Saturday Update!

Hello again folks! It's been another eventful week!

I'll start with the hot news: If you haven't heard, the payment processors are going after itch.io now too. For the time being, adult content on itch is simply being hidden from search results [ although I am seeing some patchy reports of games actually being taken down ]. Being delisted from searches doesn't affect me much, since people can follow the links on my personal website [ dirtymurdergames.com ] to get links straight to games. [ My Etsy store has been shadowbanned for months now and it's still running fine. Too fine actually, my fingies are sore from sealing packages LMAO ]

Will they go further and start taking more games down? Maybe. Maybe they already are. These things always happen immediately and with zero transparency. They always do it this way to prevent pushback, trust me- this is very much not my first rodeo LMAO.

I have been shown a list of subjects that the payment processors have objection to, but I don't know how legit the list is. I'm inclined to believe it isn't relevant even if it did come straight from a payment processor, since they are clearly willing to change their own rules with zero notice anyway.

What does any of this mean for my work?

Right now, nothing. None of my games have been removed from either Steam or Itch as of right now. If they are, I will find somewhere else to host them, I've heard of a few options. Hopefully it will not come to that.

Will the list of oligarchy no-no thoughts affect my future work? Absolutely not. YKMET:Lawrence will include every theme I want to be in it, and I will be going ham with the drug themes more than the original. I will make my art how I want to make it and those corpo fucks can get bent.

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Now that's out of the way, let's talk about fun stuff! Here's what I got done last week:

• Added the YKMET:Strade logo to teepublic

• Launched YKMET:Strade on itch.io

• Posted the YKMET:Strade OST to Youtube [ the OST has also been added as a free download bundled with the itch copy, and by itself on my website ]

• Lots of package filling and mailing for the Etsy store [ Canada Post situation still up in the air, the vote will finish on Aug 1st I think, then we shall see what happens next ]

• Received many deliveries of store supplies [ got a shitload of bubble mailers, my signature candies, and tough plastic courier bags sized for plushies ]

• Received and built an ikea dresser to hold dakis and make package filling easier

• Got YKMET:Strade approved for Steam Scream Fest! [ it'll now be on sale with TPOF during the festival ]

• Minor update to the game on Steam and Itch to fix German [ 'liebchen' should have been 'liebling', I'm really sorry for fucking that up 😵‍💫 ]

• Worked on the art for a new set of YKMET style keychains:

The refined design is the hard part, rendering should be easier. I was also thinking of jazzing them up a little with a metallic foil core that would only peek out in certain parts of the design [ the collar on both keychains and Strade's knife ]

^ It's this process here, they have an option for flat shiny silver [ not glitter ] that I think would look pretty cool! It would be a subtle effect since those parts are so small but still, it might be worth it. They do cost about $1 more per keychain to produce so I'd likely be selling them for 13CAD instead of 12CAD like my basic keychains but I really like the idea of them being a little extra special.
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What I'm doing next week:

• On Monday, July 28th at 10:00AM MDT I will be releasing the collector coins. Please don't panic buy them though, there's 500 and they will not run out instantly. I will be enforcing no-scalping rules [ no one is allowed to buy more than 2, and people may not request a specific serial number ]. If I get too many orders to process by myself at once, I'll temporarily close the store until I can get them out. [ 'taking my time' on them is not an option, Etsy penalizes stores who take too long to process orders and I would prefer to maintain my star seller status ]

• When I launch the coins on Monday, I will also be sending a mass DM to all subscribed Patrons with a discount code for them [ regular price will be $20CAD/~$14.59USD, the discount code will be for 25% off ] I'll be saying it in the DM, but please don't respond to it- I don't want 1000 emails 😂

• I will try to get more done on the artwork for the new keychains and new dakis, but I might be in packing pit hell because of the coins so I don't know how much time I'll be able to devote to artwork.

To be honest, I am getting a little bit worried about the workload involved with the store. I was expecting sales to fall off more than they have. I'm hoping that things are just busy because the store was closed for a long time and people are still buzzing about the new game.

I'm grateful for the business of course! I'm just physically struggling to keep up with the work involved, and the idea that a bunch of new merch is still coming is making me a little nervous 😅.

If the work doesn't slow down, I won't really be able to take a break or start the next game efficiently. I'm still only one person. I also refuse to hire employees, that simply isn't the lifestyle I want. I'm not sure what I'll do, but I'll have to find some kind of path ahead.

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Still exhausted, still trying to keep up with the work haha. I'm doing better than last week though, it's nicer now that there aren't so many different things to remember. Just the endless slog of store work now, and art when I can get to it.

Still, I'm very happy that the game seems to be so well received 💚 Stay safe everyone, and don't worry too much about the censorship stuff. I have a very robust resume of being a stubborn cockroach bitch who never quits.