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

[anminter17]

Patreons are happy. You're happy. Why are we having this conversation in the first place?

DC is just a reflection of the industry as a whole. He's a full-time developer, top 1 adult game developer on Patreon who doesn't deliver at all. It's just nonsense to defend him.
What you're saying is just a monetization model. It's only free because supporters pay for it. Do you think this game would be the same with 0 supporters? Do you think this game would exist without support?

No, i don't think that game will exist without support ofc, but that's the point. Dev makes money if supporters pay -> If supporters get angry/tired about the development dev will lose his money flow -> Dev should care about supporters.

In this case supporters still pay him after years of no updates. What should we understand from that? People evidently still believe the dev and wants to support him. It's ok? It's not? I'm not the right person to ask that because i don't support the dev and i never did. Subscribe a patreon isn't for the life, you should pay month by month and until people pay it means that for them it's ok to do so. I wouldn't do that but i'm not doing it in the first place so it doesn't matter. What matters for me is if the game is alive and worthly to play. The game definitely got an update so is alive (kinda) and that's good, it was a bad update anyway so i don't even bother do download and play it. I will just wait future releases and see if it will become again worthly of my time.

Why do you still think that i'm defending the dev in any way? I'm not happy with this update as anybody else but it could be a new rebirth for the game after a long hiatus. Or not ofc, that's why i'll wait and i think that's the correct approach to this situation especially for people that not supports the dev with money. If you feel like to burn the world thinking that your enrage will alter the outcome of this in any way you are free to do so. I'm just writing up my opinion about this matter, not defending anyone but also not crucifying the devs before watching what future releases will be like.

To summarize a bit: You are right writing that supporters should consider again if keep supporting the dev in the meaningwhile but i'm not one of them so why should i bother? It's their choice and they renew their choice monthly so it's all up to them.

 

[MonsterV]

I can't believe It, I swear to god I haven't checked this game since the pizza guy's wife was added and haven't played since Eve. Are they really starting over from the bottom? How Jenny's story being improved this time? Last time it was taking out all the scenes where the MC sticks it in when Jenny tried to blue ball him.

i think jenny´s is just the same, but some scenes removed or reworked like the sleep molestation? gone

 

[KullisUrus]

Oh man, i was replaying it just these days and scared the shit out of me when i read "old saves are no compatible"

So from what i understand reading the changelog, they are moving engines and rebuilding the entire game?

My honest reaction is "ok? so why don't just say it and share the game when all the content is already moved?", i don't see much of a need to "replay" from zero in a new engine to not reach even a quarter of the content of the old one.

And even if it was the same game fully moved into another engine, i don't know the reason why they are moving it to another, it's suspicious enough (knowing similar games living out of a game with minor updates just squeeshing till the last coin).

Idk but this is pretty sus

 

[Maxwell404]

I love the DarkCookie defenders being like "its really hard to make a game, it's hard to do code"

Not in Renpy. NOT in Renpy. Especially with the content in front of us. There is nothing complicated in this game. It's a point and click game with a few minor timing puzzles. DC is not writing code from scratch. He is not pioneering new game mechanics. There aren't complex dialouge trees. There aren't complex stat progressions. There's no combat to balance. There isn't even a basic crafting system. There aren't complex branching storylines. The games industry was making games more complex than this in the 1980s, around 40 years ago. Renpy itself is a tool suite specifically created to streamline visual novel games exactly like Summertime Saga. The most complex work he has to do is sorting out his triggers for events. if X stat >3, then event = true. That sorta shit. In two years, Dark Cookie could have got an associates degree in actual programming.

I picked up Game Maker and in an afternoon I was making stuff more complicated than this game. Not because I'm good at programming, but because a visual novel with light timing puzzles is not complicated. I don't care what he claimed, there's nothing crazy under the hood of this game that takes 2 years to clean up. With a little effort, this simple little game could have been recoded from the ground up in a month by a halfway competent Renpy author, especially for $30k/month. Give them a script and some assets and it should just be fucking done already.

I'm glad DC is gonna suffer for this. Dude is a scammer and a fraud.

The fundamental issue is that he has bought cars, and a house and is raising a kid on the money he makes from this game. If he were to finish it, it would mean that he would no longer have an income. At least that's his assumption lmao; but he spends more time streaming himself drawing so at this point he's more of an art streamer than a game developer.

 

[Dragon1982]

Like I said, entertaining drama, even though it's usually not my cup of tea.

 

[phinny1]

I didn't think anybody would top the way Milfy City was bungled but this release is a peerless 'Hold my Beer' moment.

 

[Davner]

The trap is a lie

 

[Hatrask]

I mean, I do appreciate how well the game is running now. Nearly instant boot, smooth text boxes, no lag spikes while interacting with the custom UI (phone, bag, NPCs), animated scenes... you know the deal. What I don't understand is how he managed to make the old code base run like absolute fucking dog crap when both games still share the same engine.

I've been around following this game for long enough to still remember that the Tech Update was supposed to come out in phases, alongside the new content, instead of being a complete rewrite of the whole damn thing. Remember when the Rhonda update was supposed to be out in a few months? Yeah... Also, considering that this whole deal started because people kept complaining about save file compatibility between versions, seeing that the new build of the game still will struggle with the same issue (note the option "recap" when you click new game) makes me lose it completely lmao.

All in all, if DC maintain the game running this well and somehow manages to bring back all the content in a reasonable time frame, I'd say that we're eating good. Who knows, maybe he's entering his redemption arc now? (lol, alright). I don't think I'll play this ever again because his art style doesn't really turn me on anymore, but it's always fun to follow this thread.

Summertime Saga's patreons don't really deserve anything better than this.

 

[Dragon1982]

I didn't think anybody would top the way Milfy City was bungled but this release is a peerless 'Hold my Beer' moment.

I agree about Milfy City. That was a train wreck.

 

[puddingontheritz]

Well hey man in conclusion

there's AI trained on the artstyle out there, it wouldn't be hard to grab it and then make your own story lines or rewrite what was already there, hell you might even earn just as much money as DC does

Those don't show up when I search for them what gives

 

[AlfredBundy4]

I love the DarkCookie defenders being like "its really hard to make a game, it's hard to do code"

Not in Renpy. NOT in Renpy. Especially with the content in front of us. There is nothing complicated in this game. It's a point and click game with a few minor timing puzzles. DC is not writing code from scratch. He is not pioneering new game mechanics. There aren't complex dialouge trees. There aren't complex stat progressions. There's no combat to balance. There isn't even a basic crafting system. There aren't complex branching storylines. The games industry was making games more complex than this in the 1980s, around 40 years ago. Renpy itself is a tool suite specifically created to streamline visual novel games exactly like Summertime Saga. The most complex work he has to do is sorting out his triggers for events. if X stat >3, then event = true. That sorta shit. In two years, Dark Cookie could have got an associates degree in actual programming.

I picked up Game Maker and in an afternoon I was making stuff more complicated than this game. Not because I'm good at programming, but because a visual novel with light timing puzzles is not complicated. I don't care what he claimed, there's nothing crazy under the hood of this game that takes 2 years to clean up. With a little effort, this simple little game could have been recoded from the ground up in a month by a halfway competent Renpy author, especially for $30k/month. Give them a script and some assets and it should just be fucking done already.

I'm glad DC is gonna suffer for this. Dude is a scammer and a fraud.

Never cared one way or the other for this title but Python/Renpy in general is beyond easy to code with.
If building to or from Python, any half-decent code could build a porting app that would do about 90% of the work for them in about a month. Python to C variants or C variants to Python, it wouldn't take years lmao.
Then you finish the rest by hand and you're done.

Any length beyond about 6 months is insane. If you paid someome to do it for you and they claimed to need two years to do it you'd immediately fire them.

Unless you have other motives and make your money from a system that rewards being slow.

 

[Poggersq]

Oh wow, what a deal! Just another year to get content from more than 2 years ago !

ahh i see: a umemaro fan as well. well cultured indeed

 

[Toybirdy]

You know what DC and the guy that makes Something unlimited have in commons? They both like scamming people. 2 years and DC decided to remake teh game fro mteh ground up on a new software or w/e they call thes things. I am not gonan even try this new update i could care less about this update or new 1st day of school event. i play this game to see teh sex scenes not read shit ton of text.

 

[GrandSekiza]

My god, why did DarkCookie do this? 2 years without an update and now there is no new content, only content temporarily removed to ''redo'' what was already perfectly done.

THIS THIS THIS, this is what everyone should be talking about. I literally was shocked picachu faced for like 10 mins while I tried to see if maybe the content was somewhere else. Idk how anyone could support after this tbh.

 

[TFurguson69]

Almost TWO FUCKING YEARS. And he not only releases a game with ZERO new content. He releases a game that now only has two characters in it. The chick on the logo isn't even playable
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Keep paying your monthly fees subs
You should get back to where the game was two years ago in about two years.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Ifllslonly]

In this case supporters still pay him after years of no updates. What should we understand from that? People evidently still believe the dev and wants to support him. It's ok? It's not? I'm not the right person to ask that because i don't support the dev and i never did.

If you never supported the dev, you're not right person to ask, that's true.
So I will ask again. Patreons are happy. You're happy. Why are we having this conversation in the first place? Lets discuss the update.
You said yourself "What matters for me is if the game is alive and worthly to play. The game definitely got an update so is alive (kinda) and that's good, it was a bad update anyway so i don't even bother do download and play it."

Why do you still think that i'm defending the dev in any way?

It's simple. You're either attacking or defending. By mentioning the monetisation model in the way you did, you're passively defending. You're saying things that are misleading. You're saying things that make you look like a hypocrite, trying to draw attention to something that's not important. What is important is an update. So let us talk about the update. Personally, I didn't play it because of the art "update".

 

[Dragon1982]

You know what DC and the guy that makes Something unlimited have in commons? They both like scamming people. 2 years and DC decided to remake teh game fro mteh ground up on a new software or w/e they call thes things. I am not gonan even try this new update i could care less about this update or new 1st day of school event. i play this game to see teh sex scenes not read shit ton of text.

Not to sound like a dick but you do realize it's not "teh" but" the". You misspelled it several times. Again not trying to be a dick. Just pointing it out.

 

[Toybirdy]

Not to sound like a dick but you do realize it's not "teh" but" the". You misspelled it several times. Again not trying to be a dick. Just pointing it out.

its a habit to lazy to correct my spelling

 

[puddingontheritz]

The fundamental issue is that he has bought cars, and a house and is raising a kid on the money he makes from this game. If he were to finish it, it would mean that he would no longer have an income. At least that's his assumption lmao; but he spends more time streaming himself drawing so at this point he's more of an art streamer than a game developer.

If he wanted to run a live service game, not updating for years is the opposite of that. He could keep the gravy train rolling perpetually with more scenes and content.

And then, you know what he could do, like every other game developer?

MAKE ANOTHER GAME.

Why couldn't he make another one? His fanbase would follow him, he'd just have to make some new set up with a bunch of babes that cater to various fetishes with a basic ass story and the same level of writing, and he's gold.

 

[AlfredBundy4]

If he wanted to run a live service game, not updating for years is the opposite of that. He could keep the gravy train rolling perpetually with more scenes and content.

And then, you know what he could do, like every other game developer?

MAKE ANOTHER GAME.

Why couldn't he make another one? His fanbase would follow him, he'd just have to make some new set up with a bunch of babes that cater to various fetishes with a basic ass story and the same level of writing, and he's gold.

It's the successful porn game dev's paradox.

They don't believe the can make another one. Sadly.
Whether him or L&P or Stoper or the Milfy City dude it's all the same story.
They have a successful title and the only answer beyond sheer laziness is that they don't believe they can make something as popular.

So, in their minds, why fix what isn't broken? They aren't artists or storytellers, they're just dudes that got lucky and they will hold on to that lucky ticket of gold as long as they can because they're human...and shitty.