Progress Report Week 40(ish).

First, I'd like to say that this is going to be another fairly long post. :)
A post that might be a bit personal, but I want to be completely honest with you guys.

Time Off

Regarding my time off, I have some good and bad news.

Even though I really enjoyed my 9 days off, it became clear to me that I was still feeling completely drained after a week and only started to feel a little bit rested this weekend.

I was still recovering from the past couple of updates, before my brain even had the chance to recharge the battery.
So, I started to think back a little bit.

51 Months.
That's how long I've been working on Sweet Affection on my own, fulltime.
And in those 51 months, I produced 50 updates.
Only missing one update in September 2020 because I was down with Covid.

Now, I love working on Sweet Affection, I think everyone knows that.
That is the main reason why I'm even able to work so many hours on it.
It's not just a job for me, it's something I truly love doing.
Furthering the journey of all the characters step by step and seeing how their journey is slowly coming to an end.
It's a joy and I'm proud that I can share that with every single one of you.

And, I want to continue doing that until the game is 100% finished.
And, I want to do that with a future project as well.
But, to make sure I can keep doing that for a very, very long time, I have to think about myself and make some changes.

I am still going to continue with the following schedule:
- One month, M&S Content
- One month, M&S and Side-character content

But, I decided that after doing two cycles of that (so 4 months/updates.) I'm going to take some real time off.
That can be a couple weeks combined with a very small update, or that could be me deciding to take the month off entirely.
I know that it sucks because I really want to keep delivering everyone the monthly content that you have gotten used to.

And that is exactly what every single one of you deserves.
But, I have to make this decision to ensure that I can keep providing content for a very long time to come.

Now, what does that mean for the immediate future?
I'm not going to change anything regarding this month's update, or the next one.
I know how much people have been looking forward to this level-up event, as well as Suzie's new content. So, no changes for October & November.

But, I decided that December is going to be the first month I'm going to take a long holiday.
My goal is still to give you guys at least one hour of content for M&S to enjoy during the holidays.
But, it will be a fairly small update, that much is certain.
That in turn will mean that there will also be some changes for January and the months after that.
But more information about that once I worked that out and talked with the team.
And I will make sure to post a new schedule, next week.

The reason why I'm doing this instead of making all the updates smaller is simply because that's not possible.
Cutting time away from their events would mean I have to sacrifice parts of the story that I'm trying to tell, and sacrifice parts of their journey.
And that is simply not something I'm willing to do.
You guys deserve 100% of everyone's story to be told, but the characters themselves deserve that as well.

But, there is another reason why I have to do it like this.
Working on Sweet Affection, it's not just an 8-hour work day for me.
I don't sit behind my computer and then call it a day once I'm done.

No, I'm busy with Sweet Affection in one way or the other, the entire day long.
Waking up, watching TV, going to the mall, going to bed.
I'm always thinking about Sweet Affection and the work that needs to be done.
Coming up with new content and ideas for events.
Meaning that even in my off-time, my brain is still not getting any rest.

Now, that is simply who I am and how I work.
And I think it's also a testament to how much I love Sweet Affection and love working on it.
That I want to truly give it my all.
And because I know I can't change who I am, I have to change how I work.

I know that some will be annoyed by this decision, and I understand that.
But I will keep giving it my all during the time that I am developing, as I've always done.
And I will make sure to post the schedule and my off-time, and how long it will be long in advance, so everyone can make the decision if they want to keep supporting me during that month or take a break.

If you think this is a bad idea, or you support it.
Please let me know in the comments or via DM. :)

Sweet Affection Update 0.10.0

Now, for the good news.
I started work on the 0.10.0 update, today.
For the next 8/9 days, I'll be completely focused on creating the art for the upcoming level-up event.

As mentioned last week, it's definitely going to be a very long event.
An event that will change the lives of the three main characters, forever.
And I can't wait for you guys to experience the event later this month.

In the meantime, we are also working on removing the spy cams from the game, safely.
But, my Coder says that it's not going to be an issue, and he has never been wrong so far. :)

More information about the 0.10.0 update in the next progress report though.
Once I had the chance to develop more of the update.

Cross Promo #3

This Wednesday, I'll also be posting another cross promo.
And hopefully, that will help to bring in a lot of new fans. :)

But for now, I think I'm going to end this post because I'm sure people already read enough when they play our game. :)

I know that most of you will understand why I had to make the decision to take breaks.
But, if you are disappointed or even mad at me for making this decision.
Then, I'm sorry for letting you down.

I'll be back with another progress report next weekend.
And, thank you to everyone for your support and kindness. :)

- Naughty Attic Gaming