VN Ren'Py Abandoned Connected [v0.2.5] [ChainZero]

4.60 star(s) 61 Votes

SerHawkes

Engaged Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,078
14,248
The thing about this site is that they sometimes slap on Abandoned tags then take them off when new content from the dev pops back after months away. Could be the case here. Will have to wait and see.

Then again, why the CZ opted for a rework so early is beyond me. The story was good and well done at that point. Didn't really need any changing.
 
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Smarmint

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,252
4,898
The thing about this site is that they sometimes slap on Abandoned tags then take them off when new content from the dev pops back after months away. Could be the case here. Will have to wait and see.
Well, if you look at his Patreon, CZ is getting $270 a month for doing nothing. Not bad, I would take it.
 

SerHawkes

Engaged Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,078
14,248
Well, if you look at his Patreon, CZ is getting $270 a month for doing nothing. Not bad, I would take it.
Somewhat unfair to slander a Dev, given that we don't know much. Could be personal reasons, work reasons, who entirely knows.
 

Wicked Garden

Osiris
Donor
May 9, 2018
1,824
7,634
Anyone know if the Dev mom is okay? Or better yet if he's okay? I read his post from last October about the events going on in his life. If my lumps on her breast that leaked blood I'd be freaking out also, add that to the fact that he's already an insomniac who now have panic attacks, that's a lot to deal with. Last thing I'd be worrying about is making a game right now, just hope as is well with him. His game was great and showed a lot of promise.
 

Hardcore1234

Newbie
Mar 8, 2017
90
168
I honestly still don't understand why the dev felt the need to start a "remake" so early in the development. Changing Ayana from working at the bar with the MC to a clothing store....? The story was coming along nicely and the future plans for where the story was going to go seemed interesting. However as soon as the "remake" was announced, it seems things just kept going down hill from there.
Some people are perfectionists. if there is even the smallest thing about their creation they don't like, they have to change it.
 

Aaryn

Active Member
Game Developer
May 4, 2017
568
1,415
Some people are perfectionists. if there is even the smallest thing about their creation they don't like, they have to change it.
As a dev, this trap is easy to fall into. I had no idea what I was doing and I'm still average at best. but as you learn and develop, it's easy to recognize early quality or even see how poor the beginning of a project can sometimes be (The latter in my case). i've considered redoing the beginning of mine several times but I've elected to finish out the story completely and then go back and redo the entire thing based on what I've learned. However, I do get why a lot of people do remakes early. The entire reason I dont market my game is because I don't like the beginning and it embarrasses me at this point.
 

Smarmint

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,252
4,898
Some people are perfectionists. if there is even the smallest thing about their creation they don't like, they have to change it.
I understand this. That is fine if you are working on a painting in your home studio, or writing a novel. But when you have hundreds of people (I used to be one of them), paying a combined hundreds of dollars to you a month, to develop your game and release content, you have to think about the fans also. Unless the original content is horrible, keep releasing new content, and fix the old stuff a little at a time, or at the end, or just take a few deep breaths, and forget about it and move on.

The stuff that CZ was fixing was totally trivial. Who cared where Ayana works before the beginning of the game? It is all very suspicious to me. I will give any developer the benefit of the doubt, but the way CZ abandoned all his fans, it's pretty dishonest, frankly.

The fact that he is still drawing Patron cash, and is avoiding telling his fans that Connected is either on hold or abandoned, just so he can keep collecting money each month, just shows what I mean. Most devs have more integrity than that, and put their Patreon on hold if there is going to be a long hiatus (except devs like ICSTOR of course).

Sure, there are some crazy theories that will explain it all away. Maybe CZ has amnesia since last October. Maybe he was suddenly arrested for who knows what and is stuck in jail. Maybe he won a contest where he has to stay on a deserted island for a year to collect one million dollars, but he can't tell anyone or lose the money.

Usually the simplest explanation is the right one. I suspect he just got tired of working on the game, combined with his personal problems at home, but wanted to keep the monthly Patreon cash as long as possible, so he just disappeared without telling any of his patrons or his fans here.
 
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Profound_Madman

Active Member
Dec 3, 2019
740
2,484
I understand this. That is fine if you are working on a painting in your home studio, or writing a novel. But when you have hundreds of people (I used to be one of them), paying a combined hundreds of dollars to you a month, to develop your game and release content, you have to think about the fans also. Unless the original content is horrible, keep releasing new content, and fix the old stuff a little at a time, or at the end, or just take a few deep breaths, and forget about it and move on.

The stuff that CZ was fixing was totally trivial. Who cared where Ayana works before the beginning of the game? It is all very suspicious to me. I will give any developer the benefit of the doubt, but the way CZ abandoned all his fans, it's pretty dishonest, frankly.

The fact that he is still drawing Patron cash, and is avoiding telling his fans that Connected is either on hold or abandoned, just so he can keep collecting money each month, just shows what I mean. Most devs have more integrity than that, and put their Patreon on hold if there is going to be a long hiatus (except devs like ICSTOR of course).

Sure, there are some crazy theories that will explain it all away. Maybe CZ has amnesia since last October. Maybe he was suddenly arrested for who knows what and is stuck in jail. Maybe he won a contest where he has to stay on a deserted island for a year to collect one million dollars, but he can't tell anyone or lose the money.

Usually the simplest explanation is the right one. I suspect he just got tired of working on the game, combined with his personal problems at home, but wanted to keep the monthly Patreon cash as long as possible, so he just disappeared without telling any of his patrons or his fans here.
Nostradomus over here
 

Smarmint

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,252
4,898
Nostradomus over here
Haha. Well, considering Nostradamus was wrong 20 times for every time he was write about anything, I am not sure that is a compliment :).

So, what is your theory? Where has CZ been all this time since October, yet is still accepting cash from his patrons?
 

Profound_Madman

Active Member
Dec 3, 2019
740
2,484
Haha. Well, considering Nostradamus was wrong 20 times for every time he was write about anything, I am not sure that is a compliment :).

So, what is your theory? Where has CZ been all this time since October, yet is still accepting cash from his patrons?
Yes, you're right. The jig is up on him, he's been busted. He's been living it up off the whopping $250 a month his Patreons who actually support him shell out. Lol. There are some crooks out there that call themselves Devs, but I'm not getting that vibe her, maybe I'm wrong, but he could just be absorbed in his personal life, they're not robots, people everywhere are dealing with shit. Just saying I'm not ready to go attacking this guys character yet.
 

Smarmint

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,252
4,898
I bet if Chainzero had just gave update on situation every now and then we would not have been debating this.
Exactly. This 100%. All he has to to is spend one moment telling his fans on Patreon or here that his game is being delayed for personal reasons or give no reason at all, and none of us would say anything.

I am quite sure that this has been a tough year for CZ. it has been for many of us, and life shattering for millions. But as long as he is collecting money, and also just to be decent to all his fans, he should say something, anything, between October and now.

But, anyway. This thread is now pointless, we won't see Connected again, clearly. So I will just pay attention to games where the dev hasn't abandoned their game. Good luck everyone.

And CZ, if you are lurking around here, I wish you the best. I hope things improve for you and your family. Abandoning a game is not the end of the world, it happens all the time around here. The fact that we are all still talking about it many months later, show how much we all liked your work. Maybe someday you can come back and make a different game, one you like better. You really have great talent.
 
Oct 8, 2019
489
604
Well this just broke my heart. I just spent all night playing this and loved nearly every minute of it only to find the thread abandoned. Seriously when did I download this one? Oh well, c'est la VN.
 
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Alfius

Engaged Member
Modder
Sep 30, 2017
2,223
4,611
perhaps it would be good to post again his later public post on patreon, explaining the situation/plans at that moments a few months ago, for those who missed it.

New month, same grind. Hope you guys are good. September has been an eventful month for me to say the least. Let's get on with the report first though.
Report
I said October would be the month I release the revamp. That's still the case. Most likely late October. If I end up pulling up to the end of the month, I'll release it November 1st, just so people who might want to pledge don't have to worry about a double payment. But it's coming and it's coming soon. If I had known it'd be like this, I likely would've just continued from where I left off in Chapter 3 and would have been about 6 or 7 chapters deep by now, but hindsight is 20/20. Funny, cause I think I said something similar when planning the revamp, in relation to my dissatisfaction with the original Chapter 1.
I wanted to pause pledges since I hadn't released for a while, but I'm just not able to. This is my only source of income right now and I do my part in the apartment I live in, since I don't live alone. If I pause, I have nothing for the following month and responsibilities begin to pile up.
Other Things
So, this past month has been eventful. I'll tell you 2 of the things, just so this doesn't become a autobiography of 2020. Had my first panic attack a few days ago. Didn't really know what it was until after the fact. Even now, it's just a guess. It's an intense feeling to say the least. I'm an insomniac, so I was just laying in bed, trying to get some rest, but was unable to get comfortable for like 2 hours. Start sifting through my phone, but all these thoughts start rushing to my head and I start to get fidgety, short of breath, my eyes watered and I felt like I couldn't talk. And I experienced it all in silence.
This isn't last month, but yesterday. I had planned on posting yesterday, but didn't for this reason. My mom had been complaining about a lump in her breast. I think she said it sometimes leaks blood or something. I don't like to talk about it or describe it because it makes me queasy, understandably so, but yesterday she went in for her second mammogram and her doctor said there were two lumps. One the size of a grape, the other a size of a coin, I think she described it. So they scheduled her for a biopsy on the 16th to check if it's cancerous tissue.
So that's on my mind as well. Could be nothing, but there's always a sort of feeling of "panic" anytime the word "cancer" starts becoming involved in your life. You regularly test for things like this, but you don't really give it a second thought until a scare starts knocking at your door, and hopefully that's all it is, a scare.
I really don't have any room left in my psyche for 2020 to deliver any more punches, so I'd really appreciate it if my mom wasn't included in the list of things to worry about. I have enough on my mind. At this current moment, I've never been so unmotivated in my entire life to be completely honest with you. Tale of two halves I'd say. Beginning of the year, while hard, I couldn't be stopped. Now, I feel like all I want to do is stop. But if I stop, I give in, and I don't want to give in.
Don't let these words scare you guys or anything, I just like to be honest about where my head is at. It's sort of cliche at this point. "Oh, look, a dev that's going through shit because his development slowed down and wants people to feel sorry for him. Add him to the list! R.I.P game!" It's a tired cycle at this point, I know. But take it how you will.
October Wallpaper Poll is coming tomorrow at the latest. Til next post.
Just read this from last year.

If CZ is reading this. Hang in there my man! My life also hit this shit list these past 5 months, and know what you are going through.

I love the game, but the game is honestly not that importand in the bigger scheme of things.

I do think there are some people here (myself included), that worries about your well being. Maybe post something somewhere just to say you are still alive and kicking. Life comes at you hard sometimes and it can suck big time.

Best of luck to you and hope you feel better soon.

(Maybe just like the post or send a PM if you don't want to post a message, but let us know you are OK!)
 
Aug 2, 2018
160
115
this happens everytime, i play a game despite being abandoned, hope its good but not good enough to be hooked than wish ive never been born afterwards, ITS SO GOOD WHAT HAPPENED??????
did he talk about a hiatus or did he just fall of the face of the planet?????
 

DanThaMan

Engaged Member
Jun 25, 2017
3,373
7,212
this happens everytime, i play a game despite being abandoned, hope its good but not good enough to be hooked than wish ive never been born afterwards, ITS SO GOOD WHAT HAPPENED??????
did he talk about a hiatus or did he just fall of the face of the planet?????
He ran his own game into the ground by doing a pointless rework that would probably would have looked no different than it already does lol.
 
4.60 star(s) 61 Votes