Yeah, paywall edition, baby! Its so frustrating, like... Why?.. Why did he... Well, this game isn't on steam yet, you know, the biggest marketplace for games on the planet, where you can sell, for example: walkthroughs and difficulty modes for your games as DLC (badik and leap of faith ). When you play this game you can feel author's passion, atmosphere and hard work and really talent to put it together. But oh boy does he loves to overcomplicate things...
Yea, this is concerning. I'm still scratching my head on this on why do the paywall.
I believe re-making old stuff is a waste of time. So no re-makes or remasters. The thing Human Device is working on is making UI look more aestetically pleasing, replacing the basic UI I did when fiddling with photoshop. It won't have any effect on the visuals, the story, nor will it increase the development time as I am only providing some basic inputs/suggestions and few easy to make pictures of models, that's all.I get the part about advertising the game and quality of life upgrades just hope they aren't also trying to remaster or remake old renders.
Are you talking about Coteries of NY and sequels? I only played Coteries and found it okay-ish. There is one major plot point idea that I picked up from Coteries but that's not yet in the game. Could you explain further if that's not too much to ask?
did he make onlooker and public releases before?
based on ss and patreon info - nope
we have to start rain/leak dance, yet again, huh
My dude, you need to lay off the cynicism, it's bad for your health. While I've seen devs become so self-centered, it was almost always an exception to the rule.built up enough support (by his standards) to abandon free-sites and dirty pirates?
heh, not the first one, nor will be the last one with similar MO
The gameplay mechanic was already in the game. It's a standard mechanic you see in VN's that track NPC stats. The difference now is that instead of manually calculating how many stats players need to pass the threshold I just figure how difficult a check should be and leave it to Ren'Py to calculate the stuff. The implementation is not stellar, but it eases my workload and addresses potential bugs and inconsistencies.
I... don't really get the logic here. Someone who doesn't get blank screens should tell me about how blank screens he doesn't see are bad?
Since i can only speak from a user perspective- steam is the most convenient platform for those type of games/projects due to updates feature. And i would love to support you there. No pressure
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Some devs have patreon posts open for everyone. I'm not talking about game updates, I'm talking about day to day "stuff". You were talking about advertisement in big games, well, you NEED advertisement more than those well known big companies.I believe re-making old stuff is a waste of time. So no re-makes or remasters. The thing Human Device is working on is making UI look more aestetically pleasing, replacing the basic UI I did when fiddling with photoshop. It won't have any effect on the visuals, the story, nor will it increase the development time as I am only providing some basic inputs/suggestions and few easy to make pictures of models, that's all.
Are you talking about Coteries of NY and sequels? I only played Coteries and found it okay-ish. There is one major plot point idea that I picked up from Coteries but that's not yet in the game. Could you explain further if that's not too much to ask?
My dude, you need to lay off the cynicism, it's bad for your health. While I've seen devs become so self-centered, it was almost always an exception to the rule.
But anyway, I did make public releases every update, and this one shouldn't be any different. The reason why you might think otherwise is because making public announcements meant the game was pirated day0 so I stopped announcing when the public updates come.
The gameplay mechanic was already in the game. It's a standard mechanic you see in VN's that track NPC stats. The difference now is that instead of manually calculating how many stats players need to pass the threshold I just figure how difficult a check should be and leave it to Ren'Py to calculate the stuff. The implementation is not stellar, but it eases my workload and addresses potential bugs and inconsistencies.
Also, I am aware of a considerable bias on f95 for VN-style games, with any sort of deviation is considered unwanted, unnatural or sinful, but I do want to make something more than a "choose your own adventure" type of a game. I am aware that might not be ideal to some people, but that's just the way it is.
I... don't really get the logic here. Someone who doesn't get blank screens should tell me about how blank screens he doesn't see are bad?
But anyway, that someone could be you! And this goes for everyone else reading this as well. Like I always say, I'm always open to listening to any comment, criticism or complaint. To get in touch with me you can check my socials in the first post, or in my game. Now that I've written that down, I realized I didn't include itch.io contact in the game, so that's something I need to do for the next release.
Oh, and titles are named "stuff" because then I don't have to figure out a title every time I make a post.
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Now, there's something I'd like to address. I've already had a similar discussion with a patreon who took mostly opposite side of the argument than all the good people in this thread, so just like with him, I'd like to clarify why I'm neither angry or supportive on the whole issue of piracy.
Let's consider two distinct games. First one is some Ubisoft AAA title that made a profit but it didn't reach the board of directors expectations. The official reason is that the game was pirated almost as much as it was bought, and if only all those pirates bought the game instead of pirating it the company would've doubled their revenue.
The second one is an indie game made by one guy in his spare time who posted torrents to his product on all pirate platforms because he believes piracy is a net benefit for games.
So the question is: which of these views correct? And the answer is somewhere in between. Like I said to the patreon person who was somewhat frustrated by the pirates not respecting the developer to wait for public release (this was back in the day when I posted public updates about when the public releases are out), whether piracy is good or bad, or to use a topic closer to what's being said in this thread, whether it's smart to hide things behind paywall, depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the developer.
Ubisoft game from previous example spent tens of millions on advertisement, and had to rely on hype, convenience and DRM holding the gates to extract as much value from the potential customers. The DRM failed so Ubisoft got to scapegoat random people (most of whom never would've played the game if there was no pirated version available) for their title that didn't make 700% of the investment that they dreamed that it could.
On the other hand, the indie guy spent 0 in marketing, so he had to rely for the most part on word of mouth from his torrents to spread the awareness of his game and hope that enough good people would decide to throw some coins his way. So without piracy he would've sold a dozen copies, his game disappearing in the trash of steam, but with piracy - well he could sell 0 copies, but he also has a small chance to increase his revenue, maybe even have a very successful and beloved title with its own following.
I stand somewhere in between these cases. Without f95, I don't really have a reliable way to inform the broader public about my releases, so I can thank it and similar sites that host and promote these files for most of my success or failure. On the other hand pirating releases for clout, or worse for financial gain, hurts me as a developer as the convenience and hype factor (which are arguably two most important ones when a person decides to support a game) are gone and I have to rely on good will of the people, which is massive when taken at word, but much lesser when taken in actions.
But, I've been droning on for long enough. In the end it's an entitlement battle. Entitlement of pirates that they deserve a product of someone else's labor for free (or in my case at the same time as patreons, since I do provide free updates), and entitlement of developer who tries to get as many people to pay 5+ bucks a month for what is essentially 15 minutes of content a month. Which side is right? Well, I believe the answer is somewhere in between.
I thought Coteries was mediocre, while I think your game is excellent. I don't see yours as derivative of it at all.
Ah, gotcha. Honestly, I don't even remember who sired the MC
And thank you for your high praise.I'm not a native English speaker either, which is probably why there seems to be a misunderstanding. Everything I wrote about was a hypothetical simplification. I don't compare myself to a AAA studio, nor do I compare myself to the hypothetical indie developer I wrote about. And I hope you weren't offended by mentioning piracy in my little rant. My intention was to present things objectively, if reductive, from several different points of view. You have to understand that this is a very complex subject that there are many facets of and which is hard to explore or understand fully and requires a much broader point of view to grasp.
Sir when will the update is going to be available here..???Ah, gotcha. Honestly, I don't even remember who sired the MC
I'm not a native English speaker either, which is probably why there seems to be a misunderstanding. Everything I wrote about was a hypothetical simplification. I don't compare myself to a AAA studio, nor do I compare myself to the hypothetical indie developer I wrote about. And I hope you weren't offended by mentioning piracy in my little rant. My intention was to present things objectively, if reductive, from several different points of view. You have to understand that this is a very complex subject that there are many facets of and which is hard to explore or understand fully and requires a much broader point of view to grasp.
I also wouldn't categorize vast majority of games as scams or developers as milkers. To be perfectly honest, even after all this time developing I still make the mistake to underestimate the amount of work and pressure that goes into making a game. Truth be told, I do sympathize with your view point as back when I wasn't a developer my reaction was similar to yours, though maybe a bit less jaded and defensive. Whenever I read something about a developer having some sort of a breakdown, their project being late, or complaining about something my first, and often only reaction was to roll my eyes.
And yet here I am, constantly running late, this last update breaking all records being almost 4 months late because of all sorts of issues. And before you ask, I paused the payments during that time so I wasn't "milking" my patreons or supporters. So just because people aren't able to match yours or my high standards doesn't mean they are evil or exploitative people... As they say, shit happens.
Anyway, thank you for your kind wishes, and one last piece of advice from someone who had a similar thought pattern in the past: don't be so quick to judge, it might come back to bite you in the ass, just like in my case.
i was not offenced, and i hope i don t offence you either, i was just talk about your and my opinion, english is not very good at subtleties, i was not angry or anything... and like i said you do what you want.Ah, gotcha. Honestly, I don't even remember who sired the MC
I'm not a native English speaker either, which is probably why there seems to be a misunderstanding. Everything I wrote about was a hypothetical simplification. I don't compare myself to a AAA studio, nor do I compare myself to the hypothetical indie developer I wrote about. And I hope you weren't offended by mentioning piracy in my little rant. My intention was to present things objectively, if reductive, from several different points of view. You have to understand that this is a very complex subject that there are many facets of and which is hard to explore or understand fully and requires a much broader point of view to grasp.
I also wouldn't categorize vast majority of games as scams or developers as milkers. To be perfectly honest, even after all this time developing I still make the mistake to underestimate the amount of work and pressure that goes into making a game. Truth be told, I do sympathize with your view point as back when I wasn't a developer my reaction was similar to yours, though maybe a bit less jaded and defensive. Whenever I read something about a developer having some sort of a breakdown, their project being late, or complaining about something my first, and often only reaction was to roll my eyes.
And yet here I am, constantly running late, this last update breaking all records being almost 4 months late because of all sorts of issues. And before you ask, I paused the payments during that time so I wasn't "milking" my patreons or supporters. So just because people aren't able to match yours or my high standards doesn't mean they are evil or exploitative people... As they say, shit happens.
Anyway, thank you for your kind wishes, and one last piece of advice from someone who had a similar thought pattern in the past: don't be so quick to judge, it might come back to bite you in the ass, just like in my case.
depends on what point you are, possible that you can't do some quests yet due game not updated that far.
now i have these quests list, i try went to Shevaun and Zoey house one of the message say Shevaun sleeping at this hour and Zoey not at home now. then i try went to the Moghila estate & Violet Lip club but it say no need to go there right now so yeah i pretty much stuck at this point and i cant sleep either
