Corporate Development Memo (12/4/2022, long sorry!)

Hi everyone, this one might be a bit longer than normal, but I will try and keep it reasonably brief, I know I can ramble a bit sometimes!  Sorry that not everything here is relevant for everyone.

I am going to cover Episode 7 and a bit about Episode 8, and a few other things.  Some of this will be repeated in a public post later, so I apologize for any repetition later.

First, let's talk about Episode 7:

I am currently at roughly 2,011 images, and 73,500 words.

I am hoping to release 0.7 in January.

If I cannot in time, I will not bill (will shut it off) February anything on Patreon as I feel it's the right thing to do, but I think I will make it in time.

The estimated number of renders will be roughly 2,800 to 3000 renders at release.  I am indeed shutting down the office for the holidays as planned later this month, and I will have more free time to grind hard at the update.

I do like turning off billing if needed for a few reasons:

1) Even though I know I am not a full-time game dev, I still feel like there is a reasonable limit as to billing monthly based on output/speed.  I don't feel comfortable charging for February if 0.7 is not out yet.  I just feel it's the right thing to do morally as I don't want to be one of those devs (we all know there are some out there, and I've been a prior Patron to a few like this...) that just kind of bill and bill but not work all that hard.  I promise I am working hard 98+% of the time (no one is perfect, and we all have a bad day or two, haha!), but I also recognize there comes a point where results matter.  It's really important to me that I treat all of you with the proper respect and honor in terms of  how I conduct myself as a professional.  I feel ok with the size of the updates being "meaty" with content, but I always feel guilty I don't work fast enough.        

2) I feel a shut off billing date is a good motivator for me...just in case I am feeling a bit lethargic during the Christmas holidays.   While I am VERY fortunate I am not needing this site to eat, it's still impactful as it will help me focus even harder to do the best I can for all of you.

All I can say is that I am sincerely putting in honest effort to try and do the best I can...so I hope everyone has fun with Episode 7 when it's out!

Let's talk about Episode 8:

On my original outline of 13 episodes, 8 is the longest along with 13.  With that in mind, I know I cannot release the full Episode 8 way at the end because I feel the update would take too long.  So I am going to split it into maybe 3 pieces, depending on how Patrons feel about it.  My internal debate on this is whether I should stick with one side (sub or dom) first and release it that way, or release the parts with both sides evenly shown.  The estimated sizes of each part would be roughly 1,500-1,600 renders, which gives me a more manageable goal for a faster release schedule.  My guess for the entire Episode 8 is something along the lines of    5,000 to 6,000 renders based on outline to renders in prior ones.  It's a big one because of how the choices start to come together for final arcs for everything.  (Episodes 9-13 is basically Act 3)  Now, each episode is just outlined the way it is, so I can always adjust, but this is just my current thinking now.

Let's talk about a Japanese version:

I've briefly mentioned this, but I have finalized a possible remake/reiteration of Karlsson's Gambit for Japanese players.  I didn't mention this earlier, but part of my trip in July involved meeting a few of these people while traveling.  I have just sold the rights basically with certain restrictions, but I do not know yet a timeline or even if they will do it, but it's likely after I finish this version, and I do personally think it will happen given the financial commitment and that they are pretty big fans of the game.  (but it will likely be a while)  However, one thing I have negotiated in case it comes to fruition is that a) it has English language subtitles at release and b) Any lifetime Patron of mine with contributions over their set price could receive the game for free. (for example, if their price is say $29.99, any Patrons that contributed over that amount lifetime could get a free copy)  Given the nature of this, that's all I can say for now, but hopefully down the road I can share more.

Let's talk about Post KG:

I am only briefly going to mention this, but I always believe in being transparent about everything I can, including thinking ahead.

1) I do indeed have a rough script outline for a sequel, tentatively called Karlsson's Legacy.  I won't share much at this point except that to say my real concern here is how to handle the "end" of KG.  I personally have three canon endings  (I have thought of having a start default state of these three endings to choose from at the start perhaps) of the fifteen I have kind of outlined, but all three involve one...err end product so to speak.  But some endings won't have this result, so I'm kind of thinking about this a little.  But just throwing this out there for now.  I don't know if people won't be happy to play a new game where their preferred ending is not canon...so I'm very divided still on this issue and have even pondered tweaking this game idea a little differently.

2) I have also quietly been trying to build a team (necessary for this one) for down the road another game idea.  It was my original idea I abandoned before trying KG because I knew it was too difficult for a newbie dev.  I won't give more details yet, other than to say it's more based on elements of RPG/action/adventure in a sexy way and a very deep story/lore/worlds.  My KG lore/outline was about 10% the size of this one.  It's extremely ambitious but I won't do this one without a team and also that it won't interfere with Karlsson's Legacy.  So it may never happen, lol.

Sorry if this isn't relevant for current Patrons, but I get these questions sometimes and want to be transparent.

Steam Recruitment:

Last, I am recruiting anyone that has experience with putting together a game for Steam release or at least has a lot of ability to help on putting this game on Steam after 0.7 releases.  I had decided to try and learn it very well, but given my crazy schedule at times, I feel like getting some help here might be good.  I just need help with putting together a nice page with preview video, images, wish list, achievements, and maybe a little help with how to market it.  I probably can add the achievement stuff in the code (I think...).  Of course, this would be paid and treated as a professional thing, but I am not sure the scope of work and time, so a lot would depend on figuring this out after some discussion.  I am not looking super hard RIGHT NOW (focused on finishing 0.7) but very open to hearing from people to kind of get the ball rolling.

Final Words:

I know I've spit out some non 0.7 stuff, but I assure you all that my hardest focus is on getting 0.7 out ASAP for a lot of fun for everyone!  I am going to ramp up very hard in about 10ish days working like a full-time dev, so please forgive me if I am not super good at responding to messages.

Most of all, I hope everyone has a great holiday season and even better New Years and a fruitful/wonderful 2023!