Nov 15, 2020
418
1,882
I would argue that it is, without necessarily wishing to imply that doing it that way is wrong. ;)

I think the real issue that Eva is facing isn't that her way of creation doesn't work any more, but rather that the scale of her product has grown bigger than what one person can reliably output casually (at least within the time frame that she is used to keeping). A story is about more than stitched-together instances after all, so I think it's sensible to make a planned overview of where you want your story to go and what elements are essential at some point.

I see myself as a writer first for example so while I'd start a story like this in a similar way, with some concepts I want to bring together somehow, I don't think I would formulate them fully before I had an idea of how the wider narrative is supposed to work first. Eva's way of working seems sort of uncompromising to me, and I'm not saying that as a point of criticism. It's just that, now she works with an external colourist for her art, there is very little she can do to change scenes if her story structure proves complicated to fit it all into, except scrap it or reuse it later.

The thing is, Eva isn't a single creator any more, for better or for worse she's a games developer that is putting together many elements, some of which aren't only hers to create, so I think it is sensible that she realise now that her old work-ethic doesn't work completely any more. I think Eva's real issue is that she's passed from being a lone creator to being something closer to a projects manager and she has to learn to cope with that, that takes revising your writing structure too. :unsure:
Yeah, getting help from a colourist, background artists, and her Discord staff certainly makes it even more important to plan in advance, while also creating more project manager-ish admin work for her to tend to. I imagine it's difficult to find the right balance between optimizing the work flow and still keeping the same artistic control over the product.

What I think I was trying to say in my last posts, but never said explicitly, was that it's hard to tell exactly what she's planned and what she hasn't, and in what instances she's struggling to get the story working. At this point of the game, you're bound to have some problems you haven't thought about before, even if you've planned everything in detail. She's talking about it in a rather general way, and I get the sense that she's probably also being a bit hard on herself. (The posts are titled "Why is it taking so long?", but I don't think many other than herself think it's taking unfairly long…)

It would've been really interesting to have a post after the next update about what specifically she's struggling with. Like one specific scene and then deconstructing it and going into the details of what issues she's had to solve, both relating to the scene in itself and regarding its place in the story as a whole.
 

BlandChili

Well-Known Member
Dec 15, 2020
1,866
4,069
I imagine it's difficult to find the right balance between optimizing the work flow and still keeping the same artistic control over the product.
Absolutely and this is especially enunciated when it comes to individual developers, it can feel very - almost perverse - to include other people in your work. I knew this games developer from Norway back in the day who had made enough money from releasing through steam greenlight to live, but she absolutely refused to include other people in her work, even when she could have benefited from hiring a music composer for example.
She's talking about it in a rather general way, and I get the sense that she's probably also being a bit hard on herself.
This is just my impression, but I think this is because her plan is "only" very general. From the way she talks about GGGB (and how it ended) and the bits she's talked about her work with ORS, I've had the impression for a while that Eva only has a general plan for the direction she wants the story to go but nothing written down in terms of concrete end-point and plot twists she wishes to include.
I don't think many other than herself think it's taking unfairly long…
I think some do. :ROFLMAO:
At least going by the language some posters here use.
It would've been really interesting to have a post after the next update about what specifically she's struggling with. Like one specific scene and then deconstructing it and going into the details of what issues she's had to solve, both relating to the scene in itself and regarding its place in the story as a whole.
Sure, getting more intimate details of her work is always interesting! :giggle:
 

jaylop09

Newbie
Nov 24, 2019
81
278
My guess is that probably most of the people demanding right now the new chapter aren´t even patreon subscribers. And I say this as someone very saddened by the fact that probably we will have to wait at least 3 more weeks.
 
Nov 15, 2020
418
1,882
This is just my impression, but I think this is because her plan is "only" very general. From the way she talks about GGGB (and how it ended) and the bits she's talked about her work with ORS, I've had the impression for a while that Eva only has a general plan for the direction she wants the story to go but nothing written down in terms of concrete end-point and plot twists she wishes to include.
That seems likely. And, of course, she can't say too much if she wants to avoid spoiling the upcoming episode. "I'm struggling to write a sex scene between Lena and Holly because [reasons]" would have been more specific and informative, but more than we need to know at this point. ;)

The plan may be rather general, but there's also a lot of proof in the game of those things she does plan. Every episode hints at several upcoming events. And as I mentioned, I get the impression she's had a few "checkpoints" for the story planned from the start. If she has a vague plan that Cindy and Ian will get together around episode 7, that Lena releases a big hit song after 12 episodes, or that Allison tells Ian she wants to have a baby 15 episodes into the story (I'm just making stuff up now), that makes it a lot easier than if you don't even have those midway points to help structure the story.

Regarding GGGB, I agree with those who've said that the last part of the game suffers somewhat from what probably was a lack of planning. But I vaguely remember Eva talking about that herself too, right? My impression is that she's good at learning from her experiences and mistakes, and I suspect she at least has some idea of where she wants to end up this time. I think the planned time skip also indicates that.
 

Sexy11

Newbie
Jul 13, 2017
96
59
For those who may complain about the slow update, well consider come back in a year or when the game tagged "Completed".
Based on the previous game GGGB, story progression can go very slow and sometimes some path have no content at all on the new update. RedString scope at current stage already feel bigger than GGGB.
 

Tallyhoe

Member
Feb 21, 2019
204
710
I think, realistically, this project is a 4 year development.
1 year to kinda lay the ground work. 2nd year to get into the habit and general feel of doing it. 3rd and 4th is just repeating the process.

If she aims for 20 chapters, and judging by 3-4 months cycle, we are 13 chapters out which will take around 3 years. That’s on course for that 4 years projection. So don’t expect this to be completed by 2023.

If you can’t be patient then better leave and come back then.
 

doctor13

Member
Oct 13, 2018
266
732
If I can muster the will power, I'll be taking a break from the game (though still subscribed to Patreon) for the remainder of the year and coming back at around Chapter 10. That's the plan anyway which I'm sure will fail 5 minutes after Chapter 8 comes out : D
 

dobzzz

Active Member
Feb 7, 2018
612
1,382
Doubtful. She had been releasing updates around every 3 months for the latest three chapters. More likely that we will see the alpha around the third or the fourth week of may.
Actually it's 70-80ish days not 3 months and previous updates had 10k plus lines this one will have around 7k hence faster release
 

RC-1138 Boss

Message Maven
Apr 26, 2017
13,047
19,306
Actually it's 70-80ish days not 3 months and previous updates had 10k plus lines this one will have around 7k hence faster release
Incorrect. 98 days between Alpha releases 0.5-0.6 and 81 days between Alpha releases 0.6-0.7 . This gives a average of 89.5 days between releases. Add what she said about chapter 8 taking some time to complete and it is not hard to imagine the release may happen closer to the end of may even if the chapter is shorter than the previous one.
 

van321

Member
Jan 7, 2021
196
345
It's probably a common refrain, but I wish there were more... decent LIs for Lena. Seeing her struggle makes Ian complaining sound like whining. Aside from Ian, they're all douchebags. Heck, the one who seems the most mature is Axel, whom betrayed her, and it feels wrong throwing her back in with him given the hurt he caused her.
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Ian and Lena make a good couple, but after that last update... man... Holly is such a sweetheart. :love:
 
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