aekashics
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Regarding current distribution formats! Lets make a decision! Vote today
🕑 Added 2023-04-04 03:57:48 +0000 UTCHello and good night!
I've noticed there's a growing frustration with the way Librarium asset are currently being distributed, it is quite a complex topic so let me break it down into 3 parts, How it came to be, How it currently works and IMMEDIATE actions to take starting next week to remedy this situation.
How it came to be
As you may or may not know, there's an extensive back catalogue of pending work I have been grinding out non-stop for a while now, initially I deviced a super organized post format for each individual release, at the time I called it "Full Release", and it basically featured the entirety of associated assets for the featured monster/monsters for that pack. ( example: https://aekashics.itch.io/librarium-animated-lich-king-draegith ) While it worked as a massive step forward in how our community was downloading assets as soon as they came to be, I felt I needed to release even more of that pending and concurrent content at an even faster rate, and the creation of the marketing materials and individual post contents was proving to be a task eating up time which I felt could be more valuable for our community to be used in the creation of even more of that gamedev assets, this is how we arrived at the "Compilation megathreads" you currently see.
How it currently works
The goal is relatively simple, i.e creating all the pending content I have been grinding at. To arrive at it and have tangible results out as soon as they existed, I decided to "hyper-focus" in creating an specific asset type first, and compiling them all in a massive, constantly updated "megathreads, for instance the 4direction map sprite mega thread, then the portrait megathread, and lastly, an animated battler megathread. concurrently, the monsters for the running month would be in their own megathreads when it came to the static designs, with their eventual associated map sprites and other content to be distributed in the already existing megathreads, to keep things contained.
Broken down in further detail, My logic in having "bulk" "Megathreads" served 2 primary objectives:
- The first one, To Create assets at a much faster rate and have them available as soon as they come to exist
- The second one, with all the pieces of the content puzzle now created AND available, start organizing and posting in complete, individual releases, just like the full release format which already was in place back in November 2022
In the first aspect, I feel this approach was proving to be a massive success, for instance since I began with this work plan, just in March alone I completed around Thirty-six 4-direction map sprites, many of them massive in size, and would have problably actually gotten closer to 50 completed, had I not encountered a dire situation which made me slow down in the last 2 weeks of March (A situation now resolved by the way), but the point stands that this approach was indeed letting me blaze through the content as expected.
In paper it indeed felt like it worked well in my eyes, We had a compilation thread for everything 4-direction map sprite, we would eventually have one for everything Bust portrait, and then one for everything animated, while also having our polls running smoothly and the static battlers for the featured month in a thread of their own, per month. Eventually, with all the pieces completed, I would assemble all the individual releases and post them, complete with their itch.io binding keys.
Yes, in paper and technically in practice, I thought it was ideal and working, but It came with a heavy cost I didn't anticipate, however;
Given the time period required to clear the asset list, The effect in the perception of organization and confusion as to what was being created, what was new or what wasn't, or perhaps even the lack of a CLEAR guideline on how the current (and temporal) distribution is working out, which admittedly, was explained over a string of several previous posts, making it harder to be in the loop. Tracking down posts was also proving to be confusing and frustrating, and redownloading the same file over and over turned out to have an impact in efficiency for our community when extracting the new assets.
What we're going to do about it
The current plan, and the one which seems that will enable me to break out of the catch up hell and continue delivering tangible content constantly feels to be this one, the problem is that it would probably extend the current dristribution format for at least and realistically another 3 months, since as soon as I'm done with the 4dir map sprite mega grind, I would jump to the portrait grind, and then the animated grind. (All of them released in their own megathreads just like the 4dir map sprites). I feel the quality and output rate somewhat lessen the blow in lack of organization represents , but I also totally understand the frustration this approach brings, so it more or less boils down to something our community must decide; wether we trust this process or not.
I'm thinking perhaps I can restructure the directory thread or change the pinned labels system to reflect the current nature on how stuff is being worked on and released as well, perhaps that would clear up a lot of the current confusion,
the most important thing to keep in mind though, is that these megathreads were meant to be only temporary, they are not here to stay, and I'm also super interested in moving out of them as soon as possible and return to organized, individual posts, but I feel they took the form of a "neccesary evil" right now.
Or we can go back to individual full release posts starting next week, if that's what our community prefers,it would signify the end of the megathreads and I would basically go back through the 4-dirs already made and pick up from there to start building the full release packs and posts and created the pending assets for them as it applies! good news regardless of the decisions is that someone will be working closely with me starting next week as well, they will be helping me with the management/marketing side of things, I will still be the one creating all the graphical content, answering your messages and questions, but they will help me stay on track and organized, and also with the marketing material creation aspect. There might be a bit of a learning curve period while I tune the synergy and organization with this person however!
Primarily I want it to be understood and seen that your concerns matter to me and everyone is being listened, Librarium isn't neglected nor abandoned, The quality of the assets is the best it has ever been, and that's here to stay, right now it's just a matter of collectively deciding how we want to tackle pending stuff thatis already in the works as well!
Let us decide for the rest of this week what we want to do! In the meantime I'll still be creating assets, they are needed regardless of the outcome of the decision!
as always, thanks for your support!
Comments
Ækashics
Thanks for the support! Yeah the excel sheet listing will be ideal for that!
Ækashics
This is why I figured the only way to keep the trickle of items, but also in full release format was to bring someone I know and is close to me on board to help, luckily they accepted, so that trickle will continue, but with more content! The quarterly megabundle is definitely another idea I will note down, though the master batch libraries will be receiving more gradual updats from now on!
Sam
I'm personally of the opinion that organization is more important than quantity of content... I wasn't subscribed back when the "full releases" were a thing, but it sounds like that would be a step forward from how things are now. As someone who is primarily interested in high-res PSD assets, having a method in place to easily filter out everything else and just find those would be ideal. Keep up the great work!
Regeta Brown
I personally like the trickle of items, it shows us work is being done and we are not wondering where certain things are over a long period of time. The only thing I would ask is to have everything in another MEGA bundle like maybe once a quarter available to download, just in case someone misses something.
Vuono87
its a lot of work for one person to do everything that you have done and for as long as you have. maybe doing stactics monthly and animated/map sprites bimonthly would ease some of the burden? also... i had a thought, instead of doing polls with patron suggestions why not pick from your vast library to animate stactics or revamp old animated ones with your current art style. pick a few you'd personally like to do and let the community vote on which one/s get animated first. there's so many to choose from and so many that deserve to be animated/updated lol
Gothicvoid
it might be scummy to you, but they have the ability to refund money if it came to needing a hiatis. again it was a suggestion, not a plan. We love thier work, and we are being asked collectivly our thoughts... i gave mine with a possible solution. Im not trying to be negative, instead supportive by giving options. My thinking is to avoid burnout that is gonna happen, even with assistance.... id rather they prioritize themselves for a beat then all of us that put dozens of weird ideas to the monster box every month; the ones of us that value the artist behind the work, will still be here.
Ækashics
Thanks for your feedback Rodolfo! Yes I am definitely taking all of this into consideration, and I really do think most of it will be addressed, prevented and resolved with my latest action of bringing someone close on board to help me on the logistic, management, packaging and asset formatting side of things, which is really what eats up a lot of time and throws a lot of stuff into chaos or delays work/assets that is otherwise completed quickly, but ends up gated as marketing materials, formatting and exporting happens, the animated assets are not a problem per se, and I've never taken anything from our community nor have I taken the easy way out, ever (for instance reducing the amount of assets produced each month to the minimal promised amount of assets in the landing page, but instead even in my darkest times I've kept it at its maximum output of 16 designs a month), as you say every action is considered with Librarium's evolution in mind!
Ækashics
This is the key reason why I finally decided to bring someone close on board to help me with the management/pacakging/asset formatting side of Librarium, withat key difference from the November 2022 where it was just me, it will allow me to still tackle the featured month content, while also doing the delayed stuff
Ækashics
This is also why I decided to take it as an immediate measure to bring someone else onboard to help with the tasks which were making the full releases not feel efficient in terms of getting content out fast, this will be the key difference in now, vs the past version of it, making the animated aspect still viable
Ækashics
You can keep counting on animated assets and all the content that is already in my work pipelines! With the difference of extra help (this time around comapred vs the past when individual full releases were being made) I'll be getting on the more consuming packaging/formating parts of the assets, it should be a smooth sail with all the content (Animated and static,4dirs,etc)
Ækashics
I'm getting through that backlog of messages! It's a week with a lot of shakeup to adjust to the new plans! that format which we had at its peakin november 2022 will come back
KrimsonKatt
No, I like the current pace of new releases. If he just stopped for 2-3 months and didn't give us anything new during that time while we still paid, that would be really scummy. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be his plan.
Colin
I personally am only here for animated assets and dragonbones integration, the 4 direction map sprites and portraits or statics is kind of a bonus, but then again I would not be so bold to suggest getting rid of the things I am not here for.
Gothicvoid
I myself preffer the animated over the static. The static really have no place in any of my games, except maybe as "bust art". so i am on the opposite end of the thoughts before my post. The idea that the boss only were to be animated, all the animated enemies thus far could be bosses, imagination is the only limit. My suggestion is to put all on hold for a month or two, get caught up on the current que... THEN start fresh with monthly sets. knowing that you are taking time to bring everything current ... im willing to wait. its the jumbled mess of skipping through asset ideas then going BACK to the beginning to do another part.... that we have atm that is tripping everyone right now.
KrimsonKatt
I agree that the animated battlers are unessesary for the amount of effort required, especially since very few people seem to be using them. I think the original idea was to have the normal enemies static and the bosses animated, but not everyone jives with that idea. Like, how many people here actually know how to use Dragonbones and how it works? Likely not many. It would be far preferable to cut out the animated battlers entirely to focus more on catching up on old content and speeding up the release of content.
Jeffrey H
I agreed with the animated assets and the risk of burnout. The animated assets could only be the 4 dir sprite and the battler(without animation) for a while until there isn't so many assets waiting to be created.
Rodolfo Silva
In the current scenario it is very bad, keeping track of thread updates and downloading the same assets over and over again. Particularly for me, the best scenario is with complete individual deliveries (by battler), where I am sure that all the content related to that character is complete and I can use it immediately. I'm going to take advantage of this thread to expand on other subjects, since these exchanges with the community don't happen very often. Dividing into topics (they are linked together): - Animated assets - Late content - Overwork (risk of burnout) Animated assets I think the animated assets are fantastic, however, I don't use them because only some characters end up being animated, which doesn't make sense for the game I'm developing, having some animated and others not, so I end up using only the map sprites and the static version. That said, it bothers me a lot to see the time that is spent on this work, and I will not use it, I don't know if this is the case with other patreons, the issue is that animating these characters must be a lot of work and demand a lot of time, for something which in my case, I will not use. This leads directly to the second topic, which is the issue of late content. Late content I know you had personal problems and this affected the delivery schedule, that's part of it, I hope everything is ok now. However, given the current scenario, if you have to make the animated assets retroactive, it will take a lot of time, as you would have to make January, February and March, apart from the map sprites for February and March, which in my view, the impression that we will never leave the status of "overdue assets". On the other hand, if from now on the deliverables only contemplate static versions and map sprites, it seems feasible to go back to constant monthly deliveries (you would still have to chase the map sprites for February and March). * That apart from the megabundle that was released between 2021/2022 that contains several characters without map sprites, only static versions, I would love to see your map sprites being delivered, as there are several very interesting characters there that I simply cannot use in the game I am developing because it only has the static version. Overwork (risk of burnout) With this current scenario of delayed assets, I see that you need to be constantly working to catch up on deliveries, this format seems unsustainable to me (hence the previous suggestion to remove animated assets). In this way, you run a serious risk of burnout, which would be very bad for your health, in addition to generating a total interruption of deliveries for some period as a collateral effect. You are an incredible artist, I have followed you since 2020 and it has been incredible to follow the evolution of your art, I would really appreciate it if you paid attention to these quality of life issues to provide the Librarium with great longevity, in addition to transforming this work into a routine pleasant and not an insane rush to deliver late content. Really, rethink the content that can be delivered and your quality of life, make interactions with the community and understand the viability of this, in the end, we all win, once you manage to find a healthier and more pleasant routine.
Vuono87
as a long time patron i really liked/miss the old format of getting monthly rewards. receiving one package when everything was completed made it a lot easier than trying to find the individual pieces. i also messaged you about a previous release, im not sure if you had a chance to check that yet or not.
kimeimaro
I see, that makes sense. Having it read just "by" rather than "suggested by" seemed to imply that they were the artists. That's gonna confuse the crap out of new people. I swear, I'm a native speaker, and English still confuses the fuck out of me.
kimeimaro
I see, that makes sense. Having it read just "by" rather than "suggested by" seemed to imply that they were the artists. That's gonna confuse the crap out of new people. I swear, I'm a native speaker, and English still confuses the fuck out of me.
Ækashics
Ah they are the ones who left the suggestion and got voted on by the community in the monthly polls for their battler/archetype suggestion to be made :)
kimeimaro
Okay, I'm missing something, then. Why do the monthly assets have different names by each of them? The one from a few days ago, for example. It lists them as by JLEY, James Marion, KrimsonKatt, and BlueDragon. If they're not the artist, then who are they? I'm just really confused.
Ækashics
I'm sorry you had to manually organize in that manner, I didn't imagine it would impact this way on the user, it was short sighted of me to just think of having the resources out there and available, sounds nice on paper, but it had a number of other implications I didn't imagine until I got this feedback, I will improve this situation!
Ækashics
Oh all Librarium assets are made exclusively by me! The artstyle has evolved with the years at the same rate at which I have improved as an artist, becoming able to deliver assets of increasingly better quality, though the new recent style is where improvement will get less noticeable
kimeimaro
It'd be really nice if it was noted somewhere which artists did which assets. They're all great, but they have distinct art styles, and it bothers my OCD that I have to eyeball and make an educated guess.
ramencook
I think most subscribers can operate the resource usefully only when the resource is accurately organized. I too have organized monthly directories to keep things organized, but I got confused at some point Because organizing your vast resources is not easy :) I have maintained the dragon tier since May 20 resources, but the best thing for me is to share a total of 38 resource packs from the June 21 update to December 22, which started to be missing, and to catch up and provide 23 resources. think the best By the way, I'm not an English-speaking citizen, so it can be delivered unnaturally. Don't get me wrong.
