One Year On: Remembering Palmer (Patreon)

One year ago today, our friend Palmer went offline for the last time. It has been a strange experience going on without him, but we continue working to be a studio that honors his legacy.

A look back at Palmer and Love-Joint's history

Love-Joint was formed in mid 2015 when Palmer and Ricky joined forces to start producing 3D rendered games. Palmer was already known in the adult community and had previously been releasing games written in adrift, making a name for himself.

Palmer and Ricky went on to produce their first game under the Love-Joint brand, Play With Us. With the first game laying the groundwork of what was to come, AW joined to write the second instalment, with Palmer rendering the graphics and Ricky developing an engine. During this time, the team continued to grow and learn in preparation for Love-Joint’s most ambitious challenge yet, DFD.

DFD was a hell of a ride for everyone involved, consolidating the team as a real game studio that was able to secure enough funding to hire full time developers, such as MuseX, whose talent brought to life some of our most remarkable characters. This period was a turning point for Love-Joint, driving us to another great game: Double Homework.

DH was also a great experience. The team was more mature and experienced, more artists joined (Catnip and Rofax), and Palmer really focused on developing a story with a lot of deep feelings and conflicts in which all the characters grew over time, building very unique personalities. Developing deep characters was one of AW’s and Palmer’s favorite things to do, and Double Homework showed it.

Unfortunately, Palmer wasn’t able to see the last installment of the game go out, although the episode was still designed by him. Reading players feedback was one of the most important things for him, and he’d frequently spend hours going through comments and reviews. Analyzing players' thoughts was always a fundamental aspect of our creation process.

During many years, the team spent countless hours brainstorming hundreds of ideas for games. We don’t know what the future holds, but we can assure one thing: Love-Joint’s games are, and will continue to be, inspired by Palmer’s vision and ideas. This is something that won’t change since it is deep into Love-Joint’s DNA.

There isn’t a lot more we can say that hasn’t already been said. Many of us have shared our thoughts and memories on our Remembering Palmer Discord thread. We wanted to share a few quotes from that thread, as well some thoughts from the people who knew Palmer the best. So many people contributed that we can’t possibly highlight them all here, so we invite you to check out our Discord to read and post your own thoughts and feelings.

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“It doesn’t seem possible that it’s already been a year, so much has happened but it’s gone so quickly.

Palmer was a great friend to me, I am here writing this now thanks to him and I really do miss him so much. Watching football and F1 together, discovering and messing around on random games to just talking for hours about life are just some things me and Palmer did on a near daily basis - I really do miss it all. The last message Palmer sent to me was was “In a while”, in response to me asking him to play a game - I’m still waiting buddy 💔

On a side note I’d like to thank you all for sticking around and supporting us during this past year. I’d also like to thank Ricky for keeping the studio going, enabling us to carry on while continuing Palmer’s legacy. Palmer would be very very proud of you and the whole team. In the last year I’ve learned Daz and have started creating art for Love-Joint, I really wish Palmer was here to be able to see it.

There’s so much more I could say, but maybe I will leave that for Discord. I miss you Palmer, rest well my friend.” - Zed

“He had vision and passion, and it showed throughout the entire team. Every single month he bragged about the work everyone had done and the quality of it. Every time he cared about not disappointing the community. He cared about friends who had left, new friends he'd made, and interacting with everyone. He's left an impact on me, even though I've not talked to him daily.” - Myste Mercer

“One long year without Palmer. Things aren't the same without him. I think about him on a daily basis, and a day doesn't go by that I don't miss him with all my heart. So much has happened since his passing that I wanted to share with him, with where I've gotten in life. Fate can be a cruel mistress, but he is in a better place now. I truly loved Palmer like a brother, and I hate that he was taken from us so early, so I will cherish every memory I have of him. Rest easy up there Palmer. We all love you. - Country Boy

“Me and Palmer both realized we had plenty in common when it came to taste in music, in TV series, even in games. Then it turned out how much of an amazing person he was, what he could have achieved with his knowledge, but he chose to do visual novels. He chose to do what he felt he loved. And doing that, he was giving it his all. No, more than that. He's been pushing himself to the edges of his limits and beyond that.” - Alron

“I've shed many tears since you left us a lot of sadness but some of joy, joy of remembering all the good times, from watching you livestream the airwolf opening to playing games like war thunder and monopoly together and calling Z a dirty cheat. There's nearly 8 billion people in the world but there's no one that is like you. I'm lucky I was able to call you my friend and I hope wherever you are now, you've found your pants and that you're taking it easy.” - Silent

“There's no end to the things I could say about how great a person he was. I'll never have another friend like him. I hope the Love Joint team carries on and stays successful. It's what Palmer worked so hard for. I loved him like a brother. His passing is unreal. There's so many things left undone and unsaid.” - BlazR

“Damn, so a year has passed already. Partly feels like so long ago, partly feels like it was just yesterday we got the tragic news. It’s certainly been a rough year for us all given the current pandemic but it’s certainly been harder not having you around Palmer. Your wisdom, your company. I lost track of the times I almost went to message you while I was completing my final year project at uni, something I always loved talking about given we both studied biosciences.

Other than that, while #general chat has moved forward, it’s still just not the same as having you around. Your witty sense of humour, all the laughs we had playing Skribble. I’m still not forgetting those terrible drawings of yours btw. Anyway, I hope you’re resting easy up there mate, you and Myste look after each other up there. ❤️” - Potent

“I joined Palmer mid 2015 when I found him in a forum looking for a programmer. Since the very beginning when the Love-Joint name was born, we both had the desire to build something better than the overall home-made lewd game you could find on the internet. Our goal was always to have something better, and this is something that came from Palmer’s desire to deliver the best immersive experience possible, always featuring deep feelings and realistic characters.

Having high quality standards is something more than laborious, it is stressful. During more than five years working together, we faced a bunch of difficult times, but as friends we always managed to sort things out and keep the studio delivering. Sharing the same goals and long term vision made our partnership grow stronger over time.

Today, I can say that I’m part of a great studio. I work every day with amazing and dedicated people, I develop games that I am proud about and I have the best supporters one could dream of. The thing I miss the most? The friendship from our buddy that left us too soon.

I promise you the seeds of all the amazing ideas we developed over the years won’t get lost. The Love-Joint team will keep going, carefully planting each one of them to keep your vision alive.

Anyways, Palmer, I know you are in a better place. Rest in peace my friend.” - Ricky

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Please feel free to share your own stories or messages of remembrance in #remembering-palmer in our Discord server, or in the comments section below.

We’d also like to take a moment to thank all of you wonderful people - a year ago it didn’t look like we’d even be able to continue making games. Thanks to your wonderful support, we’re still here and have been able to keep the studio running. We're incredibly grateful to everyone for their amazing gratitude during our rebuild! 💗

Thank you to Mr. Vargas for creating this beautiful 8K artwork in memory of Palmer (attachment).

We hope we can keep making you all, and Palmer, proud.
The Love-Joint Team.