Unreal Engine Project Extermination: Operation GroundZeroes [Phase 2 - 2023-07-16] [MATEYDEV]

[Alket]

[...]
what is exactly the planning of all these solo devs that embark themselves in such huge 3D projects that will obviously not finish in less than 5+ years... (if they manage such a feat). Makes me wonder if the Patreon trend will end at some point when people start realizing this.

Talking about ambitious and complex projects, there are 2 kind of solo developers on crowdfunding platforms:

1. those that have enough funds to invest and hire people from the get-go, therefore stops being solo developers.
2. those who don't have enough funds and hope that their project gets enough traction to attract a good amount of supporters, gaining the budget to enter the 1st category.

correct me if I'm wrong.

The poetry in JustAI 's post is good and all, but no one in his right mind would keep working solo with a monthly crowdfunding amount that would allow him/her to live (maybe even rather comfortably, why not) while also hiring help, getting the project out should always be the priority, there are scammers yes (ProjectE might be a good and obvious example, hell, even Star Citizen from my perspective), but if you start a project you want to finish the project, you don't set up all the circus just to milk people, you actually need effort and skill to even start showing off in order to gain money, at that point it's actually a better idea to work on it and gain even more by establishing a reputation and a precedent.

Matto resides in the 2nd group of the above list, he's a perfectionist maniac and a mad workhorse, yes, and takes pride in his own work, he likes what he does, but if he was making enough to actually start saving something he would have started outsourcing part of his work to expedite the release, at least the most tedious shit.

It's always a question of money & budget, nothing more.

 

[JustAl]

[...]
The poetry in JustAI 's post is good and all, but no one in his right mind would keep working solo with a monthly crowdfunding amount that would allow him/her to live (maybe even rather comfortably, why not) while also hiring help, getting the project out should always be the priority[...]

if [Matto] was making enough to actually start saving something he would have started outsourcing part of his work[...]

It's always a question of money & budget, nothing more.

This is it in a nutshell. Solo dev either to the end or until there's enough to show to start a campaign that rakes in budget for a crew. Typically though the money is peanuts really -- folks donate the kind of money you could reasonably find on the ground walking the street, which could add up to something to pay for some programs and assets. What I mean is, if you hop into developing something and calculate your own constraints you get to appreciate the commitment and effort these projects take in spite of their budget scarcity.

 

[DustyX]

Alket: How much would Matey need a month to resume progress?

Not that I'm alluding to having pockets so deep that I could bankroll him myself

Solo Dev, meet Solo Investor (hyuk hyuk)

But I imagine there's a "target number" that he'd be looking to reach where he could then comfortably resume development?

 

[Alket]

Alket: How much would Matey need a month to resume progress?

Not that I'm alluding to having pockets so deep that I could bankroll him myself

Solo Dev, meet Solo Investor (hyuk hyuk)

But I imagine there's a "target number" that he'd be looking to reach where he could then comfortably resume development?

You assume he stopped development, you are wrong.

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update today includes the new model for companion drone, that will follow the character around and help in fights and other tasks...

He stopped Patreon for a while because he wanted a break from people bitching about "why not seggs??!?" while he works on the stuff needed to make the game a game...no, I'm not joking, people have reached that level of toxicity towards him.

 

[FTFaceless]

You assume he stopped development, you are wrong.

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update today includes the new model for companion drone, that will follow the character around and help in fights and other tasks...

He stopped Patreon for a while because he wanted a break from people bitching about "why not seggs??!?" while he works on the stuff needed to make the game a game...no, I'm not joking, people have reached that level of toxicity towards him.

Seggs can be added(even games that not intended to such content can get it - Skyrim for example), gameplay is not. If game development finished without a proper gameplay - it's too late. If game made as a base for mods and add-ons - you can always add seggs, especially considering that dev himself plans to do it (means you can expect some baseline quality of content equal to game itself).

 

[Alket]

Seggs can be added(even games that not intended to such content can get it - Skyrim for example), gameplay is not. If game development finished without a proper gameplay - it's too late. If game made as a base for mods and add-ons - you can always add seggs, especially considering that dev himself plans to do it (means you can expect some baseline quality of content equal to game itself).

Go and explain that to the coomers, I'll grab popcorn...

 

[JustAl]

Go and explain that to the coomers, I'll grab popcorn...

This problem is real. The other side of the problem on F95 that is users giving games high ratings for only the porn despite bad gameplay, is users giving bad ratings to games with stellar gameplay because of a lack of porn. Hentai gamers say they want both porn and gameplay, but members of the crowd don't often value these attributes equally. Nor should they really because the gameplay has greater value than the porn, but go figure, people really value the porn too highly.

 

[Alket]

This problem is real. The other side of the problem on F95 that is users giving games high ratings for only the porn despite bad gameplay, is users giving bad ratings to games with stellar gameplay because of a lack of porn. Hentai gamers say they want both porn and gameplay, but members of the crowd don't often value these attributes equally. Nor should they really because the gameplay has greater value than the porn, but go figure, people really value the porn too highly.

Without forgetting that the horny crowd is also one of the loudest when voicing any kind of concern/review of a game where there is a pornographic aspect and it's not immediately central or the sole focus of the whole project...meaning that even if they are a minority of the total supporters, the make such a ruckus that many devs just plain give up on them, while others get burned out by the constant request, trying to satisfy them...

 

[Grizzled Drizzy]

I simply don’t get how you guys can shit on the biggest base. It is a porn game. That’s what drew in 80% of the consumers to this game. Not seeing any H-Content in three years is concerning. And brushing off the ‘coomer crowd’ as people who are delusional is also concerning. Like I get not wanting to appease everyone wanting something but nothing in that area has been done for years. There’s a middle ground you guys aren’t meeting. Not even close.

 

[Alket]

I simply don’t get how you guys can shit on the biggest base. It is a porn game. That’s what drew in 80% of the consumers to this game. Not seeing any H-Content in three years is concerning. And brushing off the ‘coomer crowd’ as people who are delusional is also concerning. Like I get not wanting to appease everyone wanting something but nothing in that area has been done for years. There’s a middle ground you guys aren’t meeting. Not even close.

*1 year, let's not forget


Also 1: the game is described as "OPERATION GROUNDZEROES, an action adventure open world RPG [and heavily sexual contents] sets in the dark future of the humanity..." from the description on Patreon, it was NEVER a full on porn game, it's a game with heavy sexual content in it, know the difference, especially if you want to support the project, read the description, it's not a walking gallery, it's not a linear adventure that can be created in an "episodic" release schedule (Threshold Road comes to mind).

Also 2: let's compare to similar projects with similar budget shall we? feel free to add to this list, I might be missing some hidden gems:

• Bioasshard: abysmal new content, no new sex related mechanics in years
• Delta Zone: much higher budget (shouldn't even be mentioned), a couple of new animations (maybe?) , some images, no new sex related mechanics in years
• Too much Light: had higher budget, abandoned
• Breed Lab: linear progress, new animations, no new sex related mechanics, completely different in scale
• Yuna: new animations and sex related mechanics, different in scale (this Ukrainian dev is a monster of a man, powered by caffeine and spite, total badass, gets my accolade)

I don't mean to say that the porn aspect is not enjoyable or important in this game, but you have to understand that at the moment there are other priorities.

Maybe this project is not right for you, if that's the case you shouldn't support it...also, since I seriously doubt you're a Patron, if you're not supporting and still feel entitled enough to pretend a different direction for this project I kindly suggest that you reconsider your attitude...also, not even the patrons should really have a say in anything the dev is doing unless he specifically requests feedback on something (and Matto does, oh boy, he does asks for feedback for bloody everything, today he reworked part of a model because one guy told him that the landing gear wouldn't realistically support the weight of the drone he's building...), you're not the boss, if you don't like that stuff you may voice your concern, but that's not your right to steer the project away from the dev's vision, that's not how patronage works. Every patron is free to leave whenever, we all knew the risks when we accepted to participate in the crowdfunding.

 

[DustyX]

You assume he stopped development, you are wrong.

Latest

You must be registered to see the links

update today includes the new model for companion drone, that will follow the character around and help in fights and other tasks...

He stopped Patreon for a while because he wanted a break from people bitching about "why not seggs??!?" while he works on the stuff needed to make the game a game...no, I'm not joking, people have reached that level of toxicity towards him.

That's what I get for not reading the more recent posts more thoroughly, I misinterpreted the posts here to suggest he had postponed it, glad to hear that's not the case.

 

[Grizzled Drizzy]

*1 year, let's not forget
View attachment 3078643

Also 1: the game is described as "OPERATION GROUNDZEROES, an action adventure open world RPG [and heavily sexual contents] sets in the dark future of the humanity..." from the description on Patreon, it was NEVER a full on porn game, it's a game with heavy sexual content in it, know the difference, especially if you want to support the project, read the description, it's not a walking gallery, it's not a linear adventure that can be created in an "episodic" release schedule (Threshold Road comes to mind).

Also 2: let's compare to similar projects with similar budget shall we? feel free to add to this list, I might be missing some hidden gems:

• Bioasshard: abysmal new content, no new sex related mechanics in years
• Delta Zone: much higher budget (shouldn't even be mentioned), a couple of new animations (maybe?) , some images, no new sex related mechanics in years
• Too much Light: had higher budget, abandoned
• Breed Lab: linear progress, new animations, no new sex related mechanics, completely different in scale
• Yuna: new animations and sex related mechanics, different in scale (this Ukrainian dev is a monster of a man, powered by caffeine and spite, total badass, gets my accolade)

I don't mean to say that the porn aspect is not enjoyable or important in this game, but you have to understand that at the moment there are other priorities.

Maybe this project is not right for you, if that's the case you shouldn't support it...also, since I seriously doubt you're a Patron, if you're not supporting and still feel entitled enough to pretend a different direction for this project I kindly suggest that you reconsider your attitude...also, not even the patrons should really have a say in anything the dev is doing unless he specifically requests feedback on something (and Matto does, oh boy, he does asks for feedback for bloody everything, today he reworked part of a model because one guy told him that the landing gear wouldn't realistically support the weight of the drone he's building...), you're not the boss, if you don't like that stuff you may voice your concern, but that's not your right to steer the project away from the dev's vision, that's not how patronage works. Every patron is free to leave whenever, we all knew the risks when we accepted to participate in the crowdfunding.

I’ve been a patron since for 3 and half years. I’m aware of bioasshards train wreck. I’m criticizing how you guys treat ‘the horny crowd’. How upset you get when someone asks about their favorite aspect to the game. Talk down to people like they’re children. That’s my issue. I like the potential of this game but your attitudes toward h stuff is weirdly avoidant and sometimes hostile. I don’t get it.

 

[JustAl]

I’ve been a patron since for 3 and half years. I’m aware of bioasshards train wreck. I’m criticizing how you guys treat ‘the horny crowd’. How upset you get when someone asks about their favorite aspect to the game. Talk down to people like they’re children. That’s my issue. I like the potential of this game but your attitudes toward h stuff is weirdly avoidant and sometimes hostile. I don’t get it.

It's easy to understand if you look at a game that took the opposite approach: Wild Life. I was surprised hearing the game's title mentioned semi-frequently and went to check it out. The environment and currently published quests are lacking, but the animation studio with actors to pose together in hentai scenes is robustly packed. However, from a gameplay point of view there's not much game to play, and from a developer point of view the dev has their story and gameplay flow restricted as they must find ways to make these scenes happen in gameplay naturally. I hope they planned their story before they made those scenes.

I then recall sorting game releases by star rating on this site and was severely disappointed by many games that were rated nearly 5 stars -- when I gave criticism for one game, its developer admitted that while their skill in making a game wasn't very developed yet the players enjoyed the game for its porn offerings. Indeed, a player commented on the value of the "art", which contrasted what I observed about the quality of the actual art -- UI, environment, character design and animation in gameplay. After my retrospection of the game's "art", I realized they meant the porn. So the gameplay isn't great, the art isn't great, but the porn is... subjectively great. It simply wasn't enough for me, the kind of person who enjoys games for their game content.

On the other side of F95 ratings, some awesome experiences were hidden in 3 star games. Their porn wasn't amazing and maybe the gameplay had flaws but there were systems creative enough to have justified the game's creation in the first place. A gameplay loop that was fun and innovative somewhere in the mix of mechanics. I remember them fondly even if I can't myself give them 5 stars, because the skillful execution was there, though not uniformly. The porn's value? I didn't care much about the porn in comparison.

When fans demand a priority towards the porn side of the game, it can strain the practical gameplay part. A developer tries to flesh out their game but they only have so much time to put in per month or annual quarter. A game endures time longer after it's finished when it's a better game -- there's some 10 year old hentai games out there still seeing visitors because even with the dated graphics their gameplay systems shined in a way that hasn't quite been competed against since.

 

[Grizzled Drizzy]

It's easy to understand if you look at a game that took the opposite approach: Wild Life. I was surprised hearing the game's title mentioned semi-frequently and went to check it out. The environment and currently published quests are lacking, but the animation studio with actors to pose together in hentai scenes is robustly packed. However, from a gameplay point of view there's not much game to play, and from a developer point of view the dev has their story and gameplay flow restricted as they must find ways to make these scenes happen in gameplay naturally. I hope they planned their story before they made those scenes.

I then recall sorting game releases by star rating on this site and was severely disappointed by many games that were rated nearly 5 stars -- when I gave criticism for one game, its developer admitted that while their skill in making a game wasn't very developed yet the players enjoyed the game for its porn offerings. Indeed, a player commented on the value of the "art", which contrasted what I observed about the quality of the actual art -- UI, environment, character design and animation in gameplay. After my retrospection of the game's "art", I realized they meant the porn. So the gameplay isn't great, the art isn't great, but the porn is... subjectively great. It simply wasn't enough for me, the kind of person who enjoys games for their game content.

On the other side of F95 ratings, some awesome experiences were hidden in 3 star games. Their porn wasn't amazing and maybe the gameplay had flaws but there were systems creative enough to have justified the game's creation in the first place. A gameplay loop that was fun and innovative somewhere in the mix of mechanics. I remember them fondly even if I can't myself give them 5 stars, because the skillful execution was there, though not uniformly. The porn's value? I didn't care much about the porn in comparison.

When fans demand a priority towards the porn side of the game, it can strain the practical gameplay part. A developer tries to flesh out their game but they only have so much time to put in per month or annual quarter. A game endures time longer after it's finished when it's a better game -- there's some 10 year old hentai games out there still seeing visitors because even with the dated graphics their gameplay systems shined in a way that hasn't quite been competed against since.

Look man. I’m well aware it’s a one man show and it’s simply gonna take a while for this game. I’m not asking dude to prioritize h at all. I’d like to ask what’s being done with h because, in all honesty, it’s the only reason I’m invested. I’ve asked before what plans are with it and I get talked down to. Others as well. That’s my biggest gripe. I’m on the discord too so I’m not just on this website. I understand he said phase 3 was gonna h focused and that was in august. So yeah, naturally I’m gonna ask, “hey, any plans with h?”
It’d be nice to not be talked down to rather, idk, answer the simple question without throwing a tantrum?

 

[JustAl]

I'm on the discord [...] I understand he said phase 3 was gonna h focused and that was in august. So yeah, naturally I’m gonna ask, “hey, any plans with h?” [...]

There's your answer. If you're on their Discord server it's naturally the fastest place to get an answer. So the answer is "delayed". Come back by January.

 

[Alket]

[...]
Your attitudes toward h stuff is weirdly avoidant and sometimes hostile. I don’t get it.

Yeah because it's no secret that I'm kinda tired of people asking that, when it's already been made clear that it will be worked on a later date, nevertheless:

[...]
I’ve asked before what plans are with [H] and I get talked down to. Others as well. That’s my biggest gripe.
[...]

So, there seems to have been a little communication issue here, my bad; plans for "H-stuff" or "pornographic content", that is a separate thing from "adult content" (the game will be adult in themes and settings regardless, porn will be another layer to it), have already been discussed and, in some cases, already prototyped, let me recap for everyone.

Wall of text incoming
_______

First, let's specify that the plan is to have all porn-content hidden behind a FREE DLC/Addon, this is to allow the game to be released on multiple release platforms like Steam, GOG or Epic without any problem, the DLC/Addon will be released outside these platforms and will be treated as a sort of mod, ideally Discord will be used, maybe NexusMods.com

Second, these plans are going to be refined once that phase of development is fully reached, meaning that some things might change.

Third, the .pak stack that has been built in engine will allow for layers to be dynamically added in, meaning that even whole new systems could teoretically be added by dragging in a single piece of file; Matto has, more than once, referred to a "modding tool" that can be used by third parties; this also means that, in order to maintain his and the game's image "clean" on the releasing platforms, some of the more explicit work, mainly animations or some models, could be outsourced while leveraging the same assets (so that the quality will be consistent).

Fourth, recently (like 2 minutes ago) declassified informations allows me to tell you that Matto has been in contact with an animator to actually do what discussed in the aformentioned point, budget & prototype pending.

What is defined as adult-content in OGZ:

• general settings & themes: the world at large is intended to be an unforgiving, depressing, mostly (unless you include the porn-addon, then it will be fully) uncensored mess for you to navigate and survive on.
• violence.
• full nudity.

What is defined as porn-content in OGZ:

• any sexual action between PC/NPC & NPC, this will consist mainly (if not only) by scenes between monsters and human characters.
• extremely specific and explicit references to sexual violence, this includes images and encounters (this theme will nevertheless be a part of the adult-content in a more implied way)

How porn-content will be used in OGZ:

• monster lore: the actions of the monsters will be explained in the lore and their sexual-violence will be given meaning in the context of the world.
• horror aspect, a fate worse than death: the majority of the playable PCs are going to be women (for science ;D) and for these characters death is not what awaits them after a defeat, capture is; this will open up the issuing of rescue missions for you to undertake with a different operator, in order to save a character that you might have invested leveling time and gear on; you only get a gameover after you lose all you characters.

What is already been prototyped and what systems are "ready":

• animation transition.
• mission generation.
• capture.
• map transition.

What is missing:

• animations.
• assets (models).
• polishing (a LOT of polishing).

_______

there you have it, I hope this summary answers you questions, if you have any more, just ping me here or on Discord...if you're on Discord and write on the public channel Matto himself will probably answer you anyway when he has a moment of clarity between retopology of the models...

edit: should have done this big post dump sooner, just to reference it when asked...

 

[gabest00]

Wow pretty ambicious, This will be like MGS V but with juicy content... Big Success for you.. Hope it turns out well

 

[m44ever]

in "how to control" text file it says that to save, I need to be at the "save zone" Where is this "save" zone? do they mean safe zone - ie- the base? cause in the base there is no option to save the game in the ESC-system-gameplay. So where is this save zone... ffs

 

[Alket]

in "how to control" text file it says that to save, I need to be at the "save zone" Where is this "save" zone? do they mean safe zone - ie- the base? cause in the base there is no option to save the game in the ESC-system-gameplay. So where is this save zone... ffs

Save was disabled in latest builds

 

[c2329408]

Save was disabled in latest builds

Hahaha... you see? People do read readmes