dev diary: summer planning (Patreon)

i mostly took time off these past couple weeks to recharge after all the stuff i've been releasing. so the only work i've gotten done lately is drawing comic strips, and updating my games with a few new translations... this is the bare minimum for me, and i've otherwise been spending time away from my computer playing videogames!

i've had a bunch of time to think and plan out my schedule, so i wanted to share some of those plans today so you guys know what to look forward to ;o my mid-year update (for all patrons) is coming up on the 30th, so i'll be mentioning a few of these things again in that post probably... but i wanted to give a more detailed one to you guys ahead of time anyway! so here goes!!!

another piece of candy

the 7th anniversary is coming up on august 27th! so there are 2 major things i want to do around that time:

• an event where fans can vote on a new cast member to add to the comic
• physical books!!! (plus digital versions for itch.io)

because i want to have the mental space to focus on this while still making treat 8, i decided to skip yaoi jam... i was really tempted to join that one so i could keep my jam year going, but i don't want to juggle finishing (and then translating) a new VN while i'm doing all this other stuff, because it would definitely mean no progress would be made on treat otherwise. someday, yaoi jam... someday......

anyway, the event!! there will be daily updates with 7 potential characters to choose from (many are main characters that haven't appeared in the comic yet, like marzipan and astragalus). so people who haven't played all the games will have some idea of who each of them is, then there will be a poll at the end where readers can vote for their favorite. after that, the winner will appear regularly in the comic :)

i'm really looking forward to doing this--i started planning it way earlier in the year, and i had been trying to figure out a good time to start it and thought that summer would be best. i forgot the anniversary was in summer... so it actually lined up perfectly without me realizing. hooray!

if everything goes well, i'd like to do another event like this in the future, so everyone can see their faves more often <3

i know i talked about doing books before, but this time i mean it!!!!!! when i was first putting the pdf for this comic together, i started feeling really overwhelmed because there were so many strips and i wasn't sure where to cut it off, or if i should try to do one huge book, and if my handwriting was going to even be legible in book form, etc etc... i had a lot of worries about it. but i think i want to split them up into manageable sizes after all! once i do, i'll have some cute pdfs to put on itch.io, and i can send them off to get printed for real...!

my current plan is to do a limited run, and just order like 50 copies (patrons will get first dibs!). i think the amount is reasonable for orders that i'll be able to send out on my own. i don't feel GREAT about limiting the amount, but it's not like i'm a book guy anyway... this way it'll feel like a cool collector's item, i hope. i want to draw a cute gumdrop keychain you can get with it too <3 speaking of which...

new merch era!

because i'll be getting used to shipping stuff out to people, i think it's a good chance to do more than just books! previously the only merch i've had available was through redbubble, because it was basically that or nothing... but they've made a policy change in the past couple months that raises their fees a lot depending on a bunch of confusing factors, and because of this i'm kind of done with them lol.

so, i will be closing my redbubble shop at some point this summer. i took down a few things already (i think mostly the buttons???) so... i wanted to give a heads up that it's the last call if you were thinking of getting anything from there.

i don't want to take things away without putting up something new to take its place, which is why i'm thinking of what kinds of things i could offer myself! i want to do small things like buttons and charms for sure, but if you guys have requests for anything in particular, definitely let me know and i will look into it...!

so far all this stuff has been hypothetical, but... there IS something in the works already that i just got the prototype back for last week...!! I'M SORRY I CAN'T ANNOUNCE IT YET!!!!! i will tease that it's BAD END THEATER related. but that's all i can say. super pumped for everyone to get to see it soon enough...!

misc updates

another really cool thing that happened recently was that humble bundle asked to include BAD END THEATER in their pride bundle! i've bought their bundles in the past, so i was honored one of my games could be a part of that... they're raising money for the trevor project, so please let your friends know they could get a bunch of cool games while giving to charity! waaaah!!

the bundle stuff was big enough that i felt really emotionally overwhelmed by it, so i haven't been posting on cohost at all... i've actually started to think that being on any type of social media isn't good for my mental health, so i tried taking a break from even looking at it. and, surprise, i feel better not looking! i'll continue to post art and updates there for the time being, but i think i have to go back to mostly being a hermit. it was fun getting to participate in that kind of space again for a while, so thank you to everyone who commented on my posts there! i don't want to get too personal, but it meant a lot to me to get to feel "normal" online again. sorry if this part is a bummer--i'm a little sad about it too. but i know i'll just feel more anxious if i keep being active there, so i decided it's best to move on.

on a lighter note, i got back into vocal synth stuff! and i finished another english cover of a song i like!! it's eleanor again, but i bought kasane teto recently so i'm going to try to make songs with her too... anyway, i need to make the music video so i can put it on youtube. hoping i can do that sometime this week, gonna leave it a surprise until then.

i have trouble getting myself to work on music, and i consider this stuff more of my hobby than anything. but my ultimate goal is to write more vocal tracks i can use in my games in the future, so i want to get more comfortable doing it. i kept giving up on songs when they weren't coming out how they sounded in my head, but the only way to overcome that is to just make more songs! gotta quit being a coward so i can make things i want to make!!!

thanks for reading!

kind of a long update today, but i think i covered everything that's been on my mind lately. oh, i have some travel plans in october, so i'll get to take a real vacation later this year :) and not just a half-break where i play video games and plan out my schedule like this hahaha.

have a good week, everyone!!