Future of Yiffalicious and new engine structure

ragepro

Anyone confused should read this: https://www.patreon.com/posts/future-7484108

I do have some concern. Frequently with indie projects a change in engine or a major code restructure leads to delayed updates, stagnation, loss of existing content, and ultimately the death of the project. I've seen this all too often.

However, I have some confidence in you guys and I look forward to seeing the results of your hard work.

A few questions:

1) I brought this up before, but I'll ask again since it had its official release -- will you be implementing Unity's Vulkan renderer?

2) Will you be implementing any sort of intentional mod support, or is this a goal to keep in mind while working on the new system?

3) To be clear, you said you will be bringing back our bunny, horsie, and Maya, but the Ocean house (new) map is also staying, right?

SRP

Fuck, I'm with you on your "death of the project" line. It always ends up where dumbass devs (not these, I hope) overestimate their limits then collapse under their own weight and disappear from the internet. This is precisely why I made it my own policy to NEVER support anyone using crowdfunding unless I'm absolutely sure they aren't just going to die a month later.

Hopefully THIS team will at least post a public release before they dive headfirst into the rewrite. I'd rather not wait six months until the "sorry, we're dead, no refunds" Patreon post to find out that we're not getting an update.

SRP

In addition, considering the fact this project is paid monthly, regardless of progress/updates, I hope the dev team is careful about time management during the restructuring process.

I wish you guys luck on keeping the pace going, and also for keeping the patrons happy.

odes

We understand your concerns. However, I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective. In some ways, the real feat here is that we've managed to handle the current app, despite its emergent complexity and in many ways lacking software design. The new app is all about imposing a well thought-out structure and make it simpler for everyone - developers and users alike. Because the thing is - in software development, complexity is a symptom of bad decisions and lacking design. The current app evolved over time from something that hadn't even considered many of the concepts that exist today or that we'd like to implement.

So in case my point isn't apparent, what I'm saying is this - If we were able to handle the complexity of the old app, then there's no reason to worry we won't be able handle the simplicity of the new one.

Remember those old line drawings you'd see as a kid, where you were supposed to fill each segment with different colors? Not so hard now, was it? Because of the already laid out structure, anyone could create a nice colored picture. And that's basically what we're doing here - laying out the structure beforehand, and then just filling it with implementation. That's a lot easier to do than the other way around - coloring a blank page and then adding outline on top. Especially if you don't even know what object you're designing in the first place.

Here's some inspirational quotes while on the subject:

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction."

        — Albert Einstein

"Increasingly, people seem to misinterpret complexity as sophistication, which is baffling — the incomprehensible should cause suspicion rather than admiration."

        — Niklaus Wirth

"The purpose of software engineering is to control complexity, not to create it."

        — Dr. Pamela Zave

"Complexity has nothing to do with intelligence, simplicity does."

        — Larry Bossidy

"Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming."

        — Brian Kernighan

"Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defence against complexity."

        — David Gelernter

As for your questions:

1) We always try to use the latest Unity release in our projects, and Unity 5.6 will probably not be an exception to this. Especially not in the new engine incarnation, as the yiff engine will basically be a separate unit and migrating between versions (and even engines!) will be a lot easier than it has been previously.

2) Maybe. It would be a lot easier to accomplish in the engine update for sure.

3) The new ocean house is probably staying, but no map is 100% safe from being removed. This engine update offers many opportunities, and we may adopt a different philosophy in our level design which means some (or all) current levels may have to be thrown out. If such a thing is done, it is solely to increase the quality of the app.

Also, just pointing out that updates will continue to be made for the current app until the new engine is released.

Futatuesday

This reply should be stickied I think. Stop any worries in their tracks. Updates will continue and it's not taking on too much work, it's simplifying things which people probably didn't realize (or read).

Sheeple

If anything this redesign means that now is the critical time to continue funding. A drop in funds now would be more back breaking by far than any difficulty with work load.
We need to remember, though we consume this media we are not what is traditionally refereed to as the consumer. Patreon is not a market place (and should not be treated as such) but rather a platform to facilitate investment. Due to this withdrawing support because it might fail runs counter to your own interests as well.

To Odes I say you have done a very good job with the PR, a facet of game development many have neglected, much to their detriment. Your goals are concise and well articulated. As such I am more than willing to give you the benefit of the doubt on this decision.

ragepro

I agree. I've said before that it is only odes and Dogson's engagement with their users that keeps me as a supporter.

And as I said, I'm looking forward to the future of Yiffalicious.