Tozol Quest was totally supposed to have 'going fast' as a major component, but it turns out that is really difficult for me.

On a related note, I've been trying and failing to make up some simpler character designs that I can draw fast and which look decent.

>>361775
No, literally about going fast.

Gotta go fast.

Gotta go fast.

Gotta go faster faster...

As for quest speed, I think lagotrope won the best prize all years on sheer update speed. GG everyone. GG.

>>361776
>No, literally about going fast.
I was thinking running speed and motorcycles and so on, though you really need to update fast to seem that way. Otherwise it still takes you a week to go down the street even if you're ostensibly going a hundred miles an hour.

>>361775
>Tozol Quest was totally supposed to have 'going fast' as a major component, but it turns out that is really difficult for me.

It's really difficult for Penji too ever since her legs got burnt off :V

>>361776
You're forgetting the fastest quest of all:
http://tgchan.org/wiki/HURRY_QUEST

Everyone's always in such a hurry.
Where are the quests about traveling at average speed?

>GOTTA GO MODERATE PACE

>>361775
I don't want to sound mean, but given how Tozol Quest looked in the first few chapters, I don't think simplifying your character designs is going to do much for your problem. :v

I remember when I ran quests on a once-a-day update schedule. With less spare time than I have now. Boy, how I have succumbed to the allure of being a lazy shit.

Any authors better than me out there with advice on how to get back in the groove or feel like your quests are worth the effort to update again?

Anonymous 2012/04/29(Sun)10:33 No. 51993 ID: 2563d4
File 133572081190.png - (24.30KB , 640x480 , zardzol.png )

>>361786
Tozzizzle actually updated faster when Penji didn't have all kinds of fiddly armour and equipment on, though.

Basically what we're saying here is that Penji needs to strip down to a space-bikini and just get a big cuboid marked GUN that fires DEATH (and purifies the Earth of the filth of brutals).

I have ideas. Every time someone posts something quest-related in IRC, someone should post the conversation here so we get all of these informations.

>>361786
I don't really get what you're saying here. TQ was way faster back then. I did the first chapter in an evening.

On an unrelated note, maybe it's just my imagination, but between Gnoll's CotC quest, that dragoness quest, and BG's lizardwoman quest, there seems to be more adult elements on the front page than usual. What's everyone think about that?

Given the amount of porn we have and have always had in fanart threads and /draw/, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it seems kind of strange, too.

Couple of days ago I scrolled down /quest/ and got a face full-a dragon vagina. I was surprised, but I'm not actually sure why.

>>361799
That's... exactly what I was trying to say - at the beginning, Penji looked like she had a relatively simple to render design, and the quest updated practically in session format. I don't think the character designs are the problem here, is what I'm trying to say.

>>361802
That author has yet to learn a lesson I learned ages ago: TGchan doesn't want porn in their quests.

They want to be teased.

I think that's something Fortune's Call exploited for ages, but basically if you just give TGchan nakedness they will insist you find clothes. But if you tease them with almost-not-quite nakedness they will go nuts. Same with relationships. Having the tsundere style "will they won't they" is something I don't like myself, but it's something that a lot of people go completely nuts over.

The idea is to build it up so much that the payoff is worth it... though some never quite get to the "payoff" stage. You can't string /quest/ on forever, as they will eventually call your bluff or lose interest.

>>361805

Eivr had the payoff. Probably the best example of sex in a quest there's ever been so far, mostly because of the expert buildup. Still, important to note that it wasn't in any way the focus of the quest, just the culmination of a sub-plot, and the story went on.

>>361805
>Same with relationships. Having the tsundere style "will they won't they" is something I don't like myself, but it's something that a lot of people go completely nuts over.
Unresolved sexual tension is, like, one of the building blocks of fiction writing. Especially stuff that's more aimed as "entertainment." Double especially TV shows.

>>361803
I guess I don't understand the distinction between that change and character design.

>>361808
Over time, you turned a character design simple enough that you were able to update in sessions into one complicated enough that producing images on a regular basis is difficult (in much the same way as the quest itself got steadily more srs and complicated). I feel like trying to come up with a simpler character design is not really addressing the root of the problem?

Hey you guys remember when I contributed to the site? Those were the days. All that fun we had together.

I thought Eivir did romance fairly well, although it seemed to happen too easily sometimes.

Without doing any kind of detailed anything, I think the level of naughty on quest is probably same as it has been for the past while. It's just a lot easier to notice those sorts of things, especially when you're scrolling down the front page.

I like that there are several new authors on the site. It's always exciting to see what kind of stories people tell.

>>361799
Where on the fluctating wave of Creepy Online Perversion tgchan falls at any one time is kind of irrelevant as long as it spends time on the "high enough that it's basically impossible to recommend to anyone you know" side.

>>361805
>>361806

And an addition: I think tgchan does want porn in their quests, but it has to be quest porn. That is, it has to be part of either the story or the "game", something that's earned. Porn straight off the bat, on demand? Hollow, empty, and more than that, something that everyone here can easily get already. Anyone familiar with the internet can go elsewhere for cheap titillation, and usually equal or higher quality than most quest authors can provide.

Something that's been built up to, something that only comes as - no pun intended (ok maybe a little) - a climax; that's rarer, and very valuable, especially with the sense of personal achievement that comes with having contributed to events. Add on to that the use of characters which, by that point, will have become familiar and developed, that the reader in other words actually cares about, and it goes even higher.

No quest should just be about porn, of course, if only because being just about porn will eliminate what makes quest-based porn attractive. Most of us are scifi/fantasy nerds, so we thrive on extraneous substance and details anyway. Besides which, you can include sexual material without it being A Thing. It's, like, verisimilitude. Or you can use it for humour. Or for other purposes. Sex doesn't have to be sexy.

I personally find it kind of annoying when people assume any mention of anything sexual must be some manner of fanservice or teasing or such.

Sex is pretty ridiculous, after all.

>>361807
>Unresolved sexual tension is, like, one of the building blocks of fiction writing.
Cheap "mayonnaise" is one of the building blocks of pre-packaged sandwiches.

Quick straw poll: how many people here suggest Ryhn get laid in Fortune's Call
a) because they want a TOTALLY HAWT cutscene of dragonbold buggery?
b) because they want her to stop doing the love-hate thing with Jehral and just move past it in case some plot might fill the gap?
c) because they want to have (and know they'll get) more updates of Rynh Being Awkward, Indecisive And Emotionally Abusive Toward Jehral?

>>361812
I agree with this. Maybe we are jaded from all the teasing and blatant fanservice.

>>361813
B for me, with the caveat that I think a relationship might be interesting and become its own plot.
Also, in past tense, because I no longer think that might actually happen.

>>361813
All three, but mostly 2 and 3? Because I kind of thought they would do well together, and tsundere Rhyn was oddly endearing.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

>>361805
TGChan just really likes changing the amount of clothes on characters. They always need the characters putting on more clothes or taking off clothes; the clothes staying constant is unacceptable. Exception: footie pajamas, especially dinosaur footie pajamas.

>>361812
>>361805

this kind of juggling has always felt immediately overwhelming for me to author, not just to develop romantic interest but -any- interest in anything leading to payoff. i'm quick to say it's a SIGN 'MAYBE YOU SHOULD COME BACK WITH SOME SKILLS' as a writer. it's important to unquestionably practice improving in these techniques, but it's also important to know -what- not to do or keep in mind to actually improve and not. 'calling the bluff' or losing any and all literary subtlety / finesse are things that strike deep but i usually never see discussed in substance.

maybe this should have gone into the quest advice thread lol

>>361813
Just interested in the character development and the concept.
Anytime I suggest those things I really am just interested in the development, changes, and insights into the character's sexuality.

>>361830

That's actually a really well thought out way to put it, and yeah, I totally agree. I quite prefer a more drawn-out, chapters long "quest", if you will, of a character coming to terms with their interests and desires over the usual insta-ship.

For example, while I may have found Mudy Quest hilarious for its ridiculous use of blood and cutebuld snugglefucking, it was really just fanservice and came to be expected.

On the other hand, our confused dragonbold is much more interesting because there very well COULD be something there, and that's even more enticing than another opportunity to see the characters sans clothing.

>>361813
The real challenge is writing an engaging story without such things. Can you make a delicious sandwich without using mayo at all?

>>361829
I'm having some trouble parsing this post. Much like drawing, writing is one of those arts where you never become "perfect", and those with real ability hone it over years of reading and writing. Of course, that's probably a bit much to ask for questing, a field which seems more suited to learning from mistakes. My first quest completely goofed the "payoff" to a budding romance, and I've been experimenting since to find that perfect mix of intrigue and payoff.

And one thing that is very important for all quest authors is to look back at the past works of yourself and others. See where you, or they, succeeded, see where they maybe made some mistakes. If it's been long enough, you'll have forgotten a lot of your own quest, and you will get the opportunity to see it from an "outside view".

The fun challenge is, once you know your strengths and weaknesses, finding a way to work on weaknesses while also polishing your strengths to a mirror-shine.

>>361833
The number one challenge of telling a story is getting the reader (or suggester) to care about your characters and their story. It's easy to throw a character in constant danger, but it's a whole other thing to throw them in danger and invoke a reaction of "OH GOD NO GET OUT OF THERE AAAA".

And it all comes back to that teasing/payoff thing. teasing is more than just relationship stuff. look at Prequel. The entire quest teases you with having katia come so close to succeeding, and it makes you care about katia so you really want her to succeed.

But, it's also getting dangerously close to going too far with its tease, and if it goes too much further without a real payoff, you will start to assume that the payoff's never coming, and give up on the quest and the character.

You start to ask, what's the point if she's just going to lose all her stuff a 6th time?

I can't pretend to know when the perfect time for the payoff is. It's one of the many things I've been studying in the 2 years since Tezakia ended.

I mean, it's not difficult to write quests without these things. It's not difficult to write good quests without these things. Romantic teasing (or really any kind of teasing) is an easy way to create tension in the story. That's why it's used in every TV show pretty much, no matter what the genre. If the stupid mystery in the cop drama isn't really all that clever or interesting, we can make the viewer pay attention to the flirty banter between Cpt Dickbulge and his supervisor, Nipples Shirttight.

Not to say that it is always a poor choice to include, but teasing engages a more immediate "what is going to happen" goal by creating safe tensions that is relatively hard to screw up.

For instance: If you have the characters starving to death in a desert, and one if them is injured and has malaria is a tense situation with a high risk, so making them just find a clown that has a bunch of food and medicine wont seem like an appropriate climax to the tense situation. Less ridiculously, having them find a big pile of supplies can also seem too serendipitous, if it contains everything they need and happens suddenly. It seems like a situation that should reflect the danger by not having an easy, immediate solution.

Romantic tension is a lot less high-risk but still creates interest. If the suggesters make a move and the other character turns them down (but doesn't completely foreclose the possibility) will be pretty easy for that to appropriate to the situation. (Or if they say 'yes' but have second thoughts later). Basically, because the tension comes from how characters think and feel, it's easy to draw out the tension in a way that doesn't seem forced or fake, although obviously like slinkoboy said, too much teasing and players will get frustrated with it.

Romantic tension makes me click the X button.

>>361847
I generally agree. The more that it feels like a distraction from the plot, the worse it is.

>>361837

Definitely agree with you. That's one of the hardest parts of any quest (or story) I've seen here. There seems to be a very, very fine line between wasted potential and overused trope.

I think the secret might actually be in the flexibility of the quest medium itself. If we gauge the reactions of the suggesters, an event can be accelerated or postponed, allowing authors to get closer to the "sweet spot" of payout.

And yeah, after those latest updates with Prequel, I'm starting to wonder myself. That was more than just the suggesters botching it or Katia's inherent failure... that was Deus Ex levels of screwing things over.

Oddly, this gives me a reason to seque into predefined outcomes.

I've been running a few games of Pathfinder with my local friends and I've found that, in the long run, it's basically just like a Quest -- except on a table. And just like a quest, I've found that any time there has been a predefined outcome -- railroading, Do-Or-Die, or similar Gygaxian doom-nonsense -- players are left feeling disillusioned or cheated. By always having fuzzily defined outcomes, things keep feeling fresh and dynamic, and usually not entirely "predetermined" or even figured out by the players. Authors who are likewise able to keep adapting the scenario seem to be able to keep a quest much more interesting and lively.

While I can't think of any major examples off the top of my head, I have noticed a number of quests that seem to fall into the Either/Or scenario from time to time with very clear-cut outcomes and usually only one right path to take. So to return back to the original topic, this can even be applied to the issues of romantic tension and payout: when the results always seem to come with very nasty strings -- thus preventing payout -- like you said, the players will inevitably get fed up with it and abandon those kinds of actions.

>>361849
For predefined outcomes in a quest-like medium, I personally think it should really only happen for a really big part of the story but you should allow small changes to, say something like a consequence, to this big moment, for example, in an example of a planned major character's death for dramatic purposes, the suggesters have affected how this death either happens, if the character takes someone out with them, or the impact of future consequences of this characters death.

>>361847
>>361848

Agreed... but can it be the plot? We did have that one recent quest by Reaver, right? (I admittedly didn't follow it much, but what I did skim over seemed to very much be a plot focused about the romantic tension of two siblings)

>>361850
>Railroadan/predetermined outcomes

I really, really hate to mention Bob quests in here, but they're an excellent example of when an author uses 0 plot. Most of Bob's quests just plop the central character in a setting and say 'what do', while he either has other people run major characters or has a basic idea of what the setting acts like and their motivations. This makes them feel like a real sandbox, and that's what a lot of people I've asked say they like about them despite the massive amount of purple prose and asshole author.

It all depends on what you're after as an author. Most people who 'want to tell a story' are much better off writing one themselves, but if you want to share a story, or watch one unfold, then a quest is a great place to go.

The fact is, you should have things you want to get to in the story - dramatic climaxes, endings, etcetera. But you should also be ready to rewrite them, or change them.

>>361849
Prequel isn't a quest; it's a webcomic where the protagonist will acknowledge you yelling things at her.

>>361860
Traditionally in the form of feline-oriented slurs. (It increases her power level)

>>361853
Yeah. That seems to be one of the issues with that approach, and I've seen it in a lot of things -- even games. You need some semblance of plot in order to move the story in any direction without hoping the players get some fool notion in their head to act on. I've found the best way to "sandbox" something without turning it into a real sandbox is to have a starting point and a relatively clear "objective". This way, players (or suggesters) move towards the completion of the objective, and actions they take can influence the outcome along the way.

Of course, the issue with this is you need to have additional objectives or some kind of ongoing set of events in the background to drive things, as otherwise it just feels like a very elaborate fetch quest.

Now, while a quest author can't anticipate the outcomes of some events as clearly (such as whether or not the suggestors will say to tackle the clearly life-threatening and optional mid-boss), a favorite method of mine has been to outline a sort of "chain of events". That way, things can evolve and change as circumstance requires while still holding true to the plot in general.

All right. So, say you started a quest but have time to do about two or three updates a week.

Wat do?

>>361952

I... don't see the conundrum, there.

>>361952

i'd say you're updating faster than a good majority of authors here.

>>361953
Ok, perhaps I should restate.

What's a decent way to handle progressing in so few updates without being agonizingly slow or bull rushing past suggestions?

Since the quest is still in the setup phase, I'm also having issues dealing with large numbers of questions each update - exacerbated by the slow schedule - without making each update into a textwall or drawing large numbers of panels.

I want to spend SOME of my free time playing video games.

>>361955
You're free to ignore suggestions. I really doubt anyone expects you to notice each one when there is so many or it's been so long! Try to get at the summary and the consensus, and update with that. A slow quest is fine too, so long as you aren't updating as if you're running sessions. Dilate the time a bit more, make each update cover a bit more, and you should be okay.

Anonymous 2012/05/02(Wed)14:00 No. 52157 ID: 2563d4
File 133599242619.png - (30.36KB , 640x480 , the-best-advice.png )

>>361955
>I'm also having issues dealing with large numbers of questions each update
Well that one's easy. Reduce your update rate to once a month.

>>361955
Answer questions in the discussion thread. Create a discussion thread. Do those two things in the correct order.

Link to the discussion thread when you answer a question from the main thread.

>>361955

Keep in mind if there are a huge number of suggestions plus infighting plus meta plus tozzols after one of your updates, nobody has any right to get upset if you missed reading their particular suggestion.

Hey, I'd like to say that I really like 'Gods Quest.' I don't think it has a questdis, and I'm unsure as to whether sirbriggz frequents this board or not.

My only complaint is that the sessions are quite fast. I caught the first one, but I totally missed the second one, and was thus unable to suggest for it.

>>361837
Mustard.
>>361813
a) isn't very interesting, nor is b)
c), on the other hand, is a button you can push to receive amusing cute Rynh/Jehral scenes.

I was considering something doing something involving a corruption mechanic, but then I got into thinking that too much mechanics would leave questers feeling unimportant to the outcome, and too little, well, wouldn't allow the thing to have much impact.

What's a reliable way to consistently get a good amount of suggestions, besides the whole "be around for a while" thing?

Update at a consistent frequency.

>>362153

End your updates in a leading fashion. If it's like:

>Take a walk.

And then you're all:
You go outside for a walk. It's nice out.

That's terrible. Nobody has anything to work with. Better is:

You go outside for a walk. As you turn the corner, THERE'S A GELATINOUS CUBE!

That's better. That's something to respond to. Even better than that though is:

You go outside for a walk. As you turn the corner, THERE'S A GELATINOUS CUBE! It doesn't look like it's likely to be faster than you, but its oozing right past your neighbor's fire escape. There also seems to be a heavy iron anchor embedded in the middle of it.

It's like giving out quest hooks in an RPG. The more things you toss out that suggest potential actions, the better. Firmly establishing game mechanics works too. And I guess possibilities for Romance, but that way lies porny quests.

In regards to the sexuality thing that was being talked about here, I have noticed a prevailing attitude of "sex = relationship complete" amongst suggesters here. Don't get me wrong, sex is awesome, but are there any quests that actually deal with couple stuff once the clothes go back on? You don't build up romantic interest with somebody, have a night of crazy sex, and go "sweet, I win this relationship" in real life.

To be fair, quest characters in general lead pretty hectic lives and probably see more life-or-death situations in a day than most of us will see in a lifetime, so I can understand a certain amount of "we are gonna survive this ordeal and then we are gonna fuck like rabbits" attitude. And, I dunno, maybe I am imagining it. Thoughts?

>You don't build up romantic interest with somebody, have a night of crazy sex, and go "sweet, I win this relationship" in real life.

Well, not me personally no. Some people totally do that though. I mean, they write strategy guides and everything.

Serious Relationship wise though, uh... pretty sure that's more common than not with quests, actually. Least with the ones I end up keeping up with. Tone of the story is a big factor there too.

To a certain extent though, suggesters are going to skew one night stand-y, because, as a hive-mind, the great suggestion collective has a REALLY short attention span. Just the nature of the beast.

>>362158
The generalization of that is to be a fanboy of Sid Meier by quoting him again:
A game is a series of interesting choices.

I think the almost Choose-Your-Own-Adventure prompting from, say, some recent Tozol Quest updates has been a little heavy-handed at this sometimes (and tends to result in "all of the above" anyway), but conversely an update with the protagonist paralysed and bleeding out doesn't really give much scope for suggesting. Likewise the recent black screen in Tales of Meigara. Hell, just so it doesn't look like I'm ragging on everyone else, likewise Buswald's trek back ot the mansion in DFQ2.

An update should either end with some kind of decision point, or some kind of break, like a chapter end, else people aren't going to have much more to contribute than "=>" and the usual derping. Dramatic pauses don't really work at quest update speeds.

>>362160
I think you just described the romance subplot of every action film. Add onto that thick cultural basting that half the userbase here are probably Forever Alone and it's not entirely surprising. Plus, writing normal characters having subtle interactions is harder than slightly exaggerated ones fucking and fighting.

>>362171
Brom had relationships continue past fucking. I uh, technically did, but I don't know that anyone wants to talk about the nature of the "romantic" relationships in Crowmanticar in any serious way.

I have tended to just avoid sex in the quests I've had that have even had a romantic subtext, and just save that for the very end. I personally think sex is distracting for the suggesters in a quest, and when it becomes a viable option, some set of the suggesters are going to ignore other plot elements and focus on that.

The exception would be Neo Sex Mall, where the sex scenes are obviously done for humor, and Crowmanticar, where they were obviously done for humor/to be gross.

I do agree with the person up there who said that part of the problem is the nature of /quest's short attention span, because that's definitely an issue. Of course, I've also never done a quest that was focused on romance or relationships.

>>362172
>the nature of the "romantic" relationships in Crowmanticar
Poor Dogtits ;_;

>>362172

I would like to add at this point that reading Crowmanticar has made me a better person.

>>362171

I intend to avoid this, but I hate to make updates with more than three posts, specially if there's a change of scenery in them. It feels so rushed to me.

Crowmanticar actually influenced a scene in Tezakia. It's probably easy to guess which scene and how it was influenced, probably!

>>362183
>No space whale sex
>No crows and dogs fucking
>No "quick lick this all this jizz off my crotch"

...Call me stupid but I don't know what you're talking about.

>>362186
It's more subtle than that... probably made more so by the fact that it was a scene guindo wanted me to completely rewrite.

If you're curious... The scene when the dog is coming onto the crow inspired the scene where Dilia regained her memories and jumped on Sekani. The fact that the dog (if I remember right) seemed like it was lost and confused and in pain, and it wanted the bird to take the pain away... inspired me writing about Dilia wanting Sekani to take her own pain away.

>>362192
Ahaha! It was dogtits' sluttyness!
><LionsPhil> Also an explanation of how Dilia is ponywife or whatever you were alluding to.
><@Slinkoboy> i never said dilia is ponywife!
><LionsPhil> 1) Slut: check. 2) Horse: check.
><LionsPhil> SEEMS PRETTY DAMNING TO ME
><LionsPhil> No, wait, dogtits was the slut. Damn.
><LionsPhil> My careful theory, ruined.

Anonymous 2012/05/10(Thu)17:38 No. 52564 ID: 2563d4
File 133669673564.png - (38.71KB , 640x480 , the-ultimate-upgrade.png )

>>361793
><LionsPhil> Cockhole update your quest or the plague of bad handlebar moustaches continues.

>>362364
Nice tits.

I don't run any quests, tho.

Gnoll 2012/05/10(Thu)18:06 No. 52566 ID: 14a1d0
File 133669840996.png - (44.55KB , 323x308 , Rynhstache.png )

>>362364
It will never end.

Kobold 2012/05/10(Thu)23:06 No. 52587 ID: b0d1a8
File 133671638250.png - (63.90KB , 512x512 , boldstash.png )

>>362366
Ever.

WHERE IS THAT QUEST WITH THE HAREM OF ELVES AND SPIRITS AND GOLEMS AND GHOSTS

>>364572
The author of Prequel is very busy with finals right now.

>>364572
Where is YOUR quest, huh?! HUH?!?

>>364574

didn't think anyone missed it.

>>362387
why did you ruin such a cute ladybold's face with such an unsightly moustache?

>>364603
I do!

>>52566
I think I may be gay for hir..wait...

That Protector thing has some pretty dang good quest art.
>>/quest/414761 DYNAMIC ROBES!

>>55057
I gotta agree.

Test Pattern 2012/05/23(Wed)14:08 No. 55165 ID: ce4a4d
File 133780730590.png - (52.30KB , 881x365 , short_version.png )

Auto-Summarized

Anonymous 2012/07/16(Mon)13:56 No. 57227 ID: 4a20fa
File 134247217129.png - (36.89KB , 640x480 , nobody-is-safe.png )

It's that time again.

>>57227

Mustache Day?

Anonymous 2012/07/16(Mon)15:59 No. 57230 ID: 4a20fa
File 134247955221.png - (9.12KB , 245x262 , even-on-oc-they-grow.png )

>>57229
Not everything has to be a "day".

Some people just need to update their quests.

>>57230
No, I think it's mustache day.

>It's a rape cave
>In an SDF quest
>Let's go inside!

>>57856
You should see some of the early instructions in the original JOANQUEST.

Anonymous 2012/08/29(Wed)00:34 No. 59673 ID: 4a20fa
File 134622569360.jpg - (35.47KB , 300x400 , sad-bear11.jpg )

>Protector has not updated in over two months

Nahkh!7BHo7QtR6I 2012/08/29(Wed)10:54 No. 59766 ID: c44286
File 134626286126.png - (41.00KB , 500x600 , its that time again.png )

This is why we don't have threads just for talking about quests in general. Every time we do, a new X DAY is created.

>>59766
And then the spirit of the event (Cockhole needs to update his quest) is inevitably lost in the shameless commercialization of it. ;_;

>>51973
I agree, but then again I am shy and not in IRC often.

I have to wonder how many people I've turned off my quests with my erratic and infrequent update rate. I already know some people are asking about whether my other quests are ever going to resurface, but the current (never stated directly to more than like two people) plan is stick with the one I'm doing now and never deviate. Which, looking at my history with such plans, is inevitably doomed to failure.

This self-indulgent ramble aside, let me get to my point.

How tolerant are people on the board in general of erratic update schedules? How do you keep track of the quests you like and when do you start thinking it's about time to give up on following a quest?

And here's probably the biggest question I have of all:

Would you consider frequent updates of lower quality to be much better than infrequent updates that had more time spent on them?

>>59790
we can deal with irregular once the idea has built up that that is common, otherwise it leads to thoughts of the quest being dead quickly. and feel speed is better, but quality shouldn't suffer too much.

>>59790
I'm comfortable continuing to participate in Reformation at the current pace. I've come to expect it as a maybe once a week thing, and I'm not likely to be turned off if that continues.

I think it's about expectations though. I'd be somewhat more childish if something I expected to update constantly did not.

>when do you start thinking it's about time to give up on following a quest?
Slow pace alone wouldn't do it for me. The story or character(s) would have to go someplace I'm really not comfortable with, or that I was bored with. That or if the suggestions broke down into bitter angry fighting I couldn't stand to be part of.

>Quality v speed
That's really hard to say, it really depends on how much you sacrifice. I wouldn't cut corners on the dialog or writing, at least. You do have a lot of wiggle room with the art in the combat sequences though.

>>59790
I don't mind erratic schedules too much for quests that update slowly. If a quest sessions, though, it's nice to be able to have an idea of when that is occurring so instead of noticing late that there's been an update on a quest you like, you notice that there's been twenty and now you've been unable to help influence some important choices and you have no idea what's going on. I don't think you're in any danger of that, though.

I tend to only stop following quests if I get bored of them. If they stop updating, I might get sad or lose hope that it's coming back, but I won't get put off the quest if it miraculously returns.

As for quality vs quantity, unless you plan to do something insanely extensive that's going to make you feel terrible and possibly put you off of the idea of ever finishing it, I think making an update as good as you can make it, especially in the story and writing, is the best thing to do. If you update weekly or less, a slight delay to improve the update isn't going to be a huge issue and will likely make the update a lot better. Again, though, improving the writing and planning is going to get a lot more gains than stressing out over making sure every single body part of everything is the perfect shape.

I drip-fed people "=>" updates in DFQ2 a month apart before it finally imploded, and still got suggestions. Update rate is not actually all that relevant. (Squirrel tits are.)

Well, in my experience people are surprisingly forgiving of spotty update speeds. I've had god knows how many months-long hiatuses (hiati?) but I still get tons of suggestions. Maybe it's just battered reader syndrome or something, but...

>>59838
Hiatus' etymology is apparently Latin, so I think it would indeed be hiati.

Also, people like your quests, I'd assume, and most people also recognize the fact that artists a) have lives and b) don't get paid for doing quests, so no one expects you to update very consistently. It's great if you update as often as Lagotrope does, but no one expects it of you.

>>59841
Ah, but not all Latin nouns pluralize that way.

The proper Latin plural of hiatus, rather uselessly, is also hiatus.

>>59805

Yes squirrel tails are always relevant.

>>59843
Ah, fourth declension? I thought it might have been second, but I wasn't sure. The accent over the u doesn't really matter, correct?

We're using nominative plurals, correct?

Also, I'm not sure if I should be glad I went back to studying my Latin textbook during summer vacation.

>>59841
(I'd actually say Lago updates too frequently. I can't F5 that often, and if you miss a few updates you've had it---forget about ever catching up, or ever making sense of the new characters/mechanics/relationships etc. introduced while you were away.)

(The number of suggestions kind of show that lots of people can, though.)

I'm gonna disagree with some of the folks here and say that if you have to choose between speed vs quality, always go for speed.

Quests that update frequently are more appealing to follow, people will check on the thread more often and discuss it. The longer the breaks between updates are, the more relaxed people feel about suggesting in it. "There's no hurry, I can suggest later. Or tomorrow. It's not like the quest is going to be updated anytime soon."

The thing is, most folks don't care that much about art quality as long as you keep a good pace and they like the quest. Not only that, sacrificing speed to get more quality is not very rewarding. Very rarely people are going to say "Hey man, that update looks really nice."

Also even more important, with slow updates, the author is more likely to get bored and abandon it. I mean, depends on the author, but keeping a steady pace impulses you to keep doing it. While if after a month the protagonist is still leaving their home and packing stuff to go on an adventure, it's more likely that you, the author, is going to get tired and start thinking about starting new projects.

It all depends on you, and ultimately, you should just work out what pace are you more comfortable with, and fuck everyone and everything else. But I think that, if you have to choose between more speed or more quality, go for speed. Besides, practicing speed painting is good too.

Considering my laments about updates are often met with "WELL JUST DON'T SPEND SO MUCH TIME ON ART", I'm almost inclined to agree. Most people don't seem to sweat low level art much at all. Hell-- the famous Ruby Quest was one step removed from stick figures!

But the reason for its fame was its writing. Writing is very important, so even if you shoot for speed in art, make sure you take your time with writing.

That's not to say there isn't some merit to art. A style that sticks out and is pleasing can sometimes carry a quest that has less than stellar writing. But from what I've seen it's less about actual art quality, and more about stylizing it to be pleasing in its simplicity.


But it's hard to avoid the art version of cerberus syndrome sometimes. I tend to make it worse for myself because some random thing will delay me for a day or two, and then I'll feel guilty making people wait so long for a low quality low image update, so suddenly the quest is doing a billion images at high quality

and i can never not use suggestions cause i don't like people feeling left out and oh god what have i done

>>60588
>If anyone will read their quest(s) to me, or record them for the quest reading thread

So, this whole reading-quests thing, which I shall discuss here so as to not dilute the /meep/ thread's high concentration of actual recordings.

How do you deal with/want it to be dealt with (as an author, as a reader) that quests just aren't very audiobook-style readable? If you just take all the words in the updates and spew them out in sequence, you're going to miss context from the images, and for many quests get clips from the suggestions, possibly which can't just be dropped because the update text is a direct reply to them. Trying to rewrite, even minimally, as prose, both seems to defeat the point for the accessability argument, and also kind of mangling what the author did.

>>60589

Usually people read the chapters/threads. If the current thread is active I do not expect a reading of it to be available. I will tredge through and suggest.

Update by Update is not something that can be or should be expected for all quests. It would be too tedious to do, and very scattered to document.