Boyim
Member
- Feb 22, 2018
- 300
- 414
Proxxie released a full save file on his patreon if you are interested, but you really do just need to find and cure everyone unless its broken.
MsKris28
Newbie
- Aug 8, 2019
- 53
- 20
- Dec 30, 2017
- 7,081
- 35,224
MsKris28
Newbie
- Aug 8, 2019
- 53
- 20
Brothers of Bourbon
Newbie
- May 14, 2020
- 58
- 71
It's all about speed, you gotta be fast. Just keep hitting all the infected peeps, until you have prevented the spread.
MsKris28
Newbie
- Aug 8, 2019
- 53
- 20
This will only work if I start this episode over. At this point, less than a second passes between healing and infection again. I'm afraid speed won't help.
Boyim
Member
- Feb 22, 2018
- 300
- 414
More bad news on that front. Newest Patreon post just announces that the update is close and that Proxxie has "hit his stride".
Yet again I'd like to believe that the 9 months that stand behind us means that he really means it this time and the update is close, but considering how much later than what he, by his own post half-year hiatus self, considered a ridiculous and impossibly large amount of time that the update could not possibly be done "way before" than, I would again ask everyone to keep expectations low.
For those with held breath and crossed fingers regardless, he considers himself to be really truly working on the final stretch of the update instead of just thinking about it, and that his biweekly updates will be faster as the update approaches.
But of course, in addition to no expected release date, there was no mention of how often these faster posts will be. Wouldn't want to ever be accountable to even a self-imposed nearly year long deadline now would we? That would obviously stifle the workflow which has been so smoothly improved by absolutely no accountability! Hi I'm Jeff, and despite being 26 years old I don't understand even a single mote of how human motivation works, but I do know that stress is uncomfortable and I dislike it a bunch. Yuck yuck, get it away from me! "HI JEFF!"
Y'know I also remember school and how much it sucked to hit a deadline, I also remember it forcing me to perform the tasks I had to do. Being your own boss and forcing suffering upon yourself sucks, but if not doing so means so ridiculously little gets done then he needs to learn to either bear the bursts of suffering and toil around deadlines, or have a more consistent scheduled work ethic that prevents deadline panic.
Just by the way even these small Patreon posts have been released, it seems he's just waiting until near the 2 week "self-imposed unclarified habit-based super-comfy low-stress non-binding-of-course ;D ''''''''deadline'''''''''" and then panicking anyways and doing barely enough to mention last minute instead of just lying. I'm glad he doesn't have the stomach to just lie about progress, especially at this point, but if it's just a goddamn Patreon post and we're talking about the dev in question, why do the posts get progressively later and later each time, and get later relative to the previous post as opposed to an actual 14 day schedule if not for this exact reason?
The only thing that stands between this update and the dev's behavior being an exact reiteration of the mess that occurred way earlier in the game's life is the absurdity of the timescale, and unfortunately anyone following this is keenly aware of just how immune to the absurd this man is.
flachelence
Member
- Jan 5, 2019
- 107
- 241
I appreciate you always keeping the thread updated with the Patreon news, it's just a shame the news is always "Update delayed, developer slacking off, he says hes working on it."
Boyim
Member
- Feb 22, 2018
- 300
- 414
I'm with you in wishing I had more to say.
Have some fond memories of this game. Boyim's text #1,034 just makes me ponder on my doubt if Patreon is even the right format for small game developers. I mean, I like to work on things as well and enjoy putting time, effort and love into it. But to imagine living in an eternal timeframe is just scary on the other hand. Where there's a subscription, expectations are justified but even if you enjoy doing it, you're in a prison. Perhaps it can be loosened by creating something so good that people won't even have to crave for an update - giving you the necessary freedom, like an online game but... offline. 
But then again, why a subscription. Do people really care for a vlog or some words despite an update missing for a year?
But then again, why a subscription. Do people really care for a vlog or some words despite an update missing for a year?It is a subscription because people aren't sitting on a mountain of expendable income, neither the dev nor the patrons.
You could have a system like Kickstarter and just ensure the finished product for a one-time payment, but we all know that's a recipe for scam, intentional or otherwise.
A tip-jar/incentive system could work but it would be completely unreliable income for any developer that has to worry about paying their bills.
I don't believe there is a better system, a subscription system protects supporters by allowing them to gradually spend their money instead of having to take a leap of faith with a large sum, and it gives the developer some reliability so they can potentially focus on their game without having to worry if they won't have any money at the end of the month.
The issue is the dev, there's a disconnect between what he thinks he wants to do and what he actually has to do. If he can't hold himself responsible to a continuous time-frame, then he just simply doesn't have what it takes to be a professional indie developer, at least not at this point in his life. And no one is forcing him to do this, he could shut down his patreon, create a blog and setup a tip-jar. There, no more pressure, he can spend as much time as he wants not doing meaningful work on the game and not owe anyone anything.
You could have a system like Kickstarter and just ensure the finished product for a one-time payment, but we all know that's a recipe for scam, intentional or otherwise.
A tip-jar/incentive system could work but it would be completely unreliable income for any developer that has to worry about paying their bills.
I don't believe there is a better system, a subscription system protects supporters by allowing them to gradually spend their money instead of having to take a leap of faith with a large sum, and it gives the developer some reliability so they can potentially focus on their game without having to worry if they won't have any money at the end of the month.
The issue is the dev, there's a disconnect between what he thinks he wants to do and what he actually has to do. If he can't hold himself responsible to a continuous time-frame, then he just simply doesn't have what it takes to be a professional indie developer, at least not at this point in his life. And no one is forcing him to do this, he could shut down his patreon, create a blog and setup a tip-jar. There, no more pressure, he can spend as much time as he wants not doing meaningful work on the game and not owe anyone anything.
He already has a tip-jar. Patreon. Just like Akabur has a tip-jar. He doesn't owe anyone anything - if you think so you have misunderstood the concept of Patreon. If you don't believe/agree with me on that feel free to point out anywhere on his Patreon that indicates he owes anybody anything at a certain frequency or whatever.
No, I understand the concept of Patreon. It is a platform to support and enable creative work, not e-begging.
Proxxie's entire patreon page is built around his one project: The Proteus Effect. The text in his 5 dollars tier says, and I quote: "Thank you for your support, you make the game possible!".
Do you mean to tell me that all of that doesn't at least imply money spent on his patreon is in service of him actually producing the game?
I understand some artists using patreon as a tip-jar, but to me that only makes sense when they are producing public and non-specific content (impossible to monetize), which is absolutely not the case with Proxxie.
My original comment was in response to someone pondering if the patreon format was the cause of the problems with Proxxie's workflow, and to me it seems clear the problem is with him personally. I hate tight deadlines or people that act like they own the developer just because they subscribe to their patreon, but there's still a line, the artist still needs to work on what they are advertising and Proxxie just isn't showing enough. Practically yearly updates on a relatively simple rpgmaker game and they still end up being painfully short? Defending him is a weird hill to die on.
Boyim
Member
- Feb 22, 2018
- 300
- 414
We've already been over this, artists do in fact owe their Patreon supporters content in general, Proxxie himself has admitted that he is at fault in particular, and the site exists for the exact reason of facilitating that relationship.
Further, if money was the big issue in terms of oweness, a switch from a monthly guaranteed withdrawal to a (perhaps higher costed) withdrawal that only occurs when he releases a patch might be a good move. However, this idea bothers me as I doubt he will immediately gain the speed required to make this work for him even with a larger cost, the pricepoint if costed even at half the monthly income he would have made from standard pledges would scare away new patrons, and this would theoretically open the door to arguments over 'is this good enough to charge me?' with respect to new updates depending on update size and pledge cost.
But Proxxie pissing off entirely, loosening the reigns further and having zero expectations as opposed to very few obviously isn't the right way of doing things given his behavior.
After the "chilling effect" of bans being issued after his last massively delayed release, he essentially has the setup manscout was mentioning now. Which is that he can't feel the ire of the people who are waiting for the release. He may as well have a blog and a tipjar except he just has very very little expectations instead of none.
So if normal expectations get us the largest update ever in like 7 months time, and the current incredibly few expectations get us a more medium sized update in like 10 months(+?) time. What do you think absolutely no expectations is going to do? It's not going to make him Vrelnir, that's for sure. Especially because Vrelnir has a community of people who appreciate his dutifulness and who also contribute to helping grow his game. Whereas if Proxxie starts a blog he will inherit a community of people who have had their trust of him and love of his game betrayed many times over, only to be finally fed a guarantee that they will never see the game they love realized. He will drown in an ocean of sycophants and justified fury, and then have little 'community' to interact with. I doubt zero expectations plus that will somehow invigorate him with motivation.
The only real solution to the this problem is the obvious one that has always existed and always been considered doable by Proxxie since the very beginning and to this day.
Which is for Proxxie to do his work faster and talk about it. Just like every other artist in the exact same position as him has always done. He has already started talking about it, but until this update releases and the next one drops '3 months later' we'll see if he's really 'doing it' as much as he needs to.