METRACK JULY UPDATE (Patreon)

Hey everybody! I'm back from vacation with some big updates, so I'll be going over all those in this beeg update.

Firstly, I'd like to thank everybody for checking out and supporting Hackweight! It was quite an effort to get it out last month, but the amount of support the project got has made it totally worth it. This launch is only just the start of Hackweight's journey, and I'll go into a bit more detail about plans for the future of Hackweight at the end of this post. From the bottom of my heart thank you to everybody who has checked out the project and made this launch such a success!

Moving onto plans for July, I've got some serious catching up to do. For some context, I was away for a little over half the days of last month, and anytime back in the office was working on Hackweight. July will primarily be dedicated to catching back up on art, and getting back on (me)track for steady art delivery. This means starting next Monday, Metrack Mondays will resume, as well as other promised things. The main things i'm looking to get done this month are the following:

-May's Seasonal Exclusive Sequence (Rosalina)
-June's Seasonal Exclusive Sequence (Pekora)
-Haru Drive Part 5
-2 Backlogged Commissions
-Yukiko Request Poll pic
-June Request Poll winner pic
-July's Seasonal Exclusive Sequence (Undecided)
-Sumire part 5 Commission

I hope you all look forward to the art coming through this month!

As a heads-up update for everybody, I will no longer be doing Patreon Commissions starting 2024. Commissions are at odds with my time to work on projects like Fatsona and Hackweight, and what ends up happening is I typically postpone work on one to do the other. This ends up with projects taking longer than anticipated, and commissioners waiting upwards of 1-2 months to receive commissions. I've decided that going forward, I would rather dedicate work-time on bigger projects that can be enjoyed by more people than doing personalized commissions. This decision was largely spurred by the success of Hackweight, but also a big desire to not let Fatsona drag-on. I would like to finish Fatsona by 2025 at the latest, and I unfortunately do not see that happening if I continue offering tri-monthly commissions. I hope my current commission-tier patrons understand this decision. Come 2024, all in-progress commission payments will be granted immediately, as well as all future commission payments for yearly pledgers. This means you will get a certain amount of commissions automatically when 2024 rolls around. DM me on Discord (metrack) if you have any confusion about this.

I do plan on adding a new benefit in place of commissions, but I am still unsure what would be a suitable replacement. If you have any ideas, please suggest them!

Lastly, I just wanted to touch a bit on the future of Hackweight going forward. These will also be a bit more out there time-line wise, but I think having these plans down is a good idea.

With the launch of Hackweight, it's become clear that the game needs some accessibility features for people who have a hard time beating the characters within the limit of the timer. Based off of feedback received, I plan to add the following QOL improvements and features in the not too far out future:

-Timeless version: A hack attempt is always active, and all that is needed to advance is to generate the goal amount. No timer and no real way to lose- for a casual experience of the game.
-Difficulties: Different options to change the hack attempt goals. Go easy for 50% less hack score needed, or go with hard to take on a new challenge with doubled required hack score.
-Gallery: See the Full sequence of each completed Character outside of their level in a Gallery.
-Multiple Input: A new feature on Hackweight screens that can repeat Inputs for enhances and other commands. Options are 1,2,5,10, and 25.
-Win statistics: See which plugins were the most effective and how you played through the level.
-Other QOL: Pastes now have 3 uses before expiring. Clicking on plugins will automatically put their enhance/unlock command in your bar. New unlockable plugins will have ! visuals on them. Reroll command for RW plugin for keyboard accessibility.

Following this update, there are plans to add new content to the game! These plans are very new and subject to change, but this is a good idea of the direction atm:

-At least 3 new characters, Ashe is confirmed.
-A "final" character to bookend the game.
-8 New plugins.
-An Endless/Arcade mode to the game.
-Modding support.
-More narrative/ fanservice elements.
-SAVING!
-Public release.

No ETA on these larger updates, but you'll likely be hearing about them more not too long from now!

Thank you for reading this update! I love you guys and I hope to continue to make awesome content for everybody c: