longlivetheprincess
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Progress Report
🕑 Added 2022-11-11 14:21:48 +0000 UTCGreetings, everyone!
What a week, huh? Long Live the Princess was finally completed and released, and it even seems to be free of bugs (knock on wood). I hope you've all been enjoying the full game after all these years.
I took the opportunity to give myself a little time off to gather myself and get ready to focus 100% on Supermodel's development, so I have done very little actual work outside of community interaction and support this past week. I will rest for a few more days, and then I will get back to work. Considering the onslaught of game releases right now, this is the perfect time to cleanse my mind and take inspiration from other games.
But let's talk about Supermodel for a moment. From now on, these progress reports will be exclusively focused on that game unless something important pops up for LLtP.
Supermodel
Despite resting, I have put a considerable number of hours into music production this week. I consider this resting since it overlaps with my hobbies anyway, so no worries there. It's a bit hard to quantify the work I'm doing on this front since it's of a technical nature. Basically, I've been spending hour after hour after hour doing nothing but tweaking knobs to mix and master a track I've been working on, and it's paying off. I'm delighted with how it is turning out, which is promising for the rest of this project. Ideally, I want to compose the entirety of Supermodel's soundtrack without licensing any parts of it from third-party composers.
I have also done a tiny bit of character design, but that's about it for the past week.
So, the million-dollar question: What will happen now? You're here because you enjoy Long Live the Princess. Why should you even care about Supermodel? And all this talk about card game mechanics is a real turn-off. You want more LLtP, dammit!
The problem I've had with Supermodel so far is that it is extremely difficult to communicate what it is. Since the card game is easier to describe and will be the first fully implemented feature, it has been what I have talked about most of the time. That changes now.
Let us talk about the other aspect of Supermodel and why you should care about it. Suppose you set aside the card game (which you can literally set aside by turning it off altogether). In that case, Supermodel will feature a lengthy and highly involved VN (visual novel). While I have put a lot of focus on the photography aspect of the story so far, that is far, far from the only thing going on here. I intend to tell a mature, dark story that dives into heavy topics. The superheroes and photo sessions are only part of this, with the greater focus on character drama, mystery, and a grand, global conspiracy. The writing will be much more detailed and novel-like than LLtP.
My focus right now is to get the card game prototype out there for you to play with as soon as humanly possible, perhaps even this year (but don't hold your breath just yet). But I have come to realize that it is just as crucial to demonstrate clearly what the main gameplay loop in Supermodel will actually be, and the card game will not be sufficient to do that. I will get back to you later with my plans for this but suffice it to say, I will have to show off something tangible as soon as possible. Preferably before people leave the Patreon and SubscribeStar campaigns due to a lack of interest.
For now, I only ask that those of you who are fans of LLtP trust me for a bit longer. Supermodel is not what you may think it is. Some of you have told me that the game's theme doesn't interest you, which is indescribably frustrating since I know that the theme is not what it looks like on the surface. That is my problem to solve, and I will solve it. For now, just trust that I will deliver a game that might blow your expectations out of the water, especially if you think Supermodel isn't for you.
In any case, I can't wait to focus all my attention on Supermodel going forward. I have great confidence in this game, and once you see it for yourselves, I'm sure most of you will understand why.
Until next time!
Comments
Thank you!
FatDad
I absolutely loved LLtP, and am so happy for you and your ability to actually complete such beautiful game with a story that really draws you in. I've been playing the game for years now and am glad I stuck around. So many creators never finish the project and you did, that's something to be incredibly proud of. I am excited to see your next endeavor and look forward to playing it as it progresses as well. Thank you, and good luck.
Mariusz
I don't know if the Supermodel will be my thing but given the great job you did with LLtP, I will stay around for a while and hope for another great title! Good luck. :)
What I'm writing for Supermodel might start out dark, but I don't plan to write a nihilistic, depressive story arc like so many comic book artists do. Hope is a central theme.
Ai Muhao
I've stuck with you this long (I think I joined up back when you were still working on version 0.05?) so I'll trust in your vision. I admit I'm one of those who's not entirely sure if Supermodel'll appeal to me personally (e.g. I'm quite burnt out with "dark" superhero stories, those being one of the biggest reasons I stopped reading comic books), but you're clearly passionate about it so what's the harm in sticking with you? Plus, they say that a king needs nay men more than he needs yes men, so at least if I don't like something or disagree with your plans, you'll know, "Ah, so some people will feel this way about it..." (though naturally whether or not you allow this to affect the vision you have in mind is entirely your right).
Thank you for the insights and ideas. I will be sure to take this into consideration, especially the tags. The problem there is that I'm not entirely sure which tags to add since I don't write stories around tags but add tags after to fit what I already wrote. But I will give it serious thought. Oh, and for the record, I'm not a native English speaker. :)
Hearing people communicate no interest in your future work without even having seen it first does sound incredibly frustrating - I can sympathize. I think this frustration has come across as snippiness in the communal interactions I've seen from you in recent months. But I have a couple ideas for you. The reason I found Long Live the Princess in the first place was because I searched for adult games with certain content tags. I enjoyed the game because it actually had content that satisfied those tags (not always a guarantee) and was competently written (i.e. written by a native English speaker, and not rife with the typos, unnatural phrasing, and grammar mistakes that plague so many other adult games). I was inspired to support you because your game had great renders, music, mystery, and above all, actual gameplay (another thing I've found missing from many Ren'Py games). But if your game didn't have those tags, I probably would never have played it in the first place. My recommendation would be to share the content tags you're sure are going to make it into the game. I'm guessing you'll reject this suggestion since you don't want to constrain your story this early, especially if you want the flexibility to change it later. But for supporters like me - i.e. those who found LLtP the same way I did - this might help them maintain their interest until the Supermodel demo is ready. Another idea would be to conduct some polls to understand what people would be excited to see from a new game. Is it renders? Music samples? Bits of story? (Specific content tags?) You could use this feedback to tailor your next few updates. Maybe there are ways to share other kinds of interesting, compelling content that are smaller and easier to create than a full demo. Anyway, that's my two cents.
