Maids & Masters (& Starting On v0.15.1)

It's still slow going getting back to working on MnM. Aside from doing a bit more work on the new demo (which you can read a little about over on Patreon) over the weekend, and something I may as well call burnout, I had some outside work come up, so I wasn't able to get much done. I was able to get some work done, but I also had RPG Maker crash on me for the first time in probably over a year and ended up losing some work. Not enough to lose everything, but enough to kill any momentum I might've built up. Since that means I can't really talk about what I've completed, I'll just talk about what I intend to complete for the v0.15.1 update.

There are two main things I want to add, plus a third smaller bit that I've been meaning to add but haven't been able to convince myself is enough of a priority. Love shack content, affection quests, and cult investigation extras.

For the love shack, there's six (technically seven) new characters I need to add. For the new Maids, there's Vicky, June, and Clover, plus the newer mothers, Setri, Caitlainn, and Celine. If you're wondering who Setri is and where you find her content, go back to Cumhaill and check Phoebe's old house. Her content has actually been in the game for a while, but I need to rework how you're able to access it a little. Due to how the Grow works in Act 2, you can't actually go inside Phoebe's old house, which means you can't progress with Setri very far even though she's available. As for that seventh character, she isn't in the game to recruit yet, but she will be in v0.16, so I want to get her love shack content done before I run into the same "it's side content and this update needs to be released" loop that's lead to none of this being done before now. So far, only Vicky's first conversation is done, with her second conversation being about half done due to the crash. I should be able to get at least the fireside chats done for Friday, but my goal is to convince myself to hunker down and get both the chats and the scenes done for the first test build this Friday.

The affection quests are something else I've been wanting to add and haven't due to wanting to keep up a release schedule and these quests being side content. If you're the sort of person that's thinking "why not just delay the release?" right now - I appreciate you, never change - but keeping a release schedule is vital to growth, and I've been growing in reverse for the past 5 months. I wrote about that in my previous post here on the blog if you want to know more. I have most of these quests written out, so all that's really left is to implement them, but that's 20 (21 if you count the optional Maid coming in v0.16) side quests that I need to implement, which is a major update's worth of content by itself. Even if I keep these quests fairly simple and stick to existing maps, it's probably going to take me 2-3 weeks to get all of these done.

The cult investigation extras are something I really should have put in the game from the start of Act 2, in hindsight. The cult investigation is something that I originally intended to end with the first half of Act 2, but now that I've reached that point in the story and took the time to experience the story so far as a player, that feels, in a word, incomplete. The problem with extending the investigation is that there are only four actions you can take to move to the "meeting" portion of those events, and there will be closer to seven segments by the time I've actually finished that part of the story. So, I want to add things you can do to get time to pass without actually "investigating" anything. This will probably just end up being bonus scenes with Griselda, Evdokia, and Willow (maybe also June and Chloe), but that will at least create enough extra content to get through the story without repeating anything (and give me the opportunity to add a trophy for not being an irredeemable hornball and repeating the scenes instead of doing the investigation).

All told, this is probably going to take me around 6 weeks to develop, especially with this funk I've been in lately bringing my productivity down. I'm hoping to find some momentum and get it all done faster than that, but it's a fairly large update. I may even split it into v0.15.1 and v0.15.2 and have the affection quests be their own update so I have something to release for May. It all depends on how things play out between now and then.

Following Up On Precious Kouhai v0.2

It's been... a weekend. I really don't want to turn this into a "venting" post, because this is a development blog and not a personal one, but Patrons tend to support the creator rather than the project and motivation has been low, so it only seems fair to make information about myself available when it affects development.

To actually follow up on the release of Precious Kouhai v0.2, it's been okay. I'm not sure if it's due to another algorithm change on itch or if something else is happening, but traffic suddenly cut in half a few days before v0.2 went into early access. One day I was holding an average of 200 views per day - something I've never even gotten close to with Maids & Masters - and the next it was half that, barely breaking 100 views per day. Following the release, views did increase back to roughly 200 per day and has stayed there over the weekend, but this is still a little strange. Everything else I've seen, both in my personal metrics and in analytics shared by other developers, shows a spike when an update releases with a gradual taper off to normal. Instead, things just sort of returned to what normal was before the drop. The same goes for the other things itch tracks, like downloads and browser plays (though browser plays in particular are still a little below normal).

At this point, you might be wondering why this matters, and why I care. That subject is actually fairly complicated, but I'll try to give a basic breakdown.

Putting aside that it's demoralizing to see the numbers go down, analytics like this are how developers like me gauge public perception. I'm still a very small dev, so I can't go to social media and look for a hashtag and see what people are saying. No one goes out of their way to ask me about my work. I can search the internet for myself or my projects, but that usually only leads to websites that host my work without my permission (which is why I have in-game options to find me; these websites rarely modify files, they just upload). When views drop like they recently have for Precious Kouhai, and like they have more than once in the past for Maids & Masters, it usually indicates something is wrong. However, because I have so little to go off of, outside of obvious changes like itch announcing a change in their algorithm, I can rarely tell what is wrong or what I can or should do about it. That's a big reason feedback is so important to me; you can tell me what's wrong, sometimes before it even gets as far as being a problem. It's a huge help.

These numbers can also be used to help me figure out if I'm succeeding or failing. Metrics like click-through rate give me a percentage of people who see my game and decide to click on it. That number is normally fairly low, around 3-5%. For Precious Kouhai, that number has fallen to 1.3%. It being that low is bad because that's how I get new Patrons. Someone clicks on my game, then they click through to Patreon, then they decide to become a Patron. Doing a bit of math, this means roughly 20,000 people see the thumbnail for Precious Kouhai every day. 200 people decide to click on it. Only 2 people end up on my Patreon page. Add in Maids & Masters, this blog, and so on, and that becomes 3-5. This lines up with the analytics Patreon gives me - on average, I get roughly 4 page visits per day, excluding Patrons. According to Patreon, it usually takes 3-5 visits for someone to decide to become a Patron. That means I need to get the attention of those four people 2-4 more times. Assuming they don't check the page more than once every update, that means it takes 3-5 updates (or, since I do monthly updates, 3-5 months) for me to gain just four new Patrons. Trying to grow as a small, solo developer is a slow, arduous process.

This is where I've lost a lot of motivation recently. Maids & Masters should, in theory, be bringing those one or two new Patrons with every update. I have gained one or two new Patrons every month, but nearly all of these new Patrons have cancelled their pledge within a few days of joining. Sometimes that new Patron isn't new at all, and it's one person joining to get the new update before canceling again. I understand doing it, and I still appreciate the support, but put plainly, it sucks seeing that cancel notification. Precious Kouhai seems to have brought in a few new Patrons, but the same problem exists. There's also the issue of new Patrons almost exclusively subscribing to the lowest tier possible, so even with those that stick around, my monthly income has been on a steady decline for the past 5 months even as my total of paid Patrons rises.

 

That loss of motivation makes it challenging to return back to work on Maids & Masters. If I'm seeing support decline like this, it makes me wonder if the project is worth the time and effort it will take to complete. I still want to complete it, but the combination of Precious Kouhai completely outstripping Maids & Masters in terms of performance and seeing my monthly income drop makes me re-evaluate what the best path forward is. For the time being, I've been taking some time to learn Godot (which is a very long-term thing; don't expect me to make any demos in that until at least after Maids & Masters is complete) and work a bit on the tactical RPG demo I mentioned a few weeks ago as a way to stay productive while still taking a bit of a break. 

 

Though to be clear, work is not ending on Maids & Masters. I still plan on having the first test build for v0.15.1 ready for next week so VIP Patrons can test out the new love shack content. 

I'm just dragging my feet a little. I'm also doing my best not to rush what's left of the second act and skip to the end so I can start working on something with more mass appeal. So, if you're here for Maids & Masters, don't worry - I'm not giving up on it.

Ultimately, my hope is that some of the recent changes I made on Patreon - adding annual subscriptions, making use of the community feature, etc. - will help keep some new Patrons around. There are only so many ways I can add value without pay-walling things, so hopefully that's enough. Seeing this happen has also really made me appreciate my long term Patrons. Some of you are generous beyond words, and I really am eternally grateful for the part you play in my attempts to chase down my dream of making games and writing stories for a living. It genuinely frustrates me that so much of this process comes down to money, because the only thing I want money for is keeping my bills paid so I can keep doing this. Those of you that stick around, even if you're in that $1 tier and haven't said a word since you joined, are the ones that keep me going. If you want to be one of those people, I'd appreciate it if you became part of that 1.3% and took a look at my Patreon page.

Precious Kouhai v0.2 Release Date

I really wanted this post to be "the update is done, it's just a bit of testing and then I'm back to work on Maids & Masters" but my computer had it real rough the past couple of days. If the software wasn't freezing up or crashing during rendering, my whole computer was freezing up or crashing. Thankfully I didn't lose a lot of work thanks to autosaves, but it still made the whole process highly frustrating and significantly slower than it otherwise would've been.

That's it for the bad news, though. If you don't follow my Patreon, the test build still went out to VIPs last Friday, and I wouldn't have done that if I weren't close to finished with the update. Even after the scene got a little longer than I originally intended (which is still good news - it means more content for you) there are only a few animations left to pose, animate, and render. Even if the crashing continues and I'm only able to get one or two renders done in a day, v0.2 will still enter early access on Friday, the 19th.

After some thought, early access will also launch on itch with v0.2. I was originally planning on waiting another update or two so the game had a little more content before I did the extra work that comes with making it available in early access as well, but if I'm being honest, Precious Kouhai is such a small project, it might be close to done in another update or two. I've only ever had enough content planned for about an hour's worth of reading, and if each scene takes about 5 minutes to read through, v0.2 is already about a third of the way there.

There are also some extra bits I want to try and fit in, but those may not make it into v0.2 if the freezing/crashing continues. It's nothing major, but I want to see if I understand a handful of coding things with renpy for the sake of future projects, like having the title screen change according to a variable.

One last thing that's completely unrelated - Maids & Masters is part of a paid bundle where you can get a bunch of paid games at 50% off (including Maids & Masters Early Access). There's only 3 days left to get it, so if you want it, click here to get it before it's gone. I even made this promo image for it.

Progress on Precious Kouhai v0.2

I want to call this "Precious Kouhai v0.2 Release Date" but I'm still not totally sure what I'll get done before Friday, so I'm not going to commit to a release date just yet. I have some real life things that require my attention, and while one new client has their draft and doesn't seem to want any edits, I'm still waiting on a bit of feedback from the other client before I'm fully free and clear of outside work. That said, some good progress has been made.

The first of the two scenes coming in this update I managed to completely finish last night. That's a total of 13 new animations, bringing the total up to 48. I'll be starting to animate the next scene today, which is already mostly written out, so it's basically just the animation left. The only downside to that being that the animation is what takes up the most time. Depending on the complexity, it can take as much as a full day to make a single animation. Most of mine are relatively simple, and this project has definitely helped me maintain a decent level of quality while vastly improving my overall speed, but it can still be a very time consuming process.

All that said, I'm still hopeful I'll be able to get enough done that I can present a test build to VIPs on Patreon this Friday, and Precious Kouhai can have its first proper early access release the following Friday. That does mean the update won't be available to the public until v0.3 comes out, but just like with Maids & Masters, my Patrons get early access to everything I release. On top of that, I recently added a bunch of features to Patreon membership. You can read all about it (and get a bunch of benefits for supporting development!) on my Patreon page.

Being a straightforward visual novel, that's pretty much all there is to say about Precious Kouhai until I've finished enough for a release date to be set. I can't lie, it feels really weird not having a changelog to post with everything that's been added, fixed, and updated, but outside of one syntax error in the preview build (which was fixed for v0.1), there's been nothing to fix in the existing content. There is one change, though - I've managed to find a music license for fairly cheap, so Precious Kouhai will start to feature new music in v0.2. Only one track was replaced and moved to a new spot, so it's not a particularly dramatic change, but it's nice having a proper library of options to use that still matches the aural theming I want to use. This sort of thing is only possible thanks to the support of my Patrons, so if this sort of good news is something you'd like to hear more often, I'd really appreciate it if you clicked that link up there and considered pledging to a tier.

April 2024 General Update

Today had an incredibly hectic start to it, and I'm kind of between everything right now, so I'm going to use today's post as a more general update to both collect my thoughts and share them in the same go. So, here's where that "everything" I mentioned currently stands.

In general Patreon news, some changes are coming. This includes annual subscriptions, some minor updates to descriptions to hopefully make certain benefits a little clearer (and make the "About" section a little less robotic), making itch benefits easier to find, and some potential changes to early access that you can vote on (and if you're a Patron, there's a second poll with a little extra info). Most of the reason for these changes is because I'm reaching a point where I need to push for monetary support a little harder, and there aren't a lot of ways to do that while still being consumer-friendly. If you want to know more about these changes, check the poll(s) linked above, or check my Patreon on Friday, when these changes will be getting implemented.

For Maids & Masters, I've finished my playthrough and have all my checkpoint saves created. I've tackled all the bugs and other minor fixes I found along the way, so now it's time to move on to actual development. I'd kind of forgotten how much I like my own game, so getting to play through it again was a little therapeutic in a way. I'm still debating whether or not I should roll v0.15.1 into v0.16 to make a bigger update - part of which depends on those polls I mentioned - but it's unlikely I'll have a release ready for April anyway. Even if I do split the updates and go with v0.15.1, I need to add the Love Shack content for six new characters (Vicky, June, Chloe, Setri, Caitlainn, and Celine), update Setri so you can progress with her during the first half of Act 2 while Cumhaill's Grow festival is active, and create the first round of affection quests for all the Maids (or at the very least, all of the combat Maids). That's probably going to take 4-5 weeks to get done, and that's without accounting for days lost to outside work or other potential hurdles. That means you're going to get another release for Precious Kouhai.

I'm going to try to do two scenes for Precious Kouhai instead of just one. They're short enough, and I'm used to updates having 20-45 minutes of content, not 5-10, so it seems like a reasonable compromise between the amount of content I think is expected of me and the amount of time and effort it takes to create the various animations. I won't say much more on that for now so I have something to talk about next week. In a perfect world, I'll find the time to finish up my outside work and have a test build ready for Friday the 12th with a release going out Friday the 19th, but with the surprises of today, I want to make sure it's clear that those are estimates, not promises. It might take another week. Thankfully, most of the posing and one of the more complex animations is already done, so the biggest hurdle will be getting outside work finished so I can work on Precious Kouhai unimpeded.

On that note, I have not one, but two clients waiting on work from me. These are projects I just write for, so the work (usually) goes pretty quickly, but it's still 2-3 days that I won't have to work on MnM or PK while I get it done, and another day every time there's post-work or follow-up drafts I need to do. If you don't like hearing that, I get it, but bills don't pay themselves. You can free up my time so I can focus more on my own projects by supporting me on Patreon.