VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.11.1] [DrPinkCake]

[Train of Thought]

My honest feeling is that I'd be mildly surprised if we saw 2 more episode after episode 9.

He's just said that he won't change his working schedule and habits, he's just said that the plot and every episode's content has been planned since long, and we know the game is supposed to have 4 Seasons and 16 episodes.

Since 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, I can only draw the necessary conclusion that the game will never be completed.

 

[ThaDude1977]

How do you take screen shots in game? on pc.

 

[Lightaces]

one episode a year is totally insane

Depends on the size of the episode. But it hasn't been a year, it's been 8 months, and will probably end up about 9 months. Midlife Crisis has been in development for 4 years, and isn't as big as the two episodes DPC will have put out this year. Similar can be said about a number of other games on this site.

 

[allanl9020142]

Reading through the 8 pages of comments I missed since taking a nap and it occurred to me that this update is probably going to be fucking Maya-focused. Just. Fucking. Super. Bitch is dead fucking last in the popularity polls and is attached to Josy because..."reasons"...I guess because nobody would bother with her ass if Josy wasn't included.
I'm really, REALLY hoping for an option to hook her up with Zoey so they can ride off into the sunset (and off a fucking cliff) together.

She was great at first. Every time I've replayed the game from the beginning I think, "Such a shame."

I'll never understand the people who get worked up over this. He won't hire a team because he doesn't want to. He doesn't need to. He will not be personally benefited in any way whatsoever if he does.

• DPC enjoys making the game - why would he hand it over to others to do things he likes?
• The time it takes to develop the game directly converts to money - why would DPC do something he doesn't want to do purely to speed the game up and result in less revenue over time?
• Hiring people costs money - why would DPC commit to an ongoing cost for something he doesn't want to do?

It's fucking crybaby children who want the game faster and can't think past their own flaccid cocks.

My problem with the argument is more just the practicality of hiring a team in his case. Hiring a writer is iffy, it could be make up for his shortcomings as a writer or totally ruin everything. Animations and static renders seem pretty cut-and-dry, all he needs is an army of robots. Everything else I just imagine someone doing something like posing an animation, DPC not liking it that way, then having to go back and change it his way which would waste even more time. Whether you like it or not, he's going to do things his way and if he doesn't like it then he's going to keep trying until he does with or without a team.

When Ep.9 is released, the same thing will happen as it happened in November 2021. Explosive growth of subscribers, just then Ep.8 was released.
And then again it will gradually fall to the average values that we see now. People are tricky and don't pay all the time, sign up for a month to download a game and then screw it up.
A good lifehack for those who don't want to pay $20 every month.

I mean that's what I do. I feel like that's pretty fair, though. I don't want to wait for a whole season on Steam. I don't know shit about the other platforms and even if I did, they might be sketchy. It just makes sense to get it straight from the source as a one-time transaction rather than an ongoing donation.

Everything must be done so that the MC's dick becomes the last for our Rio, the narcs can peck each others asses. She just needs to get rid of Quinn's influence.
I don't think Lily uses anything stronger than weed.

I am generally sure that DPC has reached the peak of its capabilities in the number of audience and has reached a plateau. By the way, you can see a small surge, this is the release of Interlude, then stabilization at the current 11.5-13.5k / month.

I think "narc" in this case might mean an undercover cop or something.

 

[Lightaces]

**EPISODE 8**

* 10/22/2021 – Final status update / Start of beta testing
* 02/11/2021 – Final preview released
* 03/11/2021 – Beta testing status report
* 09/11/2021 – Release date announced
* 19/11/2021 – Episode 8 released

Historically, there is about 1 month between when DPC announces beta testing starting and the episode being released. If we are hopeful that the animations will be on the faster side of the 4-5 weeks, that puts us at the status update for 02/12/2022.

If that turns out to be when he announces beta testing, it is feasible that a January 2023 release is possible. I think a lot of the initial testing will be internal during this month of render time and so hopefully the work load for his beta testers will be smaller, however this is still the largest update to date and with an assumed huge number of variables due to the new path system. We could be looking at a normal to long beta test period.

Testing this should be MUCH easier, as the testers don't have to test the whole game anymore, which DPC has said they used to have to do. It is still a big game, and of course there are a bunch of branches, but still, should be a bit simpler.

 

[UnoriginalUserName]

How do you take screen shots in game? on pc.

Windows key + print screen saves screenshots in your pictures/screenshots folder. Be aware sometimes it sort of..."lags" a bit, so you may have to tab out then back in to the game THEN take the screenshot to get the proper image. Trial and error will get you used to it.

 

[Lightaces]

Driver problems, I hear. I do not know the details, just that there is some issues which have not yet been resolved. I mean, it's not like it is unusual for tech companies to let the beta testing happen after release.

Just looked it up on the DAZ forums, and it looks like it is mostly a physics problem, so dForce, rather than a rendering problem.

 

[Decent-Win]

How do you take screen shots in game? on pc.

Ren'py has a screenshot key just press S.

 

[Lightaces]

How do you take screen shots in game? on pc.

The S key.

 

[Bhavya17]

Is dark assassin blogspot stopped?
I can't find his ports
any other website for Android ports?

 

[StultusAnglicus]

Sometimes I just don't understand this thread., today it's all about
"It's taking to long REEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Are you a patreon?
A)No. ..... ...... ...... Then simmer down you self-centred scumbag.
B)Yes. ....... ...... So stop paying him??? He literally said that if you don't like it you should stop paying him/being a patreon.

 

[koplak1d]

Is dark assassin blogspot stopped?
I can't find his ports
any other website for Android ports?

his site is deleted, though still uploading in

You must be registered to see the links

 

[test7777]

Sometimes I just don't understand this thread., today it's all about
"It's taking to long REEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Are you a patreon?
A)No. ..... ...... ...... Then simmer down you self-centred scumbag.
B)Yes. ....... ...... So stop paying him??? He literally said that if you don't like it you should stop paying him/being a patreon.

Boiling down everyone that is complaining for valid reasons to "Its taking too long ..." doesn't really make sense. If someone does someting morally wrong or behaves like a scumbag, everyone should be allowed to comment, no matter if they pay that person or not.

I for one am commenting because I love the project and always planned to support DPC, however its just sad to see that he is no better than so many other devs that at some point effectively just posted previews but never released updates anymore. DPC could be better without having to compromise on his "vision" or whatever he calls it, but the money has just gone to his head.

Also:

DPCs 2000 Patreon goal was literally:

I'll buy a dedicated animation PC. That's right, one powerful PC fully dedicated to rendering animations. This means that each update will include more and/or longer animations.

He is now at 12000 patreons...

He is also says:

So, no matter the sum you pledge, you're not buying a game from me, you are supporting the game development and, moreover, you're motivating me to complete the projects I start.

As he obviously is not investing the money from most of his patreons in the game (or else there would be no delay for the last rendering animations), does that not mean that many patreons are not actually supporting the game development but rather whatever exquisite lifestyle he is living?

He could without issues invest some of his patreons money into more hardware to support the development of the game. Development would still take a long time since he does everything himself, which is also fine, but then again, why not for example hire people to double check your renders e.g. for lighting issues. If he is such a perfectionist as he claims to be, how come Jill looks terrible in every second render, Josy's teeth look like metal in some renders (especially in the white dress at the party, obvioulsy a difficult render for lighting) etc. Unless of course, it was his "vision" that Josy would have metal teeth

He wouldn't even have to hire someone for it, just put a bulk of 100 renders on Patreon every now and then and let your Patreons report back if any render has issues. So many simple things could be done to improve the quality of the game and/or reduce the time between updates just a little bit, yet he does not do anything.

 

[Laport Deminis]

I do not like the fact that DPC does not hire any help with the amount of money he earns, but he is a control freak and has his vision so that is still kind of acceptable (except for those Jill previews and otherwise screwed up renders, like come on, get someone to do quality control on your renders and re-render them if they turn out bad)

His loyal supporters are defending him for many things, but when he is claiming that the animation render queue takes a few more weeks, when he could easily upgrade or scale out his system just from a small percentage of his monthly earnings, then you know that he is milking it for all its worth and I don't see any argument that would proof the contrary.

Ok, but that's not how the "business" work. Money you spend is not a waiste, is an inversion, and DPC knows it better than us couse he has actually heavely invested in the game in the past and even in the present.
If DPC bought the equipment and that acelerate the production speed he could stop loosing patreons or even increasing them and in turn he would make more money, and not less as you claim.
He has lost 3 k patreons in the last 8 months couse increasing times of development. As you will understand the delay damage him in terms of money, doesn't benefit him. So if you claim is that he delays the production for money... well, no, that's simple unrealistic.

I will put this in the most simple way. He looses money couse he makes updates take longer and longer. His patreons finally told him so in his face. And his answer was, "I don't give a fuck, I will do it how i like it":

That's the exactly oposite from a guy driven exclusively by money.

 

[#1 Cheek Clapper]

Does anyone know how many episodes this season is going to have?

 

[test7777]

Ok, but that's not how the "business" work. Money you spend is not a waiste, is an inversion, and DPC knows it better than us couse he has actually heavely invested in the game in the past and even in the present.
If DPC bought the equipment and that acelerate the production speed he could stop loosing patreons or even increasing them and in turn he would make more money, and not less as you claim.
He has lost 3 k patreons in the last 8 months couse increasing times of development. As you will understand the delay damage him in terms of money, doesn't benefit him. So if you claim is that he delays the production for money... well, no, that's simple unrealistic.

I will put this in the most simple way. He looses money couse he makes updates take longer and longer. His patreons finally told him so in his face. And his answer was, "I don't give a fuck, I will do it how i like it":

That's the exactly oposite from a guy driven exclusively by money.

Lets say he takes another 2 years to complete the game (I wish, more like 1 episode in the next 2 years) and gets 60k per month, that totals at 1.4 Million (assuming he stops developing after that).

Looking at the patreons he has lost since Nov 2021, if (hypothetically) he earned 60k back then he would now be at 52k (assuming every patreon pays roughly the same). So if he slows down development and is able to stretch it for e.g. another 3 years, that would total at 1.87 Million (obviously this assumes an average on 52k)

Given an increase in Patreons after every release that will happen and a slow decline until the next one and so on, increasing the development time is always the smart choice.

You could probably do a complex calculation of patreons declining over time + increase on release etc., but then again, he does not care anymore because he has already earned more then enough money.

Maybe DPC heavily invested in the past, but he definitely isn't doing it anymore in proportion to his funding.

 

[Laport Deminis]

Lets say he takes another 2 years to complete the game (I wish, more like 1 episode in the next 2 years) and gets 60k per month, that totals at 1.4 Million (assuming he stops developing after that).

Looking at the patreons he has lost since Nov 2021, if (hypothetically) he earned 60k back then he would now be at 52k (assuming every patreon pays roughly the same). So if he slows down development and is able to stretch it for e.g. another 3 years, that would total at 1.87 Million (obviously this assumes an average on 52k)

Given an increase in Patreons after every release that will happen and a slow decline until the next one and so on, increasing the development time is always the smart choice.

You could probably do a complex calculation of patreons declining over time + increase on release etc., but then again, he does not care anymore because he has already earned more then enough money.

Maybe DPC heavily invested in the past, but he definitely isn't doing it anymore in proportion to his funding.

Yeah but is not going to take 2 years, is going to take at the very least 6. Again, if money is the issue, he has no reason to stop. He can cut episodes in half, shorter updates but faster. He can made 30 episodes instead on the planned 16. He can make Badik 2 after he ends Badik or he can make a completely different game. There is not a big dev who lost his supporters after they end a game, on the contrary they kept growing including DPC. The only reason that has significantly hurted a consagrated dev was the lacks of updates after long terms. As such increasing development times is not the smart choices, on the oposite, it's literally the worst, and that's why their patreons are complaining in the first term.

Now you lost me completely with this: "he does not care anymore because he has already earned more then enough money.".

If you think he doesn't care for the money anymore... what are we even talking about? I am arguing that money is not his only motivation and that his refure to make faster updates is not driven by money... How can you think that a dev is a milker if you don't think he cares about money? That's pretty much the oposite.

 

[ffive]

Does anyone know how many episodes this season is going to have?

16 is a common guess, given there's 4 episodes per "season" and the Interlude, i.e. a piece which typically takes place in the middle, was added after 2 seasons.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

I think "narc" in this case might mean an undercover cop or something.

I'm not very good at English slang words, so I translated "narc" as a drug addicted.

I mean that's what I do. I feel like that's pretty fair, though. I don't want to wait for a whole season on Steam. I don't know shit about the other platforms and even if I did, they might be sketchy. It just makes sense to get it straight from the source as a one-time transaction rather than an ongoing donation.

I'll buy all of Season 3, but until it's out, I'll be waving a pirate flag. Patreon is too expensive. If I take a subscription for a month and buy each episode, then it will be $80 for Season 3.

 

[DatBoit]

DPC has already earned more money than most people earn in a lifetime and could literally stop working right now and still get tons of money from Patreons over the next 2-3 years at least with some posts and previews once in a while.

Therefore his claim that he would continue development even if noone would support him or that people who do not share his vision should stop supporting him are just empty words. If he truly meant what he said, he would do something to show his appreciation of his supporters like pausing payments until release, lowering prices or giving some of the higher tier benefits to lower tier patreons.

As he isn't doing anything in that regard, it just shows that DPC is running his business as usual and isn't "developing the game for himself", but just using that excuse as so many creators do, same as the "you are not buying a product, you are supporting the development etc." stuff.

I do not like the fact that DPC does not hire any help with the amount of money he earns, but he is a control freak and has his vision so that is still kind of acceptable (except for those Jill previews and otherwise screwed up renders, like come on, get someone to do quality control on your renders and re-render them if they turn out bad)

His loyal supporters are defending him for many things, but when he is claiming that the animation render queue takes a few more weeks, when he could easily upgrade or scale out his system just from a small percentage of his monthly earnings, then you know that he is milking it for all its worth and I don't see any argument that would proof the contrary.

Sadly, money corrupts and you can clearly see it with DPC over the last few years. If you are rich you just want to get richer, so instead of buying some more hardware which he wouldn't even notice on his bank account he knows that he can just let things render for weeks and still get paid.

This game is one of the best and every release is awesome, but if DPC truly invested the money that people give him in "support of development" in any reasonable matter, you would see 2 updates with the size of EP9 per year with probably even better quality.

I don't think that DPC is milking. Milking is what creators such as ICSTOR have been doing: raking in support without working on the game, and doing the bare minimum to keep the support going. DPC is not doing that. He is taking his sweet time, sure, but the update will also contain 5,000 new renders, and likely a total animation length that is longer than his previous updates. Therefore, I cannot accuse him of milking, because he is producing more with the extra time he's spending.

However, I would be lying if I said that I didn't think creators take note of the fact that they can spend an increasing amount of time on updates without losing any support over it. When Episode 9 finally rolls around, it will have taken 2-3 months more to produce than Episodes 7 and 8, yet DPC's patron count has been hovering around the same level. As DPC's income is directly tied to how long he develops a game, it makes sense for him to extend that time as long as possible. I mean, why would you release a game in three years, when you can just as well take five years and generate more income?

As mentioned, though, I don't think he's milking, because it's not like he sits around on his ass waiting to release an update that is already finished.