The future of Light of my Life

Here's a post that's a bit overdue, but I've had a lot to think about when it comes to this subject, and, well, just the action of writing it up here sort of pins it down and makes it real, and that's a scary proposition, and an exercise that I didn't particularly enjoy.
 
But I should really bite that bullet, so lets get it over with, even if it is scary. In this post, I'm going to be pretty open about my thoughts and concerns. I hope that doesn't leave a bitter taste in your mouth, I just want to share what goes into these decisions, and not all of that is fun.

Light of my Life: where are we now?

With chapter 7 squared away, another big chunk of "owed" content is delivered, and another big milestone is achieved. In fact, we don't have a whole lot of milestones left.

The state of the game at this point is that a lot of the big beats involving Macy and Denise have been done. But there's still plenty of unresolved stuff, involving both them and the side characters. Stuff that still either requires addressing, or is fun to address. So that is where we are now: addressing the remaining issues, enjoying fun bits now we can have them, and wrapping up, really.

How can we go about that? Well, there's two options going forward from here.

Plan A: this is fine.

Right now, my plan is to have three more chapters (two story, one epilogue), in which Macy, Denise, and the others can address any remaining unresolved issues, make good on those promises that the game has made, and have their fun extras, and basically wrap things up and send everyone off on a really nice ending.

I'd like to try and make those chapters a bit more focused and to the point, as we are wrapping up and don't need to set up elaborate twists or character development any more. But it's still a pretty big commitment and a good chunk of content to create. Say a year or two more of development in all? 

It would be my preferred choice for completing this project, as it'd allow me to give everyone the best ending, and have all the fun moments that were teased along the way, but it's not the only option.

Plan B: are they still making that?

There's an alternative we have to consider.

What often happens with TV shows and movie franchises is that they keep making them until at some point, everyone's done with it, and ready to move on if they haven't already. As a fan, if you're lucky, the makers got word in time that they wouldn't be renewed, and were able to spend (half) a season wrapping things up and providing an ending. If you're not, it just gets canceled on a cliffhanger leaving everyone unhappy (or at least, everyone that still cares).

What if, for Light of my Life, that moment's come?

Well, maybe not for you personally, I presume. You're here reading this, supporting development, and looking forward to what comes next, and I'm guessing you want more.

But in spite of the love many of you expressed for chapter 7, it failed to give the game a significant new impulse, and reception in general seems lack-luster compared to chapters 4, 5, and especially 6.
Socials seem to have fallen flat since release, at least on the few platforms I'm on.
And perhaps most telling, the usual post-release erosion of support after the uptick it gets just prior to release isn't really slowing down or stabilizing back to old levels as it did after previous releases.

In fact, on Patreon it's now at it's lowest since halfway 2020. SubscribeStar shows a similar decline after the release of chapter 7. And with Steam out of the picture and GOG so far not interested in picking it up, there don't seem to be any new streams of revenue to explore to compensate.

What does that mean?

Even in it's heyday (somewhere between chapters 4 and 5), Light of my Life has never been able to match my second job in terms of income per hour spent, so it'd be a lie to say I'm in this for the mad stacks, and I'm used to the idea that it's a labor of love first and foremost.

But this downward trend is giving me some pause to think about the future, and about committing to another few years of development. Because, fun as it is to make Light of my Life, the hours are brutal, and juggling two full-time jobs (Light of my Life and my second job), and have some sort of a family life, that requires a lot of sacrifices to be made.

So I'm gonna watch the trends just a cycle or two more. If it continues, I'm gonna have to think long and hard about pivoting chapter 8 into the final chapter instead, so at least the game will have a finale that leaves the characters in a good place (even if that leaves a few promises unfulfilled) before I move on to a new project.

While it's not the way I'd prefer to conclude this project, plan B is by all means an acceptable ending, as it would still allow us to say our goodbyes to these characters in a proper way, as they (and you) deserve.

And perhaps as endings go, it wouldn't even be the worst of the two, as it prevents Light of my Life from wearing out its welcome any more than it already has.

In conclusion

So, that's where we're at. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling to write all this down, and make it real that, one way or another, this game that has been a central part of my life for so many years is moving into the final phases, no longer an abstract "yeah of course one day it'll end" kind of way, but a thing that is actually happening right now. 

To be honest, I'm not really sure I am ready for that yet, but here we are and we got at least the time it takes to make one more chapter to get used to the idea. 

As to what that ending phase looks like, one chapter or three, that kinda depends on what happens in the next month or two, and when the new year comes, I can hopefully give some more clarity about the direction things are heading.

So up next: thinking up a nice wallpaper to put together for the holiday season, and get my mind away from thoughts about endings and finales, at least for the time being, because it's kind of a downer to be honest, right?