VN Ren'Py Abandoned Last Call [v0.4] [Thunderline Studios]

[Ragnar]

Our first VN, Last Call, is in development with new releases every couple of months. We also just launched a second VN, To Be A King.

Yeah, launching a second project while the first one just started always works.

 

[ITRoy]

Well, given our unique development situation with our team, it will work rather well. Here's some more insight into how we plan to manage two games at the same time.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[msleomac]

Well, given our unique development situation with our team, it will work rather well. Here's some more insight into how we plan to manage two games at the same time.

You must be registered to see the links

Thanks. Clear, Precise and your passion clearly shows in the blog. Like you mentioned almost all patrons and gamers value a good game and if you are confident I can't fault it. I truly wish this succeds because you have put thought and effort into this enterprise.

Looking forward to playing both games

 

[DA22]

Thanks. Clear, Precise and your passion clearly shows in the blog. Like you mentioned almost all patrons and gamers value a good game and if you are confident I can't fault it. I truly wish this succeds because you have put thought and effort into this enterprise.

Looking forward to playing both games

This, when I do decide to support the development of a game, I will always prefer more game above any other thing, though can well understand dev may find it fun to do some other smaller projects that they share with fans to keep things fresh. That is why I decided to support that development after all.

So if you can pull it off good luck. Just would advise you as devs to stay concise about your communication and internally be always clear where your main priorities lie.

 

[EZ8lt]

Well the game says its in Iowa and he's going to Michigan State. So a good 600 miles or so.

Between the two state capitals, that's a 12 hour drive without any stops, back and forth it's a whole day. If we'd count every variable, that would be a very very tight and costly run for only a little free time even during a weekend.

 

[Ragnar]

Well, given our unique development situation with our team, it will work rather well. Here's some more insight into how we plan to manage two games at the same time.

You must be registered to see the links

Thunderline is a team. We have a writer, a coder, a social media editor, and an artist (me). This is a pretty big change from most developers in our space that are only a single person. With our writer, Inkwell, having to deliver about a 100 page script PER Last Call release, that can take some time. Especially since every one of us has day jobs. Previously, we were doing rewards and custom work for our patrons. However, we really got to thinking. What patrons seem to want most is a game, which makes sense. The extra rewards may be nice, but they haven't moved the needle for us in terms of patrons or pledge amounts.

I can understand that your team and you want more patrons, but the best way to achieve that is releasing updates and keeping the game alive.
Some devs have luck and their first project become popular fast, but the best ones are up there because they have earned a reputation. Devs like Phillygames, DPC or Evakiss.
On the other hand we have others who start strong and eager, but when they see that they aren't earning as much as they want they start side projects or abandon their game in a couple of updates.
I hope you are lucky and your games go well but imo it would be better to put your efforts on monthly updates for Last Call for some time at least.

 

[MrFriendly]

I can understand that your team and you want more patrons, but the best way to achieve that is releasing updates and keeping the game alive.
Some devs have luck and their first project become popular fast, but the best ones are up there because they have earned a reputation. Devs like Phillygames, DPC or Evakiss.
On the other hand we have others who start strong and eager, but when they see that they aren't earning as much as they want they start side projects or abandon their game in a couple of updates.
I hope you are lucky and your games go well but imo it would be better to put your efforts on monthly updates for Last Call for some time at least.

Yeah, all you have to do is look at the number of abandoned games that are listed on this site. There are some real gems that will never see the light of day because they didn't get enough support/real life intruded/alien probing took place.

I worry when a new dev team releases a couple of updates and then starts developing another game. They could look to speed up production on their first game, release updates more frequently, etc. Especially when they are releasing a game in a completely different setting which requires different assets.

Maybe my pessimism is unwarranted but I don't find games set in medieval settings to be exciting so I am even more impatient for a new update of Last Call. Female characters dressed in floor length gowns with boring undergarments doesn't really get my motor running.

 

[ITRoy]

I can understand that your team and you want more patrons, but the best way to achieve that is releasing updates and keeping the game alive.
Some devs have luck and their first project become popular fast, but the best ones are up there because they have earned a reputation. Devs like Phillygames, DPC or Evakiss.
On the other hand we have others who start strong and eager, but when they see that they aren't earning as much as they want they start side projects or abandon their game in a couple of updates.
I hope you are lucky and your games go well but imo it would be better to put your efforts on monthly updates for Last Call for some time at least.

In my blog post I outline why that isn't possible. Our writer for Last Call cannot deliver a script that fast. Otherwise that is certainly where we would devote our time.

 

[BisonFan02]

I can understand that your team and you want more patrons, but the best way to achieve that is releasing updates and keeping the game alive.
Some devs have luck and their first project become popular fast, but the best ones are up there because they have earned a reputation. Devs like Phillygames, DPC or Evakiss.
On the other hand we have others who start strong and eager, but when they see that they aren't earning as much as they want they start side projects or abandon their game in a couple of updates.
I hope you are lucky and your games go well but imo it would be better to put your efforts on monthly updates for Last Call for some time at least.

If they are able to manage workflow (and they would know best as a dev team....especially if it allows for efficiencies between art and writing/coding), it is good to have two products as a sort of "sales mix" that gives supporters options/flavors. Now...the success part you talked about comes to marketing and putting visibility to your product in places where people will pay to play. Many of those devs like Philly and DPC really hit their stride on steam....some like DC and ICSTOR are heavily viewed on porn sites (time helps them too). If you simply rely on sites like this and time/hope for the best....they rarely get traction/finished. The good ones are aggressive...and these guys have taken steps with social media...websites...referrals....etc.

 

[Ragnar]

If they are able to manage workflow (and they would know best as a dev team....especially if it allows for efficiencies between art and writing/coding), it is good to have two products as a sort of "sales mix" that gives supporters options/flavors. Now...the success part you talked about comes to marketing and putting visibility to your product in places where people will pay to play. Many of those devs like Philly and DPC really hit their stride on steam....some like DC and ICSTOR are heavily viewed on porn sites (time helps them too). If you simply rely on sites like this and time/hope for the best....they rarely get traction/finished. The good ones are aggressive...and these guys have taken steps with social media...websites...referrals....etc.

Marketing is important indeed, but DPC and Philly finished their first games here before trying Steam.
Look at Braindrop, he started his first game WVM in August and he's doing good numbers.
How? His game isn't the best looking one nor the most interesting story wise, but he releases content every week.

 

[BisonFan02]

Marketing is important indeed, but DPC and Philly finished their first games here before trying Steam.
Look at Braindrop, he started his first game WVM in August and he's doing good numbers.
How? His game isn't the best looking one nor the most interesting story wise, but he releases content every week.

Wide appeal harem fuckfest. God mode. And that is 1 game....weekly updates are not relevant when they are small.

And what do you mean "finished first games here"? Haha. Only thing that saved Philly early was referrals from 2 particular devs on their patreon pages. Without that...he might have thrown in the towel early. It sure as hell wasnt F95 that built his #s.

 

[ninetofive]

I don't see the issue really. If they're releasing Last Call updates bi-monthly that's still considerably faster than most devs update their games, and it appears that they have a decent amount of content in each update.

I get that several devs here have abandoned games after starting work on a new one but that doesn't mean every dev will do this.

Also agree with the guy above weekly updates has nothing to do with WVM's success it's the genre of the game that made it so successful. Same with Radiant that game is a 0.1 and has insane amounts of support because the genre is very popular.

Anyway in regards to Last Call, great game you guys have made here. Really enjoying the setting, story, music and characters. All top notch work keep it up

 

[MrFriendly]

I don't see the issue really. If they're releasing Last Call updates bi-monthly that's still considerably faster than most devs update their games, and it appears that they have a decent amount of content in each update.

I get that several devs here have abandoned games after starting work on a new one but that doesn't mean every dev will do this.

Also agree with the guy above weekly updates has nothing to do with WVM's success it's the genre of the game that made it so successful. Same with Radiant that game is a 0.1 and has insane amounts of support because the genre is very popular.

Anyway in regards to Last Call, great game you guys have made here. Really enjoying the setting, story, music and characters. All top notch work keep it up

In my opinion the issue is that Last Call is barely started (or feels that way) and the new game is in an even smaller genre niche of medieval setting adult games. There isn't a lot of buzz for Last Call, though it felt like it was growing, but "To Be A King" isn't really exciting. The .1 has been released to the $20 tier and no one is in a rush to try to get it on this site (so far). Perhaps just waiting until they had released more for Last Call would have been better. We shall see, I do want to see the dev team succeed, just wish their new game was one I had some interest in.

 

[BisonFan02]

In my opinion the issue is that Last Call is barely started (or feels that way) and the new game is in an even smaller genre niche of medieval setting adult games. There isn't a lot of buzz for Last Call, though it felt like it was growing, but "To Be A King" isn't really exciting. The .1 has been released to the $20 tier and no one is in a rush to try to get it on this site (so far). Perhaps just waiting until they had released more for Last Call would have been better. We shall see, I do want to see the dev team succeed, just wish their new game was one I had some interest in.

Might also mean nobody on this site that is active or willing to share is at that tier.........in a thread with 210k views.

 

[MrFriendly]

Might also mean nobody on this site that is active or willing to share is at that tier.........in a thread with 210k views.

Maybe, according to Patreon they have 101 patrons. I know I am not at that tier level (I spread my money out among devs).

 

[BisonFan02]

Maybe, according to Patreon they have 101 patrons. I know I am not at that tier level (I spread my money out among devs).

Point being..."buzz" here doesnt always correlate to financial success for a dev and project success or completion. This isn't a target audience to fund a project.

And if pressed...I could name at least a third of those 100....all came as referrals as friends of mine and the dev's crew from other discords.

 

[uamkt]

My thought with my humble marketing degree would be to do what they did with Last Call and make the new game's .1 a freebie here to see if it garners interest. If so, sure put it behind a paywall, but if not you learn that its not really viable. Some things are a passion project and somethings are to pass the time. But in the end, if you are trying to make money, you have to have eyeballs on it to see if they want it. Something I learned long ago in retail, don't buy what you want, but what the customer will buy.

 

[BisonFan02]

My thought with my humble marketing degree would be to do what they did with Last Call and make the new game's .1 a freebie here to see if it garners interest. If so, sure put it behind a paywall, but if not you learn that its not really viable. Some things are a passion project and somethings are to pass the time. But in the end, if you are trying to make money, you have to have eyeballs on it to see if they want it.

My not as humble marketing degree, along with an economics one as well, would say this:

"Demand is an economic principle referring to a consumer's desire to purchase goods and services and willingness to pay a price for a specific good or service. Holding all other factors constant, an increase in the price of a good or service will decrease the quantity demanded, and vice versa"

Free samples to a place that....perpetually chases free samples...is fools gold.

 

[msleomac]

Point being..."buzz" here doesnt always correlate to financial success for a dev and project success or completion. This isn't a target audience to fund a project.

And if pressed...I could name at least a third of those 100....all came as referrals as friends of mine and the dev's crew from other discords.

I agree. Buzz sometimes never translates to success. Some potentially great games have fallen on the wayside and some so-so games have had great success. I hope not for these guys

 

[Ragnar]

Wide appeal harem fuckfest. God mode. And that is 1 game....weekly updates are not relevant when they are small.

And what do you mean "finished first games here"? Haha. Only thing that saved Philly early was referrals from 2 particular devs on their patreon pages. Without that...he might have thrown in the towel early. It sure as hell wasnt F95 that built his #s.

Sure thing, releasing content nonstop has nothing to do with success, better release an update every three months to keep people hyped, right?