News about the game's development and current status
You must be registered to see the links
Hello everyone. I know you've been waiting and would like to see the news of the new chapter release here, but for now I'd like to discuss the following with you:
The game currently has a very small number of subscribers on both Boosty and Patreon. The subject matter of the game, sanctions policy, the current state of the world and people's attitudes towards it are having an impact.
Though I am very grateful to the fans who still have the ability and patience to support me.
In my current job I don't have a fixed rate and the cash income depends on the amount of work done.
I made an attempt to go on Steam to somehow make it worthwhile development of the game. I hoped that the game would bring in some reasonable money and allow me to reduce the work load at my main job and allow me to devote at least half of my working day to game development. I spent a lot of time on preparing the Steam version of the game, merging two disparate branches (Russian and English) into one, working with translators, adding mini-games for some gameplay and searching for royalty-free music. Because of this, the release of the next update has been postponed. But I regret to admit that this bet didn't play out.
Sales through Steam are also quite modest. Maybe for the reasons mentioned in the first paragraph. Or maybe the game isn't really that good to generate mass interest.
The first month still brought some funds, but after that the profits came to almost nothing. Which is understandable: those who wanted to support me have already bought the game. Apparently, there is no hope that the situation will ever change.
To date, the “budget deficit” on the development of the next update because of the need to earn a living is about 150 hours. And because of the attempt to go to Steam and the time spent on it, the “deficit” has increased even more.
Now I can only devote 2-3 hours a day to game development. Which is very little, given that almost everything, even “ready” models have to be remodeled for the Soviet entourage. It also takes time to find textures, pictures, references and references to the Soviet culture of the 1980s.
If fully develop the plot of the game (if anyone is interested in it at all), as far as it was conceived - now the game is ready for about a third. If to force the events and slightly shorten it - half. If Steam brought in a reasonable amount of funds, it would take 1.5 - 2 years to fully complete the game.
I do not want to abandon the game, as I would like to express through it some attitude to life, the universe and everything.
But I don't want to feed subscribers with promises either. Especially considering the delay in the release of the current update. I can't yet predict how long it will take me to make up for the lost time, but hopefully the next “gap” between the current upcoming update and the next one will be much smaller.
So now I'd like to consult with you and decide what to do with Boosty and Patreon, especially since the sanctions and Boosty's canceled PayPal payments are making withdrawals problematic for me right now:
1) leave everything as it is, removing only “high” subscription levels (over 10$), which nobody needs anyway. And most people still pay 1$, which is actually unprofitable, because most of it goes in the form of interest to intermediaries (yes, as it turned out, it makes no sense for authors to have subscription levels below 3$).
2) remove all subscription levels completely and transfer everyone to free members, at least for the period of the next 1-2 updates, until the game development comes back to normal (and by then, maybe the sanctions will be lifted or at least mitigated).
3) remove the subscription “for ever” and focus on the Steam version, slowly writing the game in my free time and posting updates as they are released.
Please vote on how willing you are to support further development of the game.
Everyone can vote, even free members, as some subscribers who supported the game development earlier, tired of waiting, have switched to the free level.
