I'm really just a lurker but I'm going to comment because others have given their thoughts on things, and I wanted to give mine in terms of logical game development.
This game isn't likely to be good on release. It's been in production so long that it simply isn't going to live up to expectations. The simple reality is that the production time versus whatever the final product is isn't likely to match up (it's possible it could but I think the majority of us doubt it will).
Personally I think Techno has bitten off way more than he can chew with this. He's got these ideas coming in and he just throws them into the game. Vampire Princess is a pretty prime example of this, where he's had this idea for another companion, has put her into the game, has a few quests where she interacts with things, and that's about the extent of it. I think they're great ideas, but all he's really doing is adding more work to the ever growing list.
Anyone that has a basic understanding of game design knows that every time you add something you're increasing permutations. Currently there are three followers in the game; Yarizo, Potion Maker, and Vampire Princess. That means logically every time Techno writes a scene he needs to then write dialogue for each character (and then also likely have cross dialogue where Kohaku interacts with what they said). People don't realize how big a task this can be. If you've ever watched Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal (which I really recommend as it's hilarious) he at one point demonstrates flowchart software used for tracking conversations. It helps to keep things together and makes sure you're tracking stuff properly. I doubt Techno is using that (you certainly don't have to), so that means that whenever he's trying to track conversations it's more work for him, as he's now probably keeping the separate scripts in different files accordingly. And that's just one character, it's obviously more work if there's more characters in the scene (each NPC for example that may elicit a reaction).
That's just dialogue. Every time he does a quest he also needs to do any relevant art for that quest (who is fucking who, let alone just for the new character). That again adds more work. Take the recent side quest; he's got to do the art for Jimmy and then Yarizo (because it was a female character and Kohaku and Vampire Princess don't seem bisexual [yet anyway]). But this is also a quest with just one character, so the overall workload for art is logically the least it's ever going to be. Now he can recycle some assets, and we know he does that, but doing that too often means people become upset (because they're paying you monthly for recycled content, which isn't going to make them happy). I think in part it's why so many people are upset, because they have financially supported Techno and then feel like he's phoned in monthly updates (and those that haven't/are no longer supporting him have already come to that conclusion).
That's the crux of the whole situation. People don't feel like what is paid to Techno matches the output of work, and it's hard to blame them. I honestly don't think Techno is trying to stretch things out to benefit as much as possible (at least not as his main goal). I believe he's realized that he's really painted himself into a corner and he's got pretty limited options on what to do. He can't put out a half assed game after such a long time and not damage his brand. He can't cut back on the content updates because he's clearly reliant on it (so doing quarterly updates with a good amount of content won't work, because some people will stop their support for two months each time as they get nothing). It's why I think he scrapped the story, because he thought it over and came to the conclusion it likely wasn't going to meet expectations and had to be better. He knows the content thing is real, which is why he was doing those outfit DLCs (that he's stated will be one time releases, thus incentivizing people to stay subscribed).
There's honestly a lot more I can say but I'll end my analysis of his development process there (because this is already long and doesn't need to be even longer beating a dead horse). I think though this is the reality of things. I do believe he actually gets sick, but I think it's related to stress. I'm not saying he isn't fucking around (I'm sure he's got a lot of free time given what people have relayed here, trust me, I'm not naive and/or giving him a pass). But I do think he's caused himself severe stress because he's come to the realization that he definitely coasted on the income for years and now has to deliver and he knows it won't be great. It's why he's been drip feeding content for years, while he's trying to buy time to figure stuff out (and then wasting the time fucking around).
Personally what I think he should do is the following:
- Push through the base game with just Jimmy, Kohaku, and Yarizo. Get a finished product out there that people can play through and enjoy. Make sure it includes a gallery.
- Work on adding the other characters in (I didn't even mention Iris above, and that's a whole other load of work to do). You basically run a production cycle on one character at a time as you incorporate them into the game.
- Basically you're pumping out a DLC one by one. You can do updates on this each month to show the progress. Frankly if it were me I'd want to get them finished in 6-9 months, depending on the character.
- His updates really shouldn't show dialogue, barring sneak peeks. Frankly I think Techno's dialogue may actually be his strongest point, and so giving it all away means people won't have a reason to play the finished product (as it stands now this is likely a concern of his, as he's very likely going to port over basically 90% of things word for word, so you've already seen it). The updates should basically be behind the scenes stuff/scrapped content people can view/play to get an idea of things.
- When he does this he goes back and adds things as relevant. A new follower or side character means more Yarizo and Jimmy content. Maybe each time he adds a new character you do different endings where Jimmy or Yarizo get a harem going (slowly adding one person at a time).
- If he were smart he'd do a new game plus mode, so people are incentivized to keep replaying the game when they get new content (not just doing a gallery/loading in saves). This is honestly another thing I didn't touch on, but Techno needs to rebalance the game (because he's not a game designer and he certainly can't do an RPG to the scale he thinks he can).
- When all the stuff is done he should do a DLC where you get to play the game as Yarizo. People may also really enjoy this, given it would incentivize you to avoid combat as much as possible (which would also be a nice change of pace). People have talked about this, but I think Jimmy and Yarizo are likely to be the only two main male characters in the game (anyone else is basically a bad end cuckold event).
- He could do this for a few years, polish the game off, then release a definitive edition or whatever. It would effectively be what he's doing now, but he'd have people be happier with him. Maybe supporters that gave him X months of support receive this for free (I'm sure there's a way for him to check this).
I doubt Techno would do any of the above. I'm not him so I don't fully know what he's got going on. I suspect burnout, but I'd argue that if he's got that it's because he's fucked around for so long, painted himself into a corner, and is stressing himself out instead of just forging ahead with things. I think laziness is also there, and it's probably a mix of actual laziness with depression (again, probably from the situation he's put himself in). Apparently Techno has read this thread a few times (based on outbursts people have posted from his Discord). If he does ever read this post, I legitimately hope he gives it some serious thought. I don't work in the adult game industry, but my experience with other projects should make my points useful. Making the changes would likely improve his productivity and output, people would be happier with him, and his mental and physical health would improve.
TL;DR: Basically I don't think Techno ever realized just how big this game would be, he kept adding likely every idea he had, and now he's realizing it's not feasible/is a lot of work. Instead of just putting out a smaller product and expanding on it (so he'd keep the current formula roughly the same) he instead wants to forge ahead with this big beast he's creating. Personally I think it will be as wide as an ocean but as shallow as a puddle. Which means reviews likely aren't going to be great at release (for a somewhat tinfoil hat conspiracy take; I think he won't put out a smaller product because I suspect he'll abandon this thing the first real chance he gets, and so he doesn't want to piss people off even more, he just wants sales to be shit so he can move on). Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
