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DevBlog: End of 2023 (Release schedule, recap, and thoughts)
🕑 Added 2023-11-21 20:22:26 +0000 UTCHey guys,
These days I've been thinking a lot about where we're at and how best to progress towards the future, so I wanted to take a brief minute to share it with everyone, along with some changes to the final patch schedule for this year and the reasoning behind it.
I. FIRST, A QUICK LOOK BACK:
Last year ended with the December patch 0.4.04, which had 2317 game passages and just a little over 400K words in it. At the time of writing, the next update 04.14 stands at 3122 passages and just shy of 650K words. Looking at this, we've had the most productive year for the project so far, with 250K words added (two full-length novel's worth!) spread in some 800 passages. While the day-to-day operations always feel like a bit of a grind, it's moments like this that make me proud of how far we've come and incredibly thankful for all the support we've got - we wouldn't have made it without you!
Still, I have to admit that the last few months have felt like constant pressure to race towards the goal we set for ourselves - to have all main game endings in place for the end of this year. And right now, while many endings have been released, it doesn't look like we'll manage to hit quite all of them in time for the new year.
This fact, however, warrants an important note - one that I am making as much for all of you eagerly awaiting that specific ending, as well as for myself writing this. When we first started work on Chapter 3 and began implementing actual True Ends to the game, they were quite tiny. Looking at the Elder endings, as well as the original Lavius x Narcissa endings, they are barely placeholders for these conclusions - standing at 5 and 7 passages respectively, with some 2-3K words in each branch. At the time, this felt like the right approach, as we were sketching out the main paths for the story and didn't want to stagnate for too long on any one branch.
In comparison, later endings like Elise's True Endings (50 passages) and the True Slut Endings (85 passages) offer long and elaborate conclusions with many thousands of words and variations inside them. This was something that become possible as we made more progress and could spend longer on each branch, committing a month or two to flesh out long conclusions for Alex's journey.
I'm saying all of this to point out the obvious fact that had we stayed with the original model of 5-10 page endings, we would have easily managed to sketch out all of them. I firmly believe that taking the time to work on each later ending as much as we did was the right call in the long run, but I wanted to offer this context as to how and why our goals and milestones evolved over this year. Of course, at some point we will have to get back and overhaul the early short endings and give them as much love and attention as the later ones.
II. NOW, SOME SCHEDULE CHANGES AND A PERSONAL UPDATE
Let's get things out of the way: November and December will have only 1 combined update, which will be released sometime mid-December, before the holidays.
I know this may come as a bit of a disappointment for all of you, but I feel it's the only right choice, and will elaborate all the details below:
1. First and foremost, I have to admit that I've hit a particularly difficult point when it comes to the game's main plot. Throughout the years, the easiest updates have always been those that add some extra choices along the way, that let me play with whatever kink I'm vibing with for this month without worrying too much about overall character development and intricate relationships. Of course, writing out the "serious" bits has always been fun and rewarding, but undeniably more demanding.
Now that I'm working on the True Endings with important main characters, I've found it harder and harder to make sure that I'm hitting all the right spots, that I'm doing justice to everything that has happened so far, to Alex's journey with Felicia, to her ambivalent relationship with Mihai, to her love-and-death cycle with Ionut. There have always been moments where I've scrapped things, where I've killed and re-written entire branches. But never as much as this.
As I'm writing this, the game has 3 whole story branches that lay on the sides, unconnected and invisible, because I'm not fully satisfied with how they turned out. Because I think I can do better and give you better. I still don't know whether they will be scrapped altogether, heavily re-written, or somehow repurposed, but one thing's for certain: there is a lot of my work that I just don't feel is quite ready for release.
2. Second, and equally important: burnout unfortunately remains quite real. As I mentioned in the intro to this post, this has been the most productive year so far for the project - despite having a baby in the house and more real-life responsibilities to those around me than ever before. This was, sadly, accomplished by means that were unhealthy and unsustainable - both mentally and physically. I am proud to have gotten through it while keeping Transylvania on track, but the time has come to face the reality that some adjustments are necessary - if I want to continue and finish the project without risking a complete breakdown somewhere along the way.
I know you will understand and I know each time we've had to slow down to catch our breath we've had nothing but support - but it's still hard to say this, and part of me wishes to just continue, to grind my teeth and hope for the best. If we were just a few updates away from the final release, perhaps I would have. But right now I know it's not the right call.
GOALS FOR END OF 2023
In light of all of the above, I've set myself the following goals for the end of this year:
1. First and foremost, make sure that whatever we do, it is enough to breathe and reset, enough to make sure we are fresh and ready to pick up the pace come January and deliver everything that Transylvania deserves, everything that all of you deserve. While these decisions rest majorly on my own limitations, I should note here that the artists equally need time to rest, to spend time with their families, to be away from the Pipeline for a little bit. So all of the above applies not just for myself, but for the entire team - we will take the holidays to collectively reset and make sure we come back in full force.
2. Second, we will use this time to work on things for next year, to give attention to things that will not make it for release before January. For me, this means writing out story branches and True Endings with our beloved characters while giving the story time to grow, while not rushing ahead to publish and making sure that the key conclusions to these intricate relationships feel right and deliver on all the romance and passion in just the right ways. Equally for the artists, this is a moment to play around with some new tech, to see how we can push the limits of scenes and presentation and deliver even more exciting and captivating moments for our readers.
FINAL WORDS
To end this DevBlog, I would like to offer you a glimpse into some of the things we're currently up to:
1. More animations and interactivity - this has been an ongoing process, but we're continuing to push the limits of what we can deliver in a scene! At the moment we're porting in the branch with Felicia's corruption via Alex' demonic familiar, and I'm pleased to say that it's turning out VERY nicely. We are at some 50-ish moving parts with more being plugged in, trying to make sure that every moment really comes to life. It's a very work intensive process to intertwine with the story and choices, but the final result is more than worth the time. If all goes well, this will make it into 0.4.14 in December and you will be able to experience a much darker and more wicked version of these final events.
2. An overhaul of earlier art and scenes - as our style and capabilities have evolved through the years, we want to make sure that early parts of the story are not left behind. Once again this is a case of things being worked on that are not for immediate release, but we have several overhauls on the back burner as we revisit chapters 1 and 2 and bring them to the level of what we're currently releasing in terms of art and animation.
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If you've come this far, thank you for taking the time to read up on our recent developments. We will see you again mid December with our final update for the year - 0.4.14. Most of all we will take the time to prepare our next phase and open the new year by releasing all the lovely things currently being worked on.
Thank you all as always for your incredible support for Transylvania.
-Vincent & XFiction Team
Comments
XFiction
Thank you, appreciate the words =)
XFiction
Hey Alexey, thank you! It's a little early for any serious production on the next project, we want to focus on finishing Transylvania first =) That being said we do have some general ideas about where we'd like to go once the time is right.
XFiction
Hey Nico, thank you very much for the kind words of encouragement - much appreciated!
Kazuma Skultum
Take all the R&R you need. The last thing you want is to come to resent what you love to create. I had that happen on more than one story I have written. It got so bad I never went back to finishing those works. Loving what you do means being able to realize when it is time to take a step back and rest. SO you and the team take care and we look forward to your return.
Alexey Stratulat
Thank you for keeping us updated on the development and happy new year already! Rest, gain strength. And may the new year be even better for you than the current year. Are you already thinking about your next project?
Kathrine Stensrud
Rest and take care! We can wait. I still have catching up to do
Amanteater
You deserve it!
Nico Simmons
What nearly all of you and your teammates do is hardcore CREATIVE work - on a self employed basis - id' assume. This means you have massive freedom in terms of style and overall content - but also noone to keep you in check and balanced. Nobody watches for your work life balance. This sounds like easily dismissable stuff, but in my experience - it's not. I think this gets often times overlooked on freelance projects like this, you said it yourself perfectly: "to be away from the Pipeline for a little bit" - this is EXTREMELY important, im my eyes! Creative work, in all facets, cannot be Assembly-line work - ever. It undermines what you actually want to achieve - creating cool and kinky stuff. So by all means - take your vacation and recharge the batteries! The spice must flow, yes - but not by all means and at all costs. This isn't Dune, afterall. I can only speak for myself - but I want to support Transylvania with my mere 5 bucks every month until ... well, whenever the project feels done and you feel satisfied with every lil detail of it - not before. So many games in this genre never get finished, I will not loose sleep over a "missed" update. BTW, I have to catch up with so much content already, hoo boi - I will not get bored. =) Thank you for this elaborate status update and enjoy the holidays Vincent & everyone on the team!
Yugonostalgia
<3 <3 Excited to play more once my concussion is done with so take ur time~
XFiction
Thanks, we super appreciate the support and understanding
XFiction
Thank you, it really means a lot
Amanteater
You guys are awesome, please get some rest!
Patricia Murray
Please take your time to have a break, no need to put pressure on yourself and burn out.
