mity
patreon
My crystal ball(s of steel!)
🕑 Added 2019-11-07 12:58:45 +0000 UTCTime for an update to let you all know what to expect from us this month! That's right! It's crystal ball time!
On the first of this month I started probing how the coder was doing. I also started work on the real next build. From scratch(!) using the stuff I had already drawn and sent to the coder, with the same sort of zeal I slapped the Halloween side story together with. Just a matter of being super cautious and proactive about the current state of things. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst etc.
I learned a few things along the way of creating the Halloween side story and figured I might as well assume a worst case scenario until I was proven wrong.
One of the things I suggested to the coder was for him to just send me all of the things he had already finished so I could try and tie it up myself. If he didn't feel up to doing anything serious himself yet I'd have been happy to jump in. I'm even happier to say he was very much against that idea. Sometimes you suggest things the same way you use canaries in a coal mine. I thought suggesting something like that and the reaction to it would tell me a lot more than just a simple "hey how are you doing?"
I think it's a good sign he doesn't want to take the easier way out of letting me handle things, but I also want to be very careful of not having him immediately jump into the thick of things once more.
He still hasn't entirely convinced me he's back to full power so I suggested he'd slowly start poking the new build (if he feels he's up to it) for literally five minutes a day at the start and just work his way up and see how it goes. Depending on how far he got until I told him to take that break a couple of weeks back, I figure an end of the month build should be possible.
For some of you that might not be nearly fast enough, me neither, but I prefer being careful/safe now and not being sorry later. Also, I very much doubt the coder was creating his best stuff in the weeks leading up to me forcing him to take that break. He pretty much already admitted as much in between the lines. I've put my own efforts to create a new build of the main story on ice and hopefully it can stay there forever. But if worse comes to worse I'm ready to fire up that plan B once more.
Soooo... what am I doing right now? Mostly going through the scenes I had already finished and taking the opportunity to add some small things I hadn't at first because the time/result balance wasn't in favor of doing them. But I'm also noticing some small things I hadn't at first. That's the advantage of not looking at something for awhile. When you come back to it, it's almost like you're seeing it for the first time and pick up things you hadn't noticed at first.
It usually is something like a head which is too big or a skin color which isn't entirely fitting anymore when combined with a darker background. Simple stuff, but still the sort of thing which can be a timesink. So I'm doing that sorta thing right now. When that's finished I'm going to work on the art for the final build of this route.
I've also had to take measures against getting thin skin this week. Literal thin skin. If you'd ever see me draw for a few minutes you'd probably have to puke. I zoom and rotate pics so often it's like a roller coaster. I mostly use my left index finger which races along the mouse wheel to zoom in and out, but the skin on that finger started getting reeeally sensitive. I try using my other finger, but that one just isn't positioned right relative to the mouse wheel. I came up with a solution which is more of an improvement than a solution, but still much better.
I already told you guys I'm pretty much a dumping grounds for family who has an old pc etc so I rummaged through my collection of old mice and found what I was looking for among them. Now naturally this just happened to be the one mouse whose scrolling wheel was broken, so I had to fix that first (using glue, a screwdriver and a sharp knife.)
What was so special about this mouse which I wanted to try out? It has a rubberized concave wheel instead of hard and convex one! And that... helps a lot. I'll sketch up a quick example for you to instantly see what I mean.
I'm still trying to use my ring finger (instead of the sensitive index one) to scroll as much as I can, but whenever I do forget, this new mouse wheel is much preferable.
If there's anything to take away from this update, it's the following.
We're not out of the woods yet, but we're slowly walking in that general direction and I hope/expect to end this month with a fresh new build which doesn't smell of overworked coder. And that's a good thing because my motivation takes a hit if I don't know when or if something will get done. I'll admit it, I'm the sort of person who likes to have dates and schedules and can become fidgety without them.
Peace!
Comments
@Sagah You have your opinion, and i have mine ;)
Sagah
@Michael I wasn't talking about adding more devs in general, i was talking about complitely replacing the only coder with a new one. That's a bit bigger thing to do, but of course it's not impossible. Just too many people like to think "just get a new coder lol".
Sagah
So..... don't pay? I still fail to understand the point of these cries. At most you can pledge the monthy $1 to access the Patreon only feed, but i doubt that really hurts anyones wallet. I highly doubt there's any higher power forcing your hand to pledge over $1 every month and stopping you from unpledging.
Dog
... If you don't like it, unsubscribe. Like... The game's free... You're not paying for the game you're paying to support them.
Michael
@Sagah Adding developers to teams happens all the time, though. In addition, python as a language is relatively easy to read and the renpy engine is pretty much an industry standard, when it comes to porn games. So yeah, no idea what you are talking about.
Yeah, but not all humans have infinite patience, and money to pay for nothing in return.
RetroRey
people 2 posts ago " we wont hit 3 months" month 4 inc
A person
Hey MITY, I just wanted to say keep up the amazing work. Take as long as you need to keep up the quality and your enthusiasm :) I just wanted to make one tiny remark on a technical front: Would it be possible to make a key-bind that toggles auto-forwarding? I use H frequently to hide text & "see what's going on"; being able to turn on auto-forwarding with a keyboard shortcut makes "one-handed gameplay" a bit easier. :^) Anyway, keep it up! I only wish that some of the people leaving comments here remembered what it's like to be a human being with human emotions and concerns.
Freeze
Buddy shoot him a message if you are worried, how do you think I got the info?
Sagah
@him jenry, changing a coder on the fly doesn't happen just like that.
Sagah
So did someone force you to keep paying for those three months? These complains are so damn ridiculous. people just keep whining how they pay for nothing like they didn't have a choice.
zzzboy
I think the majority of people here would be satisfied with even an update on how things were going from the creator themself, its easy for you to say "get off his back" when you are coming to us clearly more informed than everyone else here - "MITY has asked the coder for an update". So for all of us that haven't heard anything, I don't think its unreasonable to want an update. I get that the coder thing is a big ordeal and people are unhappy about that, but personally I would just value more frequent updates just to satisfy our patience. Paying for something and having only one vague update in the month so far is kind of disappointing.
skidriver
I have same things. Where the update is? More then three months left and we have no art update, no game update. nothing. Maybe MITY abonded their project and flight away?
For one, yes. But also, these aren't the only options. Plenty of people can code, and for 20-30k per month Mity can afford to hire another person to actually release content. This whole thing is ridiculous. I would personally far prefer small updates, because at this point I don't even know if work is being done.
Freeze
^So you would rather have them push out product instead of creating it at a pace which allow them to create good content, unless you want every other update too equal dirt, and as your saying you are both the customer and I would hope consumer(anything else would be weird heh), if MITY wanted to they could push out small updates, but instead they are giving substantial updates, and meh if they need a 2 month break, no better time than in No nut november
Johnathan Era
^ sorry but no. there's reasonable and unreasonable amounts of time to be paying for a product your not getting. three and a half months of paying for nothing is getting unreasonable. sorry but normal people don't get paid leave for three months. so no, we wont get off his back, i think we've been nice enough to support the patreon for maybe 3 and a half or 4 months with nothing in return. That being said its not a ton of money but still. i was all for a break but this is, as i said, unreasonable. and if we dont get something soon I and im sure many others are going to have no choice but to cancel our patreon pledge. also i think MITY does good work and i appreciate that work, but i'm a consumer, and MITY is a creator of a product. if im not getting the product, why should i keep paying? again im a fan of MITY, and appreciate that they are making this game at all, but still.
Freeze
Mity has asked the coder for an update and when he get that update he will let us know, that could be today or in a week, they are working as hard as they can, please get of his back :-) Thanks
DrReyMoore
What He Said X2 ^
Derik Ferry
The reason not to hire someone else is very simple, coder bob has been with us through thick and thin since this ambitious project started and it sure as hell is going to end with him in the helm. This is art twisted as it may be and I don’t think anyone could replicate what these fantastic creators have done. In the words of space Dandy: I know we’re kinda late, but this couple is worth the wait
zzzboy
what he said ^
Give us an update or something don’t keep us in the dark
It's totally fine the coder needs a break. I've been fine with waiting two or even three months, but if the new update doesn't come by the end of the month (which will be 3 and 1/2 months since last time) then as a Patreon I feel like that is streching it a bit
Either way with 30k per month they could at least hire another coder... They are pretending it's out of their hands when it could be fixed so easily. There is no reason for patrons to wait this long.
Kuzuha Chan
Mity is already thinking of a new project or/and re-work Book 1. So i don't think Patrons will leave so easily.
Hængeklumpen
THAT IS THE POINT, when they are Finished they will loose revenue. so they will keep it going for as long as possible. instead
My Favourite Twisted Sister Song
bruh666
I wanna nut
IdarksoulsI
A bold statement after the game is almost finished. (insert Picard facepalm here)
Hængeklumpen
they are scamming
Kuzuha Chan
I don't care the waiting time paying 5$/month, but from my realistic POV with 30k in 3 month, i personally would have 4 weeks detox/recover on the Maledives or whereever easily. I wouldn't even be surprised if some Patreon guys already live on an exotic island and work with laptop on a hammock. Every body works different and every family is different. But if i would have the gift for art or programming, it doesn't seems so hard to get proper relax balance without regular jobs. But maybe Mr. Coder lives in US and use all the money for healthcare for his mom/family. Who knows.
I absolutely loved this game, I'm a bit dissapointed that I couldn't get any further but that is just me wanting more. Your health is obviously first and I know this game will continue to amaze me, time makes perfection. Cheers
Teague
there's totally a finger between index and ring that you should be using to scroll lol
GameFREAK
Everytime i see a update and see that the coder is still on break, he must be exhausted might as well give him a two month break or something but if he's feeling ok just tell him do as much as he can somedays and take the rest of the day off so he doesn't tire himself out as much.
xanth100
And eska too
Kasaix
Whenever I barely avoid taking damage in a videogame, I call it a 'dope fade' in my head. This is due to all the Crab Battling in FET. Just wanted to let you guys know.
Deathsman
good to know that the coder didnt break himself apart, but make sure that he takes his time ok? he might have missed a total burnout but such things take time to heal. i dont want to play this game if someone has to break himself to make it.
madwarlock95
Book 4
madwarlock95
Hey MITY, where can I find the Parteien Version of the Game? Is the Book completed?
Hey MITY are you going to add Opal, Suyin or Kya into book 4 at anypoint. I would love to see those characters. But keep up the good work regardless :)
MITY
It's the one and only reason the coder reached out to me at the time. He wanted to do an avatar game, saw I wasn't without (twisted) love for the characters myself and reached out. Although I have seen some work by others which looked very much like my stuff but wasn't. That's always a weird sensation.
xanth100
Hey, MITY, have you done some other art on LOK? I saw some stuff that looked a lot like your work on r34.
MITY
Until we start that route it'll remain as opaque as Shady's tax returns : )
MITY
Heh, I wouldn't say it sounds good, but it's at least a light at the end of the tunnel : )
MITY
I certainly don't want to see it fall flat either but damn... five years is the kind of time frame which makes me jump back in horror.
MITY
Me too. Back to normal sounds like the best thing ever to me right now.
Lord Chucklefuck is great
F_rank
Who will we be playing as in the love route?
Kuzuha Chan
One, just as "un, eine, isa"...a single scene? She deserves a storyline, at least in Love Route :D
RockandGuts
I agree MITY, join the dark side and give jinora a scene
Dubsington
Can we just make up a pseudonym for "the coder" so the posts don't sound so bizarre? Call him Bob or Cody Codington or Lord Chucklefuck or *something*.
Joe Hall
Sounds good, keep up the good work guys.
MITY
Multi persistent is the kind of thing I wish we had known about from the start. Doing it now would create a true mess with people's savegames or would force them to start all over. That's at least what I've come to conclude. Perhaps, If we start the love route it'd be an option but right is probably the worst time. But yeah multipersistent is a great tool to have.
D
Y’all take care of yourselves. Love the game; I would rather see it done in 5 years than fall flat.
Lucky
Looking forward to it
Kuzuha Chan
Huge and without the aged J version ಠᴗಠ
I get that the coder had to take a break, and that progress was slowed down because of it, but making your supporters wait 3,5 months for an update is not okay in my opinion, for 20K a month. However, I will continue to support the development of this game, since i have genuinely enjoyed it so far. I just really hope that we go back to the monthly updates after this one. I am not calling any of you lazy or anything, but you dragged this on for too damn long. I also really hope that this is gonna be a HUGE update.
Peter Vanusanik
Hey Mity, I was thinking about that multipersistent from last time, you could use that to split book into 4 games which would make loading much easier (and decrease size) which is starting to be a problem for development and people with low ends :D
