Ren'Py Summertime Saga [v21.0.0 wip.6440] [Kompas Productions]

[The Surgeon]

People seriously underestimate the amount of work required for each update and overestimate the amount of money 40k a month is. Yes, someone is quitting their dayjob and become a h-game developer because they want to do minimal work and cash in on Patreon for a few years and do nothing of course.
Starting your own game and kinda your own company for such a game is not the path someone would take if they just want to cruise by and make money doing nothing. Everyone who has ever worked in an office job would know that you can do that way more easily there. I bet almost nobody here has any experience in either art, coding or game making in general but think they are the ultimate authority on how long making a game is supposed to take based on their feeling of "it should have been done already".

Same shit for every game that isn't updating weekly.

 

[Deleted member 287346]

This game hasn't been good in a long while, hopefully the new update changes that

Nah, Roxxy's update was great, nice amount of content and scenes, I wouldn't mind if each update takes time to have the same content quality or better, as Roxxy's update, but alas, Diane's update show that wasn't the case, more time for less, and I'm expecting that Jenny's will be the same, I really hope that 0.19 gets a good amount of content for the development time, if not, then DC is heading to a very difficult situation, I hope he get his mojo back again, but only time will tell...

 

[secretsonny]

People seriously underestimate the amount of work required for each update and the amount of money 40k a month is. Yes, someone is quitting their dayjob and become a h-game developer because they want to do minimal work and cash in on Patreon for a few years and do nothing.
Starting your own game and kinda your own company for such a game is not the path someone would take if they just want to cruise by and make money doing nothing. Everyone who has ever worked in an office job would know that you can do that way more easily there. I bet almost nobody here has any experience in either art, coding or game making in general but think they are the ultimate authority on how long making a game is supposed to take based on their feeling of "it should have been done already".

Same shit for every game that isn't updating weekly.

But muh favorite 3d game with simplistic playstyle/story and premade assets comes out every insert interval of time here.

 

[srksrk 68]

I'm tired of everyone blindly defending this game from legitimate complaints. Yes it's a great game, but criticism is okay when it's coherent, which that persons was. It wasn't a 'whens NTR coming' or the other random dumb complaints you see all over this website.

And then you start making random assumptions about what this person complains about. If you think they complain about the save issue (a legitimate issue that I personally don't really mind) then go dig through their posts and find the damn hypothetical post you made up, or stop making pointless assumptions about people and go put some more highheels on random characters.

I really don't understand this type of argument. Just because it's free, that doesn't shield it from criticism. That's like saying it's stupid to complain that the air smells bad because the air is free. Also, you're assuming shit about me. I have never complained about saves or stupid unimportant stuff. This is actually my first complaint and criticism about this game, I have been a fan since day 1. But thanks for your input.

I am sorry I apparently quoted the wrong post to make my statement. There were a couple of guys complaining on a much less justified basis. Sorry for that, all is well.

But my statement stays. The game is free, so there is nothing to complain about, especially not something like that they were milking patrons or such. Because they don't.

I know you didn't say that, and that you did not complain about saves, but others did.

 

[Oriandu]

Also, if my memory doesn't betray me, he was asking for more money to hire new people on his team? So his development team got significantly bigger, but his updates are coming out slower and with less content? Seems pretty bullshit to me.

Increasing the amount of people means they can tackle more, and that doesn't necessarily mean they can do it faster. So you have two options. They either keep putting on the same level of content at a quicker rate, or they get more ambitious and tackle more varied and well crafted content and take longer. Personally I say the latter is a better choice, as I'd rather we get a great game later than a good game now.

 

[irrelevantname]

Increasing the amount of people means they can tackle more, and that doesn't necessarily mean they can do it faster. So you have two options. They either keep putting on the same level of content at a quicker rate, or they get more ambitious and tackle more varied and well crafted content and take longer. Personally I say the latter is a better choice, as I'd rather we get a great game later than a good game now.

The problem is not necessarily speed. It is the speed-to-quality ratio.
If you put out a small update, (which, let's be honest, the Diane "update" was pretty dull and didn't encompass any story at all, few dragged out sex scenes and pretty short) but you require larger and larger amounts of time, that's milking patrons. Disclaimer though, this is just how I see things, it's completely subjective.
You say they get ambitious and tackle more varied and well crafted content. Where is that? When was that? They did almost no main story in almost 3 years since release, and they've started 'remaking' character stories. I mean, come on.. I sincerely want to be 110% proven wrong, with this upcoming update. But I am not very hopeful. To take 5-6 months to remake the Jenny story is pretty long.

 

[401Grem]

The problem is not necessarily speed. It is the speed-to-quality ratio.
If you put out a small update, (which, let's be honest, the Diane "update" was pretty dull and didn't encompass any story at all, few dragged out sex scenes and pretty short) but you require larger and larger amounts of time, that's milking patrons. Disclaimer though, this is just how I see things, it's completely subjective.
You say they get ambitious and tackle more varied and well crafted content. Where is that? When was that? They did almost no main story in almost 3 years since release, and they've started 'remaking' character stories. I mean, come on.. I sincerely want to be 110% proven wrong, with this upcoming update. But I am not very hopeful. To take 5-6 months to remake the Jenny story is pretty long.

Doesn't matter, it's none of your concern.

 

[2xjj]

Th

The problem is not necessarily speed. It is the speed-to-quality ratio.
If you put out a small update, (which, let's be honest, the Diane "update" was pretty dull and didn't encompass any story at all, few dragged out sex scenes and pretty short) but you require larger and larger amounts of time, that's milking patrons. Disclaimer though, this is just how I see things, it's completely subjective.
You say they get ambitious and tackle more varied and well crafted content. Where is that? When was that? They did almost no main story in almost 3 years since release, and they've started 'remaking' character stories. I mean, come on.. I sincerely want to be 110% proven wrong, with this upcoming update. But I am not very hopeful. To take 5-6 months to remake the Jenny story is pretty long.

This is an outright lie and you know it.

 

[2xjj]

It really grinds my gears when people just make shit about this game. Like how can you say the Diane update didn’t have any story and of course there has been no progress towards the main story nobody votes for it

 

[Glasglow]

I see there is a petreon mode, which supposedly has some special dialogues and stuff, is there a way to get it without actually paying? lol

 

[irrelevantname]

Th

This is an outright lie and you know it.

What exactly is a lie?

 

[2xjj]

What exactly is a lie?

Let’s see the fact that you said Diane update was small even tho the only previous update bigger than it was Roxy and that was the biggest they ever done. You also said there was barely any story despite the fact they expand on and improved the relationship between Mc and Diane, introduce Anne parents and the pregnancy system, and gave some character development to Nicole and Veronica. Lastly there is no made towards the main story because no one voted for it until recently

 

[kimjongew]

I hate to be negative, but I'm not too confident we're going to be getting .20 before New Years. We're only 2/3s the way through an update like this in March. 0.19 and 0.20 are going to be much bigger updates (I would assume). =/

 

[j4yj4m]

Gunsmoke games went through something similar last year, and it seems they've understood the dangers of that development cycle and they've pledged to correct that with more frequent and focused updates. It would be nice to see DC also change his stubborn ways, but I honestly don't see him doing that.

To be fair, he tried shorter updates before and people didn't like them because content was missing and they felt rushed. Hence he went from 50 to 100 day releases. Focussed updates may sound good but I don't think they really fit the story writing in general. Roxxy's update for example would have beem worse without Missy and Becca and for example Mia's story makes very little sense without Helen, etc.

Else it's worth noting that it's a difference wether a dev actually sells the game like most (early access in various degrees) or wether the game is free for all. In one case people obviously expext the game, because they pay for early access, in the other case it's less clear.

I see there is a petreon mode, which supposedly has some special dialogues and stuff, is there a way to get it without actually paying? lol

I think you missunderstood. Patreons can "buy" dialogs which the drunk pirate at the pier will shout if you activate it in the menue. But else there's no additional content for patreons. Everybody gets the same game.

 

[woody554]

Also, if my memory doesn't betray me, he was asking for more money to hire new people on his team? So his development team got significantly bigger, but his updates are coming out slower and with less content? Seems pretty bullshit to me.

that would be exactly what the theory of project management in software engineering predicts: adding more people to a project that's late will make it even more late. this has been well established since the 1960s if I remember right.

of course almost none of the people making these games have the education to know things like these, so stuff happens. and it is a very unintuitive result so hard to blame people too much for thinking otherwise.

all that said, when I compare this game to almost any of its peers, the striking difference is he's still delivering the goods. eventually. that alone gives him the pass in my eyes. even if he's doing it wrong, at least he's still actually doing it.

 

[Selks]

My big problem with how things are going is that, even if he needs the extra time, it feel like he isnt doing much, because he keeps redoing the same things over and over again, for multiple reasons, im pretty sure the sister and the aunt had at least 2 "re-updates" for each!

this new one he is working on will take around 4 months to be delivered, thats 1/3rd of a year, for a character that already had content remade.

as things are progressing, i wouldnt be surprised if he anounce that he will need even more time, and up it for 1 update every 6 months.

and this isnt to say his content is bad, but its also nowhere near as good as many people say, with multiple updates being 2 hours of fetch, only to get the same scene in diferent flavors at the end. for example Mia is probably the worst offender, being ALOT of busy work, only to be rewarded with almost nothing! but hey, at least we did get something diferent with her, as opposed to pretty much the rest of the cast "as vanilla as possible"...

 

[2xjj]

My big problem with how things are going is that, even if he needs the extra time, it feel like he isnt doing much, because he keeps redoing the same things over and over again, for multiple reasons, im pretty sure the sister and the aunt had at least 2 "re-updates" for each!

this new one he is working on will take around 4 months to be delivered, thats 1/3rd of a year, for a character that already had content remade.

as things are progressing, i wouldnt be surprised if he anounce that he will need even more time, and up it for 1 update every 6 months.

and this isnt to say his content is bad, but its also nowhere near as good as many people say, with multiple updates being 2 hours of fetch, only to get the same scene in diferent flavors at the end. for example Mia is probably the worst offender, being ALOT of busy work, only to be rewarded with almost nothing! but hey, at least we did get something diferent with her, as opposed to pretty much the rest of the cast "as vanilla as possible"...

I feel like people on this site go out of their way to misinform when it comes to Summertime Saga. The Jenny and Diane update are ment to moved them onto the code because the old code was shit, rework their story and move the art to the rig system, and finally introduce the pregnancy system. Also DC planing to do the same with Mia, Eric, and the mom

 

[Selks]

that may be, doesnt change the fact that feels like wasted time because it takes 1/3rd of a year, for content that doesnt feel rewarding in the least.

my biggest question is, why does he need to remake that code NOW, like you said, there are multiple characters with the "bad code", the game is still in progress, if he waste too much time retreading old grounds, by the time he gets to where he wants, he will need to retread it once again.

and no, im not talking that to bash on him, thats exactly what happens in AAA games, that's what sunk duke nukem forever.

does he need to do it? sure, but if so, it should either be left for after everything, or as a side grade with the other things.

 

[Hero1]

my biggest question is, why does he need to remake that code NOW, like you said, there are multiple characters with the "bad code", the game is still in progress, if he waste too much time retreading old grounds, by the time he gets to where he wants, he will need to retread it once again.

He needs to redo the code to make save files compatible, since a shit ton of people complain about it every update. Yes, it is his fault for not making it right from the start, but he has stated that he had no substantial knowledge of coding when he started. And the only characters left on the old code are Eric und his mom landlady. There won't be any need to revisit characters after he updated them except to add new features (like pregnancy or the dating system), but since those characters will be on the new code and rig system it will be much faster.

 

[Selks]

i will say this, i understand why people complain about it, but its far from being as important as many make it out to be, specially since, most players will end up replaying either way due to how long it takes for each update to come out. if anything, the main reason why its needed is due to the almost ridiculous amount of uninteresting grind.

aside from that, i still doubt it will make anything even remotely faster. most of the resources he is using for this type of update is already in the game, and if he knows what the bottlenecks that needed to fix are, it makes no sense they take longer to make, than the original update they got.