v0.20 Content Release News! (Patreon)

Hi everyone! We're about at the 48 hour mark before Nov 1st, but I do have some news to announce regarding the new content coming out soon and some plans we have in mind moving through the next few months to keep content flowing along at a much more steady rate each month.

So, let's dive right into this post!

The first main thing to announce is a tad bit iffy and that is, we're slightly delaying the release from Nov 1st, pushing it to Nov 7th for sure! >.< I'd like to apologize for this slight delay in our scheduled release date. It might not be a major difference for some, but I really do hope it isn't seen as a delay that'll continue any further. We have no intention on pushing it back any further into the month naturally.

The main reasoning for this slight delay is a mix of things lining up at the wrong time for us. I can speak for myself that this past week has been pretty busy, as around this time in the year we have a lot of family gatherings and get together events for us Fall babies in the family. ^^" I don't want to ramble too much, but I do think giving ourselves the extra couple days to be safe is probably for the best... 

There is a chance that we get everything together and release it before Nov 7th, but that date is our safety net and once again, I greatly apologize for this.

The second announcement is a bit rough for us and I've thought about it back and forth in my head for the past week before settling on this outcome for the project for the next few months into the new year.

We're going to split up v0.20 content into 3 part releases, all within the month of November. I'll explain below, I know it's not ideal for benefiting supporters/fans. >.<

First, let me briefly post our release schedule below for these 3 part releases.

v0.20 part 1 - Nov 7th
v0.20 part 2 - Nov 18th
v0.20 part 3 - Nov 29th

It might not make a ton of sense outside of the development team, but during December, we typically offer the time off for the holidays. It's a busy time for many on the team and we try to use the time lightly to prepare for the new year. This means that during December, we sometimes don't do a ton regarding the project needs and so there's typically a big delay from before December into the new year, when new content would come along.

We're trying to see how much content we can put together for v0.21 during November while we roll out v0.20, but the main thing we're trying to do behind the scenes here, is creating enough content that's ready for future releases as a buffer, safety net as we get things moving into full gear. 

For example: I'm assuming that during November & December, I can get about 3-4 route episodes put together. Then, when we return from our holiday break in January, we'd have at least that much content to offer within that month early on. Of course during January, I'd continue to build up more content alongside the 3-4 route episodes, so let's say in total before our v0.21 release in January... We have 5-6 route episodes worth of content ready.

We'd release 3 of those episodes during January and then the other 3 would be held onto for v0.22. The idea here is that by the time v0.22 is ready for release in say late February, we'd have our next 3 route episodes already sorted out for v0.23 a whole month or so before the planned release date. (Hopefully that makes sense.)

Simply put, it gives us a safety net for content in the case of a emergency. So, if something major came up and would've delayed things. We'd still have content set aside and nearly ready to go to keep everyone happy as we return to steady releases every 30-40 days.

With all of this in mind... I know it's a lot to take in for some and it wasn't a easy decision to make, one that I had wished I sorted out about a week ago to mention it within our last development update post. >.< Overall, we're trying to prepare ourselves on the development side of things with the upcoming holiday season and wanting to keep content flowing at a steady pace like we used to on a near monthly basis.

One thing to include with this, due to the awkward news and to help make it feel like there's something interesting going on each month into 2024. I do have something fun planned for December as a bridge between the wait from v0.20 to v0.21. We'll be offering a MA Christmas themed short story, light novel around Christmas week!

This light novel will include a special art illustration that's part of the short story and said story will be offered on Patreon as a free gift to all supporters and fans despite if you support during that month. Said story will be roughly between 4,000 to 5,000 word count, but seeing as MA takes place during Spring time, I think it'd be a nice bonus to see how a Christmas themed short story with the characters pans out. ^^

~Ending notes~

Okay, if you made it through all of that, thank you greatly for reading through it all! I know this news isn't going to be taken well for some and it isn't any easier for us either... But we try to be open and clear, as our intention isn't to trick anyone. >.< With about 2 days before a new support month popping up, I want to mention this just to give everyone the fair heads up, in case anyone decides to hold off on support for November for any reason.

With that, I'd also like to remind everyone that we still intend on giving v0.20 to anyone who has supported us at the $5+ tier in the past 2 years. We'll be sending out Patreon direct messages with special download links for that at the same time as the releases happen in November. (This is a promise I made a long while back as we get things moving steady again and I wish to hold to that promise.)

To end things, if you choose to take a break from supporting us, just know that November and December will possibly give you some content for your past support history. For those choosing to continue supporting even during November and December, we still have plenty of art related exclusive posts to share and we'd like to offer even some sort of bonus during December for supporters during that month. (Besides the light novel, short story.)

I've rambled enough I think... ^^" Thank you everyone who has been more than patient with us along the way, we still greatly apologize for the inconvenience and hope with everything planned behind the scenes moving into 2024. That we'll make things right little by little each month! <3

~Messy Studios