lewdlab
patreon
Thoughts about the past and present
🕑 Added 2020-08-25 22:05:00 +0000 UTCHey everyone
This post is a bit different than usual. I have some thoughts in my head and I think I should share them with you.
Disclaimer: I'm rambling a lot in this post, and it's a long one so I'm sorry about that. There isn't any important info about the release so you can skip this post if you don't like walls of text.
Maybe some of you are here since the beginning, since the DoD days. Those people remember what it was like back then.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about my work then and now. I recently looked at the renders I did 3 years ago... and man I've come a long way.
So basically I was comparing my current work to my work 3 years ago. And not just the beauty of the images I create but the game, the speed I'm working at, the frequency of the updates and so on.
So back then, things seemed to go faster. Update every month, around 270 new images each update. Story is flowing nicely. All seems good.
Nowadays I'm reading things like everything is progressing slowly, there is a long time between updates (I'm trying to remedy that with bringing back the monthly updates).
Now that's true, things are going slower than in the Dreams of Desire days. Okay, so why is that, I thought.
Well, first of all, I remember working day and night back then. Talking about my game with everyone, thinking about my game all the time. For a little over 1.5 years I never stopped. I remember having so much back pain from sitting all that time in front of the PC that I put a pillow in front of the desk and I worked while kneeling instead.
Now obviously this is not something anyone can keep up for long. At least I think I can't. It was inhuman and I'm amazed that I was doing it for so long.
Nowadays I still put in the hours, but the difference is that I actually want to be away from the computer too. I don't talk about Midnight Paradise to everybody now and not every waking moment is spent by thinking about it. It doesn't mean I don't like MP, because I do. That's just how it is now.
Now there are some very big differences in the technical things as well.
Midnight Paradise is bigger in every way than Dreams of Desire.
The cast is way bigger. The main girls were all introduced at the first release (instead of slowly easing them in like in DoD). The main story doesn't have that much of a connection with the household (well, not yet) as it was with DoD so MP flows differently.
I knew I was making a lot of characters for MP, but when I thought I'd do that I had a different concept in mind about the scenes. I wanted to move a bit away from the DoD format and not have each conversation fully rendered, but instead I was going to use 'sprites' for the conversations and only full images for H scenes and important story events. Well, that didn't work out...
But anyways... The 2 main things are the improved image quality and Connor.
So looking back, the difference between my current and my old work is huge. Right now I'm making objectively much, much better images. So as you can probably guess, more quality takes more time.
The other thing is Connor as a main character. The DoD MC was a nameless, faceless character. It was intentional. But never showing his face meant I never had to work on him in the scenes - while also the majority of the images were POV shots.
This time however, there is Connor. One more character to place and pose and do facial expressions for in every scene. POV shots are now rare, so I'm spending a lot of time figuring out and playing with camera angles. Then of course, I'm adjusting the lighting for almost every different camera angle so each render looks the best it can. This increases the amount of time it takes to make the scenes tremendously.
Oh and also, I do animations now. They take up a lot of dev time.
I understand people want more content and want it faster in this day and age. But for me, the most important thing is that I release a game with imagery that's the best I'm currently capable of making. Because otherwise I wouldn't be satisfied with my work and because I think you guys deserve the best I can make.
Well, I've gone on long enough already. If you read it all the way, props to you and thank you for taking the time to read it.
You guys are awesome, and thank you for supporting me along this long journey!
-Dr Sin
Comments
Nesve Fowl
Your doing a great job man I love the new story, keep up the great work and take your time (don't kill yourself doing the job).
luc
update ???
Lewdlab
I also have plans for Logan (the rival) for the next release as well, but as I said, good points and thanks for the feedback guys!
Lewdlab
Those are fair and valid points. It’s hard to advance the plot AND advance the character relationships at the same time in an episode to episode style. But the setup I’ve been doing has been done for a reason, and it doesn’t take much to jumpstart the plot. That’s exactly the reason why it’s tricky, because as soon as I reveal enough to jump into the thick of it, we’re quickly approaching to the endgame and if I complete the main story before the character relationships are at the perfect point you don’t get a good experience. Long story short, I have a few aces up my sleeve, so don’t worry.
Starbear
I agree with the brother Russian. The scope is getting too big. Too many characters that only spread the plot way way too thin. There's also no clear antagonist. So, I guess there's the cop or private eye or whatever he's supposed to be? But how about the business rival you're trying to compete against? All this time, this guy has been sitting there, despite it being months in game when the main character built his underground business. There's the tattoo lady, what's-her-face, that we know nothing about and the forgottable old flame from the school. I suppose there was also a third character? Who knows, who cares. My advice is to just go back and scrap or combine all those forgottable characters into one or two. And flesh out the rival.
Starbear
Go to top, click "My membership" and "connect to discord".
OJ
Discord is for Elite tier only.
Pranshu
I need help ,i cant find the invite link for discord ...is discord not for trainee ....please help
Pranshu
I need help ,i cant find the invite link for discord... i am a trainee is discord not for trainee??
Dude, honestly everyone already understood that such a quality of renders requires more time and effort. But personally for me and I am 100% sure for many of your supporters, it's not about time, but about the quality of what they get for waiting. I'm not talking about renders, they are wonderful, I am for the plot itself and the presence of adult content. I already talked about this in some post about half a year ago. The thing is, let's take NTL games for example, and I understand that there is a large team and the comparison is not correct. But we will not look at the speed of updates, but at the structure of the game itself. He quickly leads the main story to adult content and only then throws scenes like massage and yoga. And these scenes do not move the plot, but are a kind of repeatable events and a measure of your progress in relationships with female characters. And in midnight paradise, I honestly have no idea what the plot is, I remember only that there are two brothers competing for the company of their father and that's it. And also that this is a game about massage. Like version of the game 0.10 and this kind of interactive is all there is + two adult scenes with no key characters at all. You said that you will finish everything in 6-8 updates. As I understand it, you will force events, in fact, you need to make a wild emphasis on the plot, it is possible to take on the development of 2 months, but make an 0.11-0.12 update with just a crazy advance in the plot and the main characters that the game felt likemore whole than now it feels shattered without even a single weak rod that would hold all the branches of this tree.I read a lot of comments that people no longer expect much from the game, all sorts of jokes like "yoga paradise" and I'm a little offended because I'm a supporter with a dod. But I want you not to get upset and take it as an experience. I do not pretend to be the ultimate truth, I just speak as an outside observer and you can always send me to ... And lastly I wish you health and strength in this not so quiet time)))
Arrow
Personally I love the POV scenes and I think you should make at least 30-40% of POV as specially if it saves you time. I really appreciate the effort that you put into your games and cant wait to see where you take the story!
Great message. Every dev should have a rest and thinking about his health do it more often ;)
YOU ARE AWESOME !!! You are great story teller and I love DoD and MP . Take your time and do things the way you like .
VNenthusiast
we appreciate your work, do it at your tempo to keep it at the quality you hold yourself to. The true patrons will understand and wait patiently.
Rubberduckie98
Quality over speed and quantity, definitely.
AfterLife
There are other VNs I do follow and some of them gets an update about 4-6 months. Don't worry about it, most of us prefer quality and have patience. Keep up the good work! ;)
Biggest reason your games have been my favorite! Quality over quantity any day
dozit_mahter
I'm one of the guys that gets upset from the lack of content each update. That's not to say I don't like and appreciate what you do. I'm just blaming you for my Joyce addiction. Honestly, I like what you're doing so far. You shouldn't burn yourself out working on this project, because it won't turn out well for anyone. Keep up the awesome work, your renders are beyond amazing.
jonas smith
What a great game Dreams of Desire !! keep going.
Black Ronin
I'm a newer subscriber, but i have come to admire the quality of your gaming creations. I, personally, prefer quality over quantity and hope you don't overwork yourself just because we are all bored form the current crisis. Take your time and flesh out a masterpiece (Just make sure it's in decent chunks, Lol).
Eleuterio Valdovinos
I have to echo the others: Don't sweat the whiners, you're not going to make everyone happy. I'm a new comer to your games, but I'd rather quality over quantity. If you need to take 8-12 weeks, or longer, to get something GOOD out rather than 3 weeks to get something out, I'd rather you take the time. And that's leaving aside the fact that you have to be proud of what you do, what you produce. The steps you take to produce your updates, describe a person who considers what they do as a craft, not a task. Keep doing what you need to do to maintain pride in your work. At the end of the day, that is what will keep you happy with what you're doing, thereby making what you do that much better, and that will keep your fans/followers interested in what you do. I don't mean to sound selfish in that desire, but I do want to point out the symbiotic relationship between creator and consumer.
EvilHateMonkey
I have been with you from back in the DOD days and your right your skills are off the chain, you from 2 years ago could not pull off MP as it's being done right now. It's amazing! Your humor never fails to make me laugh and I think your a very talented story teller. In short, you have evolved and so has your work. This all only makes the wait all the more worth it! I can only speak for my self, but I'm happy to wait. Just don't forget to post once in a while to let us know you still live :p
Dallas McMahan
Keep doing what you feel is right in this game...you know i love me some Joyce and pay no attention to the crybabies that want an update every week. If they are so damn good then go develop your own fucking game....
Voorhees71
Nah, most of those guys are assholes who bitch but don't support. They complain about lack of content or late releases but don't spend a dime to support.
Just keep going mate. No stress and all good
Austin
Glad you seem to be in a better place mentally. I assume your patreon count has grown over the last few years since you definitely produce some quality content but if you see that it’s obviously taking some more time to produce this kind of quality (which is obviously understandable), why not hire another developer or animator to join your team?
jrpoon
I think you will get an honest opinion in a forum like the f95 place because patreon is going to be biased since we support your game.
Hell yeah man. Your content is amazing and you can tell there is passion, considering how much time and dedication you put into it. I only found out about you from a YouTuber I follow and have not regretted even once subbing to your Patreon. Even with you doing actual game updates once a month really enjoy the dev update you do periodically. Make the wait even more exciting. Keep at it, you are doing an amazing job.
I prefer quality over quantity.
Hi, just take the time you need there is no rush to perfection, you actual work is by far beyond “amazing”(there is no word to express how great it is), as long as you love and make what you do with love and care we the players will appreciate, when there is passion we can feel it, Especially in this type of games.
OJ
This is YOUR game, YOUR vision, YOUR creation. Always remember that. We are here just to enjoy the creativity and the work of yours. So keep your head up, and don’t let some impatient folks bring you down too much.
I don't care that it's taking longer. Every time you do have a release is great quality and shows your talent. You just do what you need to and I'll still be here in the end.
Jared Tower
Been here since the very beginnings of DoD, haven’t been a supporter all the way through, but I can tell how much you love your work, and it shows in the content itself. Much love man!
