discussion Why do developers abandon games?

[setzer]

Seen one dev expecting money to fall out of the sky because of his renders. The fact he drip fed his content never crossed his mind as to why he never got more support. One release was usually 5 minutes of game time.

Another seems to use it for quick bucks. Rumor round the circle was he did this three times and slunk away with 2k each time.

 

[Mrjayded]

I think that creating these games can be just overwhelming some times. Life gets in the way

 

[Rebel 357]

I think that creating these games can be just overwhelming some times. Life gets in the way

Life does get in the way. I've had several delays due to things coming up.

Although, creating a game can be easy or hard. From what I have seen, easy, low-effort games is a sign that the game dev just wants to make easy money. There's no shortage of shitty money hungry game devs either.

 

[grim019]

There are two main reasons. The first is IRL stuff happens. The second is money.

 

[fromabove]

LOL, everyone here posting they flake over money.
Building rep as a dev takes a long time, and you lose it in a heartbeat, and once it's gone, it's not likely fans will trust you again with their hard earned support. Abandoning games isn't a sustainable business model.

The real reason many projects stop, IMHO:

1. No one realizes just how much of an effort it is to make one of these things. They'll eat up every free minute of your and demand more. I became a dev because I loved VN and I wanted to contribute, but truth of the matter is, I hardly have any time to play anything anymore.
2. The hate is something else. You can't imagine how many people will go out of their way to find you and tell you just how absolutely horrible you are and everything you do is, and how much better the world would be without you in it. That can wear a person down until they hate opening up their socials and just want to walk away.
3. Biting off more than you can chew really is a thing. You wanna do everything, put every good idea you have in, but realistically, you can't, and if you're not careful, you can find yourself at at a point where it starts to look like you will never finish this project in your lifetime, and that can be an overwhelming sensation.

Now, I'm sure there's some that are just in it for the money, but those rarely make it past one or two releases, and you can usually tell it's going nowhere from the low effort, cookie cutter quality. Honestly, it's impossible to put the effort in to make one of these things for an extended time if you don't love doing it first. It's just, it doesn't always love you back.

Quoted for truth.

Most abandoned VNs were created by first-timer devs who had absolutely no idea what they were signing themselves up for.

Creating quality renders is hard. Coming up with a good story is even harder. Branching that story into multiple paths, which requires even more renders, all while maintaining the quality writing is... you get the idea.

Be glad for every single game that made it to the finish line, especially if it was created by a first-timer. It is no small feat.

 

[User_109578]

1) not enough time anymore
2) not enough money (patreon+subscribe doesn't make them enough money)
3) not motivated
4) burned out
5) started an interesting story, then fucked up
6) people on this another forum, insulting them ?

You choose?

 

[skybreaker1780]

I'd love to develop a game, but beyond lacking the skills to do so I imagine most people here are doing this without getting paid.

 

[Rebel 357]

I'd love to develop a game, but beyond lacking the skills to do so I imagine most people here are doing this without getting paid.

9 projects so far, 100% free and non-profit. Matter in fact, I'm dropping my latest one right now on this forums.

 

[MattShizzle]

9 projects so far, 100% free and non-profit. Matter in fact, I'm dropping my latest one right now on this forums.

Good for you. I'm not into ones that look cartoonish so that one isn't for me, but still - thanks for being one that keeps it up AND puts in on here yourself (and maybe the other place if it's allowed there - too many people haven't heard of here - which has plusses (less likely to be found by assface reporter prude fuckwads) and minuses(less uploaders)

 

[perikolui]

I suppose because they get bored or do not have enough motivation, that is why it is important to support them with money, there should be easier ways to do it from Latin American countries.

 

[jjx]

I think what bothers me more is a well supported game going so slow, knowing they can milk it for eternity. I get it, I understand why, I just don't like it.

 

[MattShizzle]

I think what bothers me more is a well supported game going so slow, knowing they can milk it for eternity. I get it, I understand why, I just don't like it.

Those are cunts that do that.

 

[Loliholic]

Because patreon & co. allow them to farm money without forcing them to provide content. The onesided contracts are the main problem. If you get paid for work you have to work, if you stop working and dont provide a finished product you have to pay back the money. Thats how it should be...but check bluecats patreon, he still earns a living from not providing anything since years.

 

[HarryMason]

Lost passion
Death
Made their money

Or simply life got in the way.

 

[watsonjohn]

Sometimes they drop dead.

 

[SirBanana]

A lot of developers can sit with a game for a long time and just not be happy with it and either try to go to new things or just simply push away their problems by never updating so they don't ruin the expectations that perhaps fans had come to expect from their games.

 

[Raodos455]

you won't get an easy answer for that question, it goes from boredom to complete loss due to natural disasters, from running out of ideas and will to being conscripted as cannon fodder for the russian army and die in some place in ukraine

 

[rocketsheep]

• Creating a game is an awful lot of work. Sometimes circumstances change and developers no longer have the time. Not getting a lot of money for the game may contribute to this.
• Not everyone who has the skill to start a game also has the skill to finish it. Continuing and finishing a complicated game is significantly harder than starting it.
• Not everyone who can is good at starting projects is good at finishing projects. E.g., ADHD and perfectionism are correlated with an inability to finish projects. ADHD is also correlated with a higher likelihood of starting projects, which exacerbates the problem.

 

[Abere Lucifer]

The more I make my games and talk to other developers the more I'm learning that it's a lot of lazy people thinking making games is easy money. They find out it's way harder than it looks and they get burned out really quickly because they're lazy. Another thing I'm seeing is devs trying to make everyone happy which is an impossible task. When you try to make everyone happy you make no one happy. If you can't say "No" to people you will fail and a lot of devs can't do that.

 

[MattShizzle]

The more I make my games and talk to other developers the more I'm learning that it's a lot of lazy people thinking making games is easy money. They find out it's way harder than it looks and they get burned out really quickly because they're lazy. Another thing I'm seeing is devs trying to make everyone happy which is an impossible task. When you try to make everyone happy you make no one happy. If you can't say "No" to people you will fail and a lot of devs can't do that.

Even worse is when there's a few who demand being able to make a character a LI who wasn't - and doing so would require a restart. And they listen.