Behind the scenes: Introduction

Hey everyone!

I wanted to do something different by putting out a series of posts each week bringing you behind the scenes of Expanding Universe Games. On top of what it takes to make the games I also wanted to tell you about my experience as a developer, what my motivations are, what my intentions with the game have been and where I hope to take things in the future.

And by the way, you won't hurt my feelings if you don't read these, I just want to bring you guys a bit deeper into everything going on, being as how you all have been nice enough to give some of your hard earned money to some stranger on the internet that likes boobies.

This post is about introducing myself.

Depending on how active you are on the Expanding Universe Discord, this may or may not be a lot of new info for you.

Expanding Universe Games is... me. I'm 36, Californian with European descent. I'm tall, the same height as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Well, technically, I'm taller than Kobe now (shit! Distasteful jokes already. Can you believe he only died six months ago? Feels like two years. 2020 is dragging like a 70s Pontiac with all four tires slashed).

I grew up always wanting to be a writer. I've been working on a novel for two and a half decades. Started writing a TV show, tried writing a few screenplays.

Never sent anything out to be published because my work ethic was lacking and only writing a few hours a week doesn't get you anywhere. I never finished college because I figured it might land me a career and would mean I wouldn't ever become a writer.

Instead, I ended up working jobs I didn't like for a lot less money than I would have if I had finished college.

Delivered pizzas for 5 years, sold cell phones for 8. Never took either job seriously as I would show up twenty minutes late every day and still drunk from the night before on weekends. On the side I was a part time DJ, did window washing, newspaper delivery, bar back, catering, all the good shit. Only thing I didn't do was get paid for writing.

My first NSFW story was short. I wrote it fifteen years ago and put it online under the pen name Mike Hawk. It was about using a magic watch to make the girls I knew around high school age grow bigger boobs as they requested and as a result, they would all want to hook up with the protagonist and was titled Hypnosis.

It received positive feedback and people seemed to like it so I wrote another. This next story was more aimless and without a happy ending, and it got entirely negative reviews.

I wrote a third story with a female protagonist that had been taking her younger short sister's growth pills to make her taller thinking they were vitamins and putting her through a second puberty. The girl began a slow descent of corruption as her hormones began to take over. This story did well and I planned on finishing it but never found the inspiration.

I won't link to any of these stories for a couple of reasons. The first one is that they aren't very good. The pacing in particular is something I was still working out. The second reason is because they weren't written with Patreon's rules in mind, and they tend to review shit even when it isn't hosted on their site.

I started a fourth story but never put it online. It is about a guy that struggles in the size department so he buys pills from a sketchy website that end up working. The side effect is that every time he shoots a load on a girl's chest her bra size increases a bit. 

If that doesn't sound familiar, it's because you haven't played Chapter 3 of Endowed yet.

Years went by. I had fun going out to the bars with friends and dating 2 or 3 girls at a time for about a decade. Then I had the idea for a board game while driving home from work.

This board game game would be about going out to the bars with your friends. You would have to navigate all the pitfalls including homeless people, sorority girls, happy hour and forgetting your phone back at the last bar. The goal is to get home to your bed, and the game is called Survive The Night.

I quit my job. My boss was basically a mini Donald Trump and I couldn't stand feeling like the same asshole screwing up the country was also telling me I needed to start to be shady with how I made my employees sell smart phones to the elderly.

I drove for Uber for cash and spent a year working on the board game, testing it with friends and getting it right to the point where it was ready to launch and then... froze.

I worried it wouldn't fund. That I would have to go back to working retail once my girlfriend got tired of floating my dumbass.

So I started a last minute idea. I'd played quite a few adult visual novels and quite enjoyed them. I thought to myself... hey, I think I could bring some of my favorite lesser explored fetishes together and create something of my own.

If nothing else, if my board game didn't fund, I would have a backup plan. And if nothing else, maybe it would be free advertising?

I decided that taking my first story, Hypnosis, and turning it into a longer story with multiple paths would be the perfect practice for a first game before I created the main one.

I spent a month learning how to code in Ren'py, how to work the adult Japanese game Honey Select to take screenshots, make animations, create characters and make a game.

But after the first three episodes, instead of wrapping up, the story was only beginning. I uploaded the first version of the game a year ago and was amazed with the response. People came to support the Patreon right away, offering great advice and helpful support.

I decided to go as full time as I could, cutting back on driving for Uber to work on the game every day.

The game took off. Each update was met with more subscribers, more fans, and more support. My ten and twelve hour days felt like they were worth it, I was having fun and I was finally making money doing what I loved.

I ended up putting a quick plug for my board game at the end of the game updates, but I spent too much time working on Hypnosis each month to worry about launching the board game on Kickstarter.

Then Covid hit. People are stuck at home wishing they could go out to the bars. Maybe a board game about doing just that has more of a selling point now. I still need to launch the board game, and I still plan to in the near future, but I keep hoping I'll pull ahead one month and have an extra update in my pocket for when I spend a month trying to run a Kickstarter campaign.

So what now? With developing Hypnosis (and Endowed), I'm hooked. I'm finally making enough money from everyone's support that I can work on the game full time without worrying about driving for Uber to pay the bills. I love working on the game, especially the writing, but also the other aspects of it all.

Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few times where it is all a challenge. Sometimes looking up reviews about the game from someone who had nothing but negative comments sucks. 

But having the support of all of you has been amazing. It's been a dream come true for me to be able to work on my craft and improve as a writer, graphic designer and coder. 

I love having a fanbase that is positive, dedicated and supportive that makes trying to hit my monthly deadlines a delight. I get to look forward to your reactions to the new update each month, and to me that is better motivation to be putting in all the work than I've ever had from any boss. 

I've never had a good work ethic before, but now that I have something I enjoy doing I don't mind being a bit of a workaholic. I still have to remind myself to go for a walk or get up to play a game of darts with my girlfriend, but each morning I wake up with a smile on my face, looking forward to whatever scene I'm working on that day.

Once again, thanks to each and ever one of you for supporting the game. 

You're not only helping bring Hypnosis to life, you're also allowing me to begin the career I've always wanted. Maybe my dream as a kid wasn't creating adult games in particular, but hey, we all have to start somewhere.

Thanks everyone!

You're the best.