RPGM The Proteus Effect [v10.3] [Proxxie]

[Boyim]

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.

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.

 

[RustyV]

For the last several months the Western World for the most part has been locked down due to the Wuhan-Flu, the majority of people have had nothing to do and were just waiting in limbo locked inside their homes in a nationwide house-arrest. So having time to finish a project may not be the issue as much as willingness to do the project.
The dev may just be burned out or no longer enthusiastic about his creation.
Money for the dev may not be a deciding factor either way, it's about commitment to a project. Which many people loose when a hobby becomes work, or illusions meets reality.
No one can do anything to force the dev to create regular updates except the dev.

 

[Boyim]

He's seems more enthusiastic and motivated than ever. Having restructured the way the way he thinks about the project and until this last update voicing clear plans for progress and status reports. There's just a startling lack of delivery and little explanation whenever he lags so far behind even new late self-imposed deadlines.

 

[smackdab]

For the last several months the Western World for the most part has been locked down due to the Wuhan-Flu, the majority of people have had nothing to do and were just waiting in limbo locked inside their homes in a nationwide house-arrest. So having time to finish a project may not be the issue as much as willingness to do the project.

This is absolute guesswork and flat out false. A shitton of people who make their money using a computer have been working from home - maybe even putting in extra hours. This is what sidetracked Bitch Breaker, for example.

 

[RustyV]

Did you read the "may not" which indicates a perhaps.
How does working from home give you less time? If anything it should give you more flexible time.

 

[Babadado]

He's seems more enthusiastic and motivated than ever. Having restructured the way the way he thinks about the project and until this last update voicing clear plans for progress and status reports. There's just a startling lack of delivery and little explanation whenever he lags so far behind even new late self-imposed deadlines.

This pattern that Proxxie is having (that Innoxia, the dev for Lilith's Throne also has) reminds me of when you decide to turn your whole life around in the middle of the night at home, you get really excited/motivated for a while, then you go to sleep, wake up and go "nah fuck all that" and then you just return to your old routine. Rinse and repeat. Hopefully Proxxie breaks this cycle, but i highly doubt it.

Also, thanks for keeping us all updated here, i really appreciate it. I remember back a year ago when i was still a patreon. Proxxie just released 0.8 after many months (almost a year IIRC). Not only did the release disappoint me immensely ( i must've paid 50-60 freedom bucks on patreon between 0.7 and 08 alone) and for what? This? I could buy a full game for that money. And then i find out that people have been kicked off of discord for asking why the development took so long, with Proxxie refusing to answer the question. It all gave me such a bad taste in the mouth that i didn't bother to renew my subscription to Proxxie when i switched cards.
It just really seems like Proxxie is working at a slower rate update after update.

 

[Boyim]

If it were just like Innoxia then it'd be one thing. Problem is, when losing momentum going on the straight and narrow path towards finishing whatever he's currently working on, Proxxie doesn't just fuck off and do nothing (at least not entirely that), he starts side projects that require less creative energy and more just plugging away at them. Which although theoretically could be a good thing, they also provide the same sort of 'feeling of accomplishment' that actually finishing the meat and potatoes of an update would do.

So imagine you are having the thought, "Jeez I hit a snag and haven't really finished anything on my project for a month. Y'know what? Let's get back into it with something simple, I'm gonna make a custom font for the game. Wew... actually this is gonna take like 2 weeks to finish at least, but y'know I'm working on the game and I'm not just bumming around finally. Phew, that actually was tougher than I thought, but after some research and hard work I did it! time to take a break."

All the normal, healthy, self-aware stresses that hang over your head have now been swept away by the spiritual equivalent of the giant illuminated manuscript 'The', that Spongebob writes at the beginning of his boating school essay instead of actually starting it, aptly followed by the relieved exclamation of 'breaktime!'.

Although I love the game and know that these features can improve it, these tangents have historically gotten out of hand, currently gotten out of hand, and will likely continue to get out of hand unless a different attitude is taken towards them.

Exhibit Z, Proxxie gave a new update on Patreon just a day ago. He has decided to revamp the combat system. A good idea, and one that requires a different sort of energy than simply writing and finishing quest implementation, but absolutely not the thing to be doing at the moment.

He had the good sense to pump the breaks on giving it an entire overhaul for now, and has stopped at just flaring up the visuals for some main characters. But he plans to make combat much more intricate, less grindy, and more satisfying and strategic moving forward. Further, he plans on doing that gradually, while also designing and implementing a custom UI for the game next update. This worries me greatly, as he has two sideprojects planned in advance and we haven't even touched what he might dream up while actually working...

If he wants to be within even the widest margin of his proposed new schedule he needs to limit himself to one side project per update, and ONLY work on it when he's hit a snag, AND be incredibly conscious of what he's doing and why. He should conceive of them as indulgences or last resorts, and know that he's doing them instead of what needs doing. If you remember what fixing up or adding new sources to your works cited page was like in school, or hitting spell check and rephrasing things, these improvements need to be seen in the same light. The game is the game, and polish is polish. If you are just giving your eyes a break you need to realize that.

Updates moving forward should be something like 1-3 quests depending on size, 1 sex scene, and one, singular, less than a full month taking game improvement.

PS: For anyone interested, here's the link to the video of the new combat animations.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[RustyV]

I agree with most everything you said up to the 1 sex scene observation.
I think the two strong points of this game are the humorous writing style and the unique 3D images. Ignoring these elements for picking away at other side issues is not well advised. If anything more of the dev's created images and less of the canned graphics. Why say the blonde girl has gotten a new sexier outfit if you never show it or at most show it for less than a handful of images? The only thing stopping this game from being a top tier VN is the dev.
I just hope the new "improvements" don't negate previous saves.

 

[Boyim]

I appreciate there being an actual explorable game world, and I respect the dev's decision in making his game a 'porn game' as opposed to just a series of images and witty text. As much as I agree with you that the visual style and writing are the strongest points of the game. Digesting everything else away would be a downgrade for me for reasons I discussed before.

As much as I dislike his work habits, I agree with his vision for what the game should be, and I enjoy what he has done with it so far. Proportions and attitude towards additions aside, he has the right idea for what would make the world he has built feel better to occupy, and has already made something quite remarkable.

 

[Freud]

is there a guide for the latest update? I've been stuck on the waterfall bomb puzzle for a few hours now...

 

[smackdab]

is there a guide for the latest update? I've been stuck on the waterfall bomb puzzle for a few hours now...

I am pretty sure it is skippable. Even so, it shouldn't take you that much time. Be very conscious about your timing and try to vary it.

 

[Freud]

Maybe the item to skip just doesn't work for me?
I don't really see how it would be skipplable otherwise.
Image for reference

You must be registered to see the links

 

[RustyV]

I appreciate there being an actual explorable game world, and I respect the dev's decision in making his game a 'porn game' as opposed to just a series of images and witty text. As much as I agree with you that the visual style and writing are the strongest points of the game. Digesting everything else away would be a downgrade for me for reasons I discussed before.

As much as I dislike his work habits, I agree with his vision for what the game should be, and I enjoy what he has done with it so far. Proportions and attitude towards additions aside, he has the right idea for what would make the world he has built feel better to occupy, and has already made something quite remarkable.

Beyond the dev's halfhearted work habits it comes down to if you like a sandbox or not.
IMO if the dev is going to use a sandbox format than at least create a more custom world map and character avatars, a la Coceter Cronicles.
My contention is the dev's art is unique and should be used for more than a handful of images to illustrate a sex scene at the end of his game like a bonus prize.
Also adding some animation in the sex scenes wouldn't hurt. Well it might hurt the blonde girl.

 

[RustyV]

Any news?

 

[Boyim]

New news dropped 2 days ago. He's almost finished the one big quest but has 3 more smaller quests to do. Apparently he got distracted finding music. Which he stopped himself from being too too sidetracked doing and saved for later.

Really not much else was said. One of the final quests has a sneaking minigame and unlocks a maid outfit, and they are all smaller affairs than before. But other than this news post being earlier than two weeks after the previous one nothing much has changed that gives us a sign that the update is coming any time soon.

 

[honeypenguin]

should we bet if he's going to make it before a year has passed since last update?i mean we're not that far now

 

[LindaSnitcha]

should we bet if he's going to make it before a year has passed since last update?i mean we're not that far now

I honestly doubt we'll get an update before early August, so it'll likely be over a year (in total) of waiting for the next release.

 

[RustyV]

Wow you guys are optimistic.
What if a brightly colored bird lands near the dev's window? Lose 2 weeks there.
Take anti-ADHD meds, a lot of them.

 

[Boyim]

I am unfortunately almost certain he won't make it before the one year mark.

I mean why would he? He could wear himself to the bone and release it tomorrow and he would rightly be met with disappointment, ire, and critique from any non-sycophant willing to communicate with him.

Once you cross the ludicrously, stupidly, fan-betrayingly late rubicon there really isn't any reason to step on the gas.
The only time he might hurry is on the next release, and hopefully the one after if he is going regain any of the faith of his audience back.

But now, floating in the void with any semblance of a carrot or a stick lightyears away? I'm just glad he's still working at all...

 

[RustyV]

Have faith he will finish this update. Sure it may take decades but I'm sure the dev is diligently working on some inane side project even as I write this.