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Decision Time: Ecchi Sensei = ???
🕑 Added 2020-02-27 23:29:15 +0000 UTC
Ladies and gentlemen of the interwebz!
The time has come to discuss a few points with you again and to give you another opportunity to decide how we proceed.
According to a current re-estimation, it is not possible for us to finish Ecchi Sensei in the
desired time. As in: We consider it to be highly unlikely that Ecchi Sensei will be finished (Day 365) ahead of the year 2022.
For that reason, we reconsidered the importance of finishing the game as soon as possible and how that can be achieved.
One option would be for us to skip "eventless" days but this is very hard to plan as every ingame day so far has been full of events. On top of that, soon the sandbox mode in the weekday evenings will be available and then we'd have to overcome self-imposed obstacles caused by the coding work.
The next problem with the deadline is that we'd put ourselves under more pressure, essentially forcing us to release two full weeks per update, if not more. This could lead to me having to rush the graphics and dialogues, potentially causing Ecchi Sensei to lose its appeal, and we don't want that to happen.
However, the first part of Ecchi Sensei (Day 1-365) isn't meant to be in development for 20 years either. I have got so many ideas for the sequel and also for side projects.
There is a limit to how much text my translators are able to translate in a month and there is a limit to how many images, animations, and dialogues I can create. Fortunately, Latecomer and I are working ahead, meaning that soon we would be able to launch a little side project without causing a negative impact on Ecchi Sensei.
That is why we need to ask the question of how important it is to you to get Ecchi Sensei finished asap. If your answer is "Very important", then there might be another method to achieve that goal.
By using the sandbox mode, after its successful implementation, not just for the evenings of weekdays but for the entire remaining game.
As in: Starting with ingame day X, the game would be in sandbox mode 100% of the time and we could finish it faster.
If time isn't as important to you and it is important to you that the game remains mostly a visual novel, then our new estimates say we'd finish the game around the year 2025.
So this is going to be poll number 1:
Should we get the game finished as quickly as possible?
A: Yes (Ecchi Sensei will become a pure sandbox game starting with ingame day X)
B: No (Ecchi Sensei will remain a pure VN with the exception of weekday evenings)
The vote will be held for exactly 1 week and we'll make a second poll based on the results in which we will ask you how exactly we should be handling the individual game update releases in the future.
Before you cast your vote, I want to elaborate on our current ideas a bit further:
Currently we release fuckhuge updates, however their development is very time-intensive. We would like to change that and make the updates smaller but release them more frequently.
As an example in case you vote for option B:
Currently we need almost 8 weeks to develop 3 ingame days with 2000+ images and 20k+ lines of code with 100k+ words
We thought we should reduce the number of ingame days per update again because it's really damn hard to produce many days per update while sticking to an image/lines of code/word limit.
Back then, it used to be a lot easier for me to produce individual ingame days every 4-5 weeks compared to what we are doing at the moment.
That's why, in the next poll, one of your options will be to vote for us to go back to the roots and release just 1-2 ingame days every 4 weeks.
Another thing regarding the current poll...
Depending on what scenario you decide on, we can make the following promises to you regarding side projects:
If you vote for option A, there will probably be no side projects.
If you vote for option B, there will be several small to large side projects.
All the side projects are intended to take place in the "Ecchiverse" and we would make additional polls for you to vote on the genre, the working title, as well as the relation to the Ecchi Sensei main game.
In option B:
ALL side projects will not cause any negative impact on the development speed on Ecchi Sensei
under any circumstances. All side projects would be finished by the time Ecchi Sensei concludes. We'll give you more information on that if option B wins the vote.
If you vote for option A:
We'll start a side project after the completion of Ecchi Sensei and before we start work on Ecchi Sensei 2.
We currently can't tell you when we'd finish Ecchi Sensei if you vote for optoin A because we currently don't have any experience in sandboxes and would first have to get a feel for them by implementing them for the weekday evenings. But even if everything went perfectly smoothly, it would take us until roughly 2023 at the minimum.
To emphasize it again when it comes to side projects:
The side projects do not have any impact on the work for Ecchi Sensei.
With every update I'm getting faster at finishing new updates (I am currently working on the graphics of Day 18+19 while Day 15-17 + White Day aren't even released yet)
In a few months I would be 3-4 updates ahead of schedule. I.e. instead of working ahead further and further,
I would rather make sure to always be 1 Ecchi Sensei update ahead of schedule and I'd put the rest of the time into a side project. Thus there are absolutely no delays for you, but you get extra content.
Whatever you vote for, we'll go with the majority option.
A: Yes (Ecchi Sensei will become a pure sandbox game starting with ingame day X)
B: No (Ecchi Sensei will remain a pure VN with the exception of weekday evenings)
So long,
Blue
Comments
ReaverCity
I am all good with it taking a minute and side projects i think will help you cultivate ideas
T11 has a spot open, Bluecat stays at your house for a weekend
Skull616
Another five years of Ecchi Sensei? Where I have to sign? :D
Jared
Even if it is less sandbox, will the whole Route system kinds of things for girls (i.e. Fuyu corruption, power dynamic with Himiko and if she has masochistic tendencies, Mika calling you Master) still be included? Or would some of that be removed to reduce the number of different ways things need/can be done?
I love the story. Every update is the highlight of that day :-)
Skummy the Kat
I fell in love with the storytelling of Ecchi Sensei and the kinds of touring this whole slow burn is taking. It’s both rewarding but incredibly well paced. I feel like a lot of what makes this game amazing would be lost if turned pure sandbox, while just having a small deviation built into the downtime portions can be a fun addition. I would hope you keep it as VN format!
a1fox3
Keep it a pure VN as you are right now, no need to rush it at all. I to don't really care for the side projects if it takes away time from the main VN.
John Smith
Obviously I want ES to remain a VN, but where is the option to keep ES as a VN but without the side-projects? I reeeeaaaally don't care about side-projects. Just focus on the game without compromise, regardless of when it will be completed.
Daniel M
Before I vote for a or b, how will preg content be impacted by either choice?
Red Claw
There is an inherent problem with this choice. We already know the VN approach and like it. It builds a wonderful world. The Sandbox system is a completely unknown factor in Ecchi Sensei right now. If we got a glimpse at that system in game already we might make a better decision between the options. (That question might have been better asked after week 3, once we witnessed the sandbox in action.) It might work, but it could be, that we like that style less than what we already have. In addition to that, most of the time I feel a little dissatisfied if a Game changes it's gameplay after the Prolog. (And I think Ecchi Sensei is way past Prolog.) Adding gameplay mechanic isn't as big of a deal as long as the core gameplay remains the same. All that said, I don't mind a development period that's slightly longer. I'm along for the ride (as far as my money allows me to).
As much as I like faster development i think that change would come at a cost of the experience. Also like to add that considering the scope of ecchi sensei (365 days) it was always going to take a long time and alot of work, you guys are doing great.
@BlueCat Are you no longer doing Android ports? I do not see any for 12-14 or lewdmas 2019.
Seraph casz
I think most of can agree b is the best and ecchi sensei is one of the best games out there, for me it doesn't matter how long it takes as long I get my fix of the good quality you guys have been putting out
