Forum replies and other communication with players

Hi all,

For 0.4.12 I'll be using the custom-scene system to add an actual scene to the game itself and writing a series of step-by-step blog posts to show how that's done.

Before I start posting those, I think that I should probably talk about something that's a bit of an "elephant in the room": my terrible record at replying to people.

When Newlife began I answered almost every forum post, PM and blog comment. As more people played it, I started receiving more and more feedback, and my efforts to reply to everyone fell more and more behind.

Part of this is a bit of a character flaw I have. I'm perhaps not the most outgoing of people and I especially don't relish writing posts that might make someone unhappy.

The bulk of my backlog involves requests for additions to Newlife, especially the grey-area ones where the request is something that reasonably could be added, but that isn't part of my core plan and I therefore don't feel comfortable making a binding promise about.

I can't reply with a yes because I get change requests through much faster than I can add content so it's simply impossible to do everything. I don't want to reply with a no because that makes me feel bad, especially when there's a chance their request might make it in at some point in the future. Replying "maybe" feels a bit like a lame cop-out. So, I just ignore the issue and let it languish for ages on my "to-reply" list.

What's worse, I often let this stop me answering people whose posts I could easily respond to. If there's a post earlier in a forum thread that I don't have a reply for then I feel like it needs to be handled first, and so later posts stay in purgatory until I come up with a proper reply.

I was beating myself up a bit over this a while back, when I came to an epiphany: when someone posts a change request for Newlife they aren't really asking for a personal reply to their post. What they actually want is just for me to read their request and consider implementing it.

So, I'm going to officially put an end to the "I attempt to reply to everyone" policy. Here's my new one:

First, I want to be clear: I do like it when people post and make suggestions. You should absolutely do so if you have an idea you think I should read. Just because I can't reply to everyone doesn't mean I don't like you posting!

Posts with change requests usually will not get a reply unless it's trivial to decide on a yes or no answer. However, I will read them and consider adding the request to the todo list. If I implement it then I'll make an attempt to credit whoever made the suggestion in the changelog. I might sometimes miss someone, but I'll do my best.

The same goes for bugfixes that don't need follow-up questions to fix. I might post a quick "thanks" comment, but I'm not going to feel obligated to do so. Again, people who report bugs that get fixed will generally be credited in the changelog. If you aren't a patron and you've found a bug that needed to get solved then you can PM me (on the forum where you originally reported the bug so I know it's you and not some credit-stealing internet joker) and I'll hook you up with the patreon version as a reward. This only applies to bugs and not change requests: for the latter the reward of seeing your desired content in the game should be enough!

Change requests phrased as rhetorical questions will usually get treated the same. E.g. "Will this game ever have x?"

Some players might want an answer because they're considering supporting the game on Patreon on the condition that it'll at some point include their favourite content. Do not do this.

My view of Newlife on Patreon is that you should only support the game if you enjoy it in its current state and want development to keep going, not because you're hoping it might become a game you'll enjoy in the future. I'm proud of never having gone a month without releasing an update, but nevertheless, like any single-person project Newlife is just a serious injury or bullshit anti-porn law away from cancellation or "indefinite hiatus". If you're supporting the game then you should feel that even if it was cancelled tomorrow you'd still have got a game you enjoyed playing out of my time developing it.

On a personal note, I also don't like the pressure of feeling that there are patrons who won't have liked the game unless it ends up with specific content. My request: only support the game based on how it is at the moment, not on how it might become in the future.

So, that's the new plan for communications. As for the blog, I'll be posting a lot more soon: not only is there the user-submissions stuff but I'll also be running the next PMW vote in September, and I also have a half-written post about nonconsent content to finish up.

Hope you're all having a good week :)