Times are a changing...

Hey, just joined and was very happy with the actual story and relationships in this game. I see people saying that you are/were not continuing with the game. This is false right? I really need ep 12 haha and you've done a great job with story telling.

I'm new to this game, I picked it up based on another Dev's (Drooskati) recommendation. I am in episode 4 and I really enjoy it. Keep up the good work AZ. :)

The emailed messages that went out were very disheartening. Seems like frustration may be leading to the end of this project, which is very sad, and makes me hesitant to invest more money. If episode 12 and 13 come out, I'll consider investing again, since the project would be moving forward. Oh, and it would appear the ep11v2 update is behind a paywall, though perhaps not intentionally.

i understand the why; a lot of time and money go into this for a disappointing return. the lower tiers get eaten up by fees. it is just a hard sell. 10 a month is 100 a year, this has been in development for years already and could be for years to come. you can buy a triple a game for 80 dollars. it makes less sense to support you with the patreon model in the light of this new change.

Basically there's no reason to continue giving you $1 then.

Edit- $4,672/mo now. People really came through for you. Sure hope you come through for them. You’re making $4,086 (dropping as we speak actually) a month here on this game and this from a game that people were worried was dead TWO YEARS ago, and has only had two updates in two years. So basically, give or take, you’ve made nearly $100,000 just in the last two years, with very little gameplay advancement. I’m a longtime supporter of the game. Several years. I’m also a huge supporter of being paid what you’re worth and being paid fairly for your labor. I have decided to end my support for this game. Best of luck. It’s a great game. But it’s not a great game I feel like spending hundreds of dollars for when I play the final chapter in the retirement home.

No issues with this. Hopefully a more sustainable business approach. Looking forward to future updates.

Personally, I was surprised this didn't happen sooner. I'm glad to see this change happen because this is one of the few games that I enjoy a lot and I do not usually play visual novels because most of them are boring af. But the story, characters and just the overall of everything in-between is great. Prices keep going up and cost of living too so this probably should have happened sooner. You have my full support. To me it's worth the price. I know there are people out there who base value on price over hours of play but I always look at it as do/did I enjoy it and was it engaging. That's what matters to me. Because hours of play on something that's crap isn't worth it to me but something that's engaging and has a couple hours of play is worth the money. I'm not going anywhere. I do believe this is the right choice. I also agree with you that most devs/content creators are making this move and they should. I think you're content is worth it's value. Honestly, yours the only visual novel I come back to each release.

I guess I understand where your coming from as a business owner myself, but the way you chose to word the post and the fact that you've already admitted that you won't be pushing any more updates per year than you currently do doesn't seem like it would be helpful to your overall business plan. I'm not to up on what the ToS are, but I'm 100% certain that your statement of change being to be on the level as other devs and other platforms is only selling yourself short in the long run. With that said, one of a handful of games I really love, and don't have any issue continuing my support of, but very curious to see where this decision leads you, hopefully not down the same road as so many other devs with half completed games and calling it quits

I have two reasons why I will continue to support this game development and one reason I fully understand why some won't. First, I found this game for free originally and loved it. It was at episode 8 at the time. Episode 9 was released later and from there I found my way here to support it around the time of episode 10 (either before or after release). And because it's something I enjoy I don't have any problems helping where I can. Second, I fully understand that until this project is covering all the bills it can't be your soul focus. And that sucks because it's clear by the quality that it's not just something you did cause you were bored, but something you had a passion for. I have friends that are trying to get the creator life up and running and it's not easy. You have a life you have to maintain and finding time to pour into a passion can be hard. So I'm not going to give you shit about making ends meat instead of focusing on my happy chemicals. With that said, I am more than understanding about why some are not having it. Updates are slow (will message you I have an idea I feel is worth mentioning at least) and some are very little, and all very late. It's more than reasonable that someone isn't willing to pay, in total and over time, more for a small indi game than a fully developed game with a complete story and sometimes a live service with regular updates. And without those regular payoffs it can feel like a waste of time and resources. I'm not going anywhere, but I do understand the plight of both sides. I hope it works out, but only time will tell.

My only question is if I buy Halfway House off of Itchio if that is an option, will it be a one time purchase?

I raced my membership to 10$ :) Think its worth it couse thi game is faaantastic :)

Well, followed and subbed this game since I think 2019. Yes, it was only the $1 tier. But have to admit I probably switch now to the "pay per update". Nice to had some bonus images and other posts before. But for me definitely not worth it for such high monthly costs. Also never played the bonus episodes myself (even the free ones). For me the developement time getting into those is already a slap in the face for the "lower" tiers anyway. Well, since the release cycles are already > 1 year the effect is that I will pay now less then before per year. What is a bit of the "icing on the cake" with this post is that of course it was made at the first of the month, when for quite some the Patreon bills are already out...

how about a 5$ epiode patch.

Secondly, this is to make things more in line with what other devs of similar games are doing with their monetization. not true I zuport about 50 gamez and almot all of them u can get the new epizode for about 5$ + tax. if u wait a few weekz

Honestly I don't really see this affecting me much. Whenever an update came out previously I would up my membership to get the game earlier anyways so this is basically the same from what I can see. I appreciate the notice and honesty though. I'm looking forward to the rest of the story and any future games that come. You've got my support.

I am a little sad to read this although I completely understand and I don't blame you at all as its a decision you would have probably have had to make at some point. you have been completely honest with us and not tried to hide the reason at the end of the day it's a job if you feel that what you are charging isn't equivalent to the the quality of your work then it's completely justified.

You'd have been better off just releasing the game on Steam and charging $10 for each chapter. As it is, regardless of saying that you value your lower value subscribers, the main thrust of that post was a big 'f*ck you' to those same subscribers. I understand the reason, it's the tone of the post that is going to see you lose a ton of subscribers. Subscribe, cancel, subscribe, cancel ... you've made it annoying to support you. How many businesses actively make it MORE annoying to support that business? Finally, simple mathematics: I was supporting you at the $5 a month tier. $60 a year for less than one update per year. So now you're going to make $50 per year less out of me - and that's the best case scenario where I go along with this stupid plan. I'll be interested to see how your income goes over the next 6-12 months.

Will there be any changes you will make in regards to your work? Better equipment, more content a year etc?

Nope. Won't be doing that. The miniscule amount of content you put out isn't anywhere close to that level of value. One new episode a year is barely worth the $1 a month I'm paying now.

So ... you truly think that people should pay you ten times what they currently do? Because you assume that you of course is the only creator we are paying, right? Well, that's one dollar less per month you will be receiving. Goodbye.

So, just to make sure I understand - will EP11 be free once EP12 comes out? Because while I'm okay with sending 12$ a year, sending 120$ a year is a *marked* difference.