Ren'Py Summertime Saga [v21.0.0 wip.4468] [Kompas Productions]

[fanboi]

What's the plan with this game in terms of the final 1.0 version?

If updates are being released in 0.01 increments and it's taken 3.5 years to get to 0.2, am I right in thinking that we'll get 1.0 in 2034 at which point the devs will have earnt approx $10million ($60k p/month) on top of whatever they've already earnt.

My math right? I'm kinda being sarcastic, but at the same time do actually wonder wtf the plan is...

The plan is to make as much $$$ as possible from the game. Yes, that's a cynical point of view, but look at the money they are making and compare it to what non-porn games take to make...

 

[j4yj4m]

What's the plan with this game in terms of the final 1.0 version?

If updates are being released in 0.01 increments and it's taken 3.5 years to get to 0.2, am I right in thinking that we'll get 1.0 in 2034 at which point the devs will have earnt approx $10million ($60k p/month) on top of whatever they've already earnt.

My math right? I'm kinda being sarcastic, but at the same time do actually wonder wtf the plan is...

The numbers are somewhat random, so the game isn't really meant to reach 1.0.

As to the plan, there's a detailed roadmap available and the game is currently at about 50%. I did some math on my own some time ago based on that roadmap, just in case you are interested. In short: It's probably going to take at least about ~3 years from now on until everything DC plans to do is done.

As to his earnigs? Who knows how they'll develope, but yes, he's got a global playerbase with a huge fanbase in the south asian region and europe. As far as I'm aware he mentioned that north america comes quite a bit behind those when it comes to downloads from his own server. And sure, once you do something right on that scale, you'll make good money. Especially considering that he's got many $1 donors who will be more patient compared to others.

 

[srksrk 68]

What's the plan with this game in terms of the final 1.0 version?

If updates are being released in 0.01 increments and it's taken 3.5 years to get to 0.2, am I right in thinking that we'll get 1.0 in 2034 at which point the devs will have earnt approx $10million ($60k p/month) on top of whatever they've already earnt.

My math right? I'm kinda being sarcastic, but at the same time do actually wonder wtf the plan is...

Do you actually think any of this makes sense?

No, it's not a counter starting at 0.01 and ending at 1.00. The game gets updates story wise as makes sense, then at one point it might switch from 0.x to 1.x. Or continue to get 0.x updates.

Or none. And DC surely does not have everything planned out right now to the minute of the day.

 

[WSmith]

yeah, judith has the best set of jugs and areolae, and is one of the first girls MC gets to engage with. who the fuck was clamoring for liu wang and josephine content?

All those people who realised "Best" is completely subjective in this case and have a different opinion.

I don't mind Judith, but I also don't find her a number 1 priority. To each their own.

I must say though that I wish they'd finish current characters before adding new ones.

 

[bendover15]

The numbers are somewhat random, so the game isn't really meant to reach 1.0.

Fair enough - thanks for the breakdown, most informative thing I've seen. Still, 7 years development is a long time so I get why the devs are shady af about being upfront about that.

Do you actually think any of this makes sense?

No I don't - that's why I said I was being sarcastic. It was just a prod to see what the actual situation was, which someone else has kindly had a guess at.

 

[KURO_NEKO_SAM]

 

[j4yj4m]

Still, 7 years development is a long time so I get why the devs are shady af about being upfront about that.

Well, there's literally a tracker on his homepage which says that "Summertime Saga is approximately 50.29% complete", so everybody who can add ~3+3 should arrive at 6 to 7 years. I don't really know how much more upfront DC could be?

 

[bendover15]

Well, there's literally a tracker on his homepage which says that "Summertime Saga is approximately 50.29% complete", so everybody who can add ~3+3 should arrive at 6 to 7 years. I don't really know how much more upfront DC could be?

Just had a look on the website and the patreon.....not seeing anything saying 50% completed? It's definitely not made very obvious. I can see the progress tracker for 0.2, but then that brings us back to 0.2 not actually being 20% but just some arbitrary number cos who cares. Also, under the FAQs on the website, as an answer for when will it be completed, they've put "Hard to say. We still have a lot of content left to make and the game is very open ended." So yeah.......

I'm not really here to debate, was just bored and wondered if anyone had a logical answer. Kinda thinking not. Fully aware of the average patreon supporter mindset here though, most would just give the dude a blank check and he'd happily rinse them dry. No-one's convincing me that the last update (which was 3 months work?) was worth $180k contributions, but there ya go.

Kinda made me laugh when I had a look on his patreon and the latest post was about being too ill to work for a bit.....that's a new one!

 

[j4yj4m]

Just had a look on the website and the patreon.....not seeing anything saying 50% completed? It's definitely not made very obvious.

Well, yeah, it's a feature for patreons. So everybody who pays will see it:



There are older full versions in this thread somewhere.

I'm not really here to debate, was just bored and wondered if anyone had a logical answer. Kinda thinking not. Fully aware of the average patreon supporter mindset here though, most would just give the dude a blank check and he'd happily rinse them dry. No-one's convincing me that the last update (which was 3 months work?) was worth $180k contributions, but there ya go.

I think DC's deal is pretty much clear by now. He'll draw the game on his own and what he can draw is the content we'll get. The game is free and people give what they want to give. It probably doesn't matter, whether he earns 30, 60 or 100k a month, the speed won't change, given that it's ultimately limited by his drawings. To me that's fine, because by drawing everything on his own it's consistent in style and quality. I don't mind waiting a bit longer.

Kinda made me laugh when I had a look on his patreon and the latest post was about being too ill to work for a bit.....that's a new one!

You can follow his streams 4 to 5 times a week and he was certainly sick, given how much he coughed and sneezed.

As said, those who don't want to pledge, don't have to. The game is free, the streams are free, so if people think he's earning too much they can pledge less or nothing. I personally gave him 20 to 25 bucks a year for the last 3 years, while this year i'll probably settle with $1 month. It's still a good deal to me.

 

[bendover15]

I think DC's deal is pretty much clear by now. He'll draw the game on his own and what he can draw is the content we'll get. The game is free and people give what they want to give. It probably doesn't matter wether he earns 30, 60 or 100k a month, the speed won't change, given that it's ultimately limited by his drawings.

I know it's probably coming across like I'm shit stirring and maybe I am a little, but I'm only poking fun really. I have my opinions on the devs of the majority of the games here, which extend to 'DC' also, but I'm sure he's a nice dude and it's great he has a supportive community.

I do STRONGLY disagree that it doesn't matter how much money he's making, because that's the motivation for him to be doing this and it allows him to keep it as his full-time job. It's in his interest to draw this out as long as possible (within reason to keep his supporters happy). Why bust a gut, when he can earn just as much taking his time?

I'd bet all the money in the world that he'd pick up the pace if his patreon numbers started dropping. I mean, I feel like the majority of the content came in the initial updates when he was (presumably) earning much less and has slowed down the more support he's had.

I just wish the community would hold devs to a higher standard when they start taking the piss, which (IMO) DC is doing. $60k p/month just doesn't stack up with the amount of content he's putting out, but there ya go - fair play to him honestly. I'm not gonna sway the masses.

 

[Rickster82]

Guys, let DC develop the game in peace. Only the patient is rewarded. There will be a maximum of 3-4 updates per year, more seems impossible.

 

[j4yj4m]

I'd bet all the money in the world that he'd pick up the pace if his patreon numbers started dropping. I mean, I feel like the majority of the content came in the initial updates when he was (presumably) earning much less and has slowed down the more support he's had.

I'd disagree here. Overall, his "speed" basically stayed the same. The early content was really rushed compared to what we've got now. The quality was bad, the sex scenes were 2 frame animations, the writing was really basic, the quests were bloated and consisted mostly of "earn money -> buy stuff -> repeat", there was no pregnancy, etc. - it was indeed a different game. Of course he could return to those basics and increase the "output" greatly, but one really, really has to remember that the game started to grow this much once he started caring about quality.

I'd indeed expect that his support will fall at some point, but I'm somewhat sure it'll be enough to finish the game.

Edit: Changed a few words.

 

[srksrk 68]

I know it's probably coming across like I'm shit stirring and maybe I am a little, but I'm only poking fun really. I have my opinions on the devs of the majority of the games here, which extend to 'DC' also, but I'm sure he's a nice dude and it's great he has a supportive community.

I do STRONGLY disagree that it doesn't matter how much money he's making, because that's the motivation for him to be doing this and it allows him to keep it as his full-time job. It's in his interest to draw this out as long as possible (within reason to keep his supporters happy). Why bust a gut, when he can earn just as much taking his time?

I'd bet all the money in the world that he'd pick up the pace if his patreon numbers started dropping. I mean, I feel like the majority of the content came in the initial updates when he was (presumably) earning much less and has slowed down the more support he's had.

I just wish the community would hold devs to a higher standard when they start taking the piss, which (IMO) DC is doing. $60k p/month just doesn't stack up with the amount of content he's putting out, but there ya go - fair play to him honestly. I'm not gonna sway the masses.

I grow tired reading all that over and over again. It's not DC's fault that people like his game so much they are throwing all that money at him. And that does not make him their slave nor does it force him to work harder the more they like his game.

I posted numerous times that, while quality of each update (Diane maybe an exception, being comparably poor story and content wise) increases steadily, the time between updates has been more or less constant. Here, for you, again, what I posted earlier:

0.20.0: finished 49% as of January 6th 2020 (main story) -> estimation: end of March 2020
0.19.5: December 20th 2019 (Consuela) -> 2 months
0.19.1: October 19th 2019 (Eve) -> 4.5 months
0.18.5: June 4th 2019 (Jenny 2) -> 1 month
0.18.0: May 2nd 2019 (Jenny) -> 4.5 months
0.17.5: Dec 16th 2018 (Daisy) -> 1- month
0.17.0: Nov 23rd 2018 (Diane) -> 4 months
0.16.0: July 25th 2018 (Roxxy) -> 3+ months
0.15.1: April 15th 2018 (teachers) -> 4 months
0.14.5: December 19th 2017 (Debbie) -> 1.5 months
0.14.3: November 1st 2017 (Aqua) -> 0.5 months
0.14: October 13th 2017 (Mia) -> 2- months
0.13: August 21st 2017 (Erik)

Now we have Corona and DC being not well, and 12 days still left in March to do the remaining 17%. I don't think he will make it in that time. If we all die now, it will not be because the game is a month late...

 

[bendover15]

I mean yeh, like I said, I'm not going to sway the masses and I don't blame DC; I'd be doing the exact same thing in his shoes.

As someone who wants content though, I'm just disappointed at how slow it's moving. In terms of those releases, from 0.13 to 0.19.5, that's in no way over two years worth of someone working full-time IMO.

When the full game drops in ~2024 (I doubt it'll even be then) and someone new plays it through from start to finish, I don't think they'll feel like it was 7 years in development with $4million+ of contributions.

Like you've said though, it's not his fault people throw money at him and like I've said, his average patreon supporter would probably just write him a blank check. He's probably reading this thread right now having a good laugh, while drafting up his next patreon post about how his dog ate v0.2 so he has to start again.

 

[BuddyNemo68]

I honestly don't get the appeal for her in this thread. She isn't a very interesting character and imo, she isn't very good looking (I know this is completely subjective). Usually, if someone isn't physically very appealing it's easy to get over that if they are interesting but she's kind of meh. She's not naive about sex or anything and jumps right into fooling around so she doesn't cover that fetish (Mia is better for that). She's not spunky outcast so that's not an advantage (Eve's the go to for that). She's not a hot trashy character (Roxxy has that edge). I'm not trying to insult anyone who likes her, I'm just curious about what people like about her.

Well, I guess the appeal, for me, is that when you play straight through, she is the first girl you see nude and the first girl you get to do anything with -- so it just seems natural that she would progress further and quicker than some of the other ladies, but she doesn't. She hasn't changed at all. We only know, for instance, that Beth is her mother because DC told us so. Poor Judith didn't even get any real character growth in the Mia update, and Mia is suppose to be friends with her. So I keep voting for her just to get the story to go somewhere.

 

[Oriandu]

Annie update will be the 0.22.

I'll believe that when it happens. So long as there are patreon votes the content of updates could change drastically.

 

[Rickster82]

A justified point of criticism in my opinion is that so far no old saves can be transferred to new versions. DC should work on this urgently. It cannot be that we have to start over again (despite cheats) or have to use other people's saves.

 

[srksrk 68]

A justified point of criticism in my opinion is that so far no old saves can be transferred to new versions. DC should work on this urgently. It cannot be that we have to start over again (despite cheats) or have to use other people's saves.

You are not up to date. This is possible since 0.19.1

 

[Rickster82]

You are not up to date. This is possible since 0.19.1

I didn't know...Sorry and thx for the information. It was too damn time.

 

[srksrk 68]

I didn't know...Sorry and thx for the information. It was too damn time.

Apart from that, they always provided a complete savegame if you did not want to re-play everything, except last time (but they provided it later afaik). They did not provide it last time because it is possible to jump right into the new content without need to have played any other story before. So, basically, there never was a need to start over again.