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

[filipskyi]

I still remember being called a troll (like many other people here) for pointing out that this game is impossible to finish with all these branches. Ironic.

And now the dev says that even if you remove these branches, the game may never see the end continuation (Imo, because then he would have to redo it practically from the beginning, and he obviously does not want to do that.)

So now he has two choices: 1. continue to drag out this game forever. 2. start a new one, having a reputation of a dev who did not finish the previous one.
In my opinion, the second option is better. Because Stormside will never be the same anyway and will not be what it was supposed to be.

 

[Ralpvolvos]

so.... he knew that he cant continue to developt the vn for months now but NOT ONCE he paused the billing and NOT ONCE tell his patreon supporter that he basically paused the development indefinitely?

basically, he intentionally leeching off the patreon member....

didnt he also promised that the new update coming soon in his december post? but 8 months later, he basically admit he never work on it and abandoned it for good now?

it is pretty stupid if you truly believe what he said in his "whole text of excuse" but turn a blind eye to his action this past year.

truly if he want to make a new game, go for it and do as you please. but expect people will always assume the worst when you have a slight delay even for once

 

[zeph19]

Let Stormside be the lesson for all the other devs out there who feel that this kind of branching doesn't lead to certain abandonment. Any sane person would know that it's just too much work for one guy to do every sex scene three times over, and that it simply requires too much brainpower to keep up with it all, especially when life kicks you in the balls and takes you out of that creative headspace for an extended period of time.

Stormside needs to die and be taken as a lesson. Atemsiel learned a lot, and maybe a game similar to the scope of That New Teacher, Stray Incubus or Companion of Darkness is more in his ballpark. Render and animation wise, Atemsiel is/was one of the absolute best in the HS2 sector, together with RogueOne.

I have to say that I'm not buying the whole debt-story either, but that's for everyone to decide for themselves. If he still had backers at the time, then they should give him some fucking flak for not communicating.

Anyway, it seems like we're getting a new game, though. My hope for it is for this game to have similar themes as Stormside, such as D/s relationships, and I would love to see a game where those kinds of collars get used, especially since the MC wasn't just a tyrannical asshole.

Happy he's back, but cautious.

 

[tmu500]

It seems he is burn out, which it makes sense. If he wants to start a new game (simple and strength with no branch), I will give a shot because I like his characters and storytelling. Regarding this game, maybe put the game on rest for now or let another dev works on it (we have seen it before).

 

[Vic Sage]

Let Stormside be the lesson for all the other devs out there who feel that this kind of branching doesn't lead to certain abandonment. Any sane person would know that it's just too much work for one guy to do every sex scene three times over, and that it simply requires too much brainpower to keep up with it all, especially when life kicks you in the balls and takes you out of that creative headspace for an extended period of time.

Stormside needs to die and be taken as a lesson. Atemsiel learned a lot, and maybe a game similar to the scope of That New Teacher, Stray Incubus or Companion of Darkness is more in his ballpark. Render and animation wise, Atemsiel is/was one of the absolute best in the HS2 sector, together with RogueOne.

I have to say that I'm not buying the whole debt-story either, but that's for everyone to decide for themselves. If he still had backers at the time, then they should give him some fucking flak for not communicating.

Anyway, it seems like we're getting a new game, though. My hope for it is for this game to have similar themes as Stormside, such as D/s relationships, and I would love to see a game where those kinds of collars get used, especially since the MC wasn't just a tyrannical asshole.

Happy he's back, but cautious.

Atem really is 1 of the all time greats at HS2. I'm pretty sure he mentored RogueOne too

 

[Meiri]

I don't think starting a new game from 0 is the right move here, it would be much better to try to save Stormside, just cut some branching and just try to follow the main story, like sure the branching in this game is unique but I think we would rather see the story progress even if some things need to be cut off than just get the game abandoned forever.

He is gonna start from 0, take 2-3 years just to catch with Stormside current content and probably lose a lot of subscribers during the process and I doubt the people will just stop bothering him about Stormside during the time he is developing a new game.

I don't know to me, it sounds like an awful decision to make right now.

 

[zeph19]

Atem really is 1 of the all time greats at HS2. I'm pretty sure he mentored RogueOne too

In the Stray Incubus thread, one of the guys who took over the project said that these devs all help each other. I think Atemsiel made animations for Berkili (Companion of Darkness) once, and the small-pupils thing that Atemsiel's characters do when they're shocked is something I've seen happen in Stray Incubus, too. I think RogueOne also helped someone fund some parts of their equipment. These guys are great and I think they make creating games more enjoyable for each other.

 

[Krytax123]

so.... he knew that he cant continue to developt the vn for months now but NOT ONCE he paused the billing and NOT ONCE tell his patreon supporter that he basically paused the development indefinitely?

basically, he intentionally leeching off the patreon member....

didnt he also promised that the new update coming soon in his december post? but 8 months later, he basically admit he never work on it and abandoned it for good now?

it is pretty stupid if you truly believe what he said in his "whole text of excuse" but turn a blind eye to his action this past year.

truly if he want to make a new game, go for it and do as you please. but expect people will always assume the worst when you have a slight delay even for once

Lmao, considering hes still making 1000$+ on patreon and supposedly has another full time job (even two during this time!!!) you really gonna wonder how expensive this renovation was lmao and all of this in a rent situation ... ?

All of this sounds just strange

 

[Cherubin25]

Jesus, excuse me but fuck that. Nobody care about him being a pathetic rat.

He want to make a new game instead of finishing one? It dosn't even make sense...

Throwing away all he worked for... utterly stupid.

I genuinely hope nobody support this crap.

You know, you can leave this thread without being an asshole.

 

[Cherubin25]

I don't think starting a new game from 0 is the right move here, it would be much better to try to save Stormside, just cut some branching and just try to follow the main story, like sure the branching in this game is unique but I think we would rather see the story progress even if some things need to be cut off than just get the game abandoned forever.

He is gonna start from 0, take 2-3 years just to catch with Stormside current content and probably lose a lot of subscribers during the process also I doubt the people will just stop bothering him about Stormside during the time he is developing a new game.

I don't know to me, it sounds like an awful decision to make right now.

I would say the same, even tho it is up to the Dev in the end. If he thinks he cannot continue Stormside, but tries to do it, it will not really help anyone.

But yeah, cutting some branching would be great. Currently the branches are that you can put each girl on one of three different routes and then have combinations based on the routes of other girls. And I think the last thing can be scrapped or be reduced heavily.
So instead of having a separate scene when you have one girl on the love route and one girl on the dom route, you will just have only scenes when both are on the same routes. So you can basically do three playthroughs (love, dom, slave) and while you can decide which route you do for which girl, you will not get specific scenes between those girls if they are not on the same route.
This would already remove quite a bit of branching.

btw. where is your profile picture from? Would be nice if you can shoot me a DM

 

[phinny1]

Everyone pissing and moaning about money had more than enough opportunity to manually cancel their patronage and if you didn't despite how long he was absent with no word then all I can do is direct you to the old proverb about a fool and their money.

Can't say I'm too impressed with the ole bury your head in the sand approach to stress but I can't be too judgmental given how many times I've done the same thing. I don't wanna jump on the dude right after he's resurfaced for the first time but yeah I'd love to see if we can get his interest in Stormside rekindled because dude was incredibly passionate about it in the early days despite all the warnings we gave about how much he was biting off. If he was really trying to milk whatever pittance he was getting off Patreon he would have kept slow rolling updates rather than just dropping off the face of the earth. In fact count me as one of the people who wondered if he up and died, although I'm glad that wasn't the case.

As some people have already said I think the project is still manageable if we can convince him to trim back the branching and I think the trinary-route is probably still complex enough to satisfy what he was aiming for while overall being a drastic reduction in how much work is involved. There's an html game called Love, Corruption, and Bimbos where you choose one of those three routes for each LI in the game and while it updates frequently it's not uncommon to see none of the new content in an update due to your route choices. I think that serves a great example to demonstrate how much complexity the trinary-route system allows for; nowhere near as tangled a system as the original plan for Stormside but still more than enough that nobody would ever mistake it for a kinetic novel.

Atemsiel does seem like the type who needs a manager to occasionally rein him in. Even if they don't have any actual authority over him due to the lack of a employee relationship just hearing someone tell him no would be a valuable service.

 

[Visick]

As others have already said I'd still really like to see more Stormside. I would not be against cutting back on how many branches there are though. It was always gonna be a massive undertaking for one dude to have so many different routes. Just make it a simpler 3 choice route for the characters and don't add more complexity in terms of interaction between them all. Basically a love route, domination, and then a slave one. In my mind that is far more manageable than what it seemed like it was going to be. Having 3 different saves for the three routes is also just much nicer for how I like to go through AVNs rather than tons more

 

[MagicMan753]

I knew the branching would be a problem, there is a way this could of worked and still make some differences, but the dev just decided to go too complex.

As for a new game, I don't know, for one I was really attached to stormside's concept, and I really want more Cassie. On top of that, it would be hard to trust a dev who just abandons a game when things get hard or burnout, who is to say he won't do it again.

At the end of the day, this was expected, but I will miss Cassie, wish we could of explored more of her romance and this world.

 

[Vibesy]

As others have already said I'd still really like to see more Stormside. I would not be against cutting back on how many branches there are though. It was always gonna be a massive undertaking for one dude to have so many different routes. Just make it a simpler 3 choice route for the characters and don't add more complexity in terms of interaction between them all. Basically a love route, domination, and then a slave one. In my mind that is far more manageable than what it seemed like it was going to be. Having 3 different saves for the three routes is also just much nicer for how I like to go through AVNs rather than tons more

There were only supposed to be 3 routes per LI so it doesn't seem you are cutting much at all. Frankly not even George RR Martin could pull off 3 distinct paths for these girls.

For this project to be saved we need extreme simplification & radical cuts. Some of the LIs need to straight up get booted. Sascha is running a visa scam, has severe discipline problems and this isn't 2022 anymore. Get ICE on her ass and deport her back to Russia. Talia? I got no clue why she is even in the game. Have her drop out to take care of her sick grandmother or something. Let's get real with Olivia: she's a bitch and the love route makes no sense. Slap a collar on her, put her in a cell for a few weeks and she's sorted. Cassie is your standard fuck buddy type and you don't fall in love with your fuck buddy. Cassie doesn't even need a route- just have her help out with the shenanigans you get up to with the other girls. Riley can get all 3 routes since it's pretty obvious she was the only girl Atem really cared about. With the Japanese waifus merge the slave/submission paths and the whole thing becomes manageable.

Sure these ideas may seem harsh, but with Atemsiel working 20 hours a day to pay off the loan sharks or whatever, it's probably the only way Stormside makes it to the end of the semester.

 

[Cherubin25]

I knew the branching would be a problem, there is a way this could of worked and still make some differences, but the dev just decided to go too complex.

As for a new game, I don't know, for one I was really attached to stormside's concept, and I really want more Cassie. On top of that, it would be hard to trust a dev who just abandons a game when things get hard or burnout, who is to say he won't do it again.

At the end of the day, this was expected, but I will miss Cassie, wish we could of explored more of her romance and this world.

To be honest, I would not mind if the Dev would re-use the characters. It might look odd at first, but I think the characters are crafted very well and it would be sad to see them being retired.

 

[Visick]

There were only supposed to be 3 routes per LI so it doesn't seem you are cutting much at all. Frankly not even George RR Martin could pull off 3 distinct paths for these girls.

For this project to be saved we need extreme simplification & radical cuts. Some of the LIs need to straight up get booted. Sascha is running a visa scam, has severe discipline problems and this isn't 2022 anymore. Get ICE on her ass and deport her back to Russia. Talia? I got no clue why she is even in the game. Have her drop out to take care of her sick grandmother or something. Let's get real with Olivia: she's a bitch and the love route makes no sense. Slap a collar on her, put her in a cell for a few weeks and she's sorted. Cassie is your standard fuck buddy type and you don't fall in love with your fuck buddy. Cassie doesn't even need a route- just have her help out with the shenanigans you get up to with the other girls. Riley can get all 3 routes since it's pretty obvious she was the only girl Atem really cared about. With the Japanese waifus merge the slave/submission paths and the whole thing becomes manageable.

Sure these ideas may seem harsh, but with Atemsiel working 20 hours a day to pay off the loan sharks or whatever, it's probably the only way Stormside makes it to the end of the semester.

Honestly it's been like 2 years since I last went through this one so I definitely have forgotten some things. But I thought there was more complexity and routes planned than just 3 different routes per LI. Like how the LI interact with each other can all differ greatly depending on which route the LIs are all on. But maybe I'm misremembering. I could see cutting back on the number of LIs to be helpful as well though. But like I said, since it has been so long I don't even remember how many exactly there were. Probably gonna redownload soon just to check it out again, would give a clearer idea to have much branching there currently is and how much seemed planned

 

[Nadekai]

Still no word or idea about Atem?

 

[Cherubin25]

Still no word or idea about Atem?

I mean, you would only need to read the past few posts to see that there is news and then you would only need to look one page back:

https://f95zone.to/threads/stormside-v0-23-1-4-atemsiel.115722/post-17737831

 

[reid1]

Not really surprised by the development. This was one of the few games I was willing to wait for as much as it was necessary, and I didn't mind if the dev took time for his mental health considering how high the bar he himself set was. It's also the game I probably replayed the most to have all/most path combinations available (not joking, I've 50+ branch saves and attempted more than an hundred playthrough with no walkthrough).
Having said that, I don't think any sort of excuse can validate his behavior. What I really struggle to relate with is

that's exactly what the game became for me. Work.

Well, welcome to the adult world, where people get paid to work and not to have fun with games. In this half year, you were getting paid while doing nothing for the reason you were paid for (a luxury most people can't afford) and instead of apologize and try to regain people's trust by committing to work on it again, you say that you're gonna quit the game because you're not having fun anymore. I don't see how other people could consider to fund his next project at this point, but people always surprise me so I guess that's not impossible. I may probably sound harsher than intended, but I really didn't agree with anything he wrote in his "apology". I think it would be better if he pauses the subscriptions, take his time to sort out his feelings, then decide if to continue Stormside in whichever form, or change his career path.

 

[romo-ice]

Best path forward if Atemsiel wants to salvage the paths is to have an early choice where the player decides which of the three paths they want to take with the girls, love, submission, slavery, which then locks the player into that path. This turns the game into three main branches instead of the multitude that would have existed. From there Atemsiel can advance a branch in every update and further can introduce minor, cosmetic branches if he wants.

The problem with the current branches is that they're not cosmetic and will affect how the character reacts and acts around the MC. Usually you can handle this by isolating all of the LI's stories, but this story makes it hard to do so with how all of them are in close proximity. Alternatively have choices in the game that determine the direction (e.g., affinity or alignment in some games) and locks you out of some pathways, this makes it much easier to manage branches as they stay narratively close, don't intertwine, and provides you with something to check across all LI's for how a scene should be approached.

Atem could keep all the branches, but at some point they need to be pruned/combined, which won't really be possible with how divergent some of the branches are.