Hello everyone!
First of all, Happy New Year! I hope 2026 brings success, peace, and happiness to each of you. I hope the holidays went well and you all got some rest… or at least survived them😁 And if you, like me, are a desperate believer in the conformity gate, we might get one more holiday soon 😁 Yeah, I’m talking about the documentary. But that’s off-topic, sorry about that...
Good news in my case: I’m still alive! Yay🥲! That means work continues. Bad news: winter is heavy and very cold, attacks don’t stop, electricity is basically gone. That makes working almost impossible. For the last two days I had zero electricity at all. It only came on recently for 3 hours. On top of that, temperatures dropped to -15 to -20°C, tons of snow fell, and the ice on the roads is so bad you can literally die just walking to the store… What I'm trying to say is don’t expect significant progress from me anytime soon. I keep saying every update is hard, but this is probably the hardest period yet. Of course, I’ll do everything in my power, but I’m not a wizard.
Current tasks and progress:
Work on Chapter 7 continues, as does the Christmas special episode. I’m trying to split time evenly between them. Though given the situation, maybe it makes sense to rethink the Christmas one, expand it, and work on it in a relaxed pace so next Christmas I can release a really big holiday episode. I don’t know. For now, I’m just going with the flow. Working as much as I can, and we’ll see what happens. Or maybe I’ll come up with something, and Christmas in spring or summer will make sense if I play it right? Still, I’d prefer to release it earlier. It’s important for marketing and a successful Steam launch. Just thinking out loud, sorry. The main thing is that both Chapter 7 and the Christmas episode will eventually be released someday😁
But last week, I switched to a small rework. Specifically, the intro animations and part of Chapter 1. I applied to the February Steam Next Fest. It’s a very important event, especially for games like mine. One of the requirements is having a demo. I have a demo, but to release it on Steam it needs some updates. The intro and early chapters were made a long time ago, and the animations there… let’s say they’re weak. Back then, I was just learning. So I decided to update them. Don’t worry, I’m not doing a full rework of old chapters. First, I simply don’t have the possibility because of the reasons I already mentioned. Second, I understand it would be a huge waste of time and resources. It’s better to focus on new content than to keep reworking old stuff over and over. Besides, overall I’m happy with the art in the old chapters, except for a few animations, which I’m not remaking from scratch anyway. I’m just slightly improving them (though some might need a full redo). I’ve already reworked 4 intro animations. Now I just need electricity to render them. As soon as the rework is done, I’ll prepare the demo for Steam and submit it for review. I have until the end of the month, so I hope I make it. And yes, I’ll definitely announce the start of the festival, but it’s not like you really need my demo, this is mostly to attract new players on Steam who’ve never heard of the game.
So, in summary:
The situation is tough, but work continues. On three different projects at once: Chapter 7, Christmas special, and demo rework. I can’t give any predictions. I’m just going with the flow and working at whatever pace is possible. Also, unfortunately, I’ve decided not to do wallpapers or special renders this month. Sorry to everyone who subscribed to higher tiers for them. Even if I manage to prepare the scenes, I simply won’t have time to render them. With the time and electricity shortage, I have to prioritize. Maybe next month I won’t have to do this if things improve. We can hope… though it’s unlikely.
Thank you all for your understanding and support. Working on this game is what keeps me sane in this madness. And without you, it would be impossible. As always, I’ll do my best not to disappoint you. ❤️
Have a great week, and take care!
mr.moonmi