Never a dull moment...
An hour ago
Somehow or other I managed to trap my hand while moving some furniture just over a week ago. I didn't actually break anything but I was bleeding like a stuck pig and it swelled up like, um... something really swollen.
So I lost about a week in terms of doing the 3D stuff, but I was able to use some of that time productively in that I played the game start-to-finish a number of times trying to get a feel for how other people experience it.
It's hard to be objective about your own work but having done my best to play a "middle path" I have to concede that it does feel like there's a strong tilt towards the so-called "Dark Paths". That's a term I came up with for want of a better way of describing the kind of content that isn't necessarily to everyone's taste.
So maybe it's time for a confession or two. I'm a shade over sixty - a fact that continues to amaze me although not in a terribly good way! I've had more than my fair share of intimate relationships - particularly before I got married in my mid-thirties.
BUT... my personal experience is pretty vanilla - fantasy and reality are worlds apart... I haven't tasted breast milk since I was maybe a year old and it has zero appeal to me in real life, but I enjoy it as a fantasy element in the game. The same goes for anal sex - I can't think of a single woman I've slept with that I'd have ever thought would have been particularly receptive to that idea. I know plenty of people (including some female friends) that say it's greatest thing since sliced bread, but it's a late-night fantasy rather than I would actually want to engage in.
Admittedly, I did once handcuff a girlfriend but she had been a very naughty girl.
That, vibrators and blindfolds are about the limit of my experience when it comes to being kinky! I'm also most definitely NOT a young, virile, multi-millionaire so the game truly is a work of fantasy.
As I've mentioned previously, the visual effects business got hammered during the time the writers and actors were on strike and the money from a number of particularly generous patrons was a big factor in adding some of the "darker" material and it is actually fun to work on.
While I know there's definitely a significant part of the audience that enjoys it, I fully recognize the majority of people are either ambivalent or actively dislike it and feel like it's been forced on them. In purely financial terms I can't afford to piss anyone off and it's not something I would want anyway.
So while I plan to continue moving the timeline forward, I'm also going to spend some of the time I'm waiting on renders to try and rebalance things. I'm not planning to cut anything and I will certainly have to retcon some things to allow for that, so make sure you keep those old saved game files if you're open to rewinding the timeline a little.
I can't promise "100% satisfaction" but I do listen and I try to be responsive to criticism. At the end of the day, it's a game and the whole point is that people should enjoy it.
So keep the comments coming and I'll do my utmost to deliver something that pleases most of the people most of the time!
I am truly grateful for your support - unemployment ran out months ago and I'm still dealing with the bureaucracy of claiming retirement/social security benefits and every penny counts.
