I'm going to address the ~10 people making repeated "I'm annoyed and it's vry important" comments:
I've been a game developer for just short of one year now, and in that time I've provided nearly seven hours of what many of you would call at least above-average quality gameplay and visual story content (weighed by the average player, because obviously it will be less if you skip or speed-read without taking in all of the imagery). If you factor the separate paths and choices, perhaps even more than that. In total, more than a full-sized novel's worth of story... in gameplay format... in less than a single year. There may be developers who are faster than me, but this wasn't easy/I'm still learning.
For roughly 9 months out of that year, I was also working a full-time job... 58 hours per week for the first three months, 36 hours for the next 5ish months, and then 45 hours when the COVID shit started up until I was finally able to quit just over two months ago. I'd get home after pulling 10 hour shifts, dog ass tired, and then force myself to sit my ass in front of the computer and work on the games for hours
regardless. This was not something that my brain would allow me to do for long, however, due to exhaustion. Sleeping a whopping two to four hours a night was simply not enough, and it was getting to the point where I could no longer work on the game on nights that I worked my normal job.
During this time, since I started working on the games: I've lost two close relatives... my mother and my baby nephew... and my brother (my nephew's father) lost his mind and succumbed to schizophrenia, which is a major/life-altering problem that I'm still dealing with/trying to help him through on a daily basis. Considering we were already a very small family, this meant that
all of the responsibility of dealing with these things fell on
my shoulders... I had to deal with all of this alone... so in the midst of working a full-time job and working on the game, I was also dealing with the slow decline and eventual death of my mom... and the sudden and tragic death of a kid who was like my own son.
I can assure you that, had Radiant not boosted my income
just enough to be able to work on the games full-time, the Polarity update would not even be out right now... but those who believe this has negatively impacted the development of the game will not let you tell them otherwise, as their minds have been made up since the day it was announced. Unfortunately, I've already explained all of this... but here once again we've come full-circle. I've communicated regularly via both Discord and Patreon, contrary to the ~5 patrons who rush here to complain, as if I'm forcing them to support the game, the moment 20 days passes where I don't make a Patreon post with fully-detailed progress reporting and what they arbitrarily deem to be "sufficient explanation of what's happening."
Putting all of this aside, I have never once averted responsibility for my failure to announce when I'd be missing the deadlines I'd set. I've always taken responsibility for that/been honest about it... but a vocal minority has taken the most cynical view of the situation possible and come here to make it sound like I miss deadlines and go into hiding. I do not. I am always available on Discord, and I always reply ASAP when I receive direct messages. What I will not do, however, is entertain arbitrary rage-comments in the court of public opinion.
Contrary to those painting the narrative that I'm offering ridiculous, half-assed excuses, I'm a big proponent of accountability and I take responsibility for my actions, so if someone tells you I'm making weird excuses: take it with a grain of salt or assume it is just a classic case of "lost in translation."
1) I never said "delayed a weekend because I forgot to put in music,"
2) I never said I "uploaded the wrong version," however, I did upload Ch4 with '.rpy' files included in the zip that needed to be removed: a common mistake, one much easier to make when you're sleep deprived, so it needed to be re-uploaded and in the meanwhile I caught a few more errors and decided to just skip releasing the game in beta.
When reading comments like these, it's not really a wonder why you guys get droves upon droves of half-assed 15 minute games & updates with little depth, choices, lewd content, or nuance. You can't have it both ways: you either get speedy updates... or attention to detail. I haven't had a break from working in over thirteen years: yet despite this I still work tirelessly on the games/take virtually no vacation days. So when I sit at my PC for 20 hours straight until I'm straight up falling asleep to get these updates out to you guys, it's extremely demoralizing to get here and see comments like this. The vast majority of those complaining about slow updates are the same people who flock to game threads to trash them when updates are too short, or when things are not up to standard. Welp, you can do that here all you like but your cynicism will be met with optimism, because I'm optimistic about the future of both games and I know the vast majority of its fans are too (this is my nice way of telling you you're wasting your time). They're not interested in a pissing contest with you, so you won't always hear from them, but trust me when I say there's far more of them than you.
And finally... there is no narrative more flawed than the, "He's not releasing updates, updates that come with droves of new patrons and a surge in income fast enough! He must therefore be delaying for the money!"
Well... it simply doesn't work like that. If I could push out updates that maintain the same level of quality once per month, I'd be a very rich guy. When a new month comes and there's still no update, we often lose patrons rather than gaining them... so once again, if I was interested in "milking" people for their money, I'd opt for the fast-route and stop putting 100+ hours into subtle details like changing facial expressions and smooth transitions. To those who think I'm in it for the money, I extend you the option to simply not support me: and if you already have and feel that you've been swindled, please reach out to me as I'll more than happily issue a refund to you.
I love this game but it's making me feel awful for going the harem route to the point I'm thinking of restarting for a Naomi only run. She's too precious and doesn't deserve me sleeping around on her.
Don't do it, you will regret it.
As the saying goes... "there's light at the end of the tunnel."
As well as all the things said above I also hate when updates for VNs end on a bad note as if ending on a depressing scene is some-how going to be some really cool cliff-hanger ...
It can sometimes work in TV because the next ep is only a week away, but in VNs where the next update is at best at least a month away, if not like in this case probably 6 months away, it is just really annoying and doesn't hype me to want to wait for the next update at all.
Dreams of Reality just did the same thing, as if the last thing I want to remember of a VN while waiting ages for the next update is how the daughter of the MC just got killed.
Perhaps the worst part is its bullshit anyway since we know in this story the MC isn't going to die, so the only thing that last scene did was leave a bad feeling towards the cop for everyone who saw it.
A far better way to end this update would have been either end it before the MC gets in the fight or end it once that shit-heel murderer gets whats coming to him.
If you think the update ended where it did "because cool cliffhanger," you're mistaken. You'll understand why it needed to end where it did when you play the next chapter. When speculating, it's always a good idea to stop and ask yourself, "
Why was this done. Is there a good/valid reason for it?" But if you haven't seen what comes next you can't possibly know the answer. (Spoiler: the answer would be yes).
Edit: If you're someone who is hung up on the tragedy and/or dark undertones of the story so far, or believe that it's a bit over-the-top: bear in mind that there's still a ton that has not been revealed or concluded yet. The story so far has been a melting pot, and it's just a matter of time before things come together. Every crucial choice you've made, all the way back to the very first scene with Tanya, has a major impact on the story which leads to certain "outcomes," many of which have not yet been revealed... and some of the plot-points are far from concluded. In other words, I suggest waiting for more before letting this worry you too much... as the story is not even halfway completed yet. And if this isn't your type of story that's okay too/perfectly reasonable and understandable.
