As promised, I will be pausing this patreon for the month.I know most of you are here to support the development of Kobold Garden, so this decision may not make sense. But this pause is something I'm doing for myself. Continuing to accept support while not working on the game in the way I said I would doesn't sit right with me. Pausing for now feels like the right step to realign and refocus to get things back on track.While we're here, I also want to talk openly about money and how I view your support. I see the funds I receive as a tool that helps development move forward faster then it otherwise could. Even though Kobold Garden is not finished, it has also been completely restarted multiple times. Most devs would have walked away or move on after the first or second restart. Because of your support, I've been able to iterate, rethink systems, and rebuild when necessary instead of settling for something that didn't feel right.I'm not trying to make a quick project here. I want Kobold Garden to be something meaningful and lasting. Sometimes that means stepping back and improving the foundation rather then pushing forward with something that isn't strong enough.In many industries, growth is accelerated by investment. Money when used wisely becomes leverage. It can shorten timelines, reduce friction, and allow for higher quality results. There's pride in building something entirely with free tools, I still try to avoid spending where I don't have to, but that approach often cost time. Unless you have years of deep expertise, free workflows can dramatically slow development.For example, sculpting the kobold model I made on stream over a few days was only possible because I had access to ZBrush, a professional (and expensive) tool. I will be focusing on retopologizing that sculpt into a model that can be used in game in my next streams. Normally I would rely on free tools in Blender to do this but after doing some test retopogy to shake off the rust, I noticed the free workflow I'm use to would be extremely time consuming and frustrating. By investing in a specialized retopology addon for Blender, I was able to complete the same retopology in a few hours instead of days.Don't even get me started with music production. I'll talk more about it as we dive deeper into the game's soundtrack, but I can say that music tools have been some of the most expensive creative tools I've encountered. Many will point out how you don't need these tools to make music but taking a month or longer to make 1 track will start to become a problem.Your support allows me access to tools I otherwise wouldn't even consider. It gives me the flexibility to experiment and rebuild when necessary. And to pursue higher quality without being paralyzed by financial limitations.That flexibility is a big part of what will make Kobold Garden possible. Thank you for your continued support and patience. The pause is about accountability and focus, not stepping away. I'm committed to getting things back on track and building something we can all be proud of.