VN Ren'Py Abandoned Stormside [v0.23.1.4] [Atemsiel]

[romo-ice]

What's up with these Honey Select games' devs? What do they keep abandoning their games? Evermore, Stray Incubus, and now Stormside...

HS games live and die by their patrons since they can't legally sell the game using pirated assets; Honey Select is a game and any assets from the game are not licensed for any use outside the game. This means, unless the dev is doing it for 'fun' they have to hit some critical mass of continual support to be able to focus on the game and not let their day job or life happenings get in the way. Add on top of that the amount of work needed to maintain a game with many branches and the additional work to maintain a social media presence and it can be a pretty daunting task. Lastly, even if it started out 'fun', stuff like that can feel like a second job after a while.

If the dev wants to keep this game going, they have to cut back on the quality in some area, either reducing regular conversational renders, or cutting paths. Another option is to only release certain branches of progression to enable faster releases, but that requires branches and choices to not be heavily intertwined. If Atem releases another update that'll be great, but I won't be surprised if this is either officially or silently abandoned by them.

 

[RandomPsycho]

Has anyone checked if the subscribestar's still woring? Atemsiel made a statement that he would shut it down if the game is abandoned

 

[tmu500]

hopefully the game would be back. it is a great game.

 

[Peacekeepr]

Well we had a post last Christmas that he was still working on it, which honestly for an AVN Patreon community 3-4 months without update posts is not that long. Something unexpected could have delayed the update I myself would probably consider it completely abandoned if the dev said so or if he disappears for like half a year without any trace.

There was a game (corrupted world I think?) which the dev had to flee from Russia due to the war. Game didn't escape from the abandoned tag. A few months later dev managed to resettle and posted a small, like REALLY SMALL update.
Game is no longer marked as abandoned in F95.

It's all up to dev in the end of the day.

PS. Right now, no updates should be expected, and the tag reflects that accurately: Even if the developer is still working in the game, you shouldn't expect an update, which is functionally the same as an abandoned game (except you get to keep your hope in the end, but hope unfortunately doesn't play in Windows/Linux/Mac/Android/whatever).

 

[dewayne4478]

There was a game (corrupted world I think?) which the dev had to flee from Russia due to the war. Game didn't escape from the abandoned tag. A few months later dev managed to resettle and posted a small, like REALLY SMALL update.
Game is no longer marked as abandoned in F95.

It's all up to dev in the end of the day.

PS. Right now, no updates should be expected, and the tag reflects that accurately: Even if the developer is still working in the game, you shouldn't expect an update, which is functionally the same as an abandoned game (except you get to keep your hope in the end, but hope unfortunately doesn't play in Windows/Linux/Mac/Android/whatever).

He posted in December he was aiming for 1st of jan for release. But before that he wouldnt give us backers a eta before that post. i think it a great game but it been over year since the last release on patreon. I dont think he from russia.

 

[dewayne4478]

so I noticed some new subs. I doubt they know he had over 700 at one point. was over 560 just like a month or so ago. I hate say it, i think he gone.

 

[dewayne4478]

so I noticed some new subs. I doubt they know he had over 700 at one point. was over 560 just like a month or so ago. I hate say it, i think he gone.

For saying that he was working on it according his Dec 24. post he edited it it said the 1st of Jan not he was working he change it.

 

[Vibesy]

I saw cassie riley show up another game , and the conversation appeared 〝Stormside〞 , there are different creator names and I don't know situation

Well on the one hand you can look at it like a big mystery and on the other hand it perfectly fits the pattern of so many creators who lose all motivation to continue the endless grind of working as a solo game dev, but who want to keep that sweet, sweet patreon cash flowing on a monthly basis. So they bug out, go radio silent, drop off the grid and ghost everyone including their team members for extended periods. Devs with integrity who intend to disappear have the option of pausing patreon billing. It's truly unfortunate that Atemsiel didn't man up and take that route.

 

[portiamento]

so sad to see this abandoned, I loved the story.

 

[starkj]

Hope it's not really abandoned because i was really enjoying it but man, it feels like so many games nowadays either get abandoned, on-hold or take 1+ years for an update.

 

[cubba]

So, following this discussion I conclude, that the current status of the game is equal to Schrödinger's Cat.
Lesson over. You can all go home now. Dismissed.

 

[SARBASST]

Hopefully the game would be back. It is a great game. Remember to not give money to abandoned games.

 

[Kata]

If the dev wants to keep this game going, they have to cut back on the quality in some area, either reducing regular conversational renders, or cutting paths. Another option is to only release certain branches of progression to enable faster releases, but that requires branches and choices to not be heavily intertwined. If Atem releases another update that'll be great, but I won't be surprised if this is either officially or silently abandoned by them.

It's this but also that these devs really want to make their games a second income stream. There are plenty of games that are released finished or nearly finished, but most of them never become big on patreon because they're usually small, self-contained projects that most players think are just short little diversions that they play once and then never touch again.

The process of becoming known on patreon, to the point where you can really monetize on your work, often comes from this really toxic process where you promise something big and then drip feed the content over many successive updates. If they wanted to just finish a game, most of these devs could, but it wouldn't be the big, epic sagas that get thousands of supporters on patreon.

The problem with this approach is that, unless you already know exactly how your branching paths go beforehand, you quickly get stuck in feature creep and discover the issues that come with exponential growth of branching outcomes. If you have 1 branching path per update, after a few updates you now have hundreds of potential scenarios. You need to really learn to start folding paths onto each other in an organic and satisfying manner, otherwise you'll be lost in the weeds. Less experienced developers often reach this hurdle and simply give up.

 

[IceboundArt]

A mod on the discord said that contact with Atemsiels pretty much stopped a while back and that he's been MIA for a bit now.

Really don't see this one coming back unfortunately

 

[DeiMan2077]

A mod on the discord said that contact with Atemsiels pretty much stopped a while back and that he's been MIA for a bit now.

Really don't see this one coming back unfortunately

Or not. I read that he wrote on patreon before the new year that he doesn't read what they write to him everywhere because he doesn't want to be distracted from creating the game. In fact, we really just have to wait.

 

[tmu500]

Or not. I read that he wrote on patreon before the new year that he doesn't read what they write to him everywhere because he doesn't want to be distracted from creating the game. In fact, we really just have to wait.

Hopefully the dev would be back. The game was good.