Ren'Py Summertime Saga [v0.20.16 Pre-tech] [Kompas Productions]

[kimjongew]

1.) DC is taking too long to release this update. He's just milking the time between releases or needs to hire more people.

Except he's already working on the next update and the bottleneck in between releases is the art itself. He could literally release 0.18 in another month and it won't have impacted 0.19's release.

In fact, what purpose would he have to milk the releases? He's not even halfway through the game yet and even then he's expressed wanting to work on other projects. If anything, there's a bigger chance of him getting burned out or bored.

2.) What if I stop my pledge and many others do as well?!

AFAIK he's developing this thing as though he were receiving $30,000 from Patreon, and even then he would need to hire a second coder (could be wrong on the latter part). He said over his current goal wouldn't speed up development.

3.) I'm too impatient to wait!

Tough tits. The update will come when it comes. It's not a game that is being professionally developed with a staff of dozens or hundreds of full-time employed developers and being held to release dates by a billion dollar publisher. Even then you have real studios like Bioware who sat on their asses for 5 years before rushing out an incompetent product like Anthem in 18 months (because they sat on their asses).

 

[King Monkey Mon]

there is however,one of the biggest details who helped Eve to get picked this time,he mentioned the possibility of a threesome between her,the mC and her sister(which DC said at time,he was unsure about getting the chance of puttting it since if Eve is related,it is tagged as incest and flagged on patreon policy),that alone made most of the people who make the core of the game(the public with a soft spot for incest)lend their hand in the Eve's fans cause...

Eve is best girl even though many dont like her new design i dont mind it as much still hope shes has the necessaries like gothic look pierced tits and tats

Roxxy is second best girl and has the best character arc as of now

 

[Jonboy80]

The only issue I have with the way the game is developed is the voting system for updates. It overly entitles patrons imo,and sorta monkeywrenches the story at times. If you look at patronage as a this-for-that exercise, inevitably you will be frustrated and cranked up. If you look at it as a reward system, well.... the satisfaction measurement has already been made.

I'm a Patreon supporter of half a dozen creators, most outside the h-game world (one of whom is a personal friend). I think it's kinda fucked up to regard that support in a "DANCE FOR ME, MONKEY" fashion. Is the $5 a month I give to this or that guy going to production? Maybe. Probably. I don't care. That's not why they're getting $5 a month from me. Imo the creator is going to create with or without my contribution. They're not my employee, they're not delivering a work-for-hire. I have no ownership stake in this product, I'm not a shareholder in Kompass Productiobs LLC. I'm a fan. That's why they get my $$. I'm contributing based on what they've delivered, not what they're promising.

Agreed.

Him allowing the Patrons to vote for major content releases is, imo, rather stupid. There is a reason game devs don't implement everything the playerbase wants. Otherwise, your game becomes a heaping pile of crap because of a lot of half-implemented systems and incomplete content.

The main story of SS hasn't progressed at all because Patrons vote with their dicks in expectation of more porno-scenes. Meanwhile, we've learned nothing more about the MC's history, his dad, the dance/prom, etc. It's currently becoming little more than a harem game with no purpose and there are plenty of those around already.

 

[Porn_Jesus]

Game needs more fantasy ladies. Aqua and the cowgirl from the broken statue were a nice start. <3

 

[King Monkey Mon]

Game needs more fantasy ladies. Aqua and the cowgirl from the broken statue were a nice start. <3

what are you talking about she isnt just a cow girl shes your niece and your aunts adopted daughter

 

[seraphimd2]

1.) DC is taking too long to release this update. He's just milking the time between releases or needs to hire more people.

Except he's already working on the next update and the bottleneck in between releases is the art itself. He could literally release 0.18 in another month and it won't have impacted 0.19's release.

In fact, what purpose would he have to milk the releases? He's not even halfway through the game yet and even then he's expressed wanting to work on other projects. If anything, there's a bigger chance of him getting burned out or bored.

2.) What if I stop my pledge and many others do as well?!

AFAIK he's developing this thing as though he were receiving $30,000 from Patreon, and even then he would need to hire a second coder (could be wrong on the latter part). He said over his current goal wouldn't speed up development.

3.) I'm too impatient to wait!

Tough tits. The update will come when it comes. It's not a game that is being professionally developed with a staff of dozens or hundreds of full-time employed developers and being held to release dates by a billion dollar publisher. Even then you have real studios like Bioware who sat on their asses for 5 years before rushing out an incompetent product like Anthem in 18 months (because they sat on their asses).

should have mentioned ME Andromeda,which is a barebone revival on a project,which got launched even before get some decent working team on it,i get so frustated when i play Andromeda,and feel all the wasted potential...if it wasnt for Roxxy update i would probably let SS develop for more 2 or maybe 3 years before returning here,but after Roxxy update,i feel that the potential of geting to like a character i mostly hated(or simply didnt care about)before...its annoying,but its nice too...

 

[King Monkey Mon]

should have mentioned ME Andromeda,which is a barebone revival on a project,which got launched even before get some decent working team on it,i get so frustated when i play Andromeda,and feel all the wasted potential...if it wasnt for Roxxy update i would probably let SS develop for more 2 or maybe 3 years before returning here,but after Roxxy update,i feel that the potential of geting to like a character i mostly hated(or simply didnt care about)before...its annoying,but its nice too...

yeah pretty much before Roxxy Story arc i didnt like her that much she seem way to much like the popular school girl cliche and plus she was a blonde and im not really fond of blondes as much as redheads or brunettes

but man that character arc pretty much made her the top girl apart from eve frankly i think its the best arc in 2d games

 

[Pr0man]

yeah pretty much before Roxxy Story arc i didnt like her that much she seem way to much like the popular school girl cliche and plus she was a blonde and im not really fond of blondes as much as redheads or brunettes

but man that character arc pretty much made her the top girl apart from eve frankly i think its the best arc in 2d games

It seems like the updates are somewhat of a hit or miss situation - I totally loved the update regarding Roxxy, yet I felt underwhelmed by the Teachers update or Diane update. Well, right now I can just hope the next two updates are gonna be as kickass as they are taking time. I'm just a bit iffy about the scope this is heading towards: Each update gets bigger and more ambitious and at this rate I'm worried that they are taking on more than what they can handle in a single update.

 

[mattius77]

The fantasy ladies are, imo, quite silly. I play in spite of them, not because of them. But to each their own.

If I were writing the pipeline for the game, my #1 priority would be save compatibility. If it means locking off existing story lines, so be it. You're too far into the development of the game to think it's fair or realistic to ask players to start over from scratch every single update. That's just ludicrously goofy. The game is short enough that it isn't a super big encumbrance, but still. Rewriting Aunt Diane's whole arc two years in? And I gather Sis is next? Come on, dude. It would be one thing if you rewrote the story without having actually released anything yet, but that's not what the deal was here.

Fix legacy saves. Then do an update that focuses solely on the story, maybe provide one new h-scene for an existing character. Then lock off adding new characters to the story for at least one year. My absolute #1 biggest gripe about the game is that we're this far into development and he's still 1) revising set story arcs, and 2) introducing new characters at the expense of leaving existing characters twisting in the proverbial wind. (Which both go to my earlier point about entitling patrons too much.) And by 'twisting in the proverbial wind' I mean 'they do not do new sex stuff with MC'. I'm not the biggest Judith fan in the world, but we've been stuck with bathroom handie mode with her forever. Cassie still doesn't know MC well enough to receive his holy seed? Ivy is still doing the same four things for $$$. Eve? Don't even get me started. And Ronda is still just track girl, while Lopez and Martinez watch with their towels, and Annie is still prim and proper, and Principal Smith is.... and Liu Wang.... and Veronica... and Yumi.... and Anna...... and Josephine....... and...... there are probably more than half a dozen potential conquests left unrequited at the moment. He's left himself a bit too many options from my perspective.

Never mind the static nature of MC's interactions with the main characters once their stories are completed: I think it would be a hoot if MC ran into, say, one of the teachers at the mall and, gosh, they just had to have some of that sweet sweet D in the bathroom. Or at the beach. Or wherever, maybe a character shows up at home out of the blue. Add a random element to the mechanic, rather than a clockwork thing. Yes, that takes time to script and animate... but that's what you're doing. Add vitality to the play.

 

[JAmesbond234]

when do you guys think the release date is going to be?

 

[mattius77]

A lot of the more recent updates I would say are akin to flipping an older house. You spend 90% of your money (time) on things the final owner (player) will never really see or notice. I mean, re-doing character art is obviously something players will see, but if it's in the context of an existing story scene, it's still 'the same'. So people are like 'wtf, three months for this?'

That's why I say screw the Patreon votes and just get the underlying game sorted once and for all.

 

[Megadead9]

Just curious as to how the incest patches get produced? I get that the wording for old storylines can be pulled from old releases, but what about new content? Is someone just manually going through the game text and updating it off their best guess? Is the content originally being written with incest, then removed to adhere to Patreon guidelines, then patched back in as a third party mod? How long does it normally take after a release for the mod to appear?

I ask obviously because Jenny is the next patch, and I'd like to play the new content as it was originally meant to be played.

 

[BobSaget'sSagginBalls]

How big is the development team for this game? Seems weird that a developer receiving over $52,000 a month is taking so long to put out updates.

 

[hapikala_donut]

How big is the development team for this game? Seems weird that a developer receiving over $52,000 a month is taking so long to put out updates.

It is pretty small. A few coders, I believe there is only 1 writer. DC is the only one who draws art. Initially they had 1 animator but they added more (I don't know whether it will take effect now or for 0.18.5 and onward)

 

[mattius77]

Just curious as to how the incest patches get produced? I get that the wording for old storylines can be pulled from old releases, but what about new content? Is someone just manually going through the game text and updating it off their best guess? Is the content originally being written with incest, then removed to adhere to Patreon guidelines, then patched back in as a third party mod? How long does it normally take after a release for the mod to appear?

This.

The games I play don't necessarily require version-specific patches, or at least that's the way I've perceived them to work. It has been a while since I tried not applying a new IC patch for Summertime Saga, but to be safe I generally wait a week or so after a new release and download a new version of the IC patch to go with the new version of the game.

 

[Pr0man]

It is pretty small. A few coders, I believe there is only 1 writer. DC is the only one who draws art. Initially they had 1 animator but they added more (I don't know whether it will take effect now or for 0.18.5 and onward)

Not entirely - iirc there's currently only 1 coder working basically full time, Animations are commissioned from outside, if I recall, it's AEHentai. But as it's currently the biggest bottleneck, they are currently looking towards finding more animators. but other than that, yeah, it's only DC himself drawing as well.

 

[KeyvinCarter]

Eve is best girl even though many dont like her new design i dont mind it as much still hope shes has the necessaries like gothic look pierced tits and tats

Roxxy is second best girl and has the best character arc as of now

Roxxy is my favourite.

 

[jamdan]

1- Roxxy. Best story so far, and she comes with a couple cute friends.
2- Mia. Sweet innocent Mia. I feel like all the "Mia" named characters in games are good.
3- Eve. I like her redesign, its more feminine. She is my favorite archetype, emo/goth/rocker girl.

 

[seraphimd2]

1- Roxxy. Best story so far, and she comes with a couple cute friends.
2- Mia. Sweet innocent Mia. I feel like all the "Mia" named characters in games are good.
3- Eve. I like her redesign, its more feminine. She is my favorite archetype, emo/goth/rocker girl.

until now,Roxxy have the best character development now,from hated bitch to loved top girl,she rekindled the hopes of lots of people on this game,Mia still have potential,cuz she was always tipped as the kind of overly repressed girl(which opens a lot of potential for her development),Eve incorporates the happy go lucky spirit of the game,giving zero fucks about the things people talk around her,unless it interest her in some way...but my eyes are focused in that raw gem called Judith,a raw ruby just waiting for some nicely deserved working,so it can show its true shine...

 

[kimjongew]

i would probably let SS develop for more 2 or maybe 3 years before returning here

I come to the thread just to check on progress. I haven't touched the game since Roxxy and Mia before her. I don't plan on going through it again until 0.2 or maybe 0.21 depending on the update. Just lends itself to a better playthrough and more enjoyability. Plus there's tons of other games.

In all honesty, I don't play the games here to get off. I actually enjoy the more "niche" gameplay and the adult content is a cherry on top.

when do you guys think the release date is going to be?

I would treat it as though it will release before May 31st. That isn't to say it will impact 0.19's release, since DC is already working on that update while waiting on the finishing touches for 0.18.

Not entirely - iirc there's currently only 1 coder working basically full time, Animations are commissioned from outside, if I recall, it's AEHentai. But as it's currently the biggest bottleneck, they are currently looking towards finding more animators. but other than that, yeah, it's only DC himself drawing as well.

Dogeek mentioned Panda is no longer with the team, so it's indeed just him doing the coding. Not sure why DC hasn't hired someone else though since IIRC part of the goals met on Patreon for the $30,000 were for additional members.