Before I start, I'd just like to remind everyone that I've got nothing to do with this thread and if you want official communication from me about the project then your best bet is one of the places I actually post frequently at. But I do also appreciate that outside of patreon/substar blogs and discord channels accessible to only active supporters that public info about the state of development is usually lacking and can lead to confusion when plans change to reflect realities. So I will endeavor to post on the typically dead public blog more often with summaries of the important info from the support pages.
not to beat a dead horse but I have been a patreon of JimJim in the past cauz i lvoe his game. Unfortunately, I srsly feel like I have been taking advantage of considering how late his updates are. I mean srsly, the man gets almost 2k a month from patreon for what? How can it be possible that after literal years he has been developing this game he is still this slow? Is this a joke?
Thanks for the past support. I know how upsetting it can be to perceive a lack of progress since you were last around in 2020. I appreciate that people have different views on how I have decided to spend development time and that focusing on gameplay additions before continuing with the porn was an unpopular choice, but one that I stand by as resulting in a better game overall. I am happy with how things are going with the game itself, but like you am extremely dissatisfied with how long it is taking me even though I knew and stated (publicly and often) that v0.10 was going to take a long amount of time complete.
I take full responsibility for being slow, and consistently failing to prevent myself from announcing ETAs. You have to ship things eventually or they'll never get anywhere, which is one of the reasons behind forcing this Alpha release out the door in it's current state. But the main reason was to start getting actionable feedback on the gameplay changes I've been tinkering with and to be transparent with people about the state of the game and give a small preview of upcoming content to come in v0.10. Developing a game in a void/vacuum for too long is not a good idea. You need feedback.
As always, I direct people to the
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if they want to see what is in the works for v0.10 between this build and the full release. There are plenty of new scenes coming. It's not as if I am only making gameplay changes here. I am just mostly focused on getting those parts out the door first because those are the parts that take the longest and will cause issues with save files, bugs, crashes, etc, while new scenes can be added in at any time and "quickly" if that's the only thing I'm doing. From v0.11+ I'm really only focused on new scenes/story with only enhancements to the foundations I'm putting in place atm.
As for the feeling of being taken advantage of, I don't know what to say to that. While I do put things like polls, previews, and some bonus content (stuff that does eat up additional time)behind a paywall to give supporters something small in return, Terminal Desires itself has always been a free to play game. I only paywall pre-release test builds (like this one more than any other before it) because they are not meant to be played by the public/average player. And full versions get publicly released after only a month if you don't wish to support for early access. But since we're having this discussion on an unofficial f95 thread where someone will always instantly put up the latest build (even if it's a test build not recommended to be played for most players - which has been clear from my official messaging for many months) discussions around what is or isn't currently behind a patreon/substar paywall isn't really relevant anyway.
Also, for the last several versions, I have always honored my ETA's in retrospect by emailing past patrons with download links when the build was finally available. I did the same with v0.10 ALPHA, in which links were sent out to all ex-patrons from November-January because I was unable to get the build out on time as initially promised. So nobody should have spent money, expecting to get access, then not end up getting it at the same time as everyone else.
While I am putting out the final product for free, as I'm sure you can appreciate, the process of me physically developing the game isn't free though. I need to pay for rent, food, electricity, life etc. Then there are also game/art/audio assets that I pay for and work that I commission from various people for the project on a regular basis. My Patreon/Substar income is my only income and it doesn't go all that far when you take the entire picture into account. I wish I could say I was pocketing a bunch of money every month but that's not the case. I barely make any savings and have months where I make a loss. (I also took 3 unpaid month breaks where I paused my page over the last year, which also artificially extended already long development times)
The simple fact of the matter is that I know this is a bad business model. But I am not at a point in development where I am trying to make a profit. I am simply trying to make a base game that I am personally happy with before churning out the content. Whether people choose to support me or not during this drought period is up to them. I think most people understand that I need to be able to at least afford the cost of living while working on this or I'll need get another job that will just delay things further. And I don't say that as a threat. Supporters like yourself are absolutely entitled to "vote with their wallets" if they are dissatisfied. It's your money & time.
I am happy with how the game is progressing, just not at the speed it is progressing at. That we can all agree on. But I firmly believe it will be worth it in retrospect, in a vacuum devoid of development time context. My biggest mistake, was as always being too naive and eager to announce ETAs when I should just keep my mouth shut and not set false expectations. But it is challenging to stay completely quiet when you are excited to finally have something to share soon and you get asked for an ETA every single day. That and the fact that I want to be transparent with my supporters. Those ETAs are always genuinely how long I think things are going to take at the time, and are given with the best intentions of being open. But good intentions don't mean much if I keep repeating these past mistakes, and believe me that is frustrating for me more than anyone else.
But I do appreciate your criticism.
hi everyone! Maybe someone from the patreon can help me with this problem: I would like to support Jimx2 BUT can only afford 1 month. There was a regulation about when exactly you have to become a patreon to receive the rewards of a month. Back when I was a regular patreon: you had to pay and become a Patreon on paper in December to be an actual patreon in January and don't get deducted anything in January for February but in February... Long story short: when do I have to become the patreon to get the rewards of January? =)
Sorry I'm late to this, but you don't need to support me in any particular month to get access to a particular thing. Being a supporter will always get you access to the entire back catalogue of posts. That messaging about me sending out email links, as I stated above, was only for ex-patrons who have only supported in one of those months (November-January) where the alpha was stated to be coming out, but did not, and have since canceled. They were sent links yesterday when the build finally came out for all current supporters since they were entitled to the release I promised them.
I re-found an old undress game recently...
It's called "up the whazoo" and though it is a mild sex game, I remember it for being really funny.
But the whole point of me making this post is that for some reason, the character reminded me of Jimjim's character.
=> of course, I could be wrong since Moses and Jimjim are most likely two different people but the characters' design felt uncannily familiar.
Definitely before my time making adult content, so not me. But I do remember that flash game. Good stuff.
I'm confused at the "Barebones Alpha" part. I thought the delay announced back in November was because the alpha and beta were getting merged.
It is merged. The only planned difference between the original alpha and beta was just going to be those new scenes. In the end the game required more time and I was only able to get those 2 new scenes done in time. I would have liked to delay it another month for more scenes but I'd already delayed it too much.
Four years in development and chapter 2 hasn't begun yet.
Actually, ACT 1 hasn't even begun yet...
It doesn't help much in my defense, but not including the unpaid breaks I've taken over the years, It's actually only been just under 3 years of actual development time. Still not good by any measure, but not quite so dire. I understand that I need to take into account the amount of time people have been waiting. Of course that is important too. I can only do my best to try and make that wait worth it.
it is worth downloading the game in this alpha or it is better to wait for the final version.
There will likely be more frequent Alpha/Beta builds in the lead up to the full release. I would only recommend people download this ALPHA if they want to help find bugs and give feedback on the new systems. Or if you were planning on replaying v0.09 in the next 2 months anyway, then this is the superior build. But if you are only interested in new content, then yes, I'd keep waiting.
Why the devs seems so hookup on gameplay? Make porn, do not delay the porn , the gameplay is secondary here
I know this is the popular opinion. I even did a supporter poll a few years ago and they agreed. But I am also making this game for me, and I have certain things I want to do with it for my own sake if nothing else. But as I stated above I think people will look back when it's done and agree that the game is better for having these things not having them.