Except he isn't sticking to release dates and I don't see any sign of that changing. The only other thing would be for Patreons to stop funding him completely with the message that they will start again once he puts out a MEANINGFUL update and not just some minor crap which most people here don't seem to care about much.
- Thread starter stoper
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- Apr 25, 2020
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Not giving a release date won't change the fact that people will complain if it takes too much time for an update, or it's because they abandon the game by themselves and forget about it.
Stoper has been quite open about his struggles, lack of motivation and inspiration. Though I don't see that changing soon. Don't expect more than 2 updates per year at max, and not with a lot of content (but still same quality), until it's officially abandoned
Stoper has been quite open about his struggles, lack of motivation and inspiration. Though I don't see that changing soon. Don't expect more than 2 updates per year at max, and not with a lot of content (but still same quality), until it's officially abandoned
- Jun 5, 2017
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Burnout is a big deal in any creative endeavor. This is why devs, before they even start a game, should have the story and / or experience of the game plotted out from beginning to every possible ending, and then storyboarding them so planning the required images is easier. It is also why I always advocate that a dev never give the audience control over the product, which could easily result in resentment that eats at the enjoyment of making the game as well as create disruptions that will cause even more creative meandering that also fuels burnout.
Stoper flying by the seat of his pants, while creatively fulfilling for him I suppose, is 90% the reason why his dev schedule is all over the place. I once thought he already had the entire story mapped out. It looks like that isn't the case.
- Aug 23, 2020
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And to make matters worse, I don't think this is creatively fulfilling to him anymore. I get the impression on these slow burn games that the build up is what burns out a developer. Spending all this time on foundational, non-sexy, scenes can get tedious. I think that tedium, and the complexity of the branching paths, dooms many games.
- Jan 3, 2019
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So what's stopping him from doing more sex scenes? He could perfectly include spontaneous sex in the game with a teacher who accidentally penetrated her (two actions to push him away or let her be pinned to the table and fucked) or with Parker to have sex in the heat of a drunken frenzy at the car in the alley (by the way, Mr. Parker's penis needs to be slightly reduced, otherwise it looks like he has a piece of wood) or the development of events with an office kid, like invited him home together to make an investigation plan, and She goes takes a bath and puts on a short robe and fucking began.
Or having the principle "accidently" push her underwear aside and fuck her? But yeah I agree, if the non-sex scenes (which is what most of us perfer I think) are what is tiring him out then make less of those and more sex scenes. I honestly like the story but I do think there is too much filler mainly because its like 80% buildup so far. Also if he craps out now because of the non-sex scenes or whatever reason we will have gone through the buildup for NOTHING or next to nothing.So what's stopping him from doing more sex scenes? He could perfectly include spontaneous sex in the game with a teacher who accidentally penetrated her (two actions to push him away or let her be pinned to the table and fucked) or with Parker to have sex in the heat of a drunken frenzy at the car in the alley (by the way, Mr. Parker's penis needs to be slightly reduced, otherwise it looks like he has a piece of wood) or the development of events with an office kid, like invited him home together to make an investigation plan, and She goes takes a bath and puts on a short robe and fucking began.
- Aug 23, 2020
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So what's stopping him from doing more sex scenes? He could perfectly include spontaneous sex in the game with a teacher who accidentally penetrated her (two actions to push him away or let her be pinned to the table and fucked) or with Parker to have sex in the heat of a drunken frenzy at the car in the alley (by the way, Mr. Parker's penis needs to be slightly reduced, otherwise it looks like he has a piece of wood) or the development of events with an office kid, like invited him home together to make an investigation plan, and She goes takes a bath and puts on a short robe and fucking began.
I think there's a rigid adherence to "the plan". Something like "I have this plan for how the corruption will develop, and in order for it to work then events A, B, and C all need to happen first." These events will corrupt the MC, but they also require setup, so suddenly it becomes a lot of slow plodding to set up even just "Event A". If he jumps right into the sex it can/could break all of the immersion for a huge portion of the players, and that can kill the game. The whole point of a game like JOHN is that it isn't a cheap fuckfest and that sex has to be earned. But I think many games like JOHN have gone too far with the slow burn. At some point we're all here for fun and sex, and I think some devs have forgotten that. Instead, they're so concerned with making the story progress at their predetermined pace that they've lost the point and aren't having fun.
IMO that seems to be exactly what happened with Stoper on this update. Whatever the original plan for this update was, it must have been really boring to him. I think it may have included a lot of foundation building, just so he could do more build up later. Even the Blake event itself sounds like it isn't very interesting to him and it's probably geared more towards setting up future sex.
I think we need more games that are quick, fun, and punchy. You can have lots of sex without cheapening it. You can have fun plot that makes the characters interesting. But we need to move away from games that wait 2, 3, 4+ years before there's payoff. Not so much because we need to rush into sex, but more because games that wait that long collapse under their own expectations. Devs should allow their stories to be fun, and they should concentrate on making their game fun to produce, even if it stretches believability. If you're environments and characters are boring you then don't rigidly stick with it just because that's the plan. Allow yourself to have fun, otherwise you'll burn out.
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And that's the thing I like. "Hi miss, I'm the cable guy and I'm here to fix you" maybe is fun but it's not a game, it's simply pornografy, nothing more, nothing less.
P.S.
There are A LOT of sex scenes in JOHN, by the way. For a 0.45 release.
- Aug 23, 2020
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To be clear, I was speaking broadly besides just JOHN. But you're right that JOHN is by no means the worst offender when it comes to sexual content. That said, it has still been a slow burn and I think that weighs heavily on it. Waiting 3+ years for a blowjob is asking a lot from an audience. It also requires such a slow progression that the dev themselves can become bored.
I think Stoper tried to implement some lessons from other slow burn games, but I don't think he executed those lessons correctly. This game should be well past half way after almost 4 years, but we're not even close. That means we're still in Act 1, and dealing with foundation building.
There must be a better way to balance build-up and the payoff.
I do like games with some buildup and story but the story shouldn't dominate the game SOOOOO much that the sex scenes take forever.
There's always a better way. But here the "slow burn" it's about time between updates, not the story.
Most of the sex scenes in this game are with her boring boyfriend..that's not interesting
- Aug 23, 2020
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Not interesting??? The man eats pancakes with his hands like he's eating a sandwich! He's definitely not boring!
- Apr 25, 2020
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There is also quite a bit of content with Heather too (her neighbor), but it's lesbian. Though lots of people want to see Parker's dick in Jess' vagina
I like the content with Heather tbh. I think Parker is overrated
- Jan 3, 2019
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You see, that's just the point, the developer constantly shows sex with her boyfriend and according to the plot that we have, there should already have been at least 2 scenes of betrayal. In my opinion, Jessica takes too long to develop lust for other men. That is why people are not happy. There are few renders, but they are of high quality, again, if desired, they could be increased, all the more so over such a period of time. In fact, Jessica is not particularly developing in the lustful direction "she seems to be marking time." And it's depressing. Even the developer shows that he doesn’t seem to mind starting a large-scale fuck, but for some reason (in fact, everyone knows for what reason) he doesn’t do this and he gets bored, he doesn’t see development and begins to suffer from the work done . I hope that the developer will give Jessica freedom in sexual partners and of course we are waiting for the plot.
- Jan 3, 2019
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I hope that the developer will give Jessica free rein in sexual partners and of course we are waiting for the plot.You see, that's just the point, the developer constantly shows sex with her boyfriend and according to the plot that we have, there should already have been at least 2 scenes of betrayal. In my opinion, Jessica takes too long to develop lust for other men. That is why people are not happy. There are few renders, but they are of high quality, again, if desired, they could be increased, all the more so over such a period of time. In fact, Jessica is not particularly developing in the lustful direction "she seems to be marking time." And it's depressing. Even the developer shows that he doesn’t seem to mind starting a large-scale fuck, but for some reason (in fact, everyone knows for what reason) he doesn’t do this and he gets bored, he doesn’t see development and begins to suffer from the work done . I hope that the developer will give Jessica freedom in sexual partners and of course we are waiting for the plot.
- May 28, 2018
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Slow burn thrives on tension and suspense. You see the progression, each event or encounter building on the last. Things get lewder, and lewder until the first sex scenes happens. This goes at different paces depending on the characters involved. Sometimes slow burn is really slow and stays that way throughout. Sometimes it starts as a slow burn, but as it progresses it speeds up. Like a snowball rolling down a hill.
I think the buildup in these games can be the best and even most fun part, if it's written well. But the issue for developers is that they don't actually plan these things in advance. They make it up as they go along. That's why a lot of games get stale after the first sex scenes, the developer doesn't have anything to work towards anymore. They've had sex...now what? So instead of continuing the progression towards the sex, they go into a holding pattern to try to delay it. Not because they don't want sex, but because they don't know what to do after.
I think the buildup in these games can be the best and even most fun part, if it's written well. But the issue for developers is that they don't actually plan these things in advance. They make it up as they go along. That's why a lot of games get stale after the first sex scenes, the developer doesn't have anything to work towards anymore. They've had sex...now what? So instead of continuing the progression towards the sex, they go into a holding pattern to try to delay it. Not because they don't want sex, but because they don't know what to do after.