspects as a developer.
Being social is genuinely difficult for me to do, and combined with my intense work schedule, I simply couldn't provide the proper community experience to all of you. To compensate for that, I strive to do more with the actual content itself. That's why I kept pushing further, despite knowing how much more work it would give me.
I love this project. I love the characters, they're all flawed, but interesting people. I sometimes hated that I couldn't give all these characters their proper storyline.
That being said, Thank you for all of your support! I want to use this post to own up to my mistakes and shortcomings, and to be crystal clear with my thoughts on this project.
After reading this, it is clear that some vis major stuff happened.
 

Jackie123

Well-Known Member
May 2, 2018
1,185
1,182
Not to be a downer or anything but someone in this thread talked about that the dev may have died. And tbh according to his release schedule back from v.01 to this day. Its most likely he actually died or something really life changing happened
 

linkinn

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2020
1,069
7,951
I don't think he realized the amount of work he would have with so many LIs/paths, he went from 500 renders in chapter 3 to 3,600 in chapter 5 (not sure about CH.4), he cornered himself, it snowballs update after update and as he said he busted his ass to deliver chapter 5, to do it all over again and possibly worse was too much in my opinion.

Not counting that this was his first project, he went from amateur to DPC in five updates, he didn't give himself time to exponentially improve his workflow and as a result, he had to overwork to compensate and deliver what he wanted.

Pretty sad, hopefully my theory is right and nothing bad happened to him.
 
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The Bush Diver

Active Member
Feb 21, 2020
665
1,521
Hey there, brothers. I hope this post will be taken seriously...

Due to personal reasons I've been unable to catch up with the forums in recent times, but to come back and seeing this VN, which is one of my favorites, if not a favorite in many aspects, abandoned, really put me in a state of shock.

I'd just hate to have such strong personal feelings for this VN taken for granted when I ask: Did any explanation was given for this? What do we know, gentlemen?
 

Kassandara

Member
Aug 24, 2022
358
2,140
Hey there, brothers. I hope this post will be taken seriously...

Due to personal reasons I've been unable to catch up with the forums in recent times, but to come back and seeing this VN, which is one of my favorites, if not a favorite in many aspects, abandoned, really put me in a state of shock.

I'd just hate to have such strong personal feelings for this VN taken for granted when I ask: Did any explanation was given for this? What do we know, gentlemen?
Yo

We know basically nothing. TLG just vanished with no explanation. People are spreading rumours about him dying but I recommend ignoring them, nobody knows for sure.

I get that fans are confused/pissed off but I wish everyone would tone it down a little. Wait until TLG comes back and gives an explanation, if that ever happens.

I just hope that he is okay and nothing too drastic happened.
 

Smarmint

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,250
4,894
Well, just to make you all feel better, if he died, his Patreon would still be up and his discord profile picture would be the same as always. A grieving spouse or mother would not go through the trouble to delete his Discord profile photo and disable his Patreon account, even before making funeral arrangements.

He did it himself. For what reason, nobody really knows.
 

jose100

Member
Apr 20, 2018
137
336
That was just a supposition, he can be alive end deleted everything himself BUT...
Who said he died recently?
When was his last update post or when was the last time someone from discord interacted with him?
He could be dead for months :unsure:
Man stop talking bullshit about something serious. Someone's death is not something to talk so lightly. Be real, you have been in F95 for more than five years, you should know by now that devs conveniently have the biggest ratio on earth of "possibly dead, they suffer from depression since months ago, a family member has passed away..." and so on.

Guys being an adult game devoleper it's not a safe job unless you bang it on your first game and grab a lot of cash so you can live without having to work no more. There are also a lot of reasons to stop earlier, like being worried about someone close to you discovering what is your main source of money (Tlaero and Mortze incident) or in this case, going for something too big from the beginning. I suspected this could happen, so many main LIs and paths for a new dev... He burned out.
 

ffive

Forum Fanatic
Jun 19, 2022
5,114
11,113
When was his last update post or when was the last time someone from discord interacted with him?
He could be dead for months :unsure:
At the very least you could've checked the thread for answer to that question before theorycrafting bullshit. The last update was fairly recently (a few weeks or so) and included number of renders to appear in next game installment which was allegedly near completion. That's partially why the disappearance felt so out of a blue and hit people so hard.
 
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mitymity

Member
Apr 29, 2021
443
1,080
Hillside dev did what TLG should've done, he admitted the update is rushed and he isn't happy with it, but he's burnt out, will take a break to find the passion again and freeze pledges.
 

fizzlebyi111

New Member
Aug 16, 2022
12
61
with the final update post. I feel like he will come back sooner or later. The man just burned out (I would do the same if I was him) with how he's pushing himself. and with all the bugs just like sancho and other modders said. It will take a hell lot of motivation to continue.
 

Elhemeer

Forum Fanatic
Jun 20, 2022
5,609
9,347
with the final update post. I feel like he will come back sooner or later. The man just burned out (I would do the same if I was him) with how he's pushing himself. and with all the bugs just like sancho and other modders said. It will take a hell lot of motivation to continue.
He didn't just burn out, he burned all his bridges. I don't think there's a lot to be optimistic about, but since we all apparently literally know nothing about what happened, I'm just going to hope they're okay and let it be (aaaaannndddd keep this on watch just in case a miracle happens ...)
 
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4.10 star(s) 231 Votes