How much is too much?

[Incubo]

I just have sort of a general question for you folks about teases. I'm sure opinions are going to vary widely here and that's OK, I'm just sort looking to get a general "feel" for what the community as a whole thinks.

Reason being is that I'm currently working on something (well, actually two somethings but that's another story, ) that is sort of becoming bigger than I originally thought it would be when I started and I'm starting to wonder if I should maybe split it up into different parts, start inserting "save" points or something like that, or continue with it as a whole single tease.

So I'm curious to see how long of a tease is too long before you folks become too frustrated with it, or bored with it, or just so sick of it that you quit? This is in flash, so I'm not really talking about page limits here, but rather time. How much time can you devote to a single tease before you just have to quit?

[supermokkori]

Reason being is that I'm currently working on something (well, actually two somethings but that's another story, ) that is sort of becoming bigger than I originally thought it would be when I started and I'm starting to wonder if I should maybe split it up into different parts, start inserting "save" points or something like that, or continue with it as a whole single tease.

So I'm curious to see how long of a tease is too long before you folks become too frustrated with it, or bored with it, or just so sick of it that you quit? This is in flash, so I'm not really talking about page limits here, but rather time. How much time can you devote to a single tease before you just have to quit?

It's funny, Incubo - I'm coincidentally faced with the same situation. The current tease I'm working on it's nearly 45 minutes long - and I'm only 20% done.

I've inserted a few jump points but because certain choices made by the user will change the overall outcomes differently, it's hard for me to place a save point/jump point in the main "meat" of the tease. So I'm faced with either shortening the main part or just continuing with my original plan. I'm leaning towards the original plan, but that would make the tease almost 2 hours long from start to finish. But even tho I personally think 2 hours is a bit too long, that's how I originally planned and wanted it to be. As much as I want to make the Tease for all users to enjoy, it's equally important that you're happy and proud of your work and results as well.

On that note, I personally think most Milovana FlashTease fans don't mind a tease that an hour long - anything longer than that and I think save points/jump points are required, IMHO.

Good luck!

[youaswell]

I don't do teases that much, I make them, but I think that a long one would just be annoying! Don't make one too complicated, especially with too many branching paths, it would take too long and I doubt people are here for an RPG. ^^;

Either way, it's so good that you are putting much dedication into making a tease, but I will say it would be worth it to make it into multiple parts, (as long as it is not that many) or at least put in parts that tell the person to take a break!

[Incubo]

It's funny, Incubo - I'm coincidentally faced with the same situation. The current tease I'm working on it's nearly 45 minutes long - and I'm only 20% done.

I've inserted a few jump points but because certain choices made by the user will change the overall outcomes differently, it's hard for me to place a save point/jump point in the main "meat" of the tease. So I'm faced with either shortening the main part or just continuing with my original plan.

Yeah, see, that's sort of the problem I'm having here as well, sort of. The whole thing is just one story with teasing included of course) and while there are natural break points where I could easily split it into chapters, you sort of lose the "flow" of the tease if you do that and at some points that will (in my opinion) ruin it. Some parts just require a certain level of...excited frustration, I guess is how I'd describe it and if I let you "break" somewhere along the way, you won't have that. Further complicating the matter is that certain choices lead to longer or shorter paths which wreaks havoc on estimating the time it takes to complete.

I've already "given up" on the other project for the time being because it's WAY too complicated and consequently too long for Nyx to handle. I figured I'd save that one for the new software when it comes out, but this one should work just fine in Nyx. Some choices, but not so many that it becomes unwieldy. It's just a question of getting it "right" I suppose. I'm confident it can be done without compromising too much, I just wanted to get an idea of what the community thinks so that I can figure out the most appropriate or enjoyable way to handle it.

I suppose the upshot of splitting it up into parts is that I could add some other elements to it that I've chosen not to for brevity's sake up till now, but I started doing that with the Bermuda series and things quickly got sort of out of control on my part with that and I had to dial it back. So from a writing point of view, not an ideal solution. Causes major head aches trying to keep everything straight through multiple chapters...and hell, even I forget some of the things I wrote before. Can't reasonably expect a reader to remember all of it either.

[dtspam]

I think, there are just different kind of teases.
A average tease shouldn't be much longer than 30 minutes to one hour.
But if the tease is well written and there is some warning in the start that it is a really long one, 2h hours or even more is fine. There are even some "all day" teases out there.
The important thing is, that you tell that to the reader in advance, because you only want to do a tease like that, if you have the time and are in the mood for something really long.
And you you really need to have the ideas to keep it interesting for all that time.
It's like with books or films, you can make these things long, but not if you just repeat your self. Very short and very long is just more challenging than average

[Humblest]

As far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as too much from a user's perspective. There may, of course, be such a thing as too much from the creator's perspective, as a tease takes a lot of time and effort to make, but a good tease cannot be too long from my point of view.

[Frozen88]

Reason being is that I'm currently working on something (well, actually two somethings but that's another story, ) that is sort of becoming bigger than I originally thought it would be when I started and I'm starting to wonder if I should maybe split it up into different parts, start inserting "save" points or something like that, or continue with it as a whole single tease.

So I'm curious to see how long of a tease is too long before you folks become too frustrated with it, or bored with it, or just so sick of it that you quit? This is in flash, so I'm not really talking about page limits here, but rather time. How much time can you devote to a single tease before you just have to quit?

It's funny, Incubo - I'm coincidentally faced with the same situation. The current tease I'm working on it's nearly 45 minutes long - and I'm only 20% done.

I've inserted a few jump points but because certain choices made by the user will change the overall outcomes differently, it's hard for me to place a save point/jump point in the main "meat" of the tease. So I'm faced with either shortening the main part or just continuing with my original plan. I'm leaning towards the original plan, but that would make the tease almost 2 hours long from start to finish. But even tho I personally think 2 hours is a bit too long, that's how I originally planned and wanted it to be. As much as I want to make the Tease for all users to enjoy, it's equally important that you're happy and proud of your work and results as well.

On that note, I personally think most Milovana FlashTease fans don't mind a tease that an hour long - anything longer than that and I think save points/jump points are required, IMHO.

Good luck!

New supermokkori tease to expect soon?
A very good day was one of the best, very long, but totally great

[DannyP]

From my perspective, 2 hours is a good limit. Its a long time as it is and interruptions are likely to occur from elsewhere. If its well written and you can immerse the user in the story then perhaps a little longer is ok. If its particularly intense I'd not like to follow along for more than 45 mins - 1 hour.

[Edgemycock]

anything over an hour is too much.. especially if it drags on with a lot of 'doing nothing' time.

[Freakezoid]

I think, there are just different kind of teases.
A average tease shouldn't be much longer than 30 minutes to one hour.
But if the tease is well written and there is some warning in the start that it is a really long one, 2h hours or even more is fine. There are even some "all day" teases out there.
The important thing is, that you tell that to the reader in advance, because you only want to do a tease like that, if you have the time and are in the mood for something really long.
And you you really need to have the ideas to keep it interesting for all that time.
It's like with books or films, you can make these things long, but not if you just repeat your self. Very short and very long is just more challenging than average

I think the same.
I like short teases, but i like long teases a lot more!
But like dtspam wrote, tell the user its a long teases. Its fun to prepare for a long tease.
All teases are good too :D

[SexualChoc]

You know
as all2true
I did an all day tease 8+ hours!!! with super long timers lasting... hours
for breaks.
and it was actually well recived!

I think it depends on what your doing and how.

for continousy non-stop stimulation I don't think anything over 2 hours is, safe
Priapism problems?

It may be do-able for a few..but probably not advised

If you thinking of breaks
well you could do it as more than one tease. ...
but this allows the person to imediately to jump to part 2
you can not FORCE a wait...
only Long timers can do that...
granted adding long timers means basically NO chance at TOTM club...
but if it is what you want go for it!
don't get lost in what's popular!

do your vision
and don't worry about the score it gets!

It's the motto I live by.

[Incubo]

do your vision
and don't worry about the score it gets!

It's the motto I live by.

I never worry about scores SC. Those ratings don't mean a whole lot to me anyway. It's just a number. I value actual feedback more than some fairly arbitrary number.

I remember your all day teases. I liked them except for those timers.
I was always afraid I was going to miss it or something if I went and did something else, so I had to leave it up on the screen to make sure I could see when it changed. I don't want to do that to folks.

I've decided to put in "skip" points for the time being. That way if folks need to step away and come back later, they can just skip to where they left off. I like that arrangement a little better than extremely long timers.

Though...it's already the biggest thing I've written into a single tease and I'm not done. If it grows too much more, I may well just have to split it into multiple teases. I'm not entirely sure how much Nyx can handle in one tease.

[supermokkori]

I've decided to put in "skip" points for the time being. That way if folks need to step away and come back later, they can just skip to where they left off. I like that arrangement a little better than extremely long timers.

Though...it's already the biggest thing I've written into a single tease and I'm not done. If it grows too much more, I may well just have to split it into multiple teases. I'm not entirely sure how much Nyx can handle in one tease.

Yeah I totally hear you... not that I'm trying to compare numbers or anything, Incubo - but how many pages do you estimate the final version to be? I currently estimate mine might be in the 1,500 range and that makes me pretty worried whether Nyx can handle that much (especially considering that I may have well up to 500 images and 30 sound files). Let me know if you're around that range already or if you'll be in that range... it would be really good to know if that many pages becomes too much of a problem for Nyx to load or handle when trying to make edits in Nyx.

[Ditto]

For me, time isn't really an issue, I just want to know up front, about how long will it take. If I know it's going to take 4 hours, no problem, I can plan for that. Find the time, kick back, and enjoy the ride.

What I dislike, is going into a tease having no idea how long it's going to take '
Usually I'll scan a tease quickly just to get an idea of how long it is, then revisit it when I have the time.

[Incubo]

Yeah I totally hear you... not that I'm trying to compare numbers or anything, Incubo - but how many pages do you estimate the final version to be? I currently estimate mine might be in the 1,500 range and that makes me pretty worried whether Nyx can handle that much (especially considering that I may have well up to 500 images and 30 sound files). Let me know if you're around that range already or if you'll be in that range... it would be really good to know if that many pages becomes too much of a problem for Nyx to load or handle when trying to make edits in Nyx.

Lord have mercy no!
I really don't know where it's going to end up, but I'm sure it won't be that long. I'm still sort of rearranging things and deciding what to include and what to leave out of course, but I'm somewhere in the 200+ range now and perhaps 1/2 done...So I'd guess it'll end up somewhere in the 500 range. If it goes further than that, then I'll definitely split it into multiple teases. The limitations of Nyx just make me too nervous to try something larger.

I've included a few videos, but since we can't actually put them IN Nyx, those are just text links, no problem there. No sound files yet...I've been sort of debating on whether to add a few of those or not...haven't decided yet. Images...well, I haven't stopped to count actually and as I write I keep finding a need for an image here or there to fill in the "gaps" so to speak. I'd guess that's in the neighborhood of 200+ right now, but there's 2 different models who currently don't have "teasing" parts per se. That could change later and push the total closer to 300.