August News (Patreon)

Hey guys,

Thanks for voting on the poll!

I was a bit surprised when the majority vote was for more tiddy, but alright! *wink*

I have a few more questions for the group, but I don't want to overwhelm anyone so I'll wait a few days before taking the next poll.

After finishing this post, I realized it's pretty long and wordy. Apparently I should post more often...

On the next Hypnosis update:

It's currently in the writing/outline phase. I have ideas for about a dozen scenes, but I gotta narrow it down and see which ones are going to fit.

In the last update we had the first epilogue complete with the girls finding a way to battle the big tiddy curse with good ol' diet and exercise.

Epilogue 2 will find the girls starting to lose that battle. The girls have embraced their new lives more fully, leaning into the situation by allowing themselves to get internet famous and make some decent money off it. They have Haley pushing them to go bigger, so they aren't fully against the idea. Still, their lives are forever changed, and they have to deal with that.

Epilogue 3 goes ham. How big can they go? Holy shit, we're going to find out! Will it end badly for them? Is the MC going to be stuck as their caregivers, taking care of a house filled with immobile women who are unable to perform basic tasks to take care of themselves?

I don't know. I'm still wondering what happens when we get there myself.

Are they going to get to the point where their hearts can't handle pumping through so much mass and the girls start to drop off one by one as the MC tries his best to make them comfortable in their last moments?

Well, no. Not that last part!

So, will this upcoming update finish up the branch?

I'd love to say yes. And that's what I'm aiming for. But I also don't want to take too long between updates, so... I'm still not sure how connected the two epilogues will be and if it's worth splitting them up into two updates.

On the next Endowed update:

It's pretty damn close to being done. I hate that it's still left on the last cliffhanger from the previous update, and it introduces some fun new characters. I'll probably finish it up between the times when I get stuck on something and sneak it out after this next Hypnosis update.

General ramblings and musings:

I had a couple of revelations about my game development method lately which I posted on Discord. Let me see if I can condense those thoughts on here to make it readable...

Something I realized lately was from catching up on feedback from random websites. It's something I don't always do, because honestly, we all know the internet can be a cesspool of toxicity at times. Reading paragraphs where someone rips up your work that took a year of your life simply because it doesn't match their particular tastes doesn't necessarily help the creative process.

This is why the only time I truly take notice of someone's feedback is if they are a patron. No, paying me money isn't the qualifier of what makes a "true fan", but it does mean you care enough about the project to give your time and support.

Anyway, the feedback I kept reading was often along the lines of "the last few updates haven't been as fun". And, I get that. That's somewhat deliberate, as this ending isn't meant to be the best ending. It's side content meant to compliment the other endings, leaving things bittersweet. That's the point of multiple endings. If each ending left things on a perfect note, why bother?

That being said, I still questioned the fun aspect of the creative process. So, in retrospect, I realized that working on The Broken Watch Path for the past six months was less fun in some ways. It's a lot of work trying to come up with an entirely different plotline to focus on, and I didn't have all that much of an outline when I started.

It began with me asking you guys to vote on the next side ending I'd work on, expecting to spend a couple of weeks on some fun side content. You chose BE ending, and my plan for it was basically "what do the girls do when they are stuck growing?" Problem was, skipping six months ahead without any explanation or content felt weird. So, I filled the gaps.

Now, I'm not saying I haven't had fun with this storyline. I've had a blast. It's just been a whole lot more work than I expected. And it made me realize something:

I shouldn't be taking it quite so seriously. I don't need to wrap up every plot thread. That's what the main story is for. But not only that.

This isn't meant to be high art.

It's a game. Yes, I'm very proud of it, being my first project of this kind, but sometimes I need to take a step back and remind myself that it doesn't need to be perfect.

Also, I was watching a behind the scenes for the creators of South Park and how they put out episodes in a week. This reflects my own process, as when I started I spent a month's time on each update, putting it out as fast as I could with little in the way of rewrites or spending a lot of time on renders. This continued for a year until something changed.

I started working on Endowed. I allowed myself to take the time to tell the story, planning out every chapter in advance and spending each time polishing, rewriting, all the things that take extra time to make the game that much better. And that's fine, for Endowed.

But I carried it over. And that doesn't make sense with Hypnosis, because that's not the kind of game it is. Don't get me wrong, I've always worked with outlines, I've gone back to fix up every release, but I used to spend a lot less time on each update. And I think that's why my release schedule has been 50%-100% longer than it was a year ago.

So, my goal for the next few months is to attempt to return to my roots. Push out those episodes quicker! Not necessarily in how much time I spend working, because I still need to make sure I don't kill myself, but in not wasting time on little things that probably don't really matter.

That, and to have fun with it. Yes, I will inevitably always be trying to improve on every level. But sometimes I need to remind myself to keep the game fun, both for me and for you, the player.

In other news, I got my first pair of glasses. My vision wasn't that bad, but still... hoping to have slightly better quality renders, like with clipping and little things like that. The glasses have a blue light filter and so far it seems to make screen time a lot easier on the eyes, so fewer headaches and whatnot.

Also, figured out an easy fix for my dizziness. I don't think I've mentioned it before, but I'd say that about every other day my head feels cloudy and my ability to focus starts to fade a few hours after I wake up.

I realized it's from my long time between meals. Typically, I wake up around noon, have a snack for breakfast, a light lunch around 2 and a big dinner around 7. That gives me around 18 hours between dinner and when I first eat... so yeah, you guessed it. Low blood sugar.

So I've been drinking a small acai juice in the morning. Genius!

Also, I have another story coming your way. This time it's a commissioned side ending from Hypnosis that I started back in January. I'll have more details in the next few days.

I'd better leave it there... otherwise this is going to look like a diary entry and I'll start talking about how I started playing guitar again. Actually, that was to try to come up with some new music for Endowed, so I guess it's not too unrelated...

Summation:

What's my estimate for this next update?

I'll have it out as soon as I can!

I plan to make an announcement when it's about a week off. Then I can give an estimated date. Sounds fun, right?

Thanks, everyone!