I understand where you guys are coming from, and I don't want to speak for the author or anything, but we should consider this:
1) He said he does the writing & coding at his day job whereas he does the rendering at home.
2) We know rendering always takes up majority of VN development (usually, anyways), but we also know these short stories are very, very modestly rendered (unless plans have changed). So, the writing would probably make up most of the work for these short stories.
3) On top of that, the writing itself for the short stories is usually vastly simplified compared to the main game (no large decision trees, etc.).
Considering all that, this might just be spare time at his work that wouldn't have been spent working on the game anyways (assuming the writing for the main game is making good time, which it sounds like it is and the rendering is the bottleneck).
He hasn't said he plans on expanding the nature of short stories (decision trees & render count), so I don't see why we should worry too much, personally.
Sorry to ping you
NeonGhosts, but can you comment on any of this? Are short stories changing in scope? Do you think it will interfere w/ the main game's progress?
The plan would be to keep the short stories pretty limited in some cases, and not so much in others. I got to thinking about this while I was doing the prose stories for Ashe and Viola -- these are two that I think would really benefit the story, if they appeared in-game. And, they're two stories that I kind of wrote with the mentality of, "How would I translate these to visuals?"
So, it's mostly just.. Viola talking to her landlord. Ashe typing on her computer. Viola talking on the phone. Ashe posing on a beach. They've got some smut in them, but it's mostly just people sitting around and talking.
Now some, like the one I'd like to do for Brittani, would basically be mini-chapters. I'm trying to get away from the thing where each chapter is basically a day of linear time. So, following the remake of Chapter One, following chapters may have little skips of a week or a few days between them. That serves two purposes. For one thing, it stretches the narrative out a little. It was kind of my intention to make the first phase of the game like.. Guy's Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week. He's constantly talking about how busy he is, how stressed he is, etc. It's supposed to be a tumultuous period in his life, in which a bunch of things are set in motion.
In the next phase, we'll see some of those developments play out with the emphasis being more on the interesting parts of the story, than a rigid POV where we're over Guy's shoulder as he goes about his day. I think that'll help make certain relationships more believable, and it'll help smooth past the boring parts of certain events.
Like, we don't really need a day-by-day check-in as Brittani films a movie. But, we do need to see things like the casting call, her first day of shooting, her first nude scene, etc. That's all interesting stuff.
We don't really need to see every single step of Guy and Gabby's relationship, but if I show the first time they sleep together, their first date, etc. and skip ahead a couple weeks, we can safely assume they have a relationship burgeoning in the background, and we'll check in for the important story moments.
Now, some of those events may be better served as smaller updates, which I can put out more quickly between larger chapters.
Picture something like this:
December: Chapter 11, Big Update of 1100 renders: Guy arranges a meeting with the director of the movie and Ashe, while auditioning Brittani for the part. He brings Viola to his condo to explain her cleaning duties. He has an interaction with Carolina to give Viola a copy of his key, and plan their date. He arranges a meeting with Gabby, to discuss the status of their relationship.
February: Chapter 12, Small Update of 500~ renders: Having noted Brittani was
off at her audition, he goes to visit her at Chesty Cheetah's. Noting her popularity, he wonders if they both might not be better served working at a certain diner. Guy takes Carolina out for dinner, but forces outside their control derail their date.
March: Chapter 13, Small Update of 200~ renders: Guy appears on a news segment hosted by Wren's father, a local newsman. Nicki earns her paycheck.
July: Chapter 14, Big Update of 1100 renders: Guy and Risa team up to solve a problem. Wren and Ashe take MC to lunch -- and then for dessert. Gabby asks Guy for help with her portfolio, but he has a request of his own. Guy has questions for Pepper, and checks in on his new waitress (?). Mason proves tech savvy.
September: Chapter 15, Small Update of 350~ renders. Guy pays Bonnie and Cole a visit looking for answers, but receives more than he bargained for.
November: Chapter 16, Small Update of 500~ renders. Brittani's accent coach gives her some tips before her first nude scene.
Basically, I'd use smaller updates to deliver more story content, more often, while still doing bigger updates. And I know people are probably wondering, "Hey, why not just do bigger updates with smaller gaps between them?"
The honest answer is that this kind of work isn't 1:1 in terms of speed. I've said it before, but that Brent mini-chapter took me about four days to write, render, and code. It's around 100 renders, and very straightforward, true. But, the big difference is that I was able to work on it with a very small, concise framework in mind. I didn't have to juggle multiple scenes, which would all need to interact with each other in different ways. There's also just a mental toll. With a short story, the end of the road is visible, and I just have to get there. With these longer chapters, it's more like trying to see the end of the path through a dense wood. I know it's there, but I have to explore a bit before I find it. It's exhausting, and sometimes that leads me to drag my feet because it just feels overwhelming.
Also - the big, complicated sex scenes I like to do, take a lot of time. People sitting around and talking doesn't take that much time. So, I could do some talky scenes that have nudity and light sexual content, and get through them pretty quickly. I've said it before, but part of my plan for these later chapters is to de-emphasize the exhaustive sex scenes. Like, once a character has their big sex scene with multiple positions, I think it's okay to go, "Alright, we've seen her blow him. We can deal with this new blowjob in ten to twenty renders." The scene in Chapter 8 where you have sex with Nicki in bed, or in Chapter 7 where you have sex with Ashe over the table, are good examples. Still robust, but not 125+ renders per scene.
That was kind of long and rambling, but hopefully people could follow it. The bottom line: Smaller updates delivered more often, but longer ones wouldn't go away.
Why do you have to crush my hopes and dreams like that, Neon? Why?? 
