Public update I keep delaying because I'm balls deep into my bum dev arc.

I scheduled myself to put out this post once I'd finished working on the scene I was just doing. And like everything for this cycle, that took longer than I thought it would. At least I'm consistently a shit dev. Anyway, status update frequency has been stupidly low, even for patrons that get them more often. So I'm guessing a bunch of you are wondering what the fuck is going on.

And the answer is nothing, nothing of note is going on. No drama, no reworks, no delays or whatever the fuck. I've been developing, non stop. So why isn't it done yet? The last two updates didn't take this long. Well, here's what makes writing these updates so hard. The answer to that question is:

I don't know. Like, I really don't. I've got a bunch of theories, but theories are just that. So I can write a fucking paragraph speculating what the problem is, but that doesn't really help you guys. Again, if I knew the source of the slowness, I would've fixed it. I'm already stabbing at a few of my theories, eliminating some distractions, seeing if any of them are having an effect, but some of the theories are more complicated to just fix i.e. burnout/exhaustion.

But also, reminder that I don't do this full-time. So at least curb your expectations when comparing me to others.

I thought I'd make it clear what's left. 461 renders, 36 animations. And I'm gonna keep making clear what's left as I hit milestones. I think public shaming might be a motivator. Putting this out there right now, publicly, gives me an incentive to slash through this to-do list.

One little caveat, lewd scenes develop slowly due to the barrage of intricate animating. I have a lewd scene 57 renders and 1 animation away from now. I will make a public post telling you when I get there. I hope keeping up public posts gives me some kind of psychological benefit. Also, I'm obligated to dish out some wallpapers for subscribers, so that'll take up today or tomorrow.

There you go, loads of apologies, I'll do better next time yada yada, whatever keeps you happy. (I really am sorry, though)

Quick Q&A (I made up all of these questions so it's literally a tirade of strawman answers):

Q: Are you just milking your Subscribers?

A: No. It would be more financially beneficial to release updates. My Patreon income has been continuously falling for months.

Q: How big is this update going to be?

A: Slightly longer than the last one (Ep 2 Pt 1) but in the same ballpark.

Q: Why have status updates been so infrequent?

A: Embarrassment. I didn't want to do a bi-weekly "Hey, guys. I'm still working, it's still going slow, nothing else to report." posts.

Q: [Other developer who does this full-time with 40x the budget, tons of help from others, or maybe is just a team of people] Updates their game faster than you do.

A: That's not a question.

Q: You good?

A: No.

Q: What's the leading theory for slow development?

A: Exhaustion/Burnout. I don't think some of you realized I spent every minute of my free time working on Realm Invader Ep 1/2.

Q: What are some of the other theories?

A: Couldn't render due to real-life issues so I wrote the update before rendering it, thus eliminating the write/render balance schedule. This probably sped up burnout because nothing was changing. Also, Graphics have further improved, renders take longer. There weren't many premade environments for what I needed this episode and I had to spend time building/furnishing my own.

Q: Why don't you put out smaller updates?

A: Because an entire update when the MC goes to College and then has a mini-date with Stella would've felt like a filler update. My game is too slow-paced for that kind of shit.

Okay, I'm out. Usually within an hour of posting status updates I remember something I wanted to say and didn't. I wonder what it'll be this time.

For the record, the update after this one is better planned out, and is projected to be WAY shorter, so you'll actually get your smaller update.

- Gary