Update: State of the Me Address

I've been wanting to make this post for a few days, but I wanted to put my energy into finishing up BEAI's update first.

I want to start by saying that everything is, overall, fine. I'm not burning out or stepping away or anything. I just feel the need to give a good update on what's going on and where the projects are going from here and (more importantly) the why of it all.

I've had a very, very busy May, which is pretty normal. I have had limited free time to work on the games. When I have had that time, I've found progress to be slow.

The short version is: I have not enjoyed working on BEAI. I was excited to try such a radically different idea when I began work on it. I've certainly learned a ton of useful info that will carry into future projects, but, really, my vision for the game has not really been realized and would take FAR more energy and time to achieve than I initially expected. I'm honestly not sure it would be doable with my current skill level.

The new direction for the game, the guided second person scenarios, are fun in theory, but I found them constrictive and uninspiring in practice. My drop in subscribers would seem to indicate that many of my supporters felt the same.

Ultimately, I'm glad I tried something new, but I'm not nearly as proud of the result or even particularly satisfied. Mostly, I'm relieved to be moving on to another adventure game after all this.

I do want to reassure everyone that I don't make this decision lightly, and I have no intention of making a habit of dropping projects.

I'm also not saying I will never come back to BEAI. I will keep it in mind if I ever think I've got a good approach to finally make it sing. We'll see.

Until then, though, I'm ready to put my energy into something that I know I enjoy and that I know my supporters enjoy.

Thank you for reading this rambling update and for sticking with me through a relative low spot of my amateur game designer career. I hope the resulting game at least gives you some enjoyment while you wait for something better. Personally, I think you'll love what I have in store.

Another thing I wanted to bring up is the absolutely insane censorship going on in NSFW spaces online. I'm seeing more and more mentions of cracking down here and elsewhere.

I want to be clear that I make sure to comply with any requirements of me by the Patreon platform, and I'm confident that my content doesn't cross any lines it shouldn't.

However, should anything major happen here, I am currently looking into other options, particularly SubscribeStar, which I've heard good things about.

I'm not intending to leave here anytime soon, but if things go nuclear out of nowhere, expect me to show up there or somewhere else. I won't walk away from doing this anytime soon.