Important news about the state of the project and future game(s)

So it's time for me to make this post since at the end of the month I will have to pay taxes, uh...

Don't worry, the development will continue. But there are a few things I've been concerned about lately. I apologize for the english as usual.

The main problem is about taxation in my country with the current earnings and future prospects.

I will make a premise because even though I know many people just see AI and think I am here to make quick profit, well, I assure you this activity is not very profitable (if at all, considering the hours requested).

When I talk about taxes I only mean those related to this business and not about other incomes. I should also premise that I'm still in university and I don't rely on this activity to live. Still at the moment I can't put any external money on the development and so I have to rely on Patreon subs and Itch purchases.

My Patreon monthly earnings are public (about $1k per month). I tell you directly that on Itch, while I managed to sell a decent amount of copies when the price was $4, I make very little.

By offering a cheap single-purchase option in the first months I basically cut in half my potential Patreon base too (assuming most people who bought on Itch aren't also subbed here).

That said, I live in Italy and I don't know about other countries, but I have yearly taxes on income (I'll know the exact amount at the end of this month) and pension contributions ($5k every year).

I've used tax benefits for new businesses but those won't last forever and there a lot of minor costs like bureaucracy, accountant, softwares for development, assets (for those who don't know all backgrounds are purchased so is music and half of the food images).

So you can understand that I'm left with very little considering the current earnings. It is also possible that I have made mistakes and mismanaged things, even though realistically the money was what it was.

Anyway I will draw more accurate conclusions on the financial side when I actually know the exact numbers at the end of the month (this is because I have to pay taxes on the previous year's earnings). I hope it does make sense and let me know if it's similar in other countries, but here it's notoriuosly a mess.

I'm sure the other italians here will understand what it means to run a "partita iva", like we call it, and paying pension contributions with an income of roughly 1k euros per month.

Let me be honest: keeping this up in this situation would be a bad life decision for almost anyone and I have already pushed it way too far. Working part-time at the irl equivalent of Burger Heaven would actually be more profitable ;(

Now, it isn't some unbearable struggle at all, and I have a lot of fun creating this. In fact from my point of view I have handled it in the most artsy way within the resources I had. I assure you I don't have burnout or anything like that and it's been like a dream come true.

The support I receive is honestly incredible for what the game actually offers. Consider that it has yet to see a real nsfw moment, even though we will get there with the h-scenes!

But ultimately I don't really think it should have more "success" than it currently has, I know very well what kind of "product" I'm making (unfinished game, AI, a lot of red flags...) and I would be skeptical myself. I'm also not a company (well, for the state technically I am) and I could stop the development or even cancel it for personal reasons.

So, long story short unfortunately in the current situation I can't really feel safe with taxes (related to this activity) and I can't earn an "honest" amount that would also cover costs related to the game (buying more assets, maybe commissioning illustrators in a far future etc). That's it.

Please stop a moment to consider what would mean not only for me but for other similar creators to split their incomes to pay other collaborators, if we're talking about similar earnings! That's why I thought seeing all the discussion surrounding AI on WeightGaming (which I consider one of the few gathering places for the community) that most critics were very disconnected from reality.

What I can tell you about my future plans is the following:

• the current focus remains finishing Fattening Office (there's still so much to do!)

• after Fattening Office is completed I will make five expansions, one for each of the main girls, featuring their post-ending lives with new weight stages (plus the Rin route!)

• the little Dr. Johnson spin-off manga will see some new pages, but it's probably going to take a while (the whole point of it was to show more of her story and mainly to experiment with the format beacuse I will be adding a couple of manga pages in the game during a gag scene)

• the new game I teased back in January will be called Fattening Elves and is going to be a whole new slice-of-life/romance visual novel set in a fantasy context (I'd say low and grounded fantasy). It will have a very similar vibe to Fattening Office and will probably be anthological with one protagonist, so a bit easier for me to handle. I plan to release a first version this summer and develop it alongside the Fattening Office expansions mentioned above

About the "harem route" that many have requested, I know I've been vague about it but if you take a look at my obvious inspirations for this game, you should be able to tell what it would be. There are a couple of very subtle hints throughout the game as well. I designed it to have that kind of "thing" and if we manage to get there I would develop it together with the other games mentioned above.

I know it may sound a bit too much, but both the expansions and Fattening Elves will have a smaller scope and feature a girl at a time, so they will hopefully be easier (not really faster!) to work on. You should read it like a plan for the next years!

Of course take all of this with a grain of salt. A lot will depend on the support I receive. The only thing I can realistically aim to complete is Fattening Office.

It would really help me if you could upgrade from the Base to the Elite tier, or buy the game on Itch if you're already subscribed to the Patreon. And vice versa for those who bought on Itch, subscribing to one of the tiers would help a lot. Unfortunately I don't have other rewards to offer except the hope to complete the projects I mentioned in a reasonable amount of time.

Thank you so much for reading and I'm very interested in your opinions. If there's a moment to show me some encouragement or any kind of support, well, it's now <3