Hey everyone, Fae here! It’s only a Patreon update day today; improved testing processes and people have really left me with less to update on the public builds these days. Oh no, what a problem to have! Well, in the meantime, let’s get things right into gear as we launch into Day 7!
V0.07.00 Update Notes
Day 7’s first part is now available to Patreon supporters! What’s here for you?
- Day 7 Part 1: Wake up to take your shift aboard the Void Dreamer and get a little more than you bargain for on the bridge. Leave the ship for the first time since Yakeshi Station for new experiences and new danger in a whole new location!
- Credits Update: As per the usual, I’ve updated the credits again to reflect the state of things the night before this update came out. Thanks again so much to all the supporters of Void Dreaming; your contributions make this project possible!
- Bugfixes and Typo Corrections: As noted above, very few bugs make it through these days. Some little corrections have been made for more recent content, as well as adjustments in some earlier and hard-to-reach segments of the narrative to make things flow better. Thanks go out to my testers for helping the list of issues shrink even as the wordcount blooms!
State of Affairs
April has been… interesting, but early May is going to be a lot more trouble for me than I’m used to. Still, I feel good about where the project’s at (and how often have I said that over the last year or so!), and I’ve managed to get a lot of things done here that make me very happy and very relieved. I feel like I’m actually moving forward for the first time in ages, and that’s translated into some really productive weeks for me.
But first, let’s look at how things have changed this month for the project!
- Since the initial release, Void Dreaming’s various versions have been downloaded from Itch.io over 20k times now; what a milestone! That’s roughly a thousand more downloads over the last month, and there’s only been the one version in that time; very encouraging stuff!
- The project’s 5-star rating on Itch remains in place! We’re still technically at 4.9 and we’ve gained exactly twenty new five star ratings this month, bringing us to the 344 tout of 364 total reviews sitting at 5-star ratings. Thanks as ever to everyone who’s helping to get those ratings and reviews logged in; they really help!
- On the Patreon we’re down a little bit again this month. It’s been a bit all over the place, watching it! Currently I have the distinct pleasure to have a total of 285 paid subs to the project, but because there’s been an overall increase in Officer tier subs (we’re lucky to have 45 now!) that’s resulted in a monthly income rate of AUD$2.16k at present! It’s because of these Patrons that I’m able to pay my artists what they deserve to help bring Void Dreaming to life; thank you to each and every one.
- The numbers on the Discord swell, too! We’re up to 766 readers who’ve joined the Discord now, sharing theories and fanart and just chilling out. It’s a good time, so if you’ve not come by yet… why not now?
- And finally, we have the Void Dreaming Bluesky page. We’re sitting at 1134 followers, despite my lack of general activity there. It’s not for a lack of want, I promise! Writing and programming the VN by myself, plus managing the Discord, plus the day job, plus everything else? Whew! Something’s gotta give somewhere, and unfortunately my social media presence seems to be it for now!
Transparency - April 2026
It’s time to give the monthly transparency update! It’s the start of a whole new month, so where are we at now that we’re getting into May?
Writing and Programming
- DAY 8 IS ALMOST DONE. I’ve started to wind down my Day 8 work because all that’s left is little stuff now. If testing reveals big problems and gaps in what I’ve done (or not done as the case may be) that will change, but otherwise my writing focus has completely shifted as of the middle of the month to the Day 9 writing. Day 9 Part 1 is even fully written, and I’ve made good progress getting started on Day 9 Part 2 content. I’m using week days to write since those are my most productive days (ironically), and weekends to do the cleanup work on Day 8. If I have my way, all of Day 8 will be writing and programming complete by the end of May, well ahead of its release starting in August. Exciting!
- The testing team has been working hard on this build, and have said some very complementary things as regards my work on this one. I’m catching more issues before they can make it into beta builds, which makes things easier on them, too. Good progress!
Art Assets
- Rico’s hard at work right now, both with his studies and with some reference materials for Void Dreaming. Some of those you might get to see uploaded to the Patreon, too, once I start putting more things to enjoy up there!
- Vallhound has also still got quite a few things on his plate! He’s torn through a lot of sprites, there’s a slew of CGs for upcoming content in his queue, along with a couple more sprites before I start winding up a massive sprite batch for him. His year is full of VD stuff, but I’m also trying to give as much breathing room so he can work on other stuff and not burn out on this. Balance is important!
Project Finances
- As mentioned above, the Discord slid back in membership this month, but actually picked up a little in overall income over March! I fully expect that this is due in large part to the break that naturally comes between the Part 2 builds going out and the Part 1 coming two months later, and I certainly don’t begrudge anyone for that! It would be wonderful if I could do a proper VN update every month, but the size and scope of Void Dreaming just doesn’t allow it. Still, the income from the Patreon continues to fund the core needs of the project; where even last month I was worried about the year to come, just watching the Patreon over the last month has left me feeling somewhat confident about my ability to hit the marks needed for core assets, and possibly even some extras. I’ll definitely provide more information when the time for that stuff comes nearer.
May’s Goals
- Last Day 8 things completed. Day 9 Part 2 progress advanced, ideally finished but unlikely in this timeframe.
- Finish outline and prep work for July short story update.
- Prepare and test Day 7 Part 2 ahead of release in June.
Upcoming Main Updates:
Jun 6th: Day 6 - Inflection (Public Release), Day 7 Part 2 (Patreon Release)
Jul 4th: Short Story Tabula Rasa (Patreon Release)
Aug 1st: Day 8 - Inviolate Part 1 (Patreon Release)
Release Plan Status: On Target*
With the Day 8 hump finally just about cleared, that asterisk is on borrowed time. While it’s going to take me a lot longer and a lot of consistent hard work to eradicate it completely, I have a path forward to that now. Getting my writing buffer back in place is my main goal for this year, and I won’t know if I’ve actually hit my mark until (hopefully) the end of the year. If all goes well, the January 2027 update will see me at last nailing the twelve months of advance writing/programming work marker again. I’d love to say that I’ll be able to relax a little at that point, but… probably not, heh. By the time I hit that marker, I have to start writing the downward slope toward the end of Void Dreaming (and maybe some other things as well…) and that’s going to be a lot, as I’m sure you can imagine.
But that said, we’re in a great position now moving closer to my most comfortable time of year! Winter is coming, and I’m finally able to stop overheating all the time. With increased comfort will hopefully come increased productivity, with more words coming down the line to you all. My fingers are crossed that the Patreon’s growth will resume soon (and crossed twice over that it’s because the global economy stops shitting itself and people start having resources at their disposal again), and this last month’s little bit of recovery has been incredibly affirming. That Void Dreaming is able to retain so much support makes me very glad indeed; it’s a wonderful indicator that I may have actually done something really good here, and gives me confidence that I might have the finances required to actually make this project what it should be. Optimism!
So on that note, I’ll simply just say thank you very much again for your support for me and for this project. It means the world to know people are enjoying my work, and I look forward to hearing what people think of the latest update for Void Dreaming! It’s an exciting one!
Until next time, stars guide you.
- Faora