[~June News Post #1~]

(We're trying something different this month, where development reports will be towards the end of a given month instead of the start. This should work great after content is delivered before these reports, as we can discuss and share a wider range of things going on in those reports. Development reports will remain free access to the public. These news posts during each month will be for $5+ supporters, with this news post being the exception to that rule just this once as we adjust things.)

It's the start of Summer already! How'd that happen?! :S

In case you weren't aware, recently I moved across country back in April and settling into the new place and location as a whole. There's been pros and cons here already, but to be fair.. Just about any place is going to have those.

Another personal thing that happened during May, is that I've officially graduated from college! I'm still waiting on my degree to arrive in the mail, but that's been a huge milestone for me to complete. Which is going to lead into today's news post with the project and our plans for the next 6 months forward into 2026 and beyond hopefully!

I've been giving this some thought in the recent months and now that I'm finished with college, I no longer have classes to do during the weekdays and for most people the next logical step seems like it'd be finding a job related to my degree, right? Well... That's where my next personal milestone in life comes into play.

I'd like to work full-time on MA and future game projects in similar fashion with improvements learnt along the way. But realistically in order to do this long-term as my career instead of my degree's field of work, it'll require more money coming in on a monthly basis through support. I'm thinking at least $3,000usd per month as a ideal milestone to reach, that'd roughly give me around $1,500usd as personal income through the project per month, while the rest is split up amongst the team.

Ideally we'd surpass the $3,000usd milestone, that way extra funds beyond that help the rest of the team that much more. The only reason I think around $1,500usd for personal income is reasonable is because currently I live with my parents, so there's less expenses right now to worry about. But... That won't always be the case, as my parents are fully retiring in the next 2 years. (Mainly my Dad)

So, I'm looking to get myself off my feet before that point and continue things from there. Of course later down the road, the personal income needed to cover expenses on a monthly basis is going to go up when I'm on my own or even if I find a roommate or two to help split costs, etc.

I think you get the gist of it, right? My next milestone in life is turning game development with MA and future game projects into my job career full-time, 8 hours per day during weekdays and really go hard into making this a reality. 

Over the course of the next 6 months and into 2026, I'll be sinking 8 hours per day on weekdays into the project. Something I've struggled with while juggling college, but I really want to give it my everything in reaching this milestone in order to do game development as my career path. I could easily make more money with my degree, but I've came to the conclusion that I'd be much happier working on MA and future game projects instead if I had to choose between the two. 

Naturally my degree is still there as a backup plan, but I really want to make game development work with MA and future projects more so.

As highlighted above, during weekdays, I'm sinking 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week into MA development. In the past week, I've already started getting a feel for doing this long-term and so it's already underway!

Of course we'll have to show results, which means content needs to begin flowing steadily every month and the extra time sunk into the project, means we should see more content delivered as a result. Which is a win win in my book, as we can get development speeding along faster, but also we get to share the exciting content for the game ahead faster!

The next 6 months will be very important to the development of MA as a whole. The content expected that I can openly speak of without spoiling major stuff, is the long awaited finishing of episode 5's content first. (Set for June 2025) Following this, we'll return to episode 1 and 2 for QoL fixes and additions, which includes new gameplay elements, improved choices and outcomes, more personal preference to the player, new scenes included, improved story moments, new art & music added and more! (Female protagonist being playable too!)

We're not looking to overhaul previous episodes from scratch or rewrite existing scenes, just lightly fixing editing and some very light adjustments in how dialogue and text appears to be more polished and finalized. 

The main story in MA has been a bit rough to give it the proper time needed to build into the mystery and feel as if there's a real sense of progression with it. Something that I've had much of the details sorted out for a long time, but it needed a lot of hammering and making sense of it all when it comes together and unfolds in-game. 

So, I have a 30+ page document that is more or less a lore book that highlights all the main story details in a timeline, how things are supposed to unfold and when in-game. It'll make more sense as the main story unfolds in-game as to why there's a need for that much detail to keep track of the story details.

The main story for MA will be touched upon during these QoL fixes and additions, each episode having at least a scene or two that has a heavier focus on the events unfolding with a real sense of progression taking place. Of course, more slice of life general scenes will help break those story scenes up along the way, but we're pacing it in a way that'll feel natural with everything going on.

With that in mind, episodes 1 & 2 QoL update. (Set for July 2025) 

Following that, episodes 3 & 4 QoL update. (Set for August 2025)

Then, episode 5 QoL & 3 route episodes (Miki, Lola & Nova) update. (Set for September 2025)

(Episode 5's QoL will be adding a ending scene that'll make a lot more sense with our story improvement efforts added to previous episodes in the two months prior. Along with some light touching up of the existing scenes to add finalized cg art, more music and better choices, along with the other gameplay systems.)

3 route episodes (Juliet, Bridget & Erika) update. (Set for October 2025)

3 route episodes (Heather, Zoey & Rachel) update. (Set for November 2025)

That'll wrap up the first of the route episodes for the cast, labeled as "episode 6" but each route's episode is completely unique to them, with the exception of each route having shared main story related scenes that fit naturally into each route's events.

Between the QoL stuff and route episodes planned out for this year, it should really give players a lot to speculate and discuss for the main story unfolding and the mystery behind Pembroke Academy. I can't express how excited I am personally to share these events for the main story along the way and while there will be a lot more going on in 2026 with the main story as updates flow, 2025 will help really boost the foundation and get the wheel not only turning, but start revealing pieces of the puzzle!

This is a very real concern, one that I understand well as creative writing can and will hit moments where it's drawing a blank on what to do next. I'm not really sure how anyone manages to avoid burnout at least, as I'm sure every artist or creator has hit that point at least once if not more.

It isn't as if burnout means that person won't snap back and keep going again, but it might be a bump in the road at some point, where the only natural solution I can think of... Is ensure we have some content set aside and ready even a month or two ahead, in the case of these events or emergencies, that way it provides myself and the team with some leeway to get over the burnout phase or while during with a emergency situation. (Like a major hurricane event.)

Losing interest on the other hand, I can safely say... We're 5 years into this project and while we've had our lows for moments clear as day. I wouldn't be providing the team with income and having elements of the game worked on, and shared through posts, if there was zero interest in the project.

Of course if I could turn back time, I'd do a number of things differently to improve on delivering content, but we have been sinking monthly funding into the game's assets needed regardless.

So, I think to answer these together. We'll have to prove ourselves over the next 6 months and into 2026, not only to reach the $3,000usd milestone per month in funding, but also just in general showcase that with my hard work efforts I'm going to be sinking into the project moving forward to reach this goal. That we hopefully won't raise any concerns that's on the topic of "Are they burning out? Are they losing interest?" etc.

If for any reason we can't hit the $3,000usd milestone per month by sometime later into 2026, it'll just mean that I have to lean more into my degree and get a day job that isn't related to the project.

Which of course means if I'm working a job that's 40 hours or better a week, that'll mean less time is sunk into development on MA or future projects naturally. That doesn't mean I'd outright stop development, I'd just have to manage it in a realistic manner that works with having a lot less time to sink into it on a weekly basis.

That'd mean less content delivered per month and possibly adjusting our approach in a few ways to keep providing updates for MA and beyond, but... I'm really hoping our efforts and the content seen in the coming months and through 2026 will help see a natural increase in funding along the way to avoid this outcome.

Once again, development would continue. It'd just be handled in a much more realistic approach if I can't turn this into my dream job and source of income.

Currently the project brings in roughly $1,200-1,300usd on average per month despite what Subscribestar's goals or other information displays publicly. I'm not really sure why Subscribstar displays (as of this post) that we're at $1,749 of $2,000 on one of the active goals on the page. I honestly think it's been bugged out for a long time now, because even the payout page for me displays the projected amount as $1,749, but it's been on average hovering between $1,200-1,400usd give or take per month for a long time now.

(See screenshot below for the current amount that's processing for June's funding so far. Note, we wait until the end of the given month before doing a payout request. For example: What's collected by the end of June is the amount I use for July's payments.)

The main thing to focus on is the "current month" "on the way" and "available". The current month is what has been cleared for this month so far, aka... The actual amount we'll receive as of right now for June. The "on the way" section is showing what's currently being processed, a little bit of this is left over from May's funding as it takes 5-7 days before funds process from "on the way" into the "available" section. 

Whatever is in the "available" section upon requesting payout is roughly the amount we'll receive after 2-3 days when that payout request processes.

I share all of this and explain it openly, because I want to be transparent and honest with everyone, even more so if my personal milestone is to reach $3,000 per month, so that I can take about $1,500 as income if I'm turning this into a real career to support myself.

Isn't what we bring in currently enough?

It's enough for barely covering the team's costs for new cg, sprite and bg art being worked on, programming, editing, music being composed, etc. But often I rarely take any of the current funding for my personal gain as "income" because... There just simply isn't enough there to do that realistically.

I set a small fraction of the monthly funding aside to pay for quarterly taxes throughout each year, but outside of that. The rest goes directly to everyone else on the team.

In a perfect world, we'd hopefully go beyond the $3,000usd milestone goal and the rest can help cover even more costs for the team rightfully so.

Don't get me wrong... Even if we begin seeing the average funding increase from around $1,300usd into $1,600usd on average per month. I'm not looking to pocket $300usd as my personal income right away either. As monthly funding increases towards the milestone goal, the extra funds will still help cover more costs for the team and then over time, I'll slowly begin shifting to the ideal split of personal income vs team costs.

As of this time, we don't have a exact date set. We do know that with where things stand and my personal efforts on development being increased to 8 hours per day on the weekdays (40 hours per week). We'll see the update this month, but our next news post should give us a better idea to mark a date.

Ideally, that'll include test builds and previews in general as well!

I think that about wraps up this news post, as it's getting pretty lengthy... ^^"