I started developing the update in late June, after Where it all began 0.6 released. So it took around 5 months to create this update.
But during this time I was also desperately trying to get Blender to work for the WiAB rework. A lot of time and energy was put into that.
Besides that, Chapter 3 took a huge toll on my mental health because it felt like I was going nowhere. I think that happens when you do 1850 still renders and 10000 animation renders.
You finish 100 renders and you just know that is not even a small part of it.
The quality also took a hit thanks to the time pressure. I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted to on a render because there was always this nagging feeling.
Meanwhile, you are under fire from every direction because it takes so long. Then you start to overthink,
"What if the update is not good enough after all this time?"
Also one of the reasons why I said to not get hyped about Chapter 3. We are only leaving the introduction and many people might expect too much from such an early chapter.
And another burden that was gladly lifted off my shoulders was the financial aspect. Here in Germany, we have the highest energy prices in the world, and boy, did I get a juicy letter early this month. I think I don't need to mention the tax rates here in Germany and the now increasing costs of health insurance thanks to Covid.
If Chapter 3 would not have given me much support, I would have needed a part-time job which would have fucked the development cycle a lot.
I am just glad this isn't a problem right now.
But now that the games have their own PC and the Chapters are cut in half, we are going to have much more frequent updates.
If it was about the money, then the games would have a harem + Loli tag.
I gain nothing from dragging the development out. I have five games planned in this universe and I would love to finish SG and WiAB as fast as I can so that I can start working on the next game. (Without rushing them of course.)
Still, glad you like the game.