Dev Report #25 (October 14th, 2023) (Patreon)

Yo!

So, not going to waste any time.
The update will not be today and as a result, I will be pausing pledges for November.
Let's talk about when it will be released.

So, I bit off more than I could chew. This update has expanded to a point where I've fallen into some old issues and I'm struggling with finalizing it. Namely with making the scenes flow into each other.
So, as I have no interest in falling back into the headspace I was in half a year ago... I'm going to do the same thing I did to get out of my situation back then before I'm actually there.
I'm splitting this update into two parts to help make it easier for me to finalize mentally. One 400 render update to be released on the 19th. And one 300 render update to be released on the 24th. And then episode 13 will be released on the 31st. Each of these releases will be tiered by an hour. (So it unlocks for a lower tier every hour instead of the usual 24 hours)
I do deeply apologize for taking this much time and failing my goal. I take full responsibility for the lack of updates recently as it has been a result of poor planning and execution on my end.

I do plan on achieving the remainder of the goals I set for October.

With that said... it brings me to something I've wanted to speak on for a few weeks now. It doesn't take a mathematician to realize that the 52/52 isn't going to plan. So I want to talk about it.
The 52/52 started as a way to help relieve me of my release anxiety and to get content out in a consistent way.  I set the goal of 100 renders a week and I had the mindset of pretty much just releasing whatever I was able to make in a week.
Well, the issue with that has been the releasing whatever I've made. I've really struggled with releasing something just to release it. I feel shitty putting something out that I don't feel is worth downloading and playing yet. I tried to solve one issue by drastically going in the opposite direction.
Which is why I took extra time on almost all of the releases so far. I wanted the scene with Bailey and Rainn to be played all at once, I was having fun with the Skye scene and wanted to expand it, I wanted to have all of the traveling to Florida at once.
Essentially I just want to put out a fun experience and I know most of you guys would have fun even if those were all segmented throughout weeks but there's just something about it that has irked me that I thought wouldn't.  
It's just time for me to accept that this isn't the answer to my issue.
So... something has to change but I don't want anything drastic. I know I struggle with larger releases so I'm really not interested in going back to that. I feel like the easiest compromise is just to release scenes as they are completed. I categorize scenes essentially as events. So for instance the events listed in the image would all count as a scene.
Sometimes scenes will be shorter though I don't think I'd bother releasing anything under 100 renders, sometimes they'll be in the 250-ish range.
I feel this is the easiest way to fix my current issue. The main goal is still 100 renders a week and to release the equivalent of that in whatever time allotment I have to finish a scene.

But yeah, that's all I have to share for the moment. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
As always, thank you all so much for everything and please take care.
Spread some love and have a wonderful week everyone!
❤