Hi folks,
I know this won't be a popular decision for some of you but I need to pause development of the final two episodes of WTHI for a couple of months so we can focus on a re-do of the earlier episodes. This is not a decision I am taking lightly and I've mulled this over for the past few months. The re-do is not just an upgrade of the early episode art, it will be a full script overhaul of ALL of the earlier episodes (removing some scenes, adding some new ones, editing some scenes and extending some scenes) in addition to re-doing all of the art and adding animations. Why not finish WTHI first and then start on the re-do? (Fair question). Here's why...
As most of you know, I have a real-life job in addition to working on WTHI. For the first four years of working on WTHI, I used to do the equivalent of working two full time jobs where I would work my normal job Mon-Fri and also squeeze in 40-60 hours of WTHI per week ( 4-5 hours Mon-thur evenings, an all-nighter on Friday and then as many hours as possible on Sat-Sun).
But after four years, that was no longer sustainable (was burning me out) so what I have been doing recently is alternating my time between my real-life job and WTHI by taking unpaid leave from my job (either a couple of days a week, a couple of weeks a month or more recently, I have taken a whole month off work to concentrate on WTHI). When I'm working WTHI only, I can easily squeeze in 60 hrs per week. But when I'm working my real-life job, I can only manage about 20-25 hours per week on WTHI. And Cell (our long suffering artist) is continously churning out 50+ hour weeks. I thought we could keep this set-up going until I finish WTHI completely but I cannot. To finish the game properly (without cutting corners and ensuring we give each character the ending they deserve), I estimate there is at least 6 months work left (to complete EP24 and EP25) plus I want to do an epilogue scene for each character (or group of characters), so there's still many months of work needed to complete WTHI fully. I was hoping to get it all done by the end of this year with the current system of alternating between unpaid time-off from my real-life job but I can't.
Currently, WTHI requires over 100 hours per week spread across Cell and I. After Patreon costs, transfer fees and all the other outgoings associated with game development, this means that working on WTHI actually pays Cell and I less than minimum wage per hour (based on where we live). So continously taking unpaid leave from my real-life (decent-paying) job to earn minimum wage is just not sustainable for the rest of this year.
So, the current plan is to increase the audience/income for WTHI by releasing on Steam. If all goes to plan, the extra income from Steam will give me more financial wiggle-room to take more unpaid time-off from work to focus on WTHI. So, although it means a lack of progress on new episodes in the short-term, it is the best decision for the overall completion of the game.
In order to get onto steam, we have to re-do the earlier episodes, because they are just not up to scratch. So the current plan is to spend the next two months working on a re-do of episodes 1-10 (Season 1) and release on Steam. And obviously we will also release the new upgraded game on patreon too. And once Season 1 is complete, we can then switch our focus back to current episodes and complete and release Episode 24.
I know some people have been clamoring for a rework, while many others would prefer that we just finished the game before going back and re-doing but in the long-run (and based on my personal circumstances) this is the best approach for the overall completion of the game and to keep the quality high. So, for any of you that have been asking for a rework of earlier episodes, it is coming. For any of you that have zero interest in a re-do and only want the new episodes, then consider this a two-month postponement of the new episodes. And for those in the zero interest category, I fully understand if you drop/cancel your pledge.
As always, please ask any questions or add any inputs/comments in the comments section below or feel free to DM me directly.
Thanks,
CG
