We are back ~ Elephant in the room

Hey guys,

First of all, we are back, actually we've been back since Sunday night but yesterday it was pretty much replying to a bunch of messages, talking to people to whom we outsource resources to make sure they'll make it in time to the patch with quality and a bunch of other administrative issues.

First of all, I'd like to say that I had no idea how much I needed a vacation until I was in the vacations, I feel like I literally lost some weight off my shoulders, I feel lighter, I feel way less stressed, stress that I had in amounts I had no idea I did, and that is the issue...

I can't begin to express how stressful it was working on the game on the last couple weeks after a year of constant 8~10+ hour production, and after that doing PR and making sure our huge team was working like a well oiled machine, this would add up to 15~16 hours a day sometimes and over 24 hours on patch release days.

Even tho I refused to admit it, it was getting to me, it was getting to me in a way I didn't know it was possible, all in all I always dealt well with pressure, but all the release dates, having to pressure a lot of people to get their stuff done so I could work on mine, all the bugs undermining my estimates, and above all, all the impatient, unhelpful aggressive and passive-aggressive comments that question our dedication, day in and day out.

And this is the "Elephant in the room" part, I got the idea from a developer friend of mine, YummyTiger, and I think it's due time that I address it.

I know you (some fans in general) are impatient, I know you want to play the game, and I know at times to put pressure you feel like it's necessary to question our dedication, but that does not make us work faster, that does not make the patch come out faster, if any, it's only going to make us feel disheartened and stressed, which actually works exactly the other way around.

I also know that some or most of you have been burned by other authors in the past, invested a lot of money and the games were never finished, I honestly get it, but that just ain't us and it doesn't take much research online to understand how much time and effort we have devoted to the hentai RPG Maker community.

We're not a random guy that decided to make his game out of nowhere, we've been here, for 5 years we've been here and we've proven our worth time and time again to have people tell us "money changed us". How exactly did money change us? I was making 4.5k euros a month after taxes, not having to split it three ways, having to work exactly 8 hours and then I could go home with zero worries on my mind or worrying if I'd have a job tomorrow.

We're doing this because it's a common dream of all 3 of us, to create games, to have something we planned, something we imagined come to life, that is our main reward, money is a necessity, sure it helps, the more the merrier, but if money was the ultimate goal, I'd just stick with my previous job, Isaac is finishing computer engineering so he'd get a much higher paying job as well, and Mukuyaki is good enough to make as much money as he wants.

With that being said, we are going to stop replying to obvious provocative obnoxious comments because at this point I just can't bother anymore and I don't want to go back to be stressed all the time.

If we're not meeting your demands, feel free to unsubscribe to us since you don't want to support us, because and let us be clear on this, you're supporting US, the arists, not the game, when this is finished we'll still be here and we'll keep doing other games, if you want the game and just the game, don't worry, you'll likely be able to purchase it in the end, or get it for free if the patrons so choose in the end, or even pirate it! If you want to be with us in the ride, helping us create it, supporting us and getting some cool stuff along the way, then let me tell you that throwing money our way and then putting a knife against our throat is most definitely not the smartest way to do it.

On the flipside of the coin there are some of you, hell, most of you who have been nothing but supportive and encouraging and we can't thank you enough, because it's that strength, those comments that keep us coding till odd hours in the night.

To sum it up, I'll just go and quote my friend:

"I also want to reiterate that you don’t have to pledge if you’re not comfortable doing so. If you think I’m cheating you, or that there is no chance I’ll even finish, PLEASE don’t pledge."

That's about it, now I'm gonna stop writing because we have a patch we want to get out, and awesome ideas we developed while on vacation that we desperately want to apply to the game right away because we're 100% sure you guys are going to love it, especially the Pokémon GO fans *hint hint*

~ Starke