discussion Abandoned Games

[pepemolas]

Sometimes I'm afraid to start watching a new title and support it until it has several versions for fear of starting a story that I like so much that then it breaks my heart to never know the outcome.

 

[NateDawg59]

Time, money, player bitching, underestimating the hardware, talent and patience it takes to make something worthy of going through the aforementioned things.

 

[Gazon731]

This is simple. Because writing a good plot isn't as easy as it sounds, codding is annoying and doing bunch of renders/draw an art is very energy and time consuming. First few updates for a rookie dev is a learning curve, learning new things is enjoyable. And then the routine begins... If at this point dev has good support he likely becoming milker, otherwise abandon is very probable. Developing indie games is always a matter of willpower; it cannot be driven solely by enthusiasm.

 

[pepemolas]

Yes, I know the difficulties that each game entails and the effort it entails, but there are only a few developers who manage to give it stability. Let's hope that donations increase and this type of games that I have followed since the first games of this type continue to grow.

 

[NateDawg59]

The next issue they have is when the donation platforms decide they don't like something and pull your game. I don't think a place like Itch even allows you to take donations anymore. God only knows what Patreon will do from one week to the next.

 

[odisej]

Sometimes I'm afraid to start watching a new title and support it until it has several versions for fear of starting a story that I like so much that then it breaks my heart to never know the outcome.

Well, I personally think that in 90% of cases new developers see making VN as quick and easy way to get money not realizing that for every success story there are thousands of failed ones.
Even if money is not your primary concern and you do have good story to tell, there are other limiting factors that could prevent you from continuing development.
Like inexperience with programing and development process in general, long rendering times due to hardware limitations, real life problems you neglected while developing VN and many more.

 

[NateDawg59]

Some devs get in their own head and can't escape. So many games fell victim to devs who couldn't make up their minds about one system/plot or another.

 

[TheVampirate]

Sometimes I'm afraid to start watching a new title and support it until it has several versions for fear of starting a story that I like so much that then it breaks my heart to never know the outcome.

3 main things kill games; Burnout, Economics, and ability issues. Burnout happens and releases slow down they lose intrest and the project dies. Economics kills games in 2 ways, one is its expensive to make a game and they could often work for someone else doing something else and making more money for the amount of hours it takes. The other is people who get into it thinking they're going to get rich and surprised when it doesn't work out. That folds into the 3rd thing of skill issues where the creators lack something needed to make the game well/efficiently. Many solo artists are either unable to code but can write or draw well and their games kind of are a mess or have to put the game on rails. Programmers often have harder time with the story and art of their game and then releases slow down and it ends up abandoned.

 

[Gazon731]

Another red flag - separate developer and artist. This is very bad, if artist leave the game will get abandon OR change in art will kill the game. I remember only one case when new artist made art better - House Chores.

 

[NateDawg59]

Everybody wants to be a DrPinkcake until they see the big team and massively powered setups Being a Dik takes. Anymore if you want attention you'll need a team of people all handling a specific job.

 

[fyl3toys]

I'm going with the plot. So many developers write from the standpoint of scenario without bothering to develop a coherent and interesting story. In a lot of cases it's "let's just see what happens next".

That kind of madlibs storytelling can lead to burnout real quick when you know coming up with the next part of the story is followed by graphics, coding, and sound work to boot.

I'd imagine that gets old real quick.

 

[Uncle Loco]

I can say as a Dev myself it's a lot of work, and sometimes it becomes too much. That and there are a lot of rude as fuck people out there that get their rocks off by trashing other people's games. This shit is not easy a lot of us do this Dev thing as a hobby. Some make a game thinking they can make something better than some dev that brings in thousands of dollars a month only to realize it is hard to make any money off VN's. Others just seem to get bored or lose interest in their own project. Teams sometimes decide they have different ideas and just stop working together. Then you have the devs that have all these great ideas but can't seem to finish a single project. Some of these payment/donation sites are the problem too. This is digital art not reality.

As a fan of VN's and a Dev myself it is always sad to see an abandoned tag on any game. I want to see others succeed so there are more new games to try or new devs to chat with.

 

[Tosser]

Burn out. Bitch patrons and even bitchier pirates. Legal threats. The real job and real family take precedent over the side hustle. Health. Death. All kinds of things.

 

[jedichip]

from what I heard it's because they have full time jobs .. even 1 render takes a long time to make and match it up with the story.. hard to do when you work come home eat watch netflix sleep..

 

[Terry]

The next issue they have is when the donation platforms decide they don't like something and pull your game. I don't think a place like Itch even allows you to take donations anymore. God only knows what Patreon will do from one week to the next.

Itch are a bunch of clowns.
I still remember when they banned a ton of avn devs and ignored any question about it.

 

[NateDawg59]

Itch are a bunch of clowns.
I still remember when they banned a ton of avn devs and ignored any question about it.

Yep, they're only decent for the lesser known, one dev simple games. Think Harem Residence, stuff like that. It's also the Arlington Cemetery for games. Dead games page after page.

 

[slexywexy]

people just lose motivation after finding out how long it takes to make a game/avn. then say they have health issues or something then vanish

 

[NateDawg59]

people just lose motivation after finding out how long it takes to make a game/avn. then say they have health issues or something then vanish

For quite some time there have been an awful lot of car wrecks and moving to different countries.

 

[User_80256]

1. A developer did not get the financial support (on the same Petreon) he had hoped for. The examples are legion.
2. The developer overestimated his strengths (especially his talent as a writer), writer's block is a common story. Such projects don't die immediately, the process can take years, but their end is the same.
3. Disagreements within the development team. Not often, but it happens.
4. A developer can simply die. This also happens.

 

[WigglyWorld84]

When a hobby/pasttime becomes actual work with deadlines and expectations, it stops being fun and becomes... actual work.

These are not professionals taking on a professional project.

You have people at the buffet with big eyes who fill up their plate and then regret it.