I actually specifically asked about this once and got an answer, that the other towns on the map (besides New Capital) are about the same size as the Village in terms of planned content. But I agree with your overall thesis: The amount of planned content is simply far too large and ambitious, it'll take at least until 2030 to finish it without hiring more people (which will cause its own problems). And ten years is a long, long time to keep developing a game like this; Consider how often development of these things stops or stalls out because of circumstances outside the creators' control after just one or two years. Patreon-like crowdfunding platforms might not even *exist* anymore ten years from now.
I don't wanna sound too pessimistic, though. I wish them the best of luck in the attempt. I'm just trying to manage my own expectations.
I completely understand where you're coming from and I agree whole heartedly. The problem isn't waiting for updates, its whether or not the game will be finished and be finished within a reasonable time. Many people are suggesting that Magicnuts release smaller updates more frequently, but that doesn't fix the overall concern I have with the game. Whether you receive 2 small updates within 6 months, or 1 major update every 6 months doesnt alter the overall development time. Perhaps if this was a live service game there would be an argument to be made, or if content could be iterated on more quickly, but that isn't the case here.
Again, I don't have complete insight into what the developers have envisioned for the overall scope of their game, but from a player's perspective WAL's scope is quite large, too large almost. Given the pacing of development, the amount of time it would take to tackle a game of this size-- with only two developers-- seems terrifying in terms of length to an almost unrealistic degree.
There are so many issues that can arise from long development times. Theres more time for issues to occur for one, which could place an estimated release date 2 years from now and push it to potentially a 3-4 year away release date. Tech debt is also an issue, and you're having to tackle the issues of dealing with constant software changes that could require you to make potentially massive overhauls to your game. This game may be built running Ren'Py, but Ren'Py is still subject to its own changes as well as the changes of Python, the language it's built on.
Obviously if this were a major issue, people would never develop games. However, it's definitely something to keep in mind during long periods of development.
In my initial review of the game, which only stands in effect for what I saw at that time, I was completely enamored with WAL and I still am. I saw what they were trying to do as very ambitious, and I was there for it completely. However, given some time I believe there is such a thing as overambition, and thats what I'm afraid is going to happen with the game.
Again, I would appreciate it if Chestnut and Pistachio could perhaps give us a bit more insight into this and perhaps what their plans are to alleviate this perceived issue.
I don't know their full situation, and game development is hard, so it's stupid to just say "Just do this lol". I don't really have any solutions, and I'm not sure there are many that won't introduce other major problems.
Sincerely, a concerned patron.
