Lillymo Games, Side Quest, Taxes, and Mailers: A Note From Colin (Patreon)

Hey All,

I hope you're all doing well, that you're enjoying your summer (if you're in the northern hemisphere!), that you and your families and friends are staying safe, and you're having a good time here on Colin's Last Stand's Patreon.

There are some things (four, in particular) I wanted to run by you guys and gals, just so you knew what was going on in a few notable CLS-related arenas. I figured a post that covers everything would be best, so I don't flood your feeds and annoy you.

First and foremost, let's talk about my role with Lillymo Games. As I'm sure you know, Lillymo was the developer of the game I wrote, Twin Breaker, and our collaboration (as I've noted in the past) will continue moving forward. However -- for clarity's sake -- I wanted to let you all know that Colin's Last Stand (the entity) has officially acquired 49% of the Ontario, Canada-based developer, and that I will now be the studio's Chief Creative Officer and Lead Writer.

Why is this relevant? Well, it's important for you folks to know primarily because I've stated many times in the past that, outside of Twin Breaker, I have no financial stake in the studio's previous games. This is no longer true. Any Lillymo-developed game you purchase -- even Perils of Baking and Habroxia, titles I didn't work on -- will financially benefit me moving forward. I want to be fully transparent about that. And naturally, our future games will likewise financially benefit me (Habroxia 2 comes out this fall, Twin Breaker 2 next year, and our JRPG likely in 2022), but that goes without saying.

So, in short: CLS owns a minority stake in Lillymo Games, I am the CCO of the company, and that's something you should know about! It'll keep me very busy, which brings me to the next point.

That next point being about Side Quest, CLS' YouTube channel.

As you may have noticed, while I keep posting Sacred Symbols there every week (and will continue to do so), the channel has largely been populated by videos from MrMattyPlays, a friend of mine, a YouTuber and podcaster, and a talented individual that I'm super pleased to have on board. However, Matty's videos have been going up every other week. To get an every week cadence going on, we're bringing in Dustin to fill the gap. Dustin (as you know) is my editor, but he's also a YouTuber and podcaster, and he's gonna start posting some Side Quest videos of his own, too. Sophia, who was writing Side Quest episodes as we could produce them, has opted not to participate in this new structure, and we wish her well. Continue to follow her on Twitter so that you can see what she's up to outside of CLS. She's awesome, and I'm proud of the work she did for us!

Will I return to doing Side Quest videos myself? Probably one day. But, from a business perspective, it's the least important product we do, it's not really supported by Patreon, I pay for it largely out of pocket, and I don't want the channel to just lay fallow. I'm far too busy with the core CLS products right now, and now I have game dev-related tasks to attend to as well, and those tasks are also important to me. So, in short: Expect more regular Side Quest episodes from two sources, instead of one.

Thirdly (is that a word?), I want to talk about taxes. Weird, I know. But necessary.

If you haven't seen, Patreon is going to start charging sales tax for some pledges beginning in July. You can read more about the situation here, but basically, various state and federal laws have required Patreon to start collecting sales tax on pledges if certain products and services are being rendered. I've done my best to mitigate this on my end (for instance, as many of you are here simply to support me and not necessarily to receive something, this lowers the tax burden, etc.), but depending on where you live, you may see a small increase in the cost of your subscription. Rest assured, these taxes are unavoidable, and none of it goes in my (or Patreon's) pocket. However, it's worth noting that many of you (particularly in Europe) have already been dealing with this, and that many others won't be affected at all. I encourage you to read all about it and draw your own conclusions. But I didn't want you to be blindsided by this, particularly before the month ended. If you need to make adjustments, I respect that, but really, the cost should be pennies on the dollar at most.

Finally, I wanna talk about mailers, which go out each month to top-end CLS Patrons. This will be brief.

As you guys know, I'm way behind on this. Like, several months. COVID has a lot to do with that, as does my move, but I wanted you to rest assured that you will receive your promised goods by the end of the summer, and that I'll be all caught up in August. I haven't forgotten you, and I appreciate your patience! Life has been hectic, and this has totally fallen through the cracks. It's unacceptable, and I apologize. Give me some time, and we'll be golden.

Okay, I think that's it. If you have any questions, you can always DM me and I'll get back to you. Otherwise, I'll see you on the shows. <3