Early August Status

Current Update Status
The (very late) update stands at that what I estimate to be about 1%-3% left to complete in terms of bug fixing and retesting. I will finish that up and when it’s ready, I’ll release it finally—first to subscribers as usual.
As I evaluate what’s actually in the update, I view it as an unfocused “pot luck” of goodies that was supposed to take 1.5 to 2 months, but through happenstance has been delayed to 3 months. It does move the ball forward though, so from my perspective, there are less Under Construction banners than there were before, so there's that.
Development Difficulties
I don't know what deity I managed to piss off, but late spring and summer of this year have been particularly and unusually eventful, and those events have robbed me of precious time to work on the game. Some of the things that happened I could have foreseen, but some I could not have.
The way this update has gone has caused me to rethink several things, especially from the birds-eye view about how I approach this game’s development, as well as monetizing it.
As almost all of you know, I work on this game in between my day job and family commitments and my goal is to make the best game I can with the time I can find to work on it.

The problem is that I cannot adequately predict how much time I will get to work on the game in advance in any given week. As I write this, I just dropped my father-in-law off at the airport this morning, who was staying with us for close to a week… unexpectedly… effectively stun-locking me during that time from working on the game. Unfortunately, my house doesn't have a secret passage behind a bookcase that I can use to go develop my WINcest-themed porn game...

Changes... of Approach
I’ve decided I’m going to make several changes in how I develop and monetize the game. My primary concerns here are the following:
a)       maximizing the share of time I spend working on the actual game itself while minimizing/optimizing the share I spend doing the “other” stuff (community relations/PR).
b)      Properly defining subscriber expectations. Revenue has never been a factor in determining how fast or slow the game has been developed and revenue very often just goes into buying things to help improve the game, whether it's tools or actual game assets.

And Here… We… GO!
  1. I will no longer be giving an estimated release date for updates. I clearly suck at it and it's a bad look when I miss deadline after deadline. When asked when the update will be released, the official AND unofficial responses will be: "When it's done." 

  2. Going forward, I will ONLY advertise $1 and $3 subscriber tiers for the foreseeable future. I think those tier levels are fair for what I can reasonably deliver with my admittedly chaotic schedule. If you are currently at $5 or above, you will remain subscribed at that level unless you change it and your perks will remain in effect (yes, including beta versions).

    $1 Subscribers and above will continue to get my detailed bi-monthly statuses with what I’ve been working on, often with screenshots or video of new content, and of course access to Discord channels where I post sketches, preview art and such.

  3. I will no longer be updating or maintaining the walkthrough. In the past, my view has been that providing an up-to-date walkthrough in unison with the update was a necessary PR move to manage negative feedback about the game being “too hard.”

    I’m increasingly less concerned about managing the game’s PR because the game is still in development and I don't really aggressively advertise it anyways. The game is already highly rated (on F95... for now) and I feel like my time is better spent on making content for the actual game itself rather than micro-managing its reputation.

  4. I will no longer be generating seasonal drawings (aside from the ones that are already completed for this year) without help. I do enjoy inventing sexy and scandalous scenarios within the framing of select holidays (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas, etc), but these seem to take a little too much time that would be (imo) better spent working on the game.

  5. Finally, I will be limiting my engagement on forums. I will be checking in on F95 and other forums once or twice a week and only responding to the most pressing questions or observations. I will no longer be giving people hints, unless it relates to new content and I will let others respond to the billionth “Android?” request, if they choose.

The NEXT Update?
So I just spent a bunch of time talking about what I WON’T be doing. Let me to get to what I WILL be doing next.
  • After v0.3.6 is finally put to bed, the next and only thing I will be working on is a new Meredith spank bank scene. Some of you reading this already know what the basic setup is because it’s been hashed out in Discord.
  • After that, I will be working on Aunt Charlotte’s bonus vaginal sex scene, complete with optional devil horns. This scene will either be in v0.3.7 or a proposed v0.3.8, depending on how much time those scenes take combined.
  • After that, I will start v0.4, the beginning of Nicole’s story, which starts with Scott. Scott has already told you he knows how to get access to a time machine. This leads to MC meeting a very Thiccc, blue-haired babe named Caydence (not a new character--she was planned) who has a very strange accent. Caydence seems to be strangely (and creepily) invested in you pursuing Nicole as a sexual entity—almost as if her life depended on it. 

Your Bi-Weekly Art Preview
I’m making this post public for everyone. Subscribers will get a separate piece of Meredith artwork soon, celebrating Five of a Kind’s Two-Year Anniversary.