Everyone complaining about how little content is released every update and how long the wait time is for said content is valid and everyone should be able to vent those frustrations in a civilized and respectful manner, however, this is the direct result of what happens when a specific product (Something Unlimited) has no meaningful competition. Everyone should recognize that no other dev in this niche genre have the same amount of content and audience that Gunsmoke Games has and they know that. They also know that the subscribers that leave is insignificant compared to the subscribers that stay, so they have no reason to improve in any substantial way.
This is the exact situation for Dead by Daylight, it has no competitors in the asymmetrical horror genre. Friday the 13th: The Game (dead), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dead), Evil Dead: The Game (dead), Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game (dead), etc.
Compare this with every game similar to Something Unlimited. Rogue-Like: Evolution (not as popular), Project Winter Heroines (abandoned), Doomination (not as popular), Behind the Doom (abandoned), and every Teen Titans game (abandoned)... yeah, those games aren't taking the spotlight from them, they have nothing to worry about. They'll release Bend or Break 2 before they ever consider someone's constructive criticism from F95 lol.
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Assume I don't like the wait and lack of communication as much as the next f95 user. But playing devil's advocate, every step takes time and only so much could be cut down even if GSG hired a team with all that money they're soaking up forum member tears with.
Concept writing
can be cut down by having a team to bounce ideas off of but too many cooks spoil the broth too, not to mention is one of the worst stages for causing burnout if you spend days at a time banging your head against the wall just trying to figure out how to write the next step, even for something as miniscule as trying to find just the right word you're looking for or trying to avoid using the same one
horribly fitting word for the 20th time in a row.
I've seen people talking about AI being used to make the art but I don't know one way or the other so I'm going to assume it isn't given my history with AI art generation's lack of consistency to the extent that only someone who can't draw would use it since you'd probably spend a good amount of time patching it up too. Drawing is massively time-consuming, can be cut down with more artists but you wouldn't keep a staff of artists for the second step when the first can vary so much. Maybe keep a list of your favourite freelancers? but this is also the step that causes most mangaka to burnout. I'll defer to
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where Mark admits writing a single manga chapter ended up taking several months to finish even though he outsourced all of the art creation. (shoestring budgets obviously don't help in his case but it's still an interesting insight).
Coding... I honestly can't weigh-in too much on since all of these tools are alien to me despite the relative simplicity of the genre. If you can't code you're stuck using workarounds though I'll absolutely agree with this being a good spot to get freelancers since it doesn't require as much input from the creative lead as the art step, for example.
Implementation is one of the biggest headaches of an update, especially if you're using tools that are the software equivalent of duct tape and zip ties and is a back and forth until things are shown to work properly in...
The testing step. Obviously the best place to have as many hands as possibly just poking at everything you can find. As much as I don't like this mindset of "Well X doesn't..." but considering publishing companies worth
hundreds of
millions of dollars make the choice to offload the beta test to paying players, I can't reasonably hold an indie dev to a higher standard, personally.
Communication, yes it needs work but I've also seen over-sharing, over-promising dev leads crucified for saying too much. If you're scared of saying too much, the smartest choice is to say nothing at all. Cryptic emoji from a limited selection of 11 is certainly an odd choice... and I've genuinely got nothing on this but as a fan of chaotic intentions and results, I find myself laughing when I see a reaction from GSG far more than getting annoyed.
So yes, things could be better... quite a bit so but every game I'm following on here has an update cycle of multiple months, if not somewhere around the year mark, all of them are earning more than Something Unlimited is and that generous sum isn't GSG's fault either. If subs stay subbed because they make enough that they don't even blink at having several subs going at once or are too stupid to notice the repeated amount going out of their account, that's on them. Can't blame the player for taking money that's being thrown at them, god knows enough creators in the NSFW field do it. Plus, as you said, where's the competition? GSG has no reason to light a fire under their own arse and risking burnout if no-one else is doing what they're doing. Hell, I can only dream of earning 20k/m by coasting at my job but I'd absolutely do it if I could, mostly because "fuck managers making my job harder for me". If GSG has worked any of the shit I have over the years, more respect to them for finding their screw now.
