VN Ren'Py Radiant [v0.6.3] [RK Studios]

[balvenie1401]

I agree that paying fans have the right to complain. But please be reminded that they pledged the money voluntarily and some even knowing that the devs have other projects. If they are really unhappy with the progress, they also have the right to withdraw to give a piece of their mind to the devs. Or they can give constructive criticism, not whine about how long an update is taking and demand that the devs work faster and must have at least certain hours of content in an update.

If the devs are lazy / slow, penalize them. It's their own fault for not working hard enough, and they have no real obligations but ONLY THEIR OWN SENSE OF OBLIGATIONS to the fans.

The situation is similar to a manga. A mangaka can have many serialization going at the same time. But in the end, no matter how many assistants they hire, it's just one main source the content is going to come from.

This game is a collaboration, so it made sense to me on why they started a new page for the game alone. If I have a company and some other people comes to me for partnership into something else because of my certain skills, obviously I am not letting them into my current company but start a new one where everyone has a stake in it. So if this startup fails, at least it will not affect my other business. The rest bogs down to each partners' responsibilities to the company to make it a success.

A coherent and reasonable line of thought i this forum, a rare sight indeed. Fully agree

 

[SrRK]

I still remember the progress report that showed they'd coded more than they'd written.
This newest one actually makes sense

No progress report showed that we'd coded more than we'd written... just an FYI.

You both make very logical points, but that's not allowed in here according to the dev and his PR guys

Responding to/debunking your bad takes doesn't mean they're not allowed. And don't play the innocent victim. You were repeatedly mentioning me by name/clearly asking for a reaction or response (or perhaps just desperately seeking attention... not sure which at this point).

Not bashing on these guys or anything, I think they're doing fine work with their games. But to me 1 hour of content after 4 months is not a great deal. Other games here that take as long/less time to update provide more than an hour of content. That's assuming the game comes in August which they are aiming for, if it doesn't we're looking at 5 months+ per update.

Idk... there's plenty of high profile games that push 20 minute updates once every 30-60 days, and no one seems to bat an eye. Obviously out of respect for the developers I won't name names, but I'm sure you can figure it out (I happen to be a fan/player of some of them- and a patron of one of them). So I don't think 3x that amount of content in 4ish months is as bad as you think.

Obviously from a fan standpoint it may seem like a long wait for an hour of content, but in a heavily choice driven game that is 100% story content most devs would disagree with that unless it was some janky half-assed project. That's because devs understand the process.

It's all down to perception, and a game people are eagerly waiting for updating less frequently (but larger in size) than they're used to clearly skews said perception. A few months can seem like an eternity, but it's not if the amount of content in the update makes up for it.

Regardless, I'm not going to switch to shorter updates once every month no matter how easy that would be, even if that would trick the Doms into believing they're getting more content... so we're just going to have to live with that.

Also, I've said it before and I'll reiterate (this is a general statement directed at those commenting, not just you): unless you understand the ins and outs of the development process for each specific game, or you can say that the games are identical in quality, design, size, polish, structure, etc... making comparisons is mostly pointless / a bit counter-intuitive.

One last thing: no matter how many people comment about the speed of updates, they're not going to magically come out faster than they are currently because we're already working on the game as much as we're able (for now, anyway).

All talking about it repeatedly is doing is keeping the game on the trending tab/creating work for mods. The simple solution is that if you're not okay with it, simply don't support it. We've never begged for support and don't plan to. People are pledging because they want to.

How does the dev duo work? I know one animates and the other writes but do they collaborate on things like character design. Not sure how much imput they have on each others forte but damn does it seem like a match made in heaven so far. Look at what people most praise - the great art and the narrative... so that's basically both of them (and the rest of the team at the studio). This shouldn't work but it does, much respect.

Now to see how Chapter 2 is received - a LOT of hype and anticipation seems to be flowing for that one and people can be fickle when it comes to people not meeting expectations but I have faith in these guys. They seem to have a very long term plan in the place with the development given the teasing about arcs and twists we have yet to even see yet. Still - theres gonna be a good few characters im sure added and teased long before we get to all the juicy content with them first, thats the one drawback with new games... they gotta start slow to do it justice but it means a lot of patience and waiting from the fanbase.

Thanks for acting like an adult! You hit the nail on the head. So the rundown is I work on Radiant with Alorth, but Polarity by myself. For Polarity I do literally everything with no external help outside of some last minute testing (but I do the vast majority of testing myself also).

Alorth works on Radiant with me and Neko Paradise on his own. For Neko Paradise I believe he has a proofreader or two. He also does animations for Perverteer's game Tales From the Unending Void.

Far as Radiant goes: I do all of the writing, coding, testing, I manage the social media/support pages/etc. Alorth does all of the artwork and animations, including things like banners and wallpapers.

Disclaimer: This is not me speaking on behalf on or criticizing any dev team, just explaining things as I see them.

It's because when they start their first game they are really excited and they have all these cool ideas, but whilst working on game one they get another really cool idea so they get all excited and start writing down all the new stuff, but it dosen't fit with their game so they start a new game. Continue that chain for a while and soon they get to a point were they have written all the fun things they were excited for and now they have a bunch of games that need someone to do the boring work (beating writers block, making sure the variables track correctly etc.) so then they pick their favourite game (or most profitable) and start doing the hard work on that.

Tl;dr: Writers block, short attention spans or just being very excited for creative work but not the technical side.

Just like how a writer feels such a desperate need to clean when they are supposed to be writing, a game designer feels a need to start a new story when when they are supposed to be fixing the bugs they introduced last update.

I can't speak for others but for me personally: I'd been writing stories as a hobby for nearly 10 years when I got into this. When I found the lewd game scene, I became a huge fan so I started writing Radiant, Polarity, and a story that will likely never see the light of day called Psyche. I taught myself how to code and how to make the art. It was my intention to have two games running side by side since long before I started game development, but my hardware couldn't handle DAZ3D and when I started Polarity... I realized doing two projects solo would be impossible. Fast forward a few months after Polarity launched and Alorth approached me to create something together... so the obvious choice was to create Radiant. Since I didn't need to worry about the artwork or animations, and Alorth is a skilled artist who is very good at adaptability, it was more than possible.

It was the smart/ideal choice, because if it weren't for Radiant's success I'd still be working a job full-time rather than focusing on game development. Since starting Radiant, I've been able to work on Polarity more often, which is why the last chapter was the largest by volumes.

 

[AvatarStormBringer]

One last thing: no matter how many people comment about the speed of updates, they're not going to magically come out faster than they are currently because we're already working on the game as much as we're able (for now, anyway).

Sadly they are not going to magically stop either

 

[Badjourasmix]

Oh yeah people complaining about the speed of updates is the new normal in this forum, the best thing you can do is ignore them.

 

[SrRK]

Sadly they are not going to magically stop either

And they don't need to. Let them keep the thread trending.

Oh yeah people complaining about the speed of updates is the new normal in this forum, the best thing you can do is ignore them.

Sometimes I'll respond just so that others who may not be aware of how things work 'round here see an explanation. Outside of that, it's the equivalent of shouting into the void and has no real effect.

 

[Squark ⚧❤️]

No progress report showed that we'd coded more than we'd written.

Ah, okay. Thanks; must have been thinking about somebody else. Sorry about that.

Badjourasmix, ignorning them would not be a sound move to make. They'd use that as extra ammo.

 

[Cartageno]

I agree that paying fans have the right to complain. (...)

I agree in principle but would make the amendment that one of two conditions must be met:

(a) The dev misleads about how much work will be put into the game
(b) The dev does not deliver on promises

As long as a dev is upfront with what's going to happen and you can make an informed decision, you lose the right to complain about the dev. You will retain the right to complain to yourself about making the wrong decision just because of a couple nice renders however.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

Not bashing on these guys or anything, I think they're doing fine work with their games. But to me 1 hour of content after 4 months is not a great deal. Other games here that take as long/less time to update provide more than an hour of content. That's assuming the game comes in August which they are aiming for, if it doesn't we're looking at 5 months+ per update.

BaDIK updates provide at least an hour of content every 4 or so months and I don't think there are many people who would consider that to be "not a great deal". To provide that amount of playing time per update is an impressive thing in this line of work, even moreso when you consider that the devs working on it are each producing 2 games simultaneously.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

They both work on two games. Alorth makes Neko paradise himself and Does the Renders for Radiant. So he has double the renders to do. An hour of content would be around 800 renders if you pace it right

Dammed does Polarity Himself and Writes Radiant

Alorth also helps Perverteer with making animations for Tales From the Unending Void, so he's pulling triple duty right now.

Just found out that Alorth works on a 4th game called Tale of Eros.

So that's Neko Paradise, Radiant, Tales from the Unending Void, and Tale of Eros they're working on.

Anymore we don't know about?

 

[SrRK]

Just found out that Alorth works on a 4th game called Tale of Eros.

So that's Neko Paradise, Radiant, Tales from the Unending Void, and Tale of Eros they're working on.

Anymore we don't know about?

I don't work on Neko Paradise, Tale of Eros, or Tales From the Unending Void. Also to my knowledge, ToE was an earlier project Alorth started while still learning the ropes that is currently on hold (but I could very well be wrong because we never talk about ToE - he will prob correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Forsaken08]

author abandoned game?

 

[Holy Bacchus]

I don't work on Neko Paradise, Tale of Eros, or Tales From the Unending Void. Also to my knowledge, ToE was an earlier project Alorth started while still learning the ropes that is currently on hold.

I know that, the "they're" in my post was referring to them. Perhaps I should have should said "he's" instead to avoid the confusion.

author abandoned game?

 

[Drakan47]

I don't work on Neko Paradise, Tale of Eros, or Tales From the Unending Void. Also to my knowledge, ToE was an earlier project Alorth started while still learning the ropes that is currently on hold.

Apparently Alorth has unonholded ToE according to this post from... about half an hour ago

me and my team are focusing a bit more on it this 2 months, hopefully it will be out soon.

 

[SrRK]

I know that, the "they're" in my post was referring to them. Perhaps I should have should said "he's" instead to avoid the confusion.

Yeah, ToE was more of an experimental thing for Alorth if I'm not mistaken. His "flagship" game is Neko Paradise. As for TFUV, he works on this on the side and only does animations for it.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

Yeah, ToE was more of an experimental thing for Alorth if I'm not mistaken. His "flagship" game is Neko Paradise. As for TFUV, he works on this on the side and only does animations for it.

Guy's still a machine, though, to be doing all of that at the same time.

 

[Alorth]

Guy's still a machine, though, to be doing all of that at the same time.

I just launched Neko Paradise's update a few days ago.
ToE is being continued under my supervision by a writer and apprentice that I was teaching for some time.
That means It won't even require much of my focus.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

I just launched Neko Paradise's update a few days ago.
ToE is being continued under my supervision by a writer and apprentice that I was teaching for some time.
That means It won't even require much of my focus.

Well, you have my utmost respect for the work you do, good sir.

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Long may it continue.

 

[Plily]

I just want to say, if and when people complain about lack of updates, sometimes it can mean a good thing, that means there are people out there that really like the game and want to see more of it. If not, they won't even comment and go play another game. At least that is how I see it. I been waiting for a new update since I started this game, I love it, I cant wait to see more and it's the same reason why I want to see more is why I haven't pledged. But I don't blame the dev as I am sure we all have lives and especially during these times, we need to be more kind and supportive of each other.

 

[AvatarStormBringer]

I just want to say, if and when people complain about lack of updates, sometimes it can mean a good thing, that means there are people out there that really like the game and want to see more of it. If not, they won't even comment and go play another game. At least that is how I see it. I been waiting for a new update since I started this game, I love it, I cant wait to see more and it's the same reason why I want to see more is why I haven't pledged. But I don't blame the dev as I am sure we all have lives and especially during these times, we need to be more kind and supportive of each other.

Still I wish they would READ a few previous pages of posts before they come and say abandoned. This behaviour is akin to you not reading your messages from your loved ones and straight messaging them and ask "why you don't call me anymore? Have you abandoned me?"

 

[SrRK]

Still I wish they would READ a few previous pages of posts before they come and say abandoned. This behaviour is akin to you not reading your messages from your loved ones and straight messaging them and ask "why you don't call me anymore? Have you abandoned me?"

lol i know right.

Detailed progress report posted 4 days ago: *exists*
Random F95 users: "ya so game clearly abandoned"