Update 6 Nov. 2023 (Patreon)

I am still plugging away at the first release and am very hopeful for a release before the Thanksgiving holiday (for my U.S. patrons) --- about two weeks from now! I just wanted to provide a little more detail as we hit what I hope is the home stretch.

The game will have a number of different optional elements, based on either explicit choices or as unforeseen consequences for other choices. 

First, there are different relationship types: monogamous (husband & wife together), swinging (h & w with other couples, together), open (h & w with other partners separately), and "cuckold" (w with other partners, h with no one). There will also be the option for either h or w to "cheat" by pursuing something w/o the other's consent. A lot of the scenes cross over among these different paths: sometimes occurring exactly the same across different paths, sometimes appearing with slightly different text. The player will be able to choose their preferred relationship type in a scene toward the beginning of the game (though there are choices before that that may affect which options appear). It will be possible for the player to change the relationship in future updates, and it may be possible for the relationship to change as an unintended consequence of future choices. It will always be my intent that unintended consequences be fully logical, even if the player does not have full control over them.

Second, there will be different preferences for outside partners, for the different paths that include them. I want to try to include at least a little bit of content for each of these, as well as triggers that will allow the player to exclusively pursue one of them or to enjoy all of them at the same time. At this point, I am including "lesbian" (technically bisexual because she is married to a man), interracial, and older man as possible partners for the wife. There are also two potential partners for the husband. And there is one "swinging" scene with both husband and wife with another couple.

Obviously, this first release has been quite ambitious. A lot of people will play this first release and decide whether or not they want to follow or support its progress. So I want the first release to make a strong first impression, provide a solid foundation for future updates, and realistically represent the game's future content. I should also mention that my vision does involve some of the above paths converging at different parts of the game --- in other words, each possible path/preference combination will not necessarily have its own unique ending. I have a pretty good idea about the different endings that I want to include and how I plan to get there.

Future updates will not be this big. My approach will be to put out an update every month. Some months will have bigger updates and some months will have smaller updates. The focus will be on maintaining a regular schedule so that the game wraps up within a reasonable amount of time. Ideally, the game will be fully developed/completed within 2 years. Maintaining some discipline and avoiding content creep will be the keys to success on my part.

Next, I am looking at options for displaying progress on each update, to increase the transparency for patrons. One option is simply to increase the number and frequency of these updates (though hopefully they won't all be this long :) ). I have also looked at a couple of web-based task list applications (like Trello), but I am not sure if that sort of thing is the best solution. I will come back to the search once I am ready to release the first version of the game.

Finally, I will be revisiting the Patreon tiers & benefits sometime in the next two weeks. There are going to be changes now that In Their Own Hands is the main focus, and I want to make sure that I give you enough time to change your tiers if you want, after playing the game but before the next charge on December 1.

Thanks again for continuing to support the development of these two games. It has been a long and troubled road over the past year, but we are almost at the new destination!