I have bad news
Added 2022-09-25 21:32:18 +0000 UTCHey guys. I'm really sorry, but the next episode isn't going to be ready next week.
I was hoping to release it for early access on Sep 30, but the writing isn't there yet.
I'm happy with it structurally and it's playable, but it's not yet sexy enough. There isn't enough interaction with the bargirls, and it feels like our heroine isn't having enough fun for this scene to work (and set up some important future interactions).
I've been in similar places with past episodes, and the solution is to just go through it and rework it until it's zinging. I don't know how long this is going to take but I'll update you with weekly progress reports until it's ready.
Sorry again for the bad news. π I so wanted this to be ready on time, but it's just not good enough to release yet. I'll give you an update on Friday Sep 30th.
Comments
(Crossposting here for those who don't follow the Discord): Firstly thanks for the kind words π₯° Last week I was stressed to fuck because the scenes didn't feel hot or interesting enough and yet I didn't have enough time to do the rewrites that it needed and still hit the release target of Sep 30. I felt like I was chasing my tail and I'm sure it was bad for productivity. After biting the bullet and announcing a delay the writing has gotten a lot easier. I'm currently adding dialogue options throughout the night that allow Kate to learn more about the club and bargirling in general. This is time consuming (because I'm slow at writing dialogue) but I feel like it's fixing a lot of problems: Kate is developing her relationships with the bargirls (because talking is how girls bond right), the player is getting foreshadowing of Kate's future which is subtly π₯, and the closer relationship she's building with the bargirls will improve the optional sex scenes in the episode finale (which currently feel a little flat and unengaging). However the early scenes are now disconnected from the later scenes (i.e. while I'm editing them, they don't link ahead to the future scenes, they just come to a dead end), so I'd need to add links back in to the future content, explain that it's a time skip, etc. I really feel like the gameplay experience will just suck, and lots of people won't understand what's going on, and they'll just think the episode feels weirdly disjointed. I think it'd be confusing to release an unfinished episode now and then the actual episode shortly afterwards. I can send you the storyboard if you like (DM me), but all it's gonna do is remove the surprises when you play it! I don't think the people who've reviewed the storyboards would say it's improved their experience of the game, if anything it's detracted from it, they just feed back on them to help make the episodes better. (This is someone who saw a storyboard for a previous episode and wasn't sure if he wanted to do it again because it detracted from his gameplay experience: Hey Crush - thank you for the offer... I'm kinda Marie Antoinette right now... Can I have my cake and eat it too, access to the storyboards and no clue what happens? LOL) Quick extra point, about the game taking a wide detour for the side quests β this is a good observation and also something that's been on my mind (after being brought up by Bread Pitt in some thought provoking DMs). I think we'll need to include (highlights of) a shift at the bar after each side quest. This is so we get some sense that Kate is undercover at the bar regularly, not just off doing side quests for months and months. So we'll get some further development in the "barmaid to bargirl" plot with each side quest as a little bonus.
Crushstation
2022-09-30 08:42:33 +0000 UTCOn one hand, I am extremely pleased by the high quality of Crush's work and willing to let the author have all the necessary rrom to make it as excellent as they deem necessary. OTOH, the main story is going in the part (transition to bargirl) that has the greatest appeal for me and eagerness to see it advanced was killing me even before this last delay was announced. After the previous one month's delay, the release getting cut in half, and the bigger half postponed, a further delay of indefinite duration is a serious disappointment. Therefore, I have a proposal: if the delay shall boil down to a few days, I can grit my teeth and wait. If it is a thorough rewrite that is going to make as much as the first one (e.g. several weeks, with 1-2 scenes per week, as it was told for the first version), I'd much prefer to get the flawed beta version immediately and then get the final version perfected to the author's standards later. I am sure even a flawed version by the author's rigorous standards shall be good enough for me. I think I shall enjoy the all the improvements that the author is going to put in the final version more if I am able to sate my curiosity to see the main story progress ASAP. I am probably going to tolerate delays for the side quests more since I know from the start they are not going to advance the main story much. After all, a lot of games have beta versions released on a regular basis or in similar circumstances. It is no sin to imitate them to appease fans such as yours truly. As they say, the best is the enemy of the good. I am afraid I am losing patience at the perspective of having to wait another month or so to see any progress in the story, no matter how good the rewrite is going to be.
Novamarauder
2022-09-28 13:51:18 +0000 UTCThanks Nate! Here's the (NSFW) storyboard for episode 1.15: https://www.femaleagentgame.com/wp-content/uploads/media/test/115Storyboard.pdf They go into the engine basically in that format, then I play through it and tweak and improve the wording (and fill in placeholder text) as I go. That's the process I'm going through at the moment, just playing it and making it better.
Crushstation
2022-09-27 08:21:47 +0000 UTCThanks as always for the transparency. Whenever I see updates like this I'm always reminded of how high your standards are for your own writing and it always reassures me that a 'bad update' is basically impossible. Frankly I always have fun playing through every release no matter how mundane it is because of the realism and amazing story. I really enjoy it but I know to make it as engaging and hot as it is requires a lot of research, hard thinking, and rewrites. The wait is always worth it. Though sometimes I'm curious about the original slides before the edits! Good luck with your writing.
Nathan Lovecraft
2022-09-26 21:39:47 +0000 UTCThanks guys this is an important conversation and I want to be as transparent as possible (without spoiling the hell out of the episode). The situation is that, despite putting in lots of hours, it's just not yet up to the same standard as the previous episodes. I spent today reworking the opening scene of the new episode, filling in some details I'd skipped over, and it's already feeling a lot better. Like I said in the report, I've been here before in previous episodes. A good example is 1.14, "FNG" (the heroine's first shift at the bar). The early version had all the same events as the final episode β the heroine stripped down to a thong and heels, served drinks and got groped β but it felt kind of meh in playtesting. The solution was to really dig into the heroine's sensations and emotions, to try to capture how it would feel being so exposed and out of her element, picturing and trying to depict the little details like the beer taps spattering her naked skin or how nerve-wracking it'd be to come out from behind the bar and walk through a crowd of horny drunk men practically naked. The current episode feels like 1.14 did before I bit the bullet and did one more writing pass. I'm sure it's the right decision creatively but obviously I'd *much* rather get releases out faster. I'm hoping the next three side quests will be simpler and faster to produce. π€π»π¬π€π»
Crushstation
2022-09-26 19:23:43 +0000 UTCEstimating timelines is difficult, and I agree it's better to take the time necessary to keep up the quality instead of cutting corners. Still I think it's understandable that some have lost or are losing patience, as it's not exactly the first time we've seen something similar. Also it was Crush's own choice to give a schedule for the next five (!) releases, which I don't think I was alone in taking as a signal that he had things very much under control. In the August 16th update Crush wrote that "At this pace it will be 3 more weeks before all the yellow dots turn green", before the September 30th release date turned those 3 weeks into 6 1/2 (including the polishing for the general release of 1.16). The wording in this post ("I'll update you with weekly progress reports until it's ready") also makes it sound like we'll now have to wait several more weeks, which would make it a very substantial delay five days before the planned date. I don't expect everything to go according to plan, as that would be unrealistic with this kind of creative workβand I'll probably continue to support Crush because of the quality of the gameβbut for me the frequency of these kind of delays does affect the trust in the development.
Doppelgang
2022-09-26 14:39:08 +0000 UTCSometimes you think you are nearly done. But when you start polishing some of the scratches don't come out, and it turns out they run deeper than you thought. Then you have to go back. Maybe some generous sanding will do, but maybe you have to cut the piece out, replace it, and smooth everything over so the new part fits with everything around it. That's why estimating timelines is hard if you don't want to cut corners.
Cofi
2022-09-26 00:27:09 +0000 UTCI'm a little confused here. First you show this image showing that everything is done and it just needs polish. Then you release half of everything that is done. Then now the other half is not done? Did I get all of that right? lol
meiwow
2022-09-25 23:27:53 +0000 UTC
