Development Update 39

There is no progress.

To be more accurate, there is basically no progress. I'm heading into an exam phase, so don't expect too much from the next three weeks either. I'll probably do some renders, I might write some stuff here and there, but especially to the end of a release I need to lock in for a few days and I just can't do that anytime soon.

I'm not happy with it either and I do feel guilty knowing people are waiting for update. But I also don't feel guilty enough to give up on my degree. In the best case I'll be done with it in two to three months. If I fail one of my upcoming exams, I will have to retake them in about half a year.

So much for transparency.

I've been thinking. Recently someone pointed out that my Patreon has only three tiers, and the highest one only seems to be there mor me to make more money. Wrong. My Patreon only has one Tier.

It's 5€, and it has two benefits. You get access to the latest version of A Foreign World (+ A Familiar World), and you can read Dev Updates like this one one week before everyone else.

The 1€ Tier is from when I first started my Patreon. People currently subscribed to it have been supporting me for a loooooooong time. You couldn't subscribe to it since I set the max limit to 1 person.

The 25€ Tier was created for a fan who wanted to support me more than just with 5€ each month. I asked him for his favorit girl, and created the "Sailor" Tier (get it, because her ability has something to do with water... I know. Hilarious)

This makes my Patreon one of the less elaborate ones out there. Other Dervelopers have up to 10 different Tiers with all kinds of benefits. I don't have anything against them. The opposite actually, I think what they are doing is smart. My problem always was that I don't have anything to offer besides access to my game, and regular development updates. And to top it all off, I also thing development updates should be open to everyone especially so people who bought the game on Steam or Itch still know what's going on.

The reason why my page is this simple is because I don't want to burden myself with the responsibility of creating monthly wallpapers, or to keep track of who is allowed what version of the game at what time. It would increase my workload, which would be fine if I was doing this full time, but as things currently stand, I'd like to keep things simple.

Creating special render might be interesting, but I don't boot up DAZ3D to relax. I do it because I want to create visuals that enhance the story I'm writing. I wouldn't think about creating renders in my free time, just for the fun of it.

Do you want to know what I do do in my free time (Yeah, I'm a student, so technically I'm creating A Foreign World in my free time * imagine the author rolling his eyes)

I read, write, listen, and sometimes I play videogames.

The videogame part isn't the importnat one. It's just a guilty pleassure. The reading and writing part is what I'd like to expand on.

My Discord is bland and not very inspiring. There are basically only two channels, and it's not a place that serves much of a purpose. In the beginning I had a meme area, but I was the only one that posted in it (The server was just too small back then). I don't even have the paid version of Discord, so the server doesn't even look very professional.

It's something I want to improve. It's on my imaginary road map, right sometime after the uppcoming exam phase.

But what do I have to offer?

First of all, I should probably post my Dev updates there whenever they go public. This much is easy. Patreon has a comment section, but Discord is literally created for communication. It would make it easier to spark conversation. But just that wouldn't make the Discord more fun.

I don't want to copy another Developer, and just do a generic adult VN Descord server. First of all it would feel inauthentic, and second of all, I'm not that desperate yet.

So what do I have to offer? That's a question I've been asking myself.

How about some channels where I and everybody else can give out anime/lightnovel/manga recommendations? I have at least ten I would recommend, off the top of my head and probably 50 I'd suggest if someone is interested in certain topics.

I think it would offer something unique to the server. And I've read these stories anyway, so why not make use of this other than by using anime tropes in my AVNs. Cough reverse isekai cough

Then there is still the issue with my Patreon. I could leave it as it is. I'm fine with it. 5€ for instant access to my game seems more than fair even though I think 12$ for infinte access to all new releases (Itch and Steam), is a better deal.

But I also have an idea for my Patreon.

I might not create renders to calm myself down after a stressfull day, but I do sometimes write stories. These stories are usually about an interesting idea I had and that I think would have potential. As long as I work on A Foreign World, they will stay as things I do in my free time, but there will be a time after A Foreign World. I have lots of stories that i want to bring to life but it's hard to say which one would be the best for the job.

That's where Patreon could come in.

I'm planing to throw it to the wolves, and let them decide which piece of juicy story meat tastes the best. These stories will suck, because they'll be unedited. But maybe some people could enjoy them.

The two things I'd like to try in the future are,
- upgrading my Discord/adding some story recommendations
- and creating another Tier (probably 10€), that has access to stories I write when I'm sick of both studying and A Foreign World

This dev update must be my longest in like... Forever.

Please stop me if you think one or both of these ideas suck.

Keep your eyes open for future Updates.

Until then. Enjoy!