- Apr 2, 2018
- 1,039
- 1,927
It's Saturday morning, I've had my coffee, and read through the comments posted after I went to bed. This may be a very useless exercise, but here goes. Before I start, many thanks to those of you who support us, and continue to, on Patreon.
As many have helpfully said already, this is a hobby for most developers. It doesn't mean that the Thunderline team doesn't take this seriously. One quick note. After over a year of work and 7 months since our first release, if I ALONE took all the money we get from Patreon every month, I'd be making under the US minimum hourly wage for the work I put in each month. This isn't a complaint. It's merely to state that I often see the same argument in threads on here: "Devs are bad/lazy/not worth my support because they take too long to put out releases." And many who make this argument then say we should just devote every hour and work on it like a full time project, if we want support. Would you like to explain to your family why you can't pay the heating bill, if you did that? Also, really hard to render without electricity.
Put simply, devs need your support. If you like a project, your support adds up. There is no way any of us who currently do this as a hobby will ever be able to do this full time (e.g., bigger and more frequent releases) without a lot of support. For basically every dev now, that means monthly pledges on Patreon. Some of you didn't like the direction we took Thunderline when we added To Be A King, and you dropped your support. I have no issue with that at all. There are far too many creators out there for someone to stay supporting a dev they no longer like or believe in. Some of you pledge up to get a release and then drop until the next release you want. Again, I have no issue with that. Do what you need to do.
We've had monthly releases of our games since July. On our Patreon, I communicate every two weeks, sometimes more often, about where we are at and anything that may push out releases more than we expected. The blog post I linked on here yesterday was an effort to keep our patrons informed since Last Call was going to be longer than our 3 month internal goal for it to release. Last Call is still our primary focus, but the script wasn't ready until about a week ago. We've compensated for the time it takes to put together our much larger Last Call releases by doing the second game. If you don't like the second game, I'd fully expect you, if you still like Last Call, to pledge at the $5 patron minimum or just pledge up for releases.
What is frustrating for me as a dev is that there always seems to be some mythical standard for supporting a game that, inevitably, the dev never meets. Doing this as a hobby for now, I highly doubt our team will meet this "standard" anytime soon. In fact, over the last few months, several devs that were held up to us early on this forum by some posters as the schedule we needed to meet have since gone months without releases and have had continued delays.
This is way longer than I wanted to write for, so let me wrap it up. If your reply is going to be, "Tell your Last Call writer to just work harder," you can save that reply. Life gets in the way of these things sometimes, and I'm never going to apologize for that, as long as we are communicating with our patrons as soon as we know. Maybe I'll post more here, as many of you have been very supportive. We will see. And thank you again to those who continue to support us and look forward to releases!
As many have helpfully said already, this is a hobby for most developers. It doesn't mean that the Thunderline team doesn't take this seriously. One quick note. After over a year of work and 7 months since our first release, if I ALONE took all the money we get from Patreon every month, I'd be making under the US minimum hourly wage for the work I put in each month. This isn't a complaint. It's merely to state that I often see the same argument in threads on here: "Devs are bad/lazy/not worth my support because they take too long to put out releases." And many who make this argument then say we should just devote every hour and work on it like a full time project, if we want support. Would you like to explain to your family why you can't pay the heating bill, if you did that? Also, really hard to render without electricity.
Put simply, devs need your support. If you like a project, your support adds up. There is no way any of us who currently do this as a hobby will ever be able to do this full time (e.g., bigger and more frequent releases) without a lot of support. For basically every dev now, that means monthly pledges on Patreon. Some of you didn't like the direction we took Thunderline when we added To Be A King, and you dropped your support. I have no issue with that at all. There are far too many creators out there for someone to stay supporting a dev they no longer like or believe in. Some of you pledge up to get a release and then drop until the next release you want. Again, I have no issue with that. Do what you need to do.
We've had monthly releases of our games since July. On our Patreon, I communicate every two weeks, sometimes more often, about where we are at and anything that may push out releases more than we expected. The blog post I linked on here yesterday was an effort to keep our patrons informed since Last Call was going to be longer than our 3 month internal goal for it to release. Last Call is still our primary focus, but the script wasn't ready until about a week ago. We've compensated for the time it takes to put together our much larger Last Call releases by doing the second game. If you don't like the second game, I'd fully expect you, if you still like Last Call, to pledge at the $5 patron minimum or just pledge up for releases.
What is frustrating for me as a dev is that there always seems to be some mythical standard for supporting a game that, inevitably, the dev never meets. Doing this as a hobby for now, I highly doubt our team will meet this "standard" anytime soon. In fact, over the last few months, several devs that were held up to us early on this forum by some posters as the schedule we needed to meet have since gone months without releases and have had continued delays.
This is way longer than I wanted to write for, so let me wrap it up. If your reply is going to be, "Tell your Last Call writer to just work harder," you can save that reply. Life gets in the way of these things sometimes, and I'm never going to apologize for that, as long as we are communicating with our patrons as soon as we know. Maybe I'll post more here, as many of you have been very supportive. We will see. And thank you again to those who continue to support us and look forward to releases!
- Aug 5, 2016
- 5,083
- 14,028
Don't do that, you can't please everyone and never will. If you focus on what some random anons say on a piracy forum you will burn yourself fast. Of course you can find some constructive criticism here but there are plenty of trolls too, I have seen people asking for an update days after the last one.
It's a lost battle, just ignore those and do your thing.
There is no standard, there are games that are literal shit doing tons of money and there are good games doing poorly.
- Apr 9, 2019
- 127
- 145
Well put. I've personally witnessed certain games that blow the shit outta the block when it comes to standards, but
rarely anyone notices the game or the dev. Hell, I think the trending games list on F95 speaks as evidence for this
ITRoy Ignore the trolls and keep up the great work cuz I'm pretty sure that most of us here can understand your situation. We'll wait for news and updates with utmost anticipation!
- Dec 28, 2017
- 5,394
- 16,190
The Trending Games section is a fucking disgrace. As long as this site sticks to the same approach, it will always be.Well put. I've personally witnessed certain games that blow the shit outta the block when it comes to standards, but
rarely anyone notices the game or the dev. Hell, I think the trending games list on F95 speaks as evidence for this
ITRoy Ignore the trolls and keep up the great work cuz I'm pretty sure that most of us here can understand your situation. We'll wait for news and updates with utmost anticipation!
I am one of those folks who doesn't like TBaK but I will patiently wait for more LC. I like your team and understand your frustration. As of today I am a patron again because, even though I am in for a wait, I feel a need to support the developers I actually give two shits about.
Don't sweat it. You bois do an amazing work at what u do with the INCOME you have. Some ppl probably didn't work a single day in their life or they just spend their parents' money to make ridiculous accusations. Then again, maybe their pockets are loaded so they don't give a fuck about other ppl's hard work.
lol, let's say there's years since some "devs" keep making promises but fail to deliver what they promise ... and there's supporters for those ppl.
It's not worth it, my advice is to ignore all the negative and absurd comments and keep doing the amazing work u bois do for the fans. A true fan always appreciates feedback and professionalism, don't forget that Gumdrop had the balls to release his shitty project on Steam and some smart patrons still believe the shit he says even if never keeps his promises.Please do. This website is the best way to promote the 2 projects to a larger audience and gain more patrons, don't quit. As a matter of fact, you should report stupid comments or unnecessary trolls so the mods deal with them. If some users get the game for free bcz some heroes are generous enough to leak it for them, they should at least have some respect and support the dev with a positive review/constructive criticism, pledge to his Patreon page or simply ignore it if they don't like it.
Best of luck to you guys with the 2 projects and keep up the good work !!
- May 16, 2018
- 1,725
- 2,285
- Sep 15, 2020
- 28
- 98
Hey guys last time i played Kelly Jo hinted that she would be with other guys and all and your girlfriend was looking like a cheater, did they fix it? Or Kelly jo Still is that way and the girlfriend don't have an explanation yet. If they don't plan to i just want to know to ignore it and move on
- Sep 22, 2019
- 78
- 248
Move on bro, in the past they said to not see it as NTR or anything like that
, i wouldn't risk it cause there's chance that might happen again
Repeating what I've said previously, after talking to our writer. There is no NTR. Girlfriend hasn't cheated.
- Apr 10, 2020
- 1,541
- 6,059
hopefully its explained in the long awaited update.. i mean you have her ignoring the Mc's emails then find a photo on social media with her clinging to another guy. No its not really ntr or anything but clearly something is going on so people think she cheated.. hell i would if i found out she was with someone else after ignoring me.
- Sep 22, 2019
- 78
- 248
Yeah i know it's not NTR but some don't like this jealousy created by the girlfriend and by Kelly Jo and i was just pointing that the Devs don't see it as NTR so he should be aware that this probably wont change and don't waste his time. I don't like it too (mainly Kelly Jo attitude) so to ignored list it goes
- Apr 10, 2020
- 1,541
- 6,059
thats just it Kelly doesnt not want a relationship she wants to have fun with who ever she can. this goes the same with the MC unless you got locked into the damn relationship with the other girl... (should not have happened so fast) to me this is not ntr. but trying to keep your girlfriend then being ignored like i said then finding her photo it borderline ntr. up until that point you didnt mess with the other girls so your mind is giving you the green light since in your mind your GF has already cheated on you.
- Sep 15, 2020
- 28
- 98
You're right it's not NTR, still don't change the fact that making a LI still see other guys killed the game completely for me. As for the girlfriend they will probably explain something but i doubt there's any good explanation that i would swallow. Maybe something acceptable but she can use internet to post pictures but not to text to me? Don't think there will be a satisfactory explanation
I don't see it as NTR either. Fiona slept with the next guy who gave her attention, just like basically any girl in college would do. Early December is my guess on when some light will finally be shed on that subject though.
When did she sleep with this dude? Damn. I guess I gotta play the games I make more.
- Apr 10, 2020
- 1,541
- 6,059
the hook has been thrown out there with the ignored emails and no contact. the sinker is pulling it under with the social media photo..... any guy in his right mind would think it is very possible even if it had not happened yet. you wrote it into the game so lets reel it in as what it looks like... its been months since a update and people are making their own conclusions. now al of a sudden you are either giving us a spoiler or throwing us off so yes people will judge the book by its cover.