Who is OneManVN? Well, here is your chance to get to know OMVN.
My name is Ervis, and I am in my mid to late 30's (late soon in October.) And although a lot of people frown upon what I do... What we adult VN creators do, I take pride in my work and could care less about the people who think this is not "honest work"
To get to know me, you would have to go back to the 90's Albania. Since there is no time machine to use currently, I will give you the short version.
I grew up in Vlore Albania, in a very dangerous neighborhood. The kind of neighborhood where going from one section to another meant war. Quite literally for kids my age. I grew up fighting for survival on a daily basis. Surviving rocks, punches, glass, bottles, metal pipes, and anything that wasn't bolted down used on you, or thrown at you in these street fights.
Needless to say, I survived, and it made me fearless in the years to come.
In 1995 right when the poop hit the fan in my country, my family and I (Father, and two younger sisters.) Paid someone to smuggle us into Greece. My mother had already left a year or more ahead of us, with help from her sister. She had provided the funds for this smuggling operation.
The small boat we were on, was fired upon by the coast guard... And although, I am convinced it was only a warning shot. The fear from it, flipped it over just the same.
People who didn't know how to swim drowned, some tried to take others down with them, my little sister included. Somehow, I managed to drag her out of their clutches and swim with my 7-year-old sister to the shore (I was 14), while my father swam with my 11-year-old sister on his back.
Needless to say, people drowned, I watched them... My little sister has nightmares to this day, as a mother herself. These nightmares were imprinted on three kids that night, for life.
Fast forward 5 years in, living in Greece (Athens) life didn't get any easier for me as an Albanian. Let's just say that there was no love for my kind there. Even though I was just a kid who had done nothing to no one.
I got fed up and with the help of some of the nice people who lived there, I made enough money to escape my new nightmare which at this point was Athens.
I flew to Canada with a fake passport and later on turned myself in for asylum.
Was given asylum and a new life by what has become known as my only real home (Canada <3)
Life once again was not easy. While I was given all the opportunities a man could ever ask for, paid for by the Canadian government, no less... There was always something missing.
Aside from my family being thousands upon thousands of miles away... I was missing the thing that I had fallen in love with as a kid back from the amiga days. Gaming!
I had my first PS1 in Athens, and it became obvious to many, myself included, that I was just too damn good at it. In fact, one of the stores I worked at, took advantage of me (now that I think about it) used my skills at gaming, to run tournaments in the store with prizes no one ever won, since they lost to me.
The bottom line, some people are born to be astronauts, while I was born to be a gamer, and turns out a creator of some naughty VN(s).
So, what did I do after many years of pointless jobs in Canada? I went out to seek a job that had to do with gaming, obviously.
I worked for a company known as Babel media if I recall correctly. Somewhere in Montreal, likely still active.
They tested games for consoles and PC, for a living there.
Although it did not last longer than 6 months (I was let go due to Quebec politics) Didn't speak extra fluent French at the time, and the guy who did, and sucked at the job in comparison, was kept on.
Moving forward, I got depressed, looked for another job, ended up on unemployment, welfare, life got worse with my family being so far away, and me being unable to help them as much as I wanted to... And, I got suicidal.
Somewhere among those dark years, in my depression where I had almost entirely given up on everything, myself included...
I found Alison. It began as a depressing story, that had a very dark ending, at the time.
However, the more I wrote, the more I felt for her. The more I felt for her, the more alive I became, subconsciously at first.
Then one day I stumbled upon a forum and read something about DAZ 3D.
I googled it up, downloaded it on my toaster at the time. I7 3770 with an RX 210 or whatever that AMD GPU was. Granted, still better than most toasters people use to this day!
For what DAZ required to work with properly, it was a pos.
Whatever it was, it got me started. I started rendering, day one.
The more I rendered, the more I caught myself smiling, and waking happy with each passing day.
I had begun to feel alive, once more. I had found a purpose, and a reason to keep going.
Those dark thoughts and the dark days were becoming a distant memory.
Fast-forward 3 months of 16-hour training with DAZ on my own, and AFOTA scene one was officially a thing. It took me 6.5 months to render 0.1, but I did it.
I had never felt so much joy and pride at the same time, over something I had created.
As far as I was concerned, my childhood dream had been finally realized. A nobody like me who was destined to end up being a drug dealer, illegal arms dealer/trader, or worse...
Had somehow escaped the inevitable fate that awaited all of my friends from the neighborhood I grew up in, and had taken his first step towards becoming OneManVN.
The name came right around when AFOTA 0.1 was finished and I needed a name for it.
While it was a tyranobuilder release (initially) people did not bash me to the point of no return. They actually praised me and liked it. They just wished that it had been done on Renpy.
Even though it had already taken me over 9 months to learn how to render, code, and put things together on my own... I decided to please and googled up Renpy.
In a full 24 hour session, I had learned how to code in Renpy, and then finally converted the entire AFOTA 0.1 into Renpy.
Something that a lot of people appreciated and rewarded me for it.
Those people, and you. Wherever you are currently... If you are reading this. You are the reason I and those out there like me who create on a daily basis for your pleasure, exist.
It is thanks to all of you, worldwide that I am able to sit here today and support two pensioners who make the equivalent of one of my tiers a month (200USD$) whooping 200K in my currency. My Nike top and shorts I bought 2 days ago cost me 106K. So, to put an end to this. Leaving Canada was a massive and truly scary, move.
I left behind free medicare, vs ensured death in this country if you have no $. I left behind 20 years of my life, peace, and quiet, along with unlimited job opportunities, unemployment, welfare, and a thousand different other ways one can live even without a job.
Why? Family. I left home at a young age. I helped my family as much as I could when I could. Visited rarely, very rarely due to job(s) but nothing can replace being there for their old age. No amount of money would make my mother stop asking me to come home. She kept asking for all 20 of those years.
My mother requires no less than 300 Euros of medication a month. Which simply means death in this country. That ask is 3.5 times larger than her pension.
I am a single 30 some handsome and tall male. Who doesn't even own his own house yet...
I have sacrificed everything by coming back, and the only way I become unemployedVN.
Is, if the people who made me what I am, misunderstand the need for security (Income to live on) for arrogance.
Over here having no home of your own is worse than not having a car or a job. I need income to live, income to start building a life for myself, and stop living inside VN's.
Income and my own house if I want to even dream about getting married to some hot Alison-looking girl (Albanian version).
So, this is why I have made changes to my tiers and goals. There is nothing selfish about what I do here on this page. I have made it clear many times in the past, that without you, there is no me.
I hope this helped some of you understand me better and realize just how much weight I carry on my shoulders while trying to release these updates as fast as I can.
Do not misunderstand the need for clarity for fear, or a cry for pity. Whoever still feels like I am becoming another greedy dev, can stop supporting me. I will then find a job here and quit being OMVN for good.
I love what I do, I love this community, and above all, I love you. My patrons. The people who gave me a third chance at life.
I look forward to creating for you, for as long as I am appreciated for it. <3 OMVN.
