Update
Added 2017-06-09 21:00:23 +0000 UTCPolls:
Wow, I might have to make a public poll every month, given how much response my little error with the weighted poll got. I'll consider it for next month!
It also ended up being a near-run thing, with Threesomes and Lesbian content even having a tie in the public poll, and hetro and lesbian having a similar tie in the $5 Patron bracket. The one awesome soul who is a $10 patron broke the tie decisively, however, by voting for more lesbian content. That makes F/F pairings once again the main focus.
However! Because there was such an even vote in the public poll, I'm going to include at least 1 scene each for hetro and threesomes, in addition to the F/F scenes for the month. I'm also intending to focus a bit on fleshing out Naomi, given that the fetish/kink selection for the month was Sub/Dom and I've been wanting to properly develop her for the last few updates.
I'm still sorting out exactly what the update is going to look it. One major sex scene for Naomi(who doesn't have one like Lily and Michael do) is almost certain, but I'm not sure exactly what else the update will have just yet.
Mixed Media Shorts:
Once again, I'm having mixed feelings about this. I actually really enjoyed making this months (the renders, all 20 of them, are done. I just need to put it together tonight.), but on the other hand it doesn't seem to be a very good incentive as I can't seem to retain Patrons at the $10 level. I'm honestly not sure what to offer there, and I'm open to suggestions.
As for the current MMSs, now that a few have been built up, I'm going to start releasing them to $5 patrons with a two-month delay. Meaning that $10 patrons will always have access to at least two MMSs that the lower tier does not. If they had been more successful at retaining or encouraging patrons, I might have left it permanently exclusive to the $10 tier, but as-is it seems silly to never let more then like 3-4 people (at best) ever see them.
General Update:
Some of you who visit the various forms I provide release updates on (or else noticed the change in the reward tier text) might already know this, but I've changed the delay for public releases. My original 2-week delay was based on the optimistic hope that I would get a lot of Patron support and be able to build up to multiple releases per month.
Obviously, not only has this not happened, but many of those who have supported me in the past have been slowly leaving...and I don't know why. I've kept up consistently with the updates and content has been determined by the votes of those same patrons. The updates have also actually been universally LARGER than I originally promised with no goals met, for that matter. I'm genuinely confused and more than a little depressed that a lot of other poor-graphics rape-focused games with a fraction of the rewards are getting tons of support vs mine slowly abandoning me. I don't understand why and therefore can't fix whatever is causing the issue. (If it's even fixable).
Adding into all of this is the depressing fact that a number of people have been repeatedly using the way Patreon works to try and get themselves rewards for nothing. I knew this had been a problem for other creators going in, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.
At the end of the day, I'm adjusting the PUBLIC release schedule to reflect the Patron releases. That is to say, Public releases will now be done on the same day as new releases, but one version behind. So the new v1.5 will not be released to the public until Patrons get v1.6 at the end of this month. I'm also once again considering converting the Patreon to a per-creation basis, as the dwindling support is really killing what little desire I still have to work on the project. Currently, I'm dedicating 2-3 hours per night, every night, in order to make monthly releases. On top of a full-time job, that sucks, and is leaving me with very little time to do anything else. That the minimal support also means I'm stuck using the assets I already own, plus a few free assets and one or two cheap new assets (such as the cat ears and tail for the pet-play release, I had to purchase those), is incredibly frustrating (as the free assets usually suck to work with and aren't made for the newer models I'm using besides).
All told, I'm losing interest in the project entirely, as it is currently bringing me nothing but a giant ball of frustration, at a very high cost to my personal time/life. This month may either be the last per-month update...or the last update period. If I shut down the game development, I will provide plenty of warning and will only do so only AFTER whatever current update that Patrons have supported is finished. Jaylee has also said that she will likely continue making the short stories regardless (speaking of which, the first 99c versions of the shorts will be up on Amazon in the next few days, for those that don't get them via Patron rewards).