Announcing a new perk
One bit of consistent feedback we get is that you folks want to know more about what's happening on Pandora. While this seems like a simple request, it's actually pretty ... nuanced. Some people would like to see the work in progress. Some don't want any spoilers leaking out. Do we wait until we have something meaningful to share? Etc.
What everyone would really like to know is the release date, but we don't have a great way to predict that until we're pretty close to it.
I think about these things a lot, but what I've decided to try is going to be pretty simple. Once a week, available to $1 on up patrons, I'm going to post a very brief "Progress" report.
Most weeks it'll be nothing more than the equivalent of:
"Currently at 1217 pages and 1366 images."
Maybe some weeks I'll add in a quick note like, "Just finished a sex scene." At some point I'll be able to say, "Finished with the first pass. Time for testing." Etc. I'll never post a spoiler in these Progress reports, and I'll do them for whatever major game we're currently working on.
I think that any one report won't tell you very much, but when seen week over week, you'll get a good idea how the game is progressing. I'm not sure whether this will make you say, "Why are you guys so slow?" or "Wow, this is a lot more work than I realized." (True story, last night I spent 2 hours writing a grand total of 16 pages. We do this a lot, but it takes a long time.)
I'll be interested in ongoing feedback on whether this is worthwhile to any of you and whether or not there are reasonable ways I can improve it.
Tlaero
Comments (11)
I hope so too... I grew up on Tora & Mortze Productions.... and Pandora is my favorite... :D
nice i hope to see the game soon
Personally I find it quite hard to relate to how much "Currently at 1217 pages and 1366 images." actually is. Maybe in first progress update posts on future projects it could be a good idea to relate it to perhaps a previous games and how many pages and images that game contained as a way to understand how far in the process you are. In this particular situation a comparrison to Pandora part 1 would be obvious. By this I don't mean in every weekly update you'd relate it back, but just when you start producing a new game and same goes here, where you are initiating the weekly updates. The idea of small weekly updates is greatly appreciated from me though.
Dreaming with Elsa: 1106 pages 1137 images. Redemption for Jessika: 1361 pages 1567 images. Finding Miranda: 1242 pages 1262 images. Though the real point will be when you see the page and image counts each week and can see the trend for how much is getting produced week by week. It won't tell you the release date, but will give you a general idea of how things are going. Tlaero
By the way, the page and picture amounts in the above post are accurate. So this was kind of the first of these "Progress" posts, even though it went out to everyone. --Tlaero
This page/image count is only for Pandora part 2 right?
I think a simple progress report with no spoilers (text and/or images) should be free for all to watch, it should help to promote the games too; as perk for patrons I would be more interested in a weekly or monthly Q&A , maybe centered on how to make a game ,or even having a theme for the questions (to focus on a particular topic). Of course if it doesn't rob you of precious time, and could be linked to the campaign how it is successful too; overall as a way to have feedback and a change of pace from development .
How would a Q&A work in here? How to implement it? That's interesting -- Mortze
Bon. I used to follow a web comic years ago, Megatokyo. I believe it is still going but the fan base has decreased. At the time they had good story and the guy was drawing all of it in an anime style. But he would typically post in this fashion. Sometimes the posts were simply under that week (or month, I forget how often) installment. But it was a nice insight to the level of work that goes into such a thing. I liked seeing that.
An excellent idea, as long as it does not interfere with your work. Remember we really want the end product, if it is easier to say once a month "things are progressing, at XXX" or the one we are all looking for "the end is in sight (at last)". just my thoughts your ideas may very!
I personally don't care about updates. Only release date when known or confident. Don;t waste your development time.