Corporate Development Memo (9/1/2024)

Hi all,

I've got a free moment just getting back from everything today and I wrote some of this on the plane coming back and adding a bit more. I will put some pics on Discord later as I am writing from a laptop and don't have all the renders on me.

First, the update for the game:

Main Renders: 213 --> 213

Secret Sub 367 --> 367

Dom Path 990 --> 1,043 (+53)

Sub Path 904 --> 993 (+89)

Total Renders --> 2,474 --> 2,616 (+142)

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Ok, now the stuff I wanted to talk about was my hopes and desires for getting the update out. I always want to stress that while I believe this is pretty close to what I think I can get done, it is by NO means a guarantee!  I try to avoid giving this kind of info too early for fear of problems - whether the game or real life -- that just come up unexpectedly. Nevertheless, I am going to attempt to lay out a desired plan that I hope works out.

So first of all, my estimated final render count for the update based on the scenes remaining is between 3,400-3,600 renders. It may vary a bit depending on how each scene plays out, but this is a pretty close estimate.

I intend to take about 8-9 days mostly off in October to crunch hard on the game. I believe that right now I am roughly between 800-1,000 short of where I want to be, and I am also factoring in some editing, render fixes, music, and a lot of play testing.

So what it all means is that I am hoping I can get out at least the Test Version before October ends. I am going to try and take time off from roughly October 14 to about the 23rd or so as a real goal to try and crank out everything with a week of extra buffer in case I run into major problems I can't see right now.

I really appreciate the patience of everyone as I know my updates are not fast. This is partially from a real issue with the game -- even at say 1500 renders, an update would feel woefully short if you only play one or two paths and especially miss some optional scenes that are often based on prior flags/choices. Having consequential choice is a good thing, but also a bad thing in terms of how updates feel as they are smaller in one sense. A 2,000 render linear path game with basically little choice/branching feels very different than a 2,000 render update for a game with lots of branching and many people only play dom or sub side only, so it's already a rough cut in half so to speak. I enjoy writing this game, but practically, I often feel like I am not being efficient in updating like some other games out there.

I also know this impacts financial metrics and I feel like the game is dying a slow death with long updates but I'm not sure how else to write/render with how I've structured things.

It's just always been an issue for me and why I kind of am always conflicted about the the size of the updates. Maybe people can chime in if they see something I don't with how I structure updates. I considered just updating dom/sub separately but it just doesn't feel right with me somehow...maybe it's because I think it would be tougher for me to write that way, I don't know.

Near the end of September I will probably take three full days off from everything to recharge for a final sprint. Whatever happens...I will always appreciate every person that has been kind enough to send nice thoughts, comments, or any other positive energy my way.

I feel a bit contemplative right now having been with a energetic child all day and seeing the world through her eyes. I find myself feeling very fortunate with my life overall, but also thinking of new ideas/things too. I wish I had more time in each day to do even more.

Thank you everyone and I will work hard to get the next update out :)