- Mar 20, 2019
- 1,290
- 15,951
Hey, first of all thanks for the thoughtful analysis! My tongue was a little in-cheek when I said I avoid looking at anonymous commenters. My supporters know that I'll sometimes comb through various pirate sites and find some utterly unhinged reactions, which I'll share with them to blow off steam. The reason why I post here, chat here, etc. is because the community's been very good to me, and most people here are super chill. I think I read everything posted here, though my ability to reply to all of it falters when I get too busy. I'll do a quick little lightning-round of responses, since I need to get back to rendering.NeonGhosts Although I read you like to protect yourself from strong opinions on your game on Patreon, I did want to take the ballsy chance to give you my opinion. It's not harsh, but there are a few things I wanted to voice my opinion on - before I post reviews later today. It's clear you have passion for the universe you created and love spending time puzzling how things work to connect together. I figured I'd post this in your discord, but since I'm unable to find it - I'll just put this here. I'll put everything in spoiler tags because it might get lengthy and let's not inconvenience people with scrolling.
- Communication, blog posts, etc. : Man, I'm glad people appreciate that. I've always been of the mind that the very least I can do is check in with folks and let them know how things are going, and that I'm alive. I've actually been advised (by paying supporters!) that I should communicate less, hide my income amount on my platforms, etc. to help gain and retain subscribers. But I've always said I'd rather live and die by the stuff I make, than succeed through scumbaggery and subterfuge.
- Orc Exchange: This is actually a project I'd like to do, buuuut I increasingly suspect I won't. I wrote a novel (soon to be serialized on my platforms) which covers a lot of the stuff I wanted to do with Orc Exchange. Fantasy, inter-species romance, etc. So it feels increasingly less pressing.
- Scraps of Other Projects: This is something I've definitely done a lot of.. Pepper was going to be the star of her own game at one point, before I rolled her into FiN.
- Short Stories: I'm glad you like them! I kinda stopped fussing with them, because there's only so many areas of interest I can cover, while keeping them A) non-essential B) canonical to multiple playthroughs. But, I do enjoy writing them. Lets me flex a different set of muscles, and as you said, they do expand the world a bit, with a relatively small investment from me in terms of time/effort.
- Effort and Frustration of Development: Yes and yes! This project has been one of my longest creative commitments, and it's not without its difficulties. But, I still greatly enjoy making it, and I'd like to keep making visual novels for a long time. With any luck, my audience will stick around, and I can keep doing this for years to come. That said.. My next project is definitely going to be a bit smaller in scope. :'D