Poll: WIP Updating Preferences

When reading WIPs, what do folks prefer? Smaller, more frequent updates (e.g. short chapters), or larger, less frequent updates (e.g. long chapters or several short chapters)?

  • Smaller, faster updates
  • Larger, slower updates

0 voters

Finished unbroken chunks. As for length I would probably vote medium if you put it in.

I voted ‘longer chapters’ though I’d say it depends on the WiP. Some stories could do with getting tested scene-files by scene-file (not necessarily full chapters), while others do better if you can see how a plotthread unfolds/begins to unfold.

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It depends, when you just start the WIP with no game yet it’s better to have quick updates so you’d have a demo and people could see what the game is about. After the first week or 2 it’s better to go with slower, larger updates though.

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Usually, I upload a small teaser to gain interest, but after that, I almost always try to stick with larger updates. These consist of full chapters (Choicescript scenes), which generally range from 10-40k words depending on the individual chapter and the story they’re in. But yeah, this just makes more sense to me as an author, and I think beta testers prefer this method as well because it gives them more to enjoy and give feedback on, even though it obviously takes much longer to update the demo this way. Too many small updates and I think people could lose interest.

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I think the best way would be to upload what you’ve got when you’ve got it, that way the dedicated beta testers will see the direction of your yp and can have maximum input. Just put a note in the first post saying all big updates will result in a change in the thread title. That way people who are just checking the thread to play a game rather than find bugs can read long bits at once and not get bored, so it caters to both. This is the method I used, of course I am not a published experienced author. I’d say for someone with experience a private beta where you upload what you’ve got when you’ve got it or not updates as big as a whole chapter, but a few small scenes at a time or a couple of big ones, new choices etc. So yeah it all depends on the audience, your experience etc I’d say.

I would say when starting to create the game, make small fast updates to draw in a following of reasonable size for when you can later make large slow updates. I think that small and fast updates help keep the attention span of the audience up. On my first week, I did one update to the game a day and in a short amount of time gathered many followers, but I am working into bigger slower updates. This is a strategy to be considered.