Yeah, that's true. I guess it's just a pretty convenient way to telegraph "this game runs in a web browser" and a typical set of features these come with. "Twine" wouldn't tell most of people very much.
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Speaking of this...I'm working on a release of a FA inspired Twine game but definitely need some coding help, most expressly on the HTML side of things so that it looks good. Anyone here amongst the dissenters/complainers that have this skillset that want to work on it with me?
TheDeviant
Member
- Aug 7, 2017
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Still, Sugarcube is also pretty straight forward even for a coding beginner. Especially for basics - that's why 90% of this sites games with an 'html' tag use it.
Perhaps most importantly, MoR is a sandbox so it has luxury of requiring far less writing than FA --which is very much a linear story-- to provide meaningful updates. (it can require more coding for new mechanics and features, but code takes less writing and, being hidden under the hood, developers can get away with not polishing it as much since few people will take a note of it)
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As a creator, I never listen to non-paying people telling me to hurry. However, I will say that products are not improved by focus on speed. If paying subscribers say something, well, even then, not everyone really understands what they want. Good product made at my pace is probably better than inferior product made at the pace requested by an external person who is not involved. I fully acknowledge that Crush should do whatever they want with FA, as long as subscribers are fine with it.
As a subscriber (I still subscribe to a few creators), I take a completely subjective account of how I feel about the creator's work at the time. I don't do the math--if I want to keep subscribing, I do. If I don't want to, I click it off.
Finally, I will make an aside that reasonable discourse can only improve this thread. If the general tone of the thread was as reasonable as this particular discussion (let's ignore a couple of posts in another discussion that didn't involve you or this page), I wouldn't wonder what is going on with this thread anymore.
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Of course, the art is the one thing Crush isn't doing himself, so ... that should cut a month or two from the time Crush takes to do the stuff he actually does do himself, right? So a small content update every month or two would be what you would consider a reasonable expectation, then.
Which is exactly why Crush gets so much flak. He's not been close to that 1-2 month mark even once during the entire project, usually because he figures out the new update wil take another couple of
I've speculated on it before (maybe the posts aren't deleted), but if one trusts what Crush tells us, I think deadlines have an effect on him. I had suggested that he should stop considering time at all, no mention of deadlines, let time go and just do things. Subs seem happy with mainly-weekly posts on the Patreon, which should continue of course. Now speculation on exactly why deadlines have an effect on Crush is probably extra-curricular since I don't know his daily routine. Maybe something fixable is wrong, maybe not. Or, maybe recent changes have led to it being the best that it's going to be. Even if Crush continues to use deadlines, I don't see the point of anyone thinking about deadlines regarding Female Agent.
If one doesn't trust Crush, then it's all off the table and I don't see a point of taking it further since Crush is just a name on a screen to me. There would be no point in even visiting the thread again except to see, for entertainment, what is the latest argument repeating what was already said in 2018.
Neither would anyone else if he were using a per-release Patreon model. But with the monthly model, missing every one of his self-set deadlines by months will keep getting him accused of being a scamming rat.
I think he should absolutely take you up on the idea of not setting himself deadlines anymore. That's not going to cost him a lot of patrons (what kind of complete fucking idiot would still back him, despite the known unreliable release schedule, just because they love those always-false promise deadlines?), but would eliminate that bad "always-false promise" vibe.
I’m agreeing with you on that. Several well-respected creators already don’t mention dates in their communicated progress bars. Patron engagement is there and healthy with Crush already.
Potentially an overlooked benefit: communication can shift to more positive terms: “I did this, we did that,” instead of “I wanted to do this x weeks or months ago.”
Potentially an overlooked benefit: communication can shift to more positive terms: “I did this, we did that,” instead of “I wanted to do this x weeks or months ago.”
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I reckon, it would rather become destructive to his current business model. Setting deadlines is quite important psychologically for consumers of entertainment. We all know what 'hype' means. Artists, brands, corporations build it all the time, knowing that the engagement with their product increases when they do it. Doesn't matter if the eventual product is shit and/or comes long after set deadline. We are susceptible to this process as humans. As the deadline comes closer, engagements rise and pressure builds. This model works, provided dev (or any producer of entertainment) can handle the pressure of annoyed consumers.
That’s fine if so. If there’s an earnings bump clearly associated with an asserted deadline for Female Agent (and not instead with releases), I don’t see a reason in that scenario to mess with it. Also if it’s not a dispensable point of stress for Crush. Only Crush can answer that last part. If it’s all currently functioning fine as you describe, well that would be something.
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I just replayed this again and I'm not sure the placeholders are ever going to get replaced. Did these just get forgotten?
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There are placeholders from...five or six updates ago that haven't been replaced. So, I'm going to go with: forgotten.
boobthief
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- May 25, 2017
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Best to post in the Development section here. I'm familiar with the source of Female Agent (unofficially) and I can say it's pretty extensive / best looking / probably pushing the limits of its game engine (e.g. avatar). If it's just the appearance of your game that's not so difficult (basically just CSS) but if it's core mechanics / features those require significant dev time.
Deniz31
Well-Known Member
- Jul 25, 2017
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[Ep 1.18] Release this week
Hey guys! Just working on some finishing touches, it's very nearly ready! Expect a release some time this week.
I wasn't even going to post a report because it's so close, but thought it was better to stay in comms even so. Okay, gonna get straight back to it!
Tallyhoe
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Nonono, he'll release on Saturday, so that he gets another month of Patreon first. I doubt we'll get an actual delay message, since it's released 'this week'