Ren'Py The Null Hypothesis [v0.7b] [Ron Chon]

[merleved]

I got the impression this game is seriously bottlenecked by art.
The progress since the initial release has been very slow and already included some reworks. The developers like to tease all kinds of hypothetical future features in their discord but at the current pace it's gonna take years to get there. I almost dare say development is slower than Oni's.

The devs have been posting roadmaps of their intended progress for the entire past year on Patreon. With the exception of one milestone which shifted slightly due to RL work-related entanglements for the lead dev, they have hit every target goal since January. Every signpost has two goals, dependent on funding.

You can call the progress 'very slow' all you like, but it is 100% in line with what they proposed it would be all the way back in January. Their timeline basically gets cut in half at the higher funding tier, but all of the funding benchmarks have fallen short of the top end goal, so the project has proceeded apace with the lower funding goal.

But it has proceeded. Apace. As projected. The devs have been unmistakably clear about the timeline from jump street.

 

[Crichton1]

Sometimes with stuff jumping ahead. "Group chat" was added maybe two versions ahead with no loss.

I think lurkers see "no story progress" and are reacting like this was a VN that introduced a girl with flirting and maybe a hj scene with hints of the future.

Instead it has 3 main girls with all their poses. And it has done all their poses again. And redid the animation style twice. Just so they have a methodology and style for next how ever many years.

The first full iteration was done without patreon, took a year.

And they already have threesome cg's to be integrated. And the end of the summer artwork.

 

[armond]

It was going to be, until she fell into a vat of radioactive nair.

 

[Riptide]

Yeah this game doesn't have enough content to warrant the kind of money they would need to pay the artists to have the kind of content to be worth the money. They kinda maneuvered themselves into a corner here.
The content "might be" richer and more in depth than Oni's ... eventually? If they ever get there?

I would argue that the content is already richer and more in depth than RLE - though they are different styles of game so it's not a straight comparison. Oni has more quantity of content, but a lot of that is the same content with different girls - which is perfect for his pure-sandbox style of game since a lot of that is coming down to "I want to do X with my favourite girl". This has more story-based content and character depth, and a generally different art style with a more fully-fledged outfit system (though not yet in sex scenes, though planned once enough is in the art budget). RLE is also more directly in the porn-parody, where this is trying to be more porn-but-in-character. Different things, and I love RLE - but it's a shallow sandbox, this is definitely deeper even in early stages.

 

[vemnaroladopai]

You know, having a community manager has actually made following the development for this game very interesting and enjoyable, regardless of update pacing. I won't mention any names, but this is a "genre" where multiple projects would be in a much better place if the dev team simply bothered with clear, honest communication.

I understand money can be tight, but having someone like ShinyBoots1993 around is a massive boon to the development cycle.

I'm fully invested in this project and I don't even like comics like that.

 

[XStarLordX]

This is material for another 10 years...

Spoiler: Armor

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Spoiler: Pixie

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Spoiler: Dazzler

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Spoiler: Emma Frost

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Spoiler: Psylocke

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Spoiler: Jubilee

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Spoiler: Kitty Pryde

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Spoiler: Stepford Cuckoos

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[mbRjpZLD]

The devs have been posting roadmaps of their intended progress for the entire past year on Patreon. With the exception of one milestone which shifted slightly due to RL work-related entanglements for the lead dev, they have hit every target goal since January. Every signpost has two goals, dependent on funding.

You can call the progress 'very slow' all you like, but it is 100% in line with what they proposed it would be all the way back in January. Their timeline basically gets cut in half at the higher funding tier, but all of the funding benchmarks have fallen short of the top end goal, so the project has proceeded apace with the lower funding goal.

But it has proceeded. Apace. As projected. The devs have been unmistakably clear about the timeline from jump street.

yeah I am aware of the Roadmap and that's what I meant with slow pace. 3a was released at the beginning of the year and the roadmap projects to be finished with chapter 1 one whole year later, with basically no other content coming until then. It's gonna be many years until the story is halfway done and the chances are probably higher than not that it doesn't get finished at all

 

[Shadesishere]

yeah I am aware of the Roadmap and that's what I meant with slow pace. 3a was released at the beginning of the year and the roadmap projects to be finished with chapter 1 one whole year later, with basically no other content coming until then. It's gonna be many years until the story is halfway done and the chances are probably higher than not that it doesn't get finished at all

^ Someone who doesn't realise the amount of work being done, including a couple of things unique to TNH, in the coding.
What? you thought the devs went "this would be cool to have!" and the code magically writes itself error free?

at least TNH Devs set realistic targets instead of saying "we'll update once a week with 4 hours of content each time" and then never deliver. Shows they have a good idea of the workload and cost/time management, something that 90+% of devs don't.

 

[ShinyBoots1993]

You know, having a community manager has actually made following the development for this game very interesting and enjoyable, regardless of update pacing. I won't mention any names, but this is a "genre" where multiple projects would be at a much better place if the dev team simply bothered with clear, honest communication.

I understand money can be tight, but having someone like ShinyBoots1993 around is a massive boon to the development cycle.

I'm fully invested in this project and I don't even like comics like that.

I feel the love.

This is material for another 10 years...

Spoiler: Armor

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Spoiler: Pixie

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Spoiler: Dazzler

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Spoiler: Polaris

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Spoiler: Magik

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Spoiler: Emma Frost

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Spoiler: Psylocke

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Spoiler: Jubilee

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Spoiler: Kitty Pryde

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Spoiler: Stepford Cuckoos

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Without spoiling. Some of this will come in handy in less than a year.

 

[drifter139]

I feel the love.


Without spoiling. Some of this will come in handy in less than a year.

not sure if you saw my post about what I think would make a nice backstory for Null. I know it won't be in the game but could you tell the team just to see if they would think it's decent?

 

[Maddeninggg]

not sure if you saw my post about what I think would make a nice backstory for Null. I know it won't be in the game but could you tell the team just to see if they would think it's decent?

I saw it and like the Mister Sinister angle and all the theories people have been coming up with. Null's background is intentionally vague for roleplaying reasons, but as the story progresses you will get hints and learn more about it.

 

[jvbatman]

Spoiler: Stepford Cuckoos

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The devs can introduce all 5 Stepford Cuckoos and then just kill a random one off whenever they need something dramatic to happen. Just like the comics!

 

[mbRjpZLD]

^ Someone who doesn't realise the amount of work being done, including a couple of things unique to TNH, in the coding.
What? you thought the devs went "this would be cool to have!" and the code magically writes itself error free?

at least TNH Devs set realistic targets instead of saying "we'll update once a week with 4 hours of content each time" and then never deliver. Shows they have a good idea of the workload and cost/time management, something that 90+% of devs don't.

I think I was very clear in that the bottleneck is NOT the coding but the art and the money that they need to pay the artists.

 

[b_w_r]

I think I was very clear in that the bottleneck is NOT the coding but the art and the money that they need to pay the artists.

It's a fallacy to treat the pace of project management as a function of the scarcity of resources. Some things are non-ergodic.

Put it this way: One pregnant woman gives birth to one baby in nine months. You can't just get another 8 women and then get the birth to happen within one month because you've now more resources allocated. This is so self-evidence yet managers will decide that throwing more programmers at a software project (or artists, or money) can half how long it takes and that's been proven decade after decade to be a fallacy.

 

[jvbatman]

It's a fallacy to treat the pace of project management as a function of the scarcity of resources. Some things are non-ergodic.

Put it this way: One pregnant woman gives birth to one baby in nine months. You can't just get another 8 women and then get the birth to happen within one month because you've now more resources allocated. This is so self-evidence yet managers will decide that throwing more programmers at a software project (or artists, or money) can half how long it takes and that's been proven decade after decade to be a fallacy.

No don't mention pregnant women. You're going to summon... the fetishists.

 

[b_w_r]

No don't mention pregnant women. You're going to summon... the fetishists.

Post hoc ergo prego hoc is also a fallacy yo.

 

[armond]

It's a fallacy to treat the pace of project management as a function of the scarcity of resources. Some things are non-ergodic.

Put it this way: One pregnant woman gives birth to one baby in nine months. You can't just get another 8 women and then get the birth to happen within one month because you've now more resources allocated. This is so self-evidence yet managers will decide that throwing more programmers at a software project (or artists, or money) can half how long it takes and that's been proven decade after decade to be a fallacy.

Just look at modern AAA game development, insane budgets for the same trash smaller teams could make with a fraction of the budget 15 years ago.

 

[b_w_r]

Just look at modern AAA game development, insane budgets for the same trash smaller teams could make with a fraction of the budget 15 years ago.

Yup.

Duke Nukem 3D / Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[b_w_r]

The devs can introduce all 5 Stepford Cuckoos and then just kill a random one off whenever they need something dramatic to happen. Just like the comics!

Because I'm a contrarian shit, I think it'd be funnier if instead Wolverine keeps getting killed off like Kenny did in South Park. To the point Deadpool complains that his schtick is being stolen.

 

[mbRjpZLD]

It's a fallacy to treat the pace of project management as a function of the scarcity of resources. Some things are non-ergodic.

Put it this way: One pregnant woman gives birth to one baby in nine months. You can't just get another 8 women and then get the birth to happen within one month because you've now more resources allocated. This is so self-evidence yet managers will decide that throwing more programmers at a software project (or artists, or money) can half how long it takes and that's been proven decade after decade to be a fallacy.

you like to sound smart but you are missing the point. I was merely pointing out how slow development of this game is. Which is quite ironic considering this game was initially born out of frustration with Oni's slow progress.