Razrback16

Well-Known Member
Jul 20, 2020
1,818
3,951
thanks a lot for everyone who took from their time to reply to me
and sorry if my question was kinda dumb or inappropriate
i just normally prefer to play a game when it is completed to get the whole thing at once and to be attached, i feel when it's too long between updates or if it takes years to complete the game i lose my interest quickly
but this is so different from any other game that i played before, such a unique story with gorgeous renders, it just hooked me so much that i wished if we could have the full game instantly
thank you again
Ya this game is really good and has tons of potential. It's likely going to be a very very very long time before it's finished though. You're welcome to join us for the ride, just be ready to be patient. :)
 

Kemal Ataturk

Member
Dec 23, 2019
175
453


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)
View attachment 3730020 View attachment 3730021 View attachment 3730018

And a bonus preview:
When you're on edge 24/7, and he touches your hand.
View attachment 3730019
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!
  • Ocean
Why is blud yapping about taxes lmao
 
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RNasc4444

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2022
1,041
4,284
Man...such great memories of a time when the game actually stood out from the deluge of boring mediocrity that's on here. This game had soul back then. It was weird, over the top and cringy sometimes I can't lie but so much more enjoyable for me. Not all bits and pieces were winners but overall I'd still take what this game used to be in a heartbeat if I could :cry:
 

yossa999

Engaged Member
Dec 5, 2020
2,403
16,183
I am back after 7 or 8 months. What is even going on here?
The first season was released on Steam.

What happened to the adult content? What happened to Nami?
If you've seen the CH5 beta, you'll already know that he removed genital pics from the game, including the jacuzzi animation and Vic's pussy, so that's nothing new.
He completed the rework, and the first season released the last part of the updated CH2, including that route with Nami when MC refuses to go on a night heist with Bella and stays home. This has been toned down. Nami, the inexperienced virgin, no longer acts like Nami, the seasoned horny seductress. Also, she doesn't suddenly start taking her clothes off when she finds out Noji is dating Nick.
The initial Steam version had Nami on the lake in a bikini top and she didn't get butt slapped in CH4.5 which was different from the Patreon version where those scenes were left untouched. But this change was reverted when Steam still refused to approve the game without the "Frequent Nudity" tag. Now the Steam and Patreon versions of the first season are identical in terms of nude scenes.

Why are we talking about taxes?
It wasn't "we" talking about taxes, man. It is Ocean sharing the information with his supporters that affects the development of the game. For example, he explains why he can’t right now buy that new super-duper workstation that he planned to buy immediately after the game release on Steam, because of the unexpected increase in taxes.
 

Doomyk

Member
Jun 7, 2019
433
872
To be honest, Miss Marla has always interested me. No, I’m not talking about she’s interesting as a MILF. I’m talking about the fact that she seems like a very important character, if you add up all the information from different paths. Especially with the release of the steam version. It seems as they knew each other before the start of the SG.
I have exactly two theories.
1.She is Nika's real mother(unlikely).
2.She's Summer's mother, especially with her hair changing to brown.
 

AlexFXR

Member
Sep 24, 2023
412
677
For example, he explains why he can’t right now buy that new super-duper workstation that he planned to buy immediately after the game release on Steam, because of the unexpected increase in taxes.
The most interesting thing is that Ocean doesn't say what he needs the workstation for. He certainly doesn’t need it for rendering, because when creating games, even his old video cards are idle.
 

BobTheDuck

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2018
1,899
10,714
To be honest, Miss Marla has always interested me. No, I’m not talking about she’s interesting as a MILF. I’m talking about the fact that she seems like a very important character, if you add up all the information from different paths. Especially with the release of the steam version. It seems as they knew each other before the start of the SG.
I have exactly two theories.
1.She is Nika's real mother(unlikely).
2.She's Summer's mother, especially with her hair changing to brown.
Yeah, I've been wondering about her importance too - I think she asked Amber for shared therapy with Nika because of something other than Vic's accident. Neither of them are going to Amber because of Vic's accident after all. We know that Amber's talking to Marla about dating for example - that's not something that comes to mind as therapy for accident trauma. So Stephanie wants Nika there for some other reason I presume, and dealing with him makes her nervous enough to smoke indoors. There's a reason the police didn't come to Nika's house to question him, and Stephanie says that Nika is part of her 'problems', plural. So there is definitely a connection beyond what we currently know.

1. I'd considered that too. Nika doesn't remember his mother, other than her younger voice the way it's described. But she's a LI so it's unlikely, considering patreon.
2. Nika does remember Summer's parents, as they told him his was shit to his face, and he'd remember a lot of those details as they're associated with his trauma, they are probably hyper real details to him. So I don't think so.
3. Stephanie is in some way guilty/responsible for what happened to either Summer or Nika or both. With the degrees of separation, Stephanie is connected to the Zane's and potentially the Holgersons socially through Amber/Bella.

My gut is leaning towards Stephanie having cause the car accident/s for the Cyrus parents, and what happens with Vic mirrors that prior trauma. Separately she's dealing with self esteem issues around her singleness. Claire's bingo list implies Stephanie has been single for a while, to the point that it is a joke to the other staff. So any therapy for relationships implies it's been a while.

I do think tha connection will be a surprise, whatever it is, Ocean loves to make people second guess ambiguous situations.

Nice one bro ! :LOL:
View attachment 3730552
View attachment 3730547
It took me a while to find this one… Why did Ocean remove the bro shake from the game ? :cautious:
Just look at how they bro shake. That's no bro shake but a bruh shake. 'taint natural, it's how I imagine lego characters shake.
 
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PaxHadrian17

Engaged Member
Sep 8, 2020
2,269
10,993
Yeah - all the changes Ocean made - to try to compensate for the vagaries of Patreon and their ever-changing TOS and - horror of horrors, actually trying to get his own AVN listed in Germany once it hit Steam.

What creator should actually be able to view his Steam page for his AVN in his own country... I Mean - it takes balls to want that, right?? ;)

You'd think he was actually trying to avoid what happened to WIAB when Patreon removed it, and he lost that income.

The nerve of that guy to actually have to think like a businessman, anticipate changes in the environment in which he works and Pay for music licenses, taxes, anticipate hardware buys and more.

Why he even has the gall to hire other people to help create sets and work on improvements to SG... what a businessman move!

How dare he change SG from a dark, psychotic, anti-social story and, YEARS ago, change course so SG is now a story of healing.

What a joke right??

Ah - the good old days are gone - life moves on and ... most of us do as well....

I'm one of the ones who have moved on - Season 1 is a lock - and the changes are what they are, including a much lower likelihood of SG getting put on hold or just abandoned for a Patreon ban.

Reading the room - AKA acknowledging that the good OLD days are the past and every creator must live in the present and anticipate the future - is a handy trait for a businessman, perhaps even someone who 'owes' you your pleasure...:unsure:

So, lament and wail about the past that is The Past...

or

Enjoy the present - either here or - if that is TOO hard - elsewhere.

Just search for creators who don't use Patreon, and you might just find those able to give you more of the past whose loss you lament here.

Enjoy your search!! (y)

Cheers!! :coffee:
 

wizardcock

Well-Known Member
Feb 19, 2021
1,209
3,331
I agree, the new version lacks moments like this. The psychopathic image of the protagonist used to be more sympathetic because he was tougher. Now he looks more like a sensitive whiner who has imagined some kind of disorder. Yes, panic attacks are real. But cold emotionlessness and toughness would be cooler for the character.
 
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