Ren'Py Summertime Saga [v21.0.0 wip.5258] [Kompas Productions]

[j4yj4m]

Well I would certainly like to know if that's true, mobile players being the majority. If that's so, I live in a totally different world because hell would freeze sooner than I began playing on mobile regularly.

The game is hugely popular in south east asia and many younger people I know don't even really own PCs anymore, but only use mobile devices for whatever they do. As far as I recall DC mentioned it quite some time ago, but I really don't doubt it, though I'm not 100% sure. In my opinion the F95 community here certainly isn't representative of SS playerbase as a whole.

On the other hand, PC players play mostly on 16:10 devices, so for them the migration from 4:3 towards 16:9 would mean replacing two black bars on the left an right of the screen with two black bars on top and bottom. Not what I think would be received very well...

As said, on mobile the two massive black bars are a real nuisance, while most of the PC players probably won't care that much where their bars are. I'm not even sure how many people actually play fullscreen on PC in the first place, I sure know that I don't.

 

[mightybored]

Waiting for MC to get an upgraded wardrobe. Tired of looking like a beach bum at times

That'll be in Tech Update 8, in about 15 years.

 

[MurkyTurtle]

Well I would certainly like to know if that's true, mobile players being the majority. If that's so, I live in a totally different world because hell would freeze sooner than I began playing on mobile regularly.

On the other hand, PC players play mostly on 16:10 devices, so for them the migration from 4:3 towards 16:9 would mean replacing two black bars on the left an right of the screen with two black bars on top and bottom. Not what I think would be received very well...

He's definitely mentioned before that a large portion of the player base is mobile, and with the aspect ratios of modern phones getting even wider (the Galaxy s20 clocks in at 20:9) the black bar problem has gotten even worse. Of course, this means that in two or three years he'll have to announce the move to ultra-widescreen since 16:9 will still have black bars on phones

I'm a little curious where you live if you're playing on a 16:10 PC. I haven't owned a 16:10 monitor in over a decade, and I'd assumed they'd become an endangered species since I've only seen 16:9 or ultrawide monitors in US stores and online storefronts for years. Do you work mainly on a laptop? I do recall seeing an article recently that 16:10 is making a comeback there.

 

[DivineRowland]

That'll be in Tech Update 8, in about 15 years.

I can see that already happening lmao

 

[srksrk 68]

He's definitely mentioned before that a large portion of the player base is mobile, and with the aspect ratios of modern phones getting even wider (the Galaxy s20 clocks in at 20:9) the black bar problem has gotten even worse. Of course, this means that in two or three years he'll have to announce the move to ultra-widescreen since 16:9 will still have black bars on phones

I'm a little curious where you live if you're playing on a 16:10 PC. I haven't owned a 16:10 monitor in over a decade, and I'd assumed they'd become an endangered species since I've only seen 16:9 or ultrawide monitors in US stores and online storefronts for years. Do you work mainly on a laptop? I do recall seeing an article recently that 16:10 is making a comeback there.

You're right, I just checked and I have a native 16:9 resolution. Thought otherwise, though...

 

[Bob69]

He's definitely mentioned before that a large portion of the player base is mobile, and with the aspect ratios of modern phones getting even wider (the Galaxy s20 clocks in at 20:9) the black bar problem has gotten even worse. Of course, this means that in two or three years he'll have to announce the move to ultra-widescreen since 16:9 will still have black bars on phones

I'm a little curious where you live if you're playing on a 16:10 PC. I haven't owned a 16:10 monitor in over a decade, and I'd assumed they'd become an endangered species since I've only seen 16:9 or ultrawide monitors in US stores and online storefronts for years. Do you work mainly on a laptop? I do recall seeing an article recently that 16:10 is making a comeback there.

16:9 --> 20:9 is way easier then 4:3 -> 16:9. Because you just have to cut left and right. And when there is only background its not a problem, like when you have to cut of the top and bottom, I would guess.

 

[MurkyTurtle]

16:9 --> 20:9 is way easier then 4:3 -> 16:9. Because you just have to cut left and right. And when there is only background its not a problem, like when you have to cut of the top and bottom, I would guess.

I was being facetious, I don't actually expect he'll do any more background conversions since he's doubtless used up all of his patrons' goodwill by taking over a year on this one. It does beg the question: why wasn't he drawing backgrounds in widescreen and chopping off the left and right sides to make them 4:3, like what they did for TV shows in the era before HDTV? DC was discussing a widescreen conversion for years (I vaguely remember him throwing out the idea on polls or streams in ~2018), so I'm surprised he didn't try to future-proof his work earlier. I know it's water under the bridge now, but I'm curious if he ever addressed it on stream at some point.

 

[Omnikuken]

I was being facetious, I don't actually expect he'll do any more background conversions since he's doubtless used up all of his patrons' goodwill by taking over a year on this one. It does beg the question: why wasn't he drawing backgrounds in widescreen and chopping off the left and right sides to make them 4:3, like what they did for TV shows in the era before HDTV? DC was discussing a widescreen conversion for years (I vaguely remember him throwing out the idea on polls or streams in ~2018), so I'm surprised he didn't try to future-proof his work earlier. I know it's water under the bridge now, but I'm curious if he ever addressed it on stream at some point.

2 points :

#1 - It's been ~10 months, not "over a year"
#2 - DC draws in 4K and scales it down to fit the game. Would be fun to see the milkers switch out their moaning that the game is now 10GB per build cause DC kept the 4K pics

 

[DarkDaemonX]

#2 - DC draws in 4K and scales it down to fit the game. Would be fun to see the milkers switch out their moaning that the game is now 10GB per build cause DC kept the 4K pics

I don't really care about the download size of a game, as long as it's worth the download time and space.

 

[j4yj4m]

why wasn't he drawing backgrounds in widescreen and chopping off the left and right sides to make them 4:3, like what they did for TV shows in the era before HDTV? DC was discussing a widescreen conversion for years (I vaguely remember him throwing out the idea on polls or streams in ~2018), so I'm surprised he didn't try to future-proof his work earlier. I know it's water under the bridge now, but I'm curious if he ever addressed it on stream at some point.

I think he actually started drawing wider backgrounds back in 2020, but the answer why he didn't do it before is probably rather simple. Given that you have to balance a background so it works in 4:3 and 16:9 it's quite a bit more work (I still recall DC tinkering with the cemetery background, so it would look good in both versions) and he probably didn't think an update would actually happen, before he convinced himself that he wanted to do it. If you don't think that you'll ever use 16:9, there isn't a need to make an extra effort to create 16:9 assets.
I don't think DC himself was ever really happpy with 4:3, but up to some point I'd say his plan was to finish SS as it is and to do the next project properly. That very much changed in those last years and now SS is supposed to be "as good as it can be".

But as mentioned before, the problem with this tech update actually isn't the art. If he had stuck to his original plan to only add 5 to 8 scenes and to redo the backgrounds, I'm sure he would have finished the necessary art by the end of July/August last year. I guess I'll never understand why they didn't just hire the people they hired now right in the beginning.

I'm not giving DC any money so I don't really care what they do as long as they are working, but these two last years have certainly cost them a lot of good will and money.

 

[Omnikuken]

.... wall of stuff
but these two last years have certainly cost them a lot of good will and money.

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Not really

 

[j4yj4m]

You must be registered to see the links

Not really

The game basically stagnated for the last 1,5 years (certainly since may 2020), when it could have grown a lot. It's not unreasonable to expect that DC would make a decent 6 figure number by now if they hadn't bungled/bloated the main story and if they had released the tech update on time. From a financial point of view 2020 and 2021 were really lost years.

 

[Northnecro]

its 5 years wow

 

[Myth-x-gamer]

So the tech update is making the game 1080p right or just only the ratio

 

[twichman]

So the tech update is making the game 1080p right or just only the ratio

Judging by how long he has been doing the tech update, we will see 8K

 

[Omnikuken]

So the tech update is making the game 1080p right or just only the ratio

4K pics downscaled to whatever in a 16:9 ratio

 

[Darper]

Wish he would fucking finish or extend story arcs of existing characters instead of just keep adding half assed stuff. Feels like god damn Star Citizen with all of its T0 features.

 

[Myth-x-gamer]

Judging by how long he has been doing the tech update, we will see 8K

So in order make everything 4k, he redraws everything?

 

[gam2000]

There are a bunch of people thinking that they are not getting their money's worth on a free distribution site.
Why even answer the posts mentioning milk, saves, next update or lack there of? Sure would cut down of redundant posts/pages that are here.

 

[Count Morado]

ITT: People looking the gift horse in the mouth. Gettin' it for free, but not gettin' it fast enough or not gettin' what they want ... for free.

And before one of the exceptions say they are patreons, whatever, WTF purpose is it to kvetch here - go kvetch on the patreon, discord, or wherever you have actual possible access with the development team? Bitching here advances nothing except to show you're a bitch.