Official COG WIPs - WDYT?

In my limited experience, the author-developers that are open to this type of community interaction and who actually follow through in an active manner, are those that have developed a strong enough vision or inner-belief in themselves that they navigate those waters well.

The author-developers who are “forced” into such interactions are the ones that do not tend to do well in these types of out-reaches.

I have a lot of thoughts on the thread’s topic in general, but don’t have the mental energy to say more than: I am thankful that those that were made were put forth and that these were successful enough to encourage more in the future.

I’ll try to re-visit this topic later.

Edit:

One major difference between the development of a graphical based game and a text-based game is that with the text-based games, once a few iterations are pushed live, content rarely changes in older material.

With a graphical game, each developmental milestone can bring a sea change in material to be tested.

As a consequence, the amount of feedback received on the older material will taper off. Exceptions to this are when new branches are grafted on, a re-write leading to major changes and when revisions change the basic elements of a story (character write-in, plot point expansion/contraction, etc)

This fact is why I am delaying bringing forth any WiP threads myself, until I can plan out a productive testing schedule.

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I’m one of those who stopped reading after the 6th or 7th chapter in Mask WIP because what I’ve read have managed to capture my interest and I want to experience most of it all at once when the final version is released.

I guess it’s kinda selfish because I don’t think I give much feedback; I know I’m not gonna be a good beta tester anyway unless I really dedicate my time into it (used to an be editor at one point), but I just don’t have the time now so I only look at WIPs that I’m interested. If it manages to hook me, I’ll wait until it’s released.

Another example is Ironheart. I read the WIP awhile ago and then I forgot about it (life, coronavirus, etc) and then one day I was checking CoG omnibus app and found it, didn’t remember the title but when I read the synopsis I remember I’d read the WIP and I liked it so I purchased immediately.

So people like me might not be that useful for the authors during WIP, but WIPs are very useful to lock the story in memory and increase the chance of us purchasing it.

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I’m a fan. :slight_smile:

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Not selfish at all! What you, @poison_mara and @Eiwynn have said all makes perfect sense, and confirms some of what I thought about why feedback dropped off a bit the further the story went along.

You’ve pretty much said you stopped reading because you intended to buy it - what author isn’t going to like hearing that? :wink:

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I definitely like it it’s almost like having a public beta and you get to give good feedback And I think it helps everyone

While I haven’t participated in the WiPs of Ironheart and Plague Doctor, I’m definitely in favor. Not every writer has the time and energy to spend time in the forums (and that’s completly understandable), but those who do get an open space full of people who have an experience with IF and ChoiceScript, two things newer writers might not be so used with. And the forumites get the chance to test and engage with a new game without the dedication and time that is usually associated with beta-testing.

It’s not going to be for everyone, but, considering Ironheart and the demo of Plague Doctor, I think it brings something good to the table.

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I love being able to play through the WIPs, because it lets me keep my excitement about the games going beyond just the announcement of it in the publishing queue. And like others have said, I like to see the author’s thought process and how they work through the project, but I don’t have the time to be a proper beta-tester and give a beta the quality of feedback it deserves.