You got one guess on if he his or not, and I'll give you a hint it starts with Steal and ends in ing.
HTML Female Agent [v1.20.1p] [Crushstation]
I like this idea, but I suggest the following tags "Low update volume" and "Long break between updates", maybe something like that. This is fairer and less harsh, and will also reduce the discussion that the game's creators are doing a poor job. I apologize if something is not clear, it's just that English is not my native language.
- Jan 10, 2018
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I just looked. He's making $6,000 a month. That's full-time-job levels of income.
Two games with really awesome ideas but ended up becoming incredibly disappointing as time went on.
Female Agent
Malise and the Machine
I can understand he may have had to change the underlying structure of the game. However, why did he rewrite the story? It was written really well before. Now, the rewritten content has barely changed and the writing might actually be worse.
The artwork has certainly gotten worse I'd say too. The proportions and facial features are kind of awkward now.
Female Agent
Malise and the Machine
I can understand he may have had to change the underlying structure of the game. However, why did he rewrite the story? It was written really well before. Now, the rewritten content has barely changed and the writing might actually be worse.
The artwork has certainly gotten worse I'd say too. The proportions and facial features are kind of awkward now.
- Nov 15, 2017
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So... just looking for some clarification because I really don't have too much interest in downloading this to check myself. From reading the posts from the last few days it sounds like the 'new release' is a slightly reworked hotel mission? Weren't several of the weeks of delay attributed to writing difficulties? If so I am extra impressed by the crab.
I download a new version once a year, maybe once half a year. Then I think the update was big enough. In general, the author has a very small content size per update. In fact, there is no point in downloading, you can safely skip 2-4 updates.
And that's what's peculiar to me.
That's far more than a lot of very respected and highly supported games are making.
That amount feels a lot like your typical CC laundering operation as seen previously on other projects and sites.
Especially when paired with the development woes we've all witnessed.
- May 21, 2020
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I'm fully convinced this is all due to well-intended incompetence. You get a good idea, said idea gets overfunded, the devs then aim higher for that pie in the sky, and the money continues to flow despite all signs pointing towards an inevitable failure in the horizon. I mean, just look at Star Citizen for god's sake. Such a scenario occurs far too often inside and out of Patreon.
- Feb 24, 2020
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At least Star Citizen and Yandere Simulator are just stagnated shit that doesn't progress this one downgrades with each version and removes content. Worsened by the fact this game is just text, I'm not downplaying text-based games but dev doesn't have to worry about assets (other than PNGs he probably steals from the internet) and coding like vector based transforms or physics.
Yeah I've been saying for years, crush keeps trying to develop all these systems to automate sex scenes when he could have just handwritten hundreds by now if he just wrote (which I think is what he ends up doing anyways).
- Aug 3, 2017
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TL;DR - Discussed possible tags, cut content, and whether the game is just plagued with poor development or is just milking.
There are many excellent developers out there (individuals and teams both) that take a different approach instead of the typical monthly update method. They will let you know up front that updates are less frequent than the aforementioned method; however, they also provide open and honest progress reports, feedback, or other communications about what's happening behind the scenes, and their updates are usually quite significant. As a general rule of thumb, those "bigger" updates due to the "[longer] break between updates" have about the same amount of content as projects that are updated on a monthly-basis over the same period of time. Those types of developers have earned the trust and goodwill of their fans due to their interactions with them, their honesty, and their proven track record. In fact, the top games on F95 follow this methodology.
And then there are those that are disingenuous about the whole matter. They too follow this non-monthly based releases as mentioned above. Unlike those developers though, they often aren't open and honest about what's happening with their progress. If they communicate at all, they either duck questions and criticisms about their progress when their supporters raise them, drop an excuse in an effort to redirect attention to something else, lie to their supporters, or in the most grievous situations will outright take people's money and run. In short, these are the developers that lead people on with false promises and renewed vigor after milking their supporters for a time -- just like any other con man or thief. These are the dangerous ones. They not only feed off of unsuspecting victims, but also drags down the reputation of Western developers as a whole. And they need to be called out on it. Some type of tag or a warning in the opening post would be warranted in such situations to help safeguard potential victims. Of course, it won't convince every one (like a poster that will go unnamed), but if it helps many people from losing out on their hard-earned money from giving it away to some *grifter*, then that'd be grand. After all, those victims just wanted to support something they thought was fun instead of being conned out of their money.
So how would we distinguish between the two groups while applying the information quickly with a tag? "Scam" seems too incendiary while "slow updates" or similar don't convey the danger of the trap some devs have with their milking operation. I don't know if it's possible so maybe we're just chasing a unicorn. At least F95 have the "On Hold" and "Abandoned" tags for those projects (typically games) that are no longer in active development or are making no forward progress.
As Leia said in the above post and along with a great many other users have said numerous times over the years, the game would have been a lot better off with actual story progress. Instead (and if you believe what they're spewing), the game keeps getting bogged down with all this under-the-hood and avatar nonsense. It's been what? Three or four years since the main character was getting on a plane to go to Thailand in the story only for all of that to be culled right out of the game? Christ, progress is moving backwards if you can believe it! Is it "well-intended incompetence" as one put it recently, or is it a scam to milk people out of their money? When does to go from poor development and setbacks to simply riding the gravy train by milking supporters? Discounting all the bells and whistles, story modules themselves aren't all that difficult.
Alright welp, y'all be safe. Get vaccinated if you haven't already.
Something like that moves us closer to a more ideal tag in such a situation instead of calling it an outright scam (which would certainly hurt crowdfunding). My criticism about the suggestions offered, however, is that it doesn't distinguish between good devs from the scummy ones. (Note, I'm not downplaying Spawk's suggestions and in fact have given that user an updoot for that post. :] I'm just noting a concern with it is all.)
There are many excellent developers out there (individuals and teams both) that take a different approach instead of the typical monthly update method. They will let you know up front that updates are less frequent than the aforementioned method; however, they also provide open and honest progress reports, feedback, or other communications about what's happening behind the scenes, and their updates are usually quite significant. As a general rule of thumb, those "bigger" updates due to the "[longer] break between updates" have about the same amount of content as projects that are updated on a monthly-basis over the same period of time. Those types of developers have earned the trust and goodwill of their fans due to their interactions with them, their honesty, and their proven track record. In fact, the top games on F95 follow this methodology.
And then there are those that are disingenuous about the whole matter. They too follow this non-monthly based releases as mentioned above. Unlike those developers though, they often aren't open and honest about what's happening with their progress. If they communicate at all, they either duck questions and criticisms about their progress when their supporters raise them, drop an excuse in an effort to redirect attention to something else, lie to their supporters, or in the most grievous situations will outright take people's money and run. In short, these are the developers that lead people on with false promises and renewed vigor after milking their supporters for a time -- just like any other con man or thief. These are the dangerous ones. They not only feed off of unsuspecting victims, but also drags down the reputation of Western developers as a whole. And they need to be called out on it. Some type of tag or a warning in the opening post would be warranted in such situations to help safeguard potential victims. Of course, it won't convince every one (like a poster that will go unnamed), but if it helps many people from losing out on their hard-earned money from giving it away to some *grifter*, then that'd be grand. After all, those victims just wanted to support something they thought was fun instead of being conned out of their money.
So how would we distinguish between the two groups while applying the information quickly with a tag? "Scam" seems too incendiary while "slow updates" or similar don't convey the danger of the trap some devs have with their milking operation. I don't know if it's possible so maybe we're just chasing a unicorn. At least F95 have the "On Hold" and "Abandoned" tags for those projects (typically games) that are no longer in active development or are making no forward progress.
The game keeps getting reworked and reworked and reworked -- even if they lift code wholesale from somewhere else (i.e., dice). There's less (story) content in this game than from earlier releases years ago. So when you heard that you could safely skip two to four updates, I'd say you can safely skip two to four years and still be all caught up storywise.
As Leia said in the above post and along with a great many other users have said numerous times over the years, the game would have been a lot better off with actual story progress. Instead (and if you believe what they're spewing), the game keeps getting bogged down with all this under-the-hood and avatar nonsense. It's been what? Three or four years since the main character was getting on a plane to go to Thailand in the story only for all of that to be culled right out of the game? Christ, progress is moving backwards if you can believe it! Is it "well-intended incompetence" as one put it recently, or is it a scam to milk people out of their money? When does to go from poor development and setbacks to simply riding the gravy train by milking supporters? Discounting all the bells and whistles, story modules themselves aren't all that difficult.
Alright welp, y'all be safe. Get vaccinated if you haven't already.
I kinda have a love hate relationship with this game.
I *hate* the lack of updates, numerous delays, and reworks.
I *love* the premise, the writing, the details, it's all so good.
But damn is it painful waiting for an update...
I *hate* the lack of updates, numerous delays, and reworks.
I *love* the premise, the writing, the details, it's all so good.
But damn is it painful waiting for an update...
Got excited when I saw there was an update, read the comments to find it was them cutting more shit. Pull the plug and delete this if you arent going to do anything with it.
- Aug 15, 2018
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I know we all hate the developer, but I have an alternative question. How did the developer get their character models and art set?
That had been my inclination previously. I think the locals can be a bit too quick to ascribe to malice what can, from the outside, appear quite similarly to fumble. I expect there's some valid histories behind such reactions, from promises too often abused.
But the problems here align so closely with those of many other self-directed creative endeavors.
A calculating grifter with nefarious intentions to milk patrons might have fed out a bit more progress, and been much less inclined to back-out elements that might betray any appearance of stalling. That on its own suggests to me a problem more of executive dysfunction than clever manipulation.
And I think that, tragically, the awareness of the rising tension can exacerbate the existing blocks on production, creating a terrible feedback loop of anxieties that only further impede progress.
Regardless of the motive, for which we can only speculate (however confidently), the blockers of the project have persisted to a disastrous point. Certainly not to say that it couldn't be salvaged somehow, but from my experience the vast majority of projects with this level of internal struggle tend to conclude abruptly and unsatisfyingly.
I recall a few Dev diaries where they refer to an artist, who has been creating custom assets.
Crush has a freelance artist working for him. So all custom made for the game, the photos all come from the internet. No idea if he pays for it or not.
First of all, I want to say that in my eyes this developer is a thief. Someone will say that everything is voluntary on Patreon. Well, in the financial pyramids too. But. There is always a but. If such a tag is created here, then we will get a situation when people dissatisfied with 1 update will demand to put this tag. The author may have personal situations that take a lot of time over a long period of time. And here too. These tags are suitable for all situations. I see them, I understand that maybe this is not the best game for investments.
There is another option "Lazy developer". It is also more correct than Scam.