(as publicly posted on Patreon)

Hi everyone! The first post of this month is a little off schedule, and will be a little different than the regular progress update. Before we go on, I want to assure that the project is fine. And to align with the sentiment of this post, I really want to express my appreciation for our patrons.

Seriously you guys value something special in this project! It's different for different supporters, but whatever it is, I'm trying my best to continue making this project live up to it! And of course, you're not obligated to pledge forever, but please know that your support so far has been very much valued!

*If you really want to keep reading, rest assured I've trimmed the writing down so that every sentence counts.

Time and effort, passion and output

So I couldn't sleep yesterday and ended up finishing a background CG in one sitting. That was my fastest record time of completing a CG. Obviously, it will receive more polish in the future, but I was quite happy with it, but realized that something that took me 6 hours to make, would only get around 2 minutes of screen time.

Yes, I do know that many devs and artists out there easily take 2 hours to create something that takes me 6 hours. Sadly this is the reality: this is what my skill and output levels are at.

The more I work on the game, the more I understand why some VNs that are twice or thrice the length of Friendly Favours get through at least a year of development. Yes, there are many NSFW games out there that never get finished despite years of development, but there are also devs that consistently finish their games eventhough they take a while. I'm referring to the latter.

Learning everything as a solo dev

And it's especially true for solo developers. You have to work on everything, from the writing, to the art, to the animation. As a solo dev, if you don't know how to do something, you have no choice but to learn how to do it.

The option to commission artists or writers is kind of there, but this project has never generated $20 or more a month, which is nowhere enough to commission even a single decent-quality background CG. I have taken expenses out of my own pockets along with the donations to sustain the project, but never the other way around. 100% of the donations to this project has been directly used to sustain it.

Money? Commissioning?

That said, I am grateful for any support that this project receives! Please don't misunderstand this as me implying that I want more money, because that's not the reason I keep this project alive. My point is, at the end of the day, I've to do (or learn to do) everything by myself, as commissioning or hiring an artist has barely been considered.

Now, I'm not setting up a future excuse for myself. It's just that I've been pressuring myself that the progress couldn't be fast enough, despite knowing full well that I have other dedications in life. Of all my hobbies, this is the only one I do by myself, therefore I feel the pressure alone.

There exist tools that could work as 'shortcuts' or take some of the workload (for example, AI image generators and ChatGPT), but there's a certain satisfaction of directly creating everything from the dialogues to the animation, by my own effort.

And the deeper I work into the project, the more I want to keep it a solo.

Does this mean there's an issue that's halting the project?

Wait a minute, now!

Nothing is wrong~ The development is still underway, there's no considerable hiccups as of this moment. The project has always had its own ups and downs. I don't really know the whole point of writing this - maybe to let everyone know where I stand?

I'd like to think that I have set some solid directions for the project: such as the setting, the lore, the art direction, and the characters. I'm happy to say that the Heart City anthology is still growing its lore and stories organically. Meanwhile, the characters develop beyond the confines of their specific episodes.

Thank you for your patience!

Office Rivals has an end in sight (what I mean is, I already have the building blocks to finish the VN). Besides that, there are some solid story options for me to choose from for upcoming VNs. It's only the matter of time, and output as a hobbyist solo dev.

By definition, it's a passion project. I won't say I'm crazy passionate, but there's something about this project that is fun and light-hearted. Which is why it provides such a healthy balance~

Thank you for your support! And especially if you always support solo projects like this!