Still in development? Do they even post updates anymore?

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

This game looks interesting and I want to buy it but what's the story? Any insight from anyone who owns the game or follows its progress would be appreciated. I am sure this must have been asked before but updated info would be ideal. Do you recommend people buy this if they expect a complete game in the future?

[LittleTale]

it's "almost" dead mate... Almost no info from dev, been in development for years, close to no update, only correction and small features are added. game still run badly on some decent mid range GPU, and you need to download a external launcher and external game download to play the full uncensored version.

[LittleTale]

it was a great idea and good looking game, but that was 2 years ago...
I think if they release it full, it'll be a really short game. . .
Hope they can maybe turn things around but i doubt it.

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

Thank you for answering, just the fact that it took so long for anyone to see my post tells me that the community has lost interest in this game. I joined the discord and it looked like there was still some activity but nothing major at all. I hope they get it together because it looks awesome but I passed on buying it because the future is so uncertain for the game (from what I can tell). Thank you for the information.

[Astral]

Dead game

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

I think Steam should do something for E.A. games that stall out in the midst of development. Either remove the game from the store, or at least put some kind of warning label showing how long it has been since the game received an update or force the developer to change the status to something like: proof of concept/tech demo and have the price reflect that. Instead of just leaving it up in at full price for unsuspecting people to purchase.

[zhunGamerTTV (人^▽')～]

after Dysfunctional Systems i'm honestly not surprised

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

Originally posted by zhunGamerTTV (人^▽')～:

after Dysfunctional Systems i'm honestly not surprised

What is Dysfunctional Systems? Another game?

[abarax]

Originally posted by jedimindtrickonyou:

Originally posted by zhunGamerTTV (人^▽')～:

after Dysfunctional Systems i'm honestly not surprised

What is Dysfunctional Systems? Another game?

A VN series that Dischan never finished making.

[Stalker Fairy]

Based on what I can tell from their Patreon page, development is going *really* slow.

Not a fan of the fact that the main updates they've been doing for a while within the past months is artwork.

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

I mean, Im not a developer, so it’s hard for me to know what is a reasonable pace for a game like this. But my biggest issue is the lack of official communication on steam. I don’t think people should have to join the discord server (and certainly not Patreon) to get anything resembling a progress report for a game they paid for. I just know I really am iffy about purchasing Early Access games because of a lack of oversight or rules. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of consequence (from Steam) if a developer abandons a project. Thank you for the info.

[Der Kamina, der an dich glaubt]

I just wonder how big this team is. Maybe they have a full office with dedicated departments. Maybe they're just three guys in a basement, I can't find anything about this.

And it seems like their Twitter-Page is somewhat running, even if most is just some Art-Posts.

[Der Kamina, der an dich glaubt]

Originally posted by Der Kamina, der an dich glaubt:

I just wonder how big this team is. Maybe they have a full office with dedicated departments. Maybe they're just three guys in a basement, I can't find anything about this.

And it seems like their Twitter-Page is somewhat running, even if most is just some Art-Posts.

Hold on, I am stupid, there is a credits section.
So, counting the Marketing-"Team" as well, but not the Guest-Artist (those are four by the way) and the special thanks (which aren't much more either), the Team has a total number of 17 People. I have no Idea about game developing, but that's not much. Especially when like 5 of these are Marketing, Licensing and Quality Control.
Also it seems that all founding is coming from their Patreon, which brings them in almost precisely 3000€ per month. For comparison, I earn 2000€ a month and I work for the minimal possible income by law.
So, given the small Team and small monetary ressources, I am not really surprised that the development is going so slow.

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

Thank you for taking the time to compile all that information (and for choosing to share it here), it is helpful to know that it’s being made by such a small team of developers. I hope they end up finishing it and releasing it properly. I don’t own it but I did play the first section/chapter at my friend’s place one day and the small section I played was very fun. I would buy the game to support them if they would release some kind of news on Steam, indicating that the game is still in active development (even if it means that progress will be slow). That’s what annoys me about early access games on Steam, they can effectively be abandoned and the game still remains up for sale to be bought by unsuspecting customers. And there’s no easy way to discern the difference between a game which has been truly abandoned vs. one which is still being worked on (albeit at a very slow and protracted pace).

[Arlyeon [Crit Hit]]

Originally posted by Der Kamina, der an dich glaubt:

Originally posted by Der Kamina, der an dich glaubt:

I just wonder how big this team is. Maybe they have a full office with dedicated departments. Maybe they're just three guys in a basement, I can't find anything about this.

And it seems like their Twitter-Page is somewhat running, even if most is just some Art-Posts.

Hold on, I am stupid, there is a credits section.
So, counting the Marketing-"Team" as well, but not the Guest-Artist (those are four by the way) and the special thanks (which aren't much more either), the Team has a total number of 17 People. I have no Idea about game developing, but that's not much. Especially when like 5 of these are Marketing, Licensing and Quality Control.
Also it seems that all founding is coming from their Patreon, which brings them in almost precisely 3000€ per month. For comparison, I earn 2000€ a month and I work for the minimal possible income by law.
So, given the small Team and small monetary ressources, I am not really surprised that the development is going so slow.

wait, they make 3000€...divided by 17 people? Jesus christ.

[doctorforbidden]

Originally posted by Der Kamina, der an dich glaubt:

Originally posted by Der Kamina, der an dich glaubt:

I just wonder how big this team is. Maybe they have a full office with dedicated departments. Maybe they're just three guys in a basement, I can't find anything about this.

And it seems like their Twitter-Page is somewhat running, even if most is just some Art-Posts.

Hold on, I am stupid, there is a credits section.
So, counting the Marketing-"Team" as well, but not the Guest-Artist (those are four by the way) and the special thanks (which aren't much more either), the Team has a total number of 17 People. I have no Idea about game developing, but that's not much. Especially when like 5 of these are Marketing, Licensing and Quality Control.
Also it seems that all founding is coming from their Patreon, which brings them in almost precisely 3000€ per month. For comparison, I earn 2000€ a month and I work for the minimal possible income by law.
So, given the small Team and small monetary ressources, I am not really surprised that the development is going so slow.

To be fair, that is just the current money. This game has been in Early Access for coming on 3 years now. At one point their Patreon income was well over $5,000 a month. No doubt Paperbag lost a lot of patrons due to the non-progression.

Patreon has also been haemorrhaging users since they started killing off lewd content creators without warning late last year. I think both of these points factored into why Paperbag are ending development for Mahou Arms this year.

I realise now that patron-funded game development was always going to fail. Without a fixed launch/completion date and someone to hold the developers into account, the development process will either be stuck due to feature creep or degenerate into a fraudulent development to keep the money rolling in for as long as possible by drip-feeding game updates/features. Either way, it's bad news for the players who supported the development in some way.