4.60 star(s) 11 Votes

jokuur

Active Member
May 23, 2019
892
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We're still around, and artwork is being completed for Erolon.

I personally wouldn't say it has been abandoned, as we are still working on it. We also work on Insexual Awakening 2, so there's a balancing act between dedicating time to one or the other.
hey guys if u still working on it then give admins notification to change it from <abandoned> to <on hold>
 

Porn_Jesus

Forum Fanatic
Jun 21, 2017
5,611
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hey guys if u still working on it then give admins notification to change it from <abandoned> to <on hold>
It's neither abandoned nor on hold. The devs work on two games at the same time so progress is... interesting.^^'
 
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ZTex

Engaged Member
Apr 3, 2019
2,928
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It's neither abandoned nor on hold. The devs work on two games at the same time so progress is... interesting.^^'
Except that the only hang up with this one is the hand drawn(digital) art. The devs have been very foward about Avante's workload not matching the rest of the production.

It also isn't like the two games are impeeding each other either.
 
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jokuur

Active Member
May 23, 2019
892
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Except that the only hang up with this one is the hand drawn(digital) art. The devs have been very foward about Avante's workload not matching the rest of the production.

It also isn't like the two games are impeeding each other either.
ok thats legitimate, but is it so bad that they had to wait year? why not just upload what they have and just... well i guess even if they upload small content after long time people be upset so its pick ur poison kinda thing, it really gets me worried if they are affraid to upload content because its small tho
 

ZTex

Engaged Member
Apr 3, 2019
2,928
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ok thats legitimate, but is it so bad that they had to wait year? why not just upload what they have and just... well i guess even if they upload small content after long time people be upset so its pick ur poison kinda thing, it really gets me worried if they are affraid to upload content because its small tho
Probably because what they have isn't worth a build. Best example i can give is another game where they went the route you suggested and had several black screens, line art, and text. It's not exactly an enjoyable experience.
 

HydroHexxx

Active Member
Aug 4, 2017
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ok thats legitimate, but is it so bad that they had to wait year? why not just upload what they have and just... well i guess even if they upload small content after long time people be upset so its pick ur poison kinda thing, it really gets me worried if they are affraid to upload content because its small tho
I made a long post on the Sex Curse Studio discord about it, but in essence here is what happened:

Avante's artwork pace kept gradually getting slower and slower over the past year to the point where, we'd only get one finished image per month. The problem with that is scenes generally had several images, so that essentially meant we couldn't implement a full scene until 3-4 months had gone by.

Now, I understand why Avante isn't able to fully dedicate all of his artwork time to Erolon; he lives in a location where the cost of living is very high. DrX and I also live in high cost areas as well. And as a creative person, this often means it's impossible to dedicate your time to one project when you're not receiving enough income to pay for rent, food, etc.

When this situation happens, it creates a vicious cycle: Artwork pace slows down, which means new builds have to be delayed, which means less new support for our game, which means less pay for the artist, which means slower artwork pace, etc.

As a matter of fact, all of the income from patreon has exclusively gone to paying artwork for the past 8-12 months, and DrX and myself have not received any income from it. So all the programming DrX does and all the writing I do for Erolon is being done for no pay at this point.

This isn't a complaint, it's just pointing out how much the slow art cycle has contributed to the very long delay.

And this is one of the big reasons why DrX and myself have had to resort to working on more than one project in order to make a somewhat viable income. We created a Subscribestar to work on the sequel to IA, IA2, and for IA2 it is purely just DrX and myself.

The good news is we've got a schedule setup now where we are able to dedicate time to both Erolon and IA2 now.
 

Big Green

Member
Aug 19, 2017
402
1,050
I made a long post on the Sex Curse Studio discord about it, but in essence here is what happened:

Avante's artwork pace kept gradually getting slower and slower over the past year to the point where, we'd only get one finished image per month. The problem with that is scenes generally had several images, so that essentially meant we couldn't implement a full scene until 3-4 months had gone by.

Now, I understand why Avante isn't able to fully dedicate all of his artwork time to Erolon; he lives in a location where the cost of living is very high. DrX and I also live in high cost areas as well. And as a creative person, this often means it's impossible to dedicate your time to one project when you're not receiving enough income to pay for rent, food, etc.

When this situation happens, it creates a vicious cycle: Artwork pace slows down, which means new builds have to be delayed, which means less new support for our game, which means less pay for the artist, which means slower artwork pace, etc.

As a matter of fact, all of the income from patreon has exclusively gone to paying artwork for the past 8-12 months, and DrX and myself have not received any income from it. So all the programming DrX does and all the writing I do for Erolon is being done for no pay at this point.

This isn't a complaint, it's just pointing out how much the slow art cycle has contributed to the very long delay.

And this is one of the big reasons why DrX and myself have had to resort to working on more than one project in order to make a somewhat viable income. We created a Subscribestar to work on the sequel to IA, IA2, and for IA2 it is purely just DrX and myself.

The good news is we've got a schedule setup now where we are able to dedicate time to both Erolon and IA2 now.
The only thing i don't understand is why didn't you change the artist if he can't work on the project anymore? Like at the pace of 1 image per month you will never finish this work. Yes it's not ideal swapping artists midways, but at least you can continue production. If you are so adamant on holding Avante, then just finish the game with next update and make a rushed ending. There is no other way around. Still better in my opinion that abandoned project.
 
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Rutonat

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Sep 28, 2020
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The only thing i don't understand is why didn't you change the artist if he can't work on the project anymore? Like at the pace of 1 image per month you will never finish this work. Yes it's not ideal swapping artists midways, but at least you can continue production. If you are so adamant on holding Avante, then just finish the game with next update and make a rushed ending. There is no other way around. Still better in my opinion that abandoned project.
Finding another artist would already be a pain, but on top of that the artstyle wouldn't be the same, meaning a rough change in the middle of the game. Redoing all previous arts with the new artist would up the cost of the game significantly, and not doing it would lead people to trash talk the decision (because people are quite fast when it comes to that...).
Basically there's no win here. Either they keep Avante to keep the art consistent, but that delays the updates, or they change artist and either have to pay extra to redo the art or have to suffer people angry at the decision to keep two artstyles in the game.
At that point, it's a matter of what seems the best solution in their eyes. Or at least the less bad one.
 

Big Green

Member
Aug 19, 2017
402
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Finding another artist would already be a pain, but on top of that the artstyle wouldn't be the same, meaning a rough change in the middle of the game. Redoing all previous arts with the new artist would up the cost of the game significantly, and not doing it would lead people to trash talk the decision (because people are quite fast when it comes to that...).
Basically there's no win here. Either they keep Avante to keep the art consistent, but that delays the updates, or they change artist and either have to pay extra to redo the art or have to suffer people angry at the decision to keep two artstyles in the game.
At that point, it's a matter of what seems the best solution in their eyes. Or at least the less bad one.
Well of course it's not easy, but you are exaggerating about trashtalk. They would recieve it anyway with no updates, like any other similar threads with no updates in years. But first of all who cares? There always will be crybabies. And secondly it's still better even for those crybabies to get something in the end. So instead of waiting for miracle to happen devs could at least try to do something with artist issue. In the end they did move on to IA2 and i can respect that, but then just be clear and say that you are done with Erolon, and that the game is officially dead. Stop beating around the bush so much.
 

Back

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Aug 3, 2017
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The only thing i don't understand is why didn't you change the artist if he can't work on the project anymore? Like at the pace of 1 image per month you will never finish this work. Yes it's not ideal swapping artists midways, but at least you can continue production.
This was my first thought (sans ending the project). Changing or acquiring another more productive artist (even if the quality is lowered, or heck even just line art to be colored later) would help to keep things chugging right along. Having a nice, steady flow helps keeps things moving smoothy. Besides, I'd rather see progression than seeing the project come to an end prematurely.
Finding another artist would already be a pain, but on top of that the artstyle wouldn't be the same, meaning a rough change in the middle of the game. Redoing all previous art...
And since artwork is so critical to Erolon and adult games, we were at the mercy of that slow pace.
I get the sentiment. Firstly though, there's no need to redo all the art. Visual consistency is nice but it doesn't need to be the be-all, end all. Perfection is the enemy of good after all.

So having another artist to assist in creation or even do more things for less would help even if the art style isn't quite as consistent. Other games have taken this route (e.g. Roundscape Adorevia) and despite some naysayers, they've found success. For some games, development of the story and scenes continue right along with art to be added only later down the line. They can also go back and redo and touch up old art to make things more consistent when they're more financially stable (e.g. Seeds of Chaos). In fact, in the SoC example it's known that it was operating at a loss for the longest time before catching wildfire.

Secondly, I don't think the devs need to stop to wait on the art. I'm glad they're working on other projects that has uplifted their spirits and gives them meaningful income, but I'd also like to see forward progress on this project as well instead of letting it fall by the wayside. Forward progress surely can't hurt things to get them out of that "vicious cycle" as described. Meaningful updates even with lower-quality art, line art, or no art is still progress. Art isn't all there is to a game. The story (or in some cases, the gmeplay) and the imagination that powers them are also things that are incredibly important. They also help to drive the game forward. Art isn't everything and many users like myself have dropped some games due to the poor quality story despite the high quality art.
Well of course it's not easy, but you are exaggerating about trashtalk.
I agree with this part. It's a bit blown out of proportion. Some people might grumble, but I think more people would be eager and understanding to have more content than no new content whatsoever.

Regardless, it's all up the dev team on how they want to proceed going forward -- continue to wait on the art, move forward with content and let the art catch up, or drop/sideline the project. I'm not saying that implementing any of this would be easy and there are certainly drawbacks to each of these choices, but that's their decision to make. Just sharing some thoughts is all. Good luck and all the best to the dev team in whatever they ultimately decide to do. Cheers everyone and pura vida.
 
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Porn_Jesus

Forum Fanatic
Jun 21, 2017
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Now, I understand why Avante isn't able to fully dedicate all of his artwork time to Erolon; he lives in a location where the cost of living is very high. DrX and I also live in high cost areas as well. And as a creative person, this often means it's impossible to dedicate your time to one project when you're not receiving enough income to pay for rent, food, etc.
Imo that's the main problem and at the same time I have to wonder why none of you think it might be better to change location. Doesn't have to be a low budget shithole but maybe mid class with rent, food an other costs at a normal level?

You know even if you guys can make more money the same situation can come back later at you and every time this will mean mental stress because the body doesn't forget how it was last time and goes full rebel when it happens again.

This is dangerous gambling and asking for trouble at the same time.
 

Rutonat

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2020
1,774
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Well of course it's not easy, but you are exaggerating about trashtalk.
Sadly not, I've already seen it happen. The majority of people tend to not give a crap about details and just want everything to be perfect, and they want to get it now. Aside from games that started with multiple artists (Like the Legend of Queen Opala serie for example), the sudden shift tend to not sit well with a lot of people. The problem is that people with an understanding of the situation, like us here, tend to be a minority. The majority stays silent, until something unconsequential pisses them off, and then they start screaming and you notice how much there are... Because those silent people feel braver while part of the crowd.
And among those, there's a lot of backers. Sadly, pissing off backers at this point wouldn't help the devs with the situation...

But first of all who cares? There always will be crybabies. And secondly it's still better even for those crybabies to get something in the end.
See, the issue here is that you're starting from the ideas they're reasonable. They aren't.
Remember the latest Spider-man game (before the Miles Morales one) ? People got pissed off because a puddle of water, shown at E3, didn't look the exact same way in the final, released game. A fucking puddle of water.
Those who flip out at the slightest change aren't reasonable. They'll jump on anything.

Now, understand that I'm not saying I think the devs should takes ages with every new update. But I also don't think they should jump on the first idea to make those updates faster. Their situation is unusual and rough. As I said, there's isn't really a right answer on that one, it'll all depend on what they think they can deal with better.
 

Big Green

Member
Aug 19, 2017
402
1,050
Sadly not, I've already seen it happen. The majority of people tend to not give a crap about details and just want everything to be perfect, and they want to get it now. Aside from games that started with multiple artists (Like the Legend of Queen Opala serie for example), the sudden shift tend to not sit well with a lot of people. The problem is that people with an understanding of the situation, like us here, tend to be a minority. The majority stays silent, until something unconsequential pisses them off, and then they start screaming and you notice how much there are... Because those silent people feel braver while part of the crowd.
And among those, there's a lot of backers. Sadly, pissing off backers at this point wouldn't help the devs with the situation...
I do understand that a lot of people won't be happy with a change, but at the same time they will get something to play. There was already an example of Seeds of Chaos, where they did swap the main artist with another one. But there is also Corrupted Kingdoms, the dev of this one had to redo all his characters cause of copyright issues (a lot of ppl were upset). And these games are still doing great.

I know it's not an easy choice and it's up to devs to decide, but at the moment the abandoned tag is justified (and imho should be official).
 
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jokuur

Active Member
May 23, 2019
892
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I made a long post on the Sex Curse Studio discord about it, but in essence here is what happened:

Avante's artwork pace kept gradually getting slower and slower over the past year to the point where, we'd only get one finished image per month. The problem with that is scenes generally had several images, so that essentially meant we couldn't implement a full scene until 3-4 months had gone by.

Now, I understand why Avante isn't able to fully dedicate all of his artwork time to Erolon; he lives in a location where the cost of living is very high. DrX and I also live in high cost areas as well. And as a creative person, this often means it's impossible to dedicate your time to one project when you're not receiving enough income to pay for rent, food, etc.

When this situation happens, it creates a vicious cycle: Artwork pace slows down, which means new builds have to be delayed, which means less new support for our game, which means less pay for the artist, which means slower artwork pace, etc.

As a matter of fact, all of the income from patreon has exclusively gone to paying artwork for the past 8-12 months, and DrX and myself have not received any income from it. So all the programming DrX does and all the writing I do for Erolon is being done for no pay at this point.

This isn't a complaint, it's just pointing out how much the slow art cycle has contributed to the very long delay.

And this is one of the big reasons why DrX and myself have had to resort to working on more than one project in order to make a somewhat viable income. We created a Subscribestar to work on the sequel to IA, IA2, and for IA2 it is purely just DrX and myself.

The good news is we've got a schedule setup now where we are able to dedicate time to both Erolon and IA2 now.
i understand 1648391931372.png
 
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FurrBat

Member
May 8, 2019
117
330
It's a shame seeing the game change its updates from multiple per several months to maybe once a year if the artist manages, but looking at grapthtreon(if they are somewhat accurate) you'd sooner bleed out backers than finish the game. With the current speed I dont think many people would want to back this project.

The problem with switching artists, you'd either have to find someone with similar artstyle or just compromise and find a more productive one(I dont know the time it takes to draw the art but once per month aint it without it being a veeeeery side gig).

While IA2 and its graphics arent my thing I could be atleast happy you are doing well there.
 
4.60 star(s) 11 Votes