VN Ren'Py Abandoned Forgotten Pathways [v0.3] [Ochilochin]

[Jimskeleton]

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It's been 3 months since the game went on hiatus, which is half the time I had initially planned. It's been really sad being away from this, I miss it so much

Well, let's get to the news. I've decided that the next chapter will be divided into three smaller parts (550-700 renders). The good thing about this change is that you won't have to wait so long for each release, the waiting time will be much shorter. I will test this format and see if I can adapt to it. Once I get back to developing the game in January, I'll need to reorganize the order of some events and test it. But the next update is quite close.

While on hiatus, I took some time to improve the menu and add some lore to it. I know it was getting too confusing and hard to remember every name and detail. I hope it helps.

Now, what you can expect from the next update:

New Content - Chapter 4

• Part 1/3
• ~550 to 700 new images
• Content: 90% of memories unlocked (1), Academy scenes (2), a bit of main plot development (3), and a nightclub scene.

Spoiler

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Old Content - Adjustments

• ~300 renders from Chapter 1 replaced
• Extra chill scene with Nina added (1) / beer pong scene reduced
• English improved
• Several bugs fixed

Spoiler

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Menu Changes

• New main menu background image
• New Menu (1), including new girls individual cards
• New division: Main Girls and Secondary Girls (I will talk more about this when I come back)
• Supporting Cast Info (2)
• Places and Stuff Info
• Dialogue box opacity slider (sorry for not adding this before)

Spoiler

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The release date of V0.4.1 will be announced at the beginning of January.

Oh and people who were contributing to the project will have early access. That's it for now!

Have a wonderful week <3

- Ochi

 

[Akabakka]

The wait will feel long , but loving the transparency and details . See you soon

 

[buttsman69]

God the girls in this are just so damn pretty.

 

[single_guy_from_au]

View attachment 4157415

You must be registered to see the links

It's been 3 months since the game went on hiatus, which is half the time I had initially planned. It's been really sad being away from this, I miss it so much

Well, let's get to the news. I've decided that the next chapter will be divided into three smaller parts (550-700 renders). The good thing about this change is that you won't have to wait so long for each release, the waiting time will be much shorter. I will test this format and see if I can adapt to it. Once I get back to developing the game in January, I'll need to reorganize the order of some events and test it. But the next update is quite close.

While on hiatus, I took some time to improve the menu and add some lore to it. I know it was getting too confusing and hard to remember every name and detail. I hope it helps.

Now, what you can expect from the next update:

New Content - Chapter 4

• Part 1/3
• ~550 to 700 new images
• Content: 90% of memories unlocked (1), Academy scenes (2), a bit of main plot development (3), and a nightclub scene.

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Old Content - Adjustments

• ~300 renders from Chapter 1 replaced
• Extra chill scene with Nina added (1) / beer pong scene reduced
• English improved
• Several bugs fixed

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Menu Changes

• New main menu background image
• New Menu (1), including new girls individual cards
• New division: Main Girls and Secondary Girls (I will talk more about this when I come back)
• Supporting Cast Info (2)
• Places and Stuff Info
• Dialogue box opacity slider (sorry for not adding this before)

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

The release date of V0.4.1 will be announced at the beginning of January.

Oh and people who were contributing to the project will have early access. That's it for now!

Have a wonderful week <3

- Ochi

If there was a poll "The Best News of the Months" - I would vote for this post.

Thank you for your great game - Ochilochin!

 

[Jimskeleton]

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Hi everyone,
I’m here to share some sad news. Going straight to the point: unfortunately, and with a heavy heart, Forgotten Pathways will have to be abandoned.

I know this is frustrating for those who were waiting, especially since I had announced just over two months ago that I’d return in January. That truly was my plan. I have over 1400 renders ready, dozens of animations, and countless hours of work, but I won’t be able to continue.

Unfortunately, I’m going through some changes in my life that prevent me from moving forward. I can’t share details about what’s happening, but for the sake of my health, I need to focus on my personal and professional life.

I want to thank everyone who supported and believed in this project. I was incredibly happy working on it, and I’m so grateful for the time you spent playing it. I'm also sorry for all the mistakes I made that could have been avoided if I had been more careful in the beginning.

To all the patrons, I have immense gratitude. It’s people like you who allow new devs to keep working on their projects and maybe even focus on it professionally someday.

Developing FP was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, and I’m sorry for not being able to continue.

Ps. I’ll keep the discord server and the patreon account active for a few more days so everyone has a chance to read this.

Finally, a last render to wish you all a great christmas and new year. May this season bring you wonderful moments <3

Ps 2. For the ones who liked the story, I do have plans to publish it in another format in the future

Thank you again!
Ochi

 

[MagicMan753]

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Hi everyone,
I’m here to share some sad news. Going straight to the point: unfortunately, and with a heavy heart, Forgotten Pathways will have to be abandoned.

I know this is frustrating for those who were waiting, especially since I had announced just over two months ago that I’d return in January. That truly was my plan. I have over 1400 renders ready, dozens of animations, and countless hours of work, but I won’t be able to continue.

Unfortunately, I’m going through some changes in my life that prevent me from moving forward. I can’t share details about what’s happening, but for the sake of my health, I need to focus on my personal and professional life.

I want to thank everyone who supported and believed in this project. I was incredibly happy working on it, and I’m so grateful for the time you spent playing it. I'm also sorry for all the mistakes I made that could have been avoided if I had been more careful in the beginning.

To all the patrons, I have immense gratitude. It’s people like you who allow new devs to keep working on their projects and maybe even focus on it professionally someday.

Developing FP was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, and I’m sorry for not being able to continue.

Ps. I’ll keep the discord server and the patreon account active for a few more days so everyone has a chance to read this.

Finally, a last render to wish you all a great christmas and new year. May this season bring you wonderful moments <3

Ps 2. For the ones who liked the story, I do have plans to publish it in another format in the future

Thank you again!
Ochi

This is one of the saddest pieces of news. This game will be missed.

 

[buttsman69]

Noooo!

I'll miss these characters a ton

 

[Jimskeleton]

After processing the news for a few hours this is definitely one of those unfortunate "shit happens" moments, only managed to support Ochi for a couple of months before the original hiatus but it was definitely a project worth supporting, normally abandoned VN's don't particularly bother me that much but this is probably right up there with Evermore in terms of abandonments that sting a lot, it's going to be missed, hopefully for Ochi whatever the issues were it's nothing to serious at least.

Ochilochin, I'm assuming it wouldn't be possible to release whatever you had ready?

 

[Ochilochin]

Heyyy <3 I want you all to know that I'm really sad. This was such a hard decision to make because I love FP and I love working on this project. Unfortunately, it’s humanly impossible (due to lack of free time) to continue developing it for a while, so I decided to stop creating expectations for people. I have a lot of renders and animations done, but there’s still a lot left in terms of coding, dialogue, music, and testing, which is why I truly can’t release Chapter 4

 

[Akabakka]

Damn this is a real shame. At least you are upfront about it and not letting it fester . I only hope , should a return to the project proves impossible, that you'd be ok with someone else taking over and giving another spin, like it happened for a few rare cases. It would not be the same, but might be worth it , if you ever approve it of course

 

[single_guy_from_au]

Heyyy <3 I want you all to know that I'm really sad. This was such a hard decision to make because I love FP and I love working on this project. Unfortunately, it’s humanly impossible (due to lack of free time) to continue developing it for a while, so I decided to stop creating expectations for people. I have a lot of renders and animations done, but there’s still a lot left in terms of coding, dialogue, music, and testing, which is why I truly can’t release Chapter 4

Hi Ochilochin,

It was the sad news for all your fans, but I have a few brief questions for you (I am just trying to understand people's expectations when they start developing games).

And you don't have to answer any/all of them on this tread (if you don't want to), but just ask these questions yourself.

Why did you start developing this game in the first place?

Some people do it for (and it could be a combination of any of these):

• money ("I want to be next BADIK developer")
• fame ("I want to be next DanielsK developer")
• trying to start their own business (like software company)
• have a creative personality and want to express it (better than self-publishing/online-only books).
• trying to 'prove a point' to someone, etc.

What were your expectations at the end (after finishing this game)?

Something like

• I wanted to create some other games too (some creative people have a few ideas and initially go with the simplest solution).
• I was not sure and wanted to see how it is going to work
• It was my 'pet' project, which could be abandoned at any point of time, etc.

The thing with 'time' (and a lot of people don't know it) - we all have to work in this life (even Europian kings/queens have to go to the office/official duties, etc everyday). And if someone is trying to achive something in this life - he/she has to do it in the small time window between finishing work and going to sleep.
This is the only thing that separate 'achivers' (in any area like art, making money, becoming famous athlete, etc) from a 'normal' person (who just works, watches TV at night and then goes to sleep).


Now if it is mostly money related than I can tell you that I already told several times on other threads:

People now have very unrealistic expectations - like after a few releases it will be more than a thousand supporters (or something like that) and forget that the fans want to see some results first.

Here is a good example - https://f95zone.to/threads/academy-live-v0-07-3-alpha-passhonq.169917/, which started about 15 months ago (with 2-3 months update cycle).

This is from my memory and the numbers are from Patreon site only:
After two releases - about 20 patrons,
After the third release - about 40 patrons
Next release - about 80 patrons

And I checked a few weeks ago - 334 patrons (but now it dropped a little bit).

The secret is simple - the developer needs to work to deliver some actions (plus periodically check the game thread and reply to people - which you were already doing ), so the fans see that you are going to stay and finish the game. The old times (with the numbers like BADIK) are long gone now.

I hope that my post would help you (even if you never continue working on this great game).

And Happy New Year!