- Thread starter N2TheFire
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- Dec 28, 2019
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(SubscribeStar)Hey friends, there have been some developments I'd like to tell you about. So I am writing this personal log.
Alright, buckle up, relax, and hold on tight... this will all seem a bit crazy. So you all know (from my last devlog) that I had got pretty sick for about a week straight and stayed in bed that whole time. And I didn't go into details, but I was sick a few times before that also. Most of this bullshit sickness is being brought on by stress from my full time job, our income headaches and bills, etc.
Now, I've also mentioned retirement. I can retire whenever I feel like I'm ready to. I have a 401k plan. My wife came up with a crazy solution to most of our problems. If we could pay off our house, her car, and our credit cards, we could survive off her income alone because we would just be paying light bill, phone bill, etc... I have more than enough in my 401k to pay off that shit (I've been with the company for 25 years). I just need to get in touch with them on Monday to try and estimate how much my 'lump sum' would be after taxes. If it really is enough to cover all that crap, then I may very well be retiring much sooner, like by the end of this year.
This decision also depends on how things go with my Patreon and SubscribeStar subs. Because, of course I would still want to have some kind of income coming in. I have a feeling though that being free from my full time job, giving me a lot more time to work on my games... this could only benefit me. A lot of subscribers will join for a month to get an update or to contribute (thanks!!!) and some will actually stay for a while. I'm not one to gamble, so if I do choose to retire early and use my 401k to pay off everything, it won't really matter too much as long as I don't lose a ton of subscribers all of a sudden. But I've seen where many will leave and give the reason that I wasn't active enough or too long between updates.
What would my retiring mean to you? Simple... I'd be working on my games a LOT more than before. I would work normal work hours on game stuff, and take time off in the evening like a normal person. And that is a whole lot better than the current situation - working full time job all day, then trying to use the evening time to hang out with wife, eat supper, watch some tv, then do some game work before bed. HUGE difference there. It will mean more updates... probably better content since I will have more time to 'perfect' things. I may actually be comfortable with giving you release dates, and more progress updates as well. I'll be a lot more active on discord and probably posting updates and other patreon content more often.
How can you help this situation? Easy... subscribe for a month, any tier. Get friends to. If my subs jump up quite a bit with this next release, that would be the perfect timing should I decide to let my boss know I plan to retire. I am hopeful that this Last Human update will be ready before the end of this month. Some extra subscribers (even for just a month) will boost my income a bit while we wait for our money to pay off things. But mostly, it will tell my wife that I can get folks to subscribe. She's the boss and this was actually her idea. But she needs to see that my little side-project doing this can actually grow.
I should know before the end of next week where I stand on all this and of course I'll keep you guys in the loop because retiring would be a really big deal. For now, I'll be spending the weekend trying to get more renders completed for the update. Thank you all for the support!
Love you all, ...Fire
- Dec 28, 2019
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Hello my friends...
I thought I would update you guys on my situation and where I am on the LH update.
Personal Update: First of all, I have officially put in for my early retirement. My last day is December 31st (yay me!). What that means for you guys is - my game development will get full focus. I will be doing this FULL TIME beginning January. This is going to significantly change how often you see updates to my projects. I know you guys have been waiting (fuck, 9 months now) for a new updated release. So many things got in the way, mainly my full time job. And unfortunately, this update is still going to take me just a bit longer because I am training someone to replace me, preparing things for my retirement, holidays coming up with family coming in to visit... etc. It's a busier time than you would think. So if you just bare with me a bit longer, things are going to change a lot. Not having to stress with that full time job and splitting my time between that and everything else... I can't even explain to you how awesome that is going to be.
With this becoming my main source of income, you can believe me when I say I will be devoting a LOT more time to getting things done and writing more and better content. Instead of getting up in the morning to start work with IT crap, I'll be getting up in the morning and firing up Studio, Atom, Video editor, and a good playlist of music. Man that is going to be great. I can't wait. For now though, things are just going to slowly move along as usual and I'm sorry about that because I know you guys are tired of waiting for releases. But, come January 2026, you're going to see a lot more activity from N2TheFire Games... much more than you're used to. So keep faith in me. I am excited and that excitement is going to breathe new life into LH, Serenity, Camilla... as well as other projects I am preparing for. Being free of the daily IT stress is also going to help with the writer's block I frequently deal with. My creative side will be unshackled... free at last.
Last Human: Episode 6: I am not a lot further from where I was when I posted my last devlog. I've been doing what I can, when I can. It's the best I can do right now until I am done with this full time job. I did complete 2 animations and about 100 new renders since last devlog. So it's not like I'm not getting anything done at all... just not as much as I would like. Every day, SOMETHING gets done, even if only a few renders and some coding edits. I try to get more done on the weekends but usually by the weekend, I'm so tired from the previous week of bullshit that I just need to shutdown my brain for a while.
Serenity: I did get the episode rewritten and I am very happy with it. So once the LH update is done and released, if everything goes as planned, my first task once retired and doing this full time will be the Serenity update.
Camilla: All written and coded. The groundwork for this one is all set. Once Serenity is completed (sometime next year), I'll start working on rendering this one. This will be a short game. Probably between 4 and 6 episodes (but each episode will be quite long with between 1500 and 2000 renders, plus animations).
Future game ideas and graphics improvements: I am still deciding which story I will work on later. I still may do Viral Affair but not sure yet. I have several other really good ideas. I want to do stuff that hasn't been done before. There are quite a few subjects that these games usually focus on that are just too common and I want to move away from that. I do know that for the next big project, I want to upgrade my graphics and I need to learn more about the settings and tricks in Studio that can make my games look a lot better. One thing I may be moving away from is the mod that makes wet skin look more realistic (with little droplets). It's nice, but using that causes a lot of other things to need more work due to what it does with lighting. I'm tired of fighting with that. So might be shifting back to the way it was before I added that mod, and instead focus on things that improve the lighting, shadows, etc. To me, those two things are what make an extraordinary render.
Well, that's all I have for now friends. I do have another render set coming. I just need to finish it up and do the animation. Of course, it's Rin this time. Sharing an image from that set with you. As always, thanks so much to all of you for the support and especially to those of you who recently just started supporting! I can't wait until January
Love you all, ...Fire
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- Dec 4, 2020
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just finished playing what is currently available and i love it. fantastic work so far. right now Lexi is my best girl with the queen in close second. its just a feeling but i think once Aury gets more development and screen time she'll take the #1 spot. but i love absolutely all the girls so far so its tough to even rank them
- Dec 28, 2019
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Hello my friends!
A lot has been happening since I decided to retire, so we'll get right to it. I'll break this down into sections in case you're looking for updates on specific things. Needless to say, retiring has put me in a busier place with my full-time job than I could have ever expected - as I need to train people to take up the mantle and do all the things I was doing plus still fulfill my duties. So, we'll start with that...
My retirement and current situation with development: Nothing has gone as planned. I thought I would be able to finish the Last Human update by the end of November. Here it is December, and I'm really no further along with it. It's about a third of the way completed. I expected to be training and all that, but at the same time we also got surprisingly busy for this time of year. We are normally DEAD through the holidays. So it has been a bit crazy. Between training, writing down processes I've done for 25 years and trying to make it simple to understand... and also still maintaining those processes at the same time (because I'm still working after all)... I barely had a break through Thanksgiving. I literally had off that day only. Weekends I did try to get a bit more done, but also having to unwind after busy weeks of work. I cannot wait until I'm done with it to be honest... I just want to get to a place where the only job I have to think about is Serenity, Last Human, and whatever comes next. And when that day comes... holy shit. Look out. My last day is December 31st with the full time job. I'll take it easy for New Year's day... but then it's balls to the wall. And I am going to love it.
N2TheFire Games 2026: You're going to be seeing some big changes from me in 2026. Much quicker updates, and hopefully better quality. By February, I'll have a brand new computer system with an RTX 5070 16GB card, core i9, 64GB RAM, 2TB NVMe, and 4TB worth of SSD storage. I'll be moving all of my projects over to that computer and it will be strictly for game development. I'll keep my current rig for playing games and other stuff. Meanwhile, I'll be doing work on my games during the day, and sometimes at night depending on what's going on. There will be a lot more time devoted to development than I've ever been able to before. This should mean update releases coming out much quicker.
Last Human update itself: As for the Last Human update... I've given up any hope that I can finish that by Christmas. I don't see things slowing down enough to grant me the time to focus on it at this point. I'll keep chipping away at it as best I can, but I won't rush it and have it turn out like crap. I am feeling like this is going to be a January release. And I hope that is the last time I have to push it because it has been way too long now.
Strangely enough: I am surprised more people haven't dropped subs with me at this point. It tells me two things: there are people who really do pay attention to these devlogs and want to keep supporting... and that I have some REALLY patient followers! LOL! I can't say it enough, I really love you guys... truly. Bottom of my heart yall. No shit. And believe me when I tell you that there will be payoff at the end. I am hopeful once I get into a good rhythm and a much better release schedule... more will sub and help me build a worthy income to keep doing this stuff and building on what I've already done. I'm not at that level just yet. But I do want to earn that place in your hearts and keep people entertained with better stories and graphics.
That's all I have for now. I'm already being pulled into yet another meeting as I post this. Hang in there with me friends... things are going to get a lot better I promise. I just have to take care of this full time job crap and leave on the best terms because - regardless of how busy or stressful it got, they were good to me. A 25-year employee who wore a lot of hats is a difficult position to fill. I'll try to post a few more times before the new year and keep you up to date on what's happening - although it will be much of the same until December 31st. Thanks again to everyone who is sticking with me! And in case I forget to say it... Merry Christmas to you and your families!
Love you all, ...Fire