I just want to say, cutting corners is the last thing either GIL or I will do. We (in part) do this for our own satisfaction, desire to work together, and love for the process. My approach to making a visual novel has been about balance. You can always do better, you are always improving... so it's about finding the sweet spot between what's important to you, what you are satisfied presenting to the world, and getting things done at a reasonable pace. That has been our philosophy since the start, and it is why you'll never see us go back and "remaster" anything while there's still a long road ahead of us. Every update you get better; if you're a perfectionist, it would just simply never end.
With that in mind, animations tend to be a trade off. They take time to make, but they also make some of that time back from the huge swathes of text they eat up which would otherwise require static images, while adding immense production value to the project. If the script gets to a point where not doing an animation would be a glaring omission, that would not sit well with either of us. I just love GIL's animations. It's one of the things I derive great joy from, so I don't want less of them.
Instead, our discussion(s) center around my side of the things: the way scenes are paced, designed, and structured. In my pursuit to make a perfect game for me, I have a tendency to complicate scenes, which ends up running contrary to my own selfish goal when things begin to play out unevenly. selberdreher is astute when he mentioned exhibition 2; the free roam section served the purpose of continuing the club as a character, but things suffered in the back half. There was certain potential developments in the Felicia and Rosalind events that I would've like to portrayed, but ended up not doing so because of a combination of fatigue and our desire to actually see people playing our hard work. That's another impetus for the discussion: beyond finishing at a sustainable pace, releasing has become an enjoyable stage of the creative process for us.
I mean, it's not like very many people are complaining about the time our updates take; in fact, most people tell us to take our time, but it can't be discounted just how much seeing people playing, reacting, and enjoying your work is good for the soul. Having people discuss an update is like a renewal of spirit. It's invigorating, educational, and is overall good for the health of the project. I would veeeeeery much like to be a 3 updates a year kind of game. However, I also recognize that being rigid with frequent updates is not the solution, because cutting an update at an undue time just adds to more operational downtime over the long run with testing and PR'ing and other stuff.
So, I really do just think the answer is reining in my impulse to get fucking crazy at the first chance I get.
Take two of my favorite scenes for example: the Felicia sex scene in Elias' office and Mina's "all you can eat buffet." The Felicia scene has a ton of branching: vaginal or anal, and then positional choices after that. The Mina one is a lot more straight forward, you just choose the kind of tone you take with her and how you finish. I love both these scenes, but there is an argument to be made that a more unified, singular Felicia scene would've been more potent than any individual branch while also taking less work.
Anyone got any thoughts on that?
With that in mind, animations tend to be a trade off. They take time to make, but they also make some of that time back from the huge swathes of text they eat up which would otherwise require static images, while adding immense production value to the project. If the script gets to a point where not doing an animation would be a glaring omission, that would not sit well with either of us. I just love GIL's animations. It's one of the things I derive great joy from, so I don't want less of them.
Instead, our discussion(s) center around my side of the things: the way scenes are paced, designed, and structured. In my pursuit to make a perfect game for me, I have a tendency to complicate scenes, which ends up running contrary to my own selfish goal when things begin to play out unevenly. selberdreher is astute when he mentioned exhibition 2; the free roam section served the purpose of continuing the club as a character, but things suffered in the back half. There was certain potential developments in the Felicia and Rosalind events that I would've like to portrayed, but ended up not doing so because of a combination of fatigue and our desire to actually see people playing our hard work. That's another impetus for the discussion: beyond finishing at a sustainable pace, releasing has become an enjoyable stage of the creative process for us.
I mean, it's not like very many people are complaining about the time our updates take; in fact, most people tell us to take our time, but it can't be discounted just how much seeing people playing, reacting, and enjoying your work is good for the soul. Having people discuss an update is like a renewal of spirit. It's invigorating, educational, and is overall good for the health of the project. I would veeeeeery much like to be a 3 updates a year kind of game. However, I also recognize that being rigid with frequent updates is not the solution, because cutting an update at an undue time just adds to more operational downtime over the long run with testing and PR'ing and other stuff.
So, I really do just think the answer is reining in my impulse to get fucking crazy at the first chance I get.
Take two of my favorite scenes for example: the Felicia sex scene in Elias' office and Mina's "all you can eat buffet." The Felicia scene has a ton of branching: vaginal or anal, and then positional choices after that. The Mina one is a lot more straight forward, you just choose the kind of tone you take with her and how you finish. I love both these scenes, but there is an argument to be made that a more unified, singular Felicia scene would've been more potent than any individual branch while also taking less work.
Anyone got any thoughts on that?