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

[Pr0man]

About DC being silent, well, I guess it depends on how everyone sees it, but I think he is not silent at all. He may not be giving all the details, but overall we can keep track of what is being done and what is going to be done next in the near future, he answers a bunch of questions during streams and all. That's already far more comunication and transparency than most patreon game devs.

well, more opinion stuff from my side I guess

It may very well be that he isn't silent when doing his livestreams and answers questions there, but that has another flaw in itself if you ask me, namely this:
If I need to consume a second piece of media, especially one that could potentially be extremely time consuming, since (here we enter speculations, I haven't watched any of his streams so please, enlighten me) questions are usually asked randomly about the entirety of the length, making it a huge hassle to look for information when I am not that interested in the media he's using, say a livestream, then this will happen - I am straight up missing information because the distribution was on a second hand platform.

Sure, listening to it as a podcast seems like a nice way for killing the time, or watching it live, maybe getting your own questions answered, but what if I'm not interested in the media of livestreams itself? Information, common questions or a discussion section regarding a project should, atleast in my opinion, be easily accessible on the main project platform, here Patreon, not a side in another media. This will lead to straight up missing information that may or may not have been answered a hundred times, yet people will still ask about it, since it's nowhere on the main platform to be viewed quickly.

So, short story even shorter - have the main gist on what's going on/how everything is holding/some commonly asked questions up somewhere available on the main distribution platform, not as a sidenote inside a drawing stream.

Then about the 30k. I think there's a few things to take into consideration, but let's just get to the most importants. First, even if you have the money, there's an amount of work that needs to be done that takes time no matter what. And yes, you could get more people on the theam, but that takes time as well and you would not take just anyone of course, and the bigger the team the harder to manage. I think they are still polishing the workflow and teamwork, they got the new coder not too long ago. Then there's the ones saying that 30k is enough to not be called "amateur", but that makes no sense whatsoever. You could get all the money in the world, you skill level is what it is, your pace is what it is, you just don't suddenly work faster and better if you get more money.

On this one, again, more or less my personal feelings about the entirety of it:

Yeah, some tasks will take time, regardless on how much money you will throw at it, time can't just be bought down, regardless on what publishers like EA would like you to believe with their brand-themed casinos they conceal as games. Nontheless, projects this good and open with it's soon-to-be content will gain traction easily and believe me, this game is good, really damn good. Has some of the highest quality in the entire scene on Patreon. Probs also the reason why Patreon decided to go after DC in particular when it comes to enforcing this policy (atleast this is where I noticed it's main focus, are other projects hit by this as well?)

(after this follows a bit of what I would suggest is theorycrafting? so, from this point onward, careful when reading, it just contains my view on this topic, which can be straight up wrong)

However, with this traction that you gain, your product will just straight up generate a certain hype by it's own merits, especially when development continues and especially when it includes your audience by means of voting. this'll mean that more and more people will support it, so more money gets thrown into the project. Obviously you can't expect to just half the time it'll take to continuesly provide updates, that is just wishful thinking. However - here's the but, and that's a nasty butt: if your community grows, especially the way it did with DC, then your team >will< also need to grow, either to adapt for the new influx of messages coming in (people hate being ignored), or to hire another person in order to split up the available tasks to them, which does reduce the time taken, though the amount of hours used up will still be the same, just distributed along more members, reducing the time by how many people are actually working in their fields, what they are being put in charge. (heigher at the beginning even, since new members will have to get used to certain nuances, either language, programming style, whatnot, or even simple things like how normal situations are handled within the team)
A growth of the devteam carries risks of it's own however, which needs to be balanced - more workforce may mean more time, however, handling a team can be a real struggle. If critical parts are given to new members, them missing their schedule will screw you over, either because of sickness, personal issues (death or whatnot), or just something else entirely. On the other hand, it'll speed things up by splitting tasks onto more people, therefore reducing the workload each person has to carry, also reducing stress to a degree. And before you know it - BAM, you got to manage even more people, because you may need someone in charge of tracking everyone's work, then some QA, and then some more. So it's an extremely finnicky balance on a tightrope probably hanging over a pit of lava, spikes, and a part of the community ready to tear you a new one.

And alas, the 30k issue I brought up as well - it was more or less meant as a means to the end; you, a layman of the topic, look at that amount of cash and think "man, why does it take so long with that amount of money on a monthly basis? Shouldn't they potentially hire someone else now with that nice batch of extra cash coming in?" - but oh well, this leads back to what I said earlier.

To conclude, and this is just how I feel, really. Though I admire DC for how they handle the product considering Patreon decided to screw them over heavily with their new guidelines, I feel like some aspects that could easily lift some tension, or just clarify certain aspects could be handled better.

and as a sidenote to anyone who managed to read down this far - thanks for allowing me to waste your time with something that probably has no coherence and/or deeper meaning behind it. I just want to get stuff off my chest.

 

[sept0342]

New patron rewards and status update!
Apr 11 at 3:47pm
0.15 is almost ready for release and is just a matter of days away, as we wrap up our bug fixing. In the meantime we'd like to introduce a new patron reward for those who pledge and support us on all tiers.
----------------------------------------------------------

The new reward will allow you to access a unique private download link on our website by linking your Patreon account here:

You must be registered to see the links

The private download will be the first accessible link to our updates (everyone gets the game on same day, but this will be the first one accessible), and it will have a fast download rate.

***Note that this new reward feature will be tested with this release, which means it may require some improvement/adjustments but it is something we plan on keeping in the long run for all those who support us.***

-------------------------------------------------------

I'm also planning on adding further rewards for those supporting us in the near future by allowing patrons to have an inside look into how the progress/tasking is doing during development and more!

Thanks for supporting us and again I'm sorry it took so long to push this update out with the unexpected series of events surrounding Patreon guidelines. I will be posting the update (along with the changelog) as soon as we clear the last QA testing (soon!).

-DC

 

[Ryo]

"everyone gets the game on same day, but this will be the first one accessible, and it will have a fast download rate."

Well as long as the game is available the same day, even on a low download rate. It's okay =)

 

[Titan1]

So what if i link my patreon account there, get the link, and then share the link here? Is that against forum rules or is there a way for DC to find my patreon name out?

 

[*Dreamer*]

"everyone gets the game on same day, but this will be the first one accessible, and it will have a fast download rate."

Well as long as the game is available the same day, even on a low download rate. It's okay =)

I think it has a different meaning

 

[Deleted member 426398]

Why people care so much a spankbank game is still beyond my comprehension.

 

[Seronkai]

well, more opinion stuff from my side I guess

It may very well be that he isn't silent when doing his livestreams and answers questions there, but that has another flaw in itself if you ask me, namely this:
If I need to consume a second piece of media, especially one that could potentially be extremely time consuming, since (here we enter speculations, I haven't watched any of his streams so please, enlighten me) questions are usually asked randomly about the entirety of the length, making it a huge hassle to look for information when I am not that interested in the media he's using, say a livestream, then this will happen - I am straight up missing information because the distribution was on a second hand platform.

Sure, listening to it as a podcast seems like a nice way for killing the time, or watching it live, maybe getting your own questions answered, but what if I'm not interested in the media of livestreams itself? Information, common questions or a discussion section regarding a project should, atleast in my opinion, be easily accessible on the main project platform, here Patreon, not a side in another media. This will lead to straight up missing information that may or may not have been answered a hundred times, yet people will still ask about it, since it's nowhere on the main platform to be viewed quickly.

So, short story even shorter - have the main gist on what's going on/how everything is holding/some commonly asked questions up somewhere available on the main distribution platform, not as a sidenote inside a drawing stream.



On this one, again, more or less my personal feelings about the entirety of it:

Yeah, some tasks will take time, regardless on how much money you will throw at it, time can't just be bought down, regardless on what publishers like EA would like you to believe with their brand-themed casinos they conceal as games. Nontheless, projects this good and open with it's soon-to-be content will gain traction easily and believe me, this game is good, really damn good. Has some of the highest quality in the entire scene on Patreon. Probs also the reason why Patreon decided to go after DC in particular when it comes to enforcing this policy (atleast this is where I noticed it's main focus, are other projects hit by this as well?)

(after this follows a bit of what I would suggest is theorycrafting? so, from this point onward, careful when reading, it just contains my view on this topic, which can be straight up wrong)

However, with this traction that you gain, your product will just straight up generate a certain hype by it's own merits, especially when development continues and especially when it includes your audience by means of voting. this'll mean that more and more people will support it, so more money gets thrown into the project. Obviously you can't expect to just half the time it'll take to continuesly provide updates, that is just wishful thinking. However - here's the but, and that's a nasty butt: if your community grows, especially the way it did with DC, then your team >will< also need to grow, either to adapt for the new influx of messages coming in (people hate being ignored), or to hire another person in order to split up the available tasks to them, which does reduce the time taken, though the amount of hours used up will still be the same, just distributed along more members, reducing the time by how many people are actually working in their fields, what they are being put in charge. (heigher at the beginning even, since new members will have to get used to certain nuances, either language, programming style, whatnot, or even simple things like how normal situations are handled within the team)
A growth of the devteam carries risks of it's own however, which needs to be balanced - more workforce may mean more time, however, handling a team can be a real struggle. If critical parts are given to new members, them missing their schedule will screw you over, either because of sickness, personal issues (death or whatnot), or just something else entirely. On the other hand, it'll speed things up by splitting tasks onto more people, therefore reducing the workload each person has to carry, also reducing stress to a degree. And before you know it - BAM, you got to manage even more people, because you may need someone in charge of tracking everyone's work, then some QA, and then some more. So it's an extremely finnicky balance on a tightrope probably hanging over a pit of lava, spikes, and a part of the community ready to tear you a new one.

And alas, the 30k issue I brought up as well - it was more or less meant as a means to the end; you, a layman of the topic, look at that amount of cash and think "man, why does it take so long with that amount of money on a monthly basis? Shouldn't they potentially hire someone else now with that nice batch of extra cash coming in?" - but oh well, this leads back to what I said earlier.

To conclude, and this is just how I feel, really. Though I admire DC for how they handle the product considering Patreon decided to screw them over heavily with their new guidelines, I feel like some aspects that could easily lift some tension, or just clarify certain aspects could be handled better.

and as a sidenote to anyone who managed to read down this far - thanks for allowing me to waste your time with something that probably has no coherence and/or deeper meaning behind it. I just want to get stuff off my chest.

It's actually pretty coherent all things considered. I think you made a lot of good points. Do I agree with all of them, well no but I think it's good that you really try to look at both sides of the argument and don't completely disregard the other side. It's refreshing to see considering a lot of the time, one side only sees their view and no any other. Though back to what you were saying.
I do agree that it's a little difficult getting all the information since they do seem to space it out all over the place. I mean I do understand that for the most part some information is exclusive since sometimes it's the easier means to relay it but I do with it was easier stated (like saying, get all the latest news on our Discord) but it does seem like they do neglect other means that larger groups will see at times (like their Pateron). It doesn't help that they have a site and a twitter and some information on those are also, not super, scattered. While not the worst way to handle it, it could be handled a little better since not all the members are doing all the time.

The point about the money is a little bit more tricky of a subject. I think that they should just work with what they are capable of. While yes, they can hire more people, that means less money to go around which is already not that much when split evenly but even worse for some if not but also sometimes, throwing more people at a project doesn't make it better. It also burns time, vetting other workers and getting them caught up. There does need a balance but they are working as fast as I would expect a group like them can work. So I this seems like a subject that can go many ways and none of them being particularity correct.

 

[Pr0man]

It's actually pretty coherent all things considered. I think you made a lot of good points. Do I agree with all of them, well no but I think it's good that you really try to look at both sides of the argument and don't completely disregard the other side. It's refreshing to see considering a lot of the time, one side only sees their view and no any other. Though back to what you were saying.
I do agree that it's a little difficult getting all the information since they do seem to space it out all over the place. I mean I do understand that for the most part some information is exclusive since sometimes it's the easier means to relay it but I do with it was easier stated (like saying, get all the latest news on our Discord) but it does seem like they do neglect other means that larger groups will see at times (like their Pateron). It doesn't help that they have a site and a twitter and some information on those are also, not super, scattered. While not the worst way to handle it, it could be handled a little better since not all the members are doing all the time.

The point about the money is a little bit more tricky of a subject. I think that they should just work with what they are capable of. While yes, they can hire more people, that means less money to go around which is already not that much when split evenly but even worse for some if not but also sometimes, throwing more people at a project doesn't make it better. It also burns time, vetting other workers and getting them caught up. There does need a balance but they are working as fast as I would expect a group like them can work. So I this seems like a subject that can go many ways and none of them being particularity correct.

Yeah, like I said, money is a strange subject, it turns the gears of society, yet is the root of all evil, but it can't buy you everything. What a convoluted mess.

Still, like I said, it's a walk on a tightrope when trying to handle money, and the bigger the pile you need to balance gets, the bigger's the spectacle when it all comes crashing down, or leading up to it, or... I dunno, when they try to balance it. It just makes a nice spectacle all things considered. But I guess you are right in that there's no "best way" of handling a situation like this. There may very well be a "best way" under one aspect, say, efficiency, or pleasing your community. But there's no way you can put all aspects under one hat. There's no hat big enough to hold so many things that seem to be mutually exclusive. And therefore corners will have to be cut, and it's up to the dev to decide on what to cut for what benefits. I'm personally glad I don't have to do such a decision. Though to be frank, I probably wouldn't give half a shit about what outsiders think, going with what I am planning and sticking to it. On the other hand, that might be a valid reason why I'll never consider to run a proper business.

On another note - yay, I got praised on the web for being consistant and a considerate person. Do I get some browniepoints, cookies or whatnot? No? Then forget my statement and replace them with unbridled rage instead.

 

[yolo213]

regarding last patreon post and rewards - I like this jest, as if for someone having shitty bandwidth would matter whether he gets fast transfer or not. on the other hand people with good internet and fast bandwidth don't give a fuck and can download from any site really

I myself have normal bandwidth and downloading the game takes at longest 15 minutes from mega so wtf lol

I can understand why they flaunted with suggestion like this - your average sycophant level of intelligence is so low they dont understand basic things and their eyes must already be glittering with *OH MA GADH DC MEIN GOD NEW AWARDS YISSS DOUBLE THE STAKESSS, THE LIGHT SHINES UPON MY BASEMENT* desu

 

[Deep-Six]

So what if i link my patreon account there, get the link, and then share the link here? Is that against forum rules or is there a way for DC to find my patreon name out?

You could share it in the comments or upload the file to a site like teknik (no bandwidth limit) and then ask the OP to add your mirror to the post so people get it from there.

 

[yolo213]

btw if you want to pay for unlimited transfer and so on why not just buy premium service on mega or some other site, you wouldnt be limited to just downloading one single game once in a 3 months LOL

MAKES PERFECT SENSE, fuck, it's such an evil plan DC mastermind, now come abolish my shit cookie servants but I won't be here to answer back yo

(regards to clever folks, I am sure there are some that get my point after reading Dev's post )

 

[Pr0man]

regarding last patreon post and rewards - I like this jest, as if for someone having shitty bandwidth would matter whether he gets fast transfer or not. on the other hand people with good internet and fast bandwidth don't give a fuck and can download from any site really

I myself have normal bandwidth and downloading the game takes at longest 15 minutes from mega so wtf lol

I can understand why they flaunted with suggestion like this - your average sycophant level of intelligence is so low they dont understand basic things and their eyes must already be glittering with *OH MA GADH DC MEIN GOD NEW AWARDS YISSS DOUBLE THE STAKESSS, THE LIGHT SHINES UPON MY BASEMENT* desu

I personally don't get the point of it really - just use some filehosts that are known for having no bandwith limit (as long as the game fits, which is the case for this, best example would be MEGA), because, as you said, if you have a fast connection, the difference is marginal at best. and if you have a shitty connection, well, you'd be downloading just as shity from a normal filehost, like you would from their own services.

And what if their servers get totally strained because they misscalced the amount of traffic going on on their filehosting? then you'd just be boned anyways and were better off using MEGA regardless..

Could someone please enlighten me on that topic?

EDIT:

Well,to me this is nothing more than a good opportunity to aquire insight of other people thoughts,cuz to be sincere nothing we say here will change the fact they will delay the release for as long as they think its necessary,i even explained to Seronkai why i stopped supporting DC,but just as Pr0man said,this is just my opinion and serves only to explain why i dont agree with part of his way to deal with it...i still like his work and wish sucess for him with that,just dont support him with my money anymore....simple....

I gotta say on that, I was also considering multiple times to just stop supporting, but then, while watching over it I was thinking - It's 1 goddamn buck that I reduced my support to already, and I've got it to spare, not like I'm gonna miss a meal over it, so why not just show some support, even if some may consider it to be token or pivetal at this point. If I have the money to spare, might as well support someone who strides for something bigger. There's way worse patreons out there anyways.

 

[Gguga12]

So we gonna get the new download link on here when its up ?

 

[Deep-Six]

So we gonna get the new download link on here when its up ?

Game's official page or here. Whatever you prefer

Hold your loads, gentlemen.

 

[Gguga12]

Game's official page or here. Whatever you prefer

The new patreon only i mean

 

[Glorious Cat]

The new patreon only, i mean

The patreon link only, it's just few hours before the public release

 

[bas]

Realmente, parça, $30 dolares é ralado d+ na conversão pro real ;-;

E
Exato 30 doletas parece nada pra eles mas aki....são outros quinhentos...

Realmente, 30 trumps tá hard, melhor esperar sair essa porra mesmo, enquanto isso não sai, partiu pornhub. :v

A força do HUE HUE é forte nesse forum!

Guys - we're an English only forum, please. #5 on the forum rules.

You must be registered to see the links

Would you please provide translations for your posts? Thanks

Sorry about that bro,we were just commenting how little the money used on our country is worth near the dollar...making payments on patreon more a luxury than it would look to other countries....
oh and the others were simply happy to see more people from our country here on this forum....

That's the coolest thing about this forum to me is pervs uniting from all over the world

Thanks for understanding - glad you're all here!

 

[Ghost0fOnyx]

That's the coolest thing about this forum to me is pervs uniting from all over the world

Thanks for understanding - glad you're all here![/QUOTE
Tits can be quite the unifying force.

 

[Sam]

I personally don't get the point of it really - just use some filehosts that are known for having no bandwith limit (as long as the game fits, which is the case for this, best example would be MEGA), because, as you said, if you have a fast connection, the difference is marginal at best. and if you have a shitty connection, well, you'd be downloading just as shity from a normal filehost, like you would from their own services.

And what if their servers get totally strained because they misscalced the amount of traffic going on on their filehosting? then you'd just be boned anyways and were better off using MEGA regardless..

Could someone please enlighten me on that topic?

There will still be free hosting links, the private download servers are just an added benefit for patrons, as the free links even on major hosting sites like Mega often buckle under the load.

 

[thebeatman]

my balls cant take this waiting anymore im already sad enough that we wont get the jenny update anytime soon