NextWorldGames

New Patreon Chat Name Colors and Glows

Just rolled out patch 0.23.2 today, with introduces all new Patreon rewards, in the form of unique chat name colors and glows unlocked by everyone who backs the Patreon at certain levels.

Level 3+ unlocks the Patreon chat name color.

Level 4+ unlocks the Patreon chat name glow.

Level 5+ unlocks a monthly unique new chat name color and glow, and give you access to all past monthly unique colors and glows you were a level 5+ backer for.

Level 6+ unlocks all past monthly unique colors and glows, no matter if you were a backer when they released.

The colors and glows can be selected from your profile when you're editing it.

Hope you all enjoy the new reward!

Rin Alt. Version Set Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share you all the alt. version set for Rin!

The set was created by the ever talented Lobolualua, and will go live this Friday!

April Economic Result

Got all the numbers counted up for April, and thanks to the amazing support from all of you, we finished in the positive for the first month this year! To be exact, April ended up with roughly $2000 (USD) in profits (which are kept in the company and used for AMQ).

It's been amazing seeing all the support from all of you since I posted the economic status last month, so I can't thank you all enough! I'm sure that with the help of all of you, the game will be able to reach its full potential!

Going forward, I plan on making economic updates such as this a more regular thing, to give you all an idea of how it's going, as the current situation still isn't secure. We're still far off from building back the old economic buffer, there's some larger bookkeeping expenses coming up this month, and we're getting close to June and July which were some of the worst sales month last year.
So I hope you'll all continue supporting the game this month and in the future, it's thanks to all of you that both Sheepy and I can spend our time improving the game.

For those interested, I'll drop the revenue and expenses breakdown for April below, and I'll probably drop another update in a couple of weeks on how May is shaping up.

Revenue (Money Earned)
Ticket Sales + Donations: $10000
Patreon: $4000

Expenses
Artist Payments: $800
Salaries: $7000 (this is roughly split 50/50 between me and Sheepy, resulting in a low but liveable wage for me and an okay part-time wage for Sheepy by Danish standards)
Office Rent: $100
Server Costs + Software License: $2000 (this is mostly server cost for the game and video server)
Platforms fees: $1500 (Patreon, PayPal, etc. fees.)

Thanks for All the Support (and some Patreon Updates)!

First of all thanks to both all the new Patreon's and existing ones, seeing the support from all of you after Sunday announcement, have been amazing.
Thanks to the support from all of you, we've raised over $3000 for the game over the last couple of days. Which should be enough to put April in the positive (I'll have the final numbers next week).
This doesn't mean all the financial challenges are gone, as we need to maintain this going forward and are still only one bad month away from the point where I'll be forced to scale back. But with the amazing support you've all shown, I'm sure we can avoid that scenario, and I'll also be working hard to guarantee that it doesn't come to that!
Going forward I'll also probably be sharing the economic status more often, so you all can follow how it's going.

One of the first changes I'm planning to make in the coming weeks, is to update the Patreon rewards a bit, based on feedback and suggestions from different people. I'm still finishing up the design for these, so feedback is greatly appreciated.

Free Donation Update
To start, I plan to move the free $3 drive donation from level 3 backer to level 4. Mainly to increase the amount of money going towards the game.

Patreon Chat Colors
The second idea is to add a new reward to multiple tiers, rewarding Patreon's with a unique color and glow for their name in the in-game chat. Kinda in the same style ranked champsionship rewards at the moment.
Currently, I'm thinking the following:
Level 3 Patreons: Will unlock a unique Patreon color for player names in the chat.
Level 4 Patreons: Will unlock a unique name glow to go with the name color.
Level 5 Patreons: Will unlock a new color + glow each month, and have access to all prior months color + glow where they backed the Patreon.
Level 6 Pareons: Will have access to all prior months colors + glows from level 5, even if they didn't back doing those months.

The plan is also to make the name colors and glow mixable, so you can mix name colors and glows as you like.

That's my two ideas for updating the Patreon for now, let me know what you think of them, and thanks again for all the amazing support all of you have shown!

Economic Status Update

TL;DR: The game have lost $7000 the first 3 months of the year, so I'll have to scale back development if it doesn't improve soon. If you're able to support the game on Patreon, donating or purchasing tickets, I would be forever grateful, as there's so much I want to do with the game and share with you all!

Hi everyone, been going over the game's accounting and wanted to give you all an update as it sadly isn't looking too good.

Last December, I wrote an update about sales had been looking down during summer 2023 but had improved doing fall, so it wasn't looking so it was looking decent towards the end of the year.
But after finishing the accounting for all of 2023, the year did end up with a loss of roughly 3000 dollars (USD).
This development has sadly gotten worse into 2024, where the game have lost a bit over 7000 dollars during the first 3 months of the year.
Luckily, I did have a decent cash reserve going into 2023, but it is starting to get dangerously low. As I do run the game through my company, running out of money would mean the company would go bankrupt, potentially meaning the closure of the game in the worst case.
So unless sales improves before the end of the month, I'll have to scale back on the production of the game to avoid that outcome. As it stands it would mean having to let Sheepy go (who have been working part-time on the game with for close to a year), which beside losing Sheepy development skills, would also cut the actual development hours put into the game in half.

The game currently sits at over 45,000 players, and if even just half of players spent $1 a month on the game (in average), the game would make more than enough money to support itself, and even expand the development, as I invest nearly all the money made by the game back into it.

So if you want and are able to help support the development, I would be forever grateful! Developing and sharing this game with you all have been a dream come true, there's still so much more I want to do with the game and I hope you'll all help support the game so we can make it the best possible!

If you're curious about the best way to support the game, becoming a backer here on Patreon is a great way if you stick around, as the consistent income is really great. For one time payments, donating to the avatar drive give's me the most money, but buying tickets is also a great way to support the game.

Finally, I think it's only fair I share how the game's money is spent, so I'll drop a rough breakdown of the revenue and expenses from last month (March).

Revenue (Money Earned)
Ticket Sales + Donations: $4400
Patreon: $3000

Expenses
Artist Payments: $550 (was low during March, usually around $1000-$1500)
Salaries: $7000 (this is roughly split 50/50 between me and Sheepy, resulting in a low but liveable wage for me and an okay part-time wage for Sheepy by Danish standards)
Office Rent: $100
Server Costs + Software License: $1500 (this is mostly server cost for the game and video server)
Platforms fees: $1000 (Patreon, PayPal, etc. fees.)

Mao and Marine Spring Alt. Version Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all the alt. version sets for the Mao and Marine Spring skins!

The Mao set was created by TaiOni, while the Marine set is by Lobolualua, they have both done an amazing job with the sets!

Both sets will go live this Friday!

Jam Game Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all a quick Sneak Peek of the new Jam Game that I hope to release soon.

I briefly mentioned this mode in the development update a month ago, but the quick description of the mode is a never ending quiz room with unlimited size, where players can drop in and out as they want. The quiz will run in blocks of 15 songs, at the end of each block all players can vote on a theme (genre/tags with enough entries) and the type distribution, which will be used for the next block.
The plan is also to have song selection based around the player list in-game, rotating between players to make sure everyone gets songs picked from their list from time to time (with countermeasures against players trying to force specific songs/shows). And to allow players of all skill levels to play, it'll use the hint system that was recently added (it was actually original designed for this mode).

My hope for this new mode, is that it'll create a quick way to jump into a multiplayer game with other players, when you just want to guess some songs and chat with other players.

One challenge with this room is the chat moderation, as the room is unlimited in size and without a host that can kick problematic people from the room. So I plan to have it use the emote only mode when there isn't a moderator in the chat, but to help keep the chat open as much as possible, I hope to recruit a new type of moderators who will focus solely on moderating the Jam Game chat (and potentially events chat down the line). So if that's something you could be interested in, do reach out here or over on Discord!

Finally, as for the release date of the new mode. I was originally hoping to have it ready for Wednesday or Thursday this week. But as I'm writing this in the middle of the night Tuesday, I have to face that it'll probably first be ready next week. But I'll still be pulling some late-nighters to see if I can get it finished this week, so you might see it Thursday or Friday if the stars align and everything falls into place.

That's it for this time, can't wait to share the new mode with you all!

Spring Skin 2024 Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all this year new spring skins, featuring Mao and Marine! As well as an all new Spring themed background!

The Mao skin was created by TaiOni, the Marine skin was done by Lobolualua and the background was created by Iza, they have all done an amazing job!

All the spring content will go live this Friday!

Fluffy Short-haired Sheep Girl Sneek Peek

I'm happy to share with you all the game's next avatar: Mofuji!

She won the avatar drive last month under the theme "Fluffy Short-haired Sheep Girl", and thanks to the amazing work of Weenbez she's now ready to make her appearance in-game this Friday!

Bodyguard Kyouko Alt. Version Set Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with all of you the alt. version set for Bodyguard Kyouko!

The server was created by the ever talented Lobolualua and will go live this Friday!

Traveling Merchant Fuwagi Alt. Version Set Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with all of you the alt. version set for Traveling Merchant Fuwagi!

The set was created by the ever talented TaiOni, and will go live on Friday!

Quick Development Update

Wanted to drop a quick dev update about what I've been working on doing the last week, and what will be coming up soon for the game.

So doing roughly the last 1.5 weeks, I've been focusing on optimizing the server and login process, to help reduce situations where the servers get overloaded and people can't play or login.
One of the thing this will add is a login queue, not a limit to how many players can be online, but how many can log in at once. This should never be a long wait, and it's mainly to solve the issue where a sudden influx of players (for example after a server restart) is preventing everyone from login as the database is getting overloaded.

If all goes as plan, the login queue and other server optimization will go live early next week.

Once that patch is finished, I hope to shift focus to a new endless and unlimited size quiz room, which will function a bit like the boss event room from the 6-year anniversary. But instead of utilizing the boss mode, it'll pick songs based on the players lists in the game, with different modifiers (for example, only specific genres or tags), that players can vote on every 20th songs.
The idea is to create a large always public room, you can jump into a play whenever you just want to get some songs in without having to look for a public room.
I'm still working out the last details for this, but I really hope to be able to roll it out before the end of the month.
On a side note, the optimization changes mentioned earlier and format of the room, will make it, so this room won't lag out the entire game like the boss event did.

That's it for this update, if you would like to see more of updates such as this, make sure to let me know, and I might make this a semiregular thing =)

Yin Yan Emote Sneak Peek!

After more than 2 years, I'm happy to finally share with you all a new emote set, this time for Yin Yan!

The set have been created by the ever talented Rifuki, and will go live this Friday!

Student Council President Mao Alt. Version Set Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all the alt. version set for Student Council President Mao!

The set was created by the ever talented Lobolualua, and will go live this Friday!

AMQ Awards Alt Version Sneak Peek

A bit delayed, but I'm happy to share with you all a short sneak peek of an AMQ Awards themed alt. version for Komugi!

The outfit design was created by Wenbeez, and the alt. version by Lobolualua, they have both done an amazing job!

The alt. version will go live on Friday, just in time for the AMQ Awards this Satuerday!

Lunar New Year Sneek Peak

I'm happy to share with you all this year's Lunar New Year skins, celebrating the year of the dragon! This year we have not only dragon themed versions for Fuwagi and Fira, but also a unique background!

The Fuwagi versions were made by Lobolualua, the Fira versions by TaiOni and the background by Iza.

All of them, together with past year's Lunar New Year versions, will go live this Friday!

Adventure Ignis Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all the next skin in the fantasy themed line: Adventure Ignis!

The skin was created by the ever talented Wenbeez, and will go live this friday!

Winter Lilith and Yin Yan Alt. Version Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all the alt. version sets for Lilith and Yin Yan!

The Lilith set was created by Lobolualua and the Yin Yan is by TaiOni, who have both done an amazing job with the sets!

Both sets will go live this Friday!

Catgirl Noel Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all the new Noel skin "Catgirl Noel" that won the avatar drive last month!

The skin was created by Wenbeez, who did an amazing job turning into Noel into a catgirl, and will go live this Friday!

Komugi Illustration

I'm happy to share with all of you a full size character illustration, featuring Komugi and showing the moment when Noel discovered her.

Character illustrations featuring the game avatar's is something I've wanted to do for a long time, so this will hopefully be the first of many.

The Amazing art was created by Wenbeez, who have done an amazing job with it!

Ignis Alt. Version Set Sneak Peek

I'm happy to share with you all the alt. version set for Ignis!

The set was created by the ever talented TaiOni, and will go live this Friday!

Winter Skin Sneak Peek

Hope you all have had a great start to the new year! With the new year here, it's also time for this year's winter skin sneak peek!

The Lilith skin was created by Lobolualua, while the Yin Yan skin is by TaiOni,they have both done an amazing job with them!

Both skins, together with past years winter skins, will go live on Friday!

Sera Alt. Version Sneak Peak

I'm happy to share with you all the alt. version set for Sera!

The set have been created by the ever talented Lobolualua and will go live this Friday

Winter Skin Feedback

TaiOni and Lobolualua are hard at work getting this year winter skins ready! As part of this design process, we usually create several different outfits that we then pick from. This time I thought I wanted to try sharing them with all of you, and hear your thoughts on the designs before we pick the final design.
So drop a comment with any feedback you might have, and leave a vote on the versions you prefer (you're welcome to vote for multiple).
We might still make some more adjustments to them down the line, so these might not be the final designs, but all feedback is helpful =)
The two new winter skins this year will be for Yin and Yan, and Lilith!

Christmas Alt. Version Sneak Peak

Chrismas is drawing close, so I'm happy to share with you all, this year new Christmas themed alt. versions for Honoka and Kyouko!

The Honoka set was created by TaiOni and the Kyouko one by Lobolualua, who have both done an amazing job!

Both sets will go live this Friday together with past years Christmas alt. versions!

AMQ Behind the Scene Status Update

Seeing as the game is able to exist thanks to the support from all of you, I wanted to give you all a bit of an update on how the business side of things are looking for the game (no worries, the game isn't in any issues).
While developing the game, and sharing it with all of you, is something I love doing, I can't ignore the business side of things. Developing and running the game does require money, and it allows me to get content out to all of you quicker and better.

I'll go into more details below, but if you just want the tl;dr: 2023 have been a hard year, AMQ finances have been stable and is still looking good, but was hoping for a better result to speed up development further.
That's the short version, below is the more detailed one.

Overall, 2023 have been a pretty hard year for the game business. This has been a global thing, but looking just as Denmark (where I'm based), several companies have gone bankrupt or had too downscale. I personally believe this to be partly the result of the boost, from the covid lockdowns (everyone being at home and gaming), being over and the increase in inflation/cost-of-living, leaving people with less money for entertainment.

What this mean for the game, is a drop in the active player base, but thanks to the additions of the ticket sales and animated avatars, the game's finances have managed to remain stable throughout the year. So while I was a bit nervous after I added Sheepy to the team at the start of Summer (had a couple of bad sale months after that), the release of the first animated skin and the results doing Fall, made up for it. So the game isn't any financial issues, but I was hoping for a better result this year, to help speed up development next year and have a bit more of a safety buffer.

What this mean for the game, is that there's no pressing issues in keeping AMQ running, and continuing the development at the current phase, but it'll probably take longer to develop the coming major features than I was originally planning. Things have been looking better towards the end of this year, so I doubt this year challenges will continue into next year. 

That's it for this post. It's the first time I've tried making a blog post like this, hope it helped give some insight on what's going on behind the scene for the game. Let me know if this is something you would like to see more of in the future =)

New AMQ Comic!

I'm happy to share with you all the next AMQ Comic!

In this comic, we take a look at the alpha 1 world, showing how the daily life of the game's avatar look! I hope this will be the first of many comics exploring the different worlds of AMQ, so if you have another of the game's world you would like to see next, let me know!

Victorian Lolita Sneak Peak

I'm happy to share with all of you the game's next avatar: Elika!

She won the avatar drive under the theme "Victorian Lolita", and thanks to the amazing work of Wenbeez she's now ready to make her appearance in the game!

Elika will go live this Friday!

Animated Avatar Sneak Peak

I'm happy to share with you all the second avatar to get an animated version: Tribal Sorcerer Komugi!

This was an interesting one to get animated, due to the amount of fire effects in it, but thanks to the great work of Jerry Lin, who did the rigging and animation, and DucVu FX, who did the VFX, it has turned out amazing!

The skin will go live this Friday!

Edit: Patreon butchered the video quality, I'll post the higher quality version over on Discord

Anniversary Sneak Peak

The game is hitting its 6 years anniversary next week, and to celebrate I'm preparing a huge patch for Friday, which will introduce not only a new quiz mode, but also an in-game celebration event and the game's second animated avatar!

You'll have to wait a bit longer for all the details, but still wanted to drop you all a quick sneak peek of the new quiz mode!