VN Ren'Py Abandoned Tides of Succession [Ch.3 v0.3] [TakMycket]

[Pixillin']

Option 1 all the way. This is a hobby. You already have what sounds like the beginnings of a career plan. It sounds like you're gonna be the type of dev that has a full time job, works on their hobby when they can, and we see Tides updates when we see them, similar to Chaq with YC.

Option 2 isn't much of an option imo. You'd be shelving something you have passion for in order to make something else. There's no telling what level of passion would be in it and doubly so there's no telling if it would be a commercial success. A lot of the "viable" markets are saturated so they are hard to break into. No offense because I enjoy your writing but it's hard to imagine someone carving out enough of a segment to go full time. Just to list some examples (obviously you don't have to do these but drifting further and further from what sells well is basically shooting yourself in the foot if you're in it for money):

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I agree with Jade here. It sounds like you're putting aside your day job plans to take a flyer on a new AVN after not finishing the last two. I would keep working on this at whatever pace, and show people what you can do. Stick to the day job plan until you're making enough from AVNs to make it a career. People who quit their day job because they're going to be rock stars end up homeless 49 times out of 50. I mean, you do you but to me this sounds more like what you want to do than an actual plan.

 

[drcynic22]

What a nimrod. I subbed at the last release (my policy is to alternate every other release), and thankfully did not for this one. This is the sort of thing that makes people never want to sub to you because how can I justify investing my money in you if you won't finish any game because you've got "ideas".

 

[slick97]

I agree with Jade here. It sounds like you're putting aside your day job plans to take a flyer on a new AVN after not finishing the last two. I would keep working on this at whatever pace, and show people what you can do. Stick to the day job plan until you're making enough from AVNs to make it a career. People who quit their day job because they're going to be rock stars end up homeless 49 times out of 50. I mean, you do you but to me this sounds more like what you want to do than an actual plan.

This was somewhat mentioned by a few people on the original Patreon poll as well. The safest option - in my opinion - is to focus on a typical day job while still working on Tides as a hobby project. Once finished post it to Steam and see how much traffic it generates before deciding on whether to pursue AVN development full time.

 

[Wicks99]

Have to agree with most of the comments here - not seeing the commercial logic of abandoning an established well-followed unique story to start a run of the mill college slice of life one. Perhaps the fellow developers he consulted are attempting to weed out competition?

 

[Dessolos]

Have to agree with most of the comments here - not seeing the commercial logic of abandoning an established well-followed unique story to start a run of the mill college slice of life one. Perhaps the fellow developers he consulted are attempting to weed out competition?

Honestly I think him killing this game for another is not only baffling and a bad move no matter how you put it. But I think this move is gonna kill any following for his next project too before it even gets a start , to me this feels like a stab in the back. I wouldn't be nearly as upset if it was just abandoned but to kill a game to work on a new game without any logical reason instead fuck that. Not to mention I don't trust his new project gonna be any good or have much thought behind it as it feels put together rather quickly and last minute if you ask me even if he had ideas for other games. Plus it's gonna be an attempt at going full time so what made Tides unique and a great project probably will be lost or some of it will.

 

[slick97]

Honestly I think him killing this game for another is not only baffling and a bad move no matter how you put it. But I think this move is gonna kill any following for his next project too before it even gets a start , to me this feels like a stab in the back. I wouldn't be nearly as upset if it was just abandoned but to kill a game to work on a new game without any logical reason instead fuck that. Not to mention I don't trust his new project gonna be any good or have much thought behind it as it feels put together rather quickly and last minute if you ask me even if he had ideas for other games. Plus it's gonna be an attempt at going full time so what made Tides unique and a great project probably will be lost or some of it will.

I'm more so wondering why we were even asked for our opinion on the matter when it feels as though he had already made the decision. Also, why start a project (which spawned from a rework of another project) to then abandon it for yet another project before we even reach the end of act 1. Why bother putting in the effort to create a world and rich story spanning multiple titles if you're just going to abandon it.

 

[Krytax123]

Wow, didnt saw that coming to be honest and am disappointed.

Part of getting a good reputation as a avn dev is determination and commitment, every writer or creator of storys has these moments where the actual project is tedious/boring/feels unrewarding but great artists get over it.

All this talk about planning things out after the first abandoned project feels rather pointless now. Even more with this big scale involving three games ... who is supposed to believe the devs "plans" in the future?

I support (occasionally) other irrational devs, who create two avns at the same time planning like 30 chapters for each which probably will never reach the end but at least the dev is fully determined and believes in it himself lol

I am very discouraged to read any further devlogs or plans for the future as it may not happen anyway and therefore doesnt matter or to become a sub in the early stages of the new avn (i would wait at least 5-6 chapters).

And i really doubt this decision is smart, even without considering the reputation damange im not convinced a way more successful game can be easily created even with the same amount of high quality.

But i still think blaming the dev now is wrong, its disappointing for sure but tides was always an avn which got free releases and is not on stream, its a hobby project and not a buisness, nobody ever had to pay or sub to get the avn not even to get it earlier.

I just think its not a very smart decision from him but maybe im biased due to disapointment, time will tell i guess and i wish the dev good luck still

 

[Joshy92]

Wow, didnt saw that coming to be honest and am disappointed.

Part of getting a good reputation as a avn dev is determination and commitment, every writer or creator of storys has these moments where the actual project is tedious/boring/feels unrewarding but great artists get over it.

All this talk about planning things out after the first abandoned project feels rather pointless now. Even more with this big scale involving three games ... who is supposed to believe the devs "plans" in the future?

I support (occasionally) other irrational devs, who create two avns at the same time planning like 30 chapters for each which probably will never reach the end but at least the dev is fully determined and believes in it himself lol

I am very discouraged to read any further devlogs or plans for the future as it may not happen anyway and therefore doesnt matter or to become a sub in the early stages of the new avn (i would wait at least 5-6 chapters).

And i really doubt this decision is smart, even without considering the reputation damange im not convinced a way more successful game can be easily created even with the same amount of high quality.

But i still think blaming the dev now is wrong, its disappointing for sure but tides was always an avn which got free releases and is not on stream, its a hobby project and not a buisness, nobody ever had to pay or sub to get the avn not even to get it earlier.

I just think its not a very smart decision from him but maybe im biased due to disapointment, time will tell i guess and i wish the dev good luck still

It's still up to wishlist on Steam but the dev will probably take it down eventually.

 

[Filipis]

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My Decision:
After consulting with numerous other developers, my community and the people I trust to get an outside perspective, I've decided to give AVN development a crack as a full-time career.

I recognise the fact this isn't going to be easy, and there's certainly no guarantee for success. However, sometimes in life we have to take a risk to succeed and this is me taking one of those risks. Many AVN developers have tried to take the plunge in the past, and not many have succeeded. I'll be hoping to be one of the few who do succeed. Rest assured, if I do fail in my venture, I'll continue to develop AVNs as a hobby, and I'll land on my feet - I have back up plans in place in case matters go poorly.

I'd also like to address a few comments with regards to passion and vision. I understand where these thoughts are coming from, and I agree with the intention behind those words. But what's important to realise is while I have an immense passion for Tides of Succession, it isn't the only story I want to tell. I have a folder full of story ideas and I would love to turn all of them into AVNs at some point in time. This project originates from one of those story ideas, and I'm passionate about this concept.

What does this mean for Tides of Succession?
I'll be putting Tides of Succession to the side for at least a couple of years. I fully intend to return to it one day, whether that's as a hobby project or as a proper project once I've made it full-time, I'll be back. No matter what, it will have to wait until my new project is complete. Until then, the current content for Tides will be free to download.

I do want to apologise to everyone who's supported Tides of Succession throughout it's life span. Your support and words of encouragement throughout this journey has been invaluable and I wouldn't be at where I am today if it weren't for the feedback I've received. I'll be offering free copies of my new project to anyone who's supported me in the past. If you want something else from me, please get in contact. I want to do what's right, and I'd happily discuss compensation with my supporters.

Changes to Patreon:
Before I go any further, I want to stress this fact; please cancel your subscription if you do not want to support my new project (details on my new project will be below). I'll be revamping my Patreon page for my new project in a few days, and I don't wish to be stringing anyone along. For those of you who decide to stay, I'm extremely grateful for your belief in me.

Due to the fact I'm trying to make this my career, there will be significant changes to the way I run my Patreon. For one, I'll no longer be releasing content for free; instead, you'll have to subscribe to the $5 tier at least for access. There will also be an early access model in-place so higher tiers will get updates before anyone else.

I also plan to add the following benefits:

- Weekly Captain's Log to all subscribers (free members will receive a monthly Captain's Log).

- Custom renders to higher paid tiers ($20 and up - frequency depends on tier).

- Monthly render sets for supporters $5 and above.

- Previews for supporters $10 and above (NSFW previews included).

I'll also be making a supporter's area in my Discord which previously didn't exist (though you must link your Discord and Patreon account for this to work).

My Patreon page will remain active as I'll start offering customs and other benefits to paid supporters from the 1st of October and onward.

Release Schedule:
I'll be releasing an update for this new project every 2 months, and I'll be aiming for 2000 renders per update. More information with regards to when the first release is set to be released will be shared later.

New Project - Tides of Becoming:
Tides of Becoming (ToB) will be a character driven, slice-of-life AVN set in the fictional Grace Isle University. Purpose and values are key themes which will be present in ToB, and as the player, you'll be able to determine the MC's values which will in turn, determine his purpose. There will be 5 Love Interests, each with their own ending (there will also be 3 "solo" endings, so 8 in total).

As a sneak peek, the 5 Love Interests are shown below (keep in mind this may not be their final model, small tweaks may be made):

View attachment 5269186

In a few days time, I'll be updating my Patreon page and posting a FAQ to provide more information on this project. If anyone has any questions they wish to be answered then, please, speak up. Though, before anyone asks, no it won't be a harem and no, it won't contain any NTR.

Tell me you are chasing money without telling me you're chasing money.

So, the dev decides to abandon a very creative, very unique AVN because it doesn't have enough sex appeal, and instead of adding more of it, he starts a new run-of-the-mill College "Harem" game where you can date multiple girls at once because that will generate revenue?

Not only that, he promises 2000 renders every 2 months, which is IMPOSSIBLE to maintain or even fulfill - the best devs in this segment only manage 500 renders every 70 days. But sure...

The game is also yet another college game, which are notorious for not having any engaging story whatsoever - hence their name "slice-of-life", since they are utterly pointless and aimless - compared to ToS which had a laid out plot progression, drama, and character arcs.

...

How many lobotomies does it take to "ascend" to this dev's plane of thinking?

 

[boobsrcool]

My thoughts are with Jufot Nelson in these trying times

 

[boobsrcool]

his track record is the main issue this will be his third go and second unfinished project.

what was the other one?

 

[yossa999]

Not only that, he promises 2000 renders every 2 months, which is IMPOSSIBLE to maintain or even fulfill - the best devs in this segment only manage 500 renders every 70 days. But sure...

Just a fact: Tak was quite consistently producing 200-300 renders a week for ToS. Didn't read the rest of your post.

 

[metamorphMP]

what was the other one?

The Spice Pirate

 

[Joshy92]

Just a fact: Tak was quite consistently producing 200-300 renders a week for ToS. Didn't read the rest of your post.

I do wonder though is he able to do two thousand every two months? The only update to this that had more was chapter three. I don't know how often this game updated but I assume it wasn't every two months.

The new game will most likely be very linear and have a quick throw away story to compensate imo.

 

[QueenOliviaDunne]

Dev legitimately couldn't be more oblivious even if he tried.

So he's telling the fans of his work/project that he's viewed it as sub-par and it's not worth committing to but his other mystery projects are apparently something of such value that he can create a career developing them?

Well he's lost one supporter for good.

 

[Filipis]

Dev legitimately couldn't be more oblivious even if he tried.

So he's telling the fans of his work/project that he's viewed it as sub-par and it's not worth committing to but his other mystery projects are apparently something of such value that he can create a career developing them?

Well he's lost one supporter for good.

Like it or not, dating simulators do make more money on average than projects like ToS, simply based on the fact that there are more normies that want to date their digital waifu than people that want to read proper erotica.

 

[QueenOliviaDunne]

Like it or not, dating simulators do make more money on average than projects like ToS, simply based on the fact that there are more normies that want to date their digital waifu than people that want to read proper erotica.

That wasn't my point at all.

 

[Pixillin']

Dev legitimately couldn't be more oblivious even if he tried.

So he's telling the fans of his work/project that he's viewed it as sub-par and it's not worth committing to but his other mystery projects are apparently something of such value that he can create a career developing them?

Well he's lost one supporter for good.

I don't know. I might check out his new project - after he finishes part 3 of the trilogy this one was supposed to be.

 

[Krytax123]

I do wonder though is he able to do two thousand every two months? The only update to this that had more was chapter three. I don't know how often this game updated but I assume it wasn't every two months.

The new game will most likely be very linear and have a quick throw away story to compensate imo.

I mean he had a amazing track record with the development speed of tides so far

Dunno if he can keep that up with shit like bonus and custom renders sets (i hate that shit so much lol).

Like it or not, dating simulators do make more money on average than projects like ToS, simply based on the fact that there are more normies that want to date their digital waifu than people that want to read proper erotica.

Well some very high quality college avns failed lately due to a lack of support/the devs high expectations so thats not set in stone.

Im not even sure the new LIs are that convincing, imo the tos girls were more beautiful and sexy (which is supposed to be the new selling point).

 

[yossa999]

I do wonder though is he able to do two thousand every two months? The only update to this that had more was chapter three. I don't know how often this game updated but I assume it wasn't every two months.

The new game will most likely be very linear and have a quick throw away story to compensate imo.

The second chapter came out somewhere in mid-February, the third chapter towards the end of August.
So the CH3 was a bit more than 6 months in development.
CH3 had 6400+ renders and 125 animation, so ~1000 renders per month was the average speed, not counting the animations.
As you can see it's doable (at this level of the renders quality of course.)

What the new game will be like in terms of plot and characters is another matter, and I, like you, have my doubts. We'll see, I suppose.