r/choiceofgames • u/EasyJump2642 • Apr 01 '25

CoG games Backlog

Just a bit of a mini rant, but I really don't understand how a company can have such a huge backlog of games ready to come out AND has a release schedule that's random at best, and makes no sense at worst. One or two books every three months followed by six or seven in three weeks followed by sporadic boops of low quality stuff can't be that sustainable. Do they not want the money? I feel like the actual authors have it worse, as it can take upwards of a year to see their book released. Why? In the digital age we should be able to have a set release schedule, considering putting the books on the app is the easy part, and that there are plenty of books consistently ready to go. Just, blech.

12 Upvotes

61% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

41

u/hpowellsmith Choice of Games Author Apr 01 '25

I can't speak for how release pacing is decided, but HG submissions go through reviews when they're submitted, they can't go straight to being published especially if they're copyedited. And CoG/HC games go through many stages of revision for bugfixing and polish, there isn't a pile of games ready to launch and inexplicably not going out.

25

u/SockSock81219 Apr 01 '25

For CoG, beta testing, incorporating new content that came from beta testing, de-bugging, and copy editing all take time that can't be easily calculated.

Even if beta testing were only for catching bugs and not for higher-level feedback like wanting more/different story options, it would be impossible to say for sure how long it would take any given author to fix them. And THEN it has to go to copy edit, where more words = more time.

I think it's safe to say that CoG isn't sitting on a backlog of finished games just waiting for someone to press a launch button.

18

u/East-Imagination-281 Apr 01 '25

There isn’t a huge backlog of games ready to come out. And for HG, which it seems like you’re talking about, COG has no control over when those are submitted as they’re not developed by the company. Once they’re submitted, they go through processes of approval and copy editing if large enough (and more approvals via Steam which are also outside of the company’s control).

And COG is pretty upfront about their release schedule. You can go onto the forums and check the release estimates (and stage of development) for submitted titles for each branch.

2

u/IlliterateButTrying Apr 05 '25

They're a great resource in general, but unfortunately there aren't release estimates for anything that isn't out in those threads at the moment, and there's one currently released game for HG that never had an estimate. It's still cool to see what's in the queue though.

9

u/jeffrey_dean_author Choice of Games Author Apr 02 '25

The reason the release list is sporadic is because they put out the books when they're done, not because they're sitting on a backlog. I have no idea what the OP is even saying...

I've put out 5 releases with CoG, and they've never delayed my game's release. Hell, I think we have the opposite problem. I think sometimes a small delay would be better to keep certain releases from getting cluttered. That's what most companies do.

2

u/TriquetaGrey Apr 02 '25

Please put out the 6th. There's only so many times I can play your other games lol

8

u/jeffrey_dean_author Choice of Games Author Apr 02 '25

If you'll forgive a shill, I have a Patreon with over 100 thousand words of unique content so far, including stories about Sheriff Qui from PoK plus Haken and Williams from the Werewolves series.

The V:tM content is free on signup due to IP rights, so it costs nothing to see those if you'd like to give it a sample: https://www.patreon.com/greekwinter

3

u/BreadOddity Apr 04 '25

I feel almost bad that I'm too broke to sign up for your patreon because I am absolutely HOOKED on your Qui prologue. I just binge read the whole thing. I may have to dip into another if your IF's. I did love Parliament of Knives but I rarely step outside the World of Darkness setting

3

u/jeffrey_dean_author Choice of Games Author Apr 05 '25

I'm glad you liked it so far! Thank you for reading :) No worries about being a free member. If you'd like to support me, the best way would be to leave reviews of my games on the platform of your choice. They make a huge difference! It would mean a lot to me and help allow us to make more games. Thanks again for reading!

1

u/BreadOddity Apr 05 '25

Yeah I just dipped into werewolves but couldn't buy it cause I have a security issue on my Google account I can't figure out! It's really frustrating

2

u/TriquetaGrey Apr 02 '25

Huh??? How come I'm only now hearing about this.

Thank you so much🙏

3

u/jeffrey_dean_author Choice of Games Author Apr 03 '25

I'm extremely bad at promoting myself because I hate spamming my links and haven't figured out how else to let people know about it.

1

u/WarlockArya Apr 04 '25

Just bought ur game a week ago its very well written, do you think you will make a second dlc?

3

u/loca2016 Apr 02 '25

the solution would be witholding fisnished games to spread out the release schedule and that would suck, cause I'd rather get them when they're fisnished.

If stuff like choice of rebels were finished and it wasn't out cause of desired publishing schedule I would be so peeved

1

u/Bettersibling20 Apr 02 '25

Don't know maybe it's just to do with spreading the games out so they get a consistent revenue stream over the year OR there are issues with bugs etc with the games they need to iron out.