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Hello,
Season 1 has been released on Epic and GOG on the 5th of June.
I sadly have no way to check how it's going with GOG, as I can't access my partner's account anymore. (Apparently, it's not activated.)
And they keep telling me it's due to temporary maintenance... that's lasted 8 days, while all the other devs I asked who use GOG have no issues and have never seen this error message before.
Sadly, GOG's Partner Support hasn't answered my last E-Mail in which I asked if they are sure that this is what's happening... So, I will wait a little longer, and if nothing happens, I will contact someone else at GOG.
Of course, I don't expect anything game-changing from either GOG or Epic. But as we say in Germany, "Kleinvieh macht auch Mist." (Means something along the lines of small things add up.)
But it's a real feeling of accomplishment now.
There's one more thing, though. I'm now in contact with the German rating agency USK. If I had gotten the official rating, I could've sold SG in Germany. It does cost a minimum of 1300€ (in my case 1800€), but I think it's worth it.
It would've been amazing if I could've released it in Germany last month, but, well, you learn things.
This means I will now get back to the German translation, and I hope to have it out in Germany by the end of the month.
Season 2 - Chapter 1
I'm implementing new strategies to smoothen development. I made a gigantic mindmap of everything that needs to be done.
I also included every single scene for Chapter 1.
Chapter 1 has 28 scenes.
Just for comparison, Season 1 - Chapter 5 had 16 scenes.
Of course, some scenes are small, and some are quite big. But overall, this will be the biggest update I've ever done.
Previews
Today, I have a few Noji focused previews... I just felt her today. I wanted to show some really great Zara renders buuuut... I don't want to show too many previews at once.
Zara's next time. (If she brings home an A)
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And a bonus preview:
When you're on edge 24/7, and he touches your hand.
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I know some would like a render count or a percentage, but I'm sorry, I'll keep it to myself for a while.
I will only say that S2 - Chapter 1 is planned to be released this year.
Taxes, taxes, and even more taxes.
There's a lot of tax talk coming now. If you don't care about it, you can click away. The Dev log will end here for you.
Thanks for your support and time to read until this point.
I think it's important to be somewhat transparent about what's happening behind the scenes, especially regarding the support you guys give me and the planned upgrades.
In the last log, I mentioned that I'd be waiting with the workstation until I know how much pre-tax I'd have to pay...
Less than a week ago, I got an email from my tax office with this information. In the mail were 17 PDFs, all of which had a "Checked" in front of them.
So, my tax offices reviewed them, and they were fine.
When I opened the PDF, it told me how much income and business tax I have to pay every three and two months.
And when I saw the number, I was like... Well, I guess I'll be developing the games from prison soon.
It turns out that there was a typo in it that inflated one of the numbers to something in the late five digits. That was a good scare.
Income tax and business tax are paid separately.
Anyways, what they want from me is still way too much. They're using my 2023 numbers + growth to calculate my pre-tax.
And... There's something I had in 2023 that I don't have anymore... So, due to an unfortunate event, support is down by ~35% compared to 2023.
The amount they want now, if broken down to a monthly base, is 80% of my pre-tax income.
Which is obviously insane. I'm deliberately not adding Steam/Epic/GOG, as I have no numbers of which to go to.
It will still take until July when I see the first payment from Steam. Almost all of it will also go to taxes.
Why?
Because my tax office declares my VAT/UST every month, the government has my 2023 numbers.
Usually, I would have to pay the 2023 taxes in 2025. But because they already saw a rough estimation of my numbers, I have to pay three different bills.
1. The taxes for 2022. Those were calculated in.
2. They raised my pre-tax for 2023 by A LOT, and I have to pay it all at once.
3. The insane 2024 pre-tax on top of the upper two.
That's where all the Steam money is going.
It would've been okay if it had been spaced over a year or so, but not all at once. This ruins my upgrade plans.
And while we asked for the 2024 pre-tax to be lowered with proof that something happened that justifies it, it doesn't mean the government will accept it. They could just say no.
Maybe the Steam or Epic Summer sale will bring in a little extra, which I can dedicate to the workstation fund. Then there's also still WIAB's Steam release in Q4.
I also have to contact Late Kids, Youth 83, The Intangible, and some other artists for Season 2, which is going to cost me a lot again... But it takes priority over the workstation.
So, I will be honest and say I most likely won't be able to get a new workstation this year. It's just not in the cards. The Summer sale or WiAB's Steam release could always surprise us, but I can't rely on it.
I'd say we're just set back by a year in terms of PC upgrades. It's kinda meh, considering that I can set up more renders than it can render overnight, but it's still a good boy.
And yes, I'm thinking about leaving Germany. I actually have a call scheduled for tomorrow with a tax office in a different country. If I can use said "law," I will seriously consider moving in 2025. Unfortunately, thanks to my apartment lease, I'm still stuck in Germany until mid-2025.
It's not great, and I hate that more or less every penny I earn goes somewhere into the expenses, but I'm so incredibly motivated.
Workwise, it's still going to be a great year.
Take care, and thanks a lot for the support!
