Development Update 62
Guys, I have bad news. And then I also have quite a lot of good news, so buckle up.
October was my worst month since I launched A Foreign World on steam. There were barely any sales. I assumed this would happen sooner or later, but I wasn't expecting it while I was still actively working on the game. To put things into perspective, in October I made more on Patreon then I did on Steam. And since I make my Patron numbers publicly available, and you simply double it to get an upper bound, you know that in October I made less than 600€... Pretty good for a hobby, but that's not really what this is supposed to be. I could get a job (any job, really) and I would make more.
I thought, okay, bad month, maybe that was an outlier. I didn't run a sale in October, so maybe that's it... November wasn't much better. Still below what I made on Patreon. Which sucks. Not only because I'm not making much money right now, but also because this suggests there isn't much interest in the game on Steam. And if there isn't much interest, then the full release of A Foreign World probably won't be as successful as I would like it to be. But I don't know that for certain, so no need to be upset about it in advance.
Sigh.
I mentioned good news. Let's start out light and say that I received all translations for Episode 8. This means the only one missing is my own, and since the weekend is coming up, you can expect Episode 8 to drop pretty soon. Amazing, right?
Now I can top that by telling you a personal achievement of mine. My bachelor thesis was graded, and I received a 1.0 (best possible grade) for both the written thesis, and my presentation of it. It's official. I'm a scientist. No need to bow or anything. I'm basically like you... Just a little better.
But wait. There is more. I dropped the beta version of Episode 8 about two weeks ago. A Foreign World is coming to an end, and I need to think long term. I decided on my next project, and I even went so far as to map out basically all of it. I figured out the story, I broke it into acts, and I mapped out ALL the scenes. There will be some changes to what I have right now, but nothing major. Basically, I'm all set to start writing this thing. This time we even have a proper story and some cool worldbuilding. Also I might want to mention it early. This next project will focus on one girl. There will be two alternate storylines besides the main one, but they won't be as fleshed out. After A Foreign World, I'm taking a bit of a break from harem stories :D
Okay, but the kicker is that this was only the first week. The second week, I went ahead and started working on the renders for Episode 8.5. Do you remember how I told you guys that I not only wrote the text for Episode 8 but kept going and finished the text for Episode 8.5? Yeah, that made my life a lot easier now. Because... I'm almost done with the renders for Episode 8.5.
Episode 8 isn't even out yet, and Episode 8.5 is close to done. Two more scenes (long ones), a bit of a polish up, and then I can go into beta access probably before the end of this year. Maybe not before Christmas, but hey... That's still pretty amazing.
I hope you guys have wonderful holidays. You'll definitely hear from me :D
Until then. Enjoy!
Comments (5)
i did not know you had this game on Steam - bought.
First and most importantly, congratulations. Your score was not really a surprise for me, but it does not make it any less of an accomplishment. After all, you do have Amber's ability 😂. As for Steam, I am not sure why, but many developers are having the same troubles with low sales recently. There are so many games on Steam that it is very hard to be seen at all. Many developers bundle the game with others which seems to help quite a bit. Especially if one of the games is already well known. I like the idea of the non-Harem game. Maybe have two possible girls of which you could pick one of the two, but no more than that.
Congrats to the thesis and the great grade! About your next story: I really welcome a non-harem one. If there is one thing I would have liked to see different in AFW, it would have been to focus on fewer girls, to make _their_ paths hit harder. For some of them, it feels like (at least in my mind) it would have been more natural for them to put MC in the friend zone. Both Esther and Amber could have been to cool, too self-sufficient to join his harem. And I could totally have gone through the entire story, just trying to reach Aurora...
I am sorry to hear sales were/are? down. I certainly hope they get better because A Foreign World is a great game! I will certainly play your next project. I am already excited! Keep being awesome!
I am a new member from a couple weeks ago through Patreon though.