I'm Still Here..

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all doing well.

It’s been a little while without any updates from me. No art shared here. No new packs. Now, on the final day of June, without any new material released recently or even much public activity this month, I consider it unfair to not at least tell you what the hell I’ve been doing the last few weeks.

From a financial standpoint, my ‘more art, more often, for less’ idea wasn’t working too well, so I have added that to my pile of failed approaches..

Instead I’ve decided to experiment with a new, interactive version of 2042.

Why? Well, for roughly two years I’ve been creating packs based around characters and their stories, which have developed, progressed, or changed entirely with each new pack I would add to my store.

Sometimes they worked, sometimes not so much.

Either way, what has bothered me for the longest time is the feeling that every new release could be interpreted as 100% canon, that whatever came next was indisputably the direction that character’s story was destined to go, and there was no real way to explore the possibilities that came from asking ‘What if that thing happened instead?’ without feeling like I was retconning.

The goal of this new version of 2042 would be to give you the ability to influence the direction of a story through character choices, with the potential for establishing significantly different long-term storylines for each of the girls without there being a sense of any ‘one true canon’ stuff.

What if Dani had just told her parents she was pregnant from the start? What if Cora had reacted differently to the discovery of her diary? What if Amber had avoided capture on the way back to Corver with the Bumper in her belly? Why was Brooke having an affair with Mr Richmond and not uh.. Chuck from Pop’s Diner? Heck, are the girls even okay with all these cummies in their tummies?!

There’s also the matter of exposition, because.. well, plot. In the past there were times I included too much, or sometimes too little. With the introduction of choices you could have characters dig a little deeper to uncover extra information, if that’s your thing, or have them act dismissive, uninterested, if you’d rather just get stuck in.

Now, this whole thing will take time to build up, considering all the artwork and dialogue that would need to be created for all these diverging storylines, and right now it’s still seriously early days. I’ve been trying to hold off on saying anything because about this so soon because I’m not prepared to declare it as definitely going ahead, but with every day that passes my positivity towards the whole thing grows as it becomes less of an idea and more a real thing. Consider this not as an announcement of anything but just me telling you what I’ve been trying out.

With another billing cycle on the horizon for you guys I understand you’ll need to decide whether to support for another month or not. There are still some outstanding ‘2042 v1’ things I have in the pipeline due for release, but like I said above I’m considering my previously proposed approach of ‘less more often’ dead, and honestly right now I don’t really know what I can offer you guys throughout July other than my gratitude for helping to keep the lights on, a few artworks, and probably some updates on how it’s all coming together.

If I see you on the other side of this cycle I really appreciate you sticking around. If not, thanks for your help regardless.

More soon..

Mono x