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Merry Christmas (and episode 5 news)
Hey everyone,
I should start this post with a huge apology for the delay. I'll go over things in more detail down below, but for now - sorry for keeping you waiting!
Let's address the most important topic first; episode 5. The early Patreon access will be on Christmas itself (24th, or 25th at the latest). Everything in the update is completed, so the public release will come out a week later as scheduled in more or less the same shape, barring any bug fixes.
Regarding the episode itself, I am not very happy with it. It's very short considering it's been in development for like 16 months, the art quality is all over the place, and the main story development is insubstantial. Maybe it's not all that bad, but you'll have to see and judge that for yourself.
It should go without saying that longer development time does not necessarily mean a longer episode, but possibly that the development ran into some hurdles. And I really don't like going into personal stuff, at least not while it's unresolved. It's not that I don't want to share, but I just don't think I should be using this platform for farming pity or venting about personal shit like it's my twitter account. Of course, radio silence as the opposite extreme is hardly the better option, so finding a balance between the two is something I have to work on as a 'creator'.
A huge mistake I made was announcing that I would release the next episode in July. First of all, I think it's clear now that I am utterly clueless when it comes to estimating how long a huge chunk of work will take to complete, and that same overconfidence makes me averse to announcing a delay because I am perpetually convinced that "I can finish it next week!!". Second of all, even if I did estimate accurately - there's always outside factors fucking shit up. In Summer, I experienced probably my first ever complete burn out. Transitioning from student life into 'real life' left me with very little headspace for creative endeavors - and if I can't do it properly my way, I can't do it at all. I know a lot of people might think "dude it's a porn VN just draw some tits and let us fuck the landlady", but that's just stupid. It might be why YOU play adult videogames, but it's not why I am making one. Complaining that at this rate, Elvensang will take 15 years to complete is nonsense as well. I don't plan to be finishing my law degree every episode, so I think we're good. Besides, even if it does take 15 years - you better stop smoking and eat your veggies, baby.
Outside of my little writer's block in Summer, my recently acquired law degree unwittingly made me the family lawyer, so I've had to deal with some legal issues since October concerning family members going after each other's throats/attempting to commit suicide when they couldn't get their way. But that probably contributed a month of delay out of the 16 at most, so it deserves no more than a short mention.
Either way, I've long since recharged my batteries and the family troubles are very much concluded, so we're back on schedule.
On a more positive note, I've learned a lot while working on episode 5. Making strides in figuring out a suitable artstyle, better organizing my workflow, and working out a lot of small ways to be more efficient. I'll discuss those aspects in future progress updates (especially the artstyle things), but it all makes me genuinely look forward to working on episode 6 to start fresh, because man, let me tell you - constantly returning to unfinished work is a real nightmare.
Anyway, that's it for now. I only have some minor polishing left on the episode, so expect it to arrive 24/25th.
Merry Christmas everyone!
I love you all,
Worlaix
Great to hear from you!
Burnout is unfortunately a very real threat to AVN developers. To produce a good AVN you have to put in a lot of hours, but at the same time, it is difficult to earn enough to be able to quit your day job.
That's why I always try to say "don't push yourself, think of it as a marathon, not as a sprint for every release". A good game that gets finished after 5 years is a hell lot better than one that gets abandoned after 2 with the dev hospitalised...
And maybe even 5 is a low number. Some of the creators that I support are start to get close to that number. Basically, what I want to say is that you should be proud for having the stamina to keep the project running for all this time, and I am going to stay with you to the finish line.
I am very much looking forward to the coming christmas gift (even though you try to play down my expectations), and wish you a great holiday! I hope you get some well deserved time to relax and recharge.
Also, I remember so well how, when I was finished with my master's degree, I was thinking: "This was tough, now it's going to be easier".
And then reality hit me so hard. Working 8 hours a day was so much harder than being a student. Studying was hard, but in a completely different way. As a student, when I was free, I still had a lot of energy. But after a work day (after 5 work days a week), I had so much less energy to spare!
If this is your situation now, don't dispair. You _will_ find ways to have energy left for your free time. But don't push yourself too hard before you find where your limits are.
Good luck!
The transition period was the challenging part for me tbh. With what I do, the concept of "8 hours a day" only works on paper. In reality, you take your work home with you and then you're just waiting for next day of work to start all over again. Not to say that I had it harder than anyone else, it just took a few months to adjust and feel motivated again.
We're chilling now, though - the despair period has already passed :D