Well renders are the one that actually takes 3/4th of the time to develop update..1/4th of time is planning and programming..Let's say if any developer is taking 2 months...i guess it will require him a week to plan the script of the update and scenes...then he give it to artist or he can develop himself for 1.5 months..then the last week it will take time to program it. That's how it is supposed to be done provided the artist actually understand the script and scenes.
But I guess MP do it in parts... like he write one scene, give it to artist... Meanwhile he could write script about what's going to happen next after the first scene while waiting for renders but he don't do that or couldn't give time to that. When his artist give renders of the first scene, he give script of next scene and wait for renders and so on...until he receive final renders of the update and then comes programming.
You can notice MP work when he gets all the renders...he takes around 10-15 days for programming and "perfecting"..He launch like 3-4 editing updates back to back within a week even after the first release with dialogue change, adding some extra thingy like point table, character description n all. These things he do it in 3-4 days. Rest 3/4 months is all on his script and artists. The thing that you mentioned that he often say like I have a job or it's his side project comes into play where i guess he couldn't give time to write next scene dialogue or script...Because the moment he gave those things to artist, he will get that scene ready in 7-10 days and he actually say that artist is working on big scene or final scene which means he completed writing script and dialogues of that scene. And he's not an artist, else he could have removed few disturbances that came with few renders like he do like to do alot of editing dialogue wise, programming wise, he could have done that with renders too..but when it comes to renders what's done is done and that's final, he doesn't pay again to remove black dot from shower scene and few more subtle stuffs.
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There is a really good clip on YouTube about making renders and it is surprising just how long that takes.
As to making a game... all things being equal, there is a standard production time--given crazy things don't happen. However, one thing overlooked is once a product is completed and review is the developer feels the need to make changes because of A, B, and C.
Now if APM was just your average adult game there really isn't a problem, and stuff just gets out quickly. However, even with Mr. Palmers formular of faithful, submissive, or naughty (and maybe a mix of naughty/Submissive), some finer points need to be nailed down to keep the quality. Prior to the last update release that was a problem... trying to get the audience to understand Anna's motives and her personality. And yes, it was a little bit to figure out Anna and her reasoning prior to the last update, but if one paid close attention we had a good working idea what she was about. But now we fully understand.
Problems going forward with Anna's character is how will she evolve. Mr. Palmer is really keyed up with the "weekend" events, so I suspect we are in for some fireworks. Right now Anna is an open question. How much time will it take Mr. Palmer to flesh out the paths he has in mind. Does he or doesn't he have to use two solid alternative storylines to get what he wants out.
Yah sure the Chris and Robinson paths nearly can write themselves; just pluck in situation A, B, and C to get X, Y, and Z. The whole Grant issue that is next up... now that might take time... maybe more than what people think just because Mr. Palmer has to make plausible Grant/Anna's reproachment plausible, before anything interesting happens... And then there is Jake with his evolved "concern" and personal interest in Anna--but at least if Mr. Palmer requires Anna having to take the shot otherwise whatever Jake content comes up can't be seen--that should save time. With Marvin because first he's one of the more popular characters in the story and because that whole path can go down any number of routs it'll be a little harder