Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Release delay

パフォーマンスの問題のため、ゲームにいくつかの変更を加える必要がありました。
現在Curious Factoryがゲームの最新バージョンを見直しているところです。今回こそうまくいく事を強く願っております。
(注意:時間がかかる可能性があります。)

変更についてのお知らせ:
CGの枚数が42から34に減りました。
ステージ1用のExeファイルそしてステージ2,3用は別のファイルにあります。

さらに、MediaFireは私たちのいくつかのファイルを降ろしたので、ファイルホスティングサービスに切り替えるつもりです。
(しかしそれは大きい問題ではありません。ゲームの公開が早くなる事を願っています。あと、次のゲームプロジェクトのコンテンツを表示できるようになるまでまだまだ時間がかかりそうです。)


Because of the performance problems we had to make some modifications to the game.
Currently Curious Factory is reviewing the new version of the game, and we hope that it works out this time.
(but be aware, that it might need another week)

To inform you about the changes:
- the number of CGs have been decreased from 42 to 34
- there is now one exe-file for stage 1, and a seperate one for stage 2 and stage 3

Furthermore, we are going to switch the file-hosting service, since mediafire took down some of our files.
(but this doesn't matter right now, since the game release should be hopefully soon, and the next game project will take some time until we can show some content)

26 comments:

  1. Thx for the news
    But what is with the other 8 CG's would we ever see them?

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  2. Aww,sour bout those CGs.

    Quite a few as well, oh well, getting the game anyways.

    Are you going to publish the "lost" GCs on the net or will they forever be known as the "Paperhead CG of myth" ?

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  3. NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW T_T
    I've waited for so long, guess I can wait a bit more...

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  4. Is the game censored? Maybe that's one of the reasons why they rejected your game in the first place?

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  5. I guess the missing CG's can be packed into the uncensor patch.
    The patch is mainly just a folder full of the CGs, placed into the game directory (and the game just loads those uncensored CGs instead of the ones in the game).

    But in case you don't want to see any spoilers, you shouldn't look into the CG folder until you unlock them in the game.
    The "missing CG's" won't be loaded into the game this way, but you can have a look at them by looking into the folder.


    Regarding the game censoring:
    - CGs are censored
    - ingame graphics are censored, but there is no real difference anyway
    (and there is no "uncensoring" for this... but it's just a minor pixel-censoring over the dicks of some guys, nothing more than that)


    They really rejected the game (for now) because of the performance issues, though it's a bit strange since currently it runs fine on all our computers...
    (we tested it on 10 different systems, computers as well as notebooks, ranging from win XP to win 8, all with completely different hardware, that of course fullfils the system requirements)

    But lets see if the new version has any issues.
    I hope it works out this time, since there isn't really much that I can change without reworking large portions of the game (including the graphics...).
    And as I said before, it runs fine on everything I tested it on, so... in case there is an issue, I would have to work with Curious Factory together to solve it, which would cost significantly more time than doing it all by myself.
    (since I always have to wait for their reply, which takes about 2 days)

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  6. I still think you should just release the complete uncensored version of the game any other way besides dlsite... The way kyrieru sold Kurovadis was far more easy, I think...

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  7. I really wish it can be paid with PayPal...
    Having no credit card is surely a pain when you shop things online...

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  8. My first donation in life... lol
    http://pasteboard.co/z0qsAl7.png

    eCheque sucks btw...

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  9. @hamschkidamschk: Definitely censorship is a huge bullshit mankind has ever created.
    I miss the good old days when H-animes were published uncensored.
    Now the only way to access fine goods is through doujin markets, and even those are censored with white lines. It's still bearable than the lame pixels though...

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  10. Any chance of getting it via a donation or something? It stinks to know the demos ran fine on my system, and the games done, but we still can't get our hands on it :(

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  11. wolf, release an updated demo, just to give us SOMETHING to toy with until your full game is available, c'mon wolf, not a tall order at all is it? just level 1, a few CGs, and then when the full game comes, we won't be so....ravenous on your page

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    Replies
    1. Stop being greedy. Wait for the full release patiently.

      Delete
  12. i agree it's a good idea if you also sell the game without using DLsite, just like the way kurovadis is done. that way you don't have to bother about dodgy censoring crap and can save fees you pay to DLsite, not sure about paying the tax though (yes, taxation is a great pain in the ass).

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  13. So much anticipation... may the game won't fail on me.

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  14. When the week long waiting is up, it will be another week on top of that

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  15. any ETA on the release Wolf?

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  16. This seems like a lot of sacrifices and effort all just to get it on DLsite. I could understand if this was not your first game, but as your first game I think your team has perhaps become a bit too obsessed with selling the game through DLsite and have made far too many sacrifices to the game itself as a result...

    Cutting out the in-game text (which was amazing quality, all of it is gone now). Cutting out already made CGs. Splitting the game into multiple executables. Spending more time to add censorship to the game, and even being forced then to have censorship on the in-game animations as well, which lessens the experience for all non-Japanese people.

    On top of all that, this whole time now you already could have been getting revenue from the game, but instead you are still stuck messing + ruining a great game you made, because of the obsession to get it onto DLsite.

    One must ask, is there no point where the team just said: enough is enough, I have had it with these monkeyflying DLsite on this monday to friday internet.

    Having the full freedom to make the game how YOU want to is a number 1 priority if you want to be a successful game maker. That quote comes from Gabe Newell, he knows a thing or two about making games :P

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  17. Japanese only like girls with ridiculously big eyes and with baby-like screeching moans which disgusts me... Japanese girls are very passive and it's their culture to prefer fucking passive girls. I doubt how a girl with strong soul and enlightened mind like Verdani would appeal those Japanese...

    This game should've focused on consumers who are not Japanese as well.

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  18. What if the ppl who want to get this game email you the paypal reciept, and you send them back the game... would that work?

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  19. We just got a reply from Curious Factory (after at least 5 days of waiting), and there seems to be another problem, but this time I only have a hunch what it might be, since I don't have this problem on any of the computer systems I tested the game on.
    (I'll check into this starting tomorrow, since I'm pretty exhausted from this day already)

    So unfortunately, there will be another delay...



    Regarding the reason why we want to place it on DLSite so badly:

    First of all, if we would sell it ourselves, we would have to handle the sales tax, in worst case scenario every single payment made.
    This can be a lot of work... and it's a whole differnt story if DLSite just sends us one payment per month.
    (this will really save us a lot of trouble, so we can concentrate on working instead of managing the taxes)

    The second thing is, if we want to make enough money to actually be able to live from making h-games, we need japanese customers.

    And the third thing would be, that it's a bit difficult to do an online shop involving h-games.
    (since paypal doesn't like it, etc.)
    I also think that just donations wouldn't be enough in long terms.

    So DLSite is pretty important, if we want to continue to work on future game projects.



    Our whole team agrees with this decission of our boss, and so do I.
    Besides, I understand that all of you are eager to play the full version, but we are not delaying the release to tease you guys.

    We also want to finally release the game, since we really really need the money.
    But we can't just put it on the blog for free, since this would mean that we will most likely won't make enough money to continue making games.
    And I guess noone would be happy with that.

    Being a bit more patient will pay off in the long run, I guess.



    Maybe you also understand our situation a bit better, if I give you a small insight about how much making this game costed us:
    (this is just a rough calculation)

    2 persons worked on this game "full-time" (8 hours, 5 days a week), and the project took about 6 months "full-time" work.
    Assuming each person would get 2000 EUR before tax (around 1400 EUR after tax), which isn't that much money compared to other jobs in our country.
    (in fact this is the minimum a person should earn in order to be able to pay rent, insurances, food, etc.)

    This would mean, that making "Paperheads" did cost us 24 000 EUR, which in turn means, that the sales should be somewhere around this...
    And I haven't calculated into this the payment for the other team-members that did smaller stuff for the project.

    So this was the theory.
    In reality, we did save money in our daily lives whereever we could, and I also used to have a job for some time during this project, working 8 hours on the job, and then working another 2 to 4 hours on the game in my free time.
    But I guess the expenses would still be around roughly 19 000 to 20 000 EUR.
    (and all of this was money from jobs, or money that has been saved previously)

    This means, if we won't be able to earn around 20 000 EUR through sales, the upcomming game will be really small.
    Since the budget is pretty much non-existing.
    And to be honest, I guess even with DLSite we won't be reaching this sum of money easily.
    Without DLSite I think it's pretty much impossible...

    So yeah, that's the situation we're confronted with.
    I hope you all understand it better now.


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    Replies
    1. Of course we understand wolf, we just don't like being in the dark, thats all. Now that you've filled us in, the next week won't be so bad, but 1 last question though: where'd the demos go? are they just gone or did you upload them elsewhere? link?

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    2. I'm currently looking for a suitable file-hosting service, since mediafire took the files down.

      I guess I'll upload the newest trial version as soon as I decided for a file-hosting service.
      It's basically the same as the old trial version.

      The only differences would be the balancing (decreased the number of spawning enemies for certain areas), as well as some CG's that got swapped with newer ones.

      So yes, there will be "new" stuff to see, but some old stuff got replaced.
      (and unfortunately, it will have ingame censorship on the graphics)

      But I guess it's also fine to upload the "old" 1.0 trial version too.
      This has no censorship on the ingame graphics.
      Though it's the ressource heavy version, that might not run on several computers.
      (even on some really good ones, there can be problems)


      Well, first I'll have to decide on a file-hosting service.
      I'm thinking about mega, and I'll have to read through the ToS first.
      (don't want to get some files deleted again)

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    3. There are always risk friend, but you never really make much progress playing it safe. megaupload was seized by the feds, it no longer functions, however I suggest hotfile, lots of adult content gets stored, still seeing links that are 7 years old.

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    4. i don't understand... just split the file into 2mb or something and upload it on google or skydrive... korea provides hosting services for blogs like 10mb per post and there's no bandwidth limit...

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    5. Thanks for the reply!

      I do understand that for the long run, but for your first game it just seems like you've made a lot of sacrifices to the game itself in order to get it on DLsite.

      As for selling it yourself, it might be interesting for your team to contact Kyrieru, he has always been eager to help out other h-game developers and sold his game only in English and through his own site (can't remember if he also sold it on DLsite?). So it would be well worth while contacting him.

      I don't know how much he made through his first game, but he seemed pleased with the sales, but he is one-man team so his level required to be happy might be different from yours.

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  20. hi anomandco,
    For the first question; Yes, he's sold it on DLsite along with his own website (Overture I guess).

    About the profit he made about $20,000 USD including tax etc... and $14,000 as net profit. That is very, very large money for selling indie games like this.

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