New Scenes...? (tldr; nope...)
Well, I've been drawing dicks all day (seriously, so many dicks... well, the same dick, but in an animation. 500~ish frames of dicks down, 500~ish more frames of dicks to go, for just this one scene... sigh) so what better way to unwind than talking about art!
I've seen a lot of people asking for new scenes, and that is very understandable. We all want more content, new content! Edits are okay, but they aren't new, they're just different. It's not more story, it's an alternate story, that (to be fair) not everyone want's, that's why it's alternate. (Although a lot of people don't seem to want anything but the original, but whatever. I've already talked at length about the reason I changed stuff.)
I want new scenes too! Fuck, I can't wait for Ferdafs next content update to see new stuff! But, I'm also the developer on this version of the game, and people are asking for new scenes here too (mostly because I think they don't know/realize/care what this game is). And my options of adding more choices to past scenes is dwindling.
So, what to do? I see three possible choices.
First is the easiest: nothing. I fix bugs and typos, implement new scenes when they come out, and maybe add some minor options/changes to those new scenes. Effectively, I just work on the game for like a week every two months. Not very exciting, but also way less time consuming.
Or, I could try and make my own scenes with original art, which by the way I have been trying to do, and they... they do not look good... I can do the writing and coding side of it no problem (again, not everyone likes my writing, but also again, whatever...). But my art is just not getting better. I am not an artist, no matter how much I work at it. So this feels like the least likely option. Also, I think I've already put too much of my own subpar art in the game and I really don't want to cram in more.
The last option is the one I'm most hesitant to do, hire an artist. As I've said here I'm not willing to take money for this project for a number of reasons. The simplest (and shortest) being that it feels fucking dirty to profit off Ferdafs work or take potential income away from that game (and thus limit new content). But I also think the amount of art I need for new scenes isn't something I could realistically have an artist to do for free at the speed and quality I'd like.
So why not just hire an artist (asked no one)? Well, two reasons. First, the one you most likely immediately shouted at your screen, money.
Money is self explanatory, this game is designed to be free, and I don't want to spend more money on it. I've already bought software and spent a LOT of my own time making it. If I had to put a dollar amount on just my time, it's "cost" me something like $60,000 (I've been working on this project non-stop as a second job since October of 2020, and if covid hadn't been a thing, I would have never done it), and that's being fairly conservative on my time estimate. Of course, most of that was leisure time, so I would have wasted it on video games or something... probably porn games...
The second issue(s) is less obvious, and harder to understand (and even harder to explain). It's the question of, should I even make new scenes at all. This almost seems like a silly thing to get hung up on, considering the amount of "stuff" I've already raped into this game. But it's actually a question I've been struggling with for a long while now.
At the moment Morticia is the first (and only) character to get new scenes. I like them, no idea if anyone else does, but I like them, and I think they fit "okay-ish" into the game. And there are more scenes I want to add. I've got a list of new scenes I'd love to see, as well as some requested scenes from this thread. But there are two problems (other than the actual art part):
First is future content conflict. If I make a scene, and then Ferdafs makes a similar scene, what do I do? Rip out the one I did? Have both and maybe redo one? I see this as the smaller of the issues, but a real possibility. There are a few scene I think I could slip in (that's what she said) that can be one offs, or have limited impact (such as a Beth age regression to Summer's age (sorry no loli Beth)). So there is stuff I could put in past days, but this is also very limited.
(Although, on the flip side, if the scene quality is high enough and if Ferdafs ever became aware of this game, they could incorporate those scenes back into their game in this cool remake of a remake thing... that'll never happen... Even though Ferdafs is 100% free to use any and all parts of anything I've done without the need for credit or permission. I just don't see that happening.)
Then there is the second part. What this game is, and what I'm trying to keep it as. This game is a remake, or maybe a reimaging is a better term, but it's not an original game. I'm still ultimately confined to the story Ferdafs want's to tell (which isn't a complaint, just a fact of what this is). Sure I can change how its told, but not what is being told. I still need to use the images and through-line of the other game, or new content won't work.
If you've ever seen an "abridged" anime (Sword Art abridged is amazing btw, I can't recommend it enough. The original is a hot mess, but the abridged version is fucking brilliant), that's sort of what I'm doing here. Taking the source material and tweaking it to my liking. Not making my own.
So (a fucking thousand words later), am I going to make new scenes? No. I think that at least for the time being I'm going to do what editing I can, keep practicing my own art, and implement what Ferdafs puts out. There may still be space for new scenes at some point, but don't hold your breath for new scenes from me any time soon.
Anyhow... thanks for reading... Sorry it got so long... I hope you enjoyed at least some of my ramblings.
