(Nearly) A Year Update!

Hey all! It may be hard to believe, but we're coming up on the one year anniversary of the launch of this Patreon page! I thought it would be a good time to reflect on how things are going and talk about some plans for the future.

The Patreon has been a far bigger success than I ever expected- we've blown way past what I thought would be the upper limit of support I could get for a text adventure when I first gave this thing a shot. I can't thank you enough for the support you've shown! Not only does it bring a smile to my face to see so many people this interested in my work, but the extra monthly income has really helped me out these past several months. I truly hope the game continues to meet your expectations!

The Patreon

Overall, I think things are going very well with the page. However, starting in April I'm planning to make a few minor changes to improve things moving forward that I'd like to let you know about ahead of time. If there's anything you're dissatisfied with, either with these changes or the way things are currently run that I haven't addressed, please let me know!

The first, much more significant change I'm planning is a slight revamp of the pledge tiers. This comes in the form of two changes. First, the current Freshman tier is going to be retired after this month. Over the course of the first year, it's seen very little use, and almost everyone that's pledged to it has either raised their pledge or dropped out after a month or two. Since making the page, I've also come to learn that because of the way Patreon handles processing fees, $1 pledges are pretty unfriendly to both patrons and creators.  So the plan is to cut it out and shift the rest of the tier names accordingly: the current Sophomore rank will be renamed Freshman, Junior will be changed to Sophomore, and Senior to Junior. This is a change in name only, benefits and price will remain exactly the same.

Of course, this will leave a gap in the naming scheme I've created, which leads to the second change: The addition of a new tier. For now, the plan is for the only consistent benefit to be a uniquely colored name in the credits(Purple) as recognition of your generous support, much like the original Senior tier. That said, I'm currently trying to think of satisfying ways to give further increased voting power to those at this tier. My current thinking is for this new Senior tier to be an $18 pledge. You may have noticed I specified consistent benefit- more on that later in the post.

The other update to the page is simply a logistical change to how I handle reminder messages for the poll. Currently, I send messages individually so I can slightly tailor them to your current situation and leave out those that aren't interested in getting reminders or have already locked their suggestion in for the month. However, this has started to noticeably eat into the time I have to work and there have been a few occasions where I've managed to accidentally leave someone out. So, starting with the second round of reminders this month, I'll be instead sending a generic reminder message to everyone who is eligible to suggest a scene through patreon pms, since there is a way for me to easily send mass messages to certain tiers. The winner of the poll will still be messaged directly separate from this, and those that have requested to handle things on Eka's instead of here will still get an additional reminder on there.

As a final note on this section, I'd like to bring up the increasing number of suggestions in the monthly poll. I believe I've noted before that it's already starting to feel a little overcrowded, which was part of the reason for implementing the finals round. More recently, I've been made aware that Patreon polls have a hard limit of 25 options. For the time being everything is totally fine- even if everyone eligible submitted a suggestion, which hasn't happened since the first month, we'd be at 16- but I just wanted to make people aware now that as the page continues to grow, there may eventually need to be a change in how suggestions are handled.

The Game

Nothing too major to note about the future of the game, since I don't want to spoil, but there's one thing I wanted to keep you guys in the loop on. As I've worked more on planning behind the scenes and honing in on my vision, I've adjusted the scope of the game. Previously I've said that there would be one playable week for each month of the school year, for a total of 9 weeks, or ~65 days of content. However, to keep tighter pacing, cut out some time that I didn't have much of a plan for, and really just improve the odds that we actually reach the end some day with the current speed of writing, I've pulled this back to 6 weeks total or ~45 days of content. This gives three weeks for each semester and leaves me more freedom in how they're placed- for example, instead of being the beginning of October the second playable week will now be toward the end so that a little bit of Halloween related shenanigans can be mixed in.

Another benefit of this is that a majority of the major characters will now be on the menu by the end of week two, whereas before there would only have been a couple prior to week three. Can't give an exact promise this far out, but at the moment Emma is the only one that's 100% guaranteed to still have plot armor when the first day of week three rolls around.

(Potentially) Upcoming Character Contest!

Those on the discord have already heard about this, but I've been considering holding a contest of sorts where you can get the chance to design a minor character for the game! At this point, it's a pretty much a definite, but I'd like to get your thoughts on the plan! It will be a two month long event, starting in April.

The first month will be a period for accepting submissions. The most crucial question, of course, is: How do I enter? To be eligible to submit a character to the contest, you'll have to pledge to the new Senior tier in April. Additionally, as recognition/thanks to long time supporters, anyone who has given $60 or more in total support as of April will also be eligible regardless of what tier they're currently pledged to. 

Character submissions will follow the same general system as scene suggestions, where I'll have to approve them first before they're officially entered. All you need to do to make your submission is give me a brief overview of the character you've come up with- what they look like, their personality, vore interests, maybe a little backstory, etc. Whatever details you want to give! A visual reference won't be required, but I would heavily recommend it to help your chances. For those not artistically inclined like me, you can use Kisekae like the 'official' reference images are made in. I'll even provide the file to import Emma's model to use as a base if you'd like when the contest actually launches.

There are a few simple guidelines for characters you submit:

• They have to fit the setting, of course, so they need to be: Human, Female, and not magical in any way
• They should be a student at the college. You can try to convince me if you have an idea for something other than a student that still fits the story, but it's pretty likely I'll reject it so I'd urge you to stick to a student
• You can use an existing OC as long as A- they fit the setting or can be tweaked to fit the setting and B- it's your OC. A friend's OC is also fine if you give me proof of permission, but please don't pester random artists (I assume anyone entering would want a character of their own design anyway, but I just want to cover my bases there.)

The second month will be for voting! Starting the first Monday in May, there will be a poll for every week of the month. Things will work elimination style: The first poll will include all submissions. When that poll ends, the characters with the least votes will not be included in the next week's poll. How many get knocked out each round will depend on how many entries there are, but the last week will be between the top three finalists.

The winning character will then be added to the game's roster of minor characters, among the likes of Betty, Cassidy, and Claire! For winning the contest you'll be guaranteed a minimum of two substantial scenes involving your character, both of which you can pitch/discuss with me like the monthly scene suggestions. Beyond that, when and if they appear again is up to me like any other character in the game. (By entering, you give permission for me to have that level of control if your character wins, as well as for others to use them in scene suggestions. In that vein, you have to be okay with your character potentially being both pred and prey.)

Finally, the second and third place winners will get the option to have their character added to the pool of fodder characters! There's no guarantee of when, but at some point your character will appear to be prey to the player character or some similar one-off scenario. This is an optional prize that you can turn down if you'd prefer.

Whew, I think that's everything! Thanks again for all your support thus far, and here's hoping the future is just as bright! Please let me know any thoughts you have, especially on the character contest!

~Orchid <3