VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch.13.3.4] [Eva Kiss]

[priv.ryan]

Is this game dead?

Of course, here we are gathered here for the memorial service. We were just waiting for you.

This proper cracks me up everytime lool

 

[Rickster82]

Later in 2025...

Chapter 10 weekly status report (30)

 

[Turret]

Here my opinion is on the side of Patreon subscribers. I don't want to see the stub, I want the full part. ORS is a game with two MCs, its gameplay is based on the interaction between these characters. A piecemeal release would kill the idea of this game. Of course, I'm tired of waiting, but I think the decision to release Episode 10 is the whole thing - the right one.

I know the reason the patrons chose their vote. It is a viable opinion, but also a navelgazing one, since it in no way helps Eva gaining further players from the audience.
There is a difference between the inside PoV and the outside PoV, especially how you create and maintain interest in your game. The patrons have a lot of info and therefor knew that the chapter will one day be done. People from the wider audience looking in and NOT having such information will think again if they really want to try out ORS. Because from a distance this game is near death. Way overdue update, a rework which was even debatted among the fanbase if it was needed, the shortsighted decision to keep wanting a full chapter by the patrons (despite the Ian part alone being quite meaty)...

There are psychological steps, borderlines, however you want to name it, what you consider long or short, high or low, thick or thin. Having the Ian part out would have meant a psychological "update date" of about 4-6 months, depending if when it would have come out. For a majority of players that is absolutely okay.
But now we have a psychlogical update date of 8 months at best and considering the Lena part is still written it could become longer. Not to think about the people who go by new material, where the still pending update is by over a devastating full year.

That is nothing but burning bridges of interest!

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

If you haven't played the Remastered edition, then you won't be able to play Chapter 10 unless you start a new game. Either way you need to play from the very beginning, why not start now? While Eva is working, it's perfect time to set up your saves.

I finally got time to properly play the Remastered release, and I gotta say, it takes quite a bit of time to get through all 9 chapters, even without deviating from my "canon" playthrough, since I lost my "persistent" file and need to read through all the dialogue without skipping; I'll probably soon be able to memorize the entire script.

I usually just Unren for those skips in such a situation. Though I assume you're probably playing through full-text to check for errors not previously caught, too.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

I'm currently enjoying going through the backlog of Games with new updates I haven't played for the last few months. Funnily enough, the progression was halted for finding out two new devs that I like and I've been trying out the several games they already published, so it's taking a while ahahahah!

I'm not in any rush, I like thoroughly enjoying my games and engaging in the comment section.

Who are the devs? Recommended games?

 

[TheOnlyRockSolid]

Nuestra Cuerda Roja

 

[89898hh]

I miss this game Hopefully once this update comes out eva can starting getting into the habit of releasing more regular updates again.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

I know the reason the patrons chose their vote. It is a viable opinion, but also a navelgazing one, since it in no way helps Eva gaining further players from the audience.
There is a difference between the inside PoV and the outside PoV, especially how you create and maintain interest in your game. The patrons have a lot of info and therefor knew that the chapter will one day be done. People from the wider audience looking in and NOT having such information will think again if they really want to try out ORS. Because from a distance this game is near death. Way overdue update, a rework which was even debatted among the fanbase if it was needed, the shortsighted decision to keep wanting a full chapter by the patrons (despite the Ian part alone being quite meaty)...

There are psychological steps, borderlines, however you want to name it, what you consider long or short, high or low, thick or thin. Having the Ian part out would have meant a psychological "update date" of about 4-6 months, depending if when it would have come out. For a majority of players that is absolutely okay.
But now we have a psychlogical update date of 8 months at best and considering the Lena part is still written it could become longer. Not to think about the people who go by new material, where the still pending update is by over a devastating full year.

That is nothing but burning bridges of interest!

Yes, I'm sure that long development is a bad business plan. This is all the more dangerous, given Eva's writing style. She is the typical gardener writer who creates an idea, grows a fictional world, but does not think about the plan, structure and ending. I guess she doesn't know what the endings will be. This creative style is characterized by downtime, because there are times when inspiration disappears and you have no ideas to continue. The Winds of Winter say hello.
I really hope that this downtime was a one off and we won't have to wait that long for the next updates.
Therefore, in order to keep the development speed of the game, I welcome Eve's idea to hire outsourcing workers to make things go faster. I think this is a better solution than splitting each part in half. Although it does cost money.
So far we see that Eva has a credibility - the number of her subscribers reached a peak value at the time of the release of the Remaster, but now it is slightly decreasing. To reach new frontiers, it is necessary to accelerate development while maintaining the quality of the game. And by the way, cutting the game into parts can also cause subscribers to leave - many simply hate short updates and imagine if Eve ignored the desire of 80% of the Patrons? Many could leave, and this would not be covered by the influx of new subscribers. Also a risky business plan.

 

[Mr. Muscles]

I know the reason the patrons chose their vote. It is a viable opinion, but also a navelgazing one, since it in no way helps Eva gaining further players from the audience.
There is a difference between the inside PoV and the outside PoV, especially how you create and maintain interest in your game. The patrons have a lot of info and therefor knew that the chapter will one day be done. People from the wider audience looking in and NOT having such information will think again if they really want to try out ORS. Because from a distance this game is near death. Way overdue update, a rework which was even debatted among the fanbase if it was needed, the shortsighted decision to keep wanting a full chapter by the patrons (despite the Ian part alone being quite meaty)...

There are psychological steps, borderlines, however you want to name it, what you consider long or short, high or low, thick or thin. Having the Ian part out would have meant a psychological "update date" of about 4-6 months, depending if when it would have come out. For a majority of players that is absolutely okay.
But now we have a psychlogical update date of 8 months at best and considering the Lena part is still written it could become longer. Not to think about the people who go by new material, where the still pending update is by over a devastating full year.

That is nothing but burning bridges of interest!

It's her Patreon, tho. I don't see how this matters to any of us. Her patrons chose what they chose.

 

[Gicoo]

Chapter 10 is probably good... and a few days afterwards its waiting for another 9-18 months for chapter 11.

Baffling decade of gaming we are in, playing 5% of a game every few months until it is done after a couple of years.


I considered making around fifty saves just before the Axel/Seymour drama in chapter 9 to unlock most of chapter 10. The idea is to have some sort of base save file in which Ian and Lena are decent and helpful to everyone to get a good amount of relationship and stat points. And then every save file deviates from that save file by being in a relationship with one specific character (or several). But it's questionable if they should enter the specific character routes. Should Lena always model for Seymour, Stan and Axel to get the most amount of scenes, character, stats and money points? Or should she ignore them on every save but the ones that focus on those characters? Is helping Wade the default choice that happens on every save (safe for the ones dealing with Cindy) or should that relationship just be neglected? Should Ian be silent at his job on almost every file or should he always write his honest reviews?

Even when the countless variables get trimmed, it's too much. Unrenpy/unlocking all the scenes through hacking may legit be the only way at this point to get most scenes at a reasonable time.

 

[Turret]

And by the way, cutting the game into parts can also cause subscribers to leave - many simply hate short updates and imagine if Eve ignored the desire of 80% of the Patrons? Many could leave, and this would not be covered by the influx of new subscribers. Also a risky business plan.

Yes, but the Patreons and some of the wider audience knew that the Ian part was rather meaty and big by itself. I truly doubt that update would have been as short as many of the patrons feared. We can trust Eva to be correct when she says that the Ian part was big.
Other devs are not easy to believe. L&P for instance lies when he opens his mouth, gumdrop has an addled mind. Then there are devs like Eva who you can trust to tell you the truth and are on good intervalls. Mutt and Jeff oscilate between 3-5 months per update, which are meaty. Ollane updates once a month like clockwork, as does Slowburn, their updates by necessity not as large, but still ok for the intervall time..

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

Yes, but the Patreons and some of the wider audience knew that the Ian part was rather meaty and big by itself. I truly doubt that update would have been as short as many of the patrons feared. We can trust Eva to be correct when she says that the Ian part was big.
Other devs are not easy to believe. L&P for instance lies when he opens his mouth, gumdrop has an addled mind. Then there are devs like Eva who you can trust to tell you the truth and are on good intervalls. Mutt and Jeff oscilate between 3-5 months per update, which are meaty. Ollane updates once a month like clockwork, as does Slowburn, their updates by necessity not as large, but still ok for the intervall time..

It would be something like Episode 5 size... but again, we don't know how it would affect gameplay and if it would kill the game atmosphere. And I'm a person more interested in the history of Lena than Ian. Now let's take another moment. Eva releases Ian chapter. Episode 10 Ian Alpha, them Episode 10 Ian Beta, and then, al last...Episode 10 Ian Final. Post-release polishing, and this is for each mini-episode separately. 3 more weeks of work.

L&P, who's that by the way?

 

[The_Searcher]

I miss this game Hopefully once this update comes out eva can starting getting into the habit of releasing more regular updates again.

With the complexity of the paths and decisions, plus the two main characters, I hardly doubt that after chapter 10 the progress on the game will go faster... I think it will just the opposite, because it will become more and more complex

So, still we have no aproximation date for the release of Ch 10? I take a rest of the thread a few weeks, or months, ago and seems we are in the same situation as before.

 

[Turret]

It would be something like Episode 5 size... but again, we don't know how it would affect gameplay and if it would kill the game atmosphere. And I'm a person more interested in the history of Lena than Ian. Now let's take another moment. Eva releases Ian chapter. Episode 10 Ian Alpha, them Episode 10 Ian Beta, and then, al last...Episode 10 Ian Final. Post-release polishing, and this is for each mini-episode separately. 3 more weeks of work.

L&P, who's that by the way?

L&P is the maker of AWAM. Great potential, but the dev was overcome by his greed and is a liar extraordinaire. At current speed the end chapter would come in somewhere in the 2050s, I kid you not! You can see how "realistic" it is that AWAM ever gets completed. But you have to give honour where it is due, L&P is like the Ratcatcher from Hameln, he is great at reeling in the stupid! Just take a look at the AWAM main thread, a veritable parallel universe.

 

[dolfe67]

I know the reason the patrons chose their vote. It is a viable opinion, but also a navelgazing one, since it in no way helps Eva gaining further players from the audience.
There is a difference between the inside PoV and the outside PoV, especially how you create and maintain interest in your game. The patrons have a lot of info and therefor knew that the chapter will one day be done. People from the wider audience looking in and NOT having such information will think again if they really want to try out ORS. Because from a distance this game is near death. Way overdue update, a rework which was even debatted among the fanbase if it was needed, the shortsighted decision to keep wanting a full chapter by the patrons (despite the Ian part alone being quite meaty)...

There are psychological steps, borderlines, however you want to name it, what you consider long or short, high or low, thick or thin. Having the Ian part out would have meant a psychological "update date" of about 4-6 months, depending if when it would have come out. For a majority of players that is absolutely okay.
But now we have a psychlogical update date of 8 months at best and considering the Lena part is still written it could become longer. Not to think about the people who go by new material, where the still pending update is by over a devastating full year.

That is nothing but burning bridges of interest!

Why do you care about her business? Are you her manager? She earns more than the average income of her players (especially the stingy pirates), she doesn't need more growth, it's only a bonus.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

L&P is the maker of AWAM. Great potential, but the dev was overcome by his greed and is a liar extraordinaire. At current speed the end chapter would come in somewhere in the 2050s, I kid you not! You can see how "realistic" it is that AWAM ever gets completed. But you have to give honour where it is due, L&P is like the Ratcatcher from Hameln, he is great at reeling in the stupid! Just take a look at the AWAM main thread, a veritable parallel universe.

Haha I remember, I tried it in 2018, and when I saw that nothing was happening there, I quit the game. It's funny, this game has been in development since the Ren'Py novels first came out. Real dinosaur. Around this time I met Eva Kiss and GGGB.

 

[BorgiaBou]

Haha I remember, I tried it in 2018

Haha i wonder which banned profile alt account you are...

 

[PurpleDude]

Why do you care about her business? Are you her manager?

Why do you care about what they care about? Are you their mom?
ORS buisness model could be tied to project future (somehow) and if someone cares about ORS i belive it is not illegal to be concerned with developer motivation.

 

[Turret]

Why do you care about her business? Are you her manager? She earns more than the average income of her players (especially the stingy pirates), she doesn't need more growth, it's only a bonus.

Counterquestion: Why are you generally opposed with your passive aggressiveness? Did I open your eyes to another view on the topic and are miffed at yourself for how you voted? I think a lot of those "I can wait" trumpeters are now regretting their vote, because they simply overlooked how long it would be going on. And that was easy to see! If the Ian part took this long and the Lena should be about the same length, it was absolutely clear that an update would come at year end at best!
It is not that they were not warned! And on the topic of money and interest generation, PurpleDude gave an answer which is nice, so I do not have to d so! Thanks!

 

[dolfe67]

ORS buisness model could be tied to project future (somehow) and if someone cares about ORS i belive it is not illegal to be concerned with developer motivation.

Sure but money don't buy motivation. You can be annoyed that she didn't release Ian's part first, but talking about the consequences on her business is futile, especially on a pirate forum.