Rich's Productivity

[jqavins]

Is there a reason known for the drastic slow-down in strips coming out? Up through the tenth anniversary the average pace was a small smidgeon better than a strip every four days. Since the end of the hiatus it's been a strip every nine days on average. I only started reading the strip last year (and I went back to the beginning and read it all) so I don't know if a widely fluctuating rate is normal. Or is there a reason like illness that I'm not aware of? I don't want to be a jerk about it, but I need my fix.

[RadagastTheBrow]

Rule one about the forum: We do not talk about the update schedule or Rich's personal life.

Rule two about the forum: WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE UPDATE SCHEDULE OR RICH'S PERSONAL LIFE.

It's a shame, too, I've been mildly curious as to how the root canal went.

:smalltongue:

[EDIT] I guess I should probably answer the question, though: Yeah, updates can be pretty infrequent. You get used to it.

[BannedInSchool]

Read the twitter feed over on the left.

[King of Nowhere]

Well, we do not talk against the update schedule or rich's life, as it is against the rules, but there's one thing you should know: rich has some kind of cronic (but luckily non fatal) illlness that causes him to have requent days where he cannot do anything but stay in bed. stress aggravates this. he made a big announcement about that, like, 5 years ago. So, if he updates less frequently, and he's not working on kickstarter stuff, he is probably ill.
Also he injured his thumb at some point, so he's been writing with a mild disability.

[JBiddles]

The Giant injured his thumb recently, leaving him with probably permanent numbness and poor mobility - he works around it. In addition, he is sometimes bedridden by a chronic but non-fatal illness. He also has a lot of Kickstarter etc. stuff on his plate.

The hiatus has only been off for six strips, so any average won't be reliable. Give Rich time: he's doing this for free, working around several handicaps.


(Also, this is against the rules, but hey, let's not do a Miko).

[jqavins]

My apologies for the rule breaking, and thanks for the replies. I'll go back into my hole now.

[Knaight]

Is there a reason known for the drastic slow-down in strips coming out? Up through the tenth anniversary the average pace was a small smidgeon better than a strip every four days. Since the end of the hiatus it's been a strip every nine days on average.

The reasons were given above, as were the rules on the subject. However, I'd like to look at a related (but non-banned) matter, as far as updates go: Standards. A strip per 9 days isn't actually all that slow, and there are webcomics that are much, much slower. Gone with The Blastwave is the sort of thing you measure in strips per year, as is Dresden Codak. It's pretty routine.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I would wait a little longer to look at the productivity. It hasn't been very long since the hiatus. Also, sometimes there can be over a week between strips and sometimes it's only a few days. You just have to get used to it.

[mikeejimbo]

Ah, here I thought that maybe the new art style just took a bit longer to produce.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Ah, here I thought that maybe the new art style just took a bit longer to produce.

Actually, IIRC there are some features that take longer to draw than before, like the feet or stuff drawn in perspective.

[Peelee]

Ah, here I thought that maybe the new art style just took a bit longer to produce.

The new hands don't, at least (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?338521-The-new-art-style/page6&p=17236494#post17236494). And I'm not going to touch the rest of this thread with a ten foot pole.

[Keltest]

The new hands don't, at least (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?338521-The-new-art-style/page6&p=17236494#post17236494). And I'm not going to touch the rest of this thread with a ten foot pole.

Im willing to bet that additional background details to go with the enhanced art probably take a bit longer. On the other hand, I have no real idea of what processes Rich uses to draw the comic, so I could just be talking out of my butt.


Also, good call on the pole. Make it a 12 footer, just in case.

[King of Nowhere]

Ah, here I thought that maybe the new art style just took a bit longer to produce.
Yes, it certainly takes longer to produce. that in addition to everything else.

[Emanick]

I've been assuming that he's simultaneously doing the PDFs and the actual strip. I wouldn't be surprised if he's doing two PDF pages, one OOTS page; two PDF pages, one OOTS page. It's what I (might) do if I were him.

[Ron Miel]

Is there a reason known for the drastic slow-down in strips coming out? Up through the tenth anniversary the average pace was a small smidgeon better than a strip every four days. Since the end of the hiatus it's been a strip every nine days on average.

Yes, the strips are four days apart on average. But it has always been irregular. Sometimes we get a run of strips that are 2 weeks apart. Other times we get several in a row that are less than 48 hours apart. It evens out in the long run. Its been like this since the early days. We are currently experiencing a slow period. We'll get a fast run later. And it will average out to one every four days. In short, I don't believe there has been a slow-down.

[Vinyadan]

On the other hand, I have no real idea of what processes Rich uses to draw the comic, so I could just be talking out of my butt.

Smells like victory.

[SavageWombat]

Considering that, logically, this topic should come up every year or so from new readers, we really ought to have an official answer system. Isn't there a thread or quote somewhere we should be linking to?

[FujinAkari]

Considering that, logically, this topic should come up every year or so from new readers, we really ought to have an official answer system. Isn't there a thread or quote somewhere we should be linking to?

The official answer is "Hello and welcome to Giant in the Playground, where free ice cream is given out on a regular basis! Complaining about the speed at which the ice cream is provided is frowned upon."

[Spoomeister]

Don't forget about the Kickstarter drive, which hit its funding goal on 2/21/12. I think he has a couple years of backlog of Kickstarter fulfillments to do, and really, providing things to paying customers v. posting free updates here is the right tradeoff to me. In addition to everything said above.

I think over the years I've come around to simple respect for a man creating his art according to his own standards, being aware of his limitations, valuing his health and similar larger-picture things, and not rushing OOTS to meet some outside artificial deadline. He could likely push out whatever every other day, or get outside help on production, or otherwise try to state and meet some schedule or other. But he doesn't, and OOTS is probably the better for it.

[SavageWombat]

The official answer is "Hello and welcome to Giant in the Playground, where free ice cream is given out on a regular basis! Complaining about the speed at which the ice cream is provided is frowned upon."

That's the answer, not the answer system. I suppose we could link to your quote now.

[The Glyphstone]

Great Modthulhu:As many people have mentioned, the update schedule isn't a topic for discussion. New comics are never late, nor are they early, they go up precisely when Rich is ready for them to go up.