One Direction (hope I don't get DMCA'd for my title) (Patreon)

As the majority of you now know we were informed via Patreon of a DMCA notice on behalf of WB (Warner Bros).  Sunset and myself had talked shortly after the notice on how we need to handle what happened.  We both agree that it's usually not about what happened but how you handle it, that people remember.  So we began this by being extremely transparent and this will be a theme of the new direction in which we go. 

Our Patreon will now be completely focused on game development.  All art, communications, info, rewards, everything will all be organized around this singular area.  Sunset is putting all fan art on the shelf (not say he won't ever do it ever again), and all art that will be released will be art that will be part of development of all IP's owned exclusively by us.  This allows us to have a much more focused approach to the content we give you .  For example before Sunset would break off from game development to design and draw a picture (upwards of 5 hrs), this happened 4x per week adding up to 20+ hours that went not to game development.  Those 20+ hours will now be going strictly to assets that will be added to the game. Character sheets, content, CG sets.  Also we are very uniquely positioned as Sunset's possess amazing artistic talents. Using those talents he wants to merge his comics and games.  Both mediums intertwined/connected, providing backstory, following popular characters, side stories, the options are endless. This is what will be happening on the creative side.

We are going to revolve around the early access theme that we see so prominently on Patreon (ex. Fenoxo).  Full public builds will be fully working and released at key stages of development.  While on Patreon our supporters will have access to the current build state (being as far as 2-3 full months ahead of what is out for the public).  We are exploring the idea of doing bi-weekly builds during the beginning phases of game development.  Just to give you an idea of what can be completed in 2 weeks time Bend or Break was made in that time frame.  Instead of a write up on what changes you will see, before the release of the build there will be a short video talking about what went into this build.  This will allow non-Patreon supporters to see what is going on first hand (early access of course to our patrons).  We want to start a bi-weekly web show, where we will answer community questions, talk about anything and everything (priority to Patreon members, access to live Q&A before).  Over the next few days I will lay out our rewards and distribution plan and share it will all of you.  The idea in all of this is to provide as much time/resources as possible to the development of our games.

Injustice will be shelved for the time being.  We cannot upload it to Patreon,  and we will be exploring what to do with the game.  Our options being releasing the source files to allow the community to finish the game, re-skinning (could take a couple months) and finishing the project under a different title (think NonJustice, or UnJustice).  Our main priotiry at this time is to have our Patreon up and running smoothly and efficiently.  We had planned for a year long run after Injustice was finished with 3 expansions covering 4 months of development each.  This now has to be reworked with a new plan (takes time).  After the dust settles with Injustice, Sunset and myself will discuss what will happen with it (we both believe it shouldn't go to waste don't worry).  Injustice had upwards of 6 months of development we will make sure it doesn't rot.

The first document we will release will be on Tuesday January 12, 2016, this will be what we call a vision document.  This document will highlight key game play mechanics, story outline, setting, development timeline, and other info.  This will allow for input from our supporters.   I'm unable to provide details to what is under development or the setting your just going to have to wait for the vision document.  Sunset and myself had already been in the planning stages of what would have been Bend or Break 2 or something similar (This was to follow Injustice, as a small project).  Because of this planning we are able to move rather rapidly into development and potentially have something substantial for the end of JANUARY.  Following the vision document we will have the outline for distribution and reward tiers on the day following.  So stay tuned.

In conclusion, I know this won't sit well with some and Sunset and myself apologize.  We have already lost upwards of 40 patrons,  we are hoping not to many more leave but I want to say that no matter what they will be back.  This plan you see today was the ultimate end goal of our Patreon for 2017.  The idea was to seamlessly transition towards what you will see, but that's not what happened.  I do want to urge anyone here who is thinking of leaving to stick around for a couple weeks.  You can always cancel your pledge before Jan 31 and not be charged.  I want to thank you all for the amazing out pouring of support.  Even in places were we thought we were not liked, people came out and showed amazing love and support. Lastly I once again want to thank you all for your continued support during this transition, and I look forward to showing you what we have planned.

Sincerely SmokeShank

Tl:DR : Going OC but with lots of cool stuff to go along with it....Oh and Injustice isn't dead just sleeping for a bit.