Universal Public Dev Log #1
Hello,
I’ll address the elephant in the room first.
Many may have heard by now that the Summer’s Gone Patreon page got deleted, and with that 70% of income gone overnight.
Let’s address the most frequently asked questions.
Why did they delete it?
Because I wasn’t allowed to create a new account before getting whitelisted and reviewed. Obviously, I didn’t create a new account, but let’s not get lost in semantics.
I also still don’t know why WIAB was banned in 2024, as the support just ignored every message of mine, and I didn’t have the funds to fight an overseas legal battle.
But there is a 0% chance I will get the SG page back.
Please, don’t write me with “But did you try-“ trust me, bro. I did.
Let it go, we’ll focus on what’s ahead.
Will you abandon the games?
My dear lad… Creating these games is the highlight of my day. I wake up thinking about the renders I’ll do today, and go to bed with an idea for a future Sonya date so awesome, it makes me want to skip Chapters.
Do I want to make money?
Yes. I’m not a robot, and I spend 12 hours a day on the games, while I could be studying or practicing a job that would look good on my resume, with a lot less hours, and a lot less mental strain.
While I love what I’m doing, I also have personal goals that I can’t ignore, otherwise, I will wake up in my late 30s, the games finished, socially isolated and with a full mailbox of the nastiest rumors spread about me.
One day I want a family, and I’d love to be able to take care of them through game development. I’m an indie developer, not a million-dollar company.
But I will never beg for it.
Please, don’t support me out of pity, do it because you like the games and would like to see them finish.
Pity is for bibis.
I usually don’t address shit-talk, it’s whatever but something gave me a little chuckle.
A friend told me that quite a few were celebrating me losing a huge portion of what I worked for, day and night for the past 6 years.
And after hearing some names, and recognizing them from many years ago, I had to smile knowing that no matter what happens, I’ll never be as miserable as them.
After all these years, I’m still living rent-free in their minds. What a meaningless existence.
Thanks for making me smile, lads.
Will this affect development?
Of course.
I invest about 80% of my support back into the game, so in the mid term, losing 70% of income is going to have an impact.
Against popular belief, I don’t make bank.
I had two months (SG and WIAB Steam releases) where I did make bank (compared to my level before, not in comparison with other games. I’m just average on Steam etc.)
Steam takes 30%, my gov takes another ~50%. (Income, business + social tax) and with what is left I must pay all bills from assets, music, energy to rent and food.
The good news is that I don’t waste money and already bought assets and music licenses valuing in the 5-digit range for Season 2.
Season 2 is already stacked with music and assets.
Until this situation defuses, I won’t be buying anymore assets or music. I will be reusing what I have and create simple assets in Blender myself.
There are only two things that could really end development. Bankruptcy and stress induced illness.
So, what will be affected?
Rationally, nothing should change for the next 3-6 months.
I have some savings, and I still get some support from SubscribeStar/Epic/Steam/GOG. Sure, I’m now back on 2021 levels, but I’ll make it work.
While I can still produce the same amount of renders as before, what is affected is my mental health.
The past 450 days haven’t been kind. From losing WIAB’s entire income, having 3 family members die, with one dying on the same day I was about to visit him, and me not making it because I was in Berlin and so focused on pre-working to have the PC render while I’m gone, to having to leave Berlin, to now losing SG’s entire history on Patreon.
I’ll do my best to be as productive as possible in the near future, and getting this big ass update out is probably the only thing that can really give me some relief.
I recognize that I need to take care of my mental health for a while, give it some cuddlies… Means, all official pages will be moderated a bit heavier now.
Comments like “The games will never finish” will now be deleted, as well as other shit that I just don’t need right now.
You can still criticize but keep the circumstances in mind.
However, with Patreon gone, I will have to release it on Steam and GOG with the upcoming update. I can’t just release on SS, because it’s too niche.
Maybe by that time, I will have a new Patreon page, but we’ll see.
Means, I gotta do that whole Steam/GOG prep + figure out if Steam has now banned adult games from being released in early access.
I was also in contact with a Korean based store named “Stove”. They had reached out to me last year, but I didn’t have the time to check it out, really.
But they say my game is too long for them to translate it professionally into Korean and still make a profit. So, I won’t be able to launch there until I get a good Korean translation. Not machine/AI translated.
They wanted me to release just the English version, but that would be stupid.
But lads…
In cologne we have a saying “Et kütt wie et kütt.” -> “What happens, happens.”
I won’t give up, and I hope you won’t do it either.
SG Part
I’m currently at 8170 still renders.
I did 2 more animations, with one still rendering as we speak.
I finished the Gallery, Preferences, and load/continue menus of the new main menu. I must admit I was a little afraid of the preferences, due to all the sliders, etc.
I had never really worked with them, but it went alright.
The gallery is now cleaner and simpler than before. I did like the cracked glass design, however, the upkeep was higher.
(Mouse hovering over "Lewds")
Having to redesign every chapter when something got added was a huge time sink.
This one can now be maintained a lot more easily.
Lux - Theme
I had the idea of sometimes releasing exclusive themes for the main menu.
After some brainstorming, my designer and I got to work, and we came up with the “Lux” theme that will be available on Discord after the release. It’s free and Sasha themed.
H redesigned the entire UI.
Eventually, I’ll publish these skins/themes randomly for Holiday’s or so. Eventually, you’ll be able to have your favorite girl-UI. (NSFW ones down the line. Animated and all.)
(A Nia-Cam-Girl themed UI is on my mind… One where you can switch from SFW and cute to NSFW & in the act with a button… and at some point, they will get their own fitting BG music and SFX. But there are more pressing matters right now.
Still, I just wanted to mention it.)
Previews: 4K
Fleeting Moments (You know she'll snap at you in a sec cause she can't handle the emotional weight of the touch.)
When she sees it for the first time and says he’s great because the big ones hurt.
Nami is having one of her monologues again.
#WIAB
Nothing for WiAB today, I was about to start the CMSM set when… I got interrupted by the recent events. I’m sure you’ll understand.
Next time I’ll make em.
Stay strong lads, Mila’s bra and I will do too.
