Hello everyone,
Solace, the Game’s Developer, here. I wanted to address some common questions that I’ve seen pop up on the thread and explain some things about the game and myself.
The first thing I’d like to clarify, which is kind of funny to me, is that there are a growing number of people referring to me as, well, multiple people. “The developers” or “the team working on this” Oh no, friend. There is no team. It’s me. It’s always been me and just me. I do all of the work on Superheroes Suck, from rendering the images, writing the script, coding the game, and even searching for the public domain sound effects. This is a one man project, which, given how much the game has expanded over the years, does seem increasingly foolish. I carry on.
The Sandbox and Story’s Pacing
I’ll address the mechanics of this first. A very common critique Superheroes Suck receives is that the pacing can be slow, inconsistent, and that it should have been a more traditional kinetic visual novel. I understand that point. I know that my game, especially the early portions of it, can really struggle to hold your attention and can even be frustrating to play through. There are definitely changes I would make in hindsight, but these issues aren’t possible to correct right now.
In addition to being a one-man team, this is my very first… visual-novel-everything. Literally, my first ever renders are in this game, my first lines of original code that I didn’t copy and paste, along with my first ever lines of dialogue seen outside of my English classes back in the day. When I started, I knew that I did not have the necessary skill set to pace a novel whose length was dynamic. One of the reasons the version numbers for Superheroes Suck is so odd is that it was supposed to be finished in the time it took to reach Version 1.0 if I didn’t get to the minimum funding of one hundred dollars on Patreon. I did, and I kept the numbers as they are to avoid the confusion of having two “Version 0.1”s and so on floating around the internet.
The sandbox environment allows me to keep the pacing of each separate “event” very simple. I hope that, one day in the future, there will be enough sandbox content that the game doesn’t feel as frustrating to get through because there will be loads of new things to see that can pass the time. Speaking of which…
Sandbox Content
Superheroes Suck has seen a steady expansion of “Sandbox” content over the past several months. These are the small event trains like the massage and puppy play scenes you find in the game that have no walkthrough or hint guide – they’re meant to be stumbled into and give you a bit of extra content for exploring. They are also my solution to the Sandbox Overhaul that needed to be truncated. More on that later.
Ideally, the Sandbox Content is driven by user polls on my Patreon as a benefit for them and to also key in on characters who are in need of more content but who aren’t currently in story’s spotlight. In actual practice, it seems like Riley wins just about all of them. I’m not sure what that means. Either Riley’s fans tend to pay more or people who pay more tend to like redheads. There’s a psychological study there, I’m sure.
The Sandbox Overhaul
I do regret mentioning this in the game, which is why I eventually took the disclaimer out. There has been a lot of misunderstanding surrounding the purpose of the Sandbox Overhaul. The idea was to take a break from developing the main story so that I could focus on fixing the pacing issues mentioned earlier in the game by expanding and refining the sandbox. In reality, I spent most of the last nine months catching up the characters for the main story.
The only Sandbox Overhaul content that was part of the actual “Overhaul” that made it into the game were the cuddling events.
I spent the first two development cycles of the overhaul working on catching up Chrys and Valentina, who were so far behind in the story that they were still talking about fighting Lovestruck at the same time the story had reached the protagonist’s power reveal. Once I realized how much time it would take to catch everyone up, and also set the foundation for the next segment of main story content, I scaled back on the Sandbox Overhaul and turned the process into Patreon Polls. For me, this was an elegant solution. I could focus on getting back to the story of Superheroes Suck, and my patrons could pick out events for their favorite waifus.
Chrys’ Video Game Arc, Riley’s Move In Arc, Valentina’s Troubled Arc, and so on were all necessary for the main story to proceed. I know how strange it sounds that playing video games with Chrys was necessary for the main story, but it will make sense. Eventually. Months from now.
The Pace of Development
The content of the game is not coming out at a pace I like or that anyone likes. This year has been very difficult for me. I was out of the country for a spell there, my computer died, and I have been injured rather seriously twice. Once two months ago, and again just three weeks ago. I do also have a day job, and at this point in Superheroes Suck, I have been working roughly seventy hours a week between the game and my day job for over three years. I would be lying if I said this wasn’t affecting my ability to make content. Even when I have the time, some days are very hard.
The biggest problem with production, however, is just the game itself. The characters are more complex. The plot is more complex. The number of characters is increasing and so are the expectations for the game. It’s hard to keep it all together. Superheroes Suck was originally conceived in a composition book. Now, I need Microsoft OneNote with over fifty tabs just to figure out whose major story beat is coming out in two updates. On top of that, I do try and be adaptive and take in feedback. I did notice many of the Artemisia fans on F95zone wishing for her content. So… There. I put it in! She wasn’t scheduled for another version or three, but I do read the comments.
I’m quite proud, you know?
The protagonist’s power reveal event was exactly how I envisioned it would be three years ago. I just didn’t think it would take three years to get here.
I do not know when Superheroes Suck will finish development. I can’t answer that question for you. I honestly try not to think about it too much. That number provokes a very visceral feeling of anxiety in me that’s difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t been in this situation. I just try to keep consistent: a release every six weeks with everything I have done to show people I haven’t given up.
Anyway, that’s it from me with this update. I’m going to set up an animation to run over night and head to sleep.
~Solace
Maybe it's the sandbox nonsense but damn.... there's literally nothing happening in the story. It's a year now of nothing.... 
