Quick Update: Day 17 INCOMING

I get that things take time. I get that some are doing this beside their regular day job. I do understand that estimates can be wrong and release dates need to be postponed. 100% I get that. But if you have been doing this for a while, then you should be able to calculate a release date to within a week, 2 weeks tops IMHO. (Unless you have no idea about the amount of stuff you are trying to do for that next update, which is a failure in planning. But if say, you know you'll need about 1000 renders and you can do 10 per day, that means 100 days plus a generous 30% error margin, then you would get 133 days until the next release. And nobody will be pissed if you are early. But if you say you'll need 14 days and then there is no communication for 30 days, then imho people have a right to be a little pissed. Because who says you haven't just given up, but taken their money reguardless? For example there is a VN "The second half" here on Patreon. Last update, as in "progress report #5", there was in October 2021. There are still 6 people who pay him every month - he shows this on the page - and I doubt that those are actually aware that it's highly unlikely that any update will come ever again. Now you can say "that's only 54$ a month", but that's 54$ each month for nothing in return. In my case that would be half my gas+electricity bill.) And of course, life is life and shit can happen and for some reason you can't do stuff for 2 weeks. 100% get that too. When I'm so close to the finish that I can say "2 more days", then it should not turn out to be 3, because that would mean I'm 33% off target in a very short time. What I don't understand is that most of the people active on any Patreon projects (not just VN) do not do regular updates, like at least weekly. For example if someone says "It's gonna be out end of June" at the end of May and then nothing more gets communicated until suddenly in August the message "Update is almost done!" pops up... not cool. If life happens, then just post "sorry guys, I'm sick and probably will lose a week" when it happens and not just ignore it. Because IMHO people who give me money deserve to be in the loop, just like they'd be my regular employer. My personal favourite is Fashion Business and he does updates weekly with progress bars for Art, Animations, Assets, Dialogues and Scripting, which helps a lot and also gives the feeling of progress, while silence gives a feeling of "nothing is happening" which is frustrating. Especially when you are giving money. What I will sometimes read is "don't be ungrateful" when someone complains that releases are always postponed, or you don't hear anything for a long time, etc. but that does not apply in my opinion since we spend money on these projects. And unfortunately we can't tell how much everyone is making here, since that is hidden for reasons, but some have been transparent enough to share that they get thousands each month even when "nothing" is happening and then I have to ask myself who the ungrateful ones are. And just to be clear, most of this does not apply to WildMan Games here, he is one of those who have better communication than most and updates the game pretty regularily!!! It's just a generalized observation on my part.

Bazino

Bazino, Install DAZ3d and render 1 image and post how much time it took you. You have some validity about the amount of abandoned projects, alot of creators have high hopes, huge ambitions when they start out and then just drown in the amount of time it all takes. Time to render, time to program, time to write, time to test, time to come up with something coherent. You might be right about 90% being the same guy, because i find it hard to believe that this game is made by someone inexperienced, yes there are some flaws, but otherwise everything is above 95% of VN novels. As far as i'm concerned and my opinion that does not matter, and preference taken into account, so far there are only 2 VN novels that stand above Wildmans game he has created sofar. City of Broken Dreamers and Leap of Faith. NLT is not a VN anymore, as much as i enjoyed their games, they are something else. More an Indy game then fitting the VN genre. Wildmans game is just solid, all the extra's are nice but if you cannot be bothered they are not obligatory and you can skip them without missing anything on the story. Flaws int he game, many, but not technical just choice wise but not a topic to discuss on your comment, I wonder what made you make your comment, VN's take time, rendering takes time, it's not easy, and it takes dedication, and Wildman shows he has dedication to see it through. Will we ever see day 18and beyond? I dont know i dont care, i done some scene building and rendering in DAZ3d and have wild ideas but there is a reason i'm playing someone elses VN game other then writting and rendering my own. It's easy to start it's a daunting task to see it through to the end, and sofar i have zero doubt Wildman will not be seeing through all the effort and time put into it already. it's one of the most elaborate VN's with all it's features i have played sofar. On par with Love of Magic and doing a better job at that. Really, Wildman might be overwhelmed at some point and stop, but i highly doubt it seeing what he or she or they have already accomplished. I see a bright future as the 5% of the 10% that finnish what they set out to do.

Pino

I think you’re failing to account for the fact that creators grow complacent often. Lengthy time in between updates is not a sign of complacency. Neither is saying an update is going to be ready on a specific day and it’s not. Have you ever had to do a project that would be seen by thousands of people? You want to get it right. I’m sure the amount of times up until release date that these creators go through the game, polish, check grammar, and fine tune is extensive. If they can spend one extra day doing it to put their mind at ease, it shouldn’t be a problem. That’s all I was saying. The better the game, the more lengthily the time between updates is. That is part of being a fan of AVNs.

M-RayMaker

The delay doesn't really bother me that much to be honest, although I did spend a lot of time yesterday tabbing over and refreshing lol. What does irritate me is the blind defense and support that a lot of content creators on this platform receive from portions of their audience, seemingly regardless of what they do or say. I am sure that you have seen these people in comments on other pages and know what I'm referring to. My comment is less targeted at this specific instance, and more at this trend in general, although admittedly that wasn't clear. I always get nervous when I see these kinds of comments on projects I support, because I feel like they make it much easier for the creator to grow complacent, and for quality and consistency to start that downward trend that we've all seen many times.

Cartod

I'm trying to avoid saying anything because it tends to backfire on me (my own fault).

Wildman

While I agree with you, I feel it's fair to say you're using phrases that might be a bit overdramatic. Making or honoring commitments? Did I promise to marry you? It's an AVN with a small delay. Should I have kept my word? Sure, but let's not blow this out of proportion.

Wildman

NLT is getting about 6x more money and has several people helping him, but I get your point.

Wildman

Sitting here like I did for when Diablo dropped.

SopGuy53

My conspiracy theory is that 90% of adult game devs on Patreon are actually the same guy, because you'll read with every single one "I was sick", "I moved to another country", "I got a new PC", "I lost a harddrive", or nothing at all for months (sometimes years) before suddenly there is an update that the next game update is "coming soon". What I don't understand is the lying they pretty much all do. "Will be out in 3-4 weeks at most" and then no update for 2 months with the next update "only 2 more weeks!". All it did for me, is to always only pay the moment an actual update comes out and then cancel the sub again.The only game dev that I'm constantly supporting is NLT, because on his website you have a timer until the next update ON THE SECOND and it always holds. His current game gets updated twice a month, no exceptions.

Bazino

Stop being a pathetic simp. When you make a commitment it should mean something. If you can't guarantee something, don't make the commitment. It really is that simple.

Cartod

That leads me to believe it could be out any time now. Just my guess.

M-RayMaker

I mean it would have been better had he said something instead of radio silence all day

GravesRidge

It always baffles me how people will get upset about a release date changing. Talk about first world problems. You must have it pretty good my man to tell somebody else “they have a huge problem” because they don’t deliver on release dates they anticipate. Be realistic JUBO, do you think WildMan wants to release as soon as possible always? Yes? Do you think giving dates is something just for us supporters? Yes? Ok then so maybe think about it like an adult and realize it will be released soon and everything will be ok. Look at the length of releases of some other games and then the release WildMan has and you’ll realize he’s released a lot relative to others. Day 17 will be out soon with Day 18 to follow. That’s what the majority of us realize. Let’s go!

M-RayMaker

I'm f95 crowd and I support on here. Just wanted to throw that out. And tbh f95 is where you're going to get the most honest takes to the dev imo.

Cartod

CougarPatrol

doesn't look like it will be the 8th either, hu?

Bazino

take ur time

Chris Munro

Quality over quickly every...fucking...time.

Artificial Idiot

At this point, Stranded in Space can lovingly be called unwieldy. That's all I'll say!

Wildman

Your hard work is appreciated Wildman. I have really enjoyed playing this game. Looking forward to your future updates and will continue to support you and efforts put into this game. I am not a game developer or creator, but I imagine that it must be a challenge and a huge undertaking to put together a game like this.

Joshifan

So on the 7th the game won't have sound. By the 20th? I'd bet it will. I'm still finalizing the details, but I really am at the end of this stupid task. Music is right around the corner.

Wildman

So the game will now include sound? That sounds awesome! Will this be for full game or just animated scenes? Either way I will be looking forward to update.

Joshifan