Apr 3, 2020
17
19
Ok, I just have to say, it looks like the Joker has a sister...

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Was thinking the same thing.
But then again, the first glance at the barista is just...nightmare stuff.

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May 18, 2019
102
540

Hello,

It's time.

After 3000+ renders, my old PC is finishing up the update for "Where it all began".

This is probably the right time to announce that my new PC arrived. 2 days ago to be exact but I had to set it up first. I did lose some data like some Premiere Pro projects but nothing too major.
Everything seems to work fine now.

I already mentioned it in the Patreon post for WiAB, I will just copy it here.. It's a rather big but important text.

"Some of you might know that most Daz users use Iray. I did now switch render engines from the free Iray render engine to the paid Octane render engine.
Is it better?
That depends on who uses it and what you do with it.
I am a straight-up beginner and Octane has a lot more complexity to it compared to the "out-of-the-box" Iray engine.
In the long run, this will pay off.
Octane costs me 30€ a month. But thanks to my supporters this is do-able."


Octane does change a lot of stuff. All characters will look a little different now. (In my opinion better. The skin looks more realistic and less plastic.) Especially Bella... You guys should see her skin.

The new update schedule.
I mentioned it in the WiAB post, too. Here is the copy.

"The last update I released was "Summer's Gone Chapter 2" and people needed around 45 - 1 1/2h to finish that update.
I'd say that's solid.
But these updates take me around 3-4 months to make and I add more complexity and more animations each update. I bought ZBrush and started customizing everything. I am using Blender to create simple assets and this is taking a lot of time. (And don't forget Octane, Lightroom, Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere.)
This is not also taking very long for you guys, but it is also taxing on me. These long development cycles make me feel like I am going nowhere.
I see the numbers of renders rising into the 1000s and still, it feels like I am not closer to finishing the update.
Even tho I spent an average of 10h a day in the last 3 months on this update and I am almost done, I feel like, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
What I am getting at is... After WiAB Chapter 6 and Summer's Gone Chapter 3, I will start releasing in half-chapters.
So it will be 50% of a full update.
But these updates will still feature 1000+ renders and probably 25-45 minutes of playtime.
This should result in ~ 1 1/2 - 2 month release schedules.
I see the months go by and I am still on the same spot. It's driving me crazy.
This means that the rework will be released in two parts. <-- (Only relevant for WiAB)
And the soon to be here PC will speed the schedule up, too. "



This means that Chapter 3 will still be a full chapter but the next update would be "Chapter 3.5"
They will still feature enough playtime to justify it as a full update. (As mentioned above 25-45min of playtime.)


From now on you can expect regular updates here on this Patreon site.


And here the first render of Chapter 3 and 'Octane' Vic.
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- Ocean
 

Smarmint

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,218
4,844
That's great news. I never complain about update length or frequency, since I know most devs are developing these games as a hobby in their free time, and I support the devs I can on Patreon that I think are doing a good job and that need extra support. However, I do think shorter 1.5 month updates are better than longer 3-4 month updates. 3000+ renders is huge compared to most updates I see here (most are 400-600), so I think even at 1000+ every 1.5 months, that is a quite sizeable update. I know all devs have their own style, and a few here that I support prefer to release updates every 3-4 months, but I do think its hard not to lose interest as an audience once the delay gets to the 2 month plus range. Just my opinion.
 

Skylaroo

Well-Known Member
May 28, 2017
1,847
4,857
Dev's Patreon Update said:
But these updates take me around 3-4 months to make and I add more complexity and more animations each update. [snipped]
This is not also taking very long for you guys, but it is also taxing on me. These long development cycles make me feel like I am going nowhere.
This is basically the mistake IMO. There needs to be a balance between quality and capacity. If you're McDonald's, don't try to be a 3-star Michelin fancy pants restaurant that would take months just to source the ingredients. If you're a fancy restaurant, don't use store-bought pre-made pastries for your menu. It's all about what you can do.

I'll be honest, 3-4 months just because the dev wants to make things more complex and animated than what he can normally do is a lose-lose situation. Taxing on him, making him not feel like it's going anywhere, the players annoyed by the longer wait, etc. This might be doable for once in a while, but if it's going to be repeated, then we can kiss the development goodbye because the dev will 200% be burned out and the games abandoned.

I don't know if the decision to overcomplicate things is purely the dev's own personal preference or because of the players' demand, but either way, it needs to be recognized so it can be solved. The dev tries to solve this by doing half-updates, but to be honest, I don't really have high hopes on this success because it's still the same amount of work (too much) that is only split up into two. It's like if you're McDonald's and tell your customer that the order would take 2 hours to make, and then telling them that you'd give the burger in 1 hour, then the fries an hour later. That's still 2 hours for a burger and fries which is bad.

What the dev needs to do is reduce the amount of work. This can be done in 2 ways:
1. Expand the team so each person does less.
2. Reduce the complexity of the work so each person can finish things quicker.

In short, the added complexity is not worth the time cost.
 

CheeseMachine33

New Member
Feb 8, 2020
1
1
Not gonna lie, the only thing about this game I dislike is the amount of smoking "trying to be cool". I know I sound retarded for saying but, lighting one up while talking if you're not some mafia boss or crime lord is very distasteful. That is my opinion at least.
 
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Drako

Member
Jul 6, 2017
141
763
Wow i did not know this is the same dev who work on where it all began, it is interesting how he can make a great game like this one when wiab is a shitty one , why he have 2 separate patreon tho :unsure:
 

Pitrik

Devoted Member
Donor
Oct 11, 2018
8,094
32,884
Wow i did not know this is the same dev who work on where it all began, it is interesting how he can make a great game like this one when wiab is a shitty one , why he have 2 separate patreon tho :unsure:
There are 2 patreon because if a player like only wiab support wiab and the same for summer's gone.... I prefer more sg but wiab isn't a shitty one
 

Robert Monotoli

Active Member
Jun 16, 2018
755
848
Wow i did not know this is the same dev who work on where it all began, it is interesting how he can make a great game like this one when wiab is a shitty one , why he have 2 separate patreon tho :unsure:
There are 2 patreon because if a player like only wiab support wiab and the same for summer's gone.... I prefer more sg but wiab isn't a shitty one
Actually, these separate Patreons is mainly because Summer's Gone project was started by a different guy named Regium before he brought in Ocean to help with the rendering. I believe Regium is still the writer and, I assume, the overall author but that Ocean have basically taken over the rendering work completely.
 

Eikichi

Member
Dec 18, 2018
108
669
Actually, these separate Patreons is mainly because Summer's Gone project was started by a different guy named Regium before he brought in Ocean to help with the rendering. I believe Regium is still the writer and, I assume, the overall author but that Ocean have basically taken over the rendering work completely.
Yes, the story writer is still the same. (Me.) and I am the only one working on it.
 
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Reactions: Robert Monotoli

Englen

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2019
1,603
11,484
Actually, these separate Patreons is mainly because Summer's Gone project was started by a different guy named Regium before he brought in Ocean to help with the rendering. I believe Regium is still the writer and, I assume, the overall author but that Ocean have basically taken over the rendering work completely.
Summers Gone has always been Oceans, he just gave it away at the start because he was already working on WiAB.

The story was always mine. No matter which Chapter we look at.

WIAB & SG are deeply connected and play in the same universe. So does my planned third game (PLF - Female MC.) But I won't start it until the other two are finished.

And Summer's Gone is already written up to Chapter 8.

I just gave Regium the story because I had WIAB and I didn't want to start a second game while my first one wasn't finished.
But because he kept struggling and his motivation was very low (I guess he didn't really feel connected to SG because it wasn't his story.) I stepped in and saved my story from getting abandoned.

I was managing everything social related for him anyways (F95/Discord/Patreon) and as I expected he jumped ship after I overtook.
 

Robert Monotoli

Active Member
Jun 16, 2018
755
848
Summers Gone has always been Oceans, he just gave it away at the start because he was already working on WiAB.

The story was always mine. No matter which Chapter we look at.

WIAB & SG are deeply connected and play in the same universe. So does my planned third game (PLF - Female MC.) But I won't start it until the other two are finished.

And Summer's Gone is already written up to Chapter 8.

I just gave Regium the story because I had WIAB and I didn't want to start a second game while my first one wasn't finished.
But because he kept struggling and his motivation was very low (I guess he didn't really feel connected to SG because it wasn't his story.) I stepped in and saved my story from getting abandoned.

I was managing everything social related for him anyways (F95/Discord/Patreon) and as I expected he jumped ship after I overtook.
Interesting. I guess I must have been so out of the loop that I didn't realize that Oceanlab is the original author. I first saw this game when it was first released and it was under Regium's name so that really misled me into thinking Regium was the original author.
 

Game Bond

Active Member
Nov 20, 2019
567
1,087

Hello,

It's time.

After 3000+ renders, my old PC is finishing up the update for "Where it all began".

This is probably the right time to announce that my new PC arrived. 2 days ago to be exact but I had to set it up first. I did lose some data like some Premiere Pro projects but nothing too major.
Everything seems to work fine now.

I already mentioned it in the Patreon post for WiAB, I will just copy it here.. It's a rather big but important text.

"Some of you might know that most Daz users use Iray. I did now switch render engines from the free Iray render engine to the paid Octane render engine.
Is it better?
That depends on who uses it and what you do with it.
I am a straight-up beginner and Octane has a lot more complexity to it compared to the "out-of-the-box" Iray engine.
In the long run, this will pay off.
Octane costs me 30€ a month. But thanks to my supporters this is do-able."


Octane does change a lot of stuff. All characters will look a little different now. (In my opinion better. The skin looks more realistic and less plastic.) Especially Bella... You guys should see her skin.

The new update schedule.
I mentioned it in the WiAB post, too. Here is the copy.

"The last update I released was "Summer's Gone Chapter 2" and people needed around 45 - 1 1/2h to finish that update.
I'd say that's solid.
But these updates take me around 3-4 months to make and I add more complexity and more animations each update. I bought ZBrush and started customizing everything. I am using Blender to create simple assets and this is taking a lot of time. (And don't forget Octane, Lightroom, Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere.)
This is not also taking very long for you guys, but it is also taxing on me. These long development cycles make me feel like I am going nowhere.
I see the numbers of renders rising into the 1000s and still, it feels like I am not closer to finishing the update.
Even tho I spent an average of 10h a day in the last 3 months on this update and I am almost done, I feel like, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
What I am getting at is... After WiAB Chapter 6 and Summer's Gone Chapter 3, I will start releasing in half-chapters.
So it will be 50% of a full update.
But these updates will still feature 1000+ renders and probably 25-45 minutes of playtime.
This should result in ~ 1 1/2 - 2 month release schedules.
I see the months go by and I am still on the same spot. It's driving me crazy.
This means that the rework will be released in two parts. <-- (Only relevant for WiAB)
And the soon to be here PC will speed the schedule up, too. "



This means that Chapter 3 will still be a full chapter but the next update would be "Chapter 3.5"
They will still feature enough playtime to justify it as a full update. (As mentioned above 25-45min of playtime.)


From now on you can expect regular updates here on this Patreon site.


And here the first render of Chapter 3 and 'Octane' Vic.
You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
- Ocean
So beautiful and realistic!
 
4.30 star(s) 536 Votes