Spoiling the "Hermione Trainer"...

If it would reduce your stress maybe use polls to determine what features are most desirable to your supporters. Get those implemented first so you feel like you are making the masses happy and lower your stress, then add the rest of the features in updates, so you feel like you made the game you wanted and were capable of. Personally, I'm fine with waiting, or whatever you decide. I am a patron so that you can do what YOU want, not what the world wants. Because I find what YOU want is FREAKING AWESOME.

Xisis

I don't think you should waste your time creating playtest builds as that will only delay you. Maybe consider just making a post once a week or something where you describe what kind of work you did, you dont have to show something to prove it. I think you might worry to much. People who support you come in here knowing how you operate and you dont need to change the way you do things to reassure us.

Dirk Delva

Hey, I just became a 10$ backer so I could tell you that I appreciate your hard work and that I think you should take as much time as you need. Though, if I can make one suggestion, it would be cool if you added some more stretch goals. Nothing that adds to your stress and workload but things that would reduce your workload and potentially maybe help you finish your projects faster.

Dirk Delva

*Nods approvingly* Yes, yes... That is exactly what is going on. And that is exactly what kind of conclusions I also came up to...

AKAMAN

Noted. Just thinking about the amount of bug-reports and suggestions I will probably receive when I release the game is a bit scare. Maybe spread out those with "Beta" test would be better...

AKAMAN

Yes. That is a good point: to prepare a game for "BETA" or "DEMO" release would actually require extra time/work. So I need to consider that as well... On the other hand it would be nice to hear your feedback on my work while I keep working... Decisions, decisions...

AKAMAN

I know, I know... but my mind is so far from any rational thoughts sometimes that I couldn't see any rational thoughts even in a pair of binoculars... That is a good thing actually, because if I wasn't a bit delusional I wouldn't even attempt "Princess Trainer", because back then although I did not record any videos I was freaking out and rushing things way more then now. Now the situation is different but I manage to find other things to stress about... I am starting to think that no matter what the situation is - I will always find a reason for stress. But I have one major thing that keeps me going - I always think: "I will take it easy as soon as I finish my current project". I thought "Hermione Trainer" will be a walk in the park... But seems I was wrong. These days I tell myself: "When Hermione Trainer is released, working on "Princess Trainer Gold Edition" will be nothing but joy..."... Well, it better be... In any case, this is a prison of my own making of course. I am grateful to you guys for your support. You just keep supporting me, and I will keep doing my thing and hopefully will manage to subdue my demons eventually. Yes, I must believe that. I mean I probably will relax eventually... It's just I think making a decent living with my craft is a very new feeling to me and strangely enough it makes me feel awkward... I'm so very much used to be miserable and complain about things, but since Patreon happen my "comfort zone of misery" is slowly slipping away from me... I will adjust eventually...

AKAMAN

Heh... fair enough I suppose ^^

AKAMAN

Heh... Yeah... Let's hope I will have enough sense to do myself no harm. But you know, we are our own worst enemies...

AKAMAN

Thank you. I really appreciate it!!!

AKAMAN

Yes... I don't know why it never been brought up until now, to be honest. The polls thing I mean. After all, we did it with "BHB" and it was fun. And we are entrenched in the same camp...

AKAMAN

#1 I agree with of course. #2 Will need some thought, but presents some fun possibilities... So definitely will at least give it a try in the future. #3 Yeah... I mean I could always add shit-load of new events to "Hermione Trainer" if you guys will decide on that. And thank you for the vote of confidence. The way you guys just rally up behind my work and support me never ceases to amaze me...

AKAMAN

I'm happy to give you all the time you want to complete everything you originally wanted to (up to level 10 etc.)... Don't feel rushed and add as much as you want to!

Rob

Hey Akabur. Dont worry about keeping us entertained. This will be your best/biggest job and so the pressure is made and taken by yourself since you will be your harshest task master. We trust you not to destroy yourself.

silvarius2000

Hey, I am just throwing money out here to see a game down the road. Better than spending it on beer.

Venron

That video doesn't contains proper spoiler you've simply explained the abstract mechanic... Watching the video I've had the sensation that you feel like you're chased by an avalanche and I'm sorry because is sad when the work is polluted by so much tension... Probably I'm a bit optimistic but from my point of view you've """"almost""""" completed the work, to end it you've to insert a completed scene, write 3 tasks and all their alternative version, draw something and tie some loose ends but apart from this all the other things are there. You're a "one man" army so we cannot pretend the same performance of a developing team. If you see fit take a break, playing a game knowing that you're totally destroyed by the developing makes me sad ;D To be honest I hope to see the game at Halloween but I wouldn't be upset if the games is released later on. Ok, I'm ending this messy and totally ill-formed stream of consciousness... Salut from your (friendly and supporting) legion member. ;D

Aarvil Kemph

I would like to experience the part you have completed and hope it helps with the idea making and bug fixes. I don't know about every little update i think that would take up more of your time then it would be worth so milestones would be nice. Plus we can praise your work and give you those motivation boosts

Formless

I'm personally firmly entrenched in the "no spoilers!" camp, so I'll not be watching this video. If you're looking for a good way to get us Patreons feeling more involved than those ideas polls some others mentioned seem like a good idea. I do have some pretty good smutty ideas for PT Gold, and I'm sure plenty of others could also provide valuable input. And with you having the veto on which ideas will actually go into the game, there isn't that much risk of these polls getting out of hand. :P

Oric13

For my part, I could play the game before "full release" but only for the beta-testing, in order to help the developpement.

Wirefull

Looks like you have fallen for the so-called "combinatorial explosion" issue that plagues many systems -- and some games. It entails that adding one choice in one spot automatically leads to having to add options to all the other choices that are already in the system. You should try to avoid (or at least foresee) such issues during design time. Flexibility in a game (especially one that intends to reward exploration) is great, but at some point it is more trouble than it is worth. It looks like you have reached that point. It probably helps at this stage to examine all the things you wanted to add but did not add yet, and see which ones you absolutely want or need in the game, and which ones you can do without. Then scrap everything that falls in the second category, and go into a final testing phase.

I think there are 3 ideas in the previous posts I really liked and want to get behind: #1 Do large milestone posts, not tiny updates #2 Set up week-long voting polls for drawings/ideas/opinions on things, some game related but others not #3 Once you have HT released along side PT, you could do DLC packs for them, allowing you to get content out faster and more flexibly now that the base platforms are set up Hope you consider these ideas but whatever you ultimately decide, we are behind you bro. Hope you shake this anxious mood and feel better soon. Cheers.

Tudor G.

And as for the goals... I gave up on those long time ago...

AKAMAN

Yes, you're probably right... I'll think what else I could share without showing two much... Hm...

AKAMAN

I'm glad to hear this. I will still try to figure out to do make releases more often somehow but I'm glad you have the same view on this as I do.

AKAMAN

Yeah. The whole point of working on the different outcomes for the tasks depending on the "Perversion" level is that from the start I wanted it to be that way that as soon as you unlock an action/task it will be available till the rest of the game and shall you revisit it later Hermione would not complain or act be embarrassed and will be instead like "Yeah, sure. This is a little thing compared to the tasks I perform these days". Or even take secret joy in it. Well that was the idea. I did not expect it to be so time-consuming though... What I got in reality, when in "Princess Trainer" we had a quest it would happen only once and in "HT" it stays and it needs to be re-written to react to Hermione's changing personality. It is not mandatory to re-visit those tasks of course, but I think it is fun to see how Hermione handles the same situation in a completely different way after time. The downside of this is that I think "HT" already contains more events and scenes then "Princess Trainer" does, and somehow I didn't see this coming at all. As for the poll... Hm... But this would mean some scenes will be illustrated and other not... Although this could be fun and will let you guys get involved... Hm... I will give this some thought.

AKAMAN

I'm so tempted to look but the spoilers! Should I? Shouldn't I? Oh, the dilemma! Hey, so close to 5k! Congrats! Any plans for new goals?

Hellomellowyellow

Nice to see you so active on answering everyone. Nice to see a creator that keep in touch with his fans.

Nemesis Valentine

Eh, I didn't find these to be that much in the way of spoilers, more along the lines of you just discussing the game mechanics. Which was nice. I definitely like the idea of redoing tasks at higher levels for different outcomes, but that does indeed sound like tedious work on your end. I'm not really sure on releasing work-in-progress versions of whatever future projects you might be working on. I completely understand you feeling stressed about not providing content for your supporters, but you clearly don't sound comfortable doing this "beta" business. Maybe instead of releasing betas, you could do some kind of biweekly poll that we can all vote on, and you can do a drawing based off of whichever option gets the most votes. Something along those lines. Just an idea.

Venture

Nice!

Mozambiqued

Personaly, I don't mind waiting for the full game, I liked the big surprise it was with Princess trainer even when you also did this kind of video showing the game mechanics, I don't really think it's a spoiler because you don't show the fun or the art of the game which I think is the core of the game, the mechanics are just the way to get to that fun , and it's nice to know how it works, we can also provide some idea, also you also show in the video where you are and where you are heading to, that is cool too without being a spoiler, so for me that video was cool, very informative, and i didn't saw it as a spoiler, I will enjoy your game the same way if I didn't saw it, but maybe I will know more how to handle the events ^^

Dorago

I am surprised how many people are actually on board with me on the whole "no-spoilers" thing. Thank you.

AKAMAN

Noted. Now I need to find that "sweet-spot" between the two...

AKAMAN

He-he. Well maybe you could just listen to it. My main worry that I show a schematic that has different task for Hermione to perform on it and I think it would be way more fun to unlock them in the game then to see them now... Although maybe I do spoil a few minor things with the words I say as well... Yes, maybe you're right. Ignore this vid. At least for now.

AKAMAN

Heh... Thank you my friend. As for the morning walks... Well, maybe I will record another one tomorrow then...

AKAMAN

I was hoping you would say that. ^^

AKAMAN

Heh... Yeah... This particular game is getting under my skin lately... Not sure why. Don't worry though, if will give this much more thought and try to figure out a way to release the games more often and yet avoid releasing some unfinished, barely working pieces. I appreciate you willing to wait for the final version though.

AKAMAN

Yeah... I know that plenty of people would like to avoid spoilers and would rather wait to a final product, but then there are also plenty of people who would like you enjoy playing some "Beta" or "Demo" or whatever versions of the games while it's still in the works. The only way to please everyone would be to make those releases and who want - will play the and who doesn't will wait for the final thing.

AKAMAN

Honestly I think an artist should release his work when he wants to, so really it's up to you. I'll be happy with more updates or with just the finished product. I hope you'll keep doing your morning walks with Akabur series, those always crack me up.

Mozambiqued

Yeah... That's why I thought that it is probably time for me to adjust a little and try and find a way to give you guys more entertainment more often but in smaller increments instead of once in a several month but in a one big chunk. Well, this will not affect "Hermione Tariner", but I probably will do something like that with "Princess Trainer".

AKAMAN

Whew... Good. No harm done then...

AKAMAN

Yeah... I need to give this some thought... DLCs or some sort of extra quests or maybe chapters or something...

AKAMAN

Great. And you know I agree with you on the whole spoilers thing...

AKAMAN

Personally I prefer to wait and only play the finished game, but i really like this kind of sneak peeks and little spoilers, they keep me interested and they don't ruin the experience at all for me, so feel free to share how much you want, I'm sure as long as you put a spoiler warning everyone will be fine with it!

Personally I don't mind either way. Honestly, waiting months before each release is fine with me, as long you keep active with providing updates/news etc.

Voe

Hi, keep up your great work dude, it looks like it will truely be awesome when its done. I do think some semi-regular releases on progress might be a good idea. Usually that helps rally the comunity around a projekt and will give many an idea of whats going on as well as a chanse to give a little imput too. Anyway your doing amazing work anyway you do it, thank you!

MorningWight

I would like to check out your progress and play some early versions of the game and see how its coming, and as you said, people who only want the finished game are willing to wait anyway so they can just choose not to play until the full game is released.

Outlaw451

Hi dude! I think we all know that the game will pay for the wait. But feel free to share the "unfinished" game, so people can choose if they want to wait all or play the game in steps... I suggest you to make something like DLCs and Expansions: you release a "base game" and than release the uptades with extra stuff.

twhite

Yeah, same here. I don't really want to see any spoilers to this game but i'm sure others might want to see your progress!

Etienne

I'm for sth in the middle. Don't post minor things but the major milestones are fine. You don't flood us but keep us in the loop.

Carez

I will take a rain ticket on this one man, I rather not spoil myself, I will see it after realease. I am fine with how you handle the updates, is not as you not give any signal on this months, If I am from the vacl minority or majority let the other say.^^ In any case, if you decide to change the way you manage updates you can do exactly this, put the updates with a big SPOILER tag, see if you want, avoid it if you dont

Ace

First! I think I will wait for the full game and I wont even watch the video because of the spoilers. But its nice that you are thinking about us and someone might want to see what you are doing.

Nemesis Valentine