March General Update (Patreon)

Hello everybody!

It's been a while since I made any update posts, I've mostly tried to keep my head in my work and just get through a lot of stuff. But it's time I get you all up to date.

ARPG Episodes

Something like five episodes ago I think I said I can assume there would be roughly ten more episodes to go. This estimate is off. As of right *now* there is give or take 13 more episodes to go but I'm more confident in this estimate as the code starts to come together and I'm aware of what physically needs doing for each part. I've started to batch script episodes and I think I'll be able to bring the next few together at a much faster pace than we've been going at. We've been in a tricky to navigate section for a while where my usual approach of just taking each episode as it comes is problematic and I really had to consider the order of things a bit more. There were some chicken and egg scenarios but I think I've resolved them. As of right now my upcoming episode topics are:

• Item UI
• Using Bombs from pockets
• Drop chance lists
• Equipment Cycling
• Bow + Bow Ammo
• Hookshot
• Bats
• Level Design + The Boulder
• The Shop
• Pots breaking + Shadows (general cleanup)
• Title Screen
• Save & Load
• Pause Menu

And it's possible the title screen will get broken down into a couple more still. But after some to and fro about what topics I will actually end up covering for the ARPG, I'm jut going for everything. We're completing the original demo and getting it all done. 

Other Videos

I want to start covering more general changes to GameMaker, updates and patch notes, that kind of thing. The videos I've done on things like that have proven popular and I think it provides a useful service both in terms of getting information out and providing outside perspective on what new features and changes mean for you as a developer. So while my focus is the ARPG expect to see more of these videos mixed in between.

Streams

Feedback Friday is a staple of my content now. The vods aren't the most exciting content in the world, they're hours long and my live viewer numbers aren't exactly crazy but there's a regular audience that enjoys this work and I think it's a valuable service so I'm going to keep doing these streams and videos. It adds a nice bit of variety to my work and is also just quite fun. I'm massively behind on the vods, like I have about 6 or so that I need to edit down, thumbnail and publish on YouTube so I'm going to try and do a big batch of these and schedule them to release a couple a week for a while in the hope we can catch back up.

Patron vote videos

I want to do these again! But as you can see above, I've got a lot on my plate. I think when the ARPG wraps up we'll be able to re introduce this more direct influence patrons have on the content. I tried early on to let you all steer the direction of what topics get covered in what order but I think for the benefit of the series as a whole it's important that I control this especially in these later stages. Sorry! I think these votes are better suited to individual video topics.

Patreon Milestones + Pledge Tiers

We are still kind of hovering around the milestone to remove ads on all my work and what a dream it would be to skip that page entirely for all new videos. I would want to see at least one month where the value held above $2500, but after that point I would consider the milestone reached as long as we remained above $2400. Once this is reached I'll set aside a day to disable ads on all my videos (I honestly don't know, given how YT tools change frequently, how much of a chore this will be. It could be very simple.) and there won't be any added going forwards.

This is all of course, boldly assuming we hit that milestone. But on that topic I've had more people requesting access to the $20 tier so I recently increased the number of spaces available.

I want to thank everybody again for funding what I do even through this really grim time in the world. I'm so grateful to be able to work from home just generally let alone *now*. I've been really busy on a whole bunch of fronts and I appreciate your patience and belief in the work that I do.

Thanks everybody!

-Shaun