Blog XXXII - June Retrospective
Whew! Almost hard to believe I’ve survived that one! Fae here, and what the fuck even was June, right? Absolute shitshow, at least on my end. On the bright side, there’s no need for bugfix updates since only a few small bugs and typos have been discovered since the last update, so we’ll probably be good until next month. In the meantime, let’s get into the June retrospective and the monthly transparency update!
State of Affairs
As much as I thought May was going to be the hard month in the first half of the year, I wasn’t prepared for June. There’s been a lot of shenanigans this last month for me, from health to financial to interpersonal to work related. A lot’s stood in my way, and we’ll have a lot to get through, but let’s first see how more positive things have changed for the project in the last month.
- Since the initial release, Void Dreaming has been downloaded from Itch.io over 24.7k times now; whew! I expect we’ll break the 25k mark sometime this month, which is one massive milestone. I’m glad that Void Dreaming can be enjoyed by so many, and I’m grateful to you all for reading.
- The project’s 5-star rating on Itch got hit hard again, but still looks pretty good. We’re sitting now at a 4.84 due to some more low ratings, but the high ratings have been canceling them out. Out of 412 total reviews we’ve received so far, a whopping 401 of them are five-star ratings; this is incredibly flattering, and I’m glad that most people are enjoying the project that much.
- Over on the Patreon we're up again this month, mostly due to the update that came at the start of the month if I had to guess! Currently we’re sitting at a total of 322 paid subs to the project, with 45 at the higher Officer tier, though at several points this month both of those numbers were at record highs. That’s put the monthly Patreon income at AUD$2.31k at the moment. As ever, thank you so much to those able and willing to share their support with the project so I can make it as good as it can be; without you, Void Dreaming would be nothing.
- The numbers are up on the Discord, and not by a small amount either! We’re now sitting at 847 readers on the Discord; new updates always get the rumor mill churning, and it’s been wonderful seeing everyone engaging so creatively with the story as it unfolds. I just hope I can continue to keep everyone interested!
- And finally, there’s the Void Dreaming Bluesky page. It’s now sitting at 1174 followers, and I really do intend to make sure there’s more going on there. My first priority is the project itself, but more updates and more sharing of my peers’ work is important too!
Transparency - June 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 July?
Writing and Programming
- Day 9 is progressing apace, though it’s been slowed by a combination of my day job being more intensive and irritating than normal, and some lingering discoveries in my initial testing of Day 8. On the latter front, a mismanaged update to the code wound back a couple of weeks of work (yes, you read that right: weeks), resulting in me having to go back and redo a lot of that “finished” Day 8 work. It is now complete however, with multiple backups in place to ensure that something to this scale never happens again. That said, Day 9 is progressing nicely, and may even be finished this month as well!
- The testing team is about to get started on Day 8 testing as well; they’ll be beginning soon with Day 8 Part 1. Th is far ahead of schedule, but that’s because Day 8 Part 2 is a nightmare and I need to make absolutely sure that it’s ready before it hits Patreon, and those testers are going to need all the time they can get if it’s going to be ready. Stay tuned!
Art Assets
- Rico’s back to work on new backgrounds for the project, and they’re going to be for Day 9+ content from this point forward. There’s a lot of really exciting stuff coming up in that regard and I can’t wait to show you all what he’s been working on!
- Vallhound too is back to work, and he’ll be finishing up some of his CG work for me in the next couple of months. While he’s not fully recovered and I intend to ensure that he’s in the best possible position to be able to assist the project when he’s ready (and not a minute earlier) it does seem like the schedule will be intact and all work will be completed in time for upcoming releases. I’ve also received pricing from him for a massive sprite batch for the main cast, designed to be ready for implementation for Patreon’s Day 9 release. More information on this will come soon!
Project Finances
- Once again, the Patreon has spiked and then fallen back. We’ve had our best month yet in June, with income from subs both returning and new pushing the project onward. While I don’t expect much this month since it’s a short story update (though I’m very pleased with Tabula Rasa and suggest all Patreon supporters give it a read!), I’m hopeful that this pattern of Patreon growth will continue moving forward; the needs of the project expand as the support expands, and the more support we get, the more I can afford to secure more and better assets for everyone. For example, the above-mentioned sprite batch? My original plans were to do half as many now, and the other half in a year. Being able to do it all now (though I may need to impart some personal funds to get it over the line) means the project looks and feels better much earlier. My optimism holds, and it’s all thanks to the generous support of the Patreon supporters. Thank you all again, so much!
July’s Goals
- Day 9 Part 2 complete. No close as possible: actual completion this time!
- Begin and complete Day 8 Part 1 testing
- Prepare Day 8 Part 2 testing
Upcoming Main Updates:
Aug 1st: Day 8 - Inviolate Part 1 (Patreon Release)
Sep 5th: Day 7 - Covenant (Public Release), Day 8 Part 2 (Patreon Release)
Oct 3rd: Short Story Obligation (Patreon Release)
Release Plan Status: On Target*
The asterisk remains, but circumstances are improved!
Firstly, as mentioned above, Vall is back to work. He’s running through other commission work right now to make up for lost time due to his situation, but all Void Dreaming assets are in the pipeline (five-by-fiveline) and scheduled to be ready before their respective inclusions are released. I’m still hopeful that Vall’s taking it easy, but I also trust that he knows himself better than anyone else! Well, except his doctor.
Secondly, while we’re back to an asterisk’d On Target status, I’m feeling more confident than I’ve felt in a few months. Being able to finally get through Day 8 in full and polish off the half-finished bits of Day 9 I’d started earlier has been an abject delight. In fact, I managed to start the first brand new scene (outside of Tabula Rasa itself) in months just the other day, and if I’m honest, words can’t even begin to express how good it felt. It was hard work and I didn’t get as much of it done as I wanted, but it was amazing to get back into the swing of writing new Void Dreaming VN content. I can’t even begin to tell you how soul-crushing I find programming, so being stuck in that programming hole for half a year straight with only token amounts of writing to do is my personal hell.
But that hell is now over, and even if I have less time to work on my writing than I’d like (thanks, day job), I’m not just more productive than I’ve been in a while. I’m happier with the work itself than I’ve been in a while. Honestly, I almost cried when I looked back over the writing work I did on that scene. It wasn’t even especially great writing; it was just a scene designed to get things going a certain way for a couple characters. Just the act of writing itself might just save my whole damn mind, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I need that right now.
For now though, that’ll do! Tabula Rasa is now up on the Patreon for all supporters, so if you’re interested in the longest short story addition to Void Dreaming yet, now’s the time to check it out! Honestly, at over 15k words, I don’t even know if “short story” is the right descriptor anymore. Hopefully for supporters, it feels like a worthy thing for your money this month!
Thanks again to all my readers and supporters for enjoying Void Dreaming. We’re getting to the meat of it now, so take the moment you’ve got to brace yourself. You’ve got a lot coming up ahead of you, no matter which version you’re reading.
Until next time, stars guide you.
- Faora