Progress Update | 02/11/2020
Hello there you beautiful, cute and very wholesome people!
Another week, another month, another progress update!
And it feels weird to announce it like that while I wasn't able to provide a new update after four weeks...But more about that later!
Work on 0.15 is still going very well. Beta 5 is almost finished in terms of writing so Sandra patrons can expect the release this week, like usual! I think 0.15 will feature the most meaningful and impactful things we ever had in My New Family yet - And a fair warning, I will end this update on a cliffhanger. But I promise it will be a nice one, like all the last cliffhangers has been. I'm pretty sure you guys will like this one ( and hate me again a bit ). I know cliffhangers are not something a lot of you people enjoy but for me it's a very good way to make you hyped for the next update - without making you scared that something bad happens.
As you can see I also made a few more My New Memories render again. This is becoming a habit, I usually spend some time posing the characters and then just let it render while I continue my work on My New Family. So far this has been working out pretty good! I hope you guys enjoy them!
Okay, now to something more personal, I guess...
In January 2020 I started working full time on My New Family and changed my work routine in general a lot. Before January 2020, one update of MNF contained three ingame days ( and was still released on a monthly basis ). Since then I was able to release one update every month with no delays.
What this means was usually the following: In order to release two betas in one week I had to finish writing one ingame day in one or two days - that means writing 1500-2000 lines of code and dialogue in this time. And then of course, making the cgs, which is a very tiring thing to do ( but not as demanding as writing ).
And it worked out - At least that's what I thought. But after 0.14 I felt...Bad. I think that is the easiest way to say it. I pretty much had no idea on what I want to do now. I had zero clues on where I wanted to go after 0.14, no idea for any events, character progression or anything else in the game. I think this was the moment I realized how much pressure I put on myself to keep the monthly schedule with these big updates. And don't get me wrong, I love making big updates, I think if you guys had to wait for some time you deserve a lot of content.
The truth is, I never felt so bad before when it came to working on My New Family. I was on the verge of burning out and on quitting everything because I didn't want to disappoint anyone. I didn't want to let any of you guys down so it started to spirale even more on me. I couldn't work but I wanted to work - I wanted to do something but I wasn't able to do anything. This kept going for quite a few days and I thought that's it...But thank god that wasn't the case.
So I started to set this new schedule in my head. One beta each week. Six weeks for one full release. I wanted to this sooner but I always had this extreme guilt in my head that you guys would be sad or disappointed if it takes longer - if I can't provide monthly updates anymore. I started to do it anyway, I started work on 0.15 and with this schedule in mind I was able to work at a much better pace - which also lead to way better events in 0.15, according to my amazing patrons. And so far it has been like that for every single beta. They are getting better and better, with more meaningful and emotional content.
So...That's where we are standing at the moment. Beta 5 will release this week which means Pre release is next week - and public release most likely as well. I will give a exact release date once I'm done writing the script for the last day of 0.15. I just thought you guys would be interested in seeing what is on my mind.
I'm very very very VERY grateful for each and everyone of you amazing people. Everyone who told me to take it slower, everyone who was understanding and motivated me to keep this schedule - Thank you. It's because of those amazing people that I didn't burn out. That I didn't quit. And that I will continue to deliver wholesome content for all of you. I love you guys, you are the best community in the world for me. <3
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