VN Ren'Py Abandoned The Intoxicating Flavor [v0.10.6] [PixelsLab]

4.00 star(s) 151 Votes
Discussion Reviews (151)
T

testers123456

Newbie
Feb 16, 2023
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It's a shame about the dev's health issue with his spine. That alone could have stopped him producing work a long time ago if it was that bad. I can understand his thoughts in regard to the issue of support he received compared to other dev's who received the same support if not more for their work being available to the public for less time. It can be mentally draining to watch that happen with something you've poured a lot of effort into.
 
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Hermit76

Hermit76

Well-Known Member
Apr 15, 2018
1,523
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Those are indeed very sad news. :cry::cry::cry:
I really loved this game and it always made me happy, when an update came out - even if it was rather short, like the last few ones.
The combination of music, sound, graphic and story created a very unique atmosphere, even though I have to admit that the story was still quite confusing and I am convinced that I did not even understand half of it (or at least not much more than the half...).
I really hope PixelsLab gets well soon and will either be able to continue the story one day or at least will write down how it goes on and ends. It was confusing and complex, yes. But it was really good. And I would really like to know how it goes on and ends - at least to really understand it.
If I earned more, I guess this game would have been one of the first I would have supported.
 
Aelth

Aelth

Member
Jun 17, 2017
129
391
Well this fucking sucks. I really enjoyed the story and I loved the female models, but yeah, too many plot dumps, too little sex. Hopefully he releases the end of the story.
 
S

seaoflove

Member
Jan 31, 2023
238
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getink said:
From his
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I knew from the very beginning that it would be like this. It was pretty obvious that Steam wouldn't like Alice, and they decided to reinsure themselves. It's still very frustrating though.

The reply from Steam came over a week ago, and all this time I've been trying to finally decide what to do next.

I've already mentioned my situation in the last post, now I'll try to explain it in more detail, telling you what happened to me for the last year and a half. But before I do that, I'll make it clear that I'm not writing this to make you feel sorry for me, but to explain why I have to close the game.

About the finances.

After I took a break last February and froze the page for 3 months to regain some health and nerves, I lost about 45% of my support. That's when I decided not to complain about life, and just keep doing what I can to keep the game alive. That's why I hardly wrote any personal posts like I used to do. And every month after that, the support on Patreon dropped harder and harder. I had small savings, and I could live on them. But gradually they started to run out too.

Then, in November 2022, Payoneer, the payment system I used to withdraw funds from Patreon, announced that it was closing all accounts for Russians. And I then asked those of you who had the opportunity to subscribe for a year, so that I could have at least some reserves. And a lot of people responded. Thank you very much again! I then raised $2,489, which I stretched over the course of 6 months. Obviously, I wasn't doing so well, so I started borrowing from people I knew and doing part-time work to keep afloat somehow.

In June, I traveled to another country to open an account there and withdraw my Patreon savings. I had to travel three times before I could receive them. As you can imagine, traveling to another country is not cheap, and to save money, I decided to take the bus. And that turned out to be a big problem because of my back. 17 hours straight one way on a bus with a sore spine is hell. It's been five months and I still haven't recovered from those trips. I withdrew $3,287 dollars from Patreon back then - that's what I had accumulated in a little over 6 months. Which would have been a good amount, but I was already in quite a bit of debt at the time, and I gave away most of that money almost immediately. And don't forget that to get that money, I had to travel to another country 3 times, pay for the trips themselves and the hotel. Now I have 2900 dollars saved up on Patreon again, which will barely cover my current debts accumulated over the last 5 months.

I realize a lot of you math doesn't add up, but this weird stuff from Patreon. Right now it says on the home page that I have $739 in support, but I'm very lucky if I raise that amount. More often than not, I raise $100 less. I never figured out how this counter works in so many years.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say about finances. Once again, I'll make it clear that this is not an attempt to make you feel sorry for me, I'm just trying to tell you about my situation in life. If you felt sorry for me and decided to support me after this, you should be very wrong. I'm just a guy on the internet, and my situation is far from the worst. There are millions of people in the world with much worse problems, help them better. Also, don't forget that the holidays are coming up and you'll need to buy gifts for your loved ones. And I'll pay off my debts myself, since I've already found a job. But I am still very grateful to you for helping me for so long!

About health.

In fact, that's the main reason I gave up. Because I feel worse and worse.

As I've shared before, I took a break for three months in February 2022. And it really helped me! I felt normal for over a year, hardly ever thinking about my back. But after the 3 trips mentioned, it got worse than ever. Especially after the last one, when the bus got stuck at the border and instead of 17 hours, I sat on the bus for 28. That totally messed me up, and I still haven't recovered even though it's been over 5 months.

In September I had a very severe attack and for 2 weeks I basically couldn't work, couldn't sit, lie down or stand normally. I was in a lot of pain and no painkillers helped. That being said, I went to doctors, got massages, had a bunch of shots and lay under IVs with painkillers. It was because of this that I was not able to get the October update out in time. And now every day I'm afraid that I can break down again and go down for a couple more weeks, or possibly forever.

It was after the October update that I decided to close the game. I realized that with my health, I wouldn't be able to release even short updates every month. And if I don't release updates every month, support goes down a lot.

About motivation.

As you realize, it's hard to develop a game with these inputs. It's hard to come up with dialogs, jokes and other things when you're struggling with your own health and financial problems. And the motivation is getting weaker and weaker every day.

Also, of course, it's frustrating when you look at some new game that in the first 2 months gathers as much support as I've been gathering for 3-4 years. That's a lot of pressure. And I can't even understand why it's not like that for me. I mean, I really tried. I tried on every word, render, animation and everything, everything, everything. Is it just luck? Or is my game that much worse? I know it sounds pathetic, but it still hurts.

About Steam.

I'd like to add a few words about Steam. I've already said I was sure about the rejection, but some developers I knew and just friends urged me to try releasing the game there, as it could bring in enough for me to finish the game without worrying about money. That was one of the reasons why I started reworking the first chapters. But unfortunately, what happened is what happened. It's hard to blame Steam, since the fact that it releases adult games at all is already surprising. But it's so fucking frustrating!

Actually, the most annoying thing about this whole situation, in my opinion, is that the game has enough content for a fully finished game. About 200,000 words! That's more than in two full-fledged novels. Over 6 thousand images! Most of which are well done. Cool animations. Yes there aren't many, but they're good. So good, in fact, that several developers have offered to let me do animations for their games for money.

Now that I think about it, I'm really surprised at what a gigantic job I did. And how frustrated I am that I never got around to finishing it....

Oh, okay. Stop feeling sorry for myself, I already look like a whiner after this post. Let's summarize.

Bottom line.

I have neither the health nor the financial ability to continue The Intoxicating Flavor. Therefore, I am permanently closing the game.

I am very sorry. I apologize to you for not being able to bring the story to the promised end.

I have already taken an official job. I contacted a former boss of mine who we worked well with for many years, and he offered me a position with him. It seems to pay a good salary. Now I need to work at least six months to get back on my feet, pay off my debts and make at least some savings. But what will I do after that?

I really want to keep making games. I think I have pretty good skills for that right now. At least I have a good renderer, and the animations are getting better and better every time. I'm not so sure about my skills as a screenwriter anymore though. TIF was too unpopular... But, I still have hope to make an interesting game.

I originally wanted to remove the pages on Patreon, Boosty, Subscribestar and all social media related to the game, as well as the Discord server. To completely disappear as PixelsLab. After all, even if I decide to create a new game, I'll still have the shadow of an unfinished project on me. But on the other hand, I've heard so many words of support in the last two weeks that I just don't want to part with you. Besides, many of you have become, if not friends, then at least good acquaintances whose opinions are interesting to listen to.

So there's no way I can decide how I should proceed. I'm still leaning towards closing the page, since even if I start a new project, it will be very different from TIF. But for now, I've decided to freeze the page until the new year so Patreon doesn't charge you, and closer to the end of December I'll either extend the freeze or delete the page for good.

Unfortunately, there is no way to freeze the page on Boosty and Subscribestar. So you'll have to unsubscribe on your own. Anyway, at the end of December I will remove the support levels on these sites so that those who forget to unsubscribe will not be charged.

Also on Patreon you can request a refund for the last month. If that doesn't work, write me and I'll try to do it on my end.
And I want to apologize to you again. I'm very sorry for letting you down like that. And thank you more for being with me these years! You gave me a chance to do something new and unusual for myself! I wish I could have taken that chance to the fullest.
P.S. Would you like to discuss the reason why TIF never became popular? I'd really like to hear your opinion. I wanted to write a separate post about it myself, but more than anything I want to hear an outside opinion. I'm very interested.

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Wow, just wow. That's a lot to process. I'm just hearing about this now.

This is a game I have played off and on for years. I have always thought it was a pretty good game, but I always thought it could be better.

Pixel Labs asked for it; So if you are reading this. Here is my input on that one:

Why do I think the game itself was not more successful? The biggest downfall of this game is something that I can sum up in 3 words.

"Wall Of Text"

I haven't played this one in a while, but one thing I remember about it is that at times there would be multiple updates without a single choice from one update to the next. This was both extremely frustrating and annoying as a player.

I understand that adding a bunch of choices adds to the complexity of the project, and it can increase scope creep and make it harder to finish.

At the same time. Not every choice needs to be a game changer. You can put many relatively meaningless choices without each choice becoming it's own branch and own long side story.

If the choices are not there then it becomes a wall of text. That increases the likelihood of skipping.

Once a person is in skipping mode they are no longer engaged with the story or characters. They are just looking for that next rush of excitement. That is usually a sex scene or a choice. That's when they will stop skipping, you will be lucky if they do rollback for about 5 or 10 lines and then play it out again for a little while...

Players like to have variants, and choices. Even if the choice makes no difference at all to the game other than a simple line of dialogue or a couple of renders. You want those options in there. Because at choices it makes the person do 2 things... 1) Stop 2) Think

Do you want players that stop and think or players that do not stop and think?

If they are never stopping and thinking while playing your game they are just going to speed run to the sex scenes... Which is go to preferences, and click on unseen text to enable to enable that and after choices. Then they just hit tab once, and roll through watching it in fast forwards and they aren't stopping for scenes where folks got their clothes on unless maybe something insane happens.

About other things mentioned:

Personal Stuff

As harsh as this may sound never share personal information with folks on the internet. Folks are fickle, and they are usually not here for your "Blog" or "Personal Diary". If you want you can give an explanation while walking out the door, and that's fine.

If you do "Share Personal Stuff" things that supporters want to hear is.

"I got a new computer!" or "I found a collaborator to help updates come out faster!" or "I quit my full time job to focus on development full time!" or "I hired a new proofreader".

What they don't want to hear is...

"My car broke down." or "My dog died." or "My mom is sick and dying in the hospital, and I gotta take care of her." or "I lost my job. I'm out looking for another one." or "The wife is pregnant, and I'm gonna take a month off to spend time with the baby." or "I have been going through depression and..." or "The doctor told me I got cancer, and I'm going in for this operation..." or "My house burned down, and everybody died..."

That's a Gofundme donation for sure, but that won't get you shit on Patreon!

The same folks that will virtue signal or even simp for you in these forums and be like, "Oh, that's too bad. I hope things get better blah blah blah..." Those are the same ones that never supported you or stop supporting you.

Monthly Updates

They are not needed. Patreon loses a chunk of subs at the end of the month every time. A lot of very successful developers update far less frequently. Yes, frequent updates will give you a subscriber boost. However, if you look at the top 100 adult game developers on graphtron. I can't find a single one that releases monthly. A 3 to 6 month release schedule is ideal. Some developers even take a year or more to release. What you do not want players to do is download your game... Have 5 minutes of new content, then throw it in the bin. They want to sit there for at least 30 minutes of content.

In any creative endeavor you will always be in a battle between Quality vs Quantity vs Quickness. The 3 Qs... Sometimes it is good to let go of some "Quickness" to improve quality or increase quantity.

People don't skip a "Being a Dik" update... Because they know a Dik update is going to have many choices, and scenes, and lots of sex. They will skip your updates though because "Click click click click click... (No choices?) click click click click... (Jeeze... No sex this update?)" I never played your game every update... No no no. I played it like once every 3-4 updates. Because that is how long it took for their to be some amount of quantity for me to have some interest.

Moving Forwards

The best way for you to continue in my opinion is as follows.

"Take a little break now if you need one." Reflect on things, and figure out what you want to do.

"Wrap up intoxicating Flavor" give it one or two or even three more updates to complete the game. You don't need a million endings. You just need some closure, and stamp a "Completed" tag on it.

Do not "Start over as a nobody." You haven't ruined your reputation. You are pausing support and have not built a milker reputation and you have a decent amount of paused support. So, it's best to keep your brand going. Starting fresh would be harder.

"Start a new project that is steam friendly." They thought the one girl looks underage? That poisoned the well for you? Okay... Create a new project that conforms to their standards.

"Stop Sharing Personal Stuff" Yea... It's not helping you it and it never helps on Patreon. That only helps on gofundme.

Anyways, Good luck in whatever you choose to do.
 
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T

testers123456

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Feb 16, 2023
66
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seaoflove said:
As harsh as this may sound never share personal information with folks on the internet. Folks are fickle, and they are usually not here for your "Blog" or "Personal Diary". If you want you can give an explanation while walking out the door, and that's fine.

If you do "Share Personal Stuff" things that supporters want to hear is.

"I got a new computer!" or "I found a collaborator to help updates come out faster!" or "I quit my full time job to focus on development full time!" or "I hired a new proofreader".
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I do agree partly with what you wrote here about over sharing but when it comes to things like delays in production, providing the subscribers with a general idea of what the reason is for the delay is better than not mentioning it at all and will help retain those subscribers. I'm sure even you have seen people complaining about the lack of communication from dev teams in both online games and VN's which resorted to some of them being abandoned by those same people.
 
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Alfius

Alfius

Engaged Member
Modder
Sep 30, 2017
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I also don't understand the complaint about no sex.

In this game you have sex (Proper vaginal sex) with (excluding last update that I have not played yet)
Maria: 6 Times
Liv: 4 times
Kate: 4 times
Teagan: Once

The only main female character that you don't have sex with is Alice. (Not sure about last update)

But you see pretty much all the female character in the nude throughout the game.

I thought the sex to game ratio was pretty good. Obviously, it there could have been a bit more, but I mean there were plenty.
 
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pothb

pothb

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2018
1,217
1,339
Alfius said:
I also don't understand the complaint about no sex.

In this game you have sex (Proper vaginal sex) with (excluding last update that I have not played yet)
Maria: 6 Times
Liv: 4 times
Kate: 4 times
Teagan: Once

The only main female character that you don't have sex with is Alice. (Not sure about last update)

But you see pretty much all the female character in the nude throughout the game.

I thought the sex to game ratio was pretty good. Obviously, it there could have been a bit more, but I mean there were plenty.
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Uh.... I don't remember sexing up Kate that many times. Maria neither, I thought Maria was like 3 times.
 
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4.00 star(s) 151 Votes