VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch.13.2 Full] [Eva Kiss]

[selberdreher]

Thing is, according to Graphteon, she is currently making 5 to 15k per month

First of all, kutrebar, thank you for your insight from Madrid.

At first glance i do agree, that those are impressive numbers. But they are in no way 'bruto por neto', which means:

1. Credit Card Companies and/or PayPal take their cut: 1% to 3% of total revenue, lets say 1.5%
2. Patreon takes its cut: 5%-12% Platform Fees, lets say 8.5% to stay in the middle
3. Patreon takes Payment Processing Fees: hard to calculate, because Patreon deliberately obfuscates the cost by implementing a relative cut of 5% or 2.9% and a flat base cost of 0.1 $ and 0.3$ PER every single pledge. Lets stay low and say 3% from every single pledge, that makes also 3% of the total revenue. They also take 'unknown' fees to process foreign currency pledges to €.
4. Patreon is legally required to collect VAT from European Union (EU) patrons. Current rate in Spain is 21% VAT.
5. So from this whopping 5k to 15k $ roughly 2/3rds are transferred to your "creator balance" at Patreon. Well, but we need those shinies in our bank account, right? Can do says Patreon, we will transfer them for an -again- deliberatly obfuscated "Pay Out Fee" to your personal bank account. Insert random number here, to get nice numbers i just say 35€ on the low and 100€ on the high end of the revenue. Could be higher, could be lower.
6. So from all those above you get roughly between 3300€ and 9900€ transferred into your account. Still nice, right? Well, kinda. Because now it is the time la 'Agencia Tributaria' takes its turn and applies an Income Tax. I think it is not unreasonable to assume 20%-25% for this, which leaves the Dev with like 2640€ to 7425€, thats half of the starting numbers.
7. I previously mentioned the social security system in Spain? Right, that's also not for free, so la 'Seguridad Social' takes roughly another 38% from the 3300€ to 9900€ but it is capped at 4070€, i am no accountant, but this should be like minus 1255€ on the low end and 1545€ on the high end. Although there are probably also free caps on the low end.
8. Anyway our Dev can spent now between 1385€ and 5880€ per month, in lets say Madrid. Average rent of a non-city one room appartement (that's decent?), is around 755€, lets apply this for the low end. Leaves 630€ for food, clothes, necessities, power, internet, phoneservice, water, dirt water and waste removal. Kinda the basics you know. I really hope EvaKiss doesn't make only 5k on Patreon.
9. Things look of course better on the high end of that income, however it is not unreasonable to assume that they don't hit those 15k $ every month. Ah, and i didn't even mention a possible loan yet, because you know, for hardware and stuff.
10. And last but not least those outsourced cooperation partners need to get payed as well. Insert anything from 500€ to 2000€ for that probably.

So, you guys see, as impressive those initial numbers were, Spain is not [insert random low income country here], and to live modest, our Dev need to make atleast 6k to 7k dollars on patreon and for a comfortable, average lifestyle probably around 8k to 9k. Even if they constantly rake in those high end 15k per month, they don't get exactly rich, they just make good money, on par with an engineer perhaps. Just ask your local self-employed plumber with perhaps an apprentice and an employee how much revenue they need to create each month to keep their business running, i expect them to be in the ballpark of 20k.

That leaves your valid question, why EvaKiss seems not to create content as fast as they did in the beginning. There were several answers in this thread, which may be right or wrong, who knows.

However, i think the myth of EvaKiss is sipping champagne on their own private island, with the money of those poor, naive simps, is sufficiently busted.

 

[Sorrow85]

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Hi guys,

After my week off I've kept working at chapter 10 and I'm almost done with Ian's part. All that's left is to finish a couple scenes and revise everything, adding and correcting when needed. The art's all drawn and I've been editing the colored versions, producing some of the final illustrations.

As I keep trying to push the pace, manage all the aspects of the project and the business and keep the final quality to the standard you're used to, I struggle between taking my time and rushing, and as you know, I always feel like I'm lagging behind. My goal is to provide the best game I can, but also to keep you entertained with content, and I hate feeling I'm taking too long.

Some of you suggested in the past that I could release the chapters in two separate blocks, since Ian and Lena have parallel story lines. It's not the way I envisioned it, but you guys deserve some content and I've decided that's the way I'll do it for Chapter 10. This way you'll be able to play Ian's part of the chapter during August, and I can also share with you the results of all the work that we've been doing during these past weeks.

I'll finish writing everything this week and keep working on finalizing the art, then all that's left would be to playtest and iron out all the bugs. Hopefully you can enjoy all the new scenes and story developments, and Lena's part should be coming shortly after.

Thanks again for your support and I hope you'll enjoy what's coming

-----

 

[RedGlow]

This way you'll be able to play Ian's part of the chapter during August

Nope. I will wait whole update. Not my cup of tea. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

 

[Rickster82]

How many status reports until the release of 0.10? 100? 1000? Extremely stretched. The updates used to come much faster. It's not a criticism, just a statement.

 

[Deleted member 53157]

Looking forward to Ian part (and some Cindy content).

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

View attachment 1961510

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Hi guys,

After my week off I've kept working at chapter 10 and I'm almost done with Ian's part. All that's left is to finish a couple scenes and revise everything, adding and correcting when needed. The art's all drawn and I've been editing the colored versions, producing some of the final illustrations.

As I keep trying to push the pace, manage all the aspects of the project and the business and keep the final quality to the standard you're used to, I struggle between taking my time and rushing, and as you know, I always feel like I'm lagging behind. My goal is to provide the best game I can, but also to keep you entertained with content, and I hate feeling I'm taking too long.

Some of you suggested in the past that I could release the chapters in two separate blocks, since Ian and Lena have parallel story lines. It's not the way I envisioned it, but you guys deserve some content and I've decided that's the way I'll do it for Chapter 10. This way you'll be able to play Ian's part of the chapter during August, and I can also share with you the results of all the work that we've been doing during these past weeks.

I'll finish writing everything this week and keep working on finalizing the art, then all that's left would be to playtest and iron out all the bugs. Hopefully you can enjoy all the new scenes and story developments, and Lena's part should be coming shortly after.

Thanks again for your support and I hope you'll enjoy what's coming

-----

Dissatisfied with the speed of game development, they got what they wanted. Part 10 will be split in half and we'll get Ian's story soon. As a person who is more interested in Lena's story, I don't like it. And this story is good as a whole, which tells the plot of both characters. The end of Episode 9 is Lena's Rubicon, which decides her future life. But I'll leave it to the conscience of the impatient. I hope this doesn't happen in the next episodes.

 

[BlandChili]

Some of you suggested in the past that I could release the chapters in two separate blocks, since Ian and Lena have parallel story lines. It's not the way I envisioned it, but you guys deserve some content and I've decided that's the way I'll do it for Chapter 10. This way you'll be able to play Ian's part of the chapter during August, and I can also share with you the results of all the work that we've been doing during these past weeks.

Oh this is different, I guess I can see where she is coming from.

Personally I am mainly interested in Lena, so getting Ian's bits doesn't really satisfy me all that much.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

Her patrons don't support the idea of splitting the episode either. People want to see the full story and adequate subscribers are willing to wait for the full release. But Eva go to led by the loudly screaming and crying snowflakes, which cannot be patient.
She listens to "screamers" too much

 

[DatBoit]

I can only imagine that Eva would make this decision because Lena's part is nowhere near being completed, meaning that she would have nothing to deliver for several months if she didn't split the chapter. Otherwise, this doesn't really make any sense to me.

Honestly, at this point I think it's safe to say that it was a colossal mistake to have to main characters. It is clear that it is just causing massive development struggles, with no significant benefit to show for it.

 

[bauman]

I can only imagine that Eva would make this decision because Lena's part is nowhere near being completed, meaning that she would have nothing to deliver for several months if she didn't split the chapter. Otherwise, this doesn't really make any sense to me.

Honestly, at this point I think it's safe to say that it was a colossal mistake to have to main characters. It is clear that it is just causing massive development struggles, with no significant benefit to show for it.

Bingo. If Lena's part takes as much time as Ian's, it would be roughly 12 months without any story progression by the time 1.0 releases since 0.9 Final got released in November 2021.

 

[Deleted member 53157]

I can only imagine that Eva would make this decision because Lena's part is nowhere near being completed, meaning that she would have nothing to deliver for several months if she didn't split the chapter. Otherwise, this doesn't really make any sense to me.

Honestly, at this point I think it's safe to say that it was a colossal mistake to have to main characters. It is clear that it is just causing massive development struggles, with no significant benefit to show for it.

Yes, if the chapter is not split, the new update will come out in January next year. This decision was not made lightly, despite the many people opposing it (I don't know why). If Lena chapter was released before Ian, would it have been fine then? I don't care either way.

 

[BlandChili]

Yes, if the chapter is not split, the new update will come out in January next year. This decision was not made lightly, despite the many people opposing it (I don't know why). If Lena chapter was released before Ian, would it have been fine then? I don't care either way.

I would play Lena's content, because that's what I'm mainly interested in. Still, it would feel somewhat disconnected from the rest of the narrative without Ian's story in there, that doesn't change despite my preference.

 

[Deleted member 53157]

FTR Eva hasn't yet started working on the writing of Lena chapter. If it takes the same amount of time as Ian's, it would take 4-5 months at the least.

 

[Tallyhoe]

Haven’t the parts in previous chapters been switching back and forth between Ian and Lena in the same chapter?
We didn’t just do Ian all they way then Lena or vice versa right? They complement each other and it’s fun to see how your action affects the other side rightaway.

I think it’s a mistake splitting POV. It devalues her vision of the game, and sounds like a half arse, literally, solution to the problem.

 

[Deleted member 53157]

Haven’t the parts in previous chapters been switching back and forth between Ian and Lena in the same chapter?
We didn’t just do Ian all they way then Lena or vice versa right?

I think it’s a mistake spliting.

What? I don't think this happened. You would usually finish one perspective and move on to the next?

 

[Doppelgang]

That’s certainly a surprising turn of events, even though we knew that Ian’s part would probably come first in full.

I think the most important question is this: Does Chapter 10 have only one change of perspective between Ian/Lena because that’s how Eva wanted it, or is that decision instead taken to be able to split the release?

If it’s the former alternative, I don’t see it as a big issue, and it sounds like a decent timing for such an experiment. Even though it takes away some of the charm of the double protagonist experience.

But if it’s the latter, I think it’s a really bad idea. Messing up the structure of the story to push out releases would probably both make the story weaker and the development more difficult later on.

TR Eva hasn't yet started working on the writing of Lena chapter. If it takes the same amount of time as Ian's, it would take 4-5 months at the least.

I think you’re overestimating how much time that’s actually been spent on writing. The final version of the remaster was released at the end of April, and a significant amount of the following weeks was spent on storyboarding and planning the script (if we’re going by the Patreon posts).

As today’s report also states, all the art is drawn, and just needs some editing to the coloured versions. So I think it’s fair to assume that a lot of work is already done on Lena’s part, and it’s first and foremost the writing that remains. Meaning the last part of the chapter has a good chance of being released significantly faster than the first part.

 

[atrebor68]

A masterpiece almost ruined by pauses, wrong ideas of unnecessary reboot, laziness.
EK has 2 thousand sustainers at month, at average of 4 euros per patronizer, make the count...
They should outsource some works, at this point.

 

[Arata20]

As today’s report also states, all the art is drawn, and just needs some editing to the coloured versions. So I think it’s fair to assume that a lot of work is already done on Lena’s part, and it’s first and foremost the writing that remains. Meaning the last part of the chapter has a good chance of being released significantly faster than the first part.

Based on the context, it most likely means that only the drawings of Ian's path done. You don't need to reassure yourself. You will have to wait another 3-4 months for a full update, if not more.

 

[JohnnyKiss]

View attachment 1961510

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Hi guys,

After my week off I've kept working at chapter 10 and I'm almost done with Ian's part. All that's left is to finish a couple scenes and revise everything, adding and correcting when needed. The art's all drawn and I've been editing the colored versions, producing some of the final illustrations.

As I keep trying to push the pace, manage all the aspects of the project and the business and keep the final quality to the standard you're used to, I struggle between taking my time and rushing, and as you know, I always feel like I'm lagging behind. My goal is to provide the best game I can, but also to keep you entertained with content, and I hate feeling I'm taking too long.

Some of you suggested in the past that I could release the chapters in two separate blocks, since Ian and Lena have parallel story lines. It's not the way I envisioned it, but you guys deserve some content and I've decided that's the way I'll do it for Chapter 10. This way you'll be able to play Ian's part of the chapter during August, and I can also share with you the results of all the work that we've been doing during these past weeks.

I'll finish writing everything this week and keep working on finalizing the art, then all that's left would be to playtest and iron out all the bugs. Hopefully you can enjoy all the new scenes and story developments, and Lena's part should be coming shortly after.

Thanks again for your support and I hope you'll enjoy what's coming

-----

This just sounds terrible. All of it. Ian's part still hasn't been finished while we were under the impression it has been done almost a month ago (can't remember exact time the "weekly" update was posted). Not only that but the game will be split into two parts with Ian and Lena's perspectives being released separately, which wouldn't be a problem if their perspectives didn't shift from day to day.

I wonder how this will impact the game-play... All in all, I'm still going to play Ian's part, despite preferring Lena's story like 80% of the players, but you bet I'm going to replay it once Lena's part is out for the full experience in December.

I hope this is just "one time thing", an experiment to see how it goes. Here's hoping it doesn't stick.

 

[dolfe67]

I won't play next semi-update and I don't think it's a good idea. First I'm more interested in Lena's story than Ian's. Then some decisions on Lena's side impact Ian (and explain how she reacts towards him) and vice versa. Is there none of that? It would require a replay of the chapter anyway when Lena's part is out