Others Completed Future Fragments [v1.0.1] [HentaiWriter]

[Noble 6]

I really think that a platformer with some interesting mechanics, voiced dialogue, different story paths and sex is perfectly reasonable.

It's not "9 years" reasonable.
Even AAA games only take like 3 years, same with contemporary h-platformer games.

but the most groundbreaking stuff (relative to the rest of the game) are the weird combat mechanics.

There's nothing "groundbreaking" about the combat. It's just a slower Megaman, in terms of gameplay. You jump, you shoot, you charge an elemental attack, and you have a dash button.
If anything, it's a Megaman Z game but without wall-sliding. You even have your Cyber Elves in the form of random equipment items.

You might have had a fraction of a point if you were talking about the dialogue choices and affinity stuff, since that's rare in platformers. But it's also not unheard of nor groundbreaking.

But you know, I thought these threads were mainly for fans, players and supporters of the games, not for the haters. My bad for the misunderstanding.

No. Since the internet started, there's been flaming threads making fun of things like the N64 vs PS1 rivalry.
A thread about a videogame isn't for dicksucking the game. It's for discussing the game, the good and the bad.
And look at that, the game hasn't changed gameplay-wise since ~2018 when it added equipment, and it also still isn't out yet!

 

[Bulbanych]

I wouldn't class people like this as haters, I'd class them in the supporters category. Hell, I AM in that position as well, and I don't think ANYONE here is happy about everything that's happening to the game.

My god I'm so fucking tired of people comparing this to other games. Other games don't have dev teams of THREE FUCKING PEOPLE you imbecile...

Spoiler: From the Patreon

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I've taken over a year to build 2 half-assed mobile apps and server that barely work together using a few hours a day, with basicaly no features, just as a project, so 9 years is in fact reasonable considering the team size, team composition and scope of the game.
If you disagree, I don't care, I won't read your reply just like I didn't read the rest of this one, because this subject is nothing but subjectivity hell and arguing about it is pointless.

The guy really wrote all that, just to say "I didn't read your post, and won't read your replies".

 

[Mhiggey]

People really like to talk about the whole nine years thing, but what I'd be interested in at the end is the financial breakdown of the project. How much money came in over that 9 years, what it was spent on, and how much was brought in from the actual sales of the game. Is there an identifiable point in development where the cost of the features added surpassed the amount of earnings I wonder.

 

[Xeline]

My god I'm so fucking tired of people comparing this to other games. Other games don't have dev teams of THREE FUCKING PEOPLE you imbecile...

Spoiler: From the Patreon

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I agree that this is an important contextual point that nobody really thinks about. Most dev teams have more than three people. Most people in this thread who have called HW a scam artist, liar, etc. have no idea how game development works.

On the flip side,

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was only one dude and it went from being an estimated three months development time (lol) to over three years. Bit smaller in scope than Future Fragments but its my comparison point often on this point. So I can see why people think HW has overestimated or packed too many elements into their platformer which have made development slow down to a crawl.

The guy really wrote all that, just to say "I didn't read your post, and won't read your replies".

More like "if you don't understand that three people can only accomplish so much in a certain frame of time and how game development works, you're an idiot, so don't bother replying". Which is true.

 

[Mhiggey]

I agree that this is an important contextual point that nobody really thinks about.

Probably because going 'it only has three people working on it' is a pretty shitty attempt at defence when talking about a 2D hentai platformer game. That size of team (or often smaller) is the norm for games in the genre, and plenty of those games didn't take nine years and a few hundred thousand dollars worth of crowdfunding to release on time. Lone Jap devs (granted they are pretty dedicated at times) can turn out comparable games in three to four years with perhaps one artist outsourced.

And please, because I can already see it coming, no Future Fragments is not extremely complex gameplay wise to the point that the dev time is justified. Hell, dev themselves have said that they massively fucked up the development process and bit off more than they could chew, but continued on as if everything was fine anyway. The big difference it brings to the table is the voice acting and the... lore cutscenes/databanks.

More like "if you don't understand that three people can only accomplish so much in a certain frame of time and how game development works, you're an idiot, so don't bother replying". Which is true.

They are still taking money for this, every month passed is another month of income without needing to release a game for sale. If HW is to be believed, then the project has consumed so much money that they had to take out loans in order to continue development despite the income they are making from crowdfunding. For a 2D, sidescroller porn platformer.

They have failed to meet multiple release targets and they have failed to stick to their budget. Their 'PR guy' has pissed off multiple forums, publicly batted for both Eromancer and Divine Arms in a professional capacity, and lied about steam policy to cover their arse. They can't even organise a release of the (still MIA by a month the way) fire level demo, which is the first level of the game and a stage I played all the way back in 2018 before massive lore databanks and cutscenes were even a major thing. It also has to be noted that this future demo release is of the 'unpolished' demo, with the 'polished' demo coming 'soon after' it.

To accuse people in this thread of not understanding game development time frames or basic project management practices while holding up Future Fragments as your shining example of a counterpoint is frankly ridiculous. When a finished product is released for sale, functional and relatively bug free, then we can talk about how great the platforming is or how worth it the story cutscenes are.

Until then shit will be heaped on every promised released date skipped, and the salt will flow at every tired excuse repeated over and over. It is what it is.

EDIT:

Sorry, just had to pop this in to make it clear the calibre of bullshit HW is peddling.



"Prease understandu, small indie dev team" my hairy arse with those claims. Taken from the steam forums if people don't believe that this is a real claim from HW.

Spoiler: Hubris

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[burgerman69]

More like "if you don't understand that three people can only accomplish so much in a certain frame of time and how game development works, you're an idiot, so don't bother replying". Which is true.

That's the majority of indie games. Just because you suck at coding doesn't mean you can blanket apply your standards to everyone especially when there's more than enough real world examples showing otherwise. You have games like terraria(less than a year), undertale(less than 3 years), the binding of isaac(months), banished(less than 3 years by a single guy),stardew valley and bright memory being developed by 3 or less people. I mean bright memory was developed over a couple of years by a single dev in his part time and that one actually does look like and play like a triple A game. The small dev team taking nearly a decade to make a 2d platformer doesn't fly when they've already missed practically every single deadline they themselves announced.

 

[Bulbanych]

When FF finally releases:

 

[Xeline]

Well, those circles are certainly more efficient and perceptive of their own capacities as a dev team. You can't argue with that.

 

[D4n0w4r]

The japanese continue to flex on the western h-industry as usual.

 

[OvaLoaf]

The japanese continue to flex on the western h-industry as usual.

The game quality may vary and some devs definitely don't understand decent game design but at least they deliver.

 

[pogchampione]

i think its really interesting popping into this thread and reflecting on how much my life has changed over all these years, how many games have been announced & seen complete releases in similar genres within f95zone, and how this game still hasn't fucking come out

 

[forgetandeatcake]

i think its really interesting popping into this thread and reflecting on how much my life has changed over all these years, how many games have been announced & seen complete releases in similar genres within f95zone, and how this game still hasn't fucking come out

Yandere simulator vibes. I remember watching Pewdiepie play that game when I was a teenager and since then I've gone to university, did a post grad, went through two jobs cause of covid and the game still wasn't finished.

At least that game had releases I could actually play, even if it has always ran like dogshit because the developer has never heard of an LOD among other problems.

 

[Ambir]

At least that game had releases I could actually play

Forgive me, I didn't do a post grad so my reading comprehension might be faulty. Are you implying that Future Fragments has had no releases yet?

If so, I would urge you to look at the OP of this thread. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and you'll find several download links to currently available releases.

 

[forgetandeatcake]

Forgive me, I didn't do a post grad, so my reading comprehension might be faulty. Are you implying that Future Fragments has had no releases yet?

Wait did they finally drop the new demo? That'd be sick. But what I mean by that is a regular release schedule. Monthly or releases every couple of months, with new features and stuff. Stuff that I can look forward to, see what's new. The last demo for this game says it was released last year, so idk if I missed a period of time (I was hyped for the steam release and when it didn't come out I stopped watching threads for ages) when that demo was constantly being updated but that's my view on it.

And don't worry about the post grad stuff, I think my reading comprehension went down after doing it .

 

[Ambir]

Wait did they finally drop the new demo? That'd be sick. But what I mean by that is a regular release schedule. Monthly or releases every couple of months, with new features and stuff. Stuff that I can look forward to, see what's new. The last demo for this game says it was released last year, so idk if I missed a period of time (I was hyped for the steam release and when it didn't come out I stopped watching threads for ages) when that demo was constantly being updated but that's my view on it.

And don't worry about the post grad stuff, I think my reading comprehension went down after doing it .

I haven't watched this game for a while so a lot of it is new to me, but if this got the abandonned tag, then it's been at least 1.5 years since their update on this website. That being said, I am told by the developer that the team working on FF is doing regular status updates and is set to release sometimes this year. From what I was shown, there's really not that much work left, so if the developer is to be believed you can look forward to a release soon-ish.

 

[FutureHUD]

New update:
------------------------------------------
In simple terms, since people asked for it this way:

• DEMO IS ALLLLLMOST READY, FROUGE ALMOST DONE WITH BUGS
• UPCOMING UNPOLISHED DEMO IS 99% IDENTICAL TO FIRST LEVEL OF THE FULL GAME
• POLISHED DEMO THAT REPRESENTS 1:1 OF THE FIRST LEVEL OF THE GAME WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY AFTER UNPOLISHED DEMO, ONCE ISSUES WITH IT ARE FIXED
• TWO CUTSCENES DONE THIS TIME, REMAINING CUTSCENES ARE VERY LARGE AND TAKE LOTS OF TIME
• CUTSCENES ARE OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS BUT SAME AMOUNT OF WORK IS BEING DONE EACH WEEK
• GAME IS STILL COMING OUT IN 2023

--------------------------------------------
> REMAINING CUTSCENES ARE VERY LARGE AND TAKE LOTS OF TIME

*sigh*

 

[OvaLoaf]

New update:
------------------------------------------
In simple terms, since people asked for it this way:

• DEMO IS ALLLLLMOST READY, FROUGE ALMOST DONE WITH BUGS
• UPCOMING UNPOLISHED DEMO IS 99% IDENTICAL TO FIRST LEVEL OF THE FULL GAME
• POLISHED DEMO THAT REPRESENTS 1:1 OF THE FIRST LEVEL OF THE GAME WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY AFTER UNPOLISHED DEMO, ONCE ISSUES WITH IT ARE FIXED
• TWO CUTSCENES DONE THIS TIME, REMAINING CUTSCENES ARE VERY LARGE AND TAKE LOTS OF TIME
• CUTSCENES ARE OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS BUT SAME AMOUNT OF WORK IS BEING DONE EACH WEEK
• GAME IS STILL COMING OUT IN 2023

View attachment 2961057
--------------------------------------------
> REMAINING CUTSCENES ARE VERY LARGE AND TAKE LOTS OF TIME

*sigh*

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they do release it before 2024. After that though, this game is as good as dead and stuck in development limbo like many other indie h-games.

 

[forgetandeatcake]

I haven't watched this game for a while so a lot of it is new to me, but if this got the abandonned tag, then it's been at least 1.5 years since their update on this website. That being said, I am told by the developer that the team working on FF is doing regular status updates and is set to release sometimes this year. From what I was shown, there's really not that much work left, so if the developer is to be believed you can look forward to a release soon-ish.

Well yeah if you can believe them, but I believed them for the steam release and I was hyped has hell for that and then it never appeared. And looking at their discord they said a new demo would be released soon and then that was delayed. Hell I even scrolled back through their steam news, there is a post there saying in november 2022 that the game was 95% done.

Like what are they using runescape level scaling for their percentage completion bar? As I said, this whole thing just reminds me of Yandere simulator. I don't play that game any more btw, I think feature creep got the better of the game, plus the whole "it's hitman but if you don't follow these exact steps then you'll be instantly caught" put me off it, but I do enjoy looking into the stupid drama the dev and community generates.

 

[Ambir]

Like what are they using runescape level scaling for their percentage completion bar?

Okay that gave me a good laugh.

The way I see it, by early 2024 we'll know either way. Dev told me they're still on track to release this year so im just waiting to see.

 

[Ambir]

The issue people have is that he's been saying that since around 2018. Heck, I can swear the game was supposed to release in 2017, but I don't have a link to a quote on that.
But this game was supposed to release in September of last year, then also before Christmas the year before that (and if it didn't it would be free), etc. So anyone up to date on the game doesn't trust these statements anymore.
And as for the playable versions, the last update from 1.5 years ago was nearly identical to a version release 3 years before that, as outlined in this post. So the game hasn't really been updated in about 5 years, and the current demo that was supposed to release a month ago still doesn't exist.

And if anyone ever mentions these things, the dev personally reports those posts to the moderators to have them deleted (by the moderators' own admissions), as well as any posts or reviews that constructively criticize the game.
Heck, the new format of the bi-weekly update posts was made by me. I did that. I made a mockup in Sai2 suggesting a new format that was more informative than the last.
My post was deleted and I was temporarily banned from the thread for doing that, and he still went and used the format anyways.

So that's why the thread has the pessimistic mood it does.

As a player, the attitude I generally take with games that are being developped is that I just let them cook until they update. I played the first demo of this game way back when and I've been checking it on and off. Honestly, I am impressed by the progress it has made overall. Sure, it took a while, but it's certainly beyond my skills to do what these devs achieve, so I'm rooting for them and hoping for the best.

Now, things may turn for the worse, but I don't think that's what anyone here is hoping for. Frankly, as someone who has made games in the past, sometimes it really helps to receive encouragements from random people. And on the flip side, being told you're doing bad over and over is really harsh on the mental.


As long as things don't go too far and you're not insulting anyone, I think it's fine to share an opinion, even a pessimistic one. However, I think it would be important to think about the outcome you guys want to see come to fruition. Being pessimistic seldom helps things improve.