im curious, is there a roadmap that can be followed with "expected" ETA?
mind, i get software development cant get exact predictions (had project managers like that, always a good joke)
just wondering whats your idea about when you will hit EA (i assume you wont go with full launch anytime soon) on steam
Right now I have it slated June 19th. .
at the current progress I should hit that easily, may even hit before. What may possibly delay a bit, is going back and redoing some older renders/animations.
I have been reworking animations. redoing the sleep walk scene in day 1, redoing in the Nicole sex scene in day 0. etc etc.. and re doing the intro to cover the new features that have been added since initial release.. and to be honest, some new scenes have been added to earlier days.
Steam release is a big deal for me so I want to make sure when day 5 is completed, everything is in the best possible state for steam...
and for EA vs Full. I am still working on how I want to present all this over on steam.. This game is 6 chapters. 5 days per chapter, But I have always been stuck on the idea for $1 per day of content for this. so releasing as a full 6 chapters isn't how I want to do it, more like 3 grouped chapters if that makes since. First purchase gets chapter 1 and 2, second gets 2 and 3. etc. How to handle this on steam is a bit of a concern as originally I was going to release chapter 2 as dlc for chapter 1. but that is problematic as chapter 2 is a 2k native client where as chapter was was done in 1080 until half way through day 4 development and is still a 1080 client but scaling 2k images.
maybe I just leave chapter 2 and 1080 and up to 2 or even 4k with chapter 3? idk yet..
but that also raises the performance issue, load times are already pretty high as I work on day 5, not sure how It would react at day 10 on a single "install".
and the reason for 6 chapters vs 3. is the mobile variant. I can't fit 10 days in a single install for mobile.
and just to touch on pricing a bit. steams fees are a bit higher, kind of expected. its full price will be listed as $12.99 usd, this is to compensate for steam's higher %, it will release with a discounted price of 9.99 though.. and just to head off any other comments on this.. I know people tend to get mad when devs do this.. their is legit reasons for this. Itch takes 10%, paypal is like 10% to 15%.. thats it on itch side. steam is 30%, then you have transfer fees get your money, and that varies by institution so anywhere from 10% to 25%.. so right off the top we loose nearly half the sale.. and without going into a lot of detail. as a indie dev in the united states.. I need to set aside at LEAST 30% of what I make after fees, to pay taxes... so after sale fees, i get like $7, and set aside $2 of that for taxes. so I get $5 if i am lucky on a game that sales for $12.99.
so I do hope everyone isn't upset about the price increase on steam, It will remain at $10 here. but it could be worse.. I could do what so many devs on itch do and make you pay for each update :).. I still find that rude as hell and shady and i refuse to take part in that or support a dev who does that..
Now thats what i call a reply, hah :)
Thank you.
If you would like, I will offer my 2 cents based on my work in IT projects. Some of it might be obvious, but you would be amazed how many people tend to ignore the obvious stuff...
Re: increase quality at launch:
As a player I can only applaud you for doing that, however you might want to set strict limits on how much effort are you willing/able to invest in doing that. Im sure you have a vision that you want to achieve, keep in mind that perfection will never be achieved and you need to set a compromise between what you can and what you want (otherwise you will never finish the game and just end up "improving" something that was always good enough to be published).
Re: EA v Full. You dont really have to invent the wheel here and I will provide 2 examples that you can get experience from. The first one - positive - would be "Being a Dik". Dr PinkCake (these porn names.. srsl.. always in stitches :D) opted for seasonal launch with 4 episodes each that are clearly divided and you know exactly when you are transferring from episode to episode (there are summary screens). However there is also a clear and visible difference between the visual quality of the episodes (massive, massive difference between what happens in episode 1 and in episode 8 both in quality and quantity). Season 2 is sold as a DLC for season 1, but apparently Season 3 will have its own launcher, so I am unclear if he wants to sell it separately or as another DLC that changes the launch of the game...
The other example is Lust Theory by Inceton games. Again seasonal launch - but each season is sold as a separate game.
He went all in with the 1st season (including voice acting), but that left him drained for season 2 that is still on "mixed" reviews and is considered "unfinished" by the players when compared to season 1. I would venture a guess that he simply got overambitious after the initial success and then ran out of money. (still better than his "Inside Jeniffer" where he got whacked for terrible writing and mediocre animations).
Regarding the upscaling of quality - I would honestly leave it 1080 for the entire game, so that you can maintain the same level throughout. Once the game is fully out you can then see if it might be worth it to upscale as a sort of "deluxe dlc" or even a free patch if the game does really well ;)
As most devs found out, once you go steam and you do well, there is very little reason to opt for android launch, as the limitations are just too big for these games.
RE: Pricing: You are a game developer, not a charity. You need to make a livable profit.. You might even want to rise the price of the base game higher, but then put out the DLCs (if you go that way) cheaper. Or even adjust it later on after launch. I would say, decide based on how much game time you provide at what quality.
Looking forward to your future content :)