Third content pack delayed, but just a little


Edit: I just checked my own posts, and apparently the actual deadline is end-of-July! So I'm jumping the gun. Anyway, let this serve as a general news update. Content pack 3 coming soon!

Edit the second, 6 days in: Aaand it continues. Nearly there though.

My apologies to everyone, but I am going to miss the end-of-month deadline for the third and final GT content pack. The good news is it's very close to being finished, about 95%. The gallery is done, (and has been for quite a while) and all the art and core mechanics for the new content are finished and working (and I think you guys will have a lot of fun with it). I just need a little longer to do the "bridging" work, writing it into the game flow and doing a little playtesting. I anticipate this taking no longer than an extra week, and probably less than that, but we'll see.

For what it's worth, this delay wasn't an incorrect estimate of needed work time on my part, I just had a very, very rough month. Some very unpleasant IRL stuff that I expected to finish quickly dragged on and on, until it was effecting my health. Doing alright now though.

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Comments

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(+1)

There are triple a titles with over 100 people making the big games and they have missed deadlines your ability to do what you have done as just one person is incredible your still pretty consistent with you estimates and the end product is enjoyable that's all that matters to me. 

True, although that's a very different scenario in a lot of ways. But thanks, I appreciate it. And nearly done!

(+2)

No worries, Love your games! Would of waited another year for the next update

Aw, thanks!

(+1)

Next up: Bitshiftgames apologizes profusely for releasing the next Cruel Serenade installment only a year before the estimated deadline, promises to improve


xD But seriously, thank you for all the effort you're putting into this game. It is very impressive that you can manage juggling  IRL problems and still stick to your schedule, while also always keeping your fans informed. I'm really looking forward to playing this last content pack, it has all been a delight so far! <3

(+1)

Lol! But yeah, I do what I can. Can't stand it when creators just disappear with no communication, so I try to be clear on where things are and keep people updated, though in this case it was a little early. And thanks! I definitely think you'll enjoy it.

(+1)

Sounds like you've been dealing with the unpleasant stuff for quite a while. Man, so sorry to hear that. Do hope everything goes well in the end, and really looking forward to this last bit.

Thanks, really do appreciate it. To some extent shitty things like this are just part of life, but it really helps to now have this game, and the people around it to come back to. Gives me something positive to obsess over.

(+2)(-1)

Don't know if I understood correctly. You thought your deadline was set for the end of this month (June) and are about 95% done. Expecting to fall behind the deadline you said it should come out within the first week of July.

Then you realized you set the deadline for the end of July and now you are basically almost done ahead of schedule by about a month and the update will come out within the coming week?

Exactly. I r dumb. But it's a good mistake to make, certainly better than the reverse. I think I was hoping/pushing to try to get this out by the end of June even though I had more time because it was a smaller bit of content, and that ended up transforming in my mind over time. 

But yeah, still WELL within original deadline, and should be ready soon!

(+3)

Take your time, there are plenty of days

(+2)

Thanks!

(+2)

Take your time, appreciate the update.

(+1)

Thanks!

(+1)

rest well

(+1)

Yeah, I probably should.

(+1)(-1)

The game feels short for some reason like there is not a lot to do?

(+1)

Different people, different tastes/expectations. It is at least 6-7 hours of game play by last measurement though, so there's certainly stuff to do.

(+1)

yeah but I mean there is not a lot of quest,side quests. diffrent enemy's, not a lot of skills when you level up or sex scenes 

Again, different people have different expectations. I continue to grow things here and there as I learn, but I'm one person working on my own; only so much I can do. This isn't, and was never meant as a traditional, super-indepth rpg with a 40-hr story and dozens of sidequests. It's a fun little pornographic romp. Enjoy it for what it is, if you can.

(+1)

I will but maybe add some new stuff in the game like more scencs ,more bosses , mabye more side quest, diffrent enemys and stuff like that  and maybe asking some people to help you out so you don't have to do this all alone 

The scope of the project is what it is. Scope control is important; people who try to do more than is realistically possible run out of time, or money, or energy and the game is never finished. In contrast, this one just was, twice over in a way: the first content pack finished the game functionally and from a narrative perspective, and this third one finished all the content I had planned for it. Itch, Steam, and gaming in general is littered with the corpses of unfinished projects. Just last week while cleaning I discovered the stickers for a game called "Drift Stage" that I backed many years ago. Fun little simple game about drifting cars, the demo was already 80% of the way there, they had a bunch of buzz, a bunch of support, everything going for them.
Game never came out.
They couldn't. close. the. circle.

That's what's important. Finishing. Having realistic goals and completing them. If you make a small, humble thing and finish it, you can then go on to another, and another, and slowly build. If you get side-tracked trying to do more and more and more, the project crashes and burns, and after a few of those people stop trusting you, you lose your enthusiasm, and it's over. 

Of course GT could be more than it is. A game could ALWAYS be more. I know this very well; I MADE it. There are tons of other things I'd like to do, weaknesses I see. But in both drawing and game design, there's a principle of diminishing returns, like upgrading a computer. Up to a point, more and more memory, faster and faster processor etc gives a huge boost. After that, it drops off dramatically. Up to a point, working an image, or a game makes it dramatically better, but after that you're putting more and more effort in for less and less reward. This means that the best way to improve at art, and at games, is to know when to quit, when to let a piece be finished, because you learn more, and gain more, and make better stuff by moving on to the next thing, rather than trying to polish forever. 

Also realistically, there's a certain range, a certain league I can work within, given my resources. I will continue to tweak my art, my game design etc as I go forward, because I always want to learn and improve. I look at old art, and already see ways I've moved beyond it. Certain programming challenges that were intimidating before are now solved problems, and all that carries forward. But with that said, broadly, I expect future games to be roughly in the same range as GT. It's a good balance of what I can do with the time I have while still being interesting, fun and hot to enough people. Not everyone obviously. But enough.

And yes, it would be helpfully to have a team, but scaling, and working with other people is very difficult and dangerous, moreso than you probably realize. A project like this takes a lot of discipline and dedication to keep on track; if you have multiple people, they ALL have to up to that standard, on a consistent basis, AND you have to deal with the inter-personal nightmares of running a team. Some day I probably will have to work with others, and in small ways I already do: the excellent work of Openfireplace charting out the game paths, Eiga-xx translating it, and so on. But for now, it'll have to mostly remain solo. This is more or less the product I make, and will make for a while. A lot of people like it, but you don't, if it doesn't end up being what you're looking for, that's fine.

(+1)

For a solo made indie game for $10 I'd say there's quite a bit here. First game had way less but was PWYW and exists as a good proof of concept. I'd imagine future installments would probably have as much if not more since the mechanics from the previous games are already built.

(+2)

No worries! Please take care of your health

(+1)

Thanks!

(1 edit) (+4)

I know I could not even write shitty flash-fiction stories when I was struggling with either mental or physical health, so I very much understand delays in projected completion dates; a few months ago, I had to get an authorized late submission date from my teacher, because I developed pneumonia in the week leading to finals.

I am looking forward to the final content pack, as well as whatever future work you plan on doing, but I am very pleased you took the time to focus on your real life affairs.

(+1)

Thanks, definitely appreciate it. And good lord, pneumonia on finals week (well, week before)! Talk about cosmically bad luck. Glad it worked out.