Countdown aborted... here's why.
Added 2017-09-08 19:44:21 +0000 UTC[Abelius]: Its a week before the planned launch on Sep 15th. I have five days left (cant work this weekend for family reasons), and I clearly see I didnt aim well at the date.
When I returned from vacation, I thought that 20 days would be all I needed to complete my vision of the first playable LoK:Rebith version. That throwing 12 hours/day at something (anything!) would be the only necessary thing to complete any given job... but I was wrong again.
For example, I allotted one day to make a certain repeatable quest and Ive been with that one since Monday... and I estimated that because I wrote the intro dialogue between Krys and the Chieftain in just a day.
This time, though, I didnt count on the added complexity of a non-linear conversation that any repeatable quest should have. And with added complexity, added bugs come as well. About a 25% of my time goes to test what Ive implemented and another 40% to troubleshoot issues I didnt foresee or thought already fixed (plugin authors love me...).
In other words, I only allowed myself enough time to be infallible. And now Reality has come to slap me in the face.
What is killing me is that I naively promised monthly updates to you guys, so my word is basically worth shit at this point. A fact that I hate because I left my job to pursue a lifetime career as independent creator and now Ill be known by all as Abelius: that cockteaser guy that doesnt deliver on time.
So why did I set a deadline again? Well, I guess it was to put me under pressure. What I didnt realize is that I am royally stressed already, because if this doesnt work out then Ill be in problems. But I dont want to bore you guys to death with personal matters.
The fact is that I cant continue on making promises to myself, nor you. Not if even giving all I have is not enough to keep up with others creators update rate.
Ive looked upon games like Dating My Daughter, Summertime Saga or Big Brother, without realizing those games are based on assets with a creation workflow that is completely different than ours. I wont use the word easy (by any means!) but the fact is, when they expand their games, they do it in an already known way, also with a certain peace of mind at not needing to get out of Renpys capabilities to deliver interesting gaming experiences.
So indeed, I know were not making a simple game here thats my only excuse at this point. To the best of my knowledge, only a few of creators are making 2D side-scrollers and certainly even less (if any) are trying to mix adventure and sim elements into them.
A funny fact is that when I started to consider doing a game like this I was awed at the fact that nobody, or very little people, was doing so Now I fully understand why.
But this is not about remorse. Hell no. Because when Im not worried about breaking promises I actually enjoy working on this.
Still, I need to change how LoK:Rebirth fits into my life. Because the project cant continue being my life. It needs to fit in among the other things I cant avoid to ignore anymore, like family, exercising, paperwork (Im a freelance now), etc.
Therefore, I hereby declare the Countdown to v0.1 stopped and useless for all purposes. The work continues, of course, but I wont give out any date estimates anymore. By the way, Kuja advised me against that on both occasions and I ignored him twice, like the fool I am.
I know this will hit our Patreon, but theres nothing we can do about it. Not when theres not a playable game out there for showing off our work and create new fans. Most of you guys are die-hard fans already and I know we can count of you praying for our success.
But for a Patreon to be really successful and be the livelihood of two or three people, bigger numbers are needed. And those numbers come only with a polished game that offers a great gaming experience, which is NOT our case at the moment. And Im still strongly against publicizing the game before that happens.
Of course, well be giving refunds for all people who ask. I clearly stated v0.1 would be out this month and now Im pretty certain that wont happen. And even though this Patreon business is voluntary and a tip jar for creators to be doing their art, not selling products so to speak, we cant expect everybody to embrace that philosophy, not when Im the first to break expectations. And the last thing I want is people calling me a con-artist (in addition to cock-teaser) and add more guiltiness to my already buffed account. So feel free to ask, please!
What Ill be doing from now on ? Work about 40 hours/week. Probably more, but without the pressure of a deadline over my head. And well continue to give updates in the meantime so at least you know if were approaching the actual release date.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Comments
Developing a game of this type is difficult and I knew that when I subscribet. As you said, there are games with a completely different workflow, one that is more predictable. I'm supporting you, cause you try to do something difficult, something I couldn't do by myself. I like the style of your work and how honest you are and that's why I will continue to support you.
2017-09-12 16:05:18 +0000 UTCHey, shit happens, we know that. So don't belittle your confidence and just take your time. You can always come with a different approach to the problems; analyse, plan realistically what you can and cannot do during this month, integrate what you know, seek out advice on how to avert certain bugs or problems and learn from past mistakes (on this one i mean by the errors, bugs, troubleshooting, etc/boring stuff you already know where it's going). But yeah, take your time, Patreon is for supporting artists on what they have a passion to do. So, we will support you even on your troubled times. Now take a breeze and throw all that insecurity or/and stress out the window and proceed the project from a more clear view, even if it takes time.
2017-09-11 01:21:24 +0000 UTC[Abelius]: Thank you so much for your heart-warming comments. Knowing that I have your support in this is really important for me. I'm sure the game will be better this way. I'm one of those persons that think that 'perfect is the enemy of good', but when I'm pressured on time I tend to do things that any developer should avoid, like not taking to heart the 'object-oriented' methodology when programming, and that's a very bad thing in the long term. Sure I take more time to make objects as modular as possible, but quick and dirty coding is not a good idea, even when you promise yourself to fix it after launching. That rarely even happens. Shit mounts up, layer after layer and then you pass more time solving bugs than creating new things. Now I'll also have time to re-rig Krys with her new boobs and all female lizards will have their four sets of womanly assets, very much needed to create some uniqueness in their looks. Oh, and Kuja will also have more time to end all the village backgrounds. So, many, many thanks for being so understanding, guys.
LOK Team
2017-09-10 09:20:27 +0000 UTCtake your time and work just with your heart on it <3
Robert (dark441)
2017-09-10 08:00:06 +0000 UTCI'd rather you set no time limit and get stuff done when it gets done in a timely manner than you pull what SimBro has been doing and just laying on extension after extension.
McSpazz
2017-09-09 09:10:00 +0000 UTCYou've set your goals, you missed them. You then beat yourself up and start a train of concern and potential doubt that can end up anywhere - usually coasting, sometimes derailing, but also sometimes arriving where it's needed, albeit not in the shape once hoped. Quality, originality and innovation is no simple thing - it comes at a price and that is often the innovators own immediate quality of life and or sanity - especially when they feel pressured, or predisposed to distractions. I can't speak for anyone else here - but I won't be immediately barking and chomping at your inbox expressing discontent or asking for anything back, simply because you messed up something as inherently dodgy as a date and associated workload all while learning on the job. Take a breath, listen to some rainy mood, get some ASMR up your neck, whatever your jam, do what you feel is a must and keep on keeping on!
2017-09-09 06:43:37 +0000 UTCI dont know much about making games, but all i know is that if you kill yourself doing it, is it worth it, plus you could make major mistakes you didnt want so fantastic your slowing down, it will give you time to make a proper game.
2017-09-09 01:06:20 +0000 UTCIn my experience of backing many Kickstarters and similar, schedules rarely, if ever, end up being followed. You'd be better off with a list of goals/milestones for each version, and a rough estimation as to how complete they are.
2017-09-08 23:28:59 +0000 UTCI said this last time, its annoying when you create unrealistic deadlines. All it does is create a lot of pressure on you, making it more likely for you to rush leading to low quality. i am not going to say take all the time in world to do what you need to do, but I do not need a stream of updates daily to reassure me that you are working. One or two quick updates a month would be just fine.
2017-09-08 22:58:11 +0000 UTCI`m not sure if everyone agrees with me here but we don`t mind if you fall behind on deadlines or can`t work on it all the time due to family and life. I think most of us are just happy that work is going into it and is not getting ditched along with the fact that you care about this project :D
Erise
2017-09-08 21:41:17 +0000 UTCYour real life comes first at the end of the day and I'm sure no one wants to see you run into the ground with stress from this and other obligations, so just do what you can, when you can. At the end of the day people can only work so fast and no one can ask any more of you. Just treat it like a job with a set amount of hours and do what you can. We can wait. As long as you don't become unresponsive and show literally nothing is being done people will stay for however long is needed I'm sure.
Fire Guy
2017-09-08 21:14:52 +0000 UTC
