They started on NN in July 2015 and the last version was out September of 2016. So 14 months.
The first version of KoD was out in May 2017 and we are now in August 2023. That comes to 76 months.
That is well over 5 times as long. What has changed between NN and KoD to cause this? I understand it's a small team and there are issues and all that, but there are children that have been born when this game started that are now in primary school.
I am not sure what the timeframe is for it, but I'd almost say it ought to be labelled on hold.
Initially, it was because they went to Renpy from RPG maker, so took more time programming. There's also sub/dom routes so it did take longer (but since most graphics are just slight variations, I don't personally see why it took much longer but w.e)
But the bigger issue was Patreon votes. whenever there were votes about if they wanted faster updates with less content or slower updates with bigger chunks, Patreons always voted for slower and more content per update.
Now, early on, this wasn't as big of an issue as they were coming from a time when updates every 2 months (with occasional 3 month bursts) happened regularly. However, slowly 3 months turned into 4, then 5, and now as far as 6.
To make matters worse, in the old days with Sierra Lee, there was a ton more communication with fans. now, yeah wait 6 months, and they will only make an update when they feel like it. The recent Nomo sickness? not a fucking word until there were people constantly complaining about it on the discord. Then they have the gal to blame the issues on Nomo's health, like no one else on this team sucking up money was able to just log into Patreon and post an update about the situation, what development is like, etc.
The most insulting thing IMO, is that even with the massively extended development time, updates are pretty much just as small as they've ever been.
Frankly, while writing this out, it definitely seems like everyone other than Nomo is just straight-up dead weight at this point. If they were really doing anything, it would be insanely easy to just make an update post saying "Coding and quest lines are completed for up to this point etc, just waiting on Nomo's art to pop in and release the update. in the meantime we're working on bug fixes, testing, etc).
Fans would have something to look forward too, wouldn't be complaining so much, and know that their monthly Patreon payments are actually being used for something other than Nomo pumping out art, and the others just taking their cheques and enjoying the free cash.
At this point, I really wish Nomo just leaves Hreinn, rejoins Sierra, and they go back to making games together. (assuming there were no like, internal issues that lead to them parting ways)