Looking Back and Moving Forward (Patreon)

So, back when I started this project I had something different in mind. After hours (and hours) spent on games like Free Cities and Whoremaker, and various slave manager sims, I found that everything I played "almost" exactly what I was looking for, but missed the mark for me in one place or another. This is what finally prompted me to roll up my sleeves and make the game "I" wanted to play.

However, over the weeks, the "game I wanted to play" quickly morphed into "the story I wanted to tell" I found myself much less concerned with the simulation aspect of the project in its initial state as I was writing events, stories, and progression paths. What started as an open ended game had become something a little more concise, and that's where we are today!

The story is mostly written, and the events are all mapped out. There is a beginning, and there is a defined ending. You won't have enough time and money (probably) to do everything there is to do within the allotted time span, and the choices you make in that limited time will determine the ending that you get. Honestly, I'm really happy with the 0.4 release, as I feel that this encapsulates the game's more defined direction in a really good way.

So then, what's really changing? The big one is that weekly releases just aren't realistic anymore. With the game becoming more story focused, there needs to be more substantial content with each release. Otherwise, it's like an author releasing their book two paragraphs at a time. Expect 1-2 updates per month, in addition to weekly updates on Patreon. I'm also keeping a very close eye on the TFGameSite discussion board, and respond to posts and messages as rapidly as I can.

For the immediate future, I plan to move full speed ahead on the game's main story, which is set to end on October 27th in game time. Once you can play through the entire game and see at least one or two endings, I'll consider it to be moved out of Alpha and into Beta. From there it will be a lot of "filling in the gaps" and writing complete routes for all the character, leading of course to additional endings. As far as endings are concerned, expect a couple Bad Ends, which will cut your game short. These won't be surprises, you should be able to see them coming from a mile away, and they won't be so spread out that the consequences won't become apparent until it's too late. Bad ends are fun, but I think they need to be fair as well.

Concerning Alpha 0.4. I hope everyone's enjoying what I'm doing with John's arcs. I was surprised to see so many people were as interested in his character as they were, so I hope I can meet expectations! This release also marked the first major story event, the addition of the start of weekend content, and the first new tier of serum!

Alpha 0.5 will focus on the next story event, which will trigger on September 13th and conclude on September 22nd. It'll be a big one that you can potentially fail, and it will finally put an underutilized character to good use! I also plan on bringing the early family events more in line with office events structurally, as well as expanding serum paths for all characters.

Look forward to, and please send any and all comments, feedback and critique my way.

Thank you all so much for your patreonage, it really means a lot to me!!!