Ren'Py Summertime Saga [v21.0.0 wip.6705] [Kompas Productions]

[Kirru]

People keep saying the updates are taking longer and longer, when they've been pretty consistent:

16.0 Roxxy - Jul 21/18 (guesstimate)
15.3 Teacher update - Apr 16/18
14.5 Mom restructure update - Dec 20/17
14.3 Aqua/Halloween update - Oct 31/17
14.1 Mia update - Oct 12/17
13.1 Erik/Mrs. Johnson update - Aug 23/17
12.6 Sister add-on update - Jun 25/17
12.1 Sister (and Aunt add-on) update - May 21/17
11.6 Mom add-on update - Mar 31/17
11.0 Mom update - Mar 10/17
10.b Aunt update - Jan 23/17

Regular updates used to be roughly 6-8 weeks. Last update was more than twice the size of a usual update with better animations and was about 15 weeks. This update is supposed to be the same size, and based on the leaked gif, even better animations, and looks to be clocking in at just under 14 weeks.

As an aside, Mr. Dots had to start a new game, Patreon nixed DMD twice and he wasn't going to be able to have it on Patreon anymore. And he is still putting out releases for DMD, just alternating with Melody.



How can you say they are milking it, given the above info, and the fact that you can see the work being done on practically a daily basis? Yeah, it sucks that it's so long between releases when some other devs release monthly content. I reduced my monthly pledge when I realized it took longer to get a release. But people keep claiming they are milking it now, when it's demonstrable that they are plugging away at a consistent pace.

Ye, u gave perfect proof. Usually it was 2 months per update.
So the Mom Update wasnt content, just graphics which shouldnt be 2 month but okay, new technique and stuff.
But since 8 Month 1 Update? While the team doubled ?
Sorry bro, thats pure milking.

They just got about 200.000 USD for one Update and u still wanna tell me they wont milk the shit out of this game ? They do it and they'll continue.

Still its a great game, but I wont pledge for devs whose greed won over their passion for their game. This way I'm not disapointed if they screw their pats. (what they r definately doing)

 

[Infinite9]

People are still gonna pay because game is unmatched. Western scene doesnt have really good "adult" games so people will pay and they will milk it. I think you all need to accept this fact and move on.

 

[CassidyPRO]

Plus, the updates were followed by the add-on update, which was mainly focused on polishing and adding more sex scenes. That was much more satisfactory lol.

 

[Rando Civ]

Wow! Calling people twats is rude!

 

[seraphimd2]

People keep saying the updates are taking longer and longer, when they've been pretty consistent:

16.0 Roxxy - Jul 21/18 (guesstimate)
15.3 Teacher update - Apr 16/18
14.5 Mom restructure update - Dec 20/17
14.3 Aqua/Halloween update - Oct 31/17
14.1 Mia update - Oct 12/17
13.1 Erik/Mrs. Johnson update - Aug 23/17
12.6 Sister add-on update - Jun 25/17
12.1 Sister (and Aunt add-on) update - May 21/17
11.6 Mom add-on update - Mar 31/17
11.0 Mom update - Mar 10/17
10.b Aunt update - Jan 23/17

Regular updates used to be roughly 6-8 weeks. Last update was more than twice the size of a usual update with better animations and was about 15 weeks. This update is supposed to be the same size, and based on the leaked gif, even better animations, and looks to be clocking in at just under 14 weeks.

As an aside, Mr. Dots had to start a new game, Patreon nixed DMD twice and he wasn't going to be able to have it on Patreon anymore. And he is still putting out releases for DMD, just alternating with Melody.



How can you say they are milking it, given the above info, and the fact that you can see the work being done on practically a daily basis? Yeah, it sucks that it's so long between releases when some other devs release monthly content. I reduced my monthly pledge when I realized it took longer to get a release. But people keep claiming they are milking it now, when it's demonstrable that they are plugging away at a consistent pace.

DC regained my trust with the way he is conducting this last update,teachers update was good on content but he took a lot of time with that one(creating a loooots of bitter guys),things escalated quick but now he seems to be recovering the pace since this patch was seemingly bigger than the last one(after all he continues with his pledge mark on 30k),for now i will wait patiently,since this one is going way smoother...

 

[ScottyLQ]

Sadly it is true that most updates have been just more gameplay resulting in one crummy sex scene. Teachers was good because you got 4 sex scenes, I don't really remember it if took longer than other updates or not.

I don't think it would take them a lot of time and effort to at least add multiple dialogue lines for sex scenes, so that you're not repeating the exact same scenario every single time.

 

[TheFinder]

My main problem with SS right now is that the multiple paths are not that great. When the updates were entirely focused on one character, it was MUCH better. When they begun with eric's update, things started to get messy.
All subsequent updates had the same problem, except for the new Mom update, which is the best thus far ( followed by the sis update). Im hoping that the Aunt and the new sis update will be the best updates to date, but after that, if they keep going for the multiple paths, they will all be underwhelming.

Its hard to make good updates with an art bottleneck if you are trying to have 319371937918379 different paths in the same update.

sis and mom have many sex scenes.. new characters have MUCH less,even though they have much more conversasations.. But here is the deal.. No1 plays it for the story lol.

Still.. its a fun game and worth playing.. Just its not the best anymore.

I agree, there are too many storylines and there is too little sex content for many of the characters; take Mia for example, she has a pretty long plot and just a single sex scene that uses only one position and one camera angle, I hope that Roxxy will be much better than that considering the time necessary for this update.

 

[seraphimd2]

Ye, u gave perfect proof. Usually it was 2 months per update.
So the Mom Update wasnt content, just graphics which shouldnt be 2 month but okay, new technique and stuff.
But since 8 Month 1 Update? While the team doubled ?
Sorry bro, thats pure milking.

They just got about 200.000 USD for one Update and u still wanna tell me they wont milk the shit out of this game ? They do it and they'll continue.

Still its a great game, but I wont pledge for devs whose greed won over their passion for their game. This way I'm not disapointed if they screw their pats. (what they r definately doing)

Well,i used to complain when i was still pledging to him,teachers update delay made me stop pledging since on the fifth month he was still delaying,this update is taking way less time than the last one,so maybe if he keep this pace untill Jenny update maybe i go back and pledge to him again,for now i'm just waiting and watching the thread

 

[itsyeboii]

Cant wait for the aunt update!

 

[seraphimd2]

Cant wait for the aunt update!

With you on that train bro...

 

[Superior Plate Armour]

I have bad feeling about this project. I really liked it at start, fresh game, fresh graphic, story not so original, but well made and fitting. Developed into nice, well made product. Every update took longer and longer, but content had certain quality. Solid game. But over this years, it still looks like DC(or his team) is not taking this game, or his donators serious. Today is three months point since last update. Is the content they are creating really that big, that it took so much time? Or they are slowly shifting into another Breeding Season team or whatever, where constant huge pile of money pouring into their pocket makes them think they dont have to deliver product on time, because "they pay, they will wait". They have team of 6 people (excluding hr and web/discord), and they cant set a deadline and keep it? Maybe it is time to hire actual product manager? Since they are earing 38k $ a month. I bet they will anounce new game in like half of year to justify more and more delay and keep flow and hype going. Akabur did that, MrDots did that, and it all worked. I'm not saying - pull out your pledges. But respect yourselves and demand respect.

You just touched on the taboo, that is hiring a director/manager lolololol, you can't say it there! Obviously DC can be an artist, writer and director and dalai lama at the same time apparently updates come out faster and quicker like this.
Calling manager here is like dismissing him from his godly responsibility.

This is actually funny that hiring a manager is like sour grapes and bitter thing to do for entire team. I am 1000% sure and on point that general belief is that they don't need something like a manager because why? Things are going smooth, plebs pay more by the day and manager means responsibility, organising and time planning.

1 year ago DC said on the stream, that the reason he quit his job was because he couldn't stand the deadlines. So here try imagine him hiring a manager now here buahahahah this is the key point about everything lol.
This project since beginning was meant not to have the deadlines.

btw Ted calm your tits it's leaking again in the thread

 

[joaodasdesgracas]

In a year Summertime Saga easily doubled in size and has at least four times more depth. There is now an actual cast you interact and get to know and the sex scenes have a meaning. The animation update is bullshit good (compare the new mother sex scenes with the Jenny ones. Or worse, Diane).

DC used this year to create a much wider world with lots to do and see and some decent depth. A lot of storylines and reasons to be doing things besides grinding for the sex scenes by daily asking/bothering the sister or the mother, which 50% of the game used to consist of.

Now it seems DC is doing the right choice and using the solid wide base he built to create focused single characters plotlines. If the mothers plotline is the model, then this is gonna be fantastic. A deeply personal, multi faceted story with lots of different scenes and kinks and a growing relationship that clearly got a tone set for it. You got invested.

Meanwhile a bad example of a story line is Mia's. It focused too much on the parents without focusing on them as a parent, there was no developement or noticeable attitude change besides the mechanical ones needed to justify the sex scenes and all in all Mia was barely explored as a character.

 

[MrCrit]

Meanwhile a bad example of a story line is Mia's. It focused too much on the parents without focusing on them as a parent, there was no developement or noticeable attitude change besides the mechanical ones needed to justify the sex scenes and all in all Mia was barely explored as a character.

And yet, when you go to her room there's now a teddy bear you can click on and interact with all of a sudden and there's more room for plot there which i can assume will lead to more position and better depth in her story and sex scenes.

according to DC and the developers there will even be a dating system implemented and she is supposed to be the first character added to that system! I bet that it will explore and increase the amount of interaction with her and build a good base of the rest of the... school girls i presume? or maybe more characters who will be date-able

 

[roger545353535353]

I have bad feeling about this project. I really liked it at start, fresh game, fresh graphic, story not so original, but well made and fitting. Developed into nice, well made product. Every update took longer and longer, but content had certain quality. Solid game. But over this years, it still looks like DC(or his team) is not taking this game, or his donators serious. Today is three months point since last update. Is the content they are creating really that big, that it took so much time? Or they are slowly shifting into another Breeding Season team or whatever, where constant huge pile of money pouring into their pocket makes them think they dont have to deliver product on time, because "they pay, they will wait". They have team of 6 people (excluding hr and web/discord), and they cant set a deadline and keep it? Maybe it is time to hire actual product manager? Since they are earing 38k $ a month. I bet they will anounce new game in like half of year to justify more and more delay and keep flow and hype going. Akabur did that, MrDots did that, and it all worked. I'm not saying - pull out your pledges. But respect yourselves and demand respect.

It seems they only work like 2 hours a day or something, with all that money, they should be working full time.

 

[Dogeek]

7. Will my save files carry over to the next update?
This is the most asked question and the answer is no, it cannot. Unfortunately the Renpy engine deals very poorly with handling old save files in new versions of our game. A lot of things get changed each update and it conflicts with the savefile information. It is the reason why we added a cheat mode option when starting a new game and we are sorry you have to start from scratch each new update. If you want, you can wait 2 or 3 updates before testing the game again and not have to go through the beginning each time .What ballshart there are a lot of renpy game out there that save work ok what a ripof he get 38 500 a mouth what a fuckhead

Okay, I have to step in. How many renpy games can you think of that have the level of complexity of summertime saga ?

Even copycats like a town uncovered have barely the amount of features we have, and those barely work. Saves don't work because renpy uses the pickle module to save the data. Pickle saves the __dict__ of our custom classes, which means that when we add a new attribute to them, those classes are incompatible and will result on an exception on load. Not to mention that we're reworking the codebase for us to work more efficiently around it, which means that new objects are created, and global variables moved to be part of a more organized structure. What happens is that from one version to the next, renpy expect a variable to be called inventory, and that variable being moved to be an attribute of the player class. Now renpy is lost and doesn't know where to find that variable.

It's a tough thing to work around, and we're working on making it happen. It's not an issue of money, or resources, but just time, and also the fact that changing too much at one point will make debugging even longer, and we know what happens when impatient fucks can't get their fix of summertime saga.

So, to avoid riots, we take it slower, making sure to debug along the way, and this process takes time. Over 50% of the code has been fully rewritten from scratch (mostly by me), and this process takes time.

 

[Skaldy]

It seems they only work like 2 hours a day or something, with all that money, they should be working full time.

By making the game free to download they evaded whatever work hours they have.

 

[Dogeek]

It seems they only work like 2 hours a day or something, with all that money, they should be working full time.

As said before, the issue is art bottlenecking. I'm constantly trying to find stuff to do during the day to pass the time, or try to find new features that require basically no art to implement so that the workflow can be optimized.

I don't like the wait as much as you don't. We are not getting paid to slack off, and when there's work to do, it's promptly added. The thing is that DC hasn't find enough suitable help for the art (and the art has to match the style consistently, which is hard to come by).

We've also increased the size of the updates. Roxxy's update takes me around 2-3 hours to speedrun through. That should keep you thirsty-ass bitches occupied for a few days (or so I hope).

Game dev takes time. Teams of 20 take 3 years to produce a finished game. We're 6. The game has been around for a year and a half basically. I think it goes to show that if we could do faster, we would.

And people are blinded by the amount of money we get. Guess what ? Compared to other game's budget, it's pocket money, and yet, we all pay taxes on that, it's not money straight into DC's pockets. It's money into Kompas Productions' bank account, and there's a difference there. Obviously, I'm very grateful for this job, and for people supporting and believing in us. You have to know though, that many indie studios have a budget of several millions for their games. That's a lot more than 40k/month.

 

[Erudito]

That should keep you thirsty-ass bitches occupied for a few days (or so I hope).

Aaaaaaaayyyy

 

[seraphimd2]

The teddy bear is old,even before the patch he was clickable,just becuz he was on the scene where mia was humping her bear...

 

[seraphimd2]

Hey guys,lets chill,i would love if the moderators attention wouldnt be brought here without necessity just becuz you guys like to kick each other on the balls...