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

[Badjourasmix]

At this rate I think we will be lucky if the update comes out before 2025.

 

[Count Morado]

The real issue spawning this is a perception over cost. Dark cookie has 65k patrons, each giving $1+ monthly; this gives an annual studio budget of something like 450k after taxes;
this is the budget of an established game studio making Japanese porn games (studios with a budget to make their own engine and employ voice actors) This creates a definite expectation that basically no other independent studio (at least the ones you see here) operates under. Simultaneously, those Japanese game companies have to move their product quickly, because there are no major pre-sales, driving development tables and forcing work to be finished and polished.

This pressure doesn't exist for DC with the Patreon system paying out monthly. The joke is on him, though. He turned his passion into an endless slog, and the bad will he generates will make a follow-up almost impossible.

As of 23 October, he has 29k subscribing patrons (patrons who pay some kind of membership to Patreon) - the remainder are followers who don't pay anything but are now counted under the new Patreon system as patrons.
Yes, you are correct about the $61k per month he is bringing in.

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And if you think people will really give a shit in a couple of years if DC can get this tech update out and new content moving - you're kidding yourself. People have short memories, about 6 inches worth.

Also, there are 8 billion people in the world - what a couple of hundred sour pusses on F95 complain about isn't worth a hill of shit in this world when looking at the global market. And yes, it is only about a couple of hundred people - mostly the same 30 or so who repeatedly whine on this thread, with some extras here and there - that complain in this thread about the game.

At this rate I think we will be lucky if the update comes out before 2025.

You're probably correct.

 

[eatingrice]

any prediction about which character going to be on the next exclusive wallpaper? just curious

 

[StreamSteam]

 

[beldr]

The October status report says "what the fuck going on" and why the numbers are changing: #73,394

It's basically what's been said in this thread over the past 2 years: they did most of the quick and easy tasks in the early part of the tech update development, leaving the more difficult, work heavy tasks for later.

Problem is that they made each easy task equal to each difficult task when determining percentage complete. So a task that took 1 hour to complete equaled a task that took 100 hours in terms of "percent complete."

What they are attempting right now is revaluing tasks based upon their workload/difficulty to give a clearer picture to what the status of the progress is.

Just wait until the Bugs/Issues bar starts to crank up the number of tasks if they get to the point of playtesting the tech update.

Again, you can't milk that which you give to everyone for free. While people have many reasons for subscribing to DC, access to play the game isn't one.

Well, that was just was a rookie mistake caunting small tasks and big tasks with the same weight.
But to be fair Uptating and reworking an engine of a game is a fuckin huge task even when you end up with pretty much the same product, Overwatch 2 took years and it was a big company doing it.
I think a lot of people underestimate how much work reworking code and an engine can take.

 

[Senigata]

I think a lot of people underestimate how much work reworking code and an engine can take.

Typical consumer mentality, really. Want it done yesterday rather than tomorrow, lest something could upset them. As we can repeatedly see in these threads. Nothing screams this



more than the last couple of hundred of pages. It shows who are actually the butthurt ones over those who supposedly can actually go and wank it to other games.

 

[McSlut]

I think a lot of people underestimate how much work reworking code and an engine can take.

the whole tech update rework was a mistake in the first place. what DC should have done is finish the remaining girl routes the same way he did before, rework mia and erik. maybe do one last harem update where you can fuck some of the girls in the beach house, then work on the ending where asking one of the girls should be a simple question you can ask them to go to the ball with you at the end of each route and then call it done and start working on a new game or summertime saga 2 where he can reuse lots of background pics and convert them to 16:9 without having to do that for every single background that exists. not every side character nobody cares about is going to get content, not every girl gets a pregnancy feature, who cares.

the dating system is a pipe dream anyway that will never get implemented. if you think DC is going to take 3 additional years to implement a dating system for every girl you are supposed to "date" you are delusional.

 

[beldr]

the whole tech update rework was a mistake in the first place. what DC should have done is finish the remaining girl routes the same way he did before, rework mia and erik. maybe do one last harem update where you can fuck some of the girls in the beach house, then work on the ending where asking one of the girls should be a simple question you can ask them to go to the ball with you at the end of each route and then call it done and start working on a new game or summertime saga 2 where he can reuse lots of background pics and convert them to 16:9 without having to do that for every single background that exists. not every side character nobody cares about is going to get content, not every girl gets a pregnancy feature, who cares.

the dating system is a pipe dream anyway that will never get implemented. if you think DC is going to take 3 additional years to implement a dating system for every girl you are supposed to "date" you are delusional.

I do agree that doing the tech update 6 years into development was not the wisest idea, but it mighrt have gotten to a point that it was needed to continue working the way he wanted.
I think this is a case of wanting way more of the game that could be done with the base he had. For example Four Elements trainer chapter 1 is very barebones compared with rest of game but dev said that it would be way more trouble than worth reworking it.

 

[alohomora1234]

i can not start the game. tried all kinds of things nothing works

 

[gam2000]

i can not start the game. tried all kinds of things nothing works

Load time is a very long time... Maybe that's the problem.

 

[YeOldeWanker]

The joke is on him, though. He turned his passion into an endless slog, and the bad will he generates will make a follow-up almost impossible.

How is the joke on him? The man is making stacks of cash, to the point that he won't need to make a followup of anything. He can transition to works somewhere else, invest a bunch, and go enjoy life with all that cheddar. I think he's good.

 

[Janjaap1]

Typical consumer mentality, really. Want it done yesterday rather than tomorrow, lest something could upset them. As we can repeatedly see in these threads. Nothing screams this

View attachment 3080211

more than the last couple of hundred of pages. It shows who are actually the butthurt ones over those who supposedly can actually go and wank it to other games.

Well you being here every hour and every day,sure means you're the butthurt one.

 

[FlamesOfVengeance]

Kinda insane how slow the dev team is apparently working... It feels like everytime I look at the progress bar it's stuck somewhere between 70% and 80%. And it's been like that for a year or so now... I miss this game so much but I only wanted to jump back in when the tech update is here but it sure is taking its sweet time.

 

[alohomora1234]

Load time is a very long time... Maybe that's the problem.

the first little screen appears for like a second and then it goes away with also the icon in the lower bar

 

[Poggersq]

Aw yeah, the exemplary dumb if you don't pay for it, you can't criticize it "argument".

double edged sword. pick your poison

 

[DefiantX8]

How is it possible that after so long without a decent update this guy still has 27k+ patreon subs? Are people just too lazy to stop their $1 pledge?

 

[Xupuzulla]

How is it possible that after so long without a decent update this guy still has 27k+ patreon subs? Are people just too lazy to stop their $1 pledge?

1 dollar is nothing in this horrendous global economy.

 

[Chili_Chale_Cholo]

How is it possible that after so long without a decent update this guy still has 27k+ patreon subs? Are people just too lazy to stop their $1 pledge?

I believe is a loop... A lot of people stops paying the patreon but at the same time a lot of new players discovers the game and see that you can "support" with only one buck without knowing the actual status of the development, they pay and then they see the reality and there is no other remedy that to wait to your pay month to finish....

DC found himself in a cycle of "eternal" income product of the ignorance of new players (that's why I believe he hardly make a status update).

 

[kofu]

Hey, how do you get the Achievement "Long lost father"? The father's already in jail; do I need him to be free in order to get it?

6 years later but still gonna answer.
You have to do it right after Larry get arrested and ask you to say a few words to Erik, go on Erik's house on the mailbox and read the letter.

 

[dkatryl]

DC found himself in a cycle of "eternal" income product of the ignorance of new players (that's why I believe he hardly make a status update).

I think another major factor that often gets overlooked is simply the timing of when SS was released. It was one of the earlier Ren'py games out there and had the benefit of having not as many options.

If it was released more recently, say at the same time as a comparable game in style and development/release cycle tims, What a Legend, then it would probably be much closer in Patron numbers.