Ren'Py Abandoned Dragon Date [December Demo] [Akemari Studios]

5.00 star(s) 1 Vote

Avaron1974

Resident Lesbian
Aug 22, 2018
24,936
85,201
Suicide attempt sound way more serious than stubbing a toe.
She's also known for being incredibly lazy.

Let me set the scene....

Several years ago quite a few of us put down some money for a dating game involving dragons to be developed. That game was being made by that very person who made the "attempt".

Since putting that money down and only ever getting a demo we have been inundated with excuses as to why work is going slowly or not progressing at all or has stalled and those excuses have ranged from just about everything from the "I skived off school and didn't do my homework, what excuse shall I forge my parents signature on"...

Due to nature and quantity of those excuses i'm about as likely to believe there was a suicide attempt as I would my own eyes if Helana Bonham Carter was to appear on my doorstep telling me she wanted to eat out my pussy while Freddie Mercury rose from the dead to sing It's a Kind of Magic while she did it.

Unless I see actual medical records i'm going to add it to the pile of bullshittery she's built up over the years.
 

RedPillBlues

I Want to Rock your Body (To the Break of Dawn)
Donor
Jun 5, 2017
4,996
12,253
Unless I see actual medical records i'm going to add it to the pile of bullshittery she's built up over the years.
Honestly Im in the same boat as awful as it sounds. If anything its a very convenient way to get people off your back as they might be too afraid of being insensitive. I mean what lies can they even tell anymore to make it actually seem like they are working on the game? This is really the only logical step up.
 

Avaron1974

Resident Lesbian
Aug 22, 2018
24,936
85,201
its a very convenient way to get people off your back
That was my first thought.

The fact she's palming this off on another dev and used the one excuse you can give to keep people from giving you grief..... it's just too convenient and she's used far too many excuses already.

I just have a damned hard time believing anything she comes out with.
 
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RedPillBlues

I Want to Rock your Body (To the Break of Dawn)
Donor
Jun 5, 2017
4,996
12,253
That was my first thought.

The fact she's palming this off on another dev and used the one excuse you can give to keep people from giving you grief..... it's just too convenient and she's used far too many excuses already.

I just have a damned hard time believing anything she comes out with.
On the bright side at least, since its supposedly changing developers, the chances of it actually releasing goes from .2% to .4%.
 

spikesagitta

Member
Oct 18, 2020
122
118
She's also known for being incredibly lazy.

Let me set the scene....

Several years ago quite a few of us put down some money for a dating game involving dragons to be developed. That game was being made by that very person who made the "attempt".

Since putting that money down and only ever getting a demo we have been inundated with excuses as to why work is going slowly or not progressing at all or has stalled and those excuses have ranged from just about everything from the "I skived off school and didn't do my homework, what excuse shall I forge my parents signature on"...

Due to nature and quantity of those excuses i'm about as likely to believe there was a suicide attempt as I would my own eyes if Helana Bonham Carter was to appear on my doorstep telling me she wanted to eat out my pussy while Freddie Mercury rose from the dead to sing It's a Kind of Magic while she did it.

Unless I see actual medical records i'm going to add it to the pile of bullshittery she's built up over the years.
Guess I misunderstood the situation, my bad
 

Matte89.bb

Member
Sep 11, 2017
183
163
you can't wave off years of no updates with something that happened very recently.
Suicide attempt.
I'm really biting my tongue in order to not write what i think about the veridicity of that.
I'm so glad that i never do kickstarters or Patreons
 
Jan 24, 2021
333
656

2022 April Update - Renewing development

Vincent HawkinsCollaborator
April 8, 2022

Hello Dragon Date backers and fans.

Mari and I are working through an agreement for me to take over DD and finish the game, with Mari available as a consultant. This isn't finalized yet, but better to announce it now while people have questions and concerns instead of holding off for it to be official, by which point folks will be even more concerned. Me taking over will free up Mari's time for work and real life, which has been difficult and time consuming of late. While creating DD she's encountered a bunch of challenges and life has been particularly rough at times. Mari will step back for her own mental wellbeing. However, this'll bring a surge of new vitality to the project. In other words, a renewed push to complete the game, which has clearly hit a creative roadblock. Please do note that aside from the music, art and some testing, Mari has been the sole creator of DD while trying to survive day to day. Writing scenes, coding the combat, providing the art direction, engaging with backers and those on discord, creating the whole world and story from scratch, getting demos out and fixing bugs, etc, etc. It's a lot for one person not working on a project full time and it's ambitious as a first project to boot. This campaign started in 2016, six years ago, and before I was aware of it. There have been regular updates throughout that time until recently, and certainly progress. However, the fact is that development has hit a wall.

When I came across Dragon Date I was impressed and enamoured with the world and characters. I pre-ordered and joined the discord and, in time, I got to know Mari and tried to assist where I could. I've helped finance some expanded content, such as new art, and I tried to help with some difficult scenes and generally nudging the project forward. Recently, Mari had the emergency mentioned in her comment two days ago. Since then, we started to talk about whether realistically she could give the last part of the game the attention it needs or if it might be better that someone else took over. By that I mean better for the game and for Mari herself. Again, we haven't formalised things yet, but I'll likely be taking over finishing Dragon Date. That'll mean the crucial final acts and story culmination. Mari will be available for consultation on an ad hoc basis, so the ending is true to the original plan. Don't worry, we've discussed the game, story and characters extensively. All pre-existing agreements and such will stand as she said. It'll essentially just be someone new finishing the remaining scenes, ending and release. Regarding how much of the game remains to be completed I estimate about 30% is left to go. I intend to pivot to this responsibility in the near future whereupon I'll review where things are at and start working in the evenings on Dragon Date - I would hope to have an ETA for release after getting a handle on things and to share that as soon as possible. I've collaborated with Mari in the past and with her on DD scenes, so we both agreed I know the creative vision and characters second best and that I'll try my best to stick to that vision and the existing writing style. This is something that is harder to achieve with an outside party, that would take time and energy, as well as cost.

I know it has been years and that likely sounds vague and a lot to take in, but there is a Discord for this game, there have been updates throughout its (admittedly long and past overdue) development and Mari has always been on hand and available to the community. I'll be available similarly, although I tend to be much quieter on Discord. The point is that nobody is doing a runner or shirking responsibility. The project hasn't been dropped. There has always been genuine development of the game from Mari and there will be from me. If it had been dropped or this was a scam then it'd be a lot easier to simply vanish, not update, etc. Furthermore, and probably something some are wondering, is that we're not asking for any additional funding or anything like that, so again if this was a scam or such then we're both terrible money makers. If anything, I'd be especially bad for investing in the game years after the Kickstarter having seen the delays...

Anyway, if I fail at this renewal (which is what I'll be calling it) then the next step will likely be bringing in an independent professional writer with VN/Renpy experience to finish the game. Again, no extra funds would be required from anyone else for that. I'd figure out a way to make that happen. All the game needs from backers is more time. All it needs from our end is focus and effort. I'd like to ask backers to sit tight a little longer and to keep an eye open for further communication. Please do comment here or reach me on the discord (I'm Vee on there) if you have questions. Nobody is hiding. That said, I understand and accept it's a bit rich of us to ask for more time. It's been years, hasn't it? Well, I pre-ordered when I found out about the game and then I joined the Discord and started talking to Mari. I then found out about the long development time and the challenges met along the way. I've been in the same shoes as backers, so I realize 100% this must be frustrating. We all want to see cute dragon girls and to follow their story. I can only ask that you please give DD a bit more time.

Please expect more information in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you for your continued patience and for bothering to care, particularly those in the comments and on Discord. Frankly, if I was a backer and this was another project I'd have stopped caring and stopped hoping some time ago. On the other hand, most creators in that situation aren't the type to keep persisting with updates and community engagement. Regardless, feel free to be sceptic (as I would be), but let's see where we're at in a few months’ time. I'd like to see this world realized too so I hope we can see that together.

- Vincent
 

Dyhart

Well-Known Member
Jul 30, 2017
1,896
1,383
I marvel at the thought that people can be had even on kickstarter...but don't you get your money back? It's a HUGE reason why I won't do patreon. Kickstarter and indie gogo(not sure if they are still around) were pretty much along the lines if the deadline isn't met, you get your money back.

But what a shame. This game had/has serious potential.
 

♍VoidTraveler

Forum Fanatic
Apr 14, 2021
5,157
13,148
I marvel at the thought that people can be had even on kickstarter...
Really?
Been rather common actually, they pop a "game" there, collect donations, then cook some funny totally believable story, and bail.
After all, they now have millions to spend. :LUL::coffee:
Though doesn't always work, there were cases where backers were pissed enough to send them a love letter with a date at court. :whistle::coffee:
Kickstarter and indie gogo(not sure if they are still around) were pretty much along the lines if the deadline isn't met, you get your money back.
Actually if i remember right, not quite.
If kickstarting your project fails, kickstarter takes all money that was collected so far. :whistle::coffee:
So either way, you get jack shit back. :LUL:
But what a shame. This game had/has serious potential.
Bitch please... i read this "potential" crap in literally every single game thread lmao. :ROFLMAO::coffee:
 
Last edited:

girdeyordo

Member
Oct 6, 2020
355
537
So...
It's better not to start to play this game, right?
I dont want my heart halfbaked *ugh*

  • ProfessorNemoSuperbacker
    @Vincent Hawkins

    Question but does anyone beside me think this game is abandoned? I mean, they switched people here but so far we aren’t getting any updates since April.
    • sharkspark
      When even asking hey can we get an update in a month and then just radio silence the takeover doesn't exactly bode well. I wouldn't be surprised if they just wait til enough posts go by and look to see if we are getting angry and rabble-rousing to trot out another nothing of an update to appease us for another quarter til we forget about this again and check and hope for any news again and see it has been untouched aside from a comment or two asking "hey is thing dead" repeating til the heat death of the universe
 

RNDM

Engaged Member
Mar 10, 2018
2,639
3,897
is the game officially abandoned or assumed because of silence/past delays ?
AFAIK the criterion for that status here is 3+ months without releases or such.

When was the last time this had anything meaningful come out? It's patently as dead as it gets.
 
5.00 star(s) 1 Vote