Not good news for today
New
Just now
Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well.
This isn't a post I want to make, the update will not be uploaded today. I feel absolutely stuck. I am beyond frustrated and I know all of you are as well and it is completely justified. And I've been saying that sentence way too damn much.
If you've been in the discord then you know I've been playtesting the E13&E14 update for a little over a week now. A lot of progress was made, 95% of the issues I had have been fixed.
But one issue remains and it's the same issue that has been plaguing me all year.
I don't like speaking on it too much. First because it creeps into spoiler territory and secondly, it adds to the expectation for the update and it exacerbates my issue.
But, there are two scenes that I just cannot find myself content with. Not even on any perfectionism anything. One in E13 and one in E14, though the E13 one is my main problem.
To very broadly explain the issue. There is a rework of the first season of the game in the works, this rework has minor changes to story elements and also has some building blocks and foreshadowing that just isn't in the game currently.
Some upcoming scenes are meant to build on those further and they reference some things that you guys have no idea about currently. It has been difficult to compensate for some of that, things don't hit the way I need them to.
So, I've altered the scene many times to try and better fit the current known timeline.
The first few times I remade the scene, I had convinced myself it was due to things like the setting or someone's design . Then it finally became about the actual issue and I just haven't been able to make it all click the way I want it to. I would alter it and think I finally solved it for myself and then 5 days later I'm loading it back up.
Which is what led to me saying fuck it and just working ahead onto E14.
It also didn't help that other scenes tied into the trouble scene so alterations to it also meant small alterations to others. Though those issues have mostly been solved by now.
I'd get to a point where I just have to work on something else, which is when I made things like some of the character sheets and when I would make alterations to other scenes.
There were many other things along the way including some nasty real life stuff but this has been the big problem.
The issue that persists through every change is that I am struggling to find a balance.
How far do I take things? How much can I alter about the new timeline and still have things hit the way I want them to?
It's a very important scene, it's nothing insane or crazy.
But it's a moment and a big building block for future things and it sets up some things that I know you guys have really been wanting to see in WVM.
I do my best not to take things too seriously, at the end of the day WVM is just a fun porn game.
But it's also something I've been working on for almost 5 years and it completely changed my life. This shit means a lot to me.
I've had issues like this before and I've gotten around it either just through enough alterations or time or stress to where things would just eventually click for me but it's just not happening this time.
I've told myself all month that things are locked in, I didn't let myself work on certain scenes at all and I honestly felt so fucking good about things and then shit started breaking and my confidence went away and shit just started spiraling and I'm just stuck.
I'm fucking mad, I'm going insane over this shit. I feel fucking stupid.
So, golden question. How do I fix this shit?
Truthfully, it's time for me to finally accept that I can't do this shit on my own.
I just can't, the scope of things has just grown past me. My life isn't what it used to be and with the new content, redo, side content, dev reports, daily trackers, trying to be the best family man I can be, trying to have a positive impact in my community, trying to have some sort of balance between work and personal life.
There's too many hats to wear and this brain can not hold them all. Trying to manage it all has just turned me into a shitty version of everything. I've tried to make things work but it's beyond me at this point and it is a disservice to all of you to let things continue like this.
Deep down I know that after this update things would be smooth for a while, but I have a good idea of when I might get stuck again and I just can't let shit get like this again.
So, I'm in the process of hiring someone who goes by Dionyx.
There will be a better announcement in the near future, there are still some things that need sorted out but he's still helping me right now.
As some of you may remember, I had some help in the past from Mackenzie. And things didn't turn out great. That was not at all Mackenzie's fault, she did everything she could and I made her life hell for a while. Her role was limited and I was very stubborn and was very reluctant to give up any control.
(Also Mack is still around and helps out some behind the scenes. Just not in any official way.)
Dionyx is someone who I've known in real life for a long time. He is someone I fully trust and we'll be working together in the same room. He loves the game and has the same philosophies as I do. WVM will remain the same, the goal is for the game to have the same exact vibe and for it to feel like nothing has changed.
They will have a large role in things, they will control the update schedule, give me essential feedback such as knowing when something is good enough, they will help with render work, help with side content, help with dialogue, be the main playtester, post-process images, post the daily tracker, and they'll be finishing up the code for a lot of the planned features in the rework. (Like the gallery, character viewer, and calendar)
My role will essentially be making the renders and animations and writing the script. I'll also still be the one writing the dev reports. And of course over-viewing everything.
So, what about this update?
I'm sorry but I do need more time. As much as I just want to get this all behind me, there is something I can not get out of my head for these scenes and I know I'm so fucking late and this shit should have been out forever ago. Even if it fucking blows, after a lot of discussion, we've decided that the best course of action is to split the update into episodes again.
Episode 13 (700+ renders) will be released August 10th and Episode 14 (1000+ renders) will be released August 20th.
I have 10 days each to make my peace with my issues and get things as good as I can.
Both releases will be at 3 pm EST and will be available to all patrons and former patrons (via discord) at that time.
On those dates, Dionyx will be uploading whatever is there for him to upload. It's out of my hands at that point. This is backed by others in my life.
I know 10 and in total 20 days is an insane ask when I'm this far behind. If either date is missed, pledges will be paused until 2025.
The daily tracker will be posted again during this time btw.
So, what about after the updates?
We'll be returning to small betas, with official monthly releases (first monthly release in Sept).
We'll be testing out posting betas exactly as they hit 100 renders, but that will be temporary.
There will be at least one of these in August or pledges will be paused for September.
Pledges will not be paused for August, so please adjust your pledge accordingly.
I fully acknowledge how badly I've fucked up and once again you guys owe me nothing and I owe you a lot. I have been quick to pause in the past and have done so often. Admittedly I very much want to pause this month as I absolutely do not deserve your money right now, at all. Especially after the events of this month. The only reason I am not doing so is because I am taking care of a lot of people and shit is rocky, I promise I wouldn't if I didn't have to. But things should be fine after this month. If the dates are not met I'll refund anyone that asks for one. (I would do all but idk if that's something possible on here or not.) Also if you're seeing this after the 1st, you're free to ask for a refund as well.
Once again I implore all of you to consider pausing your payments until things are back on track. Check back again in a few months and if things are smooth then re-pledge.
All of this update will still be available to you if you cancel as long as you join the discord or reply to my comment in the comments so I can send it to you in a message.
I very much hope this is the last time I have to make one of these posts, my apologies for the poor formatting and rambling. I just let myself go.
Dionyx isn't here right now or I'd have him add a section but I'm very excited about working with him and I think the help and just having a voice of reason along development will be a huge help.
I also finally intend to use some community playtesters for the monthly releases, I have some in mind but if you'd like to be considered leave a comment or send me a message!
That's it for this book, once again I am so very sorry for this mess. It's embarrassing, demoralizing, and just fucking shitty. It is fully on me, every issue was a reflection of some decision I made. You have every right to be pissed at me, I'm pissed at me too.
I hope you all have a good week, there won't be a dev report this weekend but there will be a post on the 7th just going over progress from this point and what not. And again there will be daily trackers posted in discord for the 2 scenes I'm working on starting tonight.
I really don't deserve you guys, I hope to start rebuilding some trust throughout these next few months. There's a long road ahead there.
Thank you all again so much for everything.
